Peace to you, people!
The long-awaited update has finally been released. Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions — seriously, we truly appreciate your support and recognition of our work. A quick reminder: no more major overhauls are planned, so from now on we’ll be able to roll out updates regularly.
The next update is expected in the coming days. Based on your feedback, we’ve made changes to the camera angle and aiming system. These tweaks significantly expand the player’s visible area and make shooting feel much more comfortable. It’s still not quite a third-person shooter, but it’s no longer a classic top-down either. Then again, a complete change of perspective was never the goal. I’ll share more details in the patch notes along with the update.
Further global plans
Storyline, Mission System, Tutorial
We're now moving on to the next major milestone — the implementation of the Mission System: dialogues with characters, quests, trading, etc. All the components needed to give the game its promised “Story-Driven RPG” features.
We’ll start with the creation of a dedicated training area — the “Shooting Club”. The game has so many mechanics at this point that we simply can’t go without a proper tutorial. So we’ll be tackling two tasks at once: we’ll add a real tutorial and simultaneously start integrating the Mission System through it. In the Shooting Club, players will be able to explore game mechanics step by step by talking to instructors and completing tasks.
Once the Mission System is integrated into the game's framework, we’ll begin adding the storyline to the main location — Raskolovo Village. This location is actually one of seven future game maps that will be tied together via a global district map. The modular nature of the Mission System means quests can be added incrementally with each update — no need to wait for every quest to be completed all at once.
Artificial Intelligence
Another parallel top-priority task is expanding the AI subsystems. What you see now is just the foundation. Our modular AI system allows us to plug in additional behavior clusters and subsystems.
We’ll be improving combat behaviors — teaching humans to act in groups and use tactical maneuvers, while making the infected behave more cunningly. Next, we’ll add routines and search behaviors, so characters won’t just stand around waiting for enemies. They’ll follow schedules and simulate real activities. In theory, this AI system can do a lot — but what we actually implement depends on the time and resources available.
Animations and Characters
I think we can all agree that lively, varied animations play a huge role in making the game world feel believable. That’s why over the past few months, our animator has been working non-stop creating all the necessary animations from scratch — and then some. A complete animation system overhaul is among our top priorities and will be implemented soon. And since we’re updating animations, our character artist has reworked all characters, outfits, and gear for maximum impact — especially with the new camera view.
Gameplay Mechanics
We’ve got more than enough priority tasks lined up, but that doesn’t mean we won’t also work on smaller — yet important — gameplay mechanics. Development always finds room for quality-of-life or just plain fun additions. The list of potential features is massive. Sadly, not everything will make it into the game, so we’ll start with those that have the most impact. For example, hand grenades — because blowing stuff up is always fun and very effective against enemy groups. I’ll announce every implemented mechanic separately in patch notes or write about it in dev blogs during development.
That's all about global plans for now.
Stay tuned, ask questions, share your thoughts, and report any problems.
Your feedback and support are still just as important to us as ever.