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| One of the nearly-completed background objects for AVWW2. |
In what may be the oddest and most kind gesture I have ever seen a game developer take, independent developer Arcen Games has just announced its enormous, procedurally-generated platformer A Valley Without Wind is getting a sequel – and everyone who bought the first game is invited for free.
Yes, everyone who bought A Valley Without Wind will get A Valley Without Wind 2 for absolutely free. This is not some sort of joke; in this extensive blog post which thrusts itself past five thousand words, Arcen Games founder Chistopher Park confirms that statement along with heavily detailing the plans for the sequel. For those afraid of the monolith that is an over five thousand word blog post, listed below are the highlights;
– AVWW2 will have a completely new art style. The art assets will also be entirely built from the ground-up and not be the pieced-together, 2D stills of 3D models that were found in the original AVWW.
– Arcen Games has decided to use the “Slices Method” when it comes to generating specific level terrain. Instead of AVWW2 choosing between a list of available rooms to use, the game will instead put together hand-crafted level segments into one room, which Arcen Games hopes will provide more dynamic situations for the player to tackle.
– City-building has a much greater focus this time around. In order to overthrow the overlord, the player will need to capture and convert structures to their cause which will give either the player or the settlers under the player statistical boosts. In terms of how important city-building will be, Arcen Games has given the comparison of Actraiser.
– The previous character progression mechanics have been thrown out of the window. What is gone; permanent death, crafting (along with the inventory), and upgrade orbs. What is in; character classes, perks, and ‘Feats’ (permanent character upgrades like double-jumping).
– Instead of being an endless treadmill, every generated world in AVWW2 will have definitive end-goal that can be achieved. However, that also comes with the caveat that it will be possible to lose in AVWW2.
All-in-all, this is looking like one promising sequel. After discussing my gripes I had with the first game, it is great to see Arcen game addressing those issues but also not abandoning its original customers in the process.
Arcen Games plans to release a beta of A Valley Without Wind 2 during November of this year, but the exact release date and first-time buyer purchasing price has yet to be determined.
Arcen games are awesome, that's why I've bought every one of their games (and still haven't played more than an hour of AI War. ahem). That announcement is good timing: I just started playing AVWW and like it for all the weirdness going on. It's really a unique game in a market that is oversaturated with clones. More of that is always a good thing.
I don't think that anyone, anywhere has *ever* played more than an hour of AI War. I like the idea of all the weirdness in AVWW though, so I'll add it to the list…
ha, good point! so far I've put about 100 minutes in AVWW, and while there is still a lot to discover, I can imagine this getting old pretty fast. gameplay-wise it seems to lack diversity. but still: crazy is good, right?
Blubblewubblewubblewubble! Or: proof that not everything crazy is good 😉 Sad to hear that it gets samey, though. It's now OFF the list (until tomorrow, when you tell me it should be back on. I love being so decisive…)