Thanks to the support by this community, I've been able to put my head down and work on the largest update to Drift yet. The Space Exploration update will improve every aspect of the game and open new ways to explore.
Today, I'll take a look at two exciting new features coming with this update. In future posts, I'll go into the new gameplay systems, progression and more.
Improved Environment Art
New modes of transport created the opportunity to re-visit some of the environments you can visit, specifically moving the art style closer to the concept art - and the early texturing tests have looked fantastic.
Small Ships
Flying the big ship is a huge improvement, but I like to build big and commonly got myself into trouble. Enter the small ship (name TBD: send suggestions in the comments!). This two-seater is great for moving from your base to a nearby dense asteroid field to strip mine for resources or pick up a stranded friend.
And flying this is a blast. Full six degrees of movement and an afterburner - great for crossing the distance and squeezing into caves.
What's next?
There's still a lot of work to be done before this update is in your hands. But there will be some opportunities to help us get there.
- Small Ship Network Stress Test - Making fun, flying spaceships work with up to 7 friends all over the world is hard. And even harder as a tiny dev team. In early June, we'll put together a playtest where you can fly around with us so we can fix any issues. Join the Discord to be the first to hear.
- Closed Beta - Later this summer, we'll do a closed beta focusing on a the new gameplay systems, research and further netcode testing.
Thank you so much for helping craft Drift into the game it is today and I'm excited to get this update out to you soon!