Hi everyone,
First, I just wanted to say that I hope that everyone enjoys the mistery update. While it wasn't a very big update, it sure added a whole lot of cool features that I hope everyone appreciates (won't tell what those features are you guys have to dive in the game and experience them yourselves ;)).
I also wanted to talk a bit about the future of the game. This will propbably be the last update for a while, and it might be a long while, although it's not sure how the whole situation will evolve. This is because I am starting college again and won't have time to work on it for the next months. The earliest possible update will thus most probably be in april (although there might be some very small bug fix updates along the way), and even that is not guaranteed as development of each update (believe it or not :)) takes a very long time, and I also have to look after myself and live a balanced life, which I hope everyone will understand. This doesn't mean updates will stop, no not at all, but it just means they will be much rarer, but I guess (and hope XD) people might be more excited about them. But don't worry, once I get back to work seriously the next updates will be greater then ever ! This being said, in the meanwhile, try explorig the world of INFLUXIS as much as you can, squeeze as much of the content I put in and advance (and don't forget to share your progress I love seeing how people progress in the game ;) ).
For the next updates, I will consider implementing features (in no particular order) such as:
- Submarine and boat creation and use
- Crafting Overhaul: tons of new ressources, items and maybe blueprints implementation
- Character Overhaul: new model and smoother and better character animations
- Shallow Reef biome complete transformation (as I am not satisfied with how it currently looks)
- Missions and data box expansion
- Alien Structures complete overhaul and addition
- New creatures and fish (some quite large) addition
- Lighting problems fixes
- many bug fixes
- further work on optimization
- Fish and Creatures Overhaul - many current ennemies will have new models
- New biome: Blood forest (deep)
- New biome: Arctic shallows (shallow)
- New biome: Blue Crevasse (deep)
- Story and lore development
- and other cool new features
And please if you have any other suggestions, feel free to put them in the comments, and chances are it will be implemented at some point if it fits the game :).
I plan to implement all of these changes by the end of 2021. I also wanted to talk in this announcement about the total development time of INFLUXIS. In case people didn't notice yet, this is a huge game to develop (especially by a single person working in his free time on it) which I absolutely enjoy working on, but still, it takes a very long time to build. This is why, I cannot say for sure when the 1.0 version will be released. I can say however, that it will be a couple of years (if everything goes right). Also, I plan to divide the development in several phases. First is the Alpha phase of development, in which we are currently. In Alpha, I will be focusing on adding all the basic mechanics of the game, add a fair share of biomes, develop the story partly, and make the game playable, and maybe enjoyable :). The mistery update for example is version Alpha 0.60, meaning I consider the Alpha phase 60% complete in terms of content. I am planning on finishing the Alpha phase towards the end of 2021. Then will come Beta phase which will probably take a year as well if not more. During Beta I will try adding most of the biomes, most of the creatures and pretty much making most of the world. Many other features will be added and I will focus on making the game enjoyable. Finally, with the Beta ending, there will be final versions of the game, again, many updates, leading to the final release. After, the final release I am planning on continuing to support the game by adding new updates a couple of times a year.
I also wanted to say that making the game Early Access was the best thing I could do, as you guys motivate me to keep working on it, so if you like this game and have some spare time, don't foget to share it with your friends, on Steam, Youtube and Reddit, it really does help me alot :).
See you soon,
Petru, BaleYc Studios