Dev Update #18: Tunneling Ahead

Last night, I was handed (or given the link to) the latest build Gears of Eden, which for the first time, included crafting!  Let me tell you, crafting can sometimes feel pretty dry, but when it’s in your own game?  That is a rush!  Currently, we can only craft one part of the rover (the drill bit), but getting crafting to work is the hardest part of the equation, so you can expect to see a fully upgrade-able rover sometime soon!

Our art team is also working hard to update some of our assets and make our environment much more interesting. We’ve recently finished modeling a new asteroid that features tunnels! In addition, we’ve been re-working our asteroid and rover textures, and working on assets to bring more detail to our environment… including rocks, bases, and craters.

This week, our programming team is working on the last few items on our current sprint, which will be wheel tracks and dust kick up.  We’re hoping this will allow for the movement to feel more tactile in regard to the surface you’re travelling on.  I’m personally really excited to see how the wheel tracks turn out though; this may just be me, but I’m looking forward to seeing trails behind as I venture out to collect resources.

Once we’ve finished these items, we’ll spend some time testing and squashing pesky bugs.  Then, we’ll start fine-tuning features to get them relatively pleasant to play around with, because … well, you know what comes after that, right?

I’ll tell you; our very first Alpha Release!!!

That is a Dev Update for another time though.  If you’d like to keep up to date with all things Gears of Eden, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and consider signing up for our newsletter!  I’m a little biased, but that’s one of my favorite emails to get, plus signing up puts you in the drawing for a free key to the upcoming alpha!  If you don’t like leaving things up to the luck of the draw though, feel free to pop on over to the rewards page and consider helping us out.  Even if you’re not ready to commit to the Early Access reward, there are other, cheaper options too!  That’s all for this week’s Dev Update.  Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you next week!