The island’s home.
Yet far from being the ideal summer getaway destination, it’s given you an erratically active volcano that’s made building a hotel impossible and a race of highly intelligent machinery that lives off its fumes.
Volcanoids then is an attempt at survival where you’ve pretty much had enough, decided to build for yourself a massive drillship and go to war. Emphasis on drillship.
Developer Tomas Rampas likens it to a Volkswagen Type 2 though not for its hippie pedigree. Rather he explains that just as one would pack all sorts of rubbish into a mobile home to be unloaded at destination camp, so will Volcanoids’ drillships work as the very kernel of its game-play experience.
To put things into perspective the island is divided into multiple sectors, each with its contributions to the central volcanic activity that must be cooled. Successfully cooling every source before the volcano explodes puts it into remission and mission accomplished.
Simple as that might sound for a game-plan however it’s not; each source of volcanic activity comes with its own horde of enemy COG defenses that need taking down. Not to mention often impossible mountainous terrain, NPC raids, and combat with real-world players with their own drillships if multiplayer PVP is your game-play mode of choice.
https://www.facebook.com/Volcanoids/posts/2003606499899031
As one would assume then, the crux of Volcanoids end-game is to construct a near infallible drill machine to withstand the forces. Starting out small and base, each drill can be expanded to include up to five distinct modules for purposes of production, research and storage.
Interiors may be built upon to make space for accompanying equipment, control rooms, residential areas and even production lines to automate your crafting duties. Yes, crafting, as the island offers its share of resources that must be mined in strengthening the bulwark.
Naturally such an undertaking takes time and patience, hence why Volcanoids permits players to take their drills underground when in offline mode. Here their projects remain relatively protected from enemy/player raids, albeit until all energy resources are drained.
Another looping GIF of the drillship to end the weekend! #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame pic.twitter.com/Kgs5n2LxM6
— Volcanoids 🌋 Steampunk Survival (@volcanoids) March 25, 2018
Staying underground also offers protection against the volcano itself that’s bound to go off multiple times; not only does withstanding eruptions come with its own range of perks (increased mineral ore occurrences, for instance), but the team also cleverly justifies the volcanic activity as a cleaning mechanic that works to reset the island and clear any online performance overload issues.
Fail to bury the drill before an eruption however and risk losing all progress besides a mildly stocked-up safe house.
Announced only November last, Volcanoids is still young into its development cycle. A very prompt developer diary maintained by Tomas however, is very telling of the level of depth the team intends to pursue with its design of modules, user interfaces, world-building and evolution.
What kind of equipment/furniture/gadgets would you guys like to have inside the drillship? #gamedev #indiedev pic.twitter.com/ko0iBTaAJ0
— Volcanoids 🌋 Steampunk Survival (@volcanoids) March 26, 2018
I do recommend catching up on YouTube.
