Exoplanet: First Contact - Build 0.32

Exoplanet: First contact has been updated to version 0.32, of which the changelog can found here, like this on AI:

As you may know, Exoplanet is developing on our own custom built engine and still has a few legacy issues from old demos. If you ever play the game, you know that our AI system was pretty basic and limited for complex sequential actions. For example, we had an issue when some players managed to get rid of most of the Scalphunters in the cave on their own during the quest, ignoring other interesting possibilities it offers, not to mention that our hero is pretty weak in the very beginning of the game while Scalphunters being described as very tough to eliminate.

The thing is, this AI system is very old and has a great deal of restrictions, that's why some time ago we decided to create a new one and transfer every character to it. It wasn't an easy task and it is surely took a lot of time. Transfer of the protagonist alone took two months due to the fact that some parts of old NPC's AI system was used for controlling Jack's action as well, and this spaghetti code had to be resolved. But I am glad to report that we finally managed to finish this. From now on, our protagonist as well as all other characters and animals are working with the new system.

What does it mean? Now everyone has their own behavior tree which could be expanded as we like to create more immersive and complex things like daily schedules for NPCs, special attacks and different combat behavior for enemies and animals and much more. That's another big task for us and we are going to release these updates gradually, over time.

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Next to that their roadmap has been updated as well.

More information.

If this game ever finishes it might even beat Grimoire in how long it took..

This project is becoming a joke. I backed it years ago, but it's still not even close to being finished after 5+ years of development.

What they've done so far shows potential, but at this rate we're looking at a release date around 2030.

I also bought it 2 or 3 years ago. I'm not waiting anymore for it to finish and am doubtful it ever will.

Atm it is a demo that is kinda fun and has some potential.

I tried playing this maybe three or four years ago, and it was pretty obvious that it was nowhere near completion. I was also a supporter of the kick starter, and I'll be amazed if we actually get a game worth playing out of all this time, effort, and money. What a huge shame.

Yeah game has potential but unless they get more funds for a larger team I doubt it will finished soon. That would be a shame I had high hopes for this when it was funded.

Seems another one "bitten more than it can chew".
Will probably get this in a bundle with Star Citizen.

Hey, guys! I am a developer of Exoplanet: First Contact. I should have come here long ago but it is better now than never. I do understand your concerns and displeasure with the pace of Exoplanet development but I will try to answer all of your claims as good as possible.

JDR13 said:

This project is becoming a joke. I backed it years ago, but it's still not even close to being finished after 5+ years of development. What they've done so far shows potential, but at this rate we're looking at a release date around 2030.

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Archangel said:

If this game ever finishes it might even beat Grimoire in how long it took..

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Darkheart said:

I also bought it 2 or 3 years ago. I'm not waiting anymore for it to finish and am doubtful it ever will. Atm it is a demo that is kinda fun and has some potential.

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It is true that Exoplanet is developing pretty slow due to obvious reasons: big project, tiny team, small budget etc. But I'd like to point on a few details.

First of all, Exoplanet wasn't in development for 5+ years because it is not a real development when a few people making a demo in a spare time with a lot of team members coming and going. Basically, we managed to make a demo for Kickstarter to get something for the real development. Kickstarter was finished in September, 12th, 2015. We received money in ~January / February, 2016, it was around $45k after all taxes and other cuts.

After that we hired some team members to work on the game full time, and with their help managed to completely rework the demo. Actually, we abandoned the demo, and created a brand new big area (more than 2km square) with new rocks and some new assets. Of course, there are some legacy from demo like old UI and animations and some code but to be frank that's when the real development has started.

We released the game bare-bones in December, 2016 to fulfill our promises to Kickstarter backers. The game was really raw at the moment, and then, in the very first update, we expanded the world with another big area to make a good start. Unfortunately, it was completely new biom and we had no proper assets for it. That's why it is still pretty raw, to be honest. Still, the game significantly improved over the time in Early Access but of course there are yet a great deal of things we need to do.

If you want to know what we are going to do with the game in the near future, you can check this long read: A SNEAK PEEK AT THE FUTURE UPDATES.

You can also check our roadmap, it was recently updated, and learn more about it HERE.

We do understand how you feel about the project but we do our best to improve its development pace. We won't abandon the game. You have my word. Unless something really bad happen like deaths of core team members.

At the moment we started to work on marketing, and every extra money we have goes to the game, not our pockets. And it would greatly help us if you play the game and share your feedback with us. Your support is really makes the difference. We are always glad to hear your feedback and answer any questions on Steam forums, Discord or here.

Thanks for understanding.
A.

Couchpotato said:

Yeah game has potential but unless they get more funds for a larger team I doubt it will finished soon. That would be a shame I had high hopes for this when it was funded.

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We are working on it. We'll be presented on worldofplayers pretty soon once the website is done. And looking for other possibilities as well.

Thanks to RPGWatch

Also, I'd like to express my gratitude to RPGWatch folks who share our news and updates all these years and keep us on the radar. They also helped us with Kickstarter back there, and we won't forget that.

Thank you very much.

Couchpotato said:

Yeah game has potential but unless they get more funds for a larger team I doubt it will finished soon. That would be a shame I had high hopes for this when it was funded.

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Yes, it looked so promising few years ago… at least in the interview:

https://www.rpgwatch.com/articles/exoplanet--first-contact-interview-343.html


EDIT:
Welcome on RPGWatch, bijou. Are you Alexander or Alexey from dev team (who did the interview)?

Farflame said:

EDIT:
Welcome on RPGWatch, bijou. Are you Alexander or Alexey from dev team (who did the interview)?

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Thanks!

I am not Alexander nor Alexey, my name is Anton, I am also a core member of our team, a story writer / narrative designer of the game and also jack-of-all-trades when it comes to community work: videos and trailers, screenshots and updates, answering questions—perhaps, that's why there's not much of a story yet implemented

bijou said:

Also, I'd like to express my gratitude to RPGWatch folks who share our news and updates all these years and keep us on the radar. They also helped us with Kickstarter back there, and we won't forget that.

Thank you very much.

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My comment may have sounded a bit harsh. It is just that most people (myself included) expected more of a game when they jumped in.

Best of luck with the further development! You have something there and I will make sure to give it another go once you reach 1.0. Best wishes!

Darkheart said:

My comment may have sounded a bit harsh. It is just that most people (myself included) expected more of a game when they jumped in.

Best of luck with the further development! You have something there and I will make sure to give it another go once you reach 1.0. Best wishes!

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That's totally understandable and okay, no hurt feelings. And thanks for the kind words.

We do understand that there are not much old-school RPGs nowadays and some players put high hopes to our project while we are slowly crawling to the release.

We'll try not to disappoint you with 1.0, though I suggest you to try the game a bit earlier, when we release a big update with the new tutorial and significantly improved Anomaly Lake area.

I will do my best to mention it here or in the update but it would be much easier to keep yourselves posted if you follow us on Steam and socials.

Cheers!

I'm glad to see a developer chiming in, rest assured we only hope for the very best for your team and the game. I haven't touched this one in a few years but even back then the potential was quite obvious.

Carnifex said:

I'm glad to see a developer chiming in, rest assured we only hope for the very best for your team and the game. I haven't touched this one in a few years but even back then the potential was quite obvious.

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Thanks, that means a lot to us. At the moment we are working hard to make this potential visible, to show players what game is going to look like, make their first hours as flawless as possible.

bijou said:

We'll try not to disappoint you with 1.0, though I suggest you to try the game a bit earlier, when we release a big update with the new tutorial and significantly improved Anomaly Lake area.

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Will do!

I do indeed plan on playing the game again, once it's fully done and patched. I saw enough to make me want to spend some time in that universe!!

bijou said:

I am not Alexander nor Alexey, my name is Anton, I am also a core member of our team, a story writer / narrative designer of the game and also jack-of-all-trades when it comes to community work: videos and trailers, screenshots and updates, answering questions—perhaps, that's why there's not much of a story yet implemented

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Ok, Anton. So we can say that you have AAA development team…

Do you still plan to release the game in chapters? Or version 1.0 will be chapter 1 and next chapters will be released as free updates? Or DLCs?

Farflame said:

Ok, Anton. So we can say that you have AAA development team…

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Good one.

Farflame said:

Do you still plan to release the game in chapters? Or version 1.0 will be chapter 1 and next chapters will be released as free updates? Or DLCs?

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All this chapter thing was actually confusing because chapters usually means something like Life is Strange. Not sure why we've decided to call it like that back on KS, though Alexey still use that word, confusing and annoying me as well

The thing is, we were planning to make a trilogy, like The Witcher. Three games of full value. Exoplanet: First Contact is the very first chapter in the list. If we manage to succeed, then we'll start to develop game number two, Exoplanet: Devil's Throat. Despite the fact, that Exoplanet: First Contact should have proper ending like 'you will defeat a big boss, will complete your main quest and fulfill your goals', there will be a cliffhanger in the very end because that's not the end of Jack's story.

The most confusing thing is we are still want to make chapters like it was in Gothic 2: Night of the Raven or Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Not sure if it is still on the table but I believe we will do that.