Dear post-apocalyptic fans! We present for your attention the third chapter of the developer diary for the game Last Frontier, with a report on January–February 2015.
Throttle down the engine of your old snowmobile, tune your radio to the common channel, and get ready for a radio broadcast — because today nothing foretells a blizzard. Here we go!
DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS
Over these two frosty months, development proceeded at a measured pace. For the starting location, we completed the creation of the general graphic elements of the environment and moved on to highly specialized graphics for specific floors and blocks. The creation of content for the wastelands and the next inhabited “newbie” locations continued. Thanks to the current speed, we can afford to remake some of the early objects that no longer match the overall level of execution. The creation and introduction of models of all the mutants planned for the first alpha version of the game has been completed. Work with items has begun: groups of models and art for the inventory are being created and introduced. We are steadily introducing new interface windows, adapting to the updated version of the game engine, and actively creating text descriptions of items and the environment. In addition, a scripter has joined the work, currently engaged in assembling the quests of the main storyline.
The current prototype of the inventory interface.
The only area of development where the general routine gave way to an all-hands crunch mode was the scenario and dialogues. In the course of a working discussion, it turned out that the starting location needed to be expanded by another three full levels. The logical decision resulted in nearly four dozen NPCs and a dozen and a half personal quests. But now we can finally report that, for the first alpha version, the writing of dialogues for all personal quests, both one-time and recurring, has been completed. The next goal is the cooperative and group quests of the starting location, which make Last Frontier a multiplayer RPG.
VALUABLE METAL
A couple of months is an unusually short period for news of this type, but in order to keep you up to date on the progress of our game’s development, we have decided to change the diary’s format: instead of rarely summing up the results, new chapters will become a regular feature. We think that from now on, the diaries will be released once every two or three months.
By tradition, the chapter ends with a selection of promo materials: we invite you to read the article about the monetary system that has formed in the game region, as well as to check out the render of the first-generation sentry gun for indoor spaces and the concept art of environment objects for locations situated on the icy wastelands.
Thank you for being with us!
The Last Frontier project team
1 March 2015