This week has been an incredibly busy week for me, and I have lots to talk about in this weeks blog post. I’m actually fairly impressed that there are now 40 blog posts here, one for every Friday since I started the blog – that is a lot of information about Fringe Planet! I may have to do something special for the 50th post.

This week the major event was the re-launch of the website. The previous one was just a collection of handwritten HTML and some (very) out of date screenshots. Now, it’s powered by Drupal and is far easier to maintain and add new content to. You’ll see, on visiting the new site that front and center is the new teaser trailer I spoke about last week. I’ve had a lot of fantastic feedback about it, and even uploaded it to YouTube now, as part of the official Fringe Planet channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1aq_ictoDCQjpYYE-nsc-A – feel free to like and subscribe to the channel, there is a lot more content coming soon!

There are some new sections to the website as well:

• A lore section (with links to important lore blog posts) which contains information about the eldritch nature of the Fringe Planet universe
• Gallery section (up to date screenshots, GIFs, videos, concept artwork and historical images)
• Newsletter signup (the first newsletter will be coming very soon!)
• Store

The store is, to me (for obvious reasons) – the most important section. This will allow you to contribute directly to the development of Fringe Planet. Developing a game is a fairly expensive process, so every single contribution honestly makes a huge difference. There will be other things in the store (currently looking at t-shirts). Currently you have two options : buy a peon name or have a message in your the credits.

Buying a peon name will mean that the name you choose will be in the name pool for the game. I’ll be offering this as a KickStarter reward later, but a higher cost. You won’t get the game with this, but you will honestly be making a huge difference to me. Buying a credit message will get you a copy of the game (when it is released, as well as an invite to the closed beta), as well as allowing you to put a message in the credits of the game. These credits will be viewable from the main screen. And will also be displayed when the game is completed. Know a Rimworld addict who you want to get engaged too, but not quite yet, but maybe will do by the end of the year? More than happy to put your proposal in the credits of the game. Think dogs are better than cats? I may not agree, but you can get your opinion in your credits. Think I use the world “eldritch” too much? That message could appear in the credits! Have a youtube channel you’d like to shout out about? Feel free to give the credit message an option a whirl!

As with all of these sorts of offerings, I won’t put everything in there. If it is vulgar, homophobic, racist or offensive I will say no. I will happily work with you on a new message, or refund your purchase. I think common sense rules would apply here.  All purchases are made securely via paypal, and I won’t see any of your financial data. Supporting Fringe Planet like this honestly makes a huge difference. As a special thank you for the next few months any purchases made directly through this site will appear above all other (non-development related) credits in a special section called “The First Ones” to show the world that you helped make Fringe Planet a reality.

Aside from the website, the first official Fringe Planet press release was sent out to the journalistic community. I’ve had a bunch of responses already from some very awesome folks, so I’m very keen to see what develops from that. If you are a member of the press, or just someone who wants to talk about Fringe Planet, give me a shout – nic@fringeplanetgame.com – I’m always ready to chat and I’m fairly friendly as well.

Even with all that going on this week, development wise I’ve been working very heavily on balancing peon traits. Some combinations that could naturally occur lead to some exceedingly overpowered peons. Being able to lift over a 100 tonnes of rock and walk about with it didn’t seem too realistic to me alas. I’ve also been prototyping a new GUI design for building, the current one is starting to feel slightly clunky, and I’ve got a much better idea for something that will seem a lot more natural – I’ll keep you updated on this progress! Thanks for reading this weeks blog!

There is a lot more to read about Fringe Planet… why not try:

• The website has been updated!
• The oncoming storm – Dev Blog 57
• There is something emerging from The Void – Dev Blog 80