There are many sources that inspire the visuals of Planet Alpha 31. From ancient Greek architecture, to the amazing futuristic design found in cities like Singapore, to space photography – we live in an amazing world with no shortage of inspiring sights.

I started working on the first version of Planet Alpha 31 using Unity3D and progress went fine at the beginning. However, after a while I started to need more control from the engine because the prefab system was becoming limiting, there were few options to debug render issues, and post-processing lacked in overall quality.

Unity is a good engine, but my project outgrew it. As the game became more and more complex, so did the requirements for the tools grew. After half a year I stopped the development, becoming frustrated with the slow pace the project was advancing at that point.

I took a break for a couple of months and then I started experimenting with UE4 . It was still new but I was instantly impressed. The blueprint system is extremely powerful, it offers more debug options then I would ever use and the renderer is state of the art. More importantly, the node-based workflow fit me better since both Houdini and ICE (XSI) tools that I worked with for years, share the same design.

Having solid tools that you can trust is always important, but it is even more important when you are indie. Limited time and resources means that I need to rely heavily on the software developers and good communication. Luckily, Epic Games does a great job at being transparent with weekly streams with lots of devs joining the discussions on the forum and a public roadmap so you know what’s coming next.

The Search for a Unique Mechanics

I’ve passed through a few stages developing the game mechanics for Planet Alpha 31. First, there was the exploration – an explosion of ideas where everything went. There was nothing was too crazy or too stupid. Some were prototypes on paper, others were tested directly in-engine, but most were just thought about. The tricky part was picking the ones that were fun and offered most gameplay opportunities and implement them. Rejecting my own ideas isn’t easy, but I’d rather have a few solid mechanics that work well than risk spreading the game too thin. Working alone means that I have to constantly keep an eye on the big picture while at the same time focus on the small details – a skill I learned over time the hard way.

That being said, there were a few moments when I got an idea for a visual feature or for a game mechanic that I just knew I had to implement no matter how difficult or time-consuming it would be, otherwise I wouldn’t make my own game.

The most important one was developed while I was on vacation waiting for feedback from an investor interested in supporting Planet Alpha 31. He got back to me saying that he loves the game but feels like it’s missing some feature to make it more unique. It was a bit of a shock because I thought at that point the game was strong enough, but it was also a huge motivation to come up with something special.

After a few days of brainstorming and panic it clicked: I have this real-time day and night cycle, so what if the player could affect it somehow? Visually it would look impressive, but more importantly it’s a mechanic that can be tied to all three main gameplay pillars: puzzles, platforming, and action.

The Daytime Manipulation Mechanic gives the player the ability to change the planet rotation, going fast forward or fast backwards, and this allows him to interact with special Alien structures and to affect the planet biosphere. This is the kind of feature that requires changes throughout the entire game from visuals, to gameplay, to audio. However, I had to implement it, otherwise I knew I wouldn’t make the best game I could.

The investor talks didn’t work out due to other reasons, but I’m very happy about getting this kick to push the game to another level.

The Triumph at Casual Connect Asia 2015