Lightyear Frontier News

[h2]Happy anniversary Exofarmers! 🎉[/h2]
Today it’s 1 year since we launched Lightyear Frontier in Early Access. It’s been a long road up to this point but we’re so happy to have met all of you, our amazing players, and we’re very excited to continue shaping the game together with you all. In order to celebrate this day we have some things to share with you.

[h3]Giveaway[/h3]
We are hosting a giveaway of Steam Keys to Lightyear Frontier and to the Pioneer’s bundle over on our Discord - Hop into the server to celebrate with us and have the chance of winning a free key!

➡️➡️➡️ Join the server here! ⬅️⬅️⬅️



[h3]QnA[/h3]
In our last post, we asked you to give us questions about the upcoming update coming this summer. Wilmer, our creative director, took some time in front of a camera to give you some answers to both exciting new things coming, and some more serious topics. Give it a watch and let us know if you have even more questions or if you have something you’d like us to talk more about in our next post.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thank you all so much for this past year. For sharing your feedback with us, for sharing your amazing suggestions, for taking beautiful screenshots, and first and foremost, for playing Lightyear Frontier. We got exciting plans for you this upcoming year and cannot wait to share more of them with you.

Until next time—happy farming, Exofarmers! 🚀🌱

See you soon,
The FrameBreak Team

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Got questions? Join our Discord!
Got some feedback to share? Put ‘em in here!
Encountered a bug? Report it here!

➡️ Join our communities:

• Discord
• X/Twitter
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677110/Lightyear_Frontier/

[h2]State of Dev[/h2]

Hey Exofarmers!
We know you are all eagerly awaiting the next update for Lightyear Frontier, and we greatly appreciate your patience. Let’s talk a bit about what’s happening now and what to expect:



Since release, we’ve noticed that the game feels a bit static, and many of our players and wishlisters are waiting for that special something to be added to the Frontier.

After further exploration of this matter, we realized the game’s direction so far is not quite what we—or you—have hoped for. Over fall and winter, we found an adjustment to the direction that we believe will level up the game to bring it that something we, and you, have been looking for.

The road ahead will address your feedback with a focus on giving you more power, freedom, and creativity on the Frontier:

[h3]A bigger world to explore[/h3]

You let us know that the Frontier felt a bit cramped, and we agreed - so now we’re making it a LOT bigger, with possibilities for more diverse traversal and exploration!

[h3]More strategy and power to the mech[/h3]
We’ve received the feedback that the mech can sometimes give the feeling of not being as strong as it looks, we’re working on changing that - you should feel powerful in your mech! We’re also looking at increasing strategic thinking in how you progress and upgrade your mech, to be stronger than ever before!

[h3]Making your homestead more homey[/h3]
You told us you wanted to be able to go inside and decorate your house, we want to give you that, but more - that’s why we’re working on a modular building system. This will allow your creativity to go wild!

[h3]Bigger and better farming![/h3]
We know you’ve been craving water automation and like to build big farming fields - we’re working on making that possible!

[h2]When is the next update coming?[/h2]
A lot of positive and exciting things will happen as we walk down this new path, but a change of direction like this, at this stage of the game, comes with some notable trade-offs. The most noticeable is a delay in updates for Lightyear Frontier.

We are aiming for our next big update to be in early summer if development goes as smoothly as we’re hoping. This is because we want to give you an experience in Lightyear Frontier that both you and we can be proud of.

Another trade-off we already know will happen is the removal of our current house constructs, they will be replaced by the new modular building system we mentioned earlier.

In conclusion, the wait for the next update will be a bit longer than usual but, it is for a great cause and exciting things are coming! Now, we imagine that you have a BUNCH of questions…



To bring more clarity, we’d love to answer your questions—whether about past updates, current work, or the future of the Frontier.

Drop your questions in the Steam post’s discussion thread! In about a week, we’ll go through them and share some answers. Stay tuned!

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Thank you for your continuous support and attention Exofarmers!

See you again soon,
The Frame Break team

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Got questions? Join our Discord!
Got some feedback to share? Put ‘em in here!
Encountered a bug? Report it here!

➡️ Join our communities:

• Discord
• X/Twitter
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677110/Lightyear_Frontier/

Hello Exofarmers!

Some amazing news just landed - Lightyear Frontier is Steam Deck Verified!

This has been a long process and we’re so happy to share this news with you all. There is a small update that’s coming along with this just to make sure the resolution works and that crossplay is still enabled for all platforms + some various bugfixes!


Don’t miss out on a devlog below! ⬇️

[h2]Patch Notes - V. 0.4.1282[/h2]

• Fixed an issue where the Steam Deck would default to an incorrect and distorted resolution after a recent SteamOS update
  
• Fixed interactions with Compost Box causing severe performance issues during rapid changes in player inventory
  
  • Most noticeable when harvesting lots of plants or shooting lots of seeds
    
• Fixed a few rare crashes
  
• Fixed Pioneer Bundle not having an image
  
• Fixed Sprout Cannon being able to plant some sprouts in plots
  
• Fixed P.I.C.K.-Axe occasionally getting a purple afterglow in multiplayer
  

Today we’ll be giving you some behind-the-scenes beans on our past updates - neighbors & Animals and Trailblazer. We’re taking a final look back at where we’ve been, before looking ahead to our new experimental updates, which are waiting just around the corner. Let’s start off with:

[h2]Neighbors and Animals[/h2]

[h3]Neighbors [/h3]

Moving to a new planet with friends can be exciting, but if you’re doing it solo it can get quite lonely. This is something we believed could be the case early on but weren't too sure how to prioritise. Once we released Lightyear Frontier and started getting feedback, we could see that you all wanted some company to feel more connected to the new world, and that’s when we knew that neighbors needed to set their coordinates for your new planet!

Our earliest idea of neighbors evolved and changed during development, a lot thanks to your feedback and thoughts. You help us shape new features but also when we add them!

The neighbors we have so far have personalities and qualities that contrast with each other and we’d like for potential new neighbors to be just as unique as well. What kind of neighbors would you like to see in the future? Share your ideas with us!

[h3]Ulf [/h3]
We knew all along that we wanted to have a neighbor connected to nature and plants on the Frontier. With this in mind, we started leaning towards adding a botanist/ scientist to the game. Our artists started to concept the neighbor and with continuous iteration and collaboration within the team, we ended up with the first version of Ulf. We knew we did not want the stereotypical image of a scientist in a white robe and that’s why we went in another direction with Ulf and how he got his stunning look and majestic beard.


Ulf grew very organically, in different directions, first some narrative design, then some art, then some game design, and then he blossomed into the character he is today, just like a plant.

However, when we were almost finished working on Diane and the animals, we realized Ulf’s sprout feature felt a bit shallow and not very science-like. That’s when we went back to Ulf and added mutated crops and created the Seed Splicer.


We think this feature can help us make a lot of interesting things with a flavor of science. It’s a door we’re excited to have opened and to revisit again in the future. It’s not our current focus but if you have ideas or wishes regarding sprouts and plant mutations - let us know!

[h3]Diane [/h3]
As we started working on Diane, we knew we wanted a character that stood in contrast to Ulf. Diane is very direct and hands-on, whilst Ulf is a bit more shy and reserved. In testing and also after release, we could tell opinions on her were very split. Some think she’s sweet and some may think she can be a bit rude at times, there’s many sides to Diane.


Most things with Diane went smooth sailing, but not her hat. That darn thing gave us a big headache as it was a nightmare to animate, but it was essential to her character and all worth it in the end!


Diane’s Animal Sanctuary was just like Ulf’s Seed Splicer, a solution to an issue we predicted our players might face when we’d start introducing animals and animal care on the farm. We wanted to make sure that players could move their farm animals out of the way when doing a remodel of their farmstead for example. At the same time, we wanted players to be able to do this and still keep a close connection with the animals, which is why they are not just stored in a computer for example but instead at Diane’s Sanctuary.


Something we think would be interesting to explore further is Diane’s mission on your planet - finding out how animals breed. Is this a mystery you’d be interested in exploring further?

[h2]Animals[/h2]
Just like with neighbors, we wanted to add more animals and animal care to create a sense of community and togetherness in the game, adding something alive to care for other than your plants and farm.

Early Stalktail Concepts.

A risk we saw with adding animals to the farm was that they could feel too much like cattle, we wanted players to be able to build a closer connection with the animals. But not too close, so not like a housepet, but somewhere in between.

Early Mox concepts.

In the future we’d of course like to expand more on animals, adding more variations or using their materials for more things. We’d like to give them some more importance on your farm, whilst not making them too overwhelming - let us know if you have ideas on what direction you’d like to see us go!



[h2]Trailblazer[/h2]
[h3]Trailblazer mode[/h3]
Trailblazer was an update we worked hard and fast on, similar to the Trailblazer mode itself. You said to us that you didn’t have the time to do everything you needed in just one day. This is why we added speedier traversal like the Trailblazer mode, the return home feature, and moving faster on paths!

Early Trailblazer concepts.

Exploring more modes and upgrades to the mech is something we’d love to do in the future. We already have a few different ways you can use the mech to traverse around the world - what other modes or upgrades would you like to see?


[h3]Exofarmer Customization[/h3]
Exofarmer Customization has been a highly wished-for feature from our community but also a passion within the dev team. It’s been a rewarding experience to allow players to finally be able to add some more personality and uniqueness to their Exofarmer. This also makes it easier for players to distinguish from each other when playing together!

Early Exofarmer helmet concepts.

We wanted this to be different from how you customize your mech. The mech is more of an investment in both time and resources, like adding upgrades to your car for example, whilst the Exofarmer customization should feel as easy as picking a t-shirt in the morning, it should be easy to represent yourself the way you’d like!

Some lovely placeholder helms we used while waiting for the finished helmets.

We have a BUNCH of ideas on how to continue building on this and are so excited to work more on this down the road. What would you like to see from Exofarmer Customization?

[h2]Future Updates [/h2]
We’ve already shared some of our plans for the future in a post back in December but are now almost ready to start sharing even more with you, thank you for staying patient with us!

We hope y’all are as excited as us for what’s to come, see you again soon Exofarmers!



‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
Got questions? Join our Discord!
Got some feedback to share? Put ‘em in here!
Encountered a bug? Report it here!

➡️ Join our communities:

• Discord
• X/Twitter
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677110/Lightyear_Frontier/

[h3]Happy January Exofarmers![/h3]
The new year is off to a great start here at the FRAME BREAK office! We’re preparing to let y’all in on the new experimental features soon, but it’s not ready just yet. Here are some things you can enjoy in the meantime:

[h2]A quick bugfix update[/h2]
We’ve done some bugfixing on things you’ve reported over the holidays to make sure you have a great time on the Frontier until the next update arrives. Read full patch notes below ⬇️



[h2]Patch Notes - V. 0.4.1141[/h2]

[h3]🔁 Changes[/h3]

• Trailblazer Mode will no longer show a prompt when driving over Noxious Weeds
  
• Trailblazer Mode will now show a prompt when trying to boost while over-encumbered

[h3]🪲 Bugfixes[/h3]

• Fixed various crashes
  
• Improved collision on several constructs
  
• Fixed light shining in the wrong location on the Well construct
  
• Fixed issue where destroyed Trees, Rocks, etc could sometimes reappear for Clients when reloading savefile in worlds where a lot of foliage had been destroyed
  
• Fixed a visual issue where some cables in a ruins area would be floating in the air, instead of being connected to the wall
  
• Fixed misspelling of Festive Windshield
  
• Fixed some weeds spawning on top of small foliage and therefore being indestructible by some tools
  
• Fixed missing punctuation in several construct descriptions
  
• Fixed severe performance drops that could occur when adding or removing items from your mech's inventory after interacting with a Silo
  
  • This was most noticeable when using the Seed Shooter or harvesting plants.
• Fixed wild plants sometimes not spawning as frequently as they should
  
• Fixed some actions potentially being aimed behind the Exofarmer when using a third-person perspective
  
• Fixed relocation ignoring some build warnings, e.g. "Invalid Slope" or "Blocked"
  
• Fixed Trailblazer mode sometimes incorrectly staying in an over-encumbered state
  
• Fixed missing SFX when recycling the Ball Dispenser
  

[h2]Devlog coming next week - Past updates[/h2]
Just like we did with our last 2024 Wrapped post, we’re taking a look back at where we’ve been so far before we start going forward. In this upcoming devlog we’ll be looking at some of our past updates, going into some more detail on why these features have been our focus and we’ll also include some fun screenshots and quotes from you guys on them! Stay tuned for that.



[h2]Next big update - want to know more?[/h2]
As you know we have experimental features coming to you soon! Before we invite you to test them out, we could tell you a bit more about one of them!

Which topic would you like us to talk about first?

• Modular building
  
• Large scale farming
  
• New Main progression
  

Let us know in the comments which topic you’d like us to talk about first!

See you next week Exofarmers!

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Got questions? Join our Discord!
Got some feedback to share? Put ‘em in here!
Encountered a bug? Report it here!

➡️ Join our communities:

• Discord
• X/Twitter
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook

[h3]Hello Exofarmers[/h3]
Hope you all had a great holiday season and got some much-needed rest—we sure did! 2024 was a crazy and amazing year - we released Lightyear Frontier in March and have since then also released multiple exciting updates.

In our last post of 2024 we took a peak into the future of the Frontier, so for the first post of 2025, let’s have a quick look back at some fun and exciting data we created together.



[h2]1,467,432 Exofarmers joined the Frontier in 2024![/h2]
Since Lightyear Frontier was released in March 2024, we’ve had many players join the Frontier farm life, which means you’ve all managed to do a bunch of cool stuff in the game. Let’s look at the numbers:

[h3]20,000 Gnomes were built![/h3]
The most built decoration constructs apart from fences were the Clothesline, Washbasin, and Small Dala Horse 🐴


[h3]The Longest Player Save -> 1174 Days![/h3]
The player holding the longest playtime record has played 1174 days on their savefile in Lightyear Frontier on Steam, that is 338h played!

Our Xbox users are not far behind clocking in at 1094 days and 336h played!

[h3]100 000 Swift plumes were fed! [/h3]
The most fed animal nest was the Ratscallion nest with over 65,000 nests fed!


[h3]Hot Rod - the most popular mech set![/h3]
Excluding the standard mech set, the Hot Rod is the most popular mech set as a whole, followed closely by the Hermes and Knight sets. What set do you use the most? Let us know below! 💬


[h3]30% of our players play together, over twice as many play solo! [/h3]
The Frontier welcomes you to play as both single- and multiplayer. About a third of you enjoy playing the game with others, but twice as many prefer playing solo — that's impressive!


[h3]You earn more than you spend! [/h3]
You all made more than 260,000 in-game money in 2024, out of that you only spent 110,000 - very frugal of you!

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It’s been an amazing year and we can’t wait to see what 2025 brings, if you’re curious about what we’re planning - take a look at our teaser post from December.



We just got back from a short holiday break so we’ll be returning in a few weeks with more updates on the new and experimental vision for the Frontier in 2025.

See ya soon, Exofarmers!

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Got questions? Join our Discord!
Got some feedback to share? Put ‘em in here!
Encountered a bug? Report it here!

➡️ Join our communities:

• Discord
• X/Twitter
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Facebook

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677110/Lightyear_Frontier/