The Dreadwaters, Dev Diary #1 – The Beginning
Hello everyone!
Welcome to the first dev diary for The Dreadwaters! Let me start by saying welcome and thank you for visiting!
The game is in a very early stage, though the core of the game is quite established, how the finer details work may not always be accurate until we are in full production. I don’t want to let you down and get your hopes up for something that isn’t true, so I’ll keep things tempered till they are ready to be talked about in full depth.
What Is ‘the Dreadwaters’?
The Dreadwaters is a PvPvE tactical shooter with vehicular combat. What a mouthful, we’ll figure out something that sounds a little less blunt someday but for now, it does describe it exactly. I know a lot of you are already clicked off or are about to click off seeing PvP, more specifically PvPvE but I think it sounds worse than it is… really!
Gameplay
This is not a competitive game and never will be. We value creating an experience that is immersive and true to the gritty world we made. Everything we do we want to be in someway just an extension of the world itself. We want you to really feel like you are a part of this world, and this is a cold and cruel world. With all that in mind PvP and PvE are just that, extension of the game world. Your character will die a lot, most of the time horrifically. Your crew may never see home again. What’s that about a crew? Oh yes, vehicular combat!
Submarines are your home and shield in the Dreadwaters, everything in the game revolves around it. You will sink a lot, but sinking is not the end so long as you are still alive, though your demise is probably just around the corner. We will go more into Submarine mechanics in a later devlog, as that is one of the most complex parts of the game, if not the most complex.
Early draft of a submarine interior.
With your Submarine you must take up missions and contracts, or choose to explore the world yourself and discover its secrets! As you explore the operation area, you will fight or avoid monsters, NPCs or player crews. There will be secondary/side objectives for you to complete as well. When you’ve completed the objectives necessary, you must set course to exit the operation area with what you have acquired. Should you lose the submarine and everyone is dead, or you lose the objective if it’s something that can be stolen/completed by other players, the mission will be considered a failure. If the mission is a success you will get all rewards as described by the mission. This is not an open world game as you can tell. I’m sure by now you probably thought this was going to be an underwater Sea of Thieves. Close, but not quite! We’ll go more to into submarines other dev diaries. Plural, cause there is a lot to talk about there that can’t fit in one post.
I think I’ve spoken enough about the general gameplay side so let’s get into worldbuilding. My favorite part!
World
In the far future, the hubris of men has lead them to damnation. The Earth and Solar System are decimated beyond recognition in an event known as The Second Flood. All that remains of note is what they left behind on a lone space station. Genetic freaks, designer pets, failed experiments; the Mearfolk. To the modern human they are unsightly and disturbing and come across more as puppeted amateur taxidermy than actual living creatures. The majority of Mearfolk lead miserable and short lives and their numbers dwindle each day. Food and supplies run thin, and the station is falling apart. There is no choice but to leave the confines of their home and journey to the ruined Earth below.
The Wulphen, genetically ascended canines. Made by our Concept Artist Rex Beck.
The Mearfolk are riddled with disease, genetic mishaps, and inbreeding (though unintentionally) that hinder them from leading fulfilling lives. Further coupled by their struggle to fully rid of their primal instincts, the Mearfolk and rowdy and violent, and this is no more apparent than on Earth.
There are four genetically ascended species we have planned for release. Dogs, Cats, Rats, and Goats. Each species fills a certain archetype and has a minor special ability to help facilitate that archetype. Cats are efficient close range killers, Rats are squishy but specialize in overkill, etc… They aren’t exactly like classes, because we already have such things with the roles you take up upon the submarine, more on that in another time.
On the flooded Earth below remains what Humanity turned into. One would not know that the creatures that now inhabit Earth were once human unless they were to take a closer look. Despite their danger, many of these Altered Humans are nothing more than a food source at best and a nuisance at worst. Only in the farthest reaches and depths of the Earth will one find all manners of horrors waiting for them, and that is where all of the things the Mearfolk find valuable are.
Conclusion
This is all I have to share today. I’m really excited to start sharing this stuff and even more excited to see what people think of the game as we reveal more information and turn the prototype into an actual game!
If you want to stay updated on the next dev diary, subscribe to our newsletter to get updated on the latest news as it’s released. Alternatively, you can follow us on social media. I plan to release a dev-diary bi-weekly, so stay tuned!
Our next dev diary will be about the details of how the meta mechanics play out. Stuff that happens when you aren’t exactly playing the game.