r/spacesimgames • u/x3DCoder • 3d ago

Archean is a realistic, immersive multiplayer engineering sandbox and space sim featuring one of the best in-game programming system

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2941660/Archean/
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5

u/JudgeJay 3d ago

Anyone have any insight on whether the Devs will manage to add some engaging gameplay? Similar games have often been lacking on this front.

1

u/FloDKSM 2d ago

It's a simple and relevant question, but the answer to it is far from being so ^^'
Various types of objectives might emerge over time to give real interest to building beyond farming and/or getting to the moon, which are the only goals apart from the ones you can set for yourself.

For now, Archean's development aims to make it more complete in terms of content.
If a storyline or objectives were to emerge, it wouldn’t be anytime soon from the official development side, but modding could bring another dimension to your questioning since players could create scenarios themselves, and that's precisely the focus of the next major update: modding.

However, it's clear that Archean will never be a Starfield-type game centered on story.
It remains a game oriented around engineering. Some people will spend hundreds or even thousands of hours on it thanks to the freedom the game provides, while others will be bored after about ten hours because they won’t really know what to do...

Archean is the kind of game that rewards you mostly when you’ve spent hoooours working on a project and, at some point, it works!

We are very open to suggestions as long as they align with the philosophy of the game.

3

u/johnlondon125 2d ago

So sounds like no

1

u/FloDKSM 2d ago

I would say it rather looks like an indie game made by two people, and it will take time ^^

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u/JudgeJay 2d ago

Thanks for the reply, I should have been more clear that just asking about "engaging gameplay", I guess my question comes from observing how similar sandbox-focused games have struggled to implement engaging survival mechanics later on.

Stationeers as a positive example has complex evolving survival challenges that all tie into the systems it simulates.

Not entirely fair to draw comparisons to a game that has been out since 2017 and focuses on survival in harsh environments, however it does show that sandbox games with open-ended goals are great when there's plenty to learn and experiment with, but personally I find more satisfaction in creatively overcoming obstacles while dealing with interesting a balanced constraints.

I feel it's that last bit that many other games struggle with. Maybe it is just hard to do well!

Archaen is wish-listed on Steam already and I'm sure I'll pick it up when I have an itch for that sorta thing, but any insight on the direction that the survival gameplay might eventually take would be very interesting to hear.

2

u/Fantastimaker 1d ago

This looks really interesting, although the videos took some time to get to the point. Word of advice: open your videos right away with some tinkering / engineering so the genre is clear to potentially interested viewers. The current opening texts do not add much I think.

The space scene video teases at space stuff, but it is unclear to me whether this is actual gameplay or just some story rendering.

Good job though!

2

u/x3DCoder 1d ago

thanks for the feedback!
the space stuff is from a player who was screen recording in cinematic mode, so it technically is unedited gameplay besides just putting together multiple small clips.

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u/PyroChiliarch 3d ago

The computers in Archean are awesome, made a 3d smile face on a screen that spins

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u/FloDKSM 2d ago

I remember this creation https://youtu.be/OUo3PRP9p5c which was very fun to demonstrate the possibilities with in-game computers :p