An update for December 2019

This is a monthly development series about CHAOTIC ERA, an upcoming interstellar strategy game set in a procedurally generated universe. Subscribe below for more behind-the-scenes updates and exclusive content from the world of CHAOTIC ERA.

These updates have typically been internal only, but we’re going to start sharing them now that we’re getting closer to a private beta.

We’ll try to keep things nice and short: taking a look at our latest dev updates, and diving into some of the movies, music, books, and art that are influencing the direction of the game.

In December, we watched Ad Astra (2019), and really appreciated its gorgeous visuals and cynical vision of space travel. The movie managed to touch on a lot of interesting concepts like international politics beyond Earth, commercialization of space, and the futility of relentless expansion.

HD009 (2012) by SURVIVE and Dark Red (2015) by Shlohmo have been in steady rotation on Spotify. Both are incredible instrumental albums and conjure up the exact feelings we’re trying to evoke through Chaotic Era, especially that sinking pit in your stomach when you think about the vast emptiness of space.

Camera space UI

We’ve consolidated our previously separate world and UI cameras, enabling post-processing effects to be applied to UI as well. We want to make Chaotic Era feel less like a game and more like an in-universe navigation tool, so this is an important change.

Garage

Interaction with the Garage, the area of the game where users manage their fleet of ships, has been fleshed out. Screen space gestures now properly translate the camera on two dimensions; zooming in and out interpolate between a detail and birds’ eye view as well.

For now, each body (planet, moon, etc.) has its own Garage, and ships located on that body can only be managed from that body’s Garage.

Ship icons

Exploration has been done for small icons that could represent individual ship classes. These icons would be used wherever a full 3D model would be too imposing.

Trailer

Work on our first teaser trailer for Chaotic Era has continued using our new art direction. We're getting closer to a final state, so keep an eye out.

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