Exipelago is a bit of a mixup from features of other games, so if one would need to describe Exipelago in one go it would be
While a lot of thought went into it to also make it performant, it's nothing unique on the market of Base Building Games, even tho finding everything combined in one game is quite rare.
But there is one thing which sets everything apart and also makes the complexity of coding much higher: The versatility of the game. You see, in Exipelago you don't just have some Item with some texture. Exipelago comes with structured Material Dependency System. It may be easiest to describe by an example:
If you (or any other creator) decides to make a new type of tree - there is an editor for that (it's very simple). Open it up, define the attributes of your tree and you also define the material of the wood it will produce. The game will automatically create a corresponding type of log with the material the tree defined. The log itself is created via another editor by defining is general shape (geometry import) and also defining what material type it should get (in that example, it will be basically "wood". So as soon as you add another tree, the game will automatically create the new log-type.
Further than that - let's take a plank, which is made out of a log - the plank just defines its shape and the things needed to built it - everything else will be created by the game, so a new tree will not only issue new logs but also everything made out of logs, like a plank - and everything made out of planks like a table.
So the whole reason behind this is, that the game itself is almost infinitely expandable by everyone. Want more trees? Just add them and supply a texture for the leavves, bark and wood. Want a new type of table? Make one in blender, import it via the ingame editor and assign materials used - voila. Want a new Block Material? There is a Pixel Editor for that as well.
That's the big promise of the game, it's easy to expand and it will be so in 10 or 20 years and everyone will be able to do so, share their work or use the work of others. Fully community driven - as long as the community is interested of course.
- 3D with full zlevel
- Voxel Style with various different block shapes (ramps, corners, pillars etc)
- Colony Managment
- Production Chains & Automation
- Real Time Simulation of different aspects (growth, water, volume light)
- Easily capable of working with multiple 100s of villagers
- Highly optimized even for giant worlds/islands
- Comes with several editors to easily a create your own trees/plants/items/materials/production chains
While a lot of thought went into it to also make it performant, it's nothing unique on the market of Base Building Games, even tho finding everything combined in one game is quite rare.
But there is one thing which sets everything apart and also makes the complexity of coding much higher: The versatility of the game. You see, in Exipelago you don't just have some Item with some texture. Exipelago comes with structured Material Dependency System. It may be easiest to describe by an example:
If you (or any other creator) decides to make a new type of tree - there is an editor for that (it's very simple). Open it up, define the attributes of your tree and you also define the material of the wood it will produce. The game will automatically create a corresponding type of log with the material the tree defined. The log itself is created via another editor by defining is general shape (geometry import) and also defining what material type it should get (in that example, it will be basically "wood". So as soon as you add another tree, the game will automatically create the new log-type.
Further than that - let's take a plank, which is made out of a log - the plank just defines its shape and the things needed to built it - everything else will be created by the game, so a new tree will not only issue new logs but also everything made out of logs, like a plank - and everything made out of planks like a table.
So the whole reason behind this is, that the game itself is almost infinitely expandable by everyone. Want more trees? Just add them and supply a texture for the leavves, bark and wood. Want a new type of table? Make one in blender, import it via the ingame editor and assign materials used - voila. Want a new Block Material? There is a Pixel Editor for that as well.
That's the big promise of the game, it's easy to expand and it will be so in 10 or 20 years and everyone will be able to do so, share their work or use the work of others. Fully community driven - as long as the community is interested of course.
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