The Road Ahead
Aloha Thrivers!
This month’s update took us a bit longer - but for a good reason! We’re finally ready to share some exciting news with everyone and show off some of the things we have been working on since the beginning of the year.
NEW & Improved Unreal Engine 5.1 Here We Come!
You might be asking yourself, what is Unreal Engine 5? And why are we switching to UE 5.1 now? What does it mean for gameplay and my experience?
You’ve got questions - and we’ve got answers!
Why upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.1
Maui is a tropical paradise even after the apocalypse. Upgrading to UE 5.1 allows us to better capture that natural beauty and do the island’s landscape justice by heightening the immersive experience with foliage that is out of this world.
When Epic released 5.1, we all agreed it would be worth upgrading to give everyone the best player experience possible and also to compete with new games coming out this year. Fractured Veil is currently using version 4.27 - so it's a BIG shift to catch up.
UE 5.1 also comes with a great set of tools and features that allows us to improve the visual quality of the game, dramatically upgrade global lighting, and best of all, significantly increase performance quickly and efficiently.
Take a look at some of these before and after shots, but keep in mind: everything you are about to see is a WORK IN PROGRESS and does not represent the quality of the final release.
Click to Zoom - Unreal Engine 4.27 above. Unreal Engine 5.1 below.
CLICK HERE for a BEFORE/AFTER slider.
Let us know what you think about the differences in our Discord Server and Discuss on which one you think is the biggest difference!
Click to Zoom - Unreal Engine 4.27 above. Unreal Engine 5.1 below.
CLICK HERE for a BEFORE/AFTER slider.
Any game in the survival genre needs to have an epic day/night cycle.
Click the image above for BEFORE/AFTER
With UE 5.1 they never looked better!
Click the image above for BEFORE/AFTER
Players spawning into the Thorcon might not even recognize our bustling hub of activity and trade thanks to adding Lumen to the world. According to Unreal, “Lumen brings robust dynamic global illumination,” which is reflected in the floors and all of the surfaces of the Thorcon.
Click the image above for BEFORE/AFTER
Expect more deep-dives about Unreal Engine 5.1 and Fractured Veil in the future. This is just a quick (and very early) taste of what is coming. In the coming days, we will be collecting your questions and trying to answer as many as we can in upcoming posts from us.
Fractured Veil 2023 Roadmap
Click the image to Zoom.
We’ve always tried to be transparent in regard to Fractured Veil’s development and are excited to share our 2023 road map! This is just an overview of where we plan on going with more roadmap news coming soon. Some roadmap items:
Before the Early Access Launch
- Upgrade the game to UE5.1 (Lumen, Nanite, World Partition)
- Have at least 3 Steam Playtests
- Implement new features after each playtest
During the First Early Access Phase
- Fully functional Drone live streaming 24/7
- NPC Settlements
- Fishing!
- New Armour, Food, Weapons
- New Quests and Trading
- More Loot and New Enemies
- Lots of QoL and Performance updates
In the Months After the First Early Access Release:
- Society Growth
- New Biomes
- Clothing, AI Camps, new NPCs
- Crafting quality, Resting System, Killing Shards
- Some secrets and more 👀
New Early Access Release Window
With the team focused on bringing tons of improvements to the game, we have made the decision to push back early access until the end of summer 2023. This will give us the time we need to fully integrate Unreal Engine 5.1, as well as work on more gameplay features (hint hint: mahi-mahi for dinner anyone?) to make a more enjoyable and complete player experience.
When we look at the Early Access games market today, especially when it comes to Survival Games, recent releases have set the quality bar much higher than what it used to be when we started this project 7 years ago.
As indie developers, we know we only get one chance to nail this once the floodgates open. Our goal is and always has been to release the best game we can to the public. Pushing back the early access date will mean our community will get to play a much more complete and enjoyable game.
Upcoming Public Steam Playtests!
We are working on hosting a number of “Public” Steam Playtests and hope to start signups in early May with the first test later that month. Each playtest will bring a significant amount of changes and new features. Not only will you get your hands on Fractured Veil but, if you join all of them, you’ll get to see those updates as they are added to the game.
Our current plan is to have at least 3 of them before we release the game in Early Access. This will be a great opportunity to have hands-on experience with the game and see the development progress with each playtest. It’s also the perfect time to give us feedback and suggestions on things you think can be improved. Your input helps us prioritize and shape the game, so keep it coming!
We have a few kinks to work out but keep your eyes open for playtest news and an official schedule coming soon!
Pledge for a copy of FRV and Play Now
Last, but not least, we are happy to announce an extension of our Kickstarter campaign which will let folks who missed their chance pledge their support. Here you will be able to pledge the same way we did for our Kickstarter. By doing so, you’ll be able to join the fun and play the game with the rest of our Backers.
Click Here to pledge for a copy of Fractured Veil.
This is something that many of you have been requesting for us for a while and we are super happy to allow more people to help us with testing and sharing their feedback.
See you in Maui, Thrivers!