As a return to regular updates, we've got some proper eye candy for you.
We've been world-building, and creating a cool but believable barren world; Desolate, hostile, but still interesting and diverse enough to spend some good time getting to know.
Matt's rendered out this video from the Unreal Engine with actual in-game assets and animations. Some spit and polish is still yet to be added, but the bones and muscle are there.
In our earlier blog-post we covered some of the functions of the Eden Kit, which has had a little redesign since then, and a fresh lick of paint. You'll be getting to know the EK very well; upgrading it, being nourished by it, being brought back from the dead by it, etc. You and EK will be fast friends!
So, now for a snippet of Lore...
Pharus 7
Pharus 7 is one planet of several within the Lucis system. Astronomers have been curious about this small part of space ever since Earth's KOTA observatories first detected an abnormal silhouette which held a stable gravitational influence over its parent star. Greater interest was later provoked with an unusual theory that this anomaly was not a single mass but two or more closely orbiting planetoids that portrayed traits indicative of what was thought to be a high Teslinium content.
The Lucis system was later targeted as a suitable candidate for the Cirrus slip-space program and became one of the 700 systems fully mapped. Scans verified the theory behind the strange silhouette, revealing the unnaturally close orbit of twin worlds nested alongside a larger gas giant in a formation and proximity thought to be impossible. The second anomaly was the high density of Pharus 7; being smaller than Earth but with a similar surface gravity and atmosphere. The initial hypothesis was that Pharus 7 was actually the Iron core of a much larger planet that had somehow lost its crust and mantle in some ancient solar cataclysm. Later analysis proved this theory false as the twin planet's orbit around one another was confirmed to be unusually stable, almost perfectly circular rather than the common elliptical path.
The Cirrus Probe's close range scans of the planet revealed a strange rock and metallic surface with a sustainable atmosphere and rich mineral content, which gained Pharus 7 serious attention from the Citadel Frontier. This interest was compounded with a massive Ultraviolet burst detected from the planet as the probe entered the outer atmosphere. Natural phenomena were discounted when evidence of what appeared to be unnatural formations were observed along the surface. KOTA flagged Pharus 7 as a high priority target for the second frontier push; a new focus for a desperate Earth's resurgent space-borne industry. Excitement soon turned to disappointment when the first colonists were unable to gain reliable Teslinium readings and failed to unearth the great hauls that were anticipated. Pharus is now more of an enigma than ever before with the mysterious loss of contact by the small colony coupled with long range scans that appear to consistently indicate readings of Teslinium never before seen so high...
