And right when we thought that there were no recent city-building games set in space, here’s that we have another one to look for this year. Refactored Games, an indie company from Denmark run by two brothers, has recently announced Unclaimed World, a combination of the simulation and city-building genres that puts you in charge of managing a community of space pioneers on an alien planet ecosystem.
The idea, says Refactored Games, is to offer a “realistic sci-fi setting, in a believable future without Faster-than-Light travel” where the lives of space pioneers depend on “your strategic planning”.
It all begins when Earth’s first interstellar colonization ship reaches a Terran planet in the Tau Ceti star system. The game is about the aftermath of a problematic landing operation. The colonists became scattered throughout the planet with minimal supplies and technology. The idea is to rebuild a human civilization in a different planet, but first they need to survive in a completely unknown alien environment.
The devs plan to release the game in chunks, or episodes. In a first release, that they call a demo, the focus is on survival aspects (e.g. hunting, constructing shelter). Then, in later game expansions, they intend to offer other gameplay aspects such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing.
The “Survival” demo will be free, both the testing phase and demo release. A one-time payment will then grant you access to the finished “Survival” episode and all other further episodes. The first episode’s demo is expected to release in Summer 2013. There’s no price set yet.
The game will run on Windows and it will be DRM-free. For more information on Unclaimed World check out the official website.
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That looks marevelous, alien ecosystem and more planetary focused management are concepts that I really like. The art style is also really amazing. Although I hope that the game will have a randomness to it that provides replay value and new challenges.
Thats Awesome another game that will capture my attention possibly for ever! I shall be investing in both Terminus and This. Thats PA Terminus and This to look forward to this year!
Seems Sci-fi is really making a resurgence this year :)
Looks like a very new awesome game concept. And I like this art style. Looking forward.
This looks intriguing. I hope they pick up more resources to expand the theme and locations. Imagine a series of interconnected different planets and environments to explore. Eventually you could introduce alien sentients too, though the game would likely be interesting even without them.
What would make this sort of game really cool is if there was a large pool of alien creatures and plant and environmental features, only some of which would be added to any particular game. That would keep the exploration and discovery fresh for more than one play through. Maybe that’s where mods come in.
Would be even better if those asset’s were generated procedurally and changed with every game. Then you would have a near infinite amount of challenge.
The developers posted some info about this the other day. They said that creatures and plants will not be procedural, but at the very least the toxicity and edibility values will change every game. They said the game will not have procedural landscape generation on release due to time, money, and engine constraints, but they hope to add it at a later time.
Oh well, would have been nice :)
It’s much harder to generate art assets procedurally than numbers. All you have to assume is that the same-looking animal or plant is not the same as the last game :)
I really like the look and design.I will be following this game closely.
Looks very interesting. I’m a fan of the “Walking Dead” game (Telltale Games on Steam) and that game uses the episode approach as well. Episodes work well in “Walking Dead” because there is a continuing narrative, much like a TV series. I’m not sure how well it will function in a city-building or exploration game such as “Unclaimed World.” I guess we will see.
Really like the look of this. The potential is just amazing and the best thing is that the genre is almost untouched. Pretty much nobody has done this sort of game before (I wont count Outpost 1 because it was a complete disaster). The closest would be Brian Reynolds Alpha Centauri, one of my favorite games of all time. I’ll be looking forward to this with great anticipation.
Yes, nothing beats Alpha Centauri in this sort of sci-fi gaming experience at the moment. That’s why we need more of these games. SMAC is 14 years old…
However, SMAC is 4X while Unclaimed Words seems to be a more open ended simulation. But, we’ll see.
I’m a sucker for these types of games. I love starting with essentially nothing, and getting to build up a sprawling empire from such a meager beginning.
The more primitive start the better, which sounds exactly like what is planned here!
Totally agree. The humbler the beginning the better. The idea is to then look back and think “Man, from where I started and am now”. This is a golden rule for 4X games for example, but also key in city-building and some simulation games, which is the case here.
2nd photo reminds me a LOT of Settlers II – especially the roads and building placement. I wonder what ‘survival’ mechanics they will introduce that separates this game from other an-empire-from-nothing sims such as Tropical/Settlers.
Yes, the devs did mention The Settlers as one game that they got some inspiration from (in the game’s overview page). Good eye! ;)
I am really into this concept. I’ve been thinking on making a similar game somewhere down the line, post-StarDrive. There is a lot of great potential in this space. We’ll see what comes!
So we got this and Maia (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/simonroth/maia)
the ideas are cool … lets see what it will look like when finished.
An intriguing idea … reminiscent of Alpha Centauri.
I like the concept, but it would be more interesting if the initial colonization, could be then move to like Alin Crossfire a confrontation with aliens …
Unclaimed … means nothing if you do not know the existence of those who claim it.
A similar idea to the movie “Enemy Mine” in which the earthly take possession of some worlds, not knowing that already belong to another species.
I would respectfully disagree. I think that the challenges involved with exploration and survival on a new world are exciting and interesting enough to stand alone without the need to introduce invading aliens, forced disasters or other formulaic antagonists that we have seen a million times in other genres.
The possibilities are endless. They are releasing it in stages which are actually rather awesome as they plan to release to coincide with the various stages of a colony which is pretty cool. I think once they get the core down they can maybe work on extras like sentient aliens and stuff possibly even some brake away human factions maybe we just don’t know yet this game will be great though I think.
I think it’s a brilliant idea, a fresh take on the genre for sure.
I’ve subscribed to their newsletter and will keep a close eye on this one.