I have been meaning to throw an update on this game up here for a few days now but only now am I getting around to it, shame on me.

Indie game devs Wolfire Games have announced that Overgrowth is now in the Alpha stages of testing. This is the sequel to the indie hit Lugaru and it is slated for a Q1 2009 release.

The video below is very interesting, it shows off the procedural animation used in the new Phoenix Engine being used for Overgrowth, quite impressive what this team are doing. Bear in mind that the final version of the game will be looking much better than what you can see here.

Overgrowth Procedural Animation Process from David Rosen on Vimeo.

A word from the devs themselves on the latest goings on for Overgrowth.

Because Overgrowth’s gameplay will occur almost entirely in outdoor settings, the Wolfire team has made terrain their recent priority. After achieving realistic terrain coloring in the Phoenix Engine, Wolfire decided to put the same care into terrain lighting effects. In addition to adding high-detail terrain shadows from direct sunlight (link), the engine now also accounts for ambient lighting and occlusion (link). Combined these effects have resulted in surprisingly realistic environments.

Aware that Overgrowth fans can not be satisfied by terrain alone, Wolfire lead programmer, David Rosen, also made time to demonstrate his initial work on Overgrowth’s procedural animation system (link). Though the animation system is still in early development, fans were glad to finally see a character model hopping around on the terrain.

The team seem to be making swift progress in getting the basic world of Overgrowth working. Expect more on this in the coming months and keep an eye on their blog for the latest.