In this January 2020 update, we’ve got cool new drones, hot UI improvements, and some scalding concept art pieces for you to look at. But before we move on to those, we’d like to give you an update where development of the Early Access version is currently at and how the Prototype was received by some four thousand test pilots and the press.

Given the positive feedback, we had received on the early demo version at various gaming conferences, we were quite optimistic about releasing the Prototype out in the wild. However, letting our superfans take it for a spin on all sorts of hardware setups and without us being able to watch over your shoulders is another thing, so we’re extremely happy that we have received nothing but overwhelmingly positive feedback from you guys and the gaming press alike. Anyone who missed out on pledging on the Prototype, go check out the #gallery channel on our Discord! There are some truly amazing screenshots from the community as well as yet another awesome fanvid from lol_bye on our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNxe5zL5oC4

While the Prototype has been out for a bit longer than a month, we’ve been busy cracking on the Closed Alpha, which is still scheduled to be rolled out to eligible backers around the end of April. We’re making good progress on creating the game world and implementing the main missions. We already had a lot of fun during the first internal playtest last Friday and plan to share some gameplay footage in future development updates for your viewing pleasure.

If you have played the original EVERSPACE you may have noticed that drones were more of a ‘thing’ than in any other (space) game. Due to our limited budget back then, we could not afford to create a plethora of high-detailed enemy spaceships. However, having a lot of opponents with a broad range of behaviors was paramount to keep things interesting, especially for a roguelike. So, coming up with many types of different drones was the way to go.

While we now have a bigger budget for EVERSPACE 2, we still like the concept of throwing even more enemy types with all sorts of capabilities at you while keeping our production costs at bay. So, without further ado, say hello to our latest drone family members:



The Outlaw Sniper Drone uses a targeting laser to focus on enemies from afar. If the line of sight is not interrupted for a couple of seconds the target will be hit by a deadly rail gunshot. If you are quick enough you may be able to evade the shot, but your main strategy should be to take cover before the drone fires. Close in on the drone while avoiding being in the open for too long in order to take it down or turn the tables and snipe it with a rail gun yourself.



This drone is packed with devastating explosives, and it only has one goal: to close in on a hostile unit and crash into it, triggering a huge explosion. Luckily, the Detonator Drone is quite noisy once it settles for a target, so you will at least hear that it’s about to annihilate you if you do not initiate countermeasures immediately.

In our previous update, we already had a sneak peek of some UI tweaks for item management. Today, we are excited to share even more improvements as well as some entirely new screens with you.



A top-level screen that offers specific menus depending on the pilot’s specific docking situation. It serves for quick navigation for both mouse and gamepad users. You can see at a glance which interactions and services are offered.



Storage and Inventory are now separated for more clarity and better item management. There is also a revised Item Info window with current stats showing more details than before.



Some stations or traders will offer to purchase ships. This interface was designed to have maximum screen real estate for showing off your new object of desire in all its beauty. Ship details are available in two modes, simplified and detailed. This is the simplified version.



The job board is a job board is a job board. Pilots can get jobs here, who would have thought? The purple highlight marks jobs that are above the player's level and therefore potentially difficult. On the right side, you can see the rewards for the job as well as a small preview of the standing of the respective faction you're doing the job for.



Similar to the inventory screen, you can modify your ship on this screen and view the vessel’s properties. However, elements such as upgrades, extensions, appeal, and perks are still subject to change. Again, ship details are available in two modes: simplified and detailed. This is the simplified view - take it with a pinch of salt.

Another area where we had to make some compromises for the predecessor because of budget limitation was lore and storytelling. That said, we still take pride in having innovated by introducing a proper story campaign including event-based exposition to the roguelike genre for the first time ever. We highly encourage any space pilot to play through the very end of the story in the original EVERSPACE as there is more to its plot as you might think at the beginning.

Thanks to your fantastic support, we are now able to work with Joshua Rubin, some of the finest in video game storytelling, to tell an even bigger story within a world full of exciting lore in EVERSPACE 2. Of course, we don’t want to unveil any secrets or spoil major plot points, but we think it is ok to tease you a little with some gorgeous looking concept art for the cinematics, right?









So, we hope you like what you see. If you want to know more, especially about everything that comes with the new screens, check out our latest game dev stream where Erik, our fabulous Community Ambassador, shares more details and gives a sneak peek of the first mission, too: https://youtu.be/YKEAK2tWUTk?t=4022

Enjoy, and see you in space!
Michael and Your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team

Now that the dust of our wild Kickstarter ride has settled and most of the team has had a short but much-needed break from the immense workload of the past few months, we are finally set to bring you the production update that all early adopters were probably desperately waiting for. This time, we omit the video and skip directly to the essential news, so you can start playing and getting involved.

Since our last update in November, we have mostly focused on getting the Prototype ready for deployment in December, as promised, and we’re excited to let you know that Steam keys have just been sent out to all eligible backers. Now, we know from our previous Kickstarter that some of our emails tend to end up in the wrong place, so please make sure to check your spam folders, too.

Even though we are still early in development, we’ve been working hard to make the Prototype run on a broad range of PCs, and you can tweak the graphics settings in the all-new graphics options menu to your liking. Of course, it would be tremendously helpful for further optimization of the full game if you shared your PC hardware specs, graphics settings, and experience in our revamped forum.

Speaking of which, the EVERSPACE Forum has been revamped and is now open again for discussion and wild chatter. While all categories, threads, and comments have been carried over from the original EVERSPACE, a lot has changed in structure and design for better usability in the new EVERSPACE 2 Forum.



Also, existing forum users keep their badges, ranks, and comments. However, when logging in to the new forum for the very first time you will have to reset your password once. Newly registered users have access to all categories right away. Your Kickstarter ranks for EVERSPACE 2 can be requested from ROCKFISH Games moderators via direct message. Please note: These new ranks will overwrite those from the previous game.

In parallel, all registered backers should also automatically get their respective roles on Discord by end of the week. Backers who join our Discord server after that will have to contact any ROCKFISH Games community member on Discord individually to receive their role.

In EVERSPACE 2, the powerful mining corporation Grady & Brunt will play an even bigger role than in the predecessor, and you can look forward to encounter a lot of new content like big capital ships and special purpose vessels as you can see in the concept art and blockouts below.


Grady & Brunt utilize sturdy vessels with special mining equipment for heavy-duty work in the Beltagrades.


G&B Mining Barges can carry megatons of ore, also known as "Piñatas de mena" amongst Outlaw pilots.


Armed to the teeth, the all-new G&B carrier class was commissioned after too many raids on G&B ore transports hit the company's bottom line, hard.

Now, while the work on the Prototype is complete (please note: there won’t be any updates as the team is now working on the full game), we also have a little sneak peek of the improved item management UI which will make it easier to compare stats as well as drag & drop and sort items by category.


Lots of UI improvements to sort, compare, and drag & drop items.

You can watch the changes in action in our most recent dev stream on the ROCKFISH Games twitch channel or on Youtube (starting at 53:33):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqrGlNPLHns

Happy Holidays and see you in space!
Michael and Your dedicated ROCKFISH Games team

In the full version EVERSPACE™ 2, there will be at least eight star systems, each divided into zones with different threat levels and featuring numerous hand-designed locations to discover, between which players can travel freely. Further surprises await daring space pilots in the form of procedurally generated locations styled after those in the first EVERSPACE title, offering even greater variety for player pilots.

The combination of fixed, hand-designed and procedurally generated locations and events with ingenious design rules offers the best possible gaming experience while allowing a vibrant and stunningly beautiful game world with countless trading stations, shipyards and secret locations in a visual quality that is not possible with purely procedurally generated game worlds.

One of the biggest fan wishes to be able to fly down to planet surfaces is now also fulfilled in EVERSPACE™ 2. Planetary levels are designed by hand for maximum visual quality and gameplay control. Differences in gravity and air resistance as well as new types of enemies put the skills of pilots to the test, and provide further variety before players tackle new missions on ground stations, equip their ship or trade. Watch our gamedev vlog below for more:

https://youtu.be/n-9fBi0uWNw

Don’t want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE™ 2 on Steam?
Support us on Kickstarter and get the demo THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es2steamnews

A common critique about our previous game was that there were not enough enemies and other alien creatures to encounter. In EVERSPACE™ 2, we want to take things a lot further. Not only will we improve the visual quality of the established NPCs and alien creatures of the predecessor with the aid of the talented folks at Volta, Streamline Studios and Liquid Development. We also want to have new types of enemies and more wicked wildlife in space that might freak you out, make you smile or just scratch your head…

https://youtu.be/AxxRcCRo4GA

Don’t want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE™ 2 on Steam?
Support us on Kickstarter and get the demo THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es2steamnews

Due to our limited budget for the predecessor, we only had three vessels in the base game to choose from and added one more in the Encounters expansion. But, we took great care that each of them offered unique play styles, much like classes in an RPG.

While the gameplay diversity of player ships in the original EVERSPACE™ was much appreciated by our fans, having a much bigger pool of spaceships with deep customization possibilities was in high demand by the community for our next space game. Well, we heard you loud & clear, so check out our latest vlog!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sf320epLNg

Don’t want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE™ 2 on Steam?
Support us on Kickstarter and get the demo THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es2steamnews

With EVERSPACE™ 2, we're making a big leap from a roguelike to an open-world space shooter RPG with a 20-30 hour story campaign. Check out our first vlog giving you a glimpse of the expanded game world and the story of our upcoming game. Our creative director, Uwe Wütherich, will lead you through the beginning of the story in EVERSPACE™ 2 and the in-house production of the animated cinematics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA8YM8dGDdc

Don’t want to wait until late 2020 to play EVERSPACE™ 2 on Steam Early Access?
Support us on Kickstarter and play the demo later THIS YEAR!
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es2steamnews

We're very excited to announce that the Kickstarter campaign for Everspace 2 just launched! The sequel to Everspace won't be a roguelike, but an open-world space shooter with deep exploration, tons of loot and classic RPG elements.

Your invaluable feedback helped make Everspace the success it was, which is why we'd like to get you on board as soon as possible. With your support we will be able to stay in full creative and financial control and increase the overall quality of the game. So please have a look at our reward tiers and maybe help us unlock a few stretchgoals as well. We would also like to point out that anyone backing on a digital game copy of Everspace 2 will receive a playable Demo Version before the end of this year!

Kickstarter:
https://www.everspace.game/go/kickstarter/es2steamnews