Hello everyone!
The sun has started to fade here in Sweden, leaves are turning crisp and the air is getting colder. Summer is… over.
But, however sad that might sound, it also means that everyone at the studio is back and well rested from vacation, ready to let the light of diligence shine as bright as ever over Tycos once more. As hinted in the previous dev blog post, we’ve now found the final message from our Vagabond mentor, meaning that we finally get to tell you more about the studio itself and what we are working on!
We hope that you’ve all gotten a deeper understanding to what ATMOSFAR and planet Tycos will have to offer once you set foot on its floating islands. If not, you’re always more than welcome to check out our previous posts to learn what dangers and challenges might lie ahead on your journey out in the skies. As of right now, we’re eager to share what everybody at the studio is working on and how it’s all progressing towards the end goal that is ATMOSFAR.
Since this is more or less our first time addressing you directly, we’d like to take the opportunity to formally introduce ourselves: Hi! We’re a Sweden-based indie studio known as Apog Labs. As of right now, we’re consisting of 16 merry developers who all try our hardest to breathe life into the strange, foreign world of Tycos and everything that comes with it. We’re enormously grateful for all comments, hype and messages we’ve been getting, and we’re very eager to share our passion for the game with all of you.
So… what is it that we do, exactly? Well, to answer that question it’d probably be wise to chunk it up into different categories. This first, more technical dev blog, will also be referring to what we did before summer, since, you know, we’ve been on vacation and all. To sum it all up very briefly, the last months have been focused development on all fronts, continuing to flesh out the foundation of islands and systems while adding details to and populating the world, breathing life into the world that has so carefully been carved out.
Tycos is a large, mostly unexplored planet with alien plants, biomes, history and animals that are yet to be discovered. In an production, the world in which the game takes place is always a ginormous undertaking which is exactly why we’ve been, and still are, heavily focused on sculpting islands, painting out biomes while also adding all the little details and features that makes the world feel real and alive. Particularly during the last few months, a lot of focus has gone into adding details to both nature and plants as well as constructions and buildings.
The biome of the lower islands have recently seen a diversity expansion in regard to its flora, which is why we’ve been working on several new vegetation assets during the last couple of months. These include everything from trees to bushes, grass, shrubbery and more. As a result of these efforts, the islands are now set up for a much larger variety of plant life which aids to spark imagination and the desire of exploring. And the grass? Just makes you want to run your fingers through it!
Another aspect of the world’s vegetation that has been worked on is the wind system interacting with the foliage and environment across the planet. I mean, what would a game with flying crafts be without wind, right?! The wind not only rustles the leaves and causes even the largest of trees to sway, but also adds that whistling, fateful sound in the periphery, as well as hinder or help your flight journeys. Depending on which direction your Wasp is heading in regards to the wind, a headwind will slow it down and a tailwind will speed it up: Make sure to keep track of the breeze direction! While some final polishing remains here to ensure that both leaf and branch behave as expected in the wind, we’re really happy with the current setup of ATMOSFAR’s vegetation pipeline.
However lush and dreamy the nature of planet Tycos may be, it is not the only thing the world will consist of. Most of the islands are populated to varying extents with buildings of different kinds: Living quarters, barracks and lighthouses are just a few examples. While many islands have their main POI structures in place, these too are always in need of ever increasing details, hidden nooks and crannies that make them feel real and purpose built. The below screenshot is an early look at some of our current PACE architecture props and even though there is still much polishing, refinement and elements that are still to be created and added, we’ve made some great progress over the past few months creating walkways, satellites, cranes, warehouses and pipes of varying shapes and sizes.
The different types of vegetation and a wind system is however only a fragment of what we’ve been doing the last few months. We’ve also been working hard on some of the major challenges, an inhabitants, of Tycos: The animals! As the concepts have been finalized, we’ve mainly focused on the models and behaviors of some of the Tycan species. The latest creature to have gotten a brand new model is our beloved Mollymawk (consider it a working name). We like to think about this creature as a goofy and oblivious avian being, gracing the skies of Tycos.
Continuing on the animal side, the Maratus, our giant shrimplike insect, has also been a target of development. Different behavioral patterns are now displayed between the different kinds of Marati, where the Evolved Maratus (working name) can make longer jumps to pursue their target throughout different heights and types of environments. Along with behavioral patterns, we’ve also worked on the animation for these models, now allowing the Marati to display that spiderlike movement of the legs.
It is just not animals that have made their way into the game. Two treacherous and intelligent plants have also sprung up on planet Tycos, the Flame Flower (working name) and the Venus Fly Trap (working name). While the models for these have been ready for quite some time, their unique behavior has now been implemented. Don’t care to get toasted, or smacked in between jaw-like petals? Well, then you probably shouldn’t get too close…
We’re also happy to introduce you to a friendly face on Tycos: The Recovery Drone! This lil' buddy is in contrast to the plants not hostile to people, but in fact quite the opposite. On Tycos, the risk of plummeting through the skies to a sudden and sure demise is unfortunately quite large. When PACE colonized the planet, they luckily realized this and took the necessary precautions to minimize the risk. Thus, the Recovery Drone was invented. When falling through the skies, simply call on this neat little machine for an instant pickup. It even works for Wasps!
No matter how charming the small orange fella' might be, this won’t be the only type of drone on planet Tycos. During their glory days, PACE made significant steps forward in the technical development. Due to their advanced research and the valuable materials needed for this, PACE took precautionary measures to ensure no data or resources got lost or stolen. One of these measures was the PACE guard drone. Similar in size to the Recovery Drone, these drones opposes an immediate threat to anyone who goes near them, as they are designed to immediately neutralize threats. These drones operate on a visual level and will attack the player as long as it is within sight.
Moving on to something slightly bigger, a lot of time and work has also been invested in the massive Cloud Cruiser. Here, a lot of key components for this giant vessel, such as exterior parts and interior parts like the nuclear reactor, cargo lift, helm, railings, engines and various storage assets are now integrated buildables for you to build and place wherever you see fit. If you didn’t know, the building system is of course fully modular which means that it is possible to build a Cloud Cruiser from scratch and pretty much design it however you like down to choosing the color for each individual module you place.
While we’ve not only spent time on the CC’s building systems, several fundamental CC gameplay systems have also seen some attention. One of them, designed to make your life easier, is the autonomous flight system enabling you to simply set the course for your voyage, and then let the Cloud Cruiser do the rest for you. When roaming Tycos, you will be able to find and locate different navigation points across the world. There are multiple ways to find these points, as some are found by examining maps and others by learning more about the planet itself. By adding a periscope station to your Cloud Cruiser, you can establish a course for the CC to track by using the discovered navigation points. If the calculated path is clear, the Cloud Cruiser engages its autonomous flight, allowing you to tend to other activities on your vessel while traversing the skies. Should the chosen path be obstructed, simply reposition the Cloud Cruiser until the path shows no obstructions.
As you’re probably well-aware by now, creating ATMOSFAR isn’t just about putting a lot of islands and mechanics into a game for people to journey through. It is also about making the experience itself immersive, coherent and enjoyable for whomever that decides to play it. To spark imagination, a lot of details have been added and still are. Even though many of these “details” can seem small, like something in the periphery, it is actually just those details that either make or break the entire game experience.
One of those things is the soundtrack of the game. After several months of iterations, remixes and discussion, the official soundtrack for ATMOSFAR has now been finalized. Thanks to our dear friends over at PitStop Productions, we now have an ethereal, alien playlist consisting of 16 longer songs in total as well as some shorter stingers. All throughout the process we’ve focused on developing music that caters to the core pillars and expected experience of ATMOSFAR which now has led us to the privilege of implementing a truly soaring, dreamy and mystical soundtrack. We’re incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such talented audio professionals! Special thanks to Henry Taylor who composed the music for ATMOSFAR. We could not have done it without you. Thank you!
Get a sneak peek of the soundtrack here.
A good soundtrack isn’t the only thing that enhances the experience. UI and UX also has it’s place in a game and as of late several menus and panels have seen a much needed refresher over the past few weeks. This of course includes a focus on the Wasp, for which we’ve also updated the HUD wireframe and art, enabling a smoother initial visual understanding of all the gauges and dials as well as higher immersion when it comes to the feeling of flight. In fact, more and more UI and UX improvements are now appearing in the game, together with some localization for the demo that was being used for Gamescom 2025, hinting at development being in a slightly more advanced state now compared to six months ago.
As been announced, ATMOSFAR went to both Gamescom and PAX West! For these events, we’ve prepared a demo demonstrating some of ATMOSFAR’s major game mechanics, all condensed into about 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay. For the demo, it was important that visuals, gameplay, UI´and UX, level design, soundtrack and SFX were up to speed. Everyone at the studio really went the extra mile to make the demo happen, and with Gamescom and PAX West as our witnesses, we’re happy to say that we really succeeded in doing so! However scary and nerve-wrecking it was to let people put their hands on ATMOSFAR for the first time, we’re very excited to let you know that the demo was well received. Speaking to initiated Vagabonds and hearing their initial experience and thoughts about ATMOSFAR has been really valuable and just straight up fun. We’re very grateful for everyone who played the demo and or interacted with us. Thank you!
If you’re interested in more detailed descriptions of what the players thought, check out these articles!
But the efforts of the studio don’t end with a successful demo. We’ve got a whole game to work on, and we feel more eager than ever to do so! Looking into the foreseeable future, our work will focus on… well almost everything you could imagine that goes into a game! Things like fleshing out the moment-to-moment gameplay, concepts for different islands an sub-biomes, Cloud Cruiser gameplay systems and of course core application functionality such as serialization and networking. Needless to say, we will be busy alright!
Thank you for reading and until next time: Keep the blue side up.
// Apog Labs
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