Dev Diary #2 — Factions of Guardians Planetfall

Welcome back, Guardians!

You voted, we delivered! In the last poll, we asked which dev diary you wanted to see, and factions were the top choice. So here’s an overview of one of the core pillars of Guardians Planetfall: the factions that shape the galaxy and define how the war feels moment to moment.

At launch, Planetfall features three main factions:

the Federation, the Void Empire, and the Bugs

The Federation is the human faction, and the one players belong to as Guardians of the Federation. Guardians are an elite force tasked with protecting human space from external threats and containing the expansion of hostile forces across the galaxy.

From a design perspective, the Federation was one of the easiest factions to ground. The goal was simple: make it feel believable, like humanity 200–300 years in the future. Weapons, buildings, vehicles, and ships take inspiration from existing military and industrial designs, pushed forward with a layer of sci-fi technology and a strong cool factor. Even at its most advanced, Federation tech should feel like something that could exist.

The Void Empire is an alien faction aggressively expanding across the galaxy in search of ancient artifacts from an unknown, older civilization. The Federation doesn’t yet understand what these artifacts are or why they matter, but first contact happened when both factions clashed over excavation sites during the Void Empire’s advance.

Visually and thematically, the Void Empire is defined by a black and red color palette, sharp and menacing silhouettes, and a strong sense of technological superiority. Their adancement focuses heavily on laser weaponry, energy shields, and mechanical units. Actual Void beings are rare on the battlefield. Most encounters involve droids and robots, led by a Void commander acting as a tactical leader during engagements.

Void outposts and defenses are highly organized, methodical, and oppressive. Their technology shapes every encounter, changing how Guardians move, fight, and survive on the battlefield.

The Bugs are an evolved version of the creatures you may recognize from Guardians Frontline. They are an aggressive, adaptive species that nests wherever possible and swarms anything alive within reach.

Their visual identity revolves around a blue and green palette, strong insect-like features, and exposed orange biological elements. During their design, we put a lot of effort into making sure all bug enemies feel like evolutions of a shared base species. The goal was cohesion, different roles and silhouettes, but clearly part of the same biological ecosystem.

Bug hives blend into natural environments, with biomass spreading and reshaping terrain around them. Everything about their presence should feel organic, invasive, and alive.

From a gameplay perspective, each enemy faction needed a distinct mechanical identity, not just a visual one.

The Void Empire focuses on ranged combat and volume of fire. Their units rely on coordinated shooting, suppression, shields, and advanced technology. Combat against the Void should feel like stepping into an active war zone, filled with laser fire, explosions, and layered threats from multiple directions. Each unit has its own role, which we’ll explore in a future Dev Diary.

The Bugs, on the other hand, are more melee-focused. While some units have ranged capabilities, their primary strength lies in swarm behavior, volume over precision. They are easier to read, but overwhelming in numbers. Crowd control becomes essential, especially when high-tier bug units enter the fight and completely disrupt your plans. We’ll dive deeper into their units and behaviors in another Dev Diary.

The creation process of the assets is the same across all factions. Every unit and building starts with a design document defining its gameplay intent, followed by concept exploration, iteration, and refinement, before moving into blockouts and final 3D models, just like the weapons from the last Dev Diary.

Bug Faction Concept Exploration:

If you’d like to see deeper breakdowns of specific units, buildings, or faction mechanics, join our discord server here: https://discord.gg/FP4nJx3tEP and let us know in the #general channel.

More Dev Diaries will come, so stay tuned and If you want to support the project, invite your friends to the server, share the trailer, wishlist the game, and don’t forget to equip the new Discord Server Tag to represent Planetfall across other communities!

Thanks for joining us as we build Guardians Planetfall together. 🚀