Hello Septaroad fans! We are back with our monthly Early Access update. The big news this month is that we have finished ALL 7 of the prologues and we are now building the world that will connect the different starting zones together. When we have the world more or less laid out, then we can script the story developments in each character's first chapter. Let's take a closer look at what we accomplished this month. Here are some screenshots of the prologues we finished this month. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/e7b89ffb803c96c81ee0319d52c0818c873d9c85.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/46d58ff4fee4c140d4b9dbcd229fdda4cf9e0e89.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/686d19085e431108f5922c83e779e2977e1a67b0.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/e7c6b744b82c9bf3575b627f8ae3e4ac9397a49b.jpg[/img] We added new zones Wind Plains, Summerwood, and Thousand-Spear Road. And in those zones you'll find some new enemies including crabs and mushroom kids. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/cfe2d7e277454faa7762a5d2956c6e9f7bf6454c.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/001988ac512cd26a8a0471d36e6bad2bb24ada3d.jpg[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43178456/06f295bc1da15bc0bb3c23b5f7f7e2cfa8a071d4.jpg[/img] One new feature that we're kind of proud of is a subtle fog in the Summerwood forest, where Emmerich is fighting a mushroom kid. You can't see it very well in that screenshot, but we added a fog with boundaries that we control completely, which is a change from the default fog volume that comes with Unreal Engine 3. We wanted to "sell" the density of the forest better with fog that starts behind the tree line. Fog across the whole level didn't look right, and multiple fog volumes across the level just weren't working. So we developed our own solution that is both effective and subtle. We also added some fun new features--like wheat that moves as you walk through, spinning windmills, and decorative spinning steampunk gears--that make the game world feel more unique and alive. [img]https://rockwell-studios.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Septaroad-wheat.gif[/img] [img]https://rockwell-studios.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GearSphere.gif[/img] And of course we have been fixing bugs and making improvements throughout the game. This month we recompiled the executables with different settings that should deliver a major speed improvement on most machines. We think we finally fixed pathfinding. And we implemented some new nodes to make scripted encounters more intelligent and cinematic. The game is in good shape. We just need to add more finished content and soon you'll be able to play (the start of) the main campaign for yourself. We'll get back to work now and we'll see you again next month with more developments.