With Update 0.8.0, we will introduce a new location that the Federation has tasked the Deep Space Vanguard with uncovering new developments on: Planet X-11. First conceived as a listening outpost, Planet X-11 was born of the team's desire to explore a new biome with a heavy emphasis on space.
Inspiration and Focus
A goal in enhancing our maps in Starship Troopers: Extermination has been to significantly improve the vistas and skyboxes, allowing us to convey a greater sense of scale and depth. The concept of delivering an epic sense of scale to the player ignited our creativity, driving us to craft an environment that seamlessly blends high-tech elements with the nostalgic feel of Lunar Expeditions. Imagine traversing a desolate, alien landscape and being able to look up and see a colossal neighboring planet looming just beyond the horizon. We aim to provide this visual experience and instill troopers with a sense of awe and wonder. Creating a new environment where troopers playing on a planet and being able to see another massive one right around the corner and the feeling of seeing hordes of Bugs coming across a moon-like crater were some of the first grounding elements we set out to explore.
It was important that we established contrasting shapes between Federation technology and the barren, unexplored environment to highlight the Federation’s advanced tech against X-11’s rugged landscape. The massive planet and asteroid field visible from the main crater emphasize X-11’s dynamic motion.Lore-wise, Federation troopers are on a mission to uncover data from a Bug Meteor strike. Setting up a mining operation to retrieve meteor fragments crucial to helping the Deep Space Vanguard (DSV) regain territory. We hope this dynamic setting deepens players' immersion and encourages exploration in uncovering what happened on X-11.
Later on in development, we realized it would make sense for the Federation to dig tunnels around the area, and that would offer a nice counterbalance between outdoor and indoor spaces for this map. In the interior Federation areas, we wanted to tell the story of the Troopers fighting the Bug menace to expand the DSV’s informational network. Lots of mining equipment, drills, and construction tools dress the interior of X-11– with a few key rooms filled with Easter Eggs for our players to check out!
To communicate that intent to the player, the environment team worked on the Antenna, which relays important information to fleet leadership and is the main Point of Interest for X-11. If they can hop onto the right places, Snipers will be able to use this structure in combat, and if they take the time to inspect it closely, they may find some interesting details
Artistically, the team felt a desire to move away from the earth tones predominant on Valaka and Agni Prime and instead embrace more primary and secondary colors in purples and yellows. The atmosphere of X-11 is tinted with a hint of gray-purple so that color would bounce on the shadows and nicely contrast the yellow rings of the planet in the vista. Just because the planet is a rocky asteroid doesn’t mean it should be devoid of color!
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We're very excited for troopers to get their hands on Planet X-11 and if you like what you see and want to discuss it with like-minded troopers. We welcome you to join our ST:E Community Discord!
The development on the new Federation science outpost took many months, but we at Offworld are extremely proud to bring you Planet X-11 in update 0.8.0 – Please enjoy these unsealed images and videos from Terran Command, troopers!
