Greetings surveyors! I'm excited to announce the immediate release of Periphery Synthetic for Windows, Linux, and Steam Deck. Explore a planetary system, synthesize new abilities, and uncover its past in this interactive EP that draws inspiration from your favorite metroidvania, walking simulator, and interactive fiction. This release follows two years of early access updates which saw it grow from driving a buggy in a desert to a full system of planets where you can surf waves, explore caves, climb mountains, and even visit space. I'm deeply proud of this accomplishment, and I'm excited for where this project goes next.

Expansion reveals

My biggest goal with Periphery Synthetic was to create an experience that can be easily expanded with new worlds and abilities that further diversify its nonlinearity. This model was tested twice during its early access period with the incremental release of its worlds. These have always arrived as free content expansions for existing players, and coincided with a base price increase of $1 USD per expansion for the EP. Today I have two of these free content expansions to reveal for you. Both expansions will introduce challenging new worlds which feature dynamic vertical environments to explore. They also include a new xenotechnology to collect, and new abilities to unlock that change how you play. These will also be released for free with a base price increase.

Side D reveal

Here is an exclusive first look at the Side D release:
Alpha Periphery D2 is a small terrestrial world covered in an ethereal moss. Throughout its day the moss undergoes colorful seasonal changes, morphing between two distinct planetary surfaces. Importantly, it features aerial materials to collect, with an overhauled aerodynamics upgrade system which allows for finer control while falling. The update intends to also reexamine the material economy.

Side E reveal

Next is an exclusive first look at the Side E release:
Alpha Periphery D3 is a large airless world lit only by an ocean of molten lava. The magma rises and falls in an oscillating manner to reveal materials on its extremely vertical terrain. As this expansion is much earlier in production, I'm still determining the best upgrades to include here. The ability to manipulate the flow of time is a major possibility, as it would be very useful on all but one of the worlds.

Information forthcoming

Beware that these are not merely pieces of concept art! The worlds are connected by portals, mostly sculpted, and fully explorable. However, they need their music, environmental sound effects, new abilities, unique points of interest, perception and milestone triggers, trinkets, and narrative text. Both will be extremely large endeavors to finish from here. Soon I'll also be thinking more deeply about when development on the EP should come to a close. Since the beginning, I've planned for there being six explorable worlds. Ideally, a hypothetical sixth world would combine elements from all worlds into one, such as an Earth-like world that has an equal amount of land and underwater areas to explore. Ultimately, getting there will depend on the success of the EP, and whether I have the stamina to reach it. It may end up needing to be its own spinoff project. I'm looking forward to sharing more details about these expansions soon. In the meantime, I will continue to support the EP with new features and bugfixes while the expansions are in development. Thanks for playing!

[ 2024-08-22 17:00:36 CET ] [ Original post ]