In short, the essence for those who dont like to read a lot:
I decided to realese the project to Early Access in its current state, because now we especially need your support and feedback. The development of the game will be conducted in public, you will be able to download updates, rate and leave feedback on the case immediately.
The Early Access version will contain the main game mechanics at launch and is limited to one location "Raskolovo Village". Other systems will be added as development progresses. Well, upon completion of the integration of all systems, the project will move into the phase of preparation for the final release.
Well, now some details.
After testing in 2020, we received a lot of feedback, suggestions and practical advice. For which, once again, a special thank you to everyone! Having studied the information received, we thought hard and realized that we were going the right way in general and made a strong-willed decision - many systems needed to be reworked, and in some places quite a lot. Because our audience is serious, know what they want. And these desires completely coincide with ours.
As a result, over the past two years, we have done a colossal job of thoroughly shaking up the entire project. And in fact, we have developed a full-fledged Framework, with a backlog for the future, to create such isometric action RPG games.
We reworked and optimized all existing systems that will be available at the start of Early Access and will improve along the way:
- Camera
- Character control
- Character locomotion
- Melee
- Aiming and shooting
- Covering
- Dealing damage
- AI of infected and humans
- Inventory
- Looting process
- Visual and environment
- Sound effects
The next stages of development of the Early Access version, according to the plan, will be the addition of:
- Survival system
- RPG system
- Random event generator
- Story and quests
The Story and quests are moved to the end of the queue, because I completely rewrote the entire script, made it deeper and more complicated. Added more characters, story and secondary quests. The massive system like this requires the efforts of my entire team, followed by thorough checks and tests.
I repeat, all of the above applies to the Early Access version limited to one location "The Raskolovo village". And the scenario in this version will be a small part of the overall story. The entire story and more locations will be available in the final release version of the game.