Dear inhabitants of the
European,
American and
Asian region! Just a month ago the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone opened its doors to all of you, and you have already managed to surprise us with tons of great reviews and relentless activity!
Some have already noticed that the new regions differ in content from the Russian region ( which has been existing for many years). We purposely cut off all high tier and endgame content at the start, as well as use a different monetization model. In this article we'll share with you our plans for the development of EU, NA and SEA servers - what releases are coming soon and what challenges we have to face.
[h2]Preparing updates[/h2]
On the Russian segment, we release updates weekly, on Wednesdays. Often they contain all sorts of fixes, but the bigger our team becomes, the more often players see truly interesting patches.
This format of updates creates a considerable load on the work processes - everything must work like clockwork, because every day counts. And now we have a task to integrate into these processes releases in English-speaking regions, specifically the connection with the localization studio, additional QA and things like that. To organize everything carefully, we need time - at least a month.
That's why
there will be no significant updates on the EU, NA and SEA servers for most of January. All this time we will be settling our workflow for regular releases.
[h2]High-end content[/h2]
Most of STALCRAFT's lucrative mechanics rely on competition between players - in other words, on PvP. The new region servers have only recently opened, and players need at least a couple of months to acquire high-level gear and fill the upper difficulty levels in our distribution system.
We need enough online players to start making endgame activities available, otherwise they just won't work. What kind of activities are we talking about?
- Limansk - one of the most complex and dynamic locations in the game. It is a full-fledged abandoned city with vertical gameplay and very valuable loot.
- Clans and base captures - members of the northern factions will be able to create units that participate in the capture of bases in the northern locations. This is a full-fledged clan system with its own economy and wars. And, of course, top equipment in the rewards.
- «Dead Time» - a unique PvPvE mode, where two teams of players in a competitive mode perform tasks in a secret Soviet laboratory.
- «Duels», «Standoff» - session modes that will be added very soon!
- The Backwater - the most dangerous location in the North, which is mainly intended for clans.
We will gradually introduce these activities into the game announcing release dates in advance! For now, we should expect Limansk first, in the first quarter of 2023. And some session modes even earlier.
[h2]Events[/h2]
Four times a year we hold major holiday events where you can play unique gaming activities with cool themed rewards. Our customary dates for these events are as follows:
- End of March (anomalous storms, in honor of the end of winter);
- July 10 (STALCRAFT birthday);
- Halloween (scary modes with zombie players);
- New Year's Eve (atmospheric activities).
Unfortunately, we did not have neither the technical nor the physical ability to prepare the New Year event for the new regions, so now it is held only on the Russian servers. However, in March we will be fully armed!
[h2]What else can we look forward to in 2023?[/h2]
We also want to share with you our plans for major updates, many of which we have been developing for several years. Some have even started to get ready to be released, but we can't give you an exact date yet.
- New parkour system - we are almost ready to introduce a completely new system of character movements, thanks to which you can forget about nasty Q-clamping! Also, along with this system will also release 3rd-person animations - the characters will finally be able to move beautifully.
- Re-playable dungeon - we are going to release the first dungeon with a large and complex system that will randomize its content. This is a full-fledged PvE activity that will allow you to profit without the obligatory PvP.
- New AI for NPCs and mutants - we've been designing a new AI and navmesh for entities for over a year now, and the release of the whole thing is just around the corner! First, NPCs and mutants will simply get better at navigating and moving around, and then we'll start putting different behavioral addons on this system, like using shelters or throwing grenades.
- The rebuilding of the Northern locations - our huge level design team has also been preparing updated Northern locations for a very long time. We are using a completely new approach to the design of the levels. Visually, it's going to be a transition to the next level too!
Also, our game designers are prioritizing work on mistakes this year - we'll be fixing broken or just "crappy" game mechanics, like the dailies and weeklies. There is a huge amount of content on STALCRAFT that needs the attention of the developers, and it's time to give it!
[h2]The Epilogue[/h2]
We haven't covered all of our plans for 2023, but hopefully you got an idea of the major updates we want to catch up on.
Happy New Year! Whatever politicians are preparing for us in the coming year - it will go great in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone!
Always yours,
EXBO team.
