One Lonely Outpost
In One Lonely Outpost, settle on a remote world, bring life to the deadlands by terraforming, build a colony, forge lasting bonds, and solve an alien mystery older than the universe itself.
One Lonely Outpost (OLO) is a sci-fi farming simulation developed by a team of 40+ people over 5 years. Developed in Unity, it was released into Early Access in summer 2023, with a final release planned for 1 year later. The engine uses both 3D models and 2D sprites to create polished lighting, particle effects, and complex animation. OLO follows a customizable PC, their companion robot Qwerty, and their struggle to establish a colony on a remote world. Over time, they attract 24 other colonists, each with their own backstory, character arc, gift preferences, and schedule. The world itself changes as the player terraforms the planet, and as the colony is upgraded, it also changes. One Lonely Outpost is a light-hearted game about loneliness, and the importance of community – not simply proximity to people – in healing that pain.
Narrative
Game Design
Leadership
One Lonely Outpost Screenshots
Systems
I designed a topic system that allowed NPCs to talk about recent in-game events. This system comprised of listeners for events fired by other game systems, and a “topic window” that could prioritize these events based on how recent the event was and the NPC’s disposition to talk about such events.
The created system was very flexible, allowing NPCs to talk about anything from a change in the season, to a recent marriage, to the player purchasing a new chicken. Unfortunately, the system was later cut due to tightening budget constraints.
Characters
Each character has a backstory, clearly defined personality, schedule, and gift preferences. Each character has a character arc, with each of the 15 romanceable characters also having a romantic arc.
Roughly half the NPCs have a disability tying into the game’s theme. Research and care was taken in portraying these disabilities.