Drone Swarm caught my attention from the moment I received the media invite email a few weeks out from PAX East. It may have been the first game I confirmed a meeting time for. Published by Astragon, and developed by stillalive studios, Drone Swarm looked nothing like previous games from either of the parties mentioned above.

If you are not familiar with the works of Astragon or stillalive, let me give you an idea of the games they have released. Astragon is the publisher on some core simulator games such as Farming Simulator, Construction Simulator, and Bus Simulator. stillalive has worked on two iterations of Bus Simulator, as well as Rescue HQ and several other titles.

Drone Swarm, by contrast, is a real-time strategy game. There is nothing “simulator” about it (though I think it could be titled Awesome Simulator).

About Drone Swarm

Though I was most excited about the gameplay loop in Drone Swarm, the story itself is an interesting one. I will not attempt to butcher the backstory, so here it is directly from the press release:

“You are Commander Carter, ex-soldier and captain of the starship Argo. Its ultimate weapon: a giant swarm of 32,000 drones. Control your mothership’s drones and strategically deploy them to achieve your objectives. Split the swarm to simultaneously defend your ship and attack the enemy. Develop your own tactics and exploit the environment to destroy alien aggressors. Explore the uncharted galaxy with its many dangers and mysteries. Collect resources and acquire new abilities to keep upgrading your ship and drones. The year is 2118. Earth lays in ruins after huge swathes of it were destroyed by a massive swarm of alien drones. The few human survivors found a way to control the drones and halt the attack. Now that the Earth is uninhabitable, the starship Argo has been sent on the long and dangerous search to find a new Earth somewhere out there in the galaxy. Discover more about the diverse species of aliens throughout the galaxy in a thrilling storyline. Join forces with either the Voohr or the Dashan and determine the fate of humankind. The decision is yours alone! Do what must be done to complete your mission. You are the last hope for human civilization!”

Though the story may seem a little standard in the realm of sci-fi, there are some core pieces of information I’d love to share with you.

Gameplay

As the backstory states, the main gameplay loop for Drone Swarm is controlling your 32,000 drones to navigate through space in battles against hostile forces. Your drones move in a swarm and can be used to attack or defend. Additionally, you can upgrade your ship over time to enhance your strategic options in battle.

Controlling the drones is pretty simple; you select attack or defend and then draw lines on the screen where you want those actions to take place. This mechanism gives the game a very fluid feel, as you are tasked with battling in real-time.

As you battle through space, you will encounter some obstacles that will force you to think about and evolve your strategies. Whether it is new enemy types or environmental effects that change how your drones react, you are always on your toes.

Make no mistake, as fluid as the gameplay is, the real joy is watching the drones. When you draw an attack pattern, they move as one beautiful unit in a helical pattern. When you set drones to defend, they promptly create an ordered mesh. At times, I found myself mesmerized by the motion of the swarm to my detriment.

It’s All About the Drones

The drone swarm component of the game was so cool; I had to carve some time out with the team.

My biggest hang-up was whether the drones were particles and everything that was happening on screen was being achieved through particle effects, or some other means. It turns out that it is not particle effects, and that made sense to me as the laptop I played on did not burst into flames while playing.

It turns out that all 32,000 drones are their very own game object on the screen at once.

At this juncture, my man Julian (CEO at stillalive studios) stepped into the picture. I had to know how 32,000 drones using a flocking mechanic worked. Mainly because, to reiterate, the laptop I played on did not burst into flames while playing.

No traditional flocking mechanics are used. It turns out that Julian and the team are geniuses. They effectively (and pardon me guys if I butcher this) make a mesh out of the drones and then, using principles from fluid dynamics, apply pressure to the mesh to cause the swarm to move as one and achieve the patterns I was mesmerized by. Couple that with some optimization via low-level programming and voila, swarms of drones not melting your computer.

Some Other Cool News

Astragon and stillalive have secured a partnership with 451 Media Group to develop a comic book further explaining the backstory of Drone Swarm. That’s the same 451 Media Group that was co-founded by Michael Bay.

Not only will there be a Michael Bay-backed comic book (I’m taking liberty as it is not him personally backing it), but 451 is going to help with all of the in-game cut scenes. This level of continuity between the two forms of media is something that I love.

My Impression

I genuinely loved my time with Drone Swarm. At the end of the demo, I kept clicking around, hoping new planets or areas would pop up. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Drone Swarm made me feel like I was in Ender’s Game, commanding an orchestra of drones to destroy my enemies and protect my ship.

An interesting observation about the game is there seems to be no optimal path to beating the levels. In my time with Julian chatting about fluid dynamics and physics degrees, I got to watch the average attendee play the game; no two people attacked a level the same way, but they all succeeded.

I am very excited about Drone Swarm to release later this year, and I implore you to take a look at what I think will be a pretty unique game.

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