Beacon - Sci-Fi Action Roguelike
polycounter lvl 9
Hello everyone!
After a few long years Monothetic is finally ready to announce our first commercial project, Beacon! We're a team of 9 members who originated from the Half-Life 2 modding scene. After the release of Black Snow in 2012 we formed Monothetic, and since then have been working on multiple projects mostly part time. After beginning development on Beacon in 2014, we're finally ready to release the trailer and announce the game!
https://youtu.be/WKXeK1XcVow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_CDQuohXk
You step out of the confined pod, disorientated and blinking. As your vision clears, a desolate view forms to greet you. The burning wreckage of your ship - your home - lies scattered cruelly across the surface of an alien landscape.
After a few long years Monothetic is finally ready to announce our first commercial project, Beacon! We're a team of 9 members who originated from the Half-Life 2 modding scene. After the release of Black Snow in 2012 we formed Monothetic, and since then have been working on multiple projects mostly part time. After beginning development on Beacon in 2014, we're finally ready to release the trailer and announce the game!
https://youtu.be/WKXeK1XcVowhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI_CDQuohXkYou step out of the confined pod, disorientated and blinking. As your vision clears, a desolate view forms to greet you. The burning wreckage of your ship - your home - lies scattered cruelly across the surface of an alien landscape.
You must have come down hard. Picking your way through the remains of the ship, you look for answers, a weapon, a radio. Instead, you find a body. Your body.
Well, you think, at least the cloning bay still works.
Unfortunately, it seems like that’s about all that does. If you want to get off this planet, you’re going to have to explore it. You need to find equipment. You need to find a beacon. The forests look hostile, but you’ve got your gun.
And if the worst comes to pass, well, at least the Clone Bay still works.
Beacon is a Sci-Fi Action Roguelike that asks you to fight, die and mutate yourself to overcome a randomly generated hostile planet. Coming soon for Windows, Mac, and Xbox One.
You play as Freja, a highly skilled pilot for the private military sector who's crashed on an unidentified planet. You must fight your way through randomly generated levels, attempting to find your ship's Beacon to escape the planet. Played from a top-down perspective, and controlling similarly to a twin-stick shooter, Beacon evokes a sense of classic arcade action within the trappings of modern Roguelike progress and permadeath, with the twist of Cloning mechanics tied to Death to create a lasting sense of progress.
You play as Freja, a highly skilled pilot for the private military sector who's crashed on an unidentified planet. You must fight your way through randomly generated levels, attempting to find your ship's Beacon to escape the planet. Played from a top-down perspective, and controlling similarly to a twin-stick shooter, Beacon evokes a sense of classic arcade action within the trappings of modern Roguelike progress and permadeath, with the twist of Cloning mechanics tied to Death to create a lasting sense of progress.
Beacon is designed to exhibit a strong aesthetic that works cohesively with the Science Fiction themes running through the mechanics and narrative. It uses a combination of modern post-processing and effects with low-poly modelling and geometric design to create a visual language that we feel is one of the game’s strongest and most striking features.
beacon.monothetic.com
devblog.monothetic.com
monothetic.com
Events
GDC 2016 ID@Xbox Loft Event - March 15th, 2016
GDC 2016 Unity Exhibition - March 16th to 18th, 2016
PAX West 2016 Microsoft ID@Xbox Pre-Pax Event - September 1st, 2016
If anyone has any questions about the game, technical or otherwise, don't hesitate to post and I'll pop in and answer them.
Thanks for checking it out!
beacon.monothetic.com
devblog.monothetic.com
monothetic.com
Events
GDC 2016 ID@Xbox Loft Event - March 15th, 2016
GDC 2016 Unity Exhibition - March 16th to 18th, 2016
PAX West 2016 Microsoft ID@Xbox Pre-Pax Event - September 1st, 2016
If anyone has any questions about the game, technical or otherwise, don't hesitate to post and I'll pop in and answer them.
Thanks for checking it out!
Replies
Edit: I didn't even read the text properly. Sci fi action roguelike, sign me up baby
@Kurt Russell Fan Club Thanks! Art is definitely our strong point as a collective. We have been pushing the gameplay more the last couple months but we still have a ways to go on that front.
@Cristian_P Thanks! It's been about 2 years on this project and 2 more years on another scrapped project prior, so it's great to finally be able to announce something that we're confident we can bring to release.
I forgot to mention in the post also, we'll be at the ID@Xbox loft event on Tuesday the 15th and exhibiting at the Unity Booth Wednesday to Friday during GDC, so stop by if you want to take a peek.
Edit: TAKE MY MONEY!
Looks super hot tho, definitely want to play!
@_Kratos_ Thanks!
@Spudnik Thank you fellow workshopper!
@Acealmighty13 Definitely stop by! We'll be at the Unity booth.
@dustinbrown Thank you!
@jonnyallenlwt We're definitely planning to put it on Steam, but we have no publishing deal arranged yet so nothing is final.
@Moose I agree with all of your points on the gameplay. Although the art is very polished we're still what I'd consider pre-alpha, so we still have a lot of work to put in pushing the gameplay and feedback with sounds and effects. Our estimated release date is early 2017 right now so we'll definitely spend a lot of time tweaking and refining the gameplay up until then.
Really digging the art style here, great job!
What tools are you guys using to create 3D art assets?
@Higuy Thanks! Too bad Black Snow won't run anymore... We're considering returning to it after Beacon though, so we'll see.
@gauravcm , We're hoping to put it on as many platforms as we can, so PS4 isn't out of thhe picture yet. For modeling, mainly we use Max and Maya. No ZBrush or high polys, just low poly meshes with mainly solid colors. Here's a blog post I did a while back on creating the Tritoraptor enemy if you're interested in seeing a bit more behind our process. http://devblog.monothetic.com/post/112964526565/modelling-for-beacon
If you can’t rise to the challenge, create a version of yourself that can.
Even with all the firepower in the world, taking on a hostile alien planet by yourself is a daunting task. Luckily, you have the benefit of being stranded alongside a functional Evotek emergency Clone Bay. Every time you die, integrate DNA collected from your fallen foes to alter your statistics until you’ve created a version of yourself that won’t.
Alter yourself too much, though, and the Clone Bay can create some… irregularities. Horns, luminescent growths, putrid sacks of pus where your feet once were; the more alien DNA you integrate into your system, the further you leave your humanity behind.
Your only hope to find your Beacon is to become something beyond human.
Recently we demoed at the Microsoft ID@Xbox Pre-Pax event with the current build (forgot to mention here before it happened, whoops), and are currently working on finishing up the first act of the game (The first 3 levels). I'll try to keep the thread updated more often with the current media, as we've been pushing to keep up on screenshotsaturday and madewithunity Friday's lately.
Here's a few wider shots of some of the recent levels I've been working on as well.
https://monothetic.itch.io/beacon