October 2023 Development Blog
Greetings,
As we embrace the spirit of Halloween, we’re delighted to share some exciting updates. First and foremost, we are thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our development journey. Ganymede Games has entered a publisher agreement for Xenotheria! This has a couple of massive positive impacts for our development, including more funding and the ability to scale our team as needed to improve our workflow.
The second item we can share today is our new release plans. As a result of our publisher agreement, we will no longer enter an early access phase. Instead, we will continue development until our full release in late 2024. The immediate benefits of this new timeline means that we are able to create a more complete gameplay experience for our players and have a bigger launch than ever before. We hope your excitement for Early Access transitions with us into our official full launch.
Thirdly, we also have a new Steam page trailer, check it out for some new gameplay clips. Once again, thanks to the team at Radikal for their hard work on the new trailer.
Finally, as a special treat for our dedicated community, we invite you to delve deeper into the narrative journey of Xenotheria. Join us as we sit down for an insightful interview with our narrative writer, Tod Lancaster.
Read on below, and let the excitement for 2024 commence!
INTERVIEW
Hey Tod, thank you for sitting down with me. My first question is on your own history. What was your background before you started at Ganymede Games?
My writing background is varied. I started out studying journalism, but I was sidetracked by the film industry, where I produced two feature-length documentaries and my own no-budget feature film, along with a handful of spec screenplays. But science fiction has always been my first love. I grew up on it, and I’m currently polishing my debut novel, the first installment in a mythical post-civilization trilogy. So when the opportunity to write a sci-fi video game presented itself, I didn’t have to think twice. So far, it’s been an exhilarating journey!
It has been! My first narrative question for you is about the themes of our story. We know Xenotheria is incredibly character driven, I’m wondering if you could share some details on your process of weaving these different characters together to emphasize the major themes of our game?
Sure, Anton! I’ll pick one of the main themes of our story, which centers around unity and cooperation across differences. Our party of heroes is composed of different species that have historically been at war with each other. Now they face a common existential threat, and their survival hinges on their ability to work together. This theme is not new, but it holds special relevance in today's societal climate.
To your question about my process regarding themes and character: a good theme serves not just as a compass that guides the story and its characters toward a meaningful goal, but also as an evolving framework that adapts as the characters grow and the story progresses. In other words, if the theme is too rigid, the story risks becoming stilted and uninspiring. The characters must be authentic, multi-dimensional individuals, each with their unique voices and motivations. Unity might be the prevailing direction, but the journey should not be linear.
As you mention, the framework of Xenotheria’s themes adapts to their character’s growth. To spin that concept back onto yourself, what’s changed the most about this story over 2023?
Perfect question, because it was at the beginning of 2023 that we went from outlining the story and characters to actually implementing everything through dialogue, comments, and quest logs. When that happens—when all those character briefs and story outlines get distilled and plugged into a working build that team members start playing—it’s like a grenade going off. Everything changes. Some “brilliant” ideas fall flat, while ideas you almost discarded really hit.
As a writer, that’s the scary part. A video game is not like a novel, written in a vacuum. The environment is more like a newsroom, a collaborative grinder where everything you create is passed around, scrutinized, and evaluated. That probably sounds gut-wrenching to many writers, but it’s actually energizing.
Sounds pretty inspiring then. Speaking of which, what’s inspiring you while you continue to write Xenotheria? Are there other narratives you draw from?
Externally, the archetypes in our story are so embedded in our cultural psyche that there is no shortage of inspiration. The group quest is well-trodden ground, from Seven Samurai to the Lord of the Rings to Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Internally, though, my greatest inspiration comes from the evolution I just talked about: from watching a blank canvas transform into a fully realized world. I don’t just mean the writing, either. I mean the work of the entire team. There’s nothing more invigorating than when Sam, our lead environment artist, draws a location based on a brief I wrote, or when Chris, our character artist, draws a character and Georgy, our animator, breathes life into it. Then the other team members inject their creativity and expertise, and we end up with a finished product that eclipses the contributions of any single member. The whole process is incredibly inspiring.
Writing for a video game is a whole different ball park. Especially since Xenotheria is an RPG. What have you learned about writing during this process, and how is that reflected in the game?
It’s true that video game storytelling is different, but it’s not that different. It has more moving parts than a novel or a screenplay, but at its core, it’s still a story. And since Xenotheria is a fixed-story RPG, it’s fairly linear in the same way as a novel and movie.
That said, there is a lot more writing that goes into a video game than just the story. There is a sprawling web of secondary documentation involved, some of which is used internally and some of which will probably end up in a codex or an online wiki.
I suppose the difference that is most obviously reflected in the game is our ability to plug the story and dialogue in a playable beta build. Fairly soon after something is written, I can experience it as a player would. I can see what works and what doesn’t, and I can adjust accordingly.
With the lore being setup and established for the world of Xenotheria, what do you think players pay attention to as we head towards release?
There are many compelling gameplay elements that will draw players to Xenotheria, but from a narrative standpoint, I think the most captivating aspect is the enigma surrounding the great cataclysm at the beginning of the game. Why does everything in this planet’s orbit suddenly get pulled to the ground? What sort of entity could exert a force like that, and what does all this have to do with the now-extinct race of beings that used to inhabit the planet?
To return to our discussion of themes, this planet-wide mystery has to be solved by a small group of average individuals, each of whom has deeply personal reasons for undertaking the mission. It’s one of the most enduring themes in human history, from Thermopylae to World War II: the idea of ordinary people rising to confront extraordinary events.
Thanks Tod. Great talking with you!
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the future of Xenotheria is brighter than ever. With our exciting publishing agreement and a release date set for 2024, we are more excited than ever for what lies ahead. We will have plenty of more details to share in the coming months, including more details about Xenotheria, more details about our publisher, and eventually more details about our launch plans.
If you enjoyed this one on one interview, be sure to let us know in our discord server. We’d be happy to make this a regular thing where we highlight our employees and the work they’re contributing to Xenotheria.
Stay tuned for more updates, as we continue to evolve and expand the Xenotheria universe. Thank you for being a part of this exciting journey with us.
And on behalf of Ganymede Games, Happy Halloween!
-Anton
