Hello everyone, today we will talk about the colony view in ISG, which deserves a dev diary on its own.
Colony View
One of the features we liked in Master of Orion 2, and Imperium Galactica 2 as well, was the possibility to see your colonies in the planet’s actual terrain, with all the buildings there. We think this is an important feature in a 4X game because it helps increase immersion and a sense of attachment with your colonies, while also increasing the feeling that you are actually there, and see your colonies grow.
So, in the last few weeks, one of the things we’ve been working on was the colony view screen, improving graphics and adding buildings. So, in the next release, to be out this fall, you will see your buildings in the colony for the first time. Most of the buildings are already in. Our art team is currently finishing the remaining ones, so for the next version a few will still show a placeholder.
To make the experience more unique and fresh, we will offer unique procedural terrains. What this means is that in ISG you will never see the same planet, or colony, ever again! So, if you fall in love with a specific colony layout we recommend that you to save your game 
Colonies in different planet types look completely different. So, each biome will present different features, like lava pits, acid lakes, seas or glaciers, depending on the biome. The atmosphere and other terrain objects and effects will also look different, as for the sound effects so that the combined environment will be evocative of a specific biome type.
We have improved the colony view since the last release (Pre-Alpha 10) but we’re not there yet. For the release we’ll have more objects and effects and we may also create different city views and maybe a zoom feature for additional flavor. Also, feel free to offer suggestions of things you’d like to see regarding visual aspects or with respect to interactivity in the colony view. This is the time
Here’s a screenie of a Terran world with already a few buildings in place. Remember that this is a work in progress and we expect it to change considerably for the release.
— Quiz: What can you see in the upper left corner? —
Quick status update
As we’ve said in the previous quick update on Espionage, the next release will have a ton of new features, after which it’s all about improving, polishing and finalizing all the aspects of the game.
We realize the currently available build, which is Pre-Alpha 10, is a bit old (from March 2018). We decided to hold on having new releases in the time being so we could focus at 100% on development activities to allow us to add all the remaining core functionalities for the next release.
Thanks!
Adam & MalRey
Interstellar Space: Genesis is a new turn-based space 4X strategy game currently under development by Praxis Games. The game is currently at Pre-Alpha and pre-orders with instant access are open! Feel welcome to open threads and discuss any topic you’d like in the game forums.
We’re making the most complete and comprehensive Turn Based Space 4X ever developed, and we count with your support to make it happen! So, please tell your friends about ISG, people who loved Master of Orion but also space 4X games or strategy games in general. Pre-order and play ISG today, and soon you will Discover the Unknown. Thanks!
just awesome !! since long time i am waiting for this DEV Diary and here it is , and till the patch comes out give us every week a Dev Diary about the upcoming improvements to feed our impatient !! keep it up your doing a great work
Thanks Mythox for your support ! Feel free to make suggestions !
[…] Space Genesis has a lovely new dev diary out about their gorgeous colony […]
Will those buildings be different for different species? In Imperium Galactica 1, they were unique to the races. In Imperium Galactica 2, they were the same for all of them, probably due to budget reasons (takes more time to build a 3D model than drawing a 2D sprite, especially when you learn 3D game development at the same time). Frankly, I can’t name the non-human buildings of the alien races from their picture in IG1 even though I played it a lot.
Hi David, our current strategy is to have the same special buildings for all the races except the civilian buildings that represent the infrastructure and population numbers. In that case we will see city buildings according race. We think that identifiability is very important when playing and selecting, in this case, building constructions. Other features more decorative could be dedicated to each race, in this case the civilian buildings. Thanks for your comment and feel free to make suggestions here or in the forums.