Hello once again!

Some of you may have seen a little teaser we posted on Twitter last week, but for those who missed it, here it is.

This beautiful little picnic location was made to show off some of the foliage our 3d artists have been creating recently, and also shows part of an accelerated day & night cycle.

However, this is not just eye-candy! Our foliage has function! Imagine that you’re out in the jungle at night, and out of the corner of your eye you see a disturbance in the bushes… That telltale sign gives you the valuable moments you need to fight or flee whatever lurks in the vegetation. If you choose to flee, your movement may be slowed by the thick undergrowth, allowing your pursuer to catch up and do all manner of terrible things to you.

To explain more about how we’re going about making these reactive foliage assets, check out the video below, made by our Art Director, Matt Clark.

 

 

For your enjoyment, here are a few more pictures!

 

Some more of our terrestrial-style foliage. The white box in the middle is the height of the player.

 

Some of the smaller plants and grass.

 

A beautiful shot through a jungle area, looking out over the landscape of Pharus 7.
Oh, and one more thing.

When you have a holiday home on Pharus 7, you simply have to keep out the riff-raff in the neighbourhood.

 

For context, these shields currently define the boundaries of the playable area, and will be pushed outwards as more content is added.  In the game lore, the shields hold out the toxic native atmosphere of the planet, allowing terraforming to take hold inside its perimeter.

Thanks for reading!