Alright, here we go, the last dev journal before broader Early Access! That's right: Friday July 24th, come hell or high water, the game will launch in Steam Early Access. 🙌

Go Big or Go Home

This is something you can expect to see in the first major release after Early Access (dubbed the "Lofty" update): support for large modules.

This opens up the possibility for bigger hand-crafted areas, which I'll likely feature in the final floor of each level, but it's setup in such a way that large and small rooms can co-exist on the same floor. As you can see above, this also means bigger underwater areas, and hopefully some small puzzles and platforming areas as well.

Quality of Life

A couple things on this front: I've moved the settings into the game--no more launch screen! (actually, Unity forced my hand on this: they removed it in the version I recently upgraded to, heh)

I've also added the ability to "Quick Start" from the main menu. This bypasses the developer note, intro story, and tutorial area. (This unlocks after reaching the first main area).

You'll see both of these features in the next build.

Looking Ahead

Looking past the "Lofty" update, what will likely follow is a focus on adding new types of enemies. I have a few in mind already.

There's the requisite spider, a super mutant miner, and some kind of underwater creature. Stay tuned for more details on this.

On that note, I've built a prettier version of the roadmap. As much as possible I've tried to group related items into major releases with easily recognizable names. This is all subject to change, of course, but hopefully it gives you an idea of where I plan on taking things.