Q1 Progression Update 2

Hi!

Q1 is ending today, so here's the second part of this Q1 progression update.

In general, developing the early access version of the game got an awesome kickstart in Q1 since the Support Patch sales (~950 sold) allowed me to utilize a lot of contractor work in multiple areas.

Thanks to this, all the Q1 milestones were easily achieved since I had total freedom to focus on those development goals and there were parallel tasks done through contractors.

Here's a list of what was achieved in Q1:

• UI overhaul (Tetris inventory)

• Shelter customization

• Cabin (Shelter)

• Bunker (Shelter)

• Tent (Shelter)

• Grenades

• Magazines

• Lasers

• Dynamic TOD

• Dynamic weather

• Dynamic seasons

• Nature overhaul

 On top of this, a lot of Q2 tasks were done in-advanced, here are some examples:

• Dynamic events (~50% Done)

• Grandma (Trader)

• Gunsmith (Trader)

• Punisher (Boss)

• Bandit voice acting

• Guard voice acting

• Punisher voice acting

• Radio voice acting

• Shelter Cat

In this upcoming Q2, my main development goal is to piece most of the new features together and start working on the early access maps, which means overhauling all the existing demo maps and adding new ones.

The main goal of this map related work is to emphasize this "dangerous journey" ideology, where the travel distance to the Border Zone and Vostok is much longer and you will have multiple routes and crossing points to choose from.

This map topic is going to be the main factor for potential early access launch windows, since it's a lot of work and I have to be really careful how I'm going to approach that map building since it can easily lead to "feature/content creep" if there are no clear timelines and development rules for making all the early access maps.

I will probably start this map building quite early in Q2, so I can get a rough estimation how long the entire map overhaul process is going to eventually take.

But there's also a lot more stuff coming in Q2 than just new maps, here are some examples:

• Fisherman (Trader)

• Fishing system

• Boats

• Military voice acting

• New AI behaviors

• New crafting recipes

• New weapons

• New items

I'm quite optimistic about this Q2 workload, since I still have resources from those Support Patch sales, so I should be able to use contractors for multiple areas even though most of these milestones will rely totally on my work output.

Then there will also be this term called "ramp up" which refers to increasing marketing efforts closer to the launch and that becomes already relevant in Q2. This will of course interfere a bit with the normal development but marketing is a must nowadays and I have some pretty unique ideas what could work for this title (with zero marketing budget).

Lastly, I asked about some questions from you in Discord and Patreon, so here's few answers: Q: How large the early access maps will be compared to demo maps?
A: Around 2x the size.

Q: When the next demo update (Steam Next Fest) is going to be released?
A: Once I have enough early access features to showcase and there's a suitable Next Fest slot available, so it's either going to be in June or October.

Q: After the game is fully released, are updates still expected?
A: Yes, Road to Vostok is a career long commitment to me as a developer and I'm not interested of making anything else than this game. Also if you are claiming (me) to create one of the best single-player survival games, that goal will definitely need a career long commitment.

Q: How much the early access will cost?
A: There will be 2 different editions at early access launch called Standard Edition (~15€) and Supporter Edition (~25€). Base game will be the same in both but Supporter Edition will include custom concept art (already made) and the entire OST.

Thanks for everyone who has been following the project, bought the Support Patch or supported the development through Patreon!

-Antti (Developer)