We have all seen the voxel world-building games. We’ve even seen the copy-cat projects that try to mimic them precisely, in an attempt to latch onto their success and make it their own. I know many of you (myself included) are growing weary of such titles, but there is still a desire for innovative games in this genre. That is why I was so excited when I came across TUG.
TUG is an open-world sandbox RPG with a unique perspective on the genre. The developers at Nerd Kingdom have taken a keen interest in science and the way players interact with one another to shape the manner in which they will interact within the game world. In fact, the overarching concept is so academic that its difficult for me to describe. I will simply say that its pretty damn interesting, and I can’t wait to see the result. The developers intend on letting players… well… play. And as they play, the world will adapt to their influence, and they will in turn adapt to the world. Oh, and your player character will evolve alongside the world. That’s just cool.
I have had the pleasure to spend some time with an early build of the game. I was alone in this world due to the game being unreleased, but I must say, I kept myself busy. As someone who has never played Minecraft, Terraria, or any other open-world sandbox game, I had no idea what to do. I had never been in a game that just let me do whatever I wanted, and I spent the first while just exploring. There were many sights to see, and I even spruced up the view with a few apple trees here and there. Simple touches, but hey, I was doing stuff!
I decided to try and build myself a little somewhere to call home. I’ve seen the miraculous art that others have built in games like Minecraft, and to be honest, I knew whatever it was I was going to make wasn’t going to up to par. I decided to just give it a shot; 4 walls, a door, and a few windows. That’s all I wanted. Maybe a fancy floor or something, but I’ll just take it one step at a time. After some time my log cabin began to take shape. It looked like a box, but that box would soon become my home. It doesn’t look as wonderful as what I’m sure 99% of you reading this would be capable of creating, but hey, we all have to start somewhere!
It’ll be interesting to see how the game evolves once other players start populating the game. Will they kick over my fancy ice crystals? I guess time will tell. I guess I’ll just have to keep doing the heavy lifting so that my player character grows tough enough to defend my property!
I’m really looking forward to seeing TUG continue to develop. They are close to removing the “blocks” that make up the game world, which will make everything much more organic. Keep an eye on this one, it’s got a ton of potential and a team that is dedicated to making it something special.