Skyfear News

Welcome to Skyfear! It's crazy seeing this game live now. Thank you to all the players providing feedback! It's super helpful. I'm doing my best to write everything down & organize the big to-do list.

A couple of highlights:

• Multiplayer seems empty, because player count is quite low. This is not a bug. Anything to help spread the word about this game could resolve this issue organically!
  
• Keybindings are the most common request right now. While I can't guarantee it'll be in the first updates, it is one of, if not the most, high priority feature to work on.
  

Also, in the Discord community we've been discussing potential community events such as online group sessions or tournaments, stuff like that. Which could help grow player count. If that interests you, please join!

Thank you for playing my game, and thank you for bearing with the buggyness.

- telekrex
developer

- Server password-to-access dialogue fixed (event was just unhooked for some reason)
- Several console print statements removed; more to go
- Eden's mysterious sky-leaves rendering glitch fixed
- Fixed/renamed a few buttons with out of date terms
- Storm's lightning brightness reduced slightly
- Storm's rain particles reduced slightly
- Volume and frequency of pterosaur screams reduced
- Slightly decreased overal global post processing contrast
- Melee animation getting stuck fixed
- Melee range increased from 600cm to 900cm
- Melee damage fixed; uses full 500 damage now instead of a radial falloff
- Forced check if rolling when Take flight or Land is called, only continue if not rolling
- Removed forced velocity addition in the Z direction when meleeing
- Increased FOV option range from 80-100 to 70-140
- Added option to bots setup: Chatty on/off, enables or disables bots chatting

Skyfear will be available under Early Access on March 6th, 2025. The game will be $14.99 USD but launch with a 10% discount for the first week.


Skyfear is made by just me, plus a friend or two helping test. It is very inspired by games from the early 2000s, such as Quake, Halo, and Gunz. Skyfear’s purpose is not to directly compete with another game, nor is not intended to be a live service. This game is simplistic and small by modern standards - we’re going back about 15 years. This is by design.

Here’s an interview (9 minutes) I did with Call Me Pancake discussing the game’s approach. (The footage in this video is 2-3 months old)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


I wanted to deliver a complete product, but the reality is that the ground to cover on every pass is a moving target, and this game has been in development since 2015. Instead of the launch being the end, I now see it as a jumping off point. The game is not yet everything it could be. The animation needs serious work, the map design needs love, and there’s lots of networking quirks that need solutions. The to-do list is long, but for a variety of reasons, I think now is the time to open the doors. The only thing I would say is set in stone is the game’s scope. For more details about development, please visit Release Cycle and Commits.

Please submit feedback! The Discord server has a feedback forum, plus there is an in-game feedback tool.


Skyfear will have 3 branches.

• Main – The intended experience. Steam default.
  
• Experimental – Development version with debug tools. Intended only for testing.
  
• LAN – A ‘slimmed down’ build with a local network only. This build will not communicate outside of your router. Intended for LAN parties, tournaments. Due to a networking quirk in Unreal’s compiler, this had to be its own branch, so this may run a little bit behind Main and not have as much priority.
  

The following list is of features that have been tested to some extent, but were just not going to be ready in time for the launch. For various reasons, getting a baseline product out the door first was deemed the most practical approach. Once the game is stable, new features can be added.

• Practice range / Sandbox type mode
  
• Single player “scenarios”, pre-arranged AI battles
  
• Bots filling in multiplayer servers, optional
  
• Leaderboards / Ranked
  
• Some form of “New Game +” / Leveling loop
  
• Matchmaking, if/when playerbase reaches large size
  
• Controller, keybindings
  

Maps, game modes, and cosmetics will definitely expand. And I’ve already mentioned animation, map design, networking, etc. The priority given to these things will be adjusted as the feedback comes in.


If you’d like to learn more, please see the FAQ and join our Discord server!

See you in the arenas on March 6!
- telekrex (developer)

I am pleased to announce that Skyfear will be launching on Steam under Early Access in one of the remaining months of 2024. An exact date is hard to pin down; there are a couple of ongoing issues that are time-impacting. But it could be very soon.

[h3]Why Early Access?[/h3]
To be honest, I’ve been saying Skyfear is “almost done” for about two years now. I had to ask myself, how long is it going to be that way? There’s a difference between done and perfect. And a lot of the things I have yet to do with the game involve a lot of “what-ifs”, a lot of things that would benefit from an active playerbase providing feedback. I really wanted to release Skyfear the old fashion way, complete. And really, I still think it is. Requirements-wise, it's everything the game set out to be on paper, and it's equipped with the options and features that should hopefully allow it to survive with a variable update frequency.

Early Access gives me a “softer” launch, some wiggle room. As a solo developer, I think this, plus having very clear and concrete communication with the audience, is the right way forward. This way, I will have time to make the game perfect, but with less pressure and the game creating some income to work with.

[h3]What to Expect?[/h3]
A fun dragon battling game! With some bugs, of course, and room to grow. To accompany and prepare for the launch, I’ve released updated documents that will be on the website for everyone’s reference:
Updated FAQ Release Cycle – This explains how updates are going to work, and remains a resource for everyone to refer to if you’re going to discuss/speculate/anticipate.
Commit Log – This is a public log of the work that’s been done. The log system itself is a work in progress.
Content Guide – A general guideline for content creators. I encourage anyone to be making Skyfear related content!

The game will have both a main and experimental branches to allow for testing, available together upon purchase.

The price of the game remains unchanged at $14.99 USD.

Promotional materials online soon.

See you there!
- Telekrex

This new trailer is a transparent look into what Skyfear looks like right now, both on the surface and under the hood. You will see editor footage, current gameplay, and I couldn't resist a few cinematic shots, all recorded in real-time.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

All focus right now is on finishing this game -- but I need some feedback to do that. From June 1st to 15th, up to 200 players will be granted access to a current build of Skyfear, for playtesting. In exchange, I simply ask for as much of your feedback as possible. To participate, please join the Discord server and RSVP to the event, and you'll be given the orange playtester role.

This playtest is being conducted in a very personal manner, because I want to really understand the audience and the rationale behind the feedback. In earlier development days, a quick survey was enough to quanitize things and give me direction, but at this stage of the project, I really want to get into the details.

Hope to see you there!