A Note Before We Begin
We want to thank all players who have followed, supported, and tested beyond.frontiers over the past months.
After a period of stepping back and restructuring internally, we're launching a new series of patches that lay the foundation for Version 0.7.0. Many systems have been reworked or rebuilt entirely to improve long-term stability, performance, and scalability.
The first transitional patch is now live. For now, only the "Garden" system is available as we test and stabilize the new core. More content and systems will follow shortly - with new team members aboard, our update pace is set to increase significantly.
Important Notes on This Phase:
Old saves are no longer compatible. Due to major internal changes, a full reset is necessary.
Progress is currently not persistent. While we’re migrating core systems like saving, inventory, and sector states, save data will not be stored.
Stability is the top priority. The frequent crashes and technical issues from the 0.5.x patch series, especially after the chat server went down should now be resolved.
We welcome your feedback on this new foundation on the game's Discord Server. It will help shape beyond.frontiers into the game it deserves to become. More patches are already in the works.
We know the wait for this update has been long, and we won’t sugarcoat the delay. Development was invisible while we reassessed the entire structure of the game - both technically and design-wise. What emerged is a glimpse of UNDAUNTED; a rebuild that took into account nearly all player feedback and bug reports, over half a year of work. Instead of patching over problems, we’ve restructured beyond.frontiers from the ground up, aiming for long-term maintainability and clarity of vision.
We're also thrilled to officially welcome four new crew members aboard the beyond.frontiers development train: Chael and Sana, our talented story writers, who will help bring deeper narrative arcs and lore to life; Rosy, joining us as our new UI/UX artist, working to reshape the interface into something both beautiful and functional; and ManedWolf, stepping in as our Audio and Music Coordinator, crafting the soundscapes and musical identity of the universe. With their combined strengths, we're better equipped than ever to push beyond.frontiers into its next era.
New Features - Core Systems
Character Creation Reimagined
The first time you start a new game in UNDAUNTED, you'll notice that character creation is no longer a placeholder. It’s been fully redesigned into a streamlined but meaningful introduction to your journey.
New options include:
Body Type Selection Choose from multiple body types to visually represent your commander. (This currently has no gameplay impact but will affect future portrait rendering and profile systems.)
Commander Name Choose your callsign and identity. Used for in-game comms, save slots, and future log-based features.
Preferred Pronouns Set how you are referred to across all NPC interactions and interfaces.
Faction Selection (6 Total) Choose one of six unique factions, each with its own starting location, narrative context, and reputation implications:
Three factions are available from the start
Three additional factions are unlockable through gameplay milestones and discoveries
Starter Ship Selection (3 Options)
Begin your journey with one of three starter-class ships:Starlite - The classic all-rounder and default option
Syf - A compact mining vessel, optimized for early resource gathering and durability
Arcos - A light freighter focused on trade, storage capacity, and efficiency in bulk hauling
Each choice defines your early-game location, available tasks, and your position within the evolving economy and faction landscape.
New Features - Universe & Navigation
20× Larger Sectors
The playable universe has undergone a complete transformation. Sector dimensions have been increased by a factor of twenty, creating a sense of scale and distance that more accurately reflects the tone and intended pacing of beyond.frontiers.
Distances now matter: sectors are no longer compact zones but vast regions with traversal requirements.
Stations, asteroid fields, and anomalies are placed with more purpose and separation, encouraging navigation planning.
Sensor ranges, signal degradation, and visibility are recalibrated to fit the new spatial scale.
This change lays the foundation for more meaningful exploration, long-distance missions, and isolated deep-space encounters in future updates.
Hyperlane Travel System
To support the expanded scale and enable efficient long-range travel, a new Hyperlane Network has been introduced. These are high-speed transit corridors linking key locations across a sector.
Hyperlanes allow significantly faster movement between major stations, gates, and landmarks.
Ships remain vulnerable while traveling; hyperlane ambushes and piracy are possible in contested regions.
Manual travel outside of hyperlanes remains viable, but comes at the cost of time.
This system addresses the practical needs of scale and player agency.
Revised Ship Scaling & Presence
All ships in the game - player and NPC - have been rescaled to better reflect their physical mass and in-universe purpose. This brings visual clarity and physical weight to every encounter.
Fighter-class ships remain small and agile, with realistic proportions in relation to stations and capital ships.
Freighters and industrial vessels now occupy more screen space and require more deliberate piloting.
Capital ships and station-class constructs are now massive in scope and harder to ignore.
Stations have been massively resized to also reflect this rescaling making them look like huge behemoths housing millions of people
Collision, docking alignment, and visual parallax have all been adjusted to accommodate the new scaling system.
Combined with the larger sectors and hyperlane infrastructure, this brings the game world closer to its intended visual and navigational identity.
New Features - Planetary Content (Foundational Implementation)
Landfall: Surface-Level Planetary Exploration
As part of the long-term expansion of the game world, UNDAUNTED introduces the first stage of planetary surface content. Many planets across the galaxy can now be visited, landed on, and traversed to varying degrees.
This system is still in early development but forms the platform for a much broader set of features in future updates.
Key Features Now Implemented:
Multiple landable planets per sector, each with their own surface maps and unique terrain profiles
Surface environments vary in detail, representing deserts, grassy surfaces or other places,
Landfall sites are currently limited to predefined locations, but more dynamic systems are in development
What This Enables Going Forward:
Faction-controlled planetary settlements Planned for future updates: facilities, garrisons, and economic hubs tied to territory control
Exploration mechanics Environmental hazards, hidden resources, crash sites, and deep-surface anomalies
Player-founded cities and colonies A long-term goal: players establishing cities that generate resources, station influence, or tax income over time
Planetary content is not yet a core gameplay loop - but with UNDAUNTED, it now exists in-engine and can grow alongside player progression and factional conflict.
New Features - Interface & User Experience
Fully Modular UI System
The user interface has been entirely rewritten from the ground up. What was once static and rigid is now dynamic, scalable, and responsive. The new system introduces modular, movable windows that adapt to your screen, your control method, and your workflow.
Key Features:
All major UI panels (inventory, map, status, missions, ship info, trade, etc.) can now be moved and repositioned freely
Drag-and-drop interaction supported across all inventory and ship management elements
Clean visual style with improved font rendering, spacing, and icon clarity
Layered UI logic prevents windows from overlapping critical ship information in-flight
This marks a major usability improvement - especially for players who want to personalize their command interface or run the game in unconventional resolutions or aspect ratios.
Translation-Ready Interface
In addition to structural changes, the entire UI is now connected to a runtime translation layer.
All visible interface text can now be localized without rebuilding the game
Language selection is available directly from the in-game options menu
Future community-supported language packs are possible through dragging and dropping new translations into the Lang Folder
Internal fallback and debug modes included for development and testing
This is the final foundational system needed to make beyond.frontiers accessible to a broader audience - and a core step toward long-term support.
New Features - World Generation & Custom Editing
Rewritten World Generation System
UNDAUNTED introduces a completely rebuilt WorldGen system, designed for greater performance, modularity, and stability across all configurations.
Key Improvements:
Distance-aware sector loading The engine now generates and loads only the content nearest to the player’s current location. This drastically reduces memory usage and avoids unnecessary background processing.
Black Screen Bug Resolved Reports of long loading times or permanent black screens during sector initialization have been addressed by this system. Initialization is now tied to proximity, not full-sector state.
Optimized for Scale Despite already being lightweight by modern standards, the new system further reduces CPU and memory impact, particularly when navigating between sparsely populated or empty systems.
This foundation ensures the galaxy can continue to grow without burdening player machines, and prepares the engine for future features such as dynamic encounters, procedural anomalies, and scripted location spawning.
All-New Level Editor
A powerful sector editing tool is now included in the game, giving players direct control over their own universe.
Editor Capabilities:
Modify existing sectors to fit your preferred gameplay style
Add, reposition, or remove stations, planets, gates, and trade points
Fine-tune distances, scale, lighting conditions, and object relationships
Save and reload your own modified sector layouts with minimal effort
Designed to match the same internal structure used by the game’s core worldbuilder
This tool allows players to shape the game’s universe in a way that suits their strategies - whether that means creating a densely populated trade zone, a remote pirate haven, or a clean-slate exploration sector.
The editor does not require external software and runs inside the engine, using the same assets and logic as the live game.
New Features - Resources & Asteroid Economy
High-Definition Asteroids
Asteroid visuals have been overhauled with new high-resolution models, significantly improving environmental detail across all asteroid belts and mining zones.
Updated mesh detail and lighting interaction
Improved collision geometry for smoother navigation
Asteroid fields now appear more physically varied and visually dense, even at long distances
In addition, six new asteroid objects have been introduced - empty rock types without resource nodes - to bring natural variation and more believable belt composition. This helps differentiate between rich and barren fields during both visual scanning and sensor analysis.
New Resource Materials
UNDAUNTED introduces a completely new set of mineable materials, each with distinct properties, rarity, and value. These resources replace the previous generic ore types and are now tied directly into the economic and crafting systems.
New Materials:
Ferriscarlet - A dense, iron-heavy core material used in industrial ship frames
Noctium - A volatile black mineral found in deeper belts; key to energy shielding components
Aurivite - Gold-alloyed trace mineral, high in trade value and used in sensor fabrication
Paleon - A fibrous, pale lattice mineral found on the edge of dead systems; vital for high-end electronics
Crythene - Crystalized methane-infused ice, used in ship fuel systems and advanced coolant technologies
Each material features a unique visual appearance, making it easier to identify in the field without relying solely on scanners. They replace the old Minerals.
Rescaled Mining Economy
Alongside the new materials, the entire mining and trading economy will be recalibrated:
Ore yields now vary by asteroid type and extraction efficiency
Material values have been rebalanced to reflect rarity, utility, and trade demand
Industrial missions and trade routes will be updated to include the new resources
Future updates will expand crafting and production systems based on this new resource tier
This rescale provides a more meaningful progression path for miners, traders, and industrial players - making material choice and extraction location part of long-term strategy.
New Features - Starter Ships
Two New Entry-Class Ships
The UNDAUNTED update introduces two all-new starter-class vessels alongside the classic Starlite. Each is designed to support a specific early-game playstyle and provide more meaningful choices at the beginning of a new session.
Arcos - Entry-Level Trade Ship
Originally designed as a compact bomber hull, the Arcos has been refitted into a streamlined, fast courier and trading ship - perfect for players interested in economic gameplay over direct combat.
Key Characteristics:
High cargo capacity relative to its small frame
Superior engine efficiency and acceleration, ideal for fast docking and escape routes
Reduced weapon systems, reflecting its retrofit away from combat toward commerce
Built for players who prefer trade, hauling, and logistics over direct engagement
Its agility and speed make it a strong early choice for missions that require fast delivery or high-risk navigation through disputed sectors; but its limited firepower demands caution.
Syf - Entry-Level Mining Vessel
The Syf is a uniquely shaped, disc-profile mining vessel equipped with specialized hardpoints for resource extraction. Its visual silhouette sets it apart from any other starter ship, and its systems are optimized for early industrial gameplay.
Key Characteristics:
Reinforced hull and shielding, built to survive long sessions in asteroid fields
Compact form factor allows for nimble maneuvering in dense terrain
The Syf is ideal for players looking to build their economic foundation through mining and resource transport, while remaining self-sufficient early on.
With these two additions, beyond.frontiers now offers three distinct paths from the start - Combat (Starlite), Industry (Syf), and Trade (Arcos) - each with its own strategy, challenges, and eventual upgrades.
New Features - Combat, AI & Player Systems
Reputation System Overhaul
The old vague standing system has been replaced with a fully numeric, transparent 0-1000 reputation scale. Every faction now tracks your status with precise values that dynamically shift based on your actions, affiliations, and mission performance.
Reputation Levels (Ascending):
0–149: Hated
150–299: Disliked
300–449: Tolerated
450–549: Neutral
550–699: Liked
700–899: Favoured
900–1000: Ally
Reputation now affects
Access to restricted sectors
Trade route pricing and taxation
Station docking permissions
Mission availability and risk scaling
AI response time during conflict or emergencies
This provides a clearer, more readable progression path for players seeking to align with (or betray) factions across the galaxy.
TOASt AI Upgrade Tactical Output & Adaptive Simulation Technology
The TOASt AI system has been refined to provide more reactive and varied NPC behavior in combat and patrol routines.
Improvements Include:
Smarter positional awareness in asteroid fields and around structures
Prioritized targeting logic (based on threat, hull class, and distance)
Aggression modulation based on player standing and faction rulesets
Better formation handling and mid-combat decision-making
Expect patrols, pirates, and convoys to respond more dynamically, and sometimes unpredictably based on local sector conditions.
Expanded Weapon Systems
UNDAUNTED brings a much-needed expansion to the weapon ecosystem, adding variety and tactical decision-making.
Weapon Types Introduced:
Beam Weapons High damage, pinpoint accuracy, and long range. Best used in controlled bursts. - Strength: Devastating impact on single targets - Tradeoff: Long cooldown and high energy draw
Projectile Weapons Fast-firing, fast-traveling kinetic weapons. Ideal for high-speed dogfights. - Strength: Rapid output and easier tracking - Tradeoff: Lower individual shot damage and limited effectiveness on large hulls
Mining Lasers (Universal) Previously limited to mining ships, mining lasers can now be equipped on any ship via standard weapon slots. - All ships can now participate in mining - However, only dedicated mining vessels (like the Syf) receive yield bonuses and material difficulty reduction
Everything listed above represents only the most visible layer of what UNDAUNTED brings to beyond.frontiers. Below the surface, you'll find a wealth of other improvements and additions:
New space background sets, enhancing visual depth and regional identity
Early implementation of physical collision simulations for improved realism during docking, combat, and object interactions
The introduction of 3D planets in the visual layer, replacing flat background textures with rotating planetary bodies
Dozens of backend optimizations and structural changes designed to reduce load times, improve stability, and future-proof the engine
We want to be clear: not everything on our wishlist has made it into the initial 0.7.0 release. Some features have been deferred to ensure overall stability, and others are waiting on technical dependencies that were only just completed.
However, if this update proves as stable in the wild as it has in testing, we expect to accelerate development significantly from here onward.
Changes & Improvements
Asteroid System Reworked
The outdated static asteroid fields have been fully removed. In their place, UNDAUNTED introduces a dynamic asteroid spawning system:
Asteroid belts and scrap fields now generate decorative debris dynamically, based on player position and visibility
Reduces visual clutter and improves performance across large sectors
Ensures that belts feel more alive, varied, and worth revisiting
Resource-rich asteroids remain persistent, while background elements adapt in real time
This makes navigating belts and scrap zones feel like active environments instead of passive scenery.
Station Access Now Tied to Reputation
Docking access is no longer universal. Stations may now deny docking clearance if your reputation with their controlling faction is too low.
Access thresholds vary by faction and security level
Reputation growth is now essential for trade, mission access, and navigation rights
Energy-Linked Equipment Limits
To curb over-stacking of high-end modules, UNDAUNTED will introduce energy limits on all ships:
Every piece of active equipment now draws from your ship’s energy pool
Overloading your ship will result in disabled systems, reduced weapon uptime, or even forced shutdowns
Encourages smarter loadouts and role-focused ship design over brute stacking
This change adds tactical depth and better balances early vs. late-game progression.
Faction Logos Fully Remade
All faction insignia have been redesigned to reflect their current lore, color language, and aesthetic identity.
High-resolution logos are now used across UI panels, communications, and system maps
Ship Hangar Limit Increased
Players can own and store up to 40 ships in their personal hangar.
Additional categories and visual markers will be added in upcoming patches
Sector Reclassification: Luna, Kurai, Scire
These three core systems have been reclassified as backwater safety sectors:
Designed for new players, neutral encounters, and non-hostile mission testing
Reduced patrol aggression, no large hostile spawns, and slower economic fluctuation
Reputation loss and gain occur more slowly in these sectors to allow experimentation without major penalty
Global Ship Rebalancing
Numerous ships have been rebalanced in terms of:
Weapon hardpoints
Maneuverability and mass
Energy output and consumption
Cargo and upgrade slots
Changes aim to reinforce ship roles, eliminate exploit loadouts, and increase variety in early-game choices.
Bug Fixes
We’ll be honest - the number of bugs fixed in UNDAUNTED is difficult to quantify.
Between the complete rewrites of world generation, UI systems, AI behavior, and core game logic, many older issues simply no longer exist in the same form. Some bugs were rendered obsolete by design changes, others were discovered deep within legacy systems and quietly removed during cleanup.
What we can say is this:
The black screen bug during sector load has been resolved through the new distance-aware WorldGen
AI patrol logic bugs, such as circling indefinitely or failing to respond to player attacks, have been rewritten entirely under the TOASt system
Inventory stack corruption and disappearing equipment edge-cases have been addressed
Asteroid belt LOD and collision issues are resolved under the dynamic spawning system
Docking bugs, such as softlocks or animation freezes, should no longer occur
UI scaling and text clipping errors are gone due to the modular windowing rewrite
Ghost ships, phantom pings, and persistent mission markers have all been systematically hunted down
We’ve also fixed dozens of smaller, unlisted bugs reported by community testers - and we’re incredibly grateful for every report that led us to a fix.
Please note that this version still contains a number of known issues. The migration to NUI3, our new in-house UI plugin, is still in progress; some menus may look inconsistent, and several elements are still relying on legacy code. You’ll also encounter placeholder graphics, especially in early game screens, and incomplete translations across various languages. These are actively being addressed in the upcoming patch cycle, but we wanted to bring the updated foundation into your hands early to begin gathering feedback and further stabilize the systems under live conditions.
Closing Words – A Milestone Reached
When UNDAUNTED fully releases, it will mark the culmination of over a year of dedicated, often exhausting work.
This update was a complete structural rebuild of beyond.frontiers across almost every layer. From how the game starts, to how sectors are loaded, to how windows move, to how reputations shift and ships fire; everything was re-examined, rewritten, or replaced.
We paused updates not because the project was on hold, but because we knew that quick patches weren’t enough. To carry beyond.frontiers forward, we had to make it sustainable, scalable, and stable. That meant solving long-standing problems instead of working around them.
We’re now confident that the version we’re releasing is worthy of a paper relaunch and we genuinely hope that it works out of the box, performs well, and sets the standard for what comes next.
beyond.frontiers at POLARIS 2025
We’re also proud to announce that beyond.frontiers has been officially invited to exhibit at the Indie Arena Booth at POLARIS 2025 in Hamburg. This will be our first public convention appearance, and the first time the UNDAUNTED build is shown live to a broader audience.
If you're attending, you’ll be able to:
Play the current full version of beyond.frontiers
Meet some of the development team in person
Receive goodies both for Ingame and Real World
And - while supplies last - claim a boxed physical edition including:
A limited boxed copy of the game.
A limited "Polaris Star" skin DLC for the Starlite, Arcos and Syf ships
Exclusively available for free at Polaris
To claim a boxed edition, just bring your Discord username and the codeword (to be revealed in the weeks before the event).
Thank you for sticking with us. Whether you’ve been following since the earliest builds or you’re discovering beyond.frontiers for the first time, we’re excited to share what’s next.
More to come.
- The Duality Beyond Studios Team