Hey Prospectors!
If you were looking for our weekly update about Season 3, then look no further: today is Thursday and we have another batch of information to share with you all!
Last week we left with a few words on architecture. It’s not necessarily a tough clue to decipher, but there’s definitely a few options out there. Let’s narrow them down a bit through a series of fun questions:
- Do you like space?
- Do you like stations?
- Do you like space stations?
- What is the average velocity of an unladen Leafling?
- Are any of these questions related to the subject at hand?
The answer to that last question is yes – well, mostly yes. By now, our next topic should be obvious enough, but just in case, let’s just spell it out for you: today, we will talk about Prospect Station and what improvements we have planned for Season 3!
Prospect Station, a haven, a vision
First things first, let’s talk a bit about the station, what it currently represents, what feelings we want it to convey and our overall vision of this marvel of architecture.
Today in Prospect Station
Back in the days of yore, early in the old version of the game, everything not directly taking place on the surface was done through a series of menus. However, we thought those lacked personality and decided players deserved a place to call home. Thus did Prospect Station come to life.
Today, the station is still our signature hub, the place where players get to do their shopping, chat with faction leaders and kick back in their private quarters. It’s neat, but the place does look more like a giant mall than an actual space station drifting at the edge of known space. And we’re looking into changing that.
The future of space architecture
To sum things up, the station currently looks neat, proper and shiny. This isn’t what we want. We want the place to look busy, dirty, a bit seedy even. We want players to feel like they’ve moored into a dangerous port, a place that’s focused on day-to-day survival and where Spring-cleaning isn’t quite a priority.
But we don’t want the station to come out as openly hostile either. Prospecting careers open up many windows of opportunity and offer a chance to start anew. Prospectors are willing to stake everything on success and make the best out of their new life. The place sure looks rough, but at the end of the day, it’s still home.
And of course, we want the place to look awesome.
We can rebuild it, we’ve got the technology
Now that context is out of the way, let’s dive straight into what changes to the station you can expect to see for Season 3 and beyond:
- Most buildings have been reworked and remodeled to make the station feel more claustrophobic yet barer, showing both a lack of space and resources.
- Added a building on top of the store that directly connects to the landing pad.
- Osiris HQ should feel a lot more, uh, “sciency”, holograms included. It’s also easier to access, for all of you field scientists.
- Reworked the exterior area that leads to your Private Quarters.
- The central stores got a bit of a facelift as well, to fit in with the rest of the station. Windfall is happy as can be.
- Changed the whole structure of the... roof? Ceiling? How do you call that in a station? Anyway, look up, things are different!
- ICA HQ was rehauled as well and the area was reshaped a bit, so it’s clear to everyone the station keeps going after that.
- Overall, the place is a lot grimier and dirtier than it used to be.
That’s for our architectural changes. But that’s not all we wanted to rethink. We wanted to the station to feel more real, more alive. Here’s what should help with this:
- Sprinkled a lot of faction NPCs going about their business throughout their station. You can see them repair stuff, load ships, scan their surroundings, operate machinery, patrol the area or just chill, as is their birth-given right.
- More Prospector NPCs can also be seen around the station, preparing their next drop, checking out what they’ve brought back, having a drink at the Lucky Leafman or, again, just plain chilling.
- We added a few cages here and there and filled them with Fortuna III creatures. Oh don’t give me that look, you’ve been working with Osiris for ages by now!
- Speaking of which, Osiris scientists can be seen analyzing weird, giant bones, eggs and nest parts. We did mention a big baddie was coming to the planet, right?
- A new crafting station is being operated by droids. I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but I wouldn’t hang too close, just to be safe.
- The landing pad we’ve mentioned earlier is busier than ever, as crew members shuffle around while ships keep landing and taking off towards the surface.
- Added some traffic and random drones flying around, pretending to be busy.
- NPCs generally feel more realistic, as we’ve reworked their lighting and presentation.
Guess that’s it for the Prospect Station upgrades. The rest is up to our architects, ready to deliver a revamped hub for the start of Season 3.
Next week, we’ll talk about everyone’s favorite tools of the trade, best friends in survival, vessels of death and destruction: GUNS.
Until then, take care of yourselves, have fun on the surface, don’t eat raw Brightcaps, and catch you all on Fortuna III.
Fortuna Favors the Bold!