Monday, December 23, 2013

Endeavor isn't "That other game"


Many people have asked us how Endeavor is different from Minecraft or Cube World and we would like to formally address that. It seems that the first look of Endeavor, having a voxel-based theme, presents a visual resemblance to these other games. It’s an interesting thing that while there are hundreds of games with this theme, they are perceived as “knock-offs” of Minecraft, who was by no means the founder of this. Cube World, for example, is a completely different genre and still falls to the criticism of being a Minecraft knockoff. The only similarity is that both have their worlds generated by cubes. When it comes to other games this is not an issue. Take Call of Duty and Battlefield for example. From first appearances these games look identical, but players will be able to tell you very specific reasons why they are different and cannot be mistaken.

Now comes Endeavor. The theme does resemble a mix of Minecraft and Cube World, but the gameplay and genre are completely different. We believe the biggest thing that separates us is community and purpose.

Community
Endeavor is mass multiplayer. There are hundreds of players, alliances, competition, combat, and is centered around your relationship with other players. Minecraft can support this on a small scale, but was not designed for it. It’s the difference between World of Warcraft and Borderlands. Both are great games, but are not compared on the same scale.

Purpose
Endeavor is a game you are playing to win. The objective of the game is to construct a beacon with the help of other players in your alliance. You are constantly in competition with other alliances as you battle for land and resources to finish your objective and win the server.

Minecraft and Cube World are amazing games and a visual inspiration for Endeavor, but the gameplay, genre, and purpose are just different.

So why did we choose voxels?
Building the world from voxels provides flexible gameplay and allows us to keep the graphic style simple. Having a team of only 5 members, we needed something that was easy to develop and maintain in the future.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Day/Night Cycle

Endeavor now has a day and night cycle with a sun, moon, stars, and dynamic sky. The sky colors and terrain lighting changes depending on the time of day.