Hey there POSTAL fans!
It’s been a while since we updated you with what's going on behind the scenes! Going forward we will endeavour to offer more developer updates than we have been to date, offering more bite sized bits of information on specific topics, rather than this massive dump of information you’re getting now.
It’s been just over a year since we first hit Early Access, and it’s been a whirlwind year for us, as well as being a rather humbling experience. When the first Janky build went up, we were aware it was an unoptimized, stuttering, barebones mess - but we knew we needed extra funding to expand the team and make P4 the most ambitious project we’ve worked on to date. We approached publishers, many of which were interested yet wanted us to change our vision for the project. We considered a Kickstarter, but ultimately decided we didn’t want to sell you a paper pitch, and that working with the community to create POSTAL 4 was the way forward via Early Access. Despite the game at the time being very undercooked and pretty content bare, our gamble paid off - you all embraced it and have been ridiculously supportive. You believed in us, and we vowed not to let you down.
POSTAL 4 has continued to sell well while in Early Access, and true to our word, we have invested the money right back into the game and our team. This time last year, we had 8 full time developers. We now have 35 with further 3 part timers, most of which are long term avid POSTAL fans working to make the game the best it can be.
In the time we’ve been in Early Access, we’ve improved the visuals, performance, and added far more interesting gameplay mechanics. There is still much to do in all of these areas, and we’re gaining a lot of momentum to be able to do so at a quicker pace.
The Tuesday update brought far better cinematics, better errand/gameplay mechanics as well as more of the outrageous humour that people expect from a POSTAL game. The upshot of this is Monday now seems outright terrible in comparison - but fear not! We’re overhauling Monday to be a far better experience, and our next major update will include gameplay improvements to the sewer level. Further down the road, the Prison level will also see significant improvements. All Monday’s cinematics will be reworked to be of the standard set by the ones seen in Tuesday.
Speaking of the next major update - we’re tackling some of the issues that are hindering the enjoyment of the game. First and foremost - The Mobility Scooter. In its current iteration, it’s horrible to drive to the point most people won’t bother with it. It won’t go over curbs, it handles badly on terrain, and will often flip over for no good reason. All these issues are now addressed at our end. Here's a short showcase of the improved scooter:
Even stairs are not a problem for this badboy!
Also coming in the next big update: The quad barrel shotgun aka The Fournicator!
And have you ever wondered what Krotchy’s female counterpart would look like… you won’t have to wonder for too much longer ;)
And finally, some information about longer term development to address some common concerns. Many people feel the map is too big. This is for two reasons - It’s hard to get around due to the aforementioned crappy scooter, and there is little reason to explore. Do not worry loyal POSTAL fans, we fully intend to make sure most if not all of the buildings are opened up and explorable, and also to make sure there is a good reason to do so. We understand that’s what made POSTAL 2 special in its day, and it’s something we want to make sure carries over to P4.
The NPC’s we are currently using were thrown together quickly in order to get the prototype ready for Early Access, we've added plenty of clothing textures and new face variations throughout Early Access development, but they are just not good enough. For that reason, we have begun the process of rebuilding them from the ground up! They will look better, be more performant, and also use a better dismemberment system with improved gore. We are also turning our focus to really improving the AI and how NPC’s react with the world and the player. More on that in another developer update post!
We understand it’s frustrating we’re not sharing our internal milestone list for when things will be ready. As you are all probably very aware, release dates and deadlines in the games industry often change to the point they are borderline meaningless. We also operate a strict no crunch culture at RWS, and having public milestones would put more pressure on our team to work longer to try and reach them (no one wants to let you guys down!). We will say for now the game is due to hit 1.0 sometime in 2021, and you guys can expect an extended period of free updates after that.
And yes, we will fix the blocky puke and ultrawide support issue ;)
As always, thank you for the continued support!
Running With Scissors Team