Autonauts
What's Up, Bot?
How do.
It’s been at least a month since we last got together to discuss progress and the status of Autonauts. What have we been up to since then?
Short answer: the usual (essential):
- Firming up the game structure to give purpose to play.
- Finding funding to keep development going.
- Searching for a kindred spirit to help us better share Autonauts more widely with the world; for example, a publisher.
- Exploring possible practical solutions for world peace to help make the planet a better place for everyone.
That last one’s proving awkward, so we decided to concentrate on the first three instead.
Inflame Game
The ‘mission’ flow is coming together slowly but surely. It feels like every one of them we make, no matter how simple, seems to highlight more issues for us to solve - not least how best to present key information to players. We do now have a sweet little system for feeding information and objectives to players without being too naggy or patronising.
The ‘missions’ we’ve made so far take you up to bringing colonists into the world (remember the Folk who used to lounge making demands?) and looking after them by getting your Bots to do all the work for you (AKA ‘The Power of Automation’), primarily forestry, basic food production and science (research, basically). We’re doubling down on that portion to tighten it up and make it as solid as possible before expanding on it.
Fond Fund
Not much to say about development funding really, other than it’s necessary and we’re always looking at ways to keep the wolf from the door. The downside is it takes time away from making the game, but at least it means we get to keep making the game.
Swell Sell
We’ve been out and about, seeing some publishers, trying to find a possible partnership with anyone who shares our vision. We ended up at the Develop 2018 conference in Brighton, England, where we impressed people with Autonauts as it was and as it stands now, which was nice :)
See you next month - or earlier if there’s news worth shouting about.
Comments
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Even if the sky falls down before you manage to finish this, I still would prefer that to you burning out <3
I am very impressed by the images shown here. I see in the top image what I believe might be cereal growing at three levels, short and green, medium and yellow, and tall and yellow which is probably ready for harvesting. I see what I believe in the front-right is a bot with a flail harvesting the cereal. I see what looks like at least 3 bots doing something with white cereal seeds near 3 pumpkins. I see what I think might be a bot with a shovel planting seeds in the center. At the left side I think I see a bot pushing a cart of cereal seeds past another bot that I can imagine might have filled that cart with the seeds earlier. I see windmills and stone walls and brick walls and storage bins and perhaps a recycler or incinerator in the distance.
In the bottom image I see logs that are no longer shaped like round tree trunks but are instead six-sided. I see that the logs can be stacked to form walls and can also be stacked for use in this lumber mill. I see what I believe must be 6 crude bench saws for cutting the logs into planks and poles. I like the details of those crude bench saws, including what might be white cranks which the bots could turn to operate the saws. I see differences in the bots. One of them is short and might be wearing a pink hat (or maybe that is the Farmer Player). Some have one green top-light, some have two green top-lights, and one has a single yellow top-light. I also see on the right side in the distance what might be the beginning of a tower of objects that have not yet been put into storage.
In the future, I would very much like to see an image that shows a sample of one bot’s “My Brain” commands. That would really increase interest in the game from those of us that enjoy automating the entire game to do everything.
Thank you for all you are doing for us.
I love this breakdown! And I second the request for some Brain updates! :D