Plains of Pain (Early Access)

[iron condor]

Hello guys!
I would like to share our game Plains of Pain with you! And of course, I would like to share our dev journey as well!
Currently we use Unity 2021.3, with ECS 0.51, so the game is powered by DOTS - everything except UI. This technology gives us power to make the game of our own dreams: multiplayer survival with high hostiles density, NPCs, procedurally generated worlds full of towns, outposts, and other points of interest.
We are team of 3 people, but actually only I am the dev. So I learned as I walked through every next problem and issue. But I love to learn new things. And the DOTS encouraged me to made this game. At the same time I discovered DOTSNET (currently abandoned project and the reason why we are still stuck on ECS 0.51), and it powers our current multiplayer experience, which is still absolutely amazing, because we are capable of syncing hundreds of enemies over the network thanks to simple design of DOSTNET.
The game is over 1 year in Early Access, and last year we did a lot of polish and improvements. Now we feel that we want to share our game with the world, finally!
There is our last gameplay trailer, and I will attach some screenshots as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4VbftfA-8E

If you guys have any questions or feedback, let's talk! 🙂

More details about game's features can be found on our Steam page:
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2218970/Plains_of_Pain/

To be honest, making complex game like this is a real pain, but when every game mechanic works as you want, the feel of satisfaction and happiness is truly amazing.

Steam

Plains of Pain

THE STORY BEHINDS PLAINS OF PAINHumanity was at the height of technological advancement when this happened. For some unknown reason, the sun began to produce gigantic solar flares that literally melted Mercury and Venus in a matter of days. The Earth was no exception and began to heat up as well. There was a general panic. Ordinary people relied...

Price

$11.19

▶ Play video

[gritty bough]

noice ui

[iron condor]

Thank you!

[gaunt flume]

So you use Dots (ecs) and netcode for entities?

[iron condor]

I use DOTS (ECS) and DOTSNET for networking. I don't use Netcode for Entities because it is for ECS 1.0, but I use ECS 0.51 because DOTSNET is for 0.51 (its author has abandoned the project and focuses on Mirror only. )..

[regal nimbus]

Woah .51 was a PITA haha. Nice work with the project!

[iron condor]

Thank you!🙏🏻 one thing I miss in 0.51, to be able enable/disable components🥲

[wicked chasm]

Fallout Vibes

[forest maple]

Are you planning on releasing this for Nintendo switch or android?

[iron condor]

For mobiles (Android, iOS) propably not. The game supports gamepad (currently as experimental feature), so in the future I would like to release it on consoles. But currently the inventory management is pain with gamepad, because main focus was on Mouse and Keyboard. I will see how I solve it. Maybe I will make slightly different version of the game with simpler inventory for consoles.

[forest maple]

Is there some hope on getting this game on nintendo switch?

[iron condor]

If I succeed with the game on PC market, I will definitely do my best to bring the game to another platforms lika PS, Xbox and Nintendo as well🙏🏻

[iron condor]

I've made a bunch of short videos about game's features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvFrrxArv3M&list=PLoA-F6NsZN10wwrG1yId9gdQfkgfdp21W

[iron condor]

I've added a new content like weapons and other equipments in last game updates on Steam.

[undone plover]

where did you get the source file or license for DOTSNET?

[iron condor]

Bought it when it was available yet (in 2022). But I think it is not a win, because I am stuck on ECS 0.51.. I have never compared DOTSNET vs Netcode for Entities, thus I dont know what is better, but I believe that in certain setup the Netcode for Entities can perform in similar way. The disadvantage of DOTSNET is its lack of interpolation system (which I have to write by myself).. It is really sad, that Misha (Mirror/DOTSNET author) did not offer source codes on some (private)github for guys like you, even for inspiration of how he make some things in DOTS/ECS..
I am curious about why are you looking for DOSTNET when Netcodes for Entites are available? Are you curious about performance, or specific parts of it?

[undone plover]

no.. just asking. so the dotsnet you use is source closed?

so is it stable?

[iron condor]

unfortunatelly it is source closed, paid product.

yes it is stable, our game runs on it.

our game server was able to run 2 months in a row without restart when we test it

I love the design of it, because you can relatively easily implement your own transport protocols.. the default one is KCP (we use on our server), but I implemented Steam Network as well, so the game is playable via classic P2P between friends

or you can play it over LAN only in your home network, like the old fashioned games

[undone plover]

cool

[iron condor]

but all of this you can achieve with Netcode for Entities, I guess.. And I think that if I start a new fresh project, I would go for Netcode for Entities, because it is official supported and improved by Unity devs. Not abandoned as DOTSNET 😄

[golden arch]

This looks awesome, what render pipeline do you use?

[iron condor]

Thank you! I appreciate your words! I use HDRP, version compatible with 2021.3.x

[iron condor]

A short videos about the enemies in the game. Are you missing hordes in the survival games, like I do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av1IidNpsfU

[iron condor]

Would you guys enjoy the hunt for the best prefix and suffix of your favorite weapon?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iU6xDlI2a0

[iron condor]

This weekend was crazy, the game was on #987 Top Sellers on Steam for a while, amazing moment! 🙏

[iron condor]

If you are 3D artist, and you would like to participate in my project, feel free to DM me and we can talk about it 🙂

[iron condor]

This was amazing moment (for me as a dev) as well, when I've seen those two players so much enjoyed the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4uNn3X3tU

[iron condor]

New update has landed: improved map management 🏁 Now the player is able to make his own markers on map with mouse, delete it, change color, choose form many icons and make notes for each POI 🙏

[iron condor]

Finally I added Journal with first section Bazaar Intel where are tracked all visited traders and their offers/demands.
Also we added new languages: German and French thanks to our Community which helps us🙏
Recently I reworked vehicle physics and did a lot of improvements on UI/UX.
Our game has currently 90% of positive reviews on Steam, which is absolutely amazing. Our Community on Discord is slowly growing and we're heading towards next dev milestones.

[gray shoal]

its like ark

but without the dinos

[iron condor]

Happy Holidays to you all!
Watch the new trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acf9EG-EHww

[undone plover]

its nice, however the trailer is very lacking of multiplayer interaction

[iron condor]

Thank you for feedback! Yes, you’re right. We will make more trailers, one of them will be focused on multiplayer🙏🏻😊

[iron condor]

New major version is out👋🏻

https://youtu.be/Ie9-DcNywz0?si=VS2n0ocCwU4J_wwR

[iron condor]

Watch a little introduction🤠https://youtu.be/TuNO-XNmWGU?si=qCy3hgqWQ5EcPmbW