Notes from the developer.

Hey folks, Richie here, developer of Traverse the Void (TTV). I have been meaning to write this post since the first TTV demo went live in October.

How Traverse the Void started

TTV began as a prototype for an interactive art project. The prototype was an infinite procedural terrain to fly around...and it was boring :) With more work it may have led to interesting art, but it felt like a poor use of VR, and more fun when I climbed the terrain! So I built a second prototype, taking the code for procedural terrain generation and turned it into a simple level editor. This proved interesting, so for the past six or so months I have been expanding the level editor and terrain system, while I work on the player locomotion and mechanics for the game.

How I am developing Traverse the Void

The reason I am explaining the origins of the game is explain why I am approaching development the way that I am. After several years of spinning wheels with prototypes that never saw the light of day, I decided I needed to fundamentally change my method of development. My new method can be summed up with three maxims:

Maxims for development

1. Get the game into players hands early and often for feedback, and don’t be afraid to look stupid.

2. Game development is a marathon, not a race.

3. Let the systems and mechanics co-design the game.

The first demo of Traverse the Void was released in October.

It was rough, had dull visuals, and was played by all of 38 people! Importantly though, it led to me learning a lot about things to fix in the game and how to interface with folks about the game. The second demo will be released Dec. 1st, with updates from the few wonderful folks who took time out of their day to offer in-depth feedback. Based off of feedback from the first demo, I will soon be launching the TTV discord channel, to streamline the process for folks offering feedback. I would say the first demo failed the race, but hopefully by adjusting from mistakes made, we are now doing better in the marathon.

Speaking about marathons

The games visuals are one of its weakest areas. I figure this will cause most folks to not take a second look. At this point, I am fine with TTV passing under the radar for most folks, if in the process every demo and new update brings TTV closer to a great game and a few more players. For this reason great visual and style is not a high priority (yet)...trust me though, I would love to make the game look great, I just think there are more important core aspects to develop. My priority for the next few months is to thoroughly explore the the player mechanics/movement in conjunction with the terrain creation/destruction system. Of course, listening to what players have to say is a top priority as well.

About Early Access

The upcoming major milestone for TTV is to enter Early Access. However, the game will not enter EA until I feel the game stands on its own enough to warrant charging for it. So until that time, I will continue development, continue updating the demo, and continue looking for folks willing to offer a little bit of feedback.

Thanks for reading!

-R

There were more variety to the graphics in the first demo, but a few bugs led me to keep them out until I could make sure they were fixed. Still pretty barren though...

You can see the new terrain types better in an editor view.

A full post on changes will be online when the new demo is live.