Welcome Prospectors, to the last edition of our dev blog/newsletter in 2024. It’s been an incredible year for us here at Industrial Technology and Witchcraft. From growing our development team to launching our first playtest and transitioning from procedural generation to a handcrafted voxel world map, we’ve made great progress in bringing Dawn Apart to life. To wrap up the year in style we’re sharing our roadmap for the first half of 2025, packed with exciting milestones leading up to our Early Access launch this summer. So let’s dive in! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43212903/a467b9cc0888102d80d599fd741530341f107a65.png[/img] [h3]Demo Launch, Kickstarter, and Festivals[/h3] We’ll kick off the new year with [b]our first Steam-wide playtest scheduled for January 13[/b]. If you missed our initial Discord-exclusive playtest—or want to see how far we’ve come—[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1866300/Dawn_Apart/]you can sign up on our Steam page today[/url]. We’ll notify you when the gates open! During the playtest, you’ll: [list] [*] Build assembly lines and factories guided by a series of initial trade requests [*] Explore a sizable preview of our handcrafted map [*] Terraform the planet Aurora alongside your colonists [/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43212903/c3ebb17186cb8d4c063865647bfb6b58e755df8f.png[/img] We’ll also include a bug reporting tool as well as an extensive questionnaire to ensure your feedback shapes the game’s further development. In fact, we actually cleared our schedule after the playtest to incorporate your criticism and observations into our[b] first official demo which launches on February 3rd[/b]. The demo will coincide with the start of [url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itwgames/dawn-apart]our Kickstarter campaign[/url], so that you’ll be able to get a good impression of the state of Dawn Apart should you decide to back it and pre-order it. Seriously, we have some cool perks, rewards, and stretch goals that we can’t wait to share with you; please follow the pre-launch campaign so you’ll get notified about limited and time-restricted rewards and discounts. [url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/itwgames/dawn-apart][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43212903/86bf9d68aca6600ef2347977ef8905bb93607ee1.png[/img][/url] Additionally, we’re thrilled to showcase Dawn Apart at two major Steam festivals: [list] [*] Steam City Builder and Colony Sim Fest: March 24–31. [*] Steam Next Fest: June Edition: June 19–26. [/list] The June festival will feature combat and enemy wave mechanics for the first time—a major addition as we polish the automation and colony sim aspects of the game. [h3]Looking Ahead to Early Access[/h3] Our Early Access launch is set for summer 2025 (exact date coming soon!). While the base game will be ready at launch, we’re committed to evolving Dawn Apart with the community’s help over the next 20–30 months before releasing the 1.0 version. Check out the road map below to see what we have planned for this period: [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43212903/b919ad0e4d6b1074c729b49a22a97f2d550c3747.jpg[/img] We can’t wait for you to dive in, build, automate, and manage your own factories. Getting Dawn Apart finally in the hands of those who have championed the game is incredibly exciting for us. Thank you for your ongoing support - it means the world to us. See you soon on Aurora!