Khôra

Starting as a fun project to mess around with stuff in Unity, this developed into a lowkey obsession. The goal... to create a functioning digital ecosystem, mimicking nature to a degree of detail that borders on the senseless.

I haven't fully decided where this is going though, whether it will lean more into being a pixelated world sim, or a functioning survival sandbox game. The journey to working out where it will land is the fun part though I suppose! I am actively updating it, playing with new concepts and teaching myself programming through a project that I'll also be making the art for.

I'm just one man though, so progress is relatively slow. You can follow along with my devlog on itch.io at: https://dormarr.itch.io/khora

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Currently working on:

• Procedural pixel texturing for biome transitions.
• Foundational mechanics to streamline development.
• Expanding on custom format save data.
• More stylised art direction and visual identity.

To do list:

• Day/Night cycle. Expand into seasons.
• EcoDeco: Adding trees, grass entities, stones, flowers, etc.
• Pathfinding experiments.
• Animal AI.

Some Background

The name comes from the ancient Greek, namely Plato, who referenced 'Khôra' as "the space that gives a place for being." A generic foundation of existence for everything else to build up from. I try to pay homage to philosophy where I can, but this was too perfect a name for this project. I am obsessed with survival sandbox games, and was fiercely inspired by the depth and complexity of Dwarf Fortress, so I began pursuing my own sort of digital world.

My background is in art and design, so in terms of programming, I'm learning as I go. I've already come a long way, implementing complex systems and keeping an eye on scalability, honestly I think I have the instincts for it, I just needed a project I was passionate enough for to drive me to learn. With regards to design though, the visual style of the project is very important to me. Although there won't be any hyperstylised visuals, games like Hyper Light Drifter, Tails Noir, Cult of the Lamb, even Factorio, all put across their own interpretation of the world(whatever world that may be) and nature, and each serve as inspiration to, if not directly the visual style, then the philosophy behind an aesthetic in general.

I want to display the world in a way that isn't stale, done to death, or just plain boring. It's a tough challenge to push beyond your comfort zone, but it's a thrilling exercise and it makes for better art.

Already I've pushed the bounds of what I've seen done in games, by creating a procedural texture system, allowing me to use as few as a single sprite, and retexture at runtime to create a vibrant and dynamic world. I plan to push further with a 2.5D approach to the top-down 2D sandbox, and am constantly working on solutions to technical challenges and innovative features. I'm ambitious, and I'm no professional, but hell if I won't give it my all.