Hi there!

In the last piece of news we shared with you we described the newest addition to the range of biomes to be featured in The Riftbreaker. Just like every other region in the game, this place will change the rules of the game a little bit, forcing you to try out new strategies and find solutions to problems that you never had to face before.


Well, we've certainly visited more welcoming places on this planet...

Producing a sufficient amount of energy to power up your base is going to be one of these challenges. Naturally, you could bet on the basic solar and wind power plants, but their decreased efficiency means that a significant amount of resources would have to be invested in such an endeavor. Solutions like the Geothermal Power Plant cost more up-front but yield much better results. However, it is also possible to utilize the potential of magma itself. World - meet the Magma Power Plant.



This building will be a key piece of any outpost set up in the Magma Biome. It uses specialized containers to keep the magma in constant motion and, in consequence, to prevent it from solidifying. Extremely high temperature propels thousands of specialized micro-turbines within to generate electricity. Even though the individual turbine’s energy output is quite small, thanks to advanced circuitry, the entire power plant can power up a large portion of a Riftbreaker’s base.


With limited output from renewable energy sources the Magma Power Plant will save you a lot of building resources and also a huge amount of space!

In order to make use of this technology, Ashley will have to find a way of preventing the magma from burning all her precious equipment. Some portions of the Magma Power Plant are designed to handle the extreme heat, but not all of them. In addition, to provide the Power Plant with a steady flow of magma it will be necessary to lay down pipelines and pumps that need protection as well. Make sure you’ve done your research on heat-resistant materials before you venture here.


The Magma Power Plant will not work without a steady supply of magma that you can deliver by pipes.

The Magma Power Plant is a significant investment, time, and resource-wise and it can be used only in this specific environment, but the end result will solve a lot of base-building problems. It’s only the first of the biome-specific buildings that we present to you. They are not going to be absolutely necessary to survive, as we want to preserve the open-ended gameplay structure, but you will certainly find using them beneficial.


Getting enough power is not the only problem that you will have to face here!

As always, if you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions visit our Discord. You can chat us up and ask all the questions about the game that come to your head. Join the streams as well - the more, the merrier!



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Hello again!

After we released our gameplay trailer a couple of months ago, the most attentive of you took notice of the different biomes that we showed you the snippets of. We’ve been receiving questions about them ever since and promised to answer them in detail as their overall design becomes clearer. That’s the result of having many people contribute to the development of the game - you get loads of great concepts, but you can’t realize all of them. Now, after many hours of internal discussions and brainstorming, we believe we have our vision for the Magma Biome ready to present, so let’s get into it!



As the name suggests, this biome is located in a seismically-unstable part of Galatea 37. The thin crust of the planet couldn’t hold the raging inferno of molten lava in check, which resulted in multiple cracks and holes to form. High temperature and abundance of elements straight from underneath the planet’s surface were the perfect building blocks for an entirely new ecosystem that formed in this biome. Over thousands of years, the remains of the old geological structures in this place have been covered by volcanic ash, rocks and unique mineral structures.



Life tends to find a way to develop even in the most unwelcoming places. That is true also in the case of the Magma Biome. Ashley will find many new species of plants, animals and mushrooms while exploring the region. Since those life forms had to develop protective mechanisms to survive in extreme temperatures, they will provide plenty of research opportunities that might lead to major breakthroughs in the Riftbreaker technology. We won’t share details on what exactly waits to be discovered, but we can tell you that establishing an outpost in this biome will put you one step closer to coming back home.



The Magma Biome will test your creativity when it comes to resource management. Dense clouds of ash reduce the amount of sunlight that reaches the surface, decreasing the effectiveness of solar panels. You can’t fully count on wind either - strong wind is not a common occurrence in these parts of Galatea 37. However, with the amount of geological activity happening around the clock, there will be plenty of opportunities to harness the power of geothermal vents and even magma itself. Naturally, you will need to research methods of protecting your equipment from the heat first.



Our work on this new biome is not yet complete. We already have the ideas for all the pieces of flora and fauna, but they still need to be implemented into the game. There will also be some unique mechanics that take advantage of what this place has to offer. We will try to show some of them off during our development streams that happen every Tuesday on Mixer and every Thursday on Twitch. Naturally, we will try to keep them as spoiler-free as possible. We don’t want to share all the secrets before you get a chance to play :)



Join the Discord! We publish daily changelogs, talk with you directly on a daily basis and share our thoughts about The Riftbreaker and gaming in general. It’s the best place to stay up to date with us! See you there!



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Good news, everyone!

The Digital Dragons Jury has decided to honor The Riftbreaker with the second place in the Indie Celebration contest!



Words can’t describe how happy we are to add another award to The Riftbreaker showcase! We dedicate this victory to you, our wonderful community. Without your overwhelming support, tons of useful feedback and hours you spent playtesting the game, we wouldn’t have been able to reach this level so quickly. This success is both ours and yours. We wholeheartedly thank you and promise to keep working as hard as we possibly can to keep at it!

Participation in the Digital Dragons Indie Celebration has been very important to us. As you know, the gaming market is very saturated and there are tons of great games being released every day, competing for players’ attention. Every opportunity to present The Riftbreaker to a wider audience is an incredible boost to us when it comes to exposure.

Placing so high in such a tough field also tells us that we are on the right track. It’s a great honor, and we would like to congratulate all participating studios.

To celebrate, we have sent out some Alpha keys to our Discord users. If you haven't joined the Alpha waiting list yet, sign up now!



Again, thank you so much for your support!

EXOR Studios

One of the features of The Riftbreaker we are most proud of is definitely pitting the player against massive hordes of hostile creatures inhabiting Galatea 37. Every now and again, a large group of various beasts will try to wipe the player’s base off the surface of the planet. The looming threat of a concentrated attack motivates the player to fortify their base and look for new ways of protecting their assets. It is possible to meet other groups of alien creatures, too. They simply go on about their lives, spread across multiple regions of Galatea 37, and are a vital component of the game world.


Hammeroceroses might look threatening, but they are not hunters. They will let Jurvines live in peace alongside them.

The ‘ambient creatures’ as we call them are important for several reasons. First of all, they introduce a danger element to the exploration portion of the game. Before you set up your base and fortify your perimeter, you need to find a suitable spot - preferably one that is easy to defend and rich in resources. Small groups of creatures you meet along the way will make this task more difficult. Given your limited resources at the start, you might fall victim to the wildlife. This encourages the player to be cautious and tactical in their approach and not simply roam around, guns blazing.


In fact, as long as there's enough food for everyone, all creatures can live in prefect harmony!

There are many environmental zones to explore on Galatea 37. It is crucial for us that these are different from each other not only when it comes to visuals, but also gameplay mechanics. Ambient creatures help with that. The first time you set foot in a new biome, you will inevitably meet new species of indigenous creatures, informing you that this is an entirely new region and that the rules might have changed. After hours spent in the previous region, the player might think they already know every secret the game world holds. When they meet new creatures that force them to change their tactics, they might reevaluate that. ;)


Always expect the unexpected while exploring the world.

Ambient groups of creatures also allow you to observe the animal behaviors in the wild. During an attack wave, you will only see a massive horde attacking your defenses and there will be no time to think and observe individual species. While exploring the regions of Galatea 37, you will encounter the same creatures in a non-agitated state. This will give you an opportunity to learn their natural behavior, preferred locations, strong and weak spots, and might even allow to find a use for them. Remember - knowledge is key!


Even the angriest, meanest, creepiest creatures need a bit of a break! Observe and learn!

Although combat is definitely the most spectacular aspect of The Riftbreaker gameplay, we don’t want the game to be one-dimensional and focused solely on that. The introduction of ambient creatures allows us to achieve that. There will be plenty of species for you to find and research. Will you catch them all? ;) Join the Discord and the streams to learn how!



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As weeks go by, we are closer and closer to achieving our vision of presenting the players with a carefully crafted, realistic, living world in the Riftbreaker. As we add new features and redesign the ones that did not quite reach the level of quality we aim for, we’re also working on adding new living beings into the game. Some of you might have even seen it hopping around the Galatean plains already during our streams - it’s the Jurvine (some call it the Boingy Bongo).


Jurvines typically run away from danger. You'll have trouble catching them at Mr. Riggs' regular speed.

The cycle of life on Galatea 37 is very similar to that on Earth. The creatures and plants live, consume to stay alive and when they die they become food for other forms of life. There are both herbivores and carnivores. Predators and their prey. The Jurvine is a peaceful herbivore. It lives in packs and single specimens are hardly ever observed. Jurvines can usually be found around areas that can mask them from predators’ eyesight, such as high grass.


They live in large groups, often hiding in the grass. Their numbers can surprise you sometimes!

Jurvines do not create nests. They live in a ‘nomadic’ sort of way, migrating from one feeding ground to another, not to overstay their welcome and become a target of a hungry Canoptrix pack. They move around on their very muscular legs, that they use to jump. Similarly to our regular kangaroos from earth (regular kangaroos from earth is a great band name, tbh), they are able to cover a very long distance in a short time and even outrun Mr. Riggs.


You can utilize the biomass they drop to produce energy, but think whether it is the right thing to do. Also, don't make other creatures angry in the process.

The wandering nature of Jurvines makes them an important part of the ecosystem of Galatea 37. By traveling all the time, they spread seeds and pollen of the plants they come in contact with. Their lean meat is also very nutritious to all the carnivorous species, making them valuable prey. It is possible for Ashley to make use of that in energy production, as Jurvines drop a lot of biomass that can later be used in the Animal Biomass Power Plant. Whether it is the right thing to do is for you to decide.



Many new creatures of various types are being added to the game as we speak. That is not the only thing that is changing, as we work on many things in parallel. The best way to keep up with the development of The Riftbreaker is by joining our Discord. We publish daily changelogs and answer your questions every day. You can also join our development streams every Tuesday and Thursday.

See you there!

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Around this time we were supposed to be taking part in the Digital Dragons Indie Showcase, unfortunately, 2020 had other plans for all of us. Luckily, the lovely folks at Digital Dragons teamed up with the lovely folks at Valve to create an amazing online event for all of us!

Digital Dragons Indie Celebration is a competition for indies from all over the world, who lost the opportunity to reach people at gaming events due to the pandemic. It is a chance for you to take a look at a curated list of very promising, upcoming indie games, play demos, watch streams and discover some hidden gems. The event starts today and lasts until Friday. You can find it here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/digitaldragons

Over 150 games entered the competition, and the jury selected their top 50. The great news is - The Riftbreaker is included! We will compete with some heavy-hitters for prestigious awards. You can help us with winning one of them by voting on us in the Community Vote Award - the survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8BJ67VM

Your help is greatly appreciated! Take some time and browse through the event on Steam. There are some great games there that we’re eager to play ourselves.



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Hello!

This article will speak a little more about the time-consuming nature of creating models for the game. We touched on it in the previous article. You can now catch up on it in a video form:



In our devlogs we usually talk about the development of The Riftbreaker specifically. The contents of the articles are accurate, but relevant mostly only to this one production. Today’s topic is a little different. We’re going to talk about a very important aspect of creating 3D video game assets in general: polygon counts.

Most of you know that computer graphics use polygons as ‘building blocks’ - two-dimensional, primitive shapes, that connect with each other to form three-dimensional objects on the computer screen. Even though our machines get more powerful every year, we still have to limit the number of polygons on the screen at one time, and this is what today’s article is about. We’re still going to base it on our process, but many things here are common for artists in the game development industry.


Did someone ask for artillery monsters? Software: Zbrush.

Every prop, building or creature that we make starts as a concept sketch. Based on that sketch, a 3D artist prepares a blockout - a simple version of the model that is supposed to show the general shape of the model they’re working on in three dimensions. Once that is approved, they start the sculpting process. Using specialized modelling software, artists turn the simple blocks into very detailed models, even down to things that are barely visible. This process adds a lot of complexity and the polygon count skyrockets into millions. A so-called hi-poly model is born.


A rock like this might look simple enough, but there is a lot of things that we can optimize here!

These kinds of models are, unfortunately, not very useful in our world. We have thousands of objects on the screen at a time. If every one of them had such a high polygon count, no GPU in the world could render it in real-time. We have to adapt each model by lowering the polygon count, through the process called retopology. The artist reduces the complexity of the model, substituting detailed portions of it with simpler shapes. It doesn’t mean that all the painstakingly-crafted detail is lost, though.


This is what a normal map looks like. (It was made for the rock from the previous example. See if you can decipher what goes where :D ) It isn't pretty and only barely human-readable, but it does a great job saving our GPUs the hassle of rendering a LOT of unnecessary polygons.

When you think about it, all the creases, wrinkles, scales, screws that you see on 3D objects are a result of a difference in height in relation to the base plane. It is possible to recreate that without increasing the polygon count using normal mapping. Normal mapping is a technique that allows us to imitate the lighting of little bumps and dents, but on a flat surface. A normal map is a regular RGB texture, but the game engine does not take the RGB values to represent color - in reality, those values store the coordinates of the original polygons. The lighting reacts with the normal map the same way it would with physical models.


Stages of preparing a building model to be put into the game.

We try to lower the polygon count as much as we can, reducing the initial millions to mere thousands. This allows us to render all the game objects in real-time. So, there you go - all (almost…) these steps need to be done before we can put a new model into the game. We hope the article was interesting to you, and if you would like to learn about any other aspects of game developments, feel free to ask us on our Discord!



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[vlog entry for this piece coming later this week, stay tuned!]

Hi!

Ever since we announced The Riftbreaker we have been regularly showing off the development progress. The game has received multiple UI overhauls, new visuals, new weapons, and new weather effects. However, one thing has changed very little over the course of the past year. We still have only 3 types of enemies! Granted, we changed their skins and added Alpha and Ultra variations, and created an Arachnoid boss to top it off, but still, 3 is nowhere near where we want to be. It changes today.


Concept sketches are the first part of work on a new prop, building or creature.

There are various reasons why you had to wait so long for new creatures. First, we decided to give the backend system that handles unit behavior a complete overhaul to make it faster and easier to use. Second, modeling, texturing, and animating a creature is an extremely time-consuming process that often requires a couple of designers working together. Lastly, 3 types of alien creatures were enough for the ‘proof of concept’ version of the game. Now, as we get closer to Campaign Mode, it’s time we introduce some new units. Meet the Gnerot.


One of the Gnerot variations in all its glory.

The Gnerot is a very strange creature, difficult to classify using biological terms known to humans. It is very large, with the biggest specimens outgrowing even the largest Hammeroceroses. When it comes to appearance, the Gnerot is more or less humanoid - arms, legs and the head are clearly visible. The material covering the creature strongly resembles rocks, gravel and dirt. It is yet unknown whether it is a product of the creature’s skin or if the Gnerots stick the loose material it finds to its own body.


T-posing Mr. Riggs allows you to see the scale of this monstrosity.

Their appearance would suggest a slow and sluggish nature but they are far from harmless. These giants can move quite quickly and utilize all their limbs in combat, so you never know how they are going to attack. They defend their territory until the last drop of whatever-flows-in-their-veins. Gnerots are primarily active during the day, but it is not uncommon to see them roaming the surface of Galatea 37 at night as well. When they need rest, Gnerots burrow most of their bodies into the ground, leaving just the bulky back part on the surface. It strongly resembles a rock, so be careful not to startle one…


There were also more ideas for the general shape of the creature, but we chose a mixture of the second and third ones.

Gnerots are usually found around resource deposits and minerals, due to their uncommon diet. Instead of relying on nutrients in water, plants and meat, they consume macroelements in their most primitive form - by chomping on ores directly. We don’t know what goes on in their gastrointestinal tracts, or if they even have such... What you should take away from all this is: if you want to use a resource field that Gnerot fancies, you will have to do a lot of work to drive it away.


WIP eating animation.

Interesting little fellows, aren’t they? We’re still in the process of giving them their finishing touches, but you can expect to see them in full glory on the stream soon. Join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios not to miss a thing! We have recently started posting daily changelogs from development, so you can see how the work on the game progresses with your own eyes. We stream every Tuesday on Mixer - https://www.mixer.com/exor_studios and every Thursday on Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/exorstudios

See you next time!

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Hello guys!

Some time ago we asked you to come up with some interesting ideas for missions that we could use in The Riftbreaker campaign mode. We’re very happy to say that you went above and beyond our expectations! You have given us tons of inspiration and showed the real potential of Community-Driven Development, one of the principles of The Riftbreaker project.



We have gone through each of the entries one by one. We assessed their uniqueness, interesting use of existing and brand-new mechanics, and how well they could fit into the vision we have. Based on those criteria, we have decided to honor the following participants:

1. Deus_Erebos
   
2. Killerworld
   
3. Shadowflame
   
4. Rithe
   
5. MrNeverm0re
   
6. IxianMace
   
7. dark0762
   
8. Ian
   
9. Strykaar
   
10. Vandhal
    
11. Syndrix
    
12. Protato#8360
    
13. FrozT
    
14. eric994
    
15. minimurgle
    
16. TheFireDragon

Congratulations! Their entries stood out the most, and it was a tall order given the overall high level of the entire event. Unless they have stated otherwise, the nicknames of these people will be featured in the Community Hall of Fame section of The Riftbreaker credits. Additionally, we would like to invite these users to participate in the Closed Alpha. Additionally, the top 3 will receive EXOR gift bags.



Please remember that we can’t guarantee that any of these awesome ideas will make it into the final game. Developing a game is a multi-stage process, full of iteration, adding content, deleting content, and learning by trial and error. That is why we will not be sharing the contents of the winning entries - we can avoid potential spoilers and potential disappointment when some mission doesn’t make the cut.



More Discord competitions coming soon! Follow and participate in the life of the Discord Community to be up to date with the latest news!

Thank you all again!

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Hello!

Here's the latest episode of our vlog. Give it a watch and learn a little bit about the vegetation system in The Riftbreaker!



I also have a bit of bad news today. Producing these vlogs is a little more time-consuming than I initially expected, so I will have to cut down to only one episode per week. That means you will still get regular content and it will be much more polished, though! Hope that's okay :) - Void

Have a safe weekend everyone!