Hey everyone,
It's been a little while since the last development update, so I wanted to share how things are progressing with the next major update for Fargone. I also am planning on doing monthly newsletters going forward to keep you all up to date with what is happening with the game.
Development has been moving along really well, and I'm now at the stage where most of the major systems are in place. There's still plenty of polishing, balancing and bug fixing ahead, but the update is well into development now and isn't too far from being ready.
This update has grown into one of the biggest I've worked on for Fargone so far. Alongside a complete overhaul of the human AI, you'll also find the return of Arena Mode, new missions that better connect existing storylines, and early work towards built-in mod support to name just a few. There is plenty more coming that I will reveal closer to the release.
Human AI Overhaul
The biggest focus of this update has been completely rebuilding the human AI.
Rather than simply making enemies more difficult, the goal has been to make them feel much more believable. Every encounter should feel less scripted and more dynamic, with NPCs constantly evaluating what's happening around them before deciding what to do next.
Combat has been redesigned from the ground up. Humans now make far smarter tactical decisions, make better use of cover, peek corners more naturally, throw grenades, revive downed allies and even finish off enemies when the opportunity presents itself. They'll also behave differently depending on their skill level, meaning experienced fighters will feel noticeably different from poorly trained survivors.
Outside of combat, they're far more capable as well. NPCs now maintain persistent inventories, search battlefields after fights, loot weapons they believe are upgrades, gather supplies based on what they actually need, and generally survive much more like a real player would.
Fellow human survivors also now maintain their own 'light' survival needs, this has to be carefully balanced as to prevent AI dropping dead randomly! But under the hood they now track how much food they have eaten, water drank and at what times they did to determine if they need to loot more supplies while out. They will also patch themselves up when resting at a campfire if they have been injured at all during their travels.
Under the hood, this has required rebuilding pretty much the entire AI architecture however the effects it has on the game world will be immediately noticeable and I can't wait to share more on this very soon.
Arena Returns
Arena Mode is making its return with a complete overhaul and now features a reworked location, new game modes, progression and an arena specific currency for unique rewards.
Several new modes have been added, including Zone Survival, Free Survival and Duel, each offering their own style of gameplay. Progression has also been introduced, allowing you to work through multiple tiers while unlocking additional rewards along the way.
The goal is to create a mode that's fun to jump into whether you're looking to practice combat, challenge yourself or simply enjoy shorter gameplay sessions outside of the main survival experience.
Better Connected Story Missions
I've also spent time improving how missions connect together throughout the game and also introduced a brand new system called storylines.
Storylines are Fargones answer to a main story, it's difficult keeping a balance between being a typical survival sandbox game and something more curated and with storylines I think that balance has been found. Storylines will allow players to jump into a more structured set of missions with a proper story to them as opposed to just random missions but without ever forcing you to engage with them, so, if you prefer to just scavenge and survive without engaging with these you can.
The survivors update will add some new missions to build out some of these storylines but the main focus to start is organising all the existing content into these new coherent storylines.
The datapad UI has also been completely reworked to now support more information like filtering mission types, viewing the new storylines system and more.
This is only the beginning, but it forms another important step towards making the world feel more cohesive as more story content continues to be added over time.
Early Modding Support
One feature I've quietly been working on is the first version of modding support.
The long term goal is to make creating, sharing and playing mods as straightforward as possible through a dedicated launcher with built-in mod management alongside an SDK for creators.
This work is progressing well, although I'm not ready to confirm exactly when it will become available. Depending on how development progresses over the coming weeks, some or all of this may arrive alongside the next update, or shortly afterwards.
Either way, it's an important milestone for Fargone's future, and I'll be sharing much more about it as everything comes together.
Looking Ahead
There's still plenty of polishing left before the update is ready, but the finish line is finally starting to come into view.
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing more previews covering some of the new systems in greater detail, along with a clearer idea of when you can expect the update to release.
As always, thank you all for the continued support, feedback and patience throughout development. Seeing Fargone continue to grow with the community has been incredibly rewarding, and I'm looking forward to finally getting this update into your hands.
-Jordan