It’s time for another survivalbox roundup! What’s new in the world of eternal building, unbuilding, ganking, ganking buildings, and consuming adequate food and water so you don’t keel over dead from all the fun you’re having?
Valnir Rok
Viking-themed survival sandbox Valnir Rok is currently conducting closed alpha rounds, having opened up new servers in Asia, South America, and Russia for this weekend’s test event.
“Looking back, it was a good decision to make another closed alpha weekend before the launch,” wrote the devs this week. “Although the player’s feedback was very positive overall, we found several bugs and some serious problems. We managed to fix some issues over the weekend and patched a few performance problems. Now our task is to fix severe bugs, which influence gameplay, to have a successfull launch. Nevertheless, we are looking forward going in Early Access by the end of September.”
What else have we got here…
Hellion
Space sandbox Hellion has a fresh dev blog out discussing PvE and how new immersion mechanics “will take the PvE aspect of the game to a new level.” Specifically, the team is working on “damage, degradation, and repair” for both ships and stations, along with heat management (space is cold, yo), radiation exposure, station management, and improved inventory and storage. Star Citizen fans ought to pay attention here!
Next Day Survival
Survival MMO Next Day Survival has a sale on its early access edition running right now – it’s down to $7.49. Most recently, it produced a large patch stuffed with bug fixes, an anti-cheat system, new locations, new NPCs, new art assets for all game modes, easier access to the single-play mode, private game servers via password, new skills, and a character level system.
ARK: Survival Evolved
Finally, Gamasutra has a new interview with ARK: Survival Evolved Lead Designer Jeremy Stieglitz, who spoke about ARK’s negative Steam reviews, “vestigial” features left over in the game, and difficult choices in game design. The most difficult choice? How realistic to make different mechanics.
