EC.0-1 — Week 1: Project Announcement, Development Plans & FAQ
Updated: Jul 20
Existence, as it is perceived, is a cycle.
Its inhabitants, as of the Post-Emergence Era, are only just now beginning to truly understand this to any great extent.
First, there were the five. Then, there were the many; the unknowable amount.
The First Emergence.
The Second Emergence.
Before that, all these beings knew were themselves; they lived in solitude, in blissful ignorance, wondering the same thing as each other...
Does intelligent life beyond their own exist?
And it wouldn't be until the First Emergence that their question would be answered.
The answer?
Yes.
It does.
WELCOME TO ETERNITY CYCLE
Multiple years in the making, Eternity Cycle is a universe that already has hundreds of thousands of words written for it; worlds, societies, events, systems, timelines - it is something we, the founders of B4DL4ND, have been meticulously crafting for large portions of our entire lives.
Originally, Eternity Cycle was only meant to be just that; a universe.
About a year ago, we decided to take it a step further; to bring it to life.
This begins with our first small project; EC.0-1 - an 8-12 week mini-title.
While the lore is a rabbit hole of its own, the purpose of this announcement is moreso cover this first mini-title rather than cover the lore itself. In the (hopefully) near future, the EC lore will be getting its own custom-coded wiki where far more can be read about it.
For now, we're simply excited to finally make public the creation we've spent so long on.
To finally announce Eternity Cycle's first ever manifestation beyond just writing.
WHAT IS EC.0-1?
PREMISE - LORE
Awakening aboard a seemingly dormant, supermassive station in orbit of a world where ships are sent to die, you come to rapidly discover the nature of your existence; a hyper-advanced artificial intelligence, created with one sole task....
... travel the stars.
... claim resources on behalf of those who sent you.
... and, one day, return.
The station has not aged well; a fact that will become readily apparent.
Sent a yet-unknowable period of time ago, the AI will awaken to a station that is in gross need of repairs; core components have been removed by an unknown party, and it is down to this AI - with only the assistance of a stranger local to this system - to perform these repairs.
Without them, this station will fall into disrepair.
... and without this station, the AI's creators will face certain demise.
The AI does not remember those creators.
The AI does not remember anything, bar its automated purpose.
... over the course of the station's repairs, more will be uncovered.
Until then, it has only one purpose.
Prepare the station.
PREMISE - GAMEPLAY
While technically a 'simulator' by genre, EC.0-1 and its ensuing titles skew far more into the realm of storytelling than most simulators aim to do; tying into an expansive universe that would take an entire dedicated wikipedia to fully explain, though there will be methods of acquiring lore tidbits throughout your playtime.
At its core, players will have one goal; bring the station online, flag it as ready to receive vessels to be scrapped, and utilize the local currencies acquired from that scrapping to replace core technologies that, during the AI's dormancy, were stolen.
Upon receiving a new vessel, you will enter it via a dedicated flight body; a repurposed roof-mount security drone, which you will utilize in place of your dedicated body which never properly came online.
In time, you will be able to transform this body into an extraction body, which will be used to pry internal, high-value components from the bellies of these ships.
Once extracted, an enormous Storage Walker is used to transport these components to a buyer that has landed aboard your very own station; a being hailing from the planet below that will assist you throughout your revitalization of the station, at a cost.
Currency acquired, this very same buyer will be capable of fabricating replacement parts that your station will need. Purchase them, transport them via the storage walker to their required locations, install them, and place your once-dormant station one step closer to its former condition so that you might fulfill your original purpose.
Things will not go smoothly.
A station of your size and complexity is unheard of in these regions. Beings will seek this complexity for their own gain and at some point through your repairs, they will be slated to arrive; unaware of your awakening, which you can use to your advantage.
Time will be short.
Defend the station, or lose it.
PREMISE - LOCATION
The setting takes place aboard a moon-sized, deep-space resource gathering station that was sent by an unknown-to-you society an unfathomable amount of time ago.
While your automated systems handle the lesser processes of the station, you will be directly placed within the entry bay that all new vessels pass through, where you will be extracting the most high value components before sending the ship further into the station for gradual deconstruction.
Where you came from is almost impossible for you to ascertain, at first.
Where you are now, however, is not.
Your station's automated systems locked you into an orbit of a Wreckworld; a giant, yes, though by no means an uncommon sight.
It is here that local societies, organizations and empires send vessels to die; to reclaim one final compensation in the form of bulk-selling the entire vessel and its components for a substantially lower sum than what they bought it for - a common practice in a universe where vessels number in the hundreds of trillions across all major quadrants.
For now, you will remain in orbit of this Wreckworld, for it provides you with the ability to achieve the goal you were originally programmed to achieve.
Gather, then return home.
EC.0-1 - CURRENT PROGRESS
THE SCOPE OF THE GAME
With B4DL4ND currently being a two-man team - one handling programming, the other handling art, the rest being shared - we wanted to ensure that we didn't fall into the same trap as many other indie studios do...
We are not creating our flagship title first.
... rather, we aim to teach ourselves the intricacies of the development pipeline.
As such, EC.0-1 - as the name suggests - is a slice of our future flagship title.
... that said, it is its own dedicated title; while the mechanics will be present in our future flagship title, EC.0-1 is not intended to be a gameplay demo - it is its own self-contained game.
For more information on our roadmap, you can visit our dedicated roadmap section.
Therefore, EC.0-1 will center around extremely basic core mechanics and we do not expect to expand it beyond those core mechanics. Rather, EC.0-2 - our next title, expected to begin production in January of 2027 at the latest - will feature another major mechanic.. and so on, until we feel ready to produce the mainline EC.0 title.
WEEK 1 PROGRESS - WHAT'S BEEN MADE SO FAR?
Programming-wise, currently...
We have working gameplay mechanics for the core premise.
extract a component,
view that component's specifications,
pick up that component,
drop it at a dedicated drop-zone,
utilize a non-UI terminal - worldspace buttons, not UI - to sell it,
acquire currency from that sale,
purchase a theoretical station repair component.
We do not currently have screenshots, videos or gifs of this gameplay loop as we predominantly use placeholder UI or console logs for visual feedback.
Once we have some prettier feedback to show off - likely 2-3 weeks from now - we'll be able to show far more visually.
Otherwise, we have...
a third-person movement system,
interaction systems,
prefab components,
physics-based object carrying and throwing,
a component vendor system,
currency management,
rudimentary HUD,
... etc.
Art wise, currently...
We have some of the core foundational art pieces either greyboxed or fully created.
a fully realized, agreed-upon artstyle,
multiple extraction components,
interaction terminals,
two major greyboxed environments,
the vessel that will be interacted with during the tutorial,
... and more.
Below is a screenshot of some finalized objects.
A lore pickup module, a power relay and an interaction terminal.
... as you can see, we're heavily inspired by the Play Station 1 era of 3D graphics and have chosen it as our predominant artstyle for the foreseeable future.
THE COMING WEEKS - NEXT IN LINE FOR DEVELOPMENT?
Rather than ramble more than we already have, below is a compact list of everything were hoping to achieve over the next 8-12 weeks. We'll only be explaining up to week 7 here, as weeks beyond that will be determined by weeks 2-7.
Please bear in mind that development may shift expectations, deadlines and realities.
The list below is representative of the best case scenario we believe to be possible.
Week 2 – Storage & Logistics
Introduce the Storage Walker body and body switching.
Implement component storage, retrieval and transport.
Connect storage with docking and selling.
Complete the logistics gameplay loop.
Week 3 – First Salvage Operations
Introduce purchasable derelict ships.
Build the first complete ship salvage workflow.
Add component condition and value systems.
Complete the first full salvage run from purchase to sale.
Week 4 – Station Progression
Expand the station repair and restoration systems.
Unlock new station functionality through repairs.
Introduce player objectives and progression.
Begin transforming the station over time.
Week 5 – Narrative & Persistence
Implement dialogue and story progression.
Add save/load functionality.
Introduce the game's opening and ending sequences.
Begin bringing the station and its characters to life.
Week 6 – Endgame Systems
Introduce external threats and station defense.
Add victory and failure conditions.
Implement the game's final progression systems.
Lay the groundwork for endless replayability.
Week 7 – Expansion & Polish
Expand ship variety and station content.
Introduce player upgrades.
Add lore terminals and environmental storytelling.
Polish the vertical slice into a cohesive gameplay experience.
EC.0-1 - FAQ / ADDITIONAL INFO
Where will the game be launching?
Steam, for free. The only reason this will change is if anything is truly awry, in which case we'd fall back to itch.io, though we doubt that'll be the case.
Why are you developing the game publicly from such an early stage?
One of our core philosophies is that of transparency.
The gaming industry severely lacks it, and we refuse to partake in it due to how inherently harmful it is to such a beloved field of our lives.
Will these weekly updates always be this transparent?
Yes; we aim to be as transparent as possible at all times. Ultimately, we want our players to feel involved and for there to not be a curtain that can't be peeked behind unless you, as the player, choose not to.
Will community feedback influence development?
Heavily.
One of the predominant reasons we're making such a small game first instead of a flagship title is purely because we WANT that feedback.
It's also why the game will be free.
Where can people ask questions or make suggestions?
How can people support the project?
By leaving suggestions and engaging with us.
When we feel our products are worth selling, then we'll sell them. Until then, your engagement and feedback is far more valuable to us than monetary support.
How do you decide what to work on next?
Ahead of the beginning of development, we spent weeks doing our best to coordinate and understand what the process may look like.
Ultimately, this is a learning experience for the both of us; things will change and this is how we learn how to make better games.
How much of the roadmap is actually set in stone?
The current roadmap - both here and our dedicated roadmap section of the website - are reflective of our current plan.
Things happen. Plans change. As of our current intentions, everything is accurate.
Why did you choose Unity?
Numerous reasons, though it was predominantly;
Ease of access.
C# instead of C++
Tooling integration.
Affordability.
UI preference.
Stability.
Are you using AI during development?
Like any studio in the last few years, we utilize AI for the pure sake of expediting unnecessarily tedious tasks and for other basic workflows.
Final products are, and will always be, ours.
The game you play was created by us and us alone.
Why did you choose such an early PlayStation 1-inspired art style?
Foremost; because we adore it.
Other than that, it's extremely lightweight on workload and doesn't unnecessarily extend development time.
Why are you making smaller games before your flagship title?
One of the greatest mistakes we've noted other indie studios making is that they pursue their 'dream game' immediately. We do not want to make that same mistake.
Our first small games serve to teach us the pipeline that our flagship games deserve.
Why is the project called "EC.0-1"?
While it will have a proper suffix for its official release, the '-1' reflects that this is the first of multiple smaller titles that feature primitive equivalents of mechanics that the flagship game will have.
EC.0 will be our first flagship title.
How long do you expect development to take?
8-12 weeks, leaning toward the latter.
We're hoping to have a concrete release date no later than the end of September.
Is this project intended to become Early Access?
Unlikely.
The game is simply too small to warrant an Early Access version.
If you're sincerely interested in trialing an early build, contact us via our Discord.
You can join by clicking here.
Will EC.0-1 continue receiving updates after release?
We're currently unsure.
The whole point of this is for us to learn development pipeline. Continued support will definitely come in the form of fixing game-breaking bugs and possibly adding small things we truly wanted, but we'll move onto EC.0-2 pretty quickly.
Will progress in EC.0-1 carry into later Eternity Cycle games?
Indirectly.
As said above, EC.0-1 is its own dedicated game; therefore, it's canon.
We won't spoil it just yet, but we have plans for carryover.
How finished is the Eternity Cycle universe itself?
That's the magic.
It never will be 'finished', in the literal sense.
Currently, the universe has received several hundreds of thousands of words of development and already has hundreds of interconnected concepts, societies, organizations, systems, etc.
Will there eventually be a public Eternity Cycle wiki?
Absolutely.
We aren't that fond of the most common game wikipedia hosting sites, so we need to go about custom coding our own. It'll take some time.
What's been the biggest challenge so far?
Preparing ourselves with very little outside help.
Neither of B4DL4ND's founders come from backgrounds conducive of the fields we respectively head and maintain; therefore, we've spent the last 12-18 months teaching ourselves as much as we can before starting.
What's one feature you're most excited to build?
By far the lore systems.
We want all of our games to be extremely expansive in terms of lore; from multiple avenues, you'll be able to learn quite a lot about the outside quadrants and what's going on in them.
Of course, scope is important; EC.0-1 will reflect this value, though not nearly as much as the flagship titles will.
What if someone asks a question that isn't answered here?
Please join our Discord here and ask away.
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