Hej Víkingar!
We can't thank you all enough for the feedback you have given us over the last week on our demo. We have heard and understood your concerns and have now published an update that should address many of the issues you have been experiencing.
Performance Update
This patch has covered the following:
- Landscape Our newly scaled landscape was introduced in Patch 0.2.8, which seemed to be causing some performance issues. We have done a huge optimisation pass on the textured which should reduce this impact and resolve the issues.
- Metahumans We discovered that our new Metahuman models were attempting to render textures at a very high level, which was causing large performance hitches. We have now significantly scaled-down these details, which reduces the impact of loading in these character models.
- Nanite We have been made aware of some issues surrounding Nanite loading, which was causing a significant bottleneck for many systems. As there is currently no available fix for this in our current engine version, we have decided to disable Nanite by default until we can address the issues.
In our testing, these changes have achieved an additional 30FPS across most systems and specs.
We will continue to gather feedback on performance and promote improvements as often as possible to ensure players have the best possible in-game experience.
Demo Availability
We have made the decision to keep our demo live for the foreseeable Early Access period. The demo will be updated with the most stable version of the base game and will include performance, optimisation, and quality-of-life updates as they become available. While the playable area in the demo will not expand, this will allow players to track our progress through development and personally experience the game for free before deciding to buy.
We want to ensure that every player is fully informed throughout all stages of our development and can share their feedback and experiences. We are committed to transparency and want to ensure that all players are happy with the game in its currently available state before making the decision to purchase.
We understand the challenges of entering public access at such an early stage in development. However, as a small, self-publishing team of only five, community feedback is vital to helping us make the game the best it can possibly be. We will continue to post regular updates documenting our progress, and we want everyone to have access to this journey without financial commitment.
Early Access Pricing
We have now published our pricing for Early Access, which will be set to £20.99 GBP ($24.99 USD). However, we will launch with a 20% discount as a thank you for all the feedback and understanding you have shown us over the demo period. As we continue to develop the game, this price will be subject to change to reflect its quality and the expansion of the content available.
We would like to thank you all once again for your support over the last three years. We hope to see you all on the Isle soon and can't wait to continue this development journey into Early Access with you!
Stay tuned for more updates and patch notes soon!
Skål,
The Aurora Team 🌙