EA First Playable (Update)

Hi!

Here's one behind-the-scenes milestone that I decided to share with you.

In game development there are these fancy words like vertical slices and first playables. First playable in this context means the first gameplay experience that combines all the necessary core components to a playable form.

Since this commercial branch for RtV is a totally different project and basically all the core systems have been modified one way or another, there haven't yet been a gameplay experience like in the demo branch that I would consider first playable for the early access.

However with this Apartments map, now there's a possibility to create that, since pretty much all the new features are ready to be tested in that commercial map.

So this being said, my next milestone for the commercial branch is to have this first playable gameplay experience in that Apartments map at the end of next month. This would include all the latest features, voice acting, dynamic stuff and testing the expanded map dimensions in a realistic way (looting, shooting etc.).

This first playable is also a good topic for the next dev build, since if that experience feels solid enough then it's just a matter of duplicating that experience to those other upcoming maps etc.

Next month there will also be 2 new features added to the game which are fishing and boats. These features are far less critical, so that first playable is not going to need those right away but I still want to get those implemented next month along with the first playable.

So, that's the game plan for next month, goal is to recreate that early access feel that should feel quite different than the demo experience and you will be able to test that experience as well and give feedback before I start working on the other maps.

In general, if this first playable goes well, the process of building the rest of those early access maps is going to be much faster since then I know all the features work and I don't have to backtrack or rework stuff anymore.

Thanks for supporting this project and me as a developer, slowly but surely this Road to Early Access is getting closer and closer every month and your support has been a key part of letting me focus on the development and nailing down these milestones one by one.

ps. Here's some behind-the-scenes Apartments interior stuff as well:

-Antti (Developer)