Devlog #1: In the Beginning

So, we're making a game. 🦖

We've been talking about it for ages, and we've finally gone and started. Unity's open, the project's created and the terrain is underway.

So far, all we've got is some basic terrain. No characters, no dinosaurs and nothing worth putting in a trailer yet, but it's a start. I'd rather share the journey from day one than wait until there's something polished to show off.

Why this game?

Cloan Games is a passion project between two brothers. We play a lot of co-op games together, and survival games keep dragging us back in. Rust, DayZ and the rest have given us countless hours of fun, chaos and the odd rage-quit.

So when we sat down and asked what we'd actually want to build, the answer was easy: a co-op survival game we'd want to play ourselves.

The idea

Picture a world from before anything was built, where the land is wild, the weather doesn't care about you and plenty of the wildlife would happily have you for dinner. That's the setting: a prehistoric survival game, played with friends and family.

You'll be gathering what you need, crafting your first tools and building somewhere safe to call home, all with dinosaurs roaming around you. Some you'll want to stay well away from, some you'll hunt, and some, if we can pull it off, you might even learn to live alongside.

It's built for co-op from the start. Survival is always better with people you trust watching your back, and it's even funnier when everyone panics at once.

There's also one idea at the heart of the game that we're keeping under wraps for now. It's the bit we're most excited about, and the reason this isn't just another survival game. I'll tell you all about it once it's actually working. 👀

The wish list

This is everything we'd love the game to have. It's a wish list, not a promise. We're two people building this in our spare time, so some of it might change, shrink or take a lot longer than we'd like.

• Survival: gathering, crafting and building a base
• A living world: dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes, from the harmless to the properly terrifying
• Trapping and taming: turning something dangerous into something that's on your side
• Base defence: because the dinosaurs won't be polite about it
• Co-op: playing with family and friends, the way we play our favourite games
• Something to aim for: a late-game challenge for when you've got the hang of things
• One big secret: more on that another day

We're leaning towards a blocky voxel style to start with, which suits where we are and gives the game a look of its own.

Where we are now

We've split the project into phases, and we're on Phase 1: the player and the environment. That means terrain, movement and getting the foundations right before anything else.

Once that's solid, we'll build up from there, with the world, the creatures and the bigger ideas coming later. It's early and it's rough, and I'm sure plenty will change along the way.

What's next?

I'll share more as it comes together. Next up, we'll hopefully have something that actually moves around on screen.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think. What would you want from a prehistoric survival game? Any dinosaurs you'd love to see?

Drop us an email at james@cloangames.com.