Image: (c) Mingan Games 2016
PRE-RELEASE PROGRESS: THE SWITCH FROM SP TO MP
Development has come along steady since the project was started in late 2014. Since then, the game has grown in size and scope – expanding from a lonely single-player story to a Massively-Multiplayer Online Game. The single-player story and campaign will still feature in the complete game but has been pushed back as we focus development of the MMO-style game. The decision to shift the game’s focus from SP to MP has come due to the community’s input on the matter. Everyone wanted to be able to enjoy Life’s Fall with their friends. With the popularity of indie games such as Rust, DayZ etc. it is clear to see where the indie-market is headed.
The best-selling survival games on Steam are almost all multiplayer-enabled. This is a very important aspect, and one that will shape LF in the future. Interaction between players, PvP, VoIP and other aspects of these games provide players with a much fuller and grander experience. I also personally find little motivation to build a grand, fortified mansion when I’m the only one to enjoy it. Having the unpredictability of other players and the fear of being raided while offline gives a game such as Life’s Fall a lot more depth and substance. It should also be clear that there is a big difference between games such as Rust and DayZ, and Life’s Fall. Gameplay in LF is centered around the environment, building shelter and hunting for food etc. The survival aspects of the game will carry great weight – even in Multiplayer (or rather especially) in Multiplayer.
At the end of the day I’m a gamer too. I enjoy games with my friends and trying to survive in new and interesting environments. The goal is still the same as when this project was started in 2014 – to create the game we’ve always wanted to play.
COMMUNITY AND THE DEVBLOG
The time has also come for us to start including the community more in the development process by posting regular updates on our development progress. Updates will be posted (hopefully weekly) on the greenlight page, as well as on the dev-blog (right here). So what have we been doing for the last 2 months? A lot of time this last while has been spent on implementing our already-existing systems in a new multiplayer-framework. All objects, weapons, events, players, actions and buildings needed more code to work in a game with multiple players. We designed a server structure, able to accommodate 50 players per server, this month and networking for our other items is almost complete. Essentially, we’ve been moving from a SP-game to an MMO.
We are currently working on letting animals play well over the network. Animals in Life’s Fall are very complex and as such the code to network them is even more complex. We hope to have animals (basically) working by the middle of next week and from there we can start implementing systems such herds, advanced AI, circle of life and breeding.
We have a very small team with limited time but will try to keep the community as updated as possible with our development progress.
