Hello again, Sleepers!
The warmth of Summer is slowly creeping up on many of us and envisioning yourself on Arrakis gets easier and easier with the rising temperatures. Though, hopefully not as hot as Arrakis.
First things first, let’s address the sandworm in the room. As you may have seen, we’ve pushed Dune: Awakening’s release day to June 10th, with the headstart beginning on the 5th. With these additional weeks, we’ll be able to address more of the feedback we received in our Closed Beta to make sure you get the best experience at launch. You can read more about this in our official statement here.
We also have a whole lot of announcements and gameplay we showed off including live streams, trailers, and more. You’ll want to keep reading too, as we have more incredible fan art and Q&A so kick the sand from your boots and let’s get into it.
Live Streams
Catching our live streams is the best way to see gameplay and our developers in action; none of the gameplay was pre-recorded and all the developers were very much real humans (except Joel). Our second Dune: Awakening live stream focused primarily on combat. Senior Game Designer, Viljar, and Expert Designer, Alex, showed off what you can expect when playing through an Imperial Testing Station, as well as PvP. They also touched on skills you can equip and use as well as melee and ranged combat. [previewyoutube=7qtTSSTL5T4;full][/previewyoutube] Towards the end of this stream, we also highlighted server structure and details, as well as how guilds will work. This segment was lead by Chief Creative Officer, Joel Bylos, and Lead Game Designer, Leo. [previewyoutube=B8lLVKufn70;full][/previewyoutube] Going into our third stream, our next topic centered around the building system, the Landsraad system and the Exchange. Leo joined us once again for this segment, as well as Tor Egil, our Senior Content Manager. Tor Egil is well known at Funcom to be a master at building in our games and showing off what you can do with the building pieces you are given. [previewyoutube=qEog3mZBLL0;full][/previewyoutube] For those more interested in the overall lore and story of the game, you’ll want to make sure to watch this segment of the stream guided by our Associate Lead Narrative Designer, Lea, and Producer, Nils. Lastly, we detailed more about the economy and Exchange in the game with Joel. [previewyoutube=nV0511QUbe4;full][/previewyoutube]Content Creator Demos
Speaking of streaming, there were a select few who had the opportunity to play and stream a preview of Dune: Awakening. You might have seen new videos and streams of this gameplay in the last week, and we hope you had fun watching along with your favorite streamers. Here are just a handful! [previewyoutube=bTyoyCnLHFk;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=yIQlBEe4dhA;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=wl6qha0ynDY;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=9Nb2XhO4s5E;full][/previewyoutube]New Trailers
For those of you who love the story and lore of Dune: Awakening, you won’t want to miss our new story trailer. Walk in the footsteps of the Fremen as you learn to survive the desert and uncover a past that the sands have buried. In the deadly crucible of Arrakis, each of you must eventually answer: who are you? [previewyoutube=63gMIwsCJhM;full][/previewyoutube] And for those who are more interested in the building aspect, we also released a trailer focused on your in-game base. Besides providing shelter against heatstroke and sandstorms, it’s a place to rest up and plan for your next journey. Find out more about what your base can offer. [previewyoutube=jpuxUBXkfh8;full][/previewyoutube]Reddit AMA
If you are looking for even more answers to your questions, we hosted an AMA on Reddit! Check out the comments to see what the developers have to say, directly from their mouths and fingers to you.
We are spoiled with creations in this issue! And don’t forget, those that are featured here will be invited to participate in the closed beta. If you would like to join before launch, make sure to share them with us using the #CommuninetSignal tag on social media, or share in the fanart channel of the official Discord server.
[previewyoutube=9NzjAn1bCxI;full][/previewyoutube]
The next episode of the wonderful community podcast, Sandwalking, is now out! Join DeadWoman Walking and FlamingMojo with special guest Kiah as they talk all things Dune: Awakening.
Fight - By ArrakisPilgrim
By omamonster
Another piece by ArrakisPilgrim of their character in an Imperial Testing Station.
A sketch of malakia’s character.
A depiction of what Yojimbe imagines the “Dune Radio Guy” looks like.
And here are some fanart profile pictures you can use, also created by Yojimbe. Just contact him if you’d like a certain one!
Yojimbe made even more fanart, so here is a collage of some of his other works.
We'll keep a close eye on queues during both the head-start and the main release date, monitoring and adjusting capacity as needed. There is always going to be the risk of some queuing, but we're planning as best we can in terms of capacity and we'll keep a close watch on how it develops and make continuous adjustments to server scaling. (For the large beta weekend we ran with a 60 player cap)
We'll put a limit on any invited visiting player on a Hagga Basin, to ensure that the ones who live there as their "home" Hagga Basin is less likely to be exposed to queues.
Story is pretty important! This is something that you will follow through all of Hagga Basin (and beyond). You will be introduced to a variety of characters that will push you along the path.
After all, this is Dune and the universe is core to the experience - not just a backdrop.
Keeping players informed about the state of the game and future development is very important to us, and we will be sharing information on future updates when ready. We do have a list of planned content, but we will be keeping eyes and ears out for input from the community at launch as well. So along with this planned content, we want to also incorporate your ideas and feedback into those updates as well.
After you unlock the making of a sinkchart (planetologist skill) you can craft a sinkchart and give/sell it to other players, whether they’re guild mates or not. When it is consumed, it will give any information that would have been obtained through the initial survey (+ the current states of spice fields within that area).
There shouldn’t be any problems! But even so, there is a streamer mode that you can use to mute all the music.
You will have to change each one on your hotbar whenever you want to swap out skills or techniques.
When you die, you have a couple options of where to respawn. Firstly, you can craft and place a respawn beacon; you can only have one of these though, and placing another will prevent spawning at another.
Another place to respawn could be at your subfief. Your subfief is where your home base is, so spawning here will place you in the base.
As you explore, you’ll run into points of interest. You will have the option to spawn at the last point of interest you passed by.
And lastly, your vehicles also work as a respawn point. So long as they aren’t stored in your vehicle backup tool, you can choose to spawn at one of them. Just remember that wherever you parked it may not always be safe.
You can own up to 10 vehicles (land and air) at a time. As you progress, you’ll be able to craft a vehicle backup tool (VBT). This lets you store either one sandbike or a light ornithopter to place somewhere else. You can only ever carry one VBT at a time.
Phew! That was a lot to go through, and we hope the streams, gameplay, and reveals have fueled your excitement for launch. There isn’t much time between now and June 10th, but we have more coming your way including showcases of the Schools of the Imperium. We also have even more trailers that focus on what to expect in the endgame as well as combat. Stay hydrated and see you in the next Communinet Signal!