Honeycomb dev update #4 - Technology design - our journey so far 🛰️

Hi there, Explorers! 🧭

It’s been a while since we let you in on the latest in Honeycomb. That’s because we’ve been toiling away like a bunch of busy bees! In fact, our Technology Designer needs a break… And would like to tell you about the fruit of our efforts and how we got where we are. There’s plenty to learn, so without further ado - let’s delve into the world of tech design and find out how one comes up with what trees should look like… You can also look forward to a small surprise that awaits you at the end of this devlog - we’re hosting some visitors from above, and it’s not what you think it is!

Tech design isn’t all about numbers - technology has a feel and an aesthetic to it. We all know a chunky computer from the 80s gives a very different vibe than a MacBook - and video games are all about feeling. So we decided on a unique style from the get-go, and we’re working to incorporate it into every piece that appears in-game. A futuristic take on Art Nouveau doesn’t mean just throwing in some sci-fi elements into existing designs, however. Our designers work in accordance with tenets of the art movement - putting emphasis on fluidity of lines, flowing and sinuous motifs, and floral shapes.

Our Technology Designer translates his ideas into 3D right away, no sketches required. Above you can see the effects of an exercise he did when we just started working on defining the style of our game.. He transformed the look of a typical chair from IKEA and designed its sci-fi and Art Nouveau counterparts, drawing attention to the most characteristic structural elements. The next step was to blend these extremes until he felt like he had the perfect model. After that, we had a solid base for any future designs and could just follow a similar workflow. Easy-peasy!

Above are presented a few stages of base development. You can read more about it in our previous development update.

FACILITIES

Soon after we’ve created the base, we shifted our focus to base operation(s). All that tech (...and the bioengineer) has to run on something!

Silo consists of a water container and a power accumulator. It’s how you’re going to conserve these precious resources for a rainy day. We tried to make it blend in with the base while also giving it a distinct look by drawing inspiration from the Tesla coil - you can see it in the glowing sphere on top!

At first, solar panels were supposed to look like ship sails but over time their shapes started looking more and more flower-like. In the end, they are very similar to blossoms. Solar panels will supply energy to your base… Talk about flower power.

Another one of our facilities is the Antenna. In this project, our Technology Designer used organic design motifs, which he considers to be a contemporary version of Art Nouveau. The Antenna will create a radiolocation area, allowing the players to use crucial mechanics such as the Drone Hive.

DRONES

A lot of mysterious places and valuable materials are waiting on Sota7 to be discovered by you. You need to expand your base to find them all! Thankfully you won't have to rely only on yourself.

Drone Scout is a companion which will support the Explorers as an extra pair of “eyes”. With its help you can observe a diverse world of Sota7 from a bird’s eye view and explore uncharted territories. The design of this device is based on flexible and flowing shapes. Openworks structures and magnetic engines replaced conventional drive mechanisms.

Drone Builder is a gadget which allows the player to construct the base on a basic level. When working our Technology Designer was inspired by car keys. Drone Builder’s form is closely related to the style we used for the base.

Drone Engineer is the biggest and most functional drone in the game. It works in cooperation with the Drone Hive. Engineer lets the player construct a base in planning mode, while the Hive contains two smaller constructing drones that build it. A source of inspiration was of course the beehive. 🐝 In a way, the Engineer is like the queen bee who orders the worker bees from the Hive around.

VEHICLES / MEANS OF TRANSPORT

Sota7 isn’t just a planet - it’s a planet that needs to be thoroughly explored. You can go where your feet take you or sit back in one of your vehicles and enjoy the trip through remarkable areas.

Hoverboard is the smallest available vehicle. It allows you to move quickly from one place to another. Its construction was heavily influenced by organic design. We wanted to design something that would incorporate openwork elements, an electromagnetic engine and would still look like something that could be transformed into a smaller device. That’s how we landed on this branch-like model.

Buggy is a medium size vehicle with cargo space. During development the concept of the Buggy went through a lot of metamorphoses. All of this ultimately contributed to the creation of this vehicle with an electromagnetic drive and openwork supporting structure. Our Tech Designer disclosed that he looked at a lot of fish pictures while designing this thing. We decided not to question him further.

AN ASSORTMENT OF ODDITIES

If that’s not enough to convince you that we’ve been pretty busy, we’d like to show you some more odds and ends. We can’t really put them in their own neat categories, but they are indeed pretty neat. Just take a look:

Vertical Farm is a device which allows you to breed plants in laboratory conditions. As for functionality, the concepts don't differ from each other. As you can see, this apparatus has a double structure and a UV lamp. Like the previous ones, this project was inspired by the base design as well, especially in terms of its supporting structure.

Shhh, it’s alright… Just sleep. Yes, this is exactly what it looks like. The injector is a tranquilizer dart gun. Killing or hurting the animals isn't part of your mission on Sota7, but that doesn’t mean that you’re supposed to stay far away from them… or that they’ll always be friendly. Thanks to the injector you can obtain samples from dangerous species without harming them, or them harming you. Our Technology Designer considers it one of his favorites. He said this design went through a lot of changes, but he ended up really liking it… Which isn’t always how it works out.

If you’re still craving more after all this excitement, you can take a look at our friends’ devlog about their game, Aloft - a sandbox survival indie where you have to survive in a world threatened by an eternal hurricane.

Steam Base Builder Fest. As you might expect we’ll participate in Steam Base Builder Fest. Look at the stream we’ve made for this occasion! We hope that you’ll like the new mechanics we presented.

KEEP UP TO DATE

Alrighty, that’s it for today, Explorers. We hope that you found this devlog interesting. We are all looking forward to your comments! Your opinion means a lot to us. Once again, we want to invite you to Honeycomb’s Discord Server, because it’s important for us to stay in touch with you. You can also follow us on our social media outlets to keep up to date.

Finally, we’d like to encourage you to add Honeycomb to your wishlist and to follow the game, so that you’ll be kept informed about future updates of the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1510440/Honeycomb/?l