As always, community updates have been too sparsely happening. I've continually said that I'd ramp up the communication with everyone repeatedly, but it never really materializes in to anything tangible. Due to there not being an unlimited amount of hours in a day, I basically always err on the side of spending my time working on the game rather than trying to make content about working on the game. I know a lot of players would appreciate it if I spent more time on this, but outside of it just not being something I'm inherently good at, it also takes a lot of time away from the next update, pushing timelines out even further than they already have been. I'm sorry for that, but I do feel time spent working on the game is never wasted.
One of the many things that has been in the works for quite a while which should be added to the game fairly soon is (finally) a face revamp for the characters. I know the current faces have been a sore spot for many players for a long time. They just weren't great. I worked with a ton of different artists tying to find something I was happy with, and believe to be on the right track this time around. The faces maintain the overall style and feel of the game without being 'too much,' at least in my opinion. Happy to hear everyone's feedback here, but I like them a lot, and they're unmeasurably better than what we currently have in game.
These faces will likely make their way to the game at the same time as the rescuable survivors. You'll have to track them down around the world and rescue them. Afterwards, they follow you back to your base and can be assigned different jobs / tasks. Finally - some company in the apocalypse!
First and foremost, Garden City is obviously still not finished. I'm going to be spending a lot of time on getting the buildings filled up, adding life to the world overall, and just getting the map to a point where it feels a lot better to play and survive in.
Factions are also in the works. Figuring out where to put camps and such has been an interesting task. I'm sure no matter where I ended up putting down NPC camps, someone's base is going to get squashed. Unfortunate, but I suppose not something that I could guarantee was avoided either. You'll earn reputation with factions through tasks, trading, and other means, which will unlock vendor rewards, new tasks, and also improve their camps over time.
The vendor rework is well underway. Vendors will finally start to feel a bit more meaningful. They'll sell bespoke items based on the faction, NPC, task status, and all kinds of stuff. One of the main reasons for this change is making NPCs who add value without being easily used to get around some of the 'progression' that will be added to the game, such as finding tools, resources, etc.
Tools are also very much nearing completion to be added. You will need to find all kinds of tools to build and craft. This has been on the backburner for a long time, but with where the game is at, I think getting the progression elements enabled will help a lot with the overall feel and flow of the game.
The horde system for zombies has been in the works for a long time. I don't have a lot to share specifically about it at the moment, but my goal is to get to a point where there can be more than 1000 zombies active on screen chasing you without tanking your FPS. This is accomplished by completely revamping how the AI functions at a core level, especially the rendering of the zombies themselves, but also how they navigate and perceive players and objects around them. AI perception systems can be pretty heavy on performance when used in huge numbers.
Crops will be getting their TLC pass soon, which will add seeds, a lot more crops, and uses for them.
Liquid containers are getting a rework. You'll be able to swap liquid between containers like water bottles, fill water bottles at lakes and the ocean, use purifying tablets, desalinators, etc. for access to clean water. You'll also be able to clean any of the liquid containers and then use them for any liquid, like filling a water bottle with Ethanol or a gas can with water.
Many, many, many more gun accessories and parts are going to be added.
More collectibles are always in the works.
A vehicle TLC pass is going to clean up a bit of the power / speed / acceleration / etc of the vehicles, add a bunch more vehicles, towing, and parts customization to sort of tune how they drive and handle.
DeadPoly will leave Early Access and go Full Release on January 12th, 2027, come hell or high water. It's happening. Most of the core systems are in the game now, and just need flushing out and finalizing, which should put us in the home stretch of continuous quality of life updates leading to a more polished, 'finished' version of DeadPoly.
Going Full Release doesn't mean the game is finished. Far, far from it, actually. I will continue to work on the game exactly as I have been for years, just out from under the Early Access banner, since it will hopefully no longer truly be what Early Access was intended for.
Garden City will no longer have a bunch of empty buildings all over the place, in favor of finished up interiors (and exteriors) to feel a lot less empty.
So mark your calendars and stay tuned. This should be a fun (and very busy) year. I'll make an official announcement solely about this at some point in the future.
I'd personally like to thank each and every one of you for your continued patience, but most importantly, your time; you've chosen to spend your time playing DeadPoly, and it really does mean the world to me. Getting to work on DeadPoly is a dream come true. You have all given me something which I can't really express in words how much it means to me, but trying to provide to you all the best game I can make seems like the best way to try.
