Exploring Everything Revealed in Dune: Awakening Direct – Episode 3
Hello once again, Sleepers!
August has been a very busy month filled with reveals of all kinds. In our third Dune: Awakening Direct, we showed our marvelous booth at Gamescom with Joel and Soe diving deeper into the core gameplay that was revealed last week.
Behind the Scenes at Gamescom
Our booth at Gamescom was hard to miss with our 5 meter tall Shai-Hulud photowall, but that’s only the tip of the crysknife. During the Direct, Soe takes us behind-the-scenes to show the exciting events we had going on, in case you weren’t able to travel through space and time to make it there in person. This includes exclusive gameplay presentations in Dune: Awakening, Fremkit merch giveaways, quizzes to test your Dune knowledge, calling the worm on the Level Infinite stage, professional cosplayers, and so much more.
Diving into Gameplay
Get a taste of what you can expect from Arrakis in Dune: Awakening, as Creative Director Joel Bylos and host Soe Gschwind talk through certain aspects of the game such as combat, building, spice harvesting, and more.
Through this interview and walkthrough, you can prepare yourself for your own journey on the harsh planet and how you might tackle it.
Dune: Awakening is coming to PC Early 2025, so we hope to see you on Arrakis then. In the meantime, join us on Discord to talk with other Sleepers who are looking forward to playing and wishlist the game on Steam to get updates.
Find Out When and Where to Watch Dune: Awakening Direct #3!
Greetings Sleepers,
We’re excited to announce that our next Dune: Awakening Direct will air on August 29, bringing you behind the scenes at Gamescom, where you will see highlights from the event, an interview with Creative Director Joel Bylos and Host Soe Gschwind which elaborates on the recent gameplay reveals, and more!
Gamescom is in full swing, and we have unleashed our Gameplay Reveal trailer and extended 30-minute gameplay presentation.
Dune: Awakening Direct Episode 3 will be of particular interest to everyone who isn’t at Gamescom, as this episode is being filmed on location at the event!
Our hosts Joel and Soe will be diving deep into the new extended gameplay with a lot of new insights on various aspects of the game. Learn about the hydration system and desert survival, spice harvesting and the effects of spice consumption, and more!
The round-trip to Arrakis will depart on August 29 at 6PM CEST / 12PM ET from our Twitch and YouTube channels. If you miss it, worry not - the footage will be available as a VOD after.
Dune: Awakening Release Window Revealed, See New Gameplay!
Greetings Sleepers,
We’re thrilled to announce that Dune: Awakening will come to PC Early 2025!
Our Gameplay Reveal trailer has now premiered on Opening Night Live, offering a 5-minute vision of a player’s journey from survivor to spice hunter.
This is but one vision of Arrakis. There are a multitude, and the choices are yours.
Survive, scavenge, and take what you must. The desert consumes the weak.
Expand your potential through combat, exploration, building. crafting, and trade. Consume spice to unshackle your mind and see the unseen.
Control the spice and cling to power. As intrigue and warfare rage, rise through the ranks of your guild and align it with House Atreides or Harkonnen.
This is your Arrakis.
The Dune: Awakening key art is here and available to download for various screens! Turn your desktop or phone background into an Arrakis churning with storms, sandworms, and the epic struggle for spice.
Extended 30-Minute Gameplay Presentation
Our Gamescom booth is soon open, and anyone who comes by will be able to catch our extended 30-minute Gameplay video! You can also catch the video at home since it will be streamed by a whole host of fantastic creators. Here are just a few:
Dune: Awakening World Gameplay Premiere to be Revealed at Gamescom
Greetings Sleepers,
We’re thrilled to announce that Dune: Awakening will be at Gamescom 2024! Whether you will be there or watching from home, we can’t wait to show you what’s coming.
August 20: Opening Night Live
On August 20, we will premiere our 5-minute Gameplay Reveal at Opening Night Live. Get ready for a hefty dose of spice.
If you’re visiting Gamescom, we'd love to see you, so swing by our booth where we have a ton of activities, free goodies, and a 30-minute gameplay showcase (which will be livestreamed by a whole bunch of fantastic content creators for everyone at home, too!).
How to find us
We’ll be camped out at Hall 6.1 | C071 A070. Just follow the colossal Shai-Hulud, who decided to grace us with his presence. Photos with the Old Man of the Desert are encouraged, but sacrificing yourself as a snack for the Maker is forbidden.
30-minute gameplay showcase
Come by the booth to catch our extended 30-minute gameplay sequence! If you’re not attending Gamescom, check out these creators’ channels since they will be livestreaming it throughout the week.
All Fremen must earn and learn to use a Fremkit to survive the desert. If you find our booth, you have earned it. Take it, and may you survive Gamescom. Within you will find all sorts of handy Dune: Awakening swag.
Join in the activities
We’ll be holding regular Dune-related quizzes where anyone can join, with some pretty awesome prizes for the winners. And if you’re lucky, you will be present for the ritual calling of the worm...
We can’t wait for you to survive, explore, and rise to power on Arrakis. This is your Dune, and the path will be yours to choose. In a world shared with hundreds of other players, will you control the flow of spice itself?
Join our official Discord channel and follow us on our channels to stay up to date with all the latest news on Dune: Awakening (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts).
Communinet Signal #1
Welcome Sleepers, to our very first Dune: Awakening community newsletter!
Look forward to this new hub of information for all things Dune: Awakening. We in the community team will keep you regularly updated about any news you might have missed, showcase new parts of the game, and celebrate all the talented Sleepers in our community. We hope you enjoy these as much as we enjoyed making them for you!
These past few months have been quite hectic for us here on Arrakis, with the cinematic reveal trailer, the new Dune: Awakening Direct, and our visit to Twitchcon Rotterdam. There's a lot happening, and this is only the beginning (remember to keep an eye on Gamescom, where we’ll reveal more gameplay!).
The Communinet Signal will change over time, as we iterate and improve it based on your feedback and collaboration. For now, here’s what you can expect:
Each month, we'll chat with you directly and maybe even bring in some devs to share spicy game details. In the Roundup, we'll sum up all the major Dune: Awakening happenings of the last month, show off some awesome game art and sounds in Asset Highlights, and spotlight YOUR amazing fan creations in Community Creations. You can even get your burning questions answered by sending them our way with #DuneAwakeningCommunity, in our Questions from the Community section. And to wrap it all up, we'll leave you with some parting words and a little something to get you involved in the next issue!
We hope you find these newsletters useful and help us evolve them over time to become the hub of all things Dune: Awakening!
Thank you for tuning in. May you find shadow and water on your path.
The last couple of months brought a wealth of announcements fit for a Carryall, including the incredible milestone of 1 million wishlists, a number which just keeps on climbing! We’re so grateful for all the support so far. Make sure to wishlist the game on Steam if you haven’t already!
The debut of our new cinematic trailer, The Vision of Paul Atreides, was revealed at Summer Game Fest, revealing the alternate history of Dune: Awakening, which carries massive implications.
And of course, we can’t forget to mention the second Dune: Awakening Direct hosted by the wonderful Soe Gschwind. In this Direct, we dove into different narrative topics that are important to the world and unveiled the secrets behind them. You can watch the Direct in its entirety here! Or if you’d prefer to watch a segment you’re particularly interested in, you can find links to the individual videos here:
We have much more on the way, including the gameplay reveal at Gamescom this month. See you then!
Harko Village is one of the social hubs you can travel to via the overland map. Within its streets, you'll meet many other players from your world. You'll find various vendors and NPCs of interest, the CHOAM exchange, and social areas to engage with friends and allies. Meet Hanovars bar.
The moment you step inside Hanovars, you'll be greeted by the majestic skeleton of a whale, proudly displayed to flaunt the Harkonnen's wealth and influence. Beneath its bones and a thick layer of smoke, you can meet other sleepers, discuss strategies, and even show off some moves on the dance floor.
You may not be able to show your rhythm on the dunes of Arrakis, but on the dancefloor of Hanovars bar, you better dance like there's no tomorrow. For your enemies, there may not be.
As more and more of our character creation has been unveiled, Sleepers have been quick to share their own vision of their character on Arrakis. This includes drawing them out!
[table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]8-BALL code for a C++ course, by Keyloor[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Art created on burned papirus, by Leilo1L1[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Vehicle Fan Art, by Leilo1L1[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td] [/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Character art on paper by 9ironkiller[/td] [/tr] [/table]
We love seeing what our community creates, so make sure to share yours on the Official Dune: Awakening Discord server, or tag us on social media with #DuneAwakening.
[table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]It's hard to see the future, what Paul thinks he is seeing could be flawed or incorrect. Follow the clues and discover the truth in your journey across the game.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Yes! If you’re happy with your base but want to move, you can save it as an architectural blueprint. Or if you prefer, share it with allies or sell to those willing to pay at the exchange. If you’re playing with a friend, placing down holograms for them to fill in while help with a more streamlined building experience as well.[/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]You can do this via our webpage or in our FAQ, where we also have more information about the closed beta process. Joining the official Discord server will also help to keep you informed and answer even more questions surrounding the beta.
We are currently in persistent closed beta so players are being invited in waves. While you wait, keep an eye out for us at GamesCom where we’ll be showing new gameplay! [/td] [/tr]
And with that, we conclude our very first Communinet Signal. We hope you found it useful, informative, entertaining, or anything in between. We're excited to create this new hub of information as we see our community grow and take shape.
But this is only the first step of our journey. As you're reading these words, we'll be busy preparing our next newsletter, with more information and highlights for you to enjoy... and maybe even be part of!
For our next issue, we're calling all artists in the sietch: You've seen one of the social areas in Harko Village, but we're missing your moves. Show us what you've got! If you have any fanart imagining yourself dominating the Hanovar dancefloor, send it our way using #DuneAwakeningCommuninet on social media or by sharing it in the Fanart channel on our Discord! It can be anything: a drawing, a video... anything you pour your creativity into. Remember, these must be created by you, not using AI-generated art. Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
If you have any comments about this newsletter and want to discuss it with us and the rest of the community, make sure to join the official Discord server and check out the new Communinet Signal channel.
We look forward to seeing all your reactions and comments. See you in the next Communinet Signal and at Gamescom (and we think you’ll be very interested in what we will reveal there)!
What makes Dune: Awakening an MMO?
Hi, my name is Joel Bylos and I’m the Creative Director on Dune: Awakening. We keep referring to the game as an Open World Survival Massively Multiplayer Online game and I understand that this has fueled a lot of speculation among players.
I’m going to explore what it means to call our game an MMO and try to be as candid about our server structure as possible. I’ll also be using a bunch of terminology about MMOs that you may or may not be familiar with – I’ll try to explain as I go.
MMO vs MMORPG
We’re very deliberate in our communication about Dune: Awakening to use MMO but not MMORPG. Games like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Elder Scrolls Online have defined a type of progression and core game loops that typify the modern MMORPG. Things like classes, quest-driven progression, endgame raids, level gating etc.
Dune: Awakening walks a different path. It is a survival, open world, crafting game, and while it features contracts (which are a form of quest) and journeys (which are also a form of quest), they are not the core focus of the player progression system; they are designed more for an open world sandbox experience than the traditional quests in MMORPGs. Also, Dune: Awakening is more focused on a crafting and building driven progression – exploring a technology tree and creating weapons, tools, vehicles, and bases. We don’t have level gating on items, so for example, if your friend wants to craft and hand you the best weapon in the game, five minutes after you start playing, that’s fine.
The part of the acronym that we share, the Massively Multiplayer Online, that’s where we start to differ from survival games.
What is a Survival MMO compared to a Survival game?
The survival genre has exploded in the last few years with a lot of unique spins and approaches to the core formula. And with this explosion has come a myriad of different approaches to server and multiplayer setups.
There are single-player survival games like Subnautica or The Long Dark. There are small-group multiplayer survival games like Valheim or Sons of the Forest, which allow a group of friends to play together. There are larger survival games with officially hosted servers like Conan Exiles, Ark, or Rust, which generally allow dozens of players to play together.
These games tend to have some common traits, such as a single large map running on a dedicated (or client-based) server. Dune: Awakening has a server structure more in common with MMOs than with most survival games. There are also large-scale multiplayer systems in place to support social gameplay – both competitive and collaborative – in areas shared with hundreds of other players.
For example, the Exchange allows you to buy and sell items with other players – a feature commonly associated with MMOs. And yet, it’s also unlike most MMOs due to the lack of level gating. If you can buy it, you can usually equip it.
The Landsraad feature also shifts us away from being only Survival or only MMO. While we can’t go into the full details of the feature just yet, we can explain the basics. It’s inspired by the in-universe Landsraad, a galactic council made up of the Great Houses. The Landsraad’s decisions can result in sweeping implications for the entirety of Arrakis and how people play the game. The most exciting aspect is that the decisions made by the Landsraad are entirely dependent on player actions, which go beyond simply voting (although that will also be important). After all, this is Dune, with all its Machiavellian scheming.
These are just a few examples of MMO-like features. We look forward to discussing the details of more of them in the future.
How many others will I be playing with?
When you first start playing Dune: Awakening, you pick a server that will be your home. Each of these servers belong to a World and a World consists of many different servers.
As a player, you will meet and interact with players from other servers in your World. The best way to explain how this works is looking at how our Arrakis is structured.
Our Arrakis is made up of different and separate maps, some larger than others. Here are a few of the main ones:
Hagga Basin: This is where you start out and where you will always return. It’s a big, persistent open world, similar in size to the map in Conan Exiles, and it consists of many different biomes. Here you must survive, build, and fight in the same space as several dozen other players who also belong to the server you picked. Players from other servers cannot come here. Player vs. player combat exists only in select areas of Hagga Basin.
Social Hubs: These are cities or villages that act as social hubs, where players cannot build, drive vehicles, or engage in PvP, but instead go to interact with the Exchange, NPCs, vendors, and of course, other players. Here you will meet players from other servers in your World, and once it’s full, an instance is spawned, similar to how the technology works in many other MMOs.
The Deep Desert: This is a massive, seamless, open space, several times larger than Hagga Basin. Here you will encounter hundreds of other players from all the different servers in your World and it’s where large-scale guild player vs. player interactions take place including the battle for spice. You will also build and drive vehicles here. This is where the Coriolis storm will regularly sweep across, changing the landscape, and the location of key resources.
Overland map: All these large but separate maps are connected by an overland map of the entire northern hemisphere of Arrakis, and it shows players moving around it in real time. Here you move between Hagga Basin, the hubs, and the Deep Desert. Traveling across the Overland map consumes fuel and water, and if you run out before reaching your destination, you’ll automatically enter a zone where you must scavenge for more.
The Overland Map, besides making the world feel seamless and connected, gives us the flexibility to expand after launch. Adding new areas to a single map is more difficult and restrictive than adding new locations to the Overland Map. With this framework in place, we can give you new places to explore after launch and beyond.
We look forward to sharing more details about the Overland map and other maps we haven’t mentioned yet in the future.
So, what does this all mean?
To define Dune: Awakening, we’ve had to talk a bit about what it is not, because it doesn’t fit into either the Survival nor the MMO box, as most people would know them. It has a survival core, a pretty unique server structure, and several important features which we think make using the MMO tag the best way to clearly communicate what the game is.
We believe Dune: Awakening’s complex server structure, where hundreds of players flow seamlessly between servers as they move to different areas of the game world, is doing something that other survival games are not.
On the spectrum of sandbox to theme park MMOs, Dune: Awakening is firmly on the sandbox side.
While there is content you might find in your typical MMO, such as contracts and the journey system (similar to quests), NPCs you can converse with, ecolabs that are similar to dungeons, character development through ability trees, progression through the ranks of the Atreides and Harkonnen, the Exchange, and the Landsraad feature, the key focus of Dune: Awakening is exploring, surviving, building, and thriving in an open sandbox world filled with other players. You can either collaborate or compete with those you encounter through politics, trade, and warfare. It’s a vast, open world full of social intrigue that you are a part of building and influencing, and you’re not grinding through content map by map.
There is one other area where Dune: Awakening will differ significantly from many other survival games. Due to its multiple MMO-based features, there is no single-player mode. You will have to be able to join our servers. Our plan is to allow private servers, at least for the Hagga Basin map, but we can’t promise this will be available for launch.
No doubt these answers leave you with even more questions, and we look forward to revealing more about Dune: Awakening in the time ahead.
Thank you for reading.
Best regards, Joel Bylos Creative Director
Watch the Second Dune: Awakening Direct Now!
Greetings Sleepers,
Dune: Awakening Direct, Episode 2 has arrived, unearthing answers once obscured. But with spice, the paths are revealed.
Watch the full show here, or dive into the section which interests you most below. The showcase covers several important topics:
The Alternate Timeline and setting in Dune: Awakening
The role of religion and spirituality
In-game character creation
What makes Dune: Awakening an MMO?
Alternate History
Discover the path that could have been. One moment which changes everything; the pebble which triggers the landslide.
Paul, never born. The Atreides and Harkonnen at war. The Fremen, missing. And yet, the spice must flow. This is your Dune.
The absence of Paul Atreides creates a power vacuum into which new factions and conflicts are dragged, including you. How much of that space will you fill?
Narrative and Spirituality
Senior Narrative Designer Léa Talbot guides us through how religion and spirituality play a part in Dune: Awakening. To Paul Atreides, the beliefs of the Fremen were a tool, but you are not Paul Atreides. You will have to survive by other means. Nevertheless, you will follow the teachings left by the Fremen, for whom learning to survive in the desert remains a profoundly spiritual journey.
Character Creation
Learn all about character creation with Producer Nils Ryborg as he shows us one of the first things you will do in the game, showing off the depth of choice when it comes to customizing your appearance and origins. Expression and customization is one of the core pillars of Dune: Awakening, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Server Structure and MMO Elements
Although Dune: Awakening is a survival game at its core, it is also an amalgamation of genres, notably the MMO. Join our Dune: Awakening Direct host, Soe Gschwind as she picks the mind of Funcom’s Creative Director, Joel Bylos, about what makes the game an MMO, including how servers will be populated and separated.
Dev Blog, Gamescom, and Beta Testing!
More details will soon be revealed in our upcoming dev blog, where we delve deeper into what sets Dune: Awakening apart from other survival games.
Prepare yourself for the official gameplay reveal in August at Gamescom. In the meantime, join other sleepers on Discord, and wishlist the game.
Dune: Awakening has now entered its persistent closed Beta, which gives access to the full breadth of the game, from the Hagga Basin starting area to the Deep Desert endgame. A huge thank you goes out to all the current testers for their valuable feedback. You can sign up on our website for a chance to join the Beta.
New Story Cinematic is Live, Next Direct arrives 20 June!
Greetings Sleepers,
The path you will tread in Dune: Awakening has finally been revealed at Summer Game Fest in our new Story Cinematic – The Vision of Paul Atreides.
A single moment that changes everything. An Arrakis torn by a War of Assassins. The Fremen missing. And yet the spice must flow. This is your Arrakis.
Dune: Awakening Direct, Episode 2
The time finally approaches for our next Dune: Awakening Direct, the live show where we reveal and showcase new aspects of the game.
Tune in to Dune: Awakening Direct, Episode 2 on 20 June at 18:00 CET/12:00 ETC on our Twitch and Youtube.
We’re thrilled to welcome back Soe Gschwind to host the show, in which she will interview several members from our development team, including Creative Director Joel Bylos, who you’ll recognize from our first episode and several other videos we’ve put out.
If you missed the first Dune: Awakening Direct, it premiered our Survive Arrakis Trailer and a featurette, titled Creating Worlds, From Book to Film to Game.
Catch up with the full First Episode
What are we showing in Episode 2?
Allow us to ingest some spice in order to glimpse the myriad paths ahead. The most likely outcome reveals itself.
Prepare to discover the ramifications of a world without Paul Atreides in Dune: Awakening. What role will major factions like the Atreides, Harkonnen, and Fremen play? We will also shed more light on the narrative overall, including aspects like religion.
Dive deeper into the server structure, and what makes the game a Survival MMO. Get a clear look at in-game character creation, and enjoy new interviews, an update on our ongoing Beta testing, and more!
Where and When?
Dune: Awakening Direct, Episode 2 premieres on 20 June at 18:00 CET/12:00 ETC on our Twitch and Youtube. IGN will also stream it live on their Twitch.
And beyond Dune: Awakening Direct, get ready for our gameplay reveal at Gamescom.
Sign up now on www.duneawakening.com for a chance to join future Beta tests, wishlist the game, and join other sleepers on the official Discord.
Thank you all for 1 Million Wishlists!
Greetings Sleepers,
We have just reached 1 million wishlists, and we are blown away. Thank you all for your incredible support. It means the world to the team as they pour their heart and soul into creating the ultimate Dune fantasy.
The very desert shudders beneath your feet. We hear you. And so does Shai-Hulud.
Keep an eye on our channels as we will soon be revealing more about the setting of Dune: Awakening; a timeline which diverges from the books and films at a very crucial point. It takes but a pebble to begin a landslide...
Short videos Roundup
Sleepers!
After seeing all your questions about Dune: Awakening, we’re excited to be able to show you some more details! Earlier this year, we started a series of brief but informative videos covering certain systems and aspects of the game that we had seen you ask us about.
This is the perfect time to catch up on our short videos, as we are working on a new wave of clips based on your comments. After the wealth of information we shared in our first Dune: Awakening Direct, we’ve had a blast welcoming so many new members to the community. If you are new to Arrakis, the short videos are a great place to start!
You can watch our short videos on any of our social channels (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts), so grab some popcorn (bucket optional), choose your social media platform of choice, and catch up on all things Dune: Awakening! And let us know in the comments what else you would like to see in future videos!
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