Hello, Explorers!

It's hard to believe that this is going to be the final devlog for NaturesAscendancy here on itch.io. These have been years of hard work, challenges, countless late nights, and times of immense growth that we've finally reached a point where we can reflect on everything leading us to this release. What started as a humble prototype is now a fleshed-out world, brimming with gameplay, story, and exploration. This, however, is not just a simple overview of what we have been working on; it is more about a journey: the journey we want to take you on from the first sparks of the idea right down to the immersive and emotive experience that is there before you today.

In the four years since NaturesAscendancy was first conceived, we faced a lot of obstacles, big and small, which shaped the game. From a barely functioning prototype to what we now offer, it's been a roller coaster of excitement, frustration, and fulfillment. This devlog will delve into those moments of trial and triumph, along with the challenges that defined the development process and how they were overcome.

Year 1: The Modest Start

Every game has a genesis, and NaturesAscendancy's origin story is humble. When the development just started, we had nothing more but Unreal Engine's default third-person character. Landscape was empty, barren-but there was something about it that sparked our imagination. It was such a cool idea-to survive on an alien world-and we knew we wanted to build something that felt alive, something that pulls players in with its atmosphere and mystery.

The first six months were almost completely exploratory. We tried a lot of ideas, lots of systems, lots of mechanics. There was just a lack of cohesion at the time. First of all, we didn't even have a sense of direction for the game. The landscape was rolling hills for no reason-just Unreal's landscape tool generating some simple shapes. There wasn't even a character controller that worked initially. But once we got third-person up and running, something clicked. The barren world felt like a place the player could explore.

Water was one of the first additions. While simple, water was a key element for us in understanding how to create dynamic environments. It wasn't sophisticated-it didn't have tides, it didn't have dynamic weather, and it didn't have a realistic flow system. It was a static, blue plane, but for the first time it felt like the world had potential.

Then came the implementation of hunger mechanics. By this time, we were adding some very basic survival elements, trying to integrate core features into the game, such as resource management. Another shift in our thinking-at this point, our prototype wasn't a sandbox; the player would have a reason to explore, to survive, and to think in strategic ways about how they managed their resources, introducing a force that pushes the player outward.

In retrospect, this was the time of finding our footing. We were just working out the basic principles of survival gameplay, trying to determine what systems worked and what didn't. It was an exciting time, even though we had very little to show for it at first. The foundation was laid, but it was just a glimpse of what would come.

Year 2: Building the World

The second year of development, however, did see the game grow in complexity, though, as the world really started to be fleshed out. Probably one of the most important steps toward making the world feel real and varied was a complete revamp of the terrain system, introducing biomes. Each of these would have their very own look and resources, adding to the survival experience. Of course, the world was still small, too small. Each biome was relegated to its own section, and the jumps between them often came off feeling jarring. It very much felt like a checkerboard world, functional but not organic.

This year's true breakout feature is, without a doubt, the inclusion of trees and resource crops. Suddenly, instead of the world just being this place that a player needs to survive in, it's a world that the player gets to shape. Trees provided essential resources, and crops offered a way to survive sustainably. This wasn't just a world of random rocks and shrubs; it was a living environment that reacted to the player. We also started experimenting with a basic crafting system during this time.

Another key milestone was the inventory system. It started as a simple list-copper: 5, stone: 1, etc.-but this system was rudimentary at best. The inventory was nothing more than a collection of text-based strings (that were intigers behind the scenes - not even a list, just one variable per resource). It worked, but... We realized early on that we would need a more immersive system if we wanted the game to feel like something special. But at this point, we were still figuring out how to approach it.

As we continued to build the world, we started focusing on how the player interacts with their surroundings. How would they utilize the resources? What did survival mean in this world? The addition of water, trees, and crops were key steps in moving toward a more fleshed-out experience. But we still had a long way to go before the game would feel like something players could truly immerse themselves in.

Year 3: Overhauls and Expansion

The third year of development marked a turning point for NaturesAscendancy. It was the year when everything changed. The world was overhauled once again, but this time it was more than just an aesthetic upgrade. We abandoned the checkerboard-style map and set out to create something far larger and more connected. The world was no longer a set of isolated squares, but one continuous, kilometer-wide landscape with sprawling biomes that flowed naturally into one another.

This was a huge challenge from both the technical and artistic standpoint: Suddenly, the world needed to feel connected, with environmental transitions that didn't feel forced or jarring. A tricky balance to achieve, but results well worth the effort, nonetheless. The game world felt alive for the first time, and that sense of immersion was something we hadn't quite captured before.

This year also brought an important conceptual shift in the way we think about progression: We brought in alien structures and other landmarks key to the narrative. The structures weren't just something in the world; they became part of the story. Each was a piece of a puzzle that became a large objective to the player. Structures began to weave a tale that set up deeper probing and higher stakes.

Inventory systems also evolved by this time: the simple list had turned into a functional grid-based system. Full crafting was introduced where a player could combine resources into tools and structures. Of course, this system isn't perfect, but a huge improvement over what we had before. This allowed the player to craft from a visual grid, affording more control and making the inventory feel like a much more integrated part of the game. But even then, the system was still evolving-it wasn't until later that we added runtime recipe changes and automatic system updates that would make the inventory dynamic.

Year 4: Polishing and Refining the Experience

The final year of development was where everything came together. What was once a small survival prototype had grown into a massive, immersive world full of stories, challenges, and mysteries. Attention shifted from technical challenges to polishing the experience. It was time to refine every aspect of the game: the controls, the visuals, the story, and the systems with which players interacted day in and day out.

The narrative came to the forefront this last year. Aya's story of survival and discovery was always at the heart of the game, but we now began to layer in deeper emotional moments. The world came alive through personal logs, alien structures, and subtle environmental storytelling. Every discovery felt meaningful, and through doing so, players uncovered a tragic history of a crashed crew and the alien forces at play. No longer was it a question of survival-it was about unraveling secrets of a lost civilization and about building a new future in an unknown world.

We also focused heavily on survival mechanics during this period, balancing difficulty with accessibility. Resource management became more nuanced, and the ecosystem was given more depth. The dynamic ecosystem, which was once just a pipe dream, was finally realized. Thousands of creatures roamed the world, each interacting with their environment in meaningful ways. The world felt alive, constantly changing, constantly challenging the player.

These last few months were used to refine the experience, test, receive feedback, and iterate upon it. Each bug (we knew of) was squashed, every mechanic fine-tuned. The game evolved from a prototype into a full-fledged experience-something we could be proud of at last. The pacing was tweaked, story arcs stitched together, and the world buffed up to shine.

The Challenges Along the Way

No journey is without its challenges, and ours was no different. The first hurdle was performance: early in development, we realized the world we were trying to create was big, and Unreal Engine was handling it poorly. The frame rate would drop frequently, along with many crashes, until months of optimization work made the game run smoothly. Performance was a constant boogeyman. Through persistence and long work, we overcame all the major challenges, and the game is now running better then ever before.

Another challenge was finding a balance between complexity and accessibility. Survival games are notorious for being hard, but we didn't want NaturesAscendancy to be a punishing experience. We wanted players to be able to be immersed in the world without constantly feeling overwhelmed by mechanics. That balancing act was delicate, but we found a sweet spot that we're proud of.

But perhaps the biggest challenge was time. We were a small team, and that means limited resources and having to wear many hats. Sometimes, it felt like we just weren't going to be able to finish, that the end was simply too far off. But we kept pushing on, bit by bit, refining the game. And now, after four long years, we've made it.

The Future of NaturesAscendancy

We could now be proud of this world we built, but there is so much more in front of us. The future holds a lot and tells its mysteries while being part of numerous stories.

In the coming months and years ahead, we'll be greatly expanding the game with new features, biomes, and narrative elements, and we'll continue to make this experience as smooth and rich as possible based on feedback from players. Moving on, there's lots more to add to the world surrounding Aya's story-something that's far, far from over. An ending is just a new beginning.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for taking this journey with us. We hope you'll find some joy, excitement, and perhaps even a smidgen of wonder when stepping into NaturesAscendancy.

To the future.

With immense gratitude,

The Development Team at NextHorizonGames