Devlog #1 - Introduction [6/15/16]

[i.imgur.com]

We are going to start a series of devlogs in which we’ll talk about several aspects of Dawn of Andromeda. To kick this off, let’s talk a bit about our company and the vision behind Dawn of Andromeda.GreyWolf Entertainment was originally founded in 2015 and is based in Leiria, Portugal. We are a small team of four, each with different backgrounds but with the same passion for games – and in particular, for making great games.It all started out when I decided to put together all my ideas for what would be my ideal space 4X game and would later define what the vision for Dawn of Andromeda would be. A fast, fun and accessible space strategy game in which the player would feel like a true emperor, ruling over an empire in a galaxy that would feel alive, brimming with movement and interesting characters to interact with and awesome races to negotiate and wage war with, or against.While the 4X space sub genre has seen it’s fair share of new releases in the last three or four years, we felt there was still a distinct lack of titles that bet on faster and accessible gameplay. Usually going for more hardcore game mechanics that, while many fans love, made it very hard for newcomers to the genre to feel at home. However we also decided early on that we couldn’t disregard those fans in any way, as we are also part of that crowd ourselves, and so the challenge was set.From a design and art perspective, we also wanted to avoid sticking too close to the classics of the genre, with Master of Orion being the most obvious stalwart of the space 4X sphere. At a time when there’s quite a lot of games that stay very close to the winning formula of previous successes we felt we needed to go for a different direction without reinventing the wheel and alienating fans of the genre.The first big decision was to go for either real time or turn based, and we chose the former for a few reasons. First, it is more accessible to non-hardcore players, as simple as that. Secondly, we felt it was nearly impossible for a turn based game to feel as alive and brimming with movement as a turn based game because of the lack of time flow of the latter. Thirdly, we also wanted fast games, with swift and fun combat. A real time setting would be perfect for that. It also helped that we were already fans of Sins of a Solar Empire and Europa Universalis, which immediately became two of our biggest references.Then came the time to decide exactly how we would make Dawn of Andromeda stand out from the pack. I always loved the assymetric nature of Europa Universalis, and how it helped make the game not only feel more alive and immersive, but also more varied. Assymetric gameplay thus became one of the very first big features that we decided on. Allowing players to start new games exactly how they wanted, then lead us to realize the potential a highly customizable game could have. Not only will it add more value for the player, as it enables them to start several games and make them completely different on how they approach their goals and how hard or easy they would be, but also gave us a clear direction where to go next: Eras.In the next devlog we’re going over the Eras feature, how they work and why we think they are a cool addition to the genre.Stay tuned!