Building and improving on the concept introduced by the popular game "Minecraft," System Era Softworks is set to introduce an open-world survival game called "Astroneer" in early 2016. But rather than terraforming a blocky world, the game will have the vast cosmos to explore and shape in order to build a civilization.
"Astroneer came from an art project I was working on in my spare time," Adam Bromell, the game creator said, according to Popular Science. "I wanted to tell the story of an astronaut, alone on an infinitely distant planet, where [the astronaut is] the key to human survival but [she] would have to eventually sacrifice [her] life to do be that savior."
Aside from its breadth, "Astroneer" will also have a refined graphical interface. Unlike the use of angular blocks for terrain manipulation in "Minecraft," the game uses approaches like terrain deformation and 3-D interfacing. To put this another way, one can say that instead of stacking bricks to build something, one has clay that can be molded into more realistic and aesthetically pleasing shapes. Check how it works in the trailer below.
Finally, the game takes the perspective of an interplanetary builder. The players get to zip through space and discover different worlds and harvest precious materials and artifacts. One of the main objectives is to be wealthy, but this is given more dimension by the discovered oddities, mysteries and questions along the way, Softworks said on its website.
The game, which will feature both a storyline for single-play and multiplayer capabilities, was developed using Unreal Engine 4, according to The Verge.
