Frontiers Reach News

The first Uncharted World is now live for Frontiers Reach!

HD163573 is a remote world that was abruptly cutoff from contact with the rest of humanity. Being that you're out here on the frontier though you have just barely managed to pick up the very faint distress signal that was sent out from it.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


To access this new location you must have completed Mission 10 of the first act and have access to the Nav Computer via the helm. From there you can enter to coordinates found in the video and gain access to HD163573.

On this new location the focus is more about exploration and as you explore you'll find data packets that be decrypted at the RECON panel on the bridge of the Siren. Each data packet you decrypt will give you a clue about what happened to cause the outpost on this world to go dark.

But know that you will not be alone on the new world.


Till next time pilots!

The Frontiers Reach Interactive Galactic Map is now live on itch.io!

This is the first pass at the galactic map so it's pretty bare bones right now but future updates will add more lore, new features, better planet rendering and so on.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


Additionally, there is now a Ko-Fi page available for the next major title in the Frontiers Reach Universe. $1 a month is all you need to become a part of the effort to make Frontiers Reach 2 bigger, better, and more detailed. But all of our updates right now are free to everyone on Ko-Fi so even if all you want is to stay up to date with development efforts it's a great place to do that.

One of our first releases on Ko-Fi was a terrain exploration demo for Frontiers Reach 2. Where you can run around on a map and through some ancient alien structures to get an idea of how Frontiers Reach 2 will feel.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A download link to the demo is available in the video description.

More tweaks, bug fixes, and changes this update, plus a new trailer with an in depth explanation of the warmap.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


- More tweaks to Q-201 bomb to address some issues with behavior. More changes coming.

- Fixed an issue that could cause some fighters to not align properly after the player respawned in a mission.

- increased glow on bullets to make them more visible.

- Tweaks to how naming restrictions work for loadouts, paintjobs, and player profiles.

- Fix for guns on AT-15 Shepherd.

- Fixed a bug on the Yahontov Major map that could cause the player to crash at lower altitude even if they had not hit the ground.

- The Hoplite now has 8 guns instead of 4 and a slight boost to agility. More changes to fighters coming in future updates.

- Modified night time lighting on Odland for mission 41.

- Increased camera distance on HF-22 Shield.

This is a patch update for the January 1st, All These Worlds update. Additionally, the Frontiers Reach Demo has been updated as well.

- Fixed a bug that could cause the keybindings menu to remain on the screen when closing the pause menu by hitting the pause button on game pad.

- Reduced GPU draw by 30-50% by tweaking ambient lighting parameters across the entire game. This also yielded lower ambient lighting washout for better visibility of various VFX both near and far.

- Fixed a bug that stopped players from being able to travel to Earth when the warmap has been flipped completely blue.

This is a massive update, and while the game is still very much the same, a LOT has changed. With this the core of development and production has been wrapped up. But bug fixes will continue to roll out as they are made and as new bugs are found and squashed. Though I should note that there is a DLC being planned for later down the line, but that is still a LONG way off.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

For these patch notes I won’t detail everything, partly because some of the patch notes I have are only relevant to issues that cropped up on the experimental branch, and partly because a number of the changes can be consolidated into a single item. That said, let’s get into it.


[h2]OVERHAULS[/h2]
- Overhauled planetary maps, expanded from 30km to 60km radius with a 22km flight cieling. Dogfights can now happen at high altitude.
- Overhauled space maps, expanded from 30km to 90km radius and 60km height. Planets now spin on space maps.
- Overhauled all planetary maps with a new terrain tool to allow for high levels of fidelity, better scaling, and larger more detailed levels.
- Overhauled all scenario by re-plotting and re-timing them to the new maps.


[h2]ADDITIONS[/h2]
- Added support for floating origin to make the larger maps possible.
- Added new Overdrive mode to the fighters so players can travel quickly across the map at the expense of lots of fuel and heat build up. Currently bound to the O key.
- Added a new RCS toggle so players can toggle the RCS system on for drifting over long distances in space, currently bound to the R key.
- Added the ability to invert the camera for look behind, currently bound to the X key.
- Added a camera zoom when in cockpit mode, currently bound to L-CTRL.
- Added new lockboxes for bonus salvage and an assault on Earth as an endgame mechanic with tweaks to how the Warmap will behave after destroying Blackstone.
- Added a new fighter, the RX-01 Garuda.
- Added the ability to add custom logos to the fighters.
- Added 2 new weapons, Beam Lasers and Flak Cannons.
- Added the first and only piece of starfighter equipment, Scanning Probe Launcher.
- Added an Easy Mode to character creation.
- Added wildlife spawns back to the Frontiers Reach map.
- Added 2 new Warmap scenarios : MBR Rig and Invasion.


[h2]TOUCH UPS & REPLACEMENTS[/h2]
- Touched up several smoke and fire VFX.
- Touched up several destruction models.
- Touched up and simplified the edges of planetary maps and how they blend with the skybox for a more seamless experience and better overall performance.
- Replaced all water with a new custom water shader for faster performance and better blending in the environment.
- Replaced the world boundary shader with a new custom version that will fade in as you get closer to the boundary.
- Replaced the entire warp sequence on the bridge for better animations and audio as you travel between planets.
- Replaced all asteroid artwork.
- Replaced all tunnels and caves artwork.


[h2]OPTIMIZATIONS[/h2]
- Optimized sky and cloud rendering by updating to the latest version of the Expanse plugin to address some transparency bugs and increase performance on all maps.
- Optimized artwork for a number of fighters.
- Optimized artwork for the Siren.
- Optimized several miscellaneous art assets for better performance across the breadth of the entire game.
- Optimized lighting and shadows for better performance across the entire game.
- Optimized code under the hood for radar and IFF tags.
- Optimizations for loading and unloading the main menu.
- Optimizations for loading and unloading levels by adding key elements to a preloading phase on game start.


[h2]CHANGES[/h2]
- Changed targeting computer so it is now possible to lock on to a target even if the currently equipped weapon is not guided.
- Changed respawning to a checkpoint so player will no longer spawn all the way back in the hangar.
- Changed travel speed of friendly transports.
- Changed the warmap so that battles can be won even when players have only contributed salvage to the node and not run any missions on them.
- Changed how missile/incoming alerts are trigger, this is a minor change and still being worked on.


[h2]FIXES[/h2]
- Fixed a bug in the AI for NPCs that made them behave unexpectedly.
- Fixed a bug that kept the player fighter from yawing, pitching, and rolling, when the throttle and the velocity was at zero.
- Fixed keybindings for pitch and yaw axis.
- Fixed Track IR not working at all and changed how the toggle works.
- Fixed Warmap not recording some victories.
- Fixed an error with the mission token for mission 41.