Matrix Games Forums

Hi everyone,

We’ve been working on a new Distant Worlds game for more than four years now and we thought it was time to start giving you a peek at the journey we've been on.

Please note that the screenshot included here is not from a final, polished release build so will in places include some unfinished areas and placeholder art. There is much that is still subject to change between our current development build and the release.

This first peek is just a teaser to whet your appetite and to draw your attention to the fact that we are going to start talking more about where we're going over the coming weeks and months.

What you see below shows a view taken from just behind the night side of a Mortalen Rocky Desert Planet, Shaom Hee 6. On the dark side, you can see some lights from the Mortalen colony below. On the light side, you can see a small storm in the atmosphere above the world, as well as a Medium Space Port and a variety of ships coming and going, carrying cargo or colonists, or guarding the area against pirates or other intruders. The snippet of interface in the bottom shows the planetary bodies, ships and stations at this location and is an easy way to navigate what's within your view. Note that this is a cropped screenshot and there is much more that is not shown.

With that said, we think the image itself conveys a good bit of new information and we’ll leave it there for now so that you can discuss.

Most importantly, we do plan to show more and speak about where Distant Worlds is going in more detail in our Home of Wargamers Twitch live stream event on December 19th, around Noon US Eastern time / 5PM UK time, so please tune in then for some more information. I will also be participating in the Twitch chat during the live stream to answer questions.

We appreciate your interest in Distant Worlds and we hope you enjoyed this first brief teaser.

Very cool Erik. I see a 3 dimensional look to the base....GP

Oww yea looking so much forward to this. Keep up the good work!

Liking it! I can imagine all those ships arriving and departing and doing their business. The planet image is nicely polished which says a lot about what else we can look forward to.

So now, another week of waiting for more details on the livestream! Wheeee! Exciting times! [8D]

We got a Imgage! This has practicly zero content. But I'm so happy!![:D]

Looks very cool [8D]

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The hype is real! 19th of December is firmly locked in the calendar

Slightly disappointed by the move to 3D, but still very excited nonetheless.

I mean, DW is in my top 4X games of all time and I'm a 4X fanatic, so yeah, super excited.

Can't wait!

Great news... looking forward to more information to one of my absolutely favourite games. Like the picture too, seems like a logical step to present ships and planets in 3d. I presume game mechanics is not true 3d but a mix between 2d and 3d as many similar games represent stuff. It is definitely going to be some interesting weeks/months ahead of us.

From what I can gather, you can select an individual ship from the bottom interface, which is nice. Selectioning a ship in DW was sometimes somewhat difficult. I'm excited for more quality of life improvement like this.

As someone else noted, the planet's graphic looks nice and ships' size seems good in comparison with planet.

Very Interesting..

I'm liking the move to 3D, but also the graphics look light enough to work on most computers. Also wondering how much of this is moddable. With some nice planet/ship textures this really could look great. Looks like the space stations, the space ships and the planets are more to scale than compared to Universe. Imagine having dozens of ships flying to and from the space station. Would really add to the simulation.

Wonder if the frigates, escorts, and Battleships are up to scale.

Looking at the interface at the bottom. Looks like the first group of ships, then the section below is the station, then the name of the planet, then what planets/moons are there in the system.

Like the fact that there are lights on the planet, wonder if the number of lights will grow as the population increases. It would be awesome.

It’s looking great!

I HOPE that the font is not final. It looks the same than in DW:U, and it is too damn small on 2K/4K Screens and maybe even on 1080p for those people older than 40 (like me).

The day has finally come! Its happening people [:D]

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I find it very reassuring that you guys seem to be keeping the same sense of scale and the "bee-hive" living universe that the original had. Lots of cargo and passenger ships coming and going, and not just for cosmetic reasons. They're actually a vital part of the function of your empire.

And that planet does look pretty, and now the station looks like it's in orbit around a planet, not dwarfing it. [:D]

The scale is excellent.

4x games get this so wrong, ships the size of planets and space is dead as a result.

So much atmosphere in that one early shot, because of scale!

Looks great, really nice sense of immersion which will play into one of the strengths I found in DW, the living world feeling. I often prefer 2D art in many cases but I think this will be an improvement. Look forward to the upcoming stream.

Does this 'planetary orbit view' essentially replace the old system view?