Hello pilots and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
More than one month has passed since our last public article. We added 17 developer logs on our Discord since that date - so this was active in communication!
We made one alpha release only but have two more deployments being set up.
One of our next deployments aims to complete our early December release with playable features. Another is about Evacuation Missions.
And today is the day you are going to learn a lot more about it!
So take a seat and enjoy the last developer insider ; with game mechanics but also thoughts about EXODE, EXODE development, and the fun we want to bring next!
Latest news in the new Galaxy!
We got through a little sick time of a few days in early December. This happens a lot in the world at the moment!
But we had another few sick days 20 days after, a bit after a Christmas 2-days break. I am still going through the last moments of it now.
Apologies about it!
The family likes to share "everything" it seems!We hope you all had a perfect family time and a good, restful time!
After releasing a first food update on December 9th (detailed and accessible from our Discord) we have worked on essential features related to cooking and activating the game loop.
These features were initially planned for release around December 18th although we mentioned weeks and not dates.
We were still debugging some content when we initiated our work on our next major milestone - Evacuation Missions!
No one can work at two contents at the same time so we decided to switch from debugging to developing the concept of Evacuation Missions.
The reason why we did that:
We need to set ourselves for good achievements in January and then February - meaning at that time having a mature Evacuation Missions concept, tested by our players and ready for player scaling. And we needed in December to gain some visibility on this. It is about "connecting all the dots together" and making the right plans.
The reason we authorized one such event (we = bosslindos) is because of how important Evacuation Missions are currently in EXODE trajectory.
Initially the concept was:
- to allow some "collection gameplay and utility" aside from the regular colonization game.
But after mid-december the "design department" came up with an immense workable concept for Evacuation Missions. It actually became the basis for a major and critical upgrade in the EXODE experience.
Moreover, it would also address many of the challenges we are facing.
Challenges and solutions
It is always important to think of our strengths and weaknesses.
One of our current challenges (aside from alpha content) lie with the cryptocurrency situation and the readiness for the project for player growth, or in some parts: lack of such readiness!
Cryptocurrency situation itself weakened the treasury situation because of how and when it happened.
On the other hand, EXODE presents players with a large collection and many open-ended situations. This is meant as an exhilirating experience (we sure want it to be so at least!) but this quite naturally often means a card, a situation, an event needs or game interface needs to be addressed further and better.
So it's time to share how we plan to scale players and combine our lore with a satisfying gameplay for a larger audience.
The solution
Evacuation Missions is taking a lot more weight and value now.
It aims to ultimately become one of the first doors for players into the EXODE universe.
Evacuation Missions will first be playable by EXODE alpha players only, and once ready will become a free to play setup.
As a F2P game it will receive all kind of additions (ie. mobile apps) to ease access to it.
It will benefit from existing EXODE collections, encouraging players to take some of it if they would like! but will also be playable without any cost.
It won't be a P2E pyramid pattern but will focus on gameplay. This means it won't directly "mine" any currency exchangeable for USD.
It will still have a number of ingame currencies and ingame rewards, and in some monthly cases will try our setup of HIVE rewards!
Evacuation Missions will familiarize players with the EXODE lore, gameplay and immersive events.
While playing Evacuation Missions, players will always be one click away from going deeper and taking an EXODE starter or pack!
The immense strength of this setup is that a F2P game about evacuation actually makes sure players who want to go deeper understand EXODE immersive theme and are a population fully compatible with the next EXODE contents.
This way we will grow the existing EXODE playerbase with committed players!
Some basics
Evacuation Missions will feature a deep collection of space assets including frigates, destroyers, cruisers, transports, freighters of several factions of 2325.
Spaceships will be presented in a pure strategic format.
The game will focus on strategic detail and immersive atmosphere.
This means nice style, icons and accessible information.
On the other hand, this will allow for a lot of details regarding weapon and defense technology.
Step 1:
Players will be able to claim what is called a "Story Ship".
As a reward for this claim, they will receive a random rare ship.
More Story Ships tickets can be earned with gameplay.
A Story Ship is a ship which can participate to all missions, gain experience, evolve and receive more card attachments. Story ships also cannot be lost permanently.
EXODE players will actually have additional "Story Ship" claims available to them.
They can make another claim by tying it to an existing ship from their collection ; this claim will give them a similar ship instead of a random one.
For example they can claim a Syndicate Black Lotus if they have this card available!
Players will also have a "support fleet" made number of "support ships" which they will acquire in future missions. Support ships can be used in missions but they can be destroyed and lost, so players will pay attention to their "retreat" orders!
Step 2:
Evacuation Mission will present players with a single button ("Request Mission") which delivers a new star system, a mission and an assets setup. It will also give a number of citizens and cargo to evacuate from starbases.
Players will be able to view the mission in full strategic detail.
Step 3:
The mission will always have a time when the mission will execute; usually in 24 hours after you claimed it.
Until this happens, players will be able to commit their personal fleet and characters to the mission in a safe "Planning" strategic step. Planning will go in great detail.
Step 4:
Missions are executed automatically.
It is planned that a later mode will be made available to allow a player to connect to the ongoing mission and give live orders and receive live feedback from spaceships, in a cyberpunk console fashion.
Note: everything above is subject to change, to be tested and remain or not according to experience and player feedback.
When?
Evacuation Missions are now matched with superior requirements in gameplay and atmosphere. And we are working on it!
As soon as I get out of the current sick time you are going to view more game screens and content.
We will make sure you get the full feel of EXODE through this content!
Once set, we will scale players on that format and get the best of them involved into the deeper EXODE gameplay. There will also be F2P financial leverage from it, of course, guaranteeing a flow of treasury without hitting on lasting value or relying too much on a P2E pattern.
This will make more players to purchase your packs, and more players to be interested in alpha and beta.
In chronological order, we will:
- get out of sick time,
- release Evacuation Mission game screens,
- and then come back to our food update,
- and then release the first playable Evacuation Mission alpha.
I won't speak yet about dates.
The more ambitious we get, the more I need to get further before I reveal to you an ETA.
We worked on a "skeleton" version of game content and have been interrupted; but we also have been collecting our game assets (thousands) and working on our game presentation style ; and on our ship database and apis.
That's all pilots!
EXODE can be accessed and played from its website at:
https://exode.io.
Don't forget also to join our discord!
Also, 
https://peakd.com/me/proposals/247
... which has three hours left to receive votes.
HiveSQL allows apps and users to easily access structured data from the Hive blockchain and perform analysis or find valuable information.
Such apps are also extremely important for game and ownership purposes as it can allow a more comprehensive, rebuildable player log by combining more complex requests.