DevBlog #2: Prospects + new screenshots

TomRadziwill — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 11:00:00 +0000

So shortly after the announcement of Populous: Incarnation the year comes to an end already and we take our leave into the holidays until mid-January. In this update we want to discuss the project’s recent status and dare an outlook into the upcoming year. Moreover, there is a pile of new screenshots on top of that.

Prevision

The coming year will definitely be exciting for our small team. After the announcement we were happy to receive your opinions and collected new motivation for the next development phase. In the popre.net forum we told the core of the community about our intentions and published first screenshots and details which were overall received positively. We would like to thank you for this first feedback. Many of you are interested in the momentary state of development. Up to now, we finalised level 8. An additional number exist in a raw version and yet more are being planned already. Even in the last couple of days, much of the project planning changed and level are repositioned and arranged differently to offer the best game experience.

In the new year, we want to give you a deeper insight in the development so you can follow the decisions we made. Furthermore, we want to introduce the small team to let you have a look behind the curtain. Some of you don’t understand why the development takes so much time; maybe we are able to explain that with an introduction to the team. The highlight early next year will probably be the first game play video. We want to present a few renewals which you will find in Populous: Incarnation.

As a little Christmas present, there are a number of screenshots showing you the new worlds. We wish you a happy new year and we will hear from each other in 2018.

DevBlog #1: The Journey begins (once again)

TomRadziwill — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 19:56:53 +0000

We are proud to be able to announce the new chapter of Populous: The Beginning. Exactly 19 years ago, Bullfrog’s masterpiece was published and continues to unite a strong community up to this day. Since then there were numerous new attempts to modify and re-interpret the classic. Yet, each of us is drawn back to the original over again. The reasons are obvious: Well-made level design, high quality and a good amount of nostalgia let the 25 original levels become an evergreen.

Recollection

With Populous Incarnation we are not only announcing another add-on, but simultaneously a reflection of old strengths. ‘Back to the roots’ is the motto which we follow resolutely. As fans of the game series it is a matter close to our heart to grant the original an extension as if it had come directly from the developer Bullfrog itself and had been part of the game right from the start. We give our best to achieve this aim through a high degree of detail and thought-through level design. In addition to that, we put a lot of work into the programming of the AI to let this – in turn differing from the 1998 original – be a well-balanced challenge. To add a finishing touch to the whole package we complete it with own ideas such as new types of mission objectives and environmental influences.

The shortcomings of 1998 were to be obliterated and strong points built upon. Populous Incarnation has been developed for a year now and went through a number of various test scenarios and experiments so far. Since a few months we started to work on the final uprating. We, a three persons team, all working in jobs from design backgrounds and having been able to gain experience in game design as well. This project is to be seen as our personal hobby entirely and does not pursue any financial interests. Any contents are based on ideas from the original Populous: The Beginning. We are happy to answer any of your questions on the developing thread at popre.net; for special requests you are also welcome to send an email.

We are looking forward to give you an insight in our work in the upcoming year and introduce you to some exciting features in detail. But feel free to stick around to be sure not to miss out on any news about the project.