Planetary Annihilation devs show planet creation tech, clever unit pathfinding

Planetary Annihilation creators Uber recently ran fans through the tools they're using to develop the Kickstarter funded RTS. While the resulting hour-long video doesn't feature any footage from the actual game, it's full of in-engine insights into how the team's tools are helping them build what looks to be a cleverly thought out strategy. Also: constant, slightly hilarious, iris wipe transitions. At least it wasn't star wipes.

There's two main parts to the video. The first half shows the planetary creation, and the sliders that let them easily adjust biomes. The second, more in-depth half details the unit pathfinding, and how flow fields create a sort of dynamic movement system that lets the AI cleverly bypass obstacles. It's perhaps a more in-depth overview than most will ever need to wrap their heads around, but for tech fans it's a fascinating look into an area of development rarely seen.

Uber also mention at the start of the video that, while they're not ready to announce their plans for the game's mod tools just yet, that information should be revealed soon.

To see how the in-game stuff is progressing, you can check out some recent Planetary Annihilation screenshots here .

Thanks, RPS .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.