Set in a persistent open world, it is driven by a captivating sci-fi story that picks up shortly after the events of its predecessor, but instead of the previous roguelike game mechanics, the focus in EverSpace 2 will be on open world gameplay combined with classic RPG elements and extended storytelling. 

Thanks to the expanded perks and a brand new class-based player ship system with dozens of models, players can also fully customize their spaceship to their individual playing style with weapons, plating, and equipment, similar to classic RPG character development. Despite all the innovations, EverSpace 2 remains true to its space shooter core and presents fast-paced space action in the well-known EverSpace style.

The story of EverSpace 2 continues from its successful predecessor. As one of the surviving clone pilots, the player is faced with the remnants of his past: the cloning program has been canceled, the colonial authorities have placed a bounty on him, and now that dying means the ultimate death the search for the meaning of life suddenly takes on a whole new importance. Fate, however, has big plans and soon the player discovers what it means to evolve from a former military clone to a truly real person. EverSpace 2 not only creates a powerful gaming experience, but also one that is visually impressive in the beautiful infinity of space where breathtaking cinematic scenery invites - encourages - exploration.

To ensure the narrative quality of the 20+ hours campaign, with countless side missions, ROCKFISH Games is working with creative minds such as Joshua Rubin, who has been involved in AAA productions such as Destiny, Assassin's Creed II, and The Walking Dead. Streamline Studios and Volta will also be involved as external development partners. 

ROCKFISH Games is currently running an EverSpace 2 kickstarter campaign, looking to raise 450,000 EUR/$493,000.

ROCKFISH Games gives insights into the new open-world game mechanics and its quite bizarre inhabitants. In the full version, there will be at least eight star systems, each divided into zones with differing threat levels and featuring numerous hand-designed locations to discover, between which players can travel freely. Further surprises await daring space pilots in the form of procedurally generated locations styled after those in the first EverSpace title, offering even greater variety for player pilots.

The combination of fixed, hand-designed and procedurally generated locations and events with ingenious design rules offers the best possible gaming experience while allowing a vibrant and stunningly beautiful game world with countless trading stations, shipyards and secret locations in a visual quality that is not possible with purely procedurally generated game worlds. ROCKFISH Games also responds to the community's desire for more fantastic life forms in EVERSPACE™ 2 with a variety of extraterrestrials. Due to the positive response of the fans, further creative rewards were added to the Kickstarter campaign to help with the design and naming of these exotic flora and fauna.

One of the biggest fan wishes to be able to fly down to planet surfaces is now also fulfilled in EVERSPACE™ 2. Planetary levels are designed by hand for maximum visual quality and gameplay control. Differences in gravity and air resistance as well as new types of enemies put the skills of pilots to the test, and provide further variety before players tackle new missions on ground stations, equip their ship or trade. Furthermore, the visual quality and level of detail of the predecessor's established NPCs coming back to the series have been significantly improved by means of a fundamentally new texturing process and with the help of leading external studios including Volta, Streamline Studios and Liquid Development.

Finally, EverSpace 2 will include completely new gameplay mechanics: by exploiting hull weak points, huge enemy ships can be fought from within while interactive level elements can be used to inflict damage in otherwise inaccessible places. In addition, the combat AI was developed from the ground up enabling enemies to pull off different and more varied attacks, defense and retreat behaviors.

"The feedback from space enthusiasts, the games press and influencers of our vision and the demo of EVERSPACE™ 2 alike is overwhelmingly positive. Nevertheless, after evaluating over 20,000 comments on game sites and our social media channels, a possible exclusivity in the Epic Games Store, which we have never considered seriously, seems to be a significant concern in the PC gaming community," said Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of ROCKFIH Games. "Therefore, we want to make it crystal clear once again: EVERSPACE™ 2 will be released on Steam, first. It's home to our most loyal fans and Valve is also by far our most important distribution partner; it would be insane if we disappoint either. Granted, the Kickstarter isn't going as well as we'd hoped, but we believe we can make our dream of an open-world space shooter RPG come true together with our community and bring the campaign to a successful conclusion - because we still have a lot of awesome stuff up our sleeves that our fans will love.“  

NPCs & Alien Creatures

A common critique of our previous game was that there were not enough enemies and other alien creatures to encounter. This can be explained by our limited budget back then but also due to the fact that not too many pilots made it to later sectors where more baddies and other surprises awaited (yes, normal difficulty in a roguelike can be tough, especially for players who are new to the genre). 

We addressed the issue with the fittingly named expansion EVERSPACE – Encounters which featured five new story characters, several new enemy types and some bizarre alien creatures as well as a brand-new player ship and lots of new gear, but you guys still wanted more…

In EVERSPACE 2, we want to take things a lot further. Not only will we improve the visual quality of the established NPCs and alien creatures of the predecessor with the aid of the talented folks at Volta, Streamline Studios and Liquid Development. We also want to have new types of enemies and more wicked wildlife in space that might freak you out, make you smile or just scratch your head…

Combat AI

Now, we know great looks aren’t everything, so we are also working on a more sophisticated combat AI and new gameplay features like taking down capital ships from the inside or defeating bosses with more complex behaviors.

Hi-Res Texturing

A few basics before we get into details: What are textures and what is the purpose of using them? A texture simulates surface characteristics such as roughness, metalness, micro-detail (normal), and albedo (color). With the help of these, we can add details to surfaces that would otherwise be impossible to achieve (even with current-generation high-end graphic cards). Consider for a moment that every screw and every tiny scratch you see on a surface would need to be modeled, so you would end up with billions of triangles even for a very simple object.

Where To Start

The first step is taking a very close look at the concepts we get from our designers and finding out which details can be converted into smaller texture patterns. These are usually based on a 128-pixel grid so that we can later easily re-arrange them on our atlas texture.

When creating the layout, it is very important to keep in mind that other artists who will later work with the texture should have no problems navigating it and easily find the patterns they are looking for.

Mapping

I do some mapping tests on ship block-outs with the layout to find out if the atlas needs any improvements or re-arrangements. However, at this point, it is only a simple black and white texture without any additional surface information.

Crafting

The next step is to create the pre-baked geometrical information (normal map) and based on this most of the other surface characteristics. There are a lot of different ways to achieve the desired look... either by just painting the information or by creating it with tools like Substance (procedural), Quixel (photo-based), or ZBrush (sculpted).

I chose the way of using 3DS Max or ZBrush for modeling, Marmoset for baking and adjusting surface parameters like metalness, roughness, transparency, emissive and Photoshop or Substance for the final touches like adding grunge or scratches on some areas. I think the benefits of modeling all the details into the texture instead of just painting them is that you have way more control of fine-tuning specific regions and that you achieve a higher quality in the end.

Level Design: The Flow Of Movement

Regarding all things level design, I set myself one major rule for the original EVERSPACE that I tried to follow as much as possible: From the very beginning, it was clear that our ship movement would be very fast, like ridiculously fast. If I had to describe it, I'd use the word “dancing”. This concept is something I wanted to explore even further in EVERSPACE 2.

Levels need to be fun! And the closer the actual game mechanics can be reflected in the level design, the better. EVERSPACE has always been a game close to something like a fast-paced action shooter where players might triple-jump to higher ground, fire back some rockets, dodge an incoming projectile and jump down spinning around while accidentally hitting a barrel in the background, setting the whole place afire.

Whereas most space games these days take a more realistic approach when it comes to speed, controls and movement, I feel like this just isn't fun enough. Or in other words, it already exists out there. So, how can we create points of interest where even the most basic mechanics like the flow of movement can already be a ton of fun in itself? I like to think of all the places you can visit, explore and fight or race through as a playground similar to something you might experience in a skate game. 

Think of an amusement park with Formula One tracks - in space of course! Welcome to this new arena! Go ahead and just see what you can do! If you love the sensation of flying insanely fast while being in full control with your hands on the stick, the world needs to visually encourage you to do exactly that. As much as possible. And that's just it. 

Giving you literally enough “space of fun” from a level design perspective so that you'll enjoy yourself is one thing to have (which is no problem in space) but really the balance makes the staying worthwhile.

Space Of Fun

It's all about the question "Can I do that"? As you rush towards a mining station being followed by enemy spaceships whose missiles just passed by way too close for comfort... Yes, you can! And frankly, you should!

Creating shapes and silhouettes that invite the player to seek and explore are essential. From race-like checkpoint circles to shapes that simply seem to be asked to be closely investigated. Interior spaces should also follow the rule of fast exits. If you enter something you definitely don't want to feel lost or have trouble finding your way out. We never want to lose the sense of speed. 

Of course, it's also fun to break this rule for things like interior asteroid caves, but space is your playground. If it looks like you can use certain spots to hide from enemy fire or take a fast shortcut through a docking bay to surprise the enemies on the other side then you should be able to do exactly that. And that's where the flow of movement gets to be fun as hell! It's the sort of fun that will be a really close companion to other mechanics which will find their way into the upcoming Alpha and Beta builds.

In Closing

Regarding movement, I never really liked the idea of huge space stations that are simply impressive by their size alone. As always, it's about what you do with it and not about the size, but I digress.

A huge station might be fun to approach, might be fun to land on for the first time. But having small to medium-sized fun modular set pieces, that can be pieced together, is where it's at with EVERSPACE 2.

This gives better control over creating bigger environments and additionally has the side effect of more opportunities for new gameplay mechanics which we will continue to implement in the near closed Alpha and future of EVERSPACE 2. Having said that, there will of course also be huge stations that function just as city HUBS. Accepting quests. Meeting new NPCs etc. I can't wait for you to experience all this.

Backers of the Kickstarter campaign will receive the demo version of EverSpace 2 via Steam later this year.

As with the successful campaign of its predecessor in 2015, the EverSpace community will thus be involved in the development process as early as possible. On the other hand, the financial independence of the studio will be further secured in order to ensure full creative control at all times during production and, if successful, to even increase the scope of the game by activating stretch goals.

EverSpace 2 will clearly outperform its predecessor in terms of both audiovisual quality and scope, which is reflected in the significantly higher development budget.

Early access of EverSpace 2 on Steam is currently scheduled for September 2020, with the full version for PC, PS4 and Xbox One scheduled for release in the second half of 2021.