[h5][b][color=#33FFDD]Greetings, esteemed colleagues![/color][/b][/h5] In this Status Report we will be sharing some important news on our update schedule along with a peek at a most-festive update. A peek at your presents, if you will. [h3]A Message from the Director[/h3] Kicking off this whole post, our Design Director [i]Zag[/i] is here to share some words on the changes to our roadmap. [quote]Greetings scientists! The team has been heads-down on Dark Energy. It is massive. And it’s proving to be one of the largest updates Abiotic Factor has ever seen. With the introduction of a whole new faction, a whole new sector (made of multiple sub-sectors), and doing it all [i]the right way[/i], we’ve made some adjustments to our roadmap timeline. Not by much, but adjustments all the same, and as you know, we like to communicate. Anyone who has watched the vlogs knows we actually can’t shut up sometimes. Ahem, anyway - we want to get you into the Reactors (and beyond?) as soon as it’s ready, but we also want to take the time to get it [i]right.[/i] As you know from the gazillion hours you’ve put into ABF, we have a certain level of quality, a certain bar for new content, and a very specific amount of love that our updates require, and we are never going to compromise on that quality or balance sniper spawn rates. [i](That last part was a joke - probably.)[/i] As we’ve neared the end of 2024, we felt we were compromising on one-too-many things, just little things, but the things that make the game what it is. The change is this; we’re shifting the Christmas update [i]in front[/i] of the major Dark Energy update. As for Dark Energy, you’ll see it [i]just[/i] on the other side of the holidays - Q1 2025. You’ve trusted us this far to deliver (and we love you all to the Flesh Dimension and back for that) so we ask that you carry on just a bit further. But don’t fret – we have a community-centric bundle of stuff dropping just in time for Christmas. We also have another little present coming up pretty darn soon, but it’s still [i]under wraps.[/i] Keep an eye out. Anyway, without further ado, here’s the updated roadmap as it now sits, and then we’ll talk more in-depth about the Christmas update coming in December! Oh, but first, the tiniest of peeks at [b]Dark Energy[/b]… while you wait.[/quote] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/3daf62b551468fdd6caff33a312cf591376a130c.png[/img] Neat. [h2][b][color=#FFCC33]The Updated Roadmap[/color][/b][/h2] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/bf230921292c072773dd5cf7b1e0cf78f42d7198.png[/img] [h2]A Peek at Your Presents[/h2] For the Christmas update, we’re dropping all kinds of gifts. Let’s take a look under the wrapping. [h3]Early Access Rewards[/h3] For the many many scientists who have been helping us create great things during this Early Access period, we want to thank you! We’re not done yet, but we wanted to make sure everyone who plays before 1.0 receives a few in-game goodies. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/4e48e9e7a18a01db7c7c67ff4b784f2f4a7d7096.png[/img] [h3]Heard the Buzz?[/h3] Is anything as sweet as science? According to the Brix viscosity scale, [b]honey[/b] comes close, at 60 to 80 percent! Is it actually honey? Are these actually bees? We’ll leave that up to you and your tastebuds to decide. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/84e2839a92208cb0e3f686fcdd9be08b7f461a51.png[/img] [h3]The Purple Armor[/h3] Some scientists may have already noticed the Crystalline armor floating around in a few of our screenshots and videos. We were going to blame Dr. Stern for their early reveal - after all, he prototyped the thing - but when we went to yell at him about it, we couldn’t find him and we’re not entirely sure where he’s gone. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/44c3d70b851d6d0fb9ddfb91bfcf943e3eaa8a42.gif[/img] [h3]Charging Up the Field[/h3] As expeditions into the depths of the Facility (and worlds beyond) become longer and more fraught with danger, sometimes there simply isn’t time to search for a power outlet when you need to recharge your gear. And carrying around that charging station? That’s just bad form, really. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/cb105646aaf8c0d10a8c1203655576fb5e549bc1.png[/img] We’ll dive further into this little doohicky on release. [h3]deepth feld plz fix throwing[/h3] Don’t throw a fit, scientist… Throw knives instead! [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43009981/454bd6f022d0c706f4ccbe78cecbe4e352d460ce.png[/img] Throwing knives are a new type of weapon, with multiple tiers, that you can soon craft. We’re also looking at making Throwing XP easier to gain, but also a bit more sensible, taking into account weight of the item, and so on and so forth. [h3]Something about Soup[/h3] As you know, we’ve added some handy quality-of-life to cooking, but we still feel soup just isn’t quite there yet. We’ve been working on improving some of the soup system, particularly around discovering recipes and finding new ingredients. We also feel that the current soup system is a bit too punishing on [i]failure[/i] to make a good soup, so we’re doing a few things there as well. We’ll dive more into that bowl (of soup?) when we’re ready to share (our soup?) with you. Soup, soup, soup. Soup. [h3]Other Christmas Things (Not Soup)[/h3] We have a few more things coming for Christmas, but some presents are best left [i]un-peeked.[/i] Dr. Stern has been muttering something about a contamination involving IS-0083, but that’s an arcade machine and we weren’t really listening anyway because he keeps wearing his Santa Hat around the labs and like, it’s still November, man! When we find that guy we’re gonna give him a piece of our mind. Anyway, I’m sure all of these questions will be resolved soon. [h3]The Holidays Cometh[/h3] Thanks for joining us on all of our scientific ventures! If you find yourself unable to move due to excess holiday ingestions, take a relaxing break by submitting your most infuriating bugs through the [url=https://form.jotform.com/242078313437051]in-game bug report form link[/url]! [b]Thank you for all your work in the GATE Cascade Research Facility![/b] [b]Onward -- to science.[/b] [h2]Join the Scientific Community![/h2] We’re now also on 🦋[b]Bluesky[/b], by the way. You can find us [url=https://bsky.app/profile/abioticfactor.bsky.social][b]here[/b][/url], but we’ll probably be changing the username to a cleaner URL shortly, so don’t use this link if you’re reading this at some point in the future. Or something like that. But you can use it right now! … If you’re reading this right now. [list] [*] [url=https://discord.gg/deepfield][b]Discord[/b][/url] [*] [url=abioticfactor.com][b]Newsletter[/b][/url] [*] [url=https://youtube.com/@DeepFieldGames][b]YouTube[/b][/url] [*] [url=https://twitter.com/ABFGame][b]Twitter[/b][/url] [/list][h3]Join the Research Division Today![/h3] https://store.steampowered.com/app/427410/Abiotic_Factor/