Terraria Otherworld

Terraria: Otherworld Has Been Canceled

Unfortunately, Terraria: Otherwold has been canceled. Re-Logic today announced the cancellation of a greatly anticipated kinda-sequel to Terraria which has seen many development issues over the years.

From the announcement:
"Our team has a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, in spite of all of our efforts, the current state of the game remains equal parts far from that vision and beyond behind schedule from our initial planning when we shared Otherworld with all of you three years ago. Progress has absolutely been made during that time – but unfortunately, a very thorough status review of the game versus its... Read All Unfortunately, Terraria: Otherwold has been canceled. Re-Logic today announced the cancellation of a greatly anticipated kinda-sequel to Terraria which has seen many development issues over the years.

From the announcement:
"Our team has a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, in spite of all of our efforts, the current state of the game remains equal parts far from that vision and beyond behind schedule from our initial planning when we shared Otherworld with all of you three years ago. Progress has absolutely been made during that time – but unfortunately, a very thorough status review of the game versus its intended design showed both the Re-Logic and 505/Pipeworks teams that things were quite a bit further away from the finish line than we had imagined. Taking the massive amount of work that would be remaining to complete along with the extensive time it would take to get that done, and how that would greatly interfere with the pursuit of other projects on behalf of Re-Logic – it becomes clear that this leaves things in a very undesirable state.

As a result, we have made the decision to terminate development of Terraria: Otherworld."

I'm disappointed because it looked very interesting, but I'm not surprised. They've been open about all the development issues that have plagued the game, and it seems as though they were never quite able to manage those issues.

They also shared the next steps for Re-Logic:

In hindsight, it goes without saying that we never should have spoken publicly about this game as early-on as we did. We will fully own that error in judgement. Moving forward, we will be far more judicious about only sharing information on projects in which we are fully confident in regards to timing, etc. We can only apologize for all of the emotional rollercoaster this caused.

Trying to outsource development of such a critical title for our company – even if just in part – was not the way to go. Moving ahead, our focus for the core development of new/future titles will be more inward and will seek to utilize our own people. We will share more information there just as soon as we have it.

Re-Logic has possession of the game (design, code, art, sounds, etc.) as it exists today, and there are still a ton of amazing ideas under the hood here – many of which have never been publicly shared. These are ideas that we have not and will not forget and that you will very likely see implemented in our future titles.

Active development of Terraria continues - 1.3.6 is still very much in active development. We know that we have not shared a lot in the way of spoilers there – but rest assured that the team has been working tirelessly on our next PC wave.

This keeps our partners at 505/Pipeworks wholly focused on Console/Mobile/Switch – and there is still a TON to get done there, so that should be good.

Overall I see this as simultaneously disappointing and good news. We may never see what might have been, but we can stop wondering about it and look forward to what Re-Logic has for us in the future.

Full announcement: https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/this-is-the-end-otherworld-development-cancelled.68594/

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/14/2018 at 01:35am

Dang, I was really looking forward to Otherworld. At first I wasn't so sure about it, but then I guess it grew on me. I want more Terraria. I'm glad they're still working on 1.3.6, it has been a year or so since I've seen anything new about it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/14/2018 at 02:16am

Cennxx posted some new spoilers about 1.3.6 recently. Some sort of thing that can locally change gravity maybe? And underground fossils.

https://twitter.com/Cennxx

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/14/2018 at 02:18am

Cool thanks for sharing! (I left Twitter a couple years ago or so.)

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/15/2018 at 02:55am

I don't do this for a lot of games but whatever Terraria sequel comes out, i'm going to buy it. Sad to hear this one isn't coming out but I don't think I quite got what it was. I don't think they talked much about it for it to form in my mind what kind of game it was. It seemed to be a story based Terraria open game but I'm not really sure about that.

Making games is hard and open ended games more so. Wish them well on what they are doing and if history is a guide we'll keep getting trickling Terraria updates, which is all I guess I could want. Frankly we have a great game, a sequel would be awesome but how much more awesome could a new Terraria game be? I don't know, I guess we'll see.

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/15/2018 at 05:59am

@Jon from what I read it was supposed to be a Terraria tower defense game. At least that seems to be what I remember. Also, the wiki does state Terraria 2 under future projects or whatever.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/15/2018 at 03:14pm

Yeah there were going to be tower defense elements at least. It seemed like the the whole motivation was to purify the world. That was something you could do in Terraria but it’s kinda boring. The tower defense in Otherworld was about keeping the corruption from spreading.

I’d like to see some of that in a future Terraria update. A tower at the edge of the corruption to keep it from spreading would be way more fun than digging a 5 block cavern all the way to the underworld

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/18/2018 at 12:42am

Tower defense 2D sidescroller? Huh. Ok. I really wonder how far they got and sad they couldn't show more of it just to share what they made. That said, I imagine that would drive some fans a bit nuts.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/18/2018 at 01:35am

Yeah I don’t think it was like 100% tower defense driven that was just part of it

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Re-Logic Shares Terraria: Otherworld Woes and Plans for the Future

As many surmised and/or feared, it looks like the silence on updates *was* a result of issues with development. Re-Logic has announced today that they were unhappy with the development from Engine Software, and are bringing in Pipeworks Studios to continue development.

"Our team had a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, as much as we hate to say it (and in spite of all of the reforms we tried last year) - the current state of the game is still equal parts far from that vision and well behind schedule.

As a result, we have made the decision to move on from having Engine Software continue development of... Read All

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/05/2017 at 05:26am

I'm glad the silence has been temporarily broken after so long. Initially I feel optimistic about it and can wait for a really good game, at least that's my hope of the product. I look forward to seeing more news ahead. Thanks for sharing!

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/06/2017 at 02:14am

Reading more into the replies on that post is interesting. The developer perspective is obviously real and most often invisible to gamers. In recent years, since playing Terraria and Ark, I've been paying more attention to game development news, particularly with these two games ("Terraria" includes Otherworld). It's fascinating what I've learned and experienced over the years and yet I obviously can only see a small fraction of what's going on.

We mentioned before that we're not too impatient for Otherworld, although we eagerly eat up anything Terraria. It was exciting to first find out about it and have that hope of seeing it "soon" two years ago.

I'm glad when developers fill us in on what's going on "behind the scenes." I was disappointed for the "radio silence," but I didn't get frustrated. Although we now don't have a timetable for the game's release, we at least know that Re-logic is working hard to make sure this game meets what seems to be extremely high standards, which should produce a very good game. So, I'm hopeful and optimistic, maybe even more so now that I know what's been going on and it's not a dead project.

I haven't really played many tower defense games. I remember that quest at Fort Condor (I think that's it's name) in Final Fantasy VII. I wasn't too fond of it. Later, I found a Final Fantasy game on the Wii that was a tower defense game (I don't recall it's name). It was free or a demo, but I didn't spend much time with it nor did I find it too interesting.

So, I'm a bit reluctant regarding the tower defense aspect of Otherworld, however, I think Re-logic could perhaps do something amazing with it. That kind of mechanic does seem to fit well into Terraria as you're trying to protect your NPCs from the Blood Moon and such. In Terraria, we build arenas for this, so the tower defense aspect is already there.

Hopefully we'll see more development news in the next few months, though it doesn't look like we'll see the game this year (and I'm ok with that).

GregoPeck Member wrote on 04/07/2017 at 01:47am

TOW's budget is apparently over $4 million. Check out ChippyGaming's new video: https://youtu.be/8MupkdeRlK0

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Terraria Otherworld Delayed - Game Getting Quite a Bit of Rework

Last year Re-Logic announced Terraria Otherworld, a game set in the Terraria-verse that contains more RPG styled gameplay. The initial concept and game shown seemed solid and most Terraria fans were interested in playing it when it launched. As you may have noticed, there hasn't been a ton of news on the Otherworld front and we now know why that is. Terraria Otherworld is getting quite a bit of re-work to bring it up to the level of quality Re-Logic is comfortable with. This means that the game will come out much later than they initially anticipated but it should be that much better for it!

"To keep it short and simple, at the beginning of this year, we undertook a... Read All Last year Re-Logic announced Terraria Otherworld, a game set in the Terraria-verse that contains more RPG styled gameplay. The initial concept and game shown seemed solid and most Terraria fans were interested in playing it when it launched. As you may have noticed, there hasn't been a ton of news on the Otherworld front and we now know why that is. Terraria Otherworld is getting quite a bit of re-work to bring it up to the level of quality Re-Logic is comfortable with. This means that the game will come out much later than they initially anticipated but it should be that much better for it!

"To keep it short and simple, at the beginning of this year, we undertook a full in-depth review of the project versus our standards, expectations, and vision for the game. It was pretty clear to us at the time that Otherworld needed quite a bit of work - and even a good bit of rework - in a number of areas in order to hit that mark.

We then spent some time in detailed discussion among ourselves and also with Engine Software in regards to how best to get things to where they need to be. We then made a list of requested reforms and changes and such. As a part of this, the project team at Engine now has a new lead designer and art lead along with other changes made to better align to our vision for the game. On top of that, our two teams have laid out clearly what needs to be done and are pushing forward executing towards that roadmap to deliver the game we expect - and our fans deserve - as soon as possible."

The game is getting some pretty sizable visual updates as well as gameplay enhancements and more. This should make for a more polished game at launch, something most fans will appreciate. The nice part here is that there was no promised deadline or early access fans to annoy, just the game getting the attention it deserves.

"We will work hand in hand with Engine to keep up the momentum on the work and rework in the weeks and months to come. We are confident in this new approach - but rest assured that we will remain closely involved and will make sure that Terraria: Otherworld gets finished in a way that will be worthy of the Terraria name.

We don't have a date to give you - our focus is on getting the game done right first and foremost. That said, expect it to be a while still - there is a lot of work to get done and done right. As we know more, we will share it - so expect a return of spoilers (though maybe not every few days as before ;) )."

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-otherworld-bringing-you-up-to-speed.47302/

Re-Logic and Engine Games announce Terraria Otherworld

From the official site:

Re-Logic and Engine Software have combined forces to develop the next progression in the open world/sandbox arena: Terraria: Otherworld.

Set in an alternate dimension within the Terraria universe, Terraria: Otherworld places the player in a life-and-death struggle to restore a once-pristine world – now overrun by a malevolent force that has corrupted nature itself – to its original splendor.

Combining elements of sandbox gameplay with role-playing and strategy elements, Terraria: Otherworld explores the Terraria experience in an innovative and unique way - providing a fresh approach to the “open world” genre.

This must be the secret project we've... Read All

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/16/2015 at 09:15pm

I need this book right now: http://i.imgur.com/eMXvl3K.jpg

GregoPeck Member wrote on 02/16/2015 at 09:44pm

Interesting, it reminds me of a few games other than Terraria. It seems the game is in very early development. They don't have much news for it yet nor does it seem to be available as early-access on Steam. I'm looking forward to seeing more about this.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/16/2015 at 11:49pm

Yeah it's literally just been announced, so it's in early alpha. Hopefully they don't go the Early Access route.

GregoPeck Member wrote on 02/17/2015 at 12:19am

Did Terraria go the Early Access route? Re-Logic is such a tease! They give us spoilers for 1.3, mention the possibility of Terraria 2, give us Terraria on almost every console and mobile device, and now they show us a trailer for a new Terraria game. They must know we love Terraria and want more. Although, I'm grateful for all of it. I wonder how long it will take Otherworld to be released, I suppose at this point we can only speculate and wait eagerly (just as is for 1.3).

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/17/2015 at 01:16am

Terraria came out before early access was a thing.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/17/2015 at 11:24pm

This is great news. Like you Greg, I don't think I can get too much Terraria. At least I haven't yet.

So this coupled with Terraria 2 and the next update should be great. I think Terraria Otherworld seems to have a Moonman quality to it(the Terraria-esque game on Kickstarter). Look forward to playing both.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2015 at 04:36am

Otherworld seems to have some visual similarities to Starbound, which I found interesting. Definitely not a bad thing.

GregoPeck Member wrote on 12/31/2015 at 07:09am

We have an update! The game is (obviously) not being released in 2015. However, there is a bit of news for it along with a new trailer featuring "Swing Grappling."

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/terraria-otherworld-an-update.38448/

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Terraria: Otherworld Has Been Canceled

Re-Logic Shares Terraria: Otherworld Woes and Plans for the Future

Terraria Otherworld Delayed - Game Getting Quite a Bit of Rework

Re-Logic and Engine Games announce Terraria Otherworld

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