Hi all! Welcome to another weekly devblog. Today we’re giving a peek into some of the fashion options available to you in Dandelion Void!
Before we get started, a quick housekeeping note – we are shifting our devblog schedule from once a week to twice a month. We've started our October doing a lot of longer-term foundation-building on our tech infrastructure and game design. It’s pretty exciting stuff, but it doesn’t lend itself well to flashy screenshots, and some of the plans are too early for the public to see. All that said, we’ll be back here in two weeks on Tuesday October 28th!
Spoiler label: this post shows visuals for 4 outfits and discusses some of their mechanical properties
Every outfit we design for Dandelion Void is a new way for the player to express themselves, as well as an opportunity for us to develop the game’s unique setting! As a centuries-old overgrown derelict, the Pergola has quite a bit of history, and the clothing helps tell that story.
Generally speaking, new clothing we add fits into one of four buckets:
Civilian:
The Pergola wasn’t just a spaceship; it was also home to generations of crew who lived their entire lives aboard. The Pergola launched in the 70’s, and we want to capture some of the fun of that era's fashion. Strong shapes, flared legs, and relaxed fits are characteristic of the civilian clothing you will find aboard.
Loose linen lounge pants: perfect for a lazy afternoon on the couch, or a terrifying night in the overgrown tomb of your spacefaring ancestors
Vocational:
Like Earth workplaces, uniforms were used aboard the Pergola to designate roles and professions. The the Acorn Starship Collective that built the ship was full of utopian-minded artists and scientists. We wanted to capture some of that energy in the vocational clothing with simple-but-beautiful designs and rich pops of color.
Excuse me, do you work here?
Spacesuits:
Of course, a ship is still a ship, and where there's space you need spacesuits! In Dandelion Void, these pressure-fit garments will help you traverse areas of the ship that have been exposed to vacuum.
Protection against Void and Vine
Our designs are based on the lightweight, silvery jumpsuits of the Mercury program. Note that these are made for tethered EVA operations, not planetary landing, so they lack the bulky backpacks you might see from moonfaring suits.
Scavenger:
All of the aforementioned clothing categories are from the Pergola’s golden era, before mysterious circumstances turned it into an overgrown derelict. Between the bright colors and high-quality materials, the ship’s original people used industrial tools to make beautiful clothing.
The pergola’s current inhabitants – a hungry band of scavengers, hunter-gatherers, and subsistence farmers – have a much more pragmatic, improvisational approach to fashion:
This “cloak” is fashioned from an old sleeping bag. It’s not exactly Met Gala material, but it has its own rustic charm – and it keeps you warm.
Thanks for joining us today! We hope to have many more outfits to show you as development progresses. Until then, have a great week!
-Robin and the Manzanita Interactive team