Ashes of Creation is growing piece by piece, and Intrepid Studios’ latest update stream showed off the new forest biome, plans for much more variation in biomes to come, as well as the much larger map coming to alpha two.
The forest reveal was mostly just of the environment of the biome itself, and didn't have additional features like resource spawners, since those have to align with the features of the actual environment. This forest joins the previously-revealed desert, and there’s time spent on the purpose and some features.
Yet, as Community Marketing Lead Margaret Krohn mentioned during the stream, the reveal was focused on art as the way to introduce this new biome, because art and systems are being designed in a parallel way, but art doesn’t need to be bug tested and played through to show something valuable. A community member even asked if there could be perceptible wind blowing the sand dunes around in the desert, and they said yes, and also apply this to the breeze going through the forest.
They also showed off other art updates, including concept art and additions to gear, a feathered bird type mount, and the Polynesian-influenced take on dwarves we can expect.
Not stopping there, they also presented the new world map, which expands to 1,200km, and in addition to adding lots of area, shifts around the continents a bit. Some of the landmasses have been rearranged, and the map overview also reveals some new areas and names.
While the game is definitely slated to have a whole bunch of curated content ready to jump into, there's also going to be a lot of sandbox features, so in order to incorporate all of these design elements, expanding the world just makes a whole lot of sense. This also applies to the system of trade routes that you’ll get to build and use.
For more, head over to Ashes of Creation.
