As part of the gamescom 2024, we had the opportunity to interview Joel Bylos, the Chief Creative Director of Dune: Awakening. We spoke with him about what experiences from Conan Exiles have been incorporated into the new survival MMO.
Dune: Awakening is a highly anticipated new survival MMO, with a particular focus on sandbox gameplay. This is intended to give players a completely free gaming experience with some story elements. You can read all about it in our summary of the game.
MyMMO editor and MMO and survival connoisseur Benedict Grothaus spoke with Joel Bylos, the Chief Creative Director, during the gamescom 2024 about Dune: Awakening. The conversation included the predecessor Conan Exiles and what fans of this game can expect from Dune.
The trailer for Dune: Awakening can be seen here:
From 20 to several hundred employees
At the beginning, we spoke with Joel Bylos about what of his experiences from Conan Exiles have been incorporated into Dune: Awakening. He told us, among other things, that around 20 people worked on Conan Exiles back then, while several hundred people contributed to Dune: Awakening.
He also talks about the start in Conan Exiles and survival games in general:
I think Conan Exiles is a very difficult game. The user interface leaves a lot to be desired. The
onboardingin Conan Exiles or survival games in general is not really good. I think Conan Exiles was somewhat better, but still not great. I think with Dune, it’s different and much better. We tidied up the user interface here.
Through Conan Exiles, Joel Bylos learned a lot about the players themselves, which has also helped him in the development of Dune: Awakening.
I believe I learned a lot about player dynamics in Conan Exiles. It taught me a lot about what players do in the game – what they claim to do but don’t actually do. I consider it a very clear example.
I believe what was really well received in Exiles was climbing. The free-fall climbing, where you could explore the world in the sandbox, and I believe in Dune we’ve improved that with climbing and flying threefold.
A story system similar to Conan Exiles
We also wanted to know more about the story of Dune: Awakening – and what to expect. His answer remains somewhat vague:
There is an opening section that basically just covers the story and character creation. After that, there’s about a ten-minute tutorial, and that’s it. Once you land in the desert, the game becomes an open sandbox. After some time, however, events occur that draw you back into the story, so yes, there is indeed a plot in Dune.
The way the journey unfolds is a bit different than in Conan Exiles. It’s a similar idea to Exiles, but the journey is more specific, and we have a variety of different journeys for different things – a kind of new system. About a year ago, we implemented a similar update for Conan Exiles, and Dune is somewhat more specific in this regard and resembles this new system.
Another point that intrigued us was whether there are plans for the future to incorporate a single-player or coop mode, similar to its predecessor:
Unfortunately, that won’t work. The game will be online and requires a connection to servers. You can play alone, but there will be no single-player mode; the game will always take place on online servers.
We are currently discussing whether we want to enable private servers like in Conan Exiles. But that is not yet decided.
You can see more about the story in the story trailer and read about it in our article, where we cover everything that is known so far.
Dune: Awakening is set to receive updates for up to five years after release
From our experience with Conan Exiles, we know that the game was continuously developed and adjusted even after release. We asked Joel Bylos what plans he has for the future of Dune: Awakening. He reveals:
I can’t say exactly how often updates will be released. The scope of updates depends on the success of the launch and how many players continue to play the game in the long run. Creatively, I plan about five years of updates, similar to Conan Exiles. At that time, I had an extensive list of features that we added in the five years after launch.
For Dune: Awakening, I also plan features, content, and the main story that players will experience. The main story has an endpoint at launch, but there will gradually be more story elements and plot lines. I already have a plan regarding how we want to release the content and structure timeframes. The exact pace and duration depend on our development teams and circumstances, so I can’t say that for sure. But this is the approach we’re taking.
During gamescom, players were able to enjoy a new trailer for Dune: Awakening at the Opening Night Live. This trailer shows in particular how the elements of MMO and survival are combined. What the latest trailer has in store for you can be found here: Dune: Awakening aims to combine MMO and survival, impressing with new gameplay: The next big thing in the genre.
