Well it has been quite a while – one and half a year to be more exact. However, another long hiatus has ended, with me releasing the third devlog.

A devlog, that aside from showing new features added since the last one, now also has something unique. This time, it will also tackle the matter of release date of the update.

In short: There will be an update before Easter

Having said that, there is one catch that will affect the quality of the update, but I’ll need more that two sentences to explain the whole situation. I will refer to it at the end, but for now, it’s time for Devlog’s content:

1. New menu

The main menu has been reworked from scratch. At first, it might look similar to the old one, until we compare the two with all the possible options one can change using them.

1.1 This does not apply only to the “Options” part of the menu, however, that part does show the idea of the new menu system perfectly.

For example, this is the old options menu:

Pretty normal stuff. Now here’s the new options menu:

It may seem pretty bare, until you realize that these options, are actually option tabs, which contain other options:

There are 38 options for now, but we may add more, should we deem something necessary. The currently available options are:

• Language
• Mouse sensitivity
• Mouse smoothness
• Inverted Y Axis
• Inverted X Axis
• Camera bobbing
• Camera shifting
• Master volume
• Sounds volume
• Music volume
• Earpircing effect
• Field of view
• Laser Color
• Holosight image
• Graphics quality
• Foliage quality
• Particle quality
• Lighting quality
• Skybox type
• Ragdolls
• Hud color
• Main resolution
• Hud resolution
• All of the 14 keybindings

1.2 Other tabs of the main menu, now also have more options to temper with. A prime example, is the new savefile system!

The old system, allows for only 3 game files, the menu only shows high scores for specific mode and difficulty levels, and game creation only allowed you to change:

• Game mode
• Difficulty level
• Map – if playing on horde mode

The new file system, allows you to create as many save files as you want:

Choosing to star a new game, will allow you to set a wider range of options, regarding the game, like:

• Savefile name
• Profile dependency
• Game mode
• Difficulty level
• Map – if playing on horde mode
• And more, for other game modes, if need be

Also, neither of the menus contain any news regarding high scores. That is because records, have been given their own window.

The game now stores all the scores, of every game, ever played, and can be sorted anyway you like:

Of course, after thousand of entries, the least relevant ones will be removed. But it will still contain a lot of entries from your profile.

1.3 Another cool thing about the new menu, is that it can be accessed, while you play the actual game!

Naturally, some options you won’t be able to change during the game (like erasing the file you’re currently playing), and you also might not be able to access all of your profile options.

Speaking of your profile…

2. Profiles

Profiles, are basically save files, but for everything other than the game files themselves. You can have up to 10 individual profiles, each one storing following variables:

• Levels
• Statistics
• Records
• Achievements
• Profile inventory
• Character style

2.1 Achievements have been added; for now, there’s 20 of them, but more may be added down the road. Acquiring achievements, might grant you some experience points, or even profile items.

2.2 Profiles will also have their own inventory system. It is not a bank for items collected while playing – it can contain unlimited amount of profile items.

Profile items, are stuff like starter kits, weapon skins, and clothing for your player.

2.3 The character that you’re playing, is now visually customizable. You can change their clothes, hats, skin color, hair color, as well as body type.

As of now, this system does not yet work fully as intended. I’m planning on reworking NPC models, so that they’ll contain bones – this will allow for skeletal animations, and the models will be made of one mesh for the whole body, and not 10 models for each body part.

Once the new model is developed, I’ll be sure to add as many clothing options as possible.

2.4 Aside from the main score, the game now will keep track of other stats, such as survived time, items collected, treasures sold, NPCs killed, trees cut, and many more:

Statistics gained in rounds, will be shown at the end of the round. The total stats gained in a certain run, will be shown in the game over screen.

The statistics tab in the profile menu however, will show all of the stat points ever collected for the currently selected profile, as well as some bonus ones (like the most survived rounds in a row).

3. Survivor’s Manual

The “How to play” tab has been replaced by a new and improved “Survivor’s Manual”. This manual… works exactly like it’s predecessor. The only difference, is that the amount of answered questions has been significantly increased. And it also looks nicer

4. Inventory rework

The inventory system has been slightly reworked. It ain’t much, but I’m sure these small tweaks will affect the game greatly.

The main addition, is now that most of the items can be stacked together. Picking up an item, while having an exact same item in the inventory, will simply put it in the same slot – the amount of stacked items will be shown next to the item's icon.

A thing that also can be noticed, is that item icons have been changed. They have been upscaled from 48x48 pixels, to 480x480 pixels, and instead of one angle for all items, each icon has been framed to appear more visually appealing:

Dropped items now have improved physics. Either when dropped or thrown, items can roll on ground, or even bounce off the ground.

5. New structures

5.1 I’ve began working on a new way to provide items, without just dropping them on the ground. The amount of dropped items, can be as high as 300 items per map, which isn’t good for game’s optimization.

The new plan is as follows: there will be “chests” dropped around the map, which you will be able to open, and get items from them!

As seen above, “chests” don’t necessarily need to be chest – they might adapt their form to their surroundings, and may appear as: furniture, toolboxes, piles of garbage, safes, and whatnot.

Some chests might take longer to open, some may be locked, some can be destroyed, and so on.

5.2 Aside from map elements, I’m also working on implementing items, with which you’ll be able to place constructions.

I’m not expecting to add much construction items as of now – just some walls, traps, and utility constructions (like campfires or tents)

6. World destruction

Even tho not that advanced as of now, a new destruction system is being steadily implemented into world elements. You can shoot, hit, or even detonate certain parts of the world, thus erasing them from the map!

6.1 In some cases, you can even get items from destroyed objects. Like wood from chopped down trees. Ah yes, new tree models have been added:

That’s about all of the most important additions and changes. And now, we’re gonna talk about something you’ve been waiting for – the release of the update.

Regarding the initial plans for the update, like I’ve mentioned at the beginning, there is one small catch…

UPDATE 2.0 IS CANCELED

There will be update 1.5 instead. 

There is a lot to unpack here, so hear me out:

1. There WILL be an update. It just won’t be the one I’ve had in mind after update 1.3.

The update will contain every feature of the 2.0 update, that has been implemented up to this point (check previous devlogs for these features).

2. Majority of the more ambitious features, like vehicles, custom modes, NPC pathfinding, total world generation revamp, will not be included in the update.

Some of these features, have been completely scrapped, and some…

3. After update 1.5 gets released, there might be more smaller updates afterwards (though definitely no mega patches like the 2.0 one for sure).

Since I’ve been having troubles releasing this one update for 3 years now, I cannot really say anything about the possible future updates; how many of them there shall be, what they’ll have, how big they’ll be, and so on…

But there is possibility that within the next year after the release, some of the cut features, might get implemented in the end (but I can’t guarantee that).

The reasoning

The idea for this mega patch originated way back in summer of 2020. I had a lot of free time back then, so the thought of crunching that much of content before summer of 2021, was still very much possible. Unfortunately, by creating side projects, I have wasted that chance. My life changed drastically after 2021, in such way, that I am no longer able to create stuff as effectively as before.

Even tho the last year my life has improved significantly, it is still quite busy, which does not help the current development situation. The update 2.0 at this very moment, would still need at least a year and a half of constant and steady work, in order for it to be completed.

It has been a very long time since update 1.3. Besides the long wait, this much time can also hinder the development itself (if forgetting how a specific class was build one month ago, imagine coming back to a critical code that has not been touched since 2019).

This much time, has also affected my motivation towards that project. Even tho I’ve mentioned numerous times that it’s a passion project, for the last 2 years my actual passion dwindled heavily. Don’t get me wrong, I still think this game is one of the best and most ambitious ones I have created up to this date, and I’d really want to see it being improved and expanded…

But I no longer feel determined to actually expand this concept. I am however, determined enough to finish a few threads I have started, and release a smaller update.

Unity engine

Also, the whole recent fiasco with Unity engine, has also motivated me to finish this project faster.  This situation does not exactly affect the current project as is, however the way that it was overblown and how big it got, did affect my decision.

But, this essentially hindered my plans for implementing any kind of soft monetization (like donations, special editions, or non-intrusive microtransactions). Even  tho not that plausible, there is a risk that the amount of installs, could get me in a financial trouble, should the monetization be unprofitable. The only two ways to solve that issue, is to make the monetization aggressive, or keep the game completely free - I choose the latter.

In regards to this specific project, the new runtime fees aren’t too big of a deal, but the bitter taste it left makes me wanna drop this engine as soon as possible and switch to a different one.

Summary

In summary, the mega patch “Update 2.0”, despite not being officially defined, is being officially canceled. Instead, there will be a smaller “Update 1.5”. I’ll try my best to push the update before the Easter 2024.

Initially I wanted to push this update before Christmas, but then college has kicked in, and now I have 9 projects to finish before the end of November… neat.

After 3 years, I’m pretty sure that this smaller update, will be a huge letdown for majority of you. I know this sucks, but I think that this “Update 1.5”, is perhaps the best compromise that I can provide as of now – otherwise it’s either even longer development hell, or a complete abandonment.

The update will contain everything that has been implemented and mentioned in all of the current devlogs. Majority of the systems and mechanics have been implemented already, now I mostly need to focus on adding actual content (new items, new clothes, new chests, ect), and just general play testing.

Also, there are a few posts, that instead of showing any content, are just me explaining my life situation. Since I don’t think they are necessary anymore, the following posts will be removed:

• How’s things?
• Update 1.3.37
• Water, ragdolls, and silence
• One year later

Like I said, I don’t think these post hold any necessary information anymore – they’re mostly life updates that come down to explaining why the development takes so long. They were important at the time of their publishing, by highlighting a specific moment in my life that hindered the development.

By now majority of you should know why this game resides in a development hell. Everything got summarized above in the "Reasoning" paragraph. The posts will be removed before new year’s eve, so if you want to keep the receipts for some reason, you have ~3 months to do so.

That’s it for now. Thank you for reading, and for your patience.