Good morning, @everyone,
Today, I’d like to provide another transparent status report on HWS+.
Back in June, I had set yesterday as my deadline, but we are still not ready for a full release. As I’ve mentioned before, this time around, I’m committed to delivering a finished product that you can enjoy playing, unlike our previous releases, which often felt unfinished or like tech demos. You all deserve well-polished configurations, an immersive story, and a balance of quantity and quality in exploration.
As some of you may be aware, Starfield didn’t perform as well as expected. I’ve watched several hours of streams and have identified the reasons behind its shortcomings. One of these reasons is the presence of monotonous, procedurally generated 1000 playfields. Similar like RE, Vanilla, or No Man’s Sky, I aim to avoid this pitfall in HWS+. While HWS+ will offer numerous solar systems to fuel your excitement for exploration, each system will be carefully handpicked and integrated for a specific purpose. The primary concept is to cluster solar systems based on the loot and resources they offer. If you’re seeking a particular item, you’ll need to venture to a specific location. This concept will be the central theme throughout the entire scenario, whether it’s for trade routes, combat encounters, or the unfolding story.
I’ve hired in a total of three individuals to assist me in achieving these goals, and I remain confident that this investment will pay off, providing you with a unique alternative gaming experience.
The reason for the slow progress is that I’ve had to juggle numerous tasks simultaneously. Additionally, I’ve started paying more attention to real-life matters, and there’s another substantial side project I’m working on with a friend, which I hope to share more about soon.
In summary, as I’ve mentioned before, HWS is here to stay for as long as I’m alive, and HWS+ is my personal passion project. It often consumes a lot of my energy and leaves me plagued by doubts, but I’m determined to create something that I’d want to play myself, and hopefully, you will too.
At this point, what remains to be done is finalizing the deep story, as well as introducing a unique and immersive game start. Think of game starts similar to those in titles like Gothic, Need for Speed, Zelda, or others where you begin overpowered, at max level, and then, due to certain events, are forced to start from scratch at level 1. This approach will greatly help in teaching players the game’s mechanics and provide a sense of achievement from the very beginning. Aside from that, we’re assembling the universe as described, refining the playfield layouts, and incorporating your valuable feedback into the configurations.
This journey tests the patience of us all, but rest assured, we are working diligently to deliver something remarkable. I’ll be sharing some teasers of our progress soon in the <#702199670574678016> channel. 2023 is my biggest goal to deliver.
To all those who have been waiting patiently: you are truly awesome, and thank you immensely! To everyone interested: get ready for a completely different Empyrion experience with a wealth of gameplay.
Sincerely,
Your HWS Team
<:Info:1111310438521643008> P.S.: Jascha is currently at vacation far away for 1 full month. Please note that I might take a bit longer than usual to resolve your tickets or questions.