OUTBRK news & patch notes

Hello, Chasers!

This month, we’re taking a closer look at the progress on our next major update: the vegetation overhaul. We’re also sharing a preview of what’s coming further down the road, including the Chaser Network redesign, improved character customization, and new lakes and rivers tech. 

VEGETATION UPDATE

As many of you probably know, our next major update is focused on a full overhaul of OUTBRK’s vegetation. We’re currently deep in the debugging phase, and the update is progressing well.

For this newsletter, we wanted to share a few GIFs showcasing the updated look of the OUTBRK world. While everything is still a work in progress, we’re excited to give you a closer look at how the environment is coming together.

WIP CHASER NETWORK UPDATE

We’re also in the process of reworking several game systems to make them more engaging and rewarding. The first system we’re tackling is the Chaser Network.

With this update, players will be able to report smaller weather-related events, such as hail and damage, to earn additional points. Tornado reports are also being expanded: players will now need to place their reports accurately on the map to earn additional multipliers.

Here are some design mockups that we’re currently working on bringing into the game.

WIP CHARACTER OVERHAUL

We’re rebuilding our character pipeline from the ground up to better support customization in the future. This is a long process, but it is also a much-needed one.

This overhaul will introduce more faces and hats, while also making it much easier for us to add new customization options later on.

WATER SYSTEM

Our partners at Catalyst are currently working on making OUTBRK's sky effects fully compatible with advanced water shaders. Handling transparency and depth correctly across multiple materials is a complex challenge, but the work is nearing completion.

This will be an excellent complement to the vegetation update, as our current water shaders have remained opaque due to these transparency limitations. The new system will allow for much more realistic water rendering while remaining fully compatible with OUTBRK's atmospheric effects.

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

• Added new weekly challenges into rotation

Hello, Chasers!

Today’s newsletter is a big one. We’re introducing a new team member and sharing progress on several major areas of development, including the upcoming Vegetation Update, weather systems, and networking improvements.

VEGETATION UPDATE

We’re now setting our sights on our next major update: the Vegetation Update.

This update brings a significant visual upgrade to OUTBRK’s environment, giving the world a more modern and detailed look. Tree coverage has been fully repainted across the map, ground textures now show much more detail, and new grass variations help make the world feel richer and more natural. The world map and minimap have also been updated to better reflect the new environment.

We’re also improving the collision around broken tree pieces, making them feel more intuitive and less frustrating to drive around.

Here is some content recorded directly in the editor, showing the new OUTBRK world:

The update is now entering its testing phase. Because this is a large content update, we expect testing to take some time to ensure it reaches the level of quality we want. As always, we appreciate your patience and support.

NEW TEAM MEMBER

Starting this Monday, a new programmer is joining the OUTBRK team full-time. Please welcome David S. to the team!

David has over 10 years of game programming experience and was most recently a Gameplay and UI Programmer at Behaviour Interactive. He’ll be helping us accelerate development as we continue working toward OUTBRK 1.0.

Say hi if you see him in Discord!

SERVER DEVELOPMENT

We’ve also been working on a major technical overhaul of OUTBRK’s networking systems.

This work is laying the foundation for future features such as reconnecting to a game after being disconnected, spectating after dying, letting other players drive your car, significantly reducing perceived lag between vehicles, and creating more social interactions like emotes or small activities while players wait for storms to form.

There is still a long road of technical work ahead before these features are ready, but we can already share an early look at one of the improvements: player animations are now being replicated much more smoothly over the network.

CLOUDS

Great progress has been made on the final steps of the cloud system that will accompany the new weather model resolution. We can now see fluid, fully dynamic cloud motion driven directly by the weather data itself.

The result brings immersion to a new level, with clouds converging and even rotating around mesocyclones. This is a major milestone for us, as staying as close to reality as possible remains one of our core goals.

The final task remaining is eliminating some fading effects between data frames. We are being extremely meticulous with this step because we want it to look perfect, especially for the timelapses that many of you enjoy creating.

SCENARIO TECHNOLOGY

Another feature coming with this resolution upgrade is a new system that allows us to adjust scenario positioning. This helps increase storm coverage across the OUTBRK map while also giving us the ability to slightly slow down some extremely fast-moving storms that would otherwise be barely chaseable, all while remaining scientifically accurate.

This is particularly important with the new resolution, as storms are significantly larger than before. The goal is simply to respect the scale of the game while making the atmosphere more chase-friendly in certain situations.

This new generation of scenarios will also introduce an element of randomness. Offsets will be selected by the servers, helping make every chase feel unique.

Finally, it will allow us to produce multiple variations of scenarios from a single weather model simulation.

TORNADOES

Our tech art development partner, Catalyst, has completed development of the next generation of tornado visual effects for the game.

We are now beginning the integration process with the weather engine, which will allow for a much wider variety of tornado types, including the highly requested wedge and multi-vortex tornadoes.

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

• Added a feature to automatically load players into a solo match if no players are found after 3 minutes in the matchmaking queue

CONTROLLER

• Added the ability to accept community guidelines using a controller

• Added the ability to leave chases while using a controller

• Added LB/RB glyphs while navigating the character customization menu

• Added a back button glyph to cancel matchmaking on controllers

• Fixed an issue causing the 'Y' button to perform the same functions as 'A' on controller

• Fixed an issue allowing input actions to be enabled while towing a vehicle using a controller

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing ANISOTROPIC TEXTURING to be disabled on all quality presets

• Fixed an issue causing settings presets to be overridden and not revert to the original configuration

• Fixed an issue causing the map to not navigate correctly while zooming in

• Fixed an issue preventing a notification from providing visibility to players who aren't able to place GPS pins in another player's vehicle

CHAT CALLOUTS

• Added a brand-new rich presence animation feature to give visibility when players are looking at weather maps for forecasting

• Added the brand-new chat callouts feature to allow players to easily communicate and pinpoint areas of interest on weather product maps

• Chat callouts can be placed by holding right click on the map on any weather product

  • After placing a chat callout, it will be visible on the product it was placed on for 20 seconds

  • Players can only have one active chat callout at a time

  • Chat callouts are broadcasted from all players in the text chat as a system message

• Added a dedicated chat callout tool tip allowing players to zoom in on the most recent chat callout by holding down the open map key bind

SETTINGS MENU

• Added support to edit and navigate the in-game pause menu and settings menu with a controller

• Fixed an issue causing the quality presets to not load correct graphic settings if custom modifications were made previously

• Fixed an issue causing settings menu selections to not update when translation is changed

• Fixed an issue causing voice chat to toggle on while in the settings menu

• Fixed an issue with the INVERT Y AXIS not reverting to previous state when changed

SOCIAL FEATURES

• Added a new message to indicate when a player has lost connection to voice & text chat servers followed up with a notification that the connection is attempting to automatically restore

• Removed "social features disabled" message when players get disconnected from voice & text chat servers, and replaced it with an error message about internet connectivity or outages

• Fixed several issues causing social features to not reconnect after brief latency issues

• Fixed an issue causing social features to not work after a second match in rare cases

• Fixed an issue causing the text chat to be functional before loading into a match

GENERAL BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the refuel bar would become stuck on the screen after entering another players vehicle

• Fixed an issue causing game mode selection drop down to overlap on German translation

• Fixed an issue causing the credits menu to appear French on German translation

• Fixed an issue causing the credits menu to appear French on Spanish translation

• Fixed an issue causing UI overlap on weekly challenge reward pop-up on German translation

• Fixed an issue causing contracts to not update if a new contract is granted while in a match

Hello, Chasers,

This month, we’re covering the upcoming Chat Callouts feature, along with new video content showcasing gameplay and the science behind our weather systems. We’re also entering testing for the Vegetation Update, while development continues on our cloud and tornado systems. Finally, Marc spent time storm chasing in the United States, capturing real tornadoes and gathering insights to bring back into OUTBRK. 

UPCOMING UPDATE: CHAT CALLOUT

Over the past few months, we’ve been teasing our upcoming gameplay feature: Chat Callouts.

This system is designed to make coordination between players faster and more intuitive. You’ll be able to highlight specific points directly on the weather map, making it easier for everyone in the session to focus on key areas.

When a callout is placed, it automatically sends a message in chat. From there, any player can instantly zoom to the latest callout by holding their default map button

NEW VIDEO CONTENT 

This month, we’ve been working on a series of exclusive TikTok videos.

David recorded a breakdown of OUTBRK’s core gameplay loop, while Marc pulled back the curtain on the science powering our weather systems. We also had the chance to record a special feature with legendary storm chaser Daniel Shaw, sharing his thoughts on OUTBRK.

Check out the videos below:

Gameplay of OUTBRK with David:

https://www.tiktok.com/@outbrkgame/video/7629076814429785351

Technology of OUTBRK with Marc:

https://www.tiktok.com/@outbrkgame/video/7631388664286727432

Showcase with Daniel Shaw and his chaser car:

https://www.tiktok.com/@outbrkgame/video/7633542911728094472

VEGETATION UPDATE

We’re excited to confirm that the vegetation update will be our next major release.

This has been one of the most ambitious visual upgrades we’ve tackled so far. We’ve completely reworked terrain textures, ground foliage, trees, and tree destruction from the ground up.

After almost a year of work, we’re finally entering the testing phase.

We’ll be sharing a deeper look in the next newsletter, but for now, take a first look at the updated world map below:

TORNADOES & CLOUDS

As we move closer to completing and progressively releasing the new simulation resolution for weather scenarios, we have updated the advanced weather maps to rely on pure data for CAPE and wind fields. This provides a cleaner result and supports the new offset system that introduces controlled randomness into scenarios.

Significant time has also been spent optimizing the weather model to improve fluidity between frames by up to 5×. This results in more natural storm evolution in-game and better timelapse sequences, while maintaining performance levels that keep production viable. The new resolution will not impact player-side performance.

This will be introduced in an update following the vegetation update.

Regarding tornadoes, the new system is nearing completion. The remaining task is refining the blending between nearby areas of rotation in the clouds to prevent visible artifacts where they intersect. Once this is finalized, the system will move into integration so scenarios can begin using it.

STORM CHASING IRL

OUTBRK’s creator, Marc Rémillard, spent three days chasing storms in the United States last weekend with storm chaser Edgar ONeal. Multiple tornadoes were intercepted.

During the trip, Marc connected with other chasers, including the OTUS team, discussed OUTBRK, and gathered feedback and ideas for future development.

Here are two pictures taken by Marc and Edgar of the tornadoes in Foraker, Oklahoma on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

https://www.edgarthestormchaser.com/

https://www.theotusproject.com/

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

GROUP CHASE

• Fixed an issue causing players to become stuck in a broken matchmaking state while searching for a match

WEEKLY CHALLENGE

• Added a countdown timer on the game mode selection panel so players can see when the next Weekly Challenge starts

• Fixed an issue causing the incorrect week name to be shown when claiming reward

• Fixed an issue allowing players to enter the next Weekly Challenge early

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed an issue where banned players could not see the reason for their ban

• Fixed an issue enabling rich presence text chat modifications

Hello, Chasers!

This month, we’re taking a look back at the launch of our new Weekly Challenges game mode, sharing some upcoming features, and giving you an update on our long term work on the weather systems.

LOOKING BACK ON OUR LATEST UPDATE

We recently released the Weekly Challenges game mode, and after two weeks of intense competition, we already have our first winners.

Week 1 was claimed by Sum Hippie, who topped 1122 players with a score of 190,911. Week 2 was won by Marshall Westing, beating 749 players with a score of 147,628.

We’re very happy with how this new mode has been received so far. If you’ve had the chance to play it, let us know what you think in the comments.

UPCOMING FEATURE: CHAT CALLOUTS

We first shared a design mockup of this feature in our January newsletter, and development has been progressing well. It is now getting close to the testing phase.

You can revisit the original design here:

Since then, we’ve added a new usability improvement. By holding the map button, you can now instantly open the map centered on the most recent callout. This should make reacting to callouts much faster and more intuitive during a chase.

UPCOMING FEATURE: TITLES AND BANNERS

Another customization feature coming to OUTBRK is the addition of player titles and banners.

Production on this feature will begin after chat callouts. It will roll out in two phases. The first phase will introduce a set of free titles and banners to establish the system. The second phase will add challenge based unlockables for players to earn.

These will be displayed on the player card, visible in the bottom left of the main menu and in the pause menu player list. We are also exploring additional ways to showcase player cards across the game, giving players more opportunities to display their achievements.

Here are some early examples of what to expect from this feature:

UPDATE ON VEGETATION

We’re entering the final stretch of the vegetation update.

With destruction modeling now completed for the full set of new trees, we are moving into the final debugging and optimization phase before sending the update to testing. This marks a major step toward delivering this large scale visual upgrade to the world.

Below is a preview of one of the new trees and its destructible parts.

DECALS SYSTEM OVERHAUL

The decal system has been fully refactored to properly support shadows and enable more advanced use cases.

This change allows for full-body decals on vehicles, opening the door to more detailed and dynamic visual customization. To support this, all vehicle models required minor updates, and we are currently finalizing decal rigging across the remaining assets.

This overhaul also comes with performance improvements, particularly in cases with heavier decal usage.

DRIVING MECHANICS REWORK

We started a rework of the driving system to improve overall control and responsiveness.

Vehicles will feel more natural and predictable, especially when cornering. The goal is to reduce the learning curve while maintaining a satisfying level of control.

A dedicated testing phase will soon begin to validate our changes before putting this in the game.

TORNADOES & CLOUD SYSTEMS

We’ve been working on improvements to storm visuals, with a focus on how tornadoes form within the cloud structure.

This work will allow mesocyclones to show visible rotational structure inside the volumetric clouds, with funnel clouds forming directly from the cloud system rather than being treated as separate elements.

This is still actively in development, but it represents a major step toward more realistic tornado formation and visual behavior. Once finalized, these new tornado visuals will be integrated into gameplay scenarios.

SIMULATION RESOLUTION & FORECASTING

The new high-resolution scenario system is nearly ready for production and deployment planning will soon begin.

We also continued testing the OUTBRK Forecaster during a recent severe weather event in the Midwest. Early comparisons between our model run (from the morning of the event) and observed conditions show promising alignment.

Here are the two social media posts we made with our simulations:

https://x.com/OutbrkGame/status/2030821913061151169

https://x.com/OutbrkGame/status/2031545993095729392

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

FIXES

• Fixed an issue where players would not receive points from Quick Chase if they had just completed a Weekly Challenge match in the same game session.

• Updated the wording on the Weekly Challenge screen to improve clarity.

• Added an automatic retry when connecting to PlayFab to retrieve the player account, helping recover from unstable connections on the user, PlayFab, or Steam side.

WEEKLY CHALLENGES

• Added a brand-new game mode selection panel on the play screen.

  • Weekly Challenge: Unlocks a brand-new way to chase in OUTBRK, paving the way for future game modes and limited-time events, while encouraging friendly competition and social interaction within the OUTBRK world as players compete for great rewards.

  • \ OUTBRK Forecaster: Will let players chase real forecast scenarios in the future before they happen based on real model data.

  • Solo Chase: The traditional chase on your own option.

• Added the brand-new Weekly Challenge game mode navigation screen to enter the matchmaking queue, along with viewing the current scenario name, leaderboard, and reward information.

• Chase a fixed scenario that rotates every week with an unlimited number of attempts to try to achieve the highest possible score.

  • Each scenario is selected for its uniqueness to bring an exciting and challenging experience for chasers each week.

  • In the future weekly challenge scenarios will include special events, limited time game modes, new features, and more!

  • After each week, weekly challenge will have a two hour cool down period to allow scores to be finalized and matches to end.

• Estimated total reward allows chasers to determine the amount of OUTBUCKS they will receive from all sources that payout after the weekly challenge ends

  • Placement Reward: Awarded to chasers finishing in one of the top three percentile brackets, with the current required threshold to reach the next tier being displayed above the leaderboard.

    • TOP 10%: 45,000 OUTBUCKS

    • TOP 25%: 25,000 OUTBUCKS

    • TOP 50%: 10,000 OUTBUCKS

    • 50% AND BELOW: No additional placement rewards

  • Community Reward: Awarded to all chasers participating in weekly challenge, encouraging high community participation for higher rewards. The community rank reward increments by 2000 OUTBUCKS every 50 participants

    • Base Reward Tier: 2000 OUTBUCKS

    • Maximum Reward Tier: 20,000 OUTBUCKS

  • Best Chase Reward: Awarded to each chaser individually based on their highest score for the entire week.

• Added the ability to launch weekly challenge from group chase menu.

• Added new scenarios to the scenario pool

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing players to disconnect after entering or exiting a remote players vehicle

• Fixed an issue causing players to die after towing an airborne vehicle

• Fixed an issue preventing players from using social features in rare cases

• Fixed an issue causing the map to zoom in or out when placing GPS pin

• Fixed radio feedback playing when entering a vehicle with social features

• Fixed an issue causing character distance in car app and speedometer values to be equidistant

• Cleaned up & improved logging calls

Hello, Chasers!

This month, we’re sharing a preview of our upcoming new game mode, Weekly Challenges, along with a look at a new car, updated cloud resolution visuals, soundings, and an update on the production of the new tornadoes.

NEXT UPDATE PREVIEW

Our next major update, Weekly Challenges, is in the final phase of testing and is getting close to release. You can see a screenshot from the game below. Full details on how the system works will be included in the patch notes when the update goes live.

UPCOMING CAR : WARDEN

Here is an in-editor preview of the next car coming to OUTBRK, the Warden. Like the other civilian vehicles in the game, it will be fully customizable, and all customization options you’ve previously purchased will be compatible with it.

NEW SCENARIO RESOLUTION

Integration with the new weather model resolution is now complete. We are nearly finished fine-tuning the clouds using this updated data, and the results are aligning well with the intended visual and structural improvements.

The update also includes a new radar resolution, bringing increased detail and clearer gate-to-gate velocity. This allows for sharper storm structure representation and improved readability during severe weather analysis.

The finer resolution also reveals more subtle and dynamic features, including clear slots, more defined inflow notches, and better realism of hail signatures outside the main precipitation core near the mesocyclone. These details contribute to a more accurate and immersive storm analysis experience.

Weather soundings are now fully integrated into these new scenarios. The current “Surface” map will be renamed to Analysis, and it will include surface plots along with weather sounding stations. Players will be able to select from a sounding station to generate a sounding specific to that area. Soundings will not refresh every minute; instead, they will update at longer intervals. Within the sounding interface, players will be able to review the three previous soundings in addition to the current one, making it easier to observe trends and the evolution of weather patterns over time.

The new scenario resolution will be entering the testing queue shortly.

NEW TORNADOES

Most of the core technology for the new tornado system is now complete. The Catalyst team has finalized the integration of the new tornado system into our cloud rendering pipeline.

The current focus is on final adjustments, small bug fixes, and integration into scenarios. Upgrading all existing scenarios to use the new tornado rendering will require a fairly complex conversion process, and some scenarios may need to be regenerated. While this adds additional work, it will result in significantly greater variety in tornado shape, size, and visual features across the board.

More updates to follow as testing progresses.

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

Hello, Chasers!

This month, we’re sharing a preview of upcoming gameplay features, updates on our weather development, and details about our presence at the National Storm Chaser Summit 2026, taking place February 5 to 7.

MOST RECENT UPDATE

Last week, we released a major update that significantly improves the stability of our voice and text chat features while fixing a large number of bugs. Since OUTBRK aims to be a social online multiplayer experience, addressing this backlog of issues and strengthening our social systems was long overdue, and should now allow players to interact with each other far more reliably.

Read the full patch notes here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/695377412021575256/

WEEKLY CHALLENGES

We’re currently working on the Weekly Challenges feature. We recently shared design mockups here, and our programmers have been hard at work implementing the system in game.

One design change we believe players will appreciate is the addition of a community reward granted to all participants, based on the final reward rank achieved during the weekly challenge.

We can’t wait to show this feature in its full form as soon as it's ready.

CHAT CALLOUTS

Another feature currently in the design stage is Weather Product Chat Callouts.

This system will allow players to quickly highlight areas of interest on the weather map for all chasers on the server, improving communication and collaboration during a chase. We’re also adding rich presence indicators (animated mockup for illustration purposes below) so players can see when someone is actively viewing their map.

Players will be able to point to a location on the map to send a preformatted system message in global chat, drawing attention to something worth watching. At the same time, an eye icon will briefly appear on the map to help other players quickly spot the referenced location.

HIGH RESOLUTION CLOUDS

This month, we’ve made strong progress toward finalizing our new model-resolution pipeline and validating the features that come with it. As expected, the increase in resolution brings significantly more detail to cloud structures, especially in the lower portions of storms, and the results are already very apparent. Storm bases now exhibit the complex shapes and features storm chasers expect to see in the field, including horseshoe-shaped bases, RFDs, inflow bands, tilted updrafts, and shelf clouds. Motion has also been refined, improving overall fidelity and delivering a more authentic storm-chasing experience.

TORNADOES DEVELOPMENT

The Catalyst team has continued to make strong progress on the multivortex tornado system introduced last month. Development has advanced significantly, with the core architecture now supporting multiple subvortices within a single tornado, with total control over them. This brings us much closer to fully realized wedge tornadoes and the complex internal dynamics that define them. With the foundation now largely in place, the next phase will focus on integrating this system into our existing scenarios to ensure a smooth and seamless transition to the new tornado model.

NATIONAL STORM CHASER SUMMIT

We’ll be at NSCS 2026 from February 5 to 7, hosting an OUTBRK tournament, meeting fans at the summit, and sharing updates across our social media channels. We have a lot planned, so be sure to mark your calendars.

Tickets are still available, so grab yours now:

https://www.chasersummit.org/

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

SOCIAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Significantly improved communication with other chasers in the same vehicle while driving at high speeds

• Players now have the ability to mute and adjust the volume of other chasers anywhere on the map

• Improved proximity chat volume to gradually fade out instead of abruptly cutting out

• Improved voice chat volume when inside heavy rain or hail

• Improved functionality of player volume sliders in proximity and radio chat

• Improved connection speed to radio channels

• Removed the ability to increase microphone input volume in-game

SOCIAL FIXES

• Fixed multiple issues preventing players from communicating in a chase

• Fixed an issue causing active speaking icons to not appear when communicating over the radio

• Fixed an issue causing proximity chat volume to being lower than intended in a vehicle

• Fixed an issue causing players to receive "Social Features Disabled" popup incorrectly

• Fixed an issue causing the player volume adjustments to not apply over the radio

• Fixed an issue causing active speaking icons to not appear or display properly

• Fixed an issue where muting other players doesn't work over the radio

• Fixed an issue where disabling social features did not apply over the radio

OTHER

• Added new scenarios to the active scenario pool

• Fixed an issue preventing dissipated tornadoes from disappearing properly on the Pro Receiver

• Fixed an issue causing the tornado path to stop drawing in rare cases on the Pro Receiver

Hello, Chasers!

This month, our team is taking some very well-deserved time off during the holidays, but we still have a pretty packed newsletter for you!

LOOKING BACK ON OUR LATEST UPDATE

This month, we released the car tablet module update, followed shortly by a minor update that improved the tornado simulation.

Tablet module

The tablet module and probe receiver update brought a ton of new shareable moments on social media, and we’re very happy with the overall reception from the community.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/682989180373075585/

Tornado simulation improvements

We released an update to our tornadoes shortly after, improving pathing, pressure calculations, and temperature readings. This update was somewhat overshadowed by the major release, but the changes to tornado pathing should now feel much more natural.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/682989526499467247/

NEW GAME MODE: WEEKLY CHALLENGES

Our gameplay development focus is now shifting to the upcoming Weekly Challenge mode. This new mode will let players compete in the same scenario each week, compare their performance on a leaderboard, and earn rewards based on their ranking.

More information will be shared as we get closer to the release of this game mode. For now, here’s a screenshot of a Photoshop mockup of the menu:

The same system is also laying the groundwork for OUTBRK Forecaster, where players will be able to play real model runs tied to upcoming real-world events.

NEW TORNADO

Work on the new tornado system is progressing very well. Most of the shader work is complete, and integration with the volumetric cloud shader is now underway, along with the first steps toward the new multi-vortex system.

We don’t have screenshots to share yet, as this phase is mostly technical, but what’s exciting is that this system gives us the tools to create a massive amount of variation in tornado shape, size, structure, and behaviour. Every tornado will feel unique.

NEW WEATHER MODEL RESOLUTION

We’re wrapping up the workflow for the new, higher-resolution weather model and are currently testing it with new data products such as weather soundings. We’re also planning how to start releasing scenarios generated with this new system and how to introduce them to players.

NEW 3D MODELS

We’re working on new hail guards to fit some more rugged-looking cosmetics currently in production. We’re creating a series of more “backyard / home-built”-style chasing accessories, and this new hail guard will be part of that batch:

CHASER SUMMIT

We’re getting ready for the OUTBRK competition at the National Storm Chaser Summit in Denver, from February 5 to 7, 2026. We’re all very excited to see familiar faces and meet new people. It’s going to be a great time.

Tickets are available at

www.chasersummit.org

That’s all for this development update!

Thanks for all your support. Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

TORNADO SIMULATION

• Updated the pressure calculation to follow cyclostrophic vortex physics, improving realism and alignment with real-world tornado probe data.

• Temperature changes now respond more accurately to rapid pressure fluctuations inside strong tornadoes.

• Improved tornado pathing to be smoother and more natural.

• Fixed an issue where tornado pressure drops were underestimated at higher wind speeds.

UI

• Added back the refuel progress bar so refueling can be tracked without being in the vehicle.

• Fixed pure gold color showing up as unique (green).

CAR TABLET

• Added a brand-new Car Tablet UI that displays four in-vehicle applications:

  • Minimap: Displays your current location, compass, and an active warning indicator.

  • MesoLink: Displays current wind data if the vehicle has a mesonet equipped

  • Car Data: Displays crucial vehicle information such as speed, fuel level, active accessories, and the passenger occupancy indicator.

  • Probe Receiver: Synchronizes with the probes data to display receiver information in real time.

• Added tornado warning notifications if the vehicle is equipped with an active antenna.

• Added EAS alerts that trigger upon entering a tornado warning (can be disabled in settings).

PROBE RECEIVERS

• Added the Probe Receiver, an upgrade that can track probe status, tornado location, and environmental conditions with exact precision depending on receiver upgrades applied.

• Added five trackable status levels to the probe receiver, to determine how the probe is currently interacting with the environment:

  • UNDEPLOYED: The probe isn’t placed anywhere in the OUTBRK world, and no data is being read.

  • DEPLOYED: The probe is on the ground and reading environmental conditions in real time; however, no tornadic data is being detected or recorded.

  • RECORDING: Tornadic winds are in range, and the probe is actively recording data in real time.

  • DATA CAPTURED: Your best intercept (relative to probe placement) has been captured, and the probe is ready to be picked up to begin uploading.

  • UPLOADING: The probe has been picked up, and the player has entered any car to begin the upload.

    • Displays points earned, distance from tornado, and maximum wind speed recorded.

• Includes three unlockable probe receiver tiers in the charcter shop—Free, Plus, and Pro—each offering a higher level of environmental precision:

  • Free Receiver (Unlocked By Default): Enables direct data communication to the Probe Receiver Tablet App.

    • Displays the windspeed and probe status

  • Plus Receiver (20,000 OUTBUCKS): Enables the range finder to display a visual graph, displaying the tornadic wind speeds honing in on the probes center location during an intercept.

    • After the data is captured, a shadow circle will appear showing the tornado departing.

    • The exact distance from the tornado is displayed above the range finder.

  • Pro Receiver (100,000 OUTBUCKS + Purchase of Plus Receiver): Enhances the receiver to track temperature and pressure deltas, and further enhances the range finder.

    • Range finder shows the precise path of the tornado on the grid, along with the exact radius of tornadic winds.

      • As the tornado approaches, the range finder will zoom in to display a more accurate path and size relative to probe location.

    • Once the highest data point is captured, the receiver will show the location of the highest data point by displaying a yellow circle resembling the tornado.

CHANGES

• Enhanced vehicle engines to sound more realistic and unique to each specific car model

• Changed the Dominator 3 deploy icon to an anchor

• Updated the scenario rotation to include several new scenarios

• Increased the frequency of mesonet updates

FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing players to be disconnected from servers after entering a vehicle lofted by a tornado

• Fixed an issue causing errors when attempting to open the text chat before loading into the game

• Fixed the tachometer and speedometer being inverted on the PredaTor

Hello, Chasers! This month we’re showing our work on the new car module UI, updates on our different weather systems, and updates on upcoming 3D models.

CAR MODULE AND PROBE RECEIVER

We’ve been iterating quite a lot on the UI displayed at the bottom right when driving and this feature is now in the latest stages of QA testing. This interface displays critical information to everyone in the vehicle, and the latest iteration not only looks more polished, but more clearly communicates actionable data from your deployed probe through the Probe Receiver.

The Probe Receiver itself is an upgradable module available in the shop with three tiers: Free, Plus, and Pro. Each tier unlocks new diagnostic tools, detailed stats, and advanced readouts, giving chasers progressively deeper insight into storm behavior and probe performance.

Here are some in-game screenshots:

WEATHER SYSTEM

The weather model is now close to fully operational and we’re finishing the last steps before starting the machine and producing scenarios at the new resolution. 

This new generation of scenarios will bring new ways of adding variation to make sure no one can simply replay a scenario and know where storms will be without analyzing the weather conditions again. 

We’re also adding soundings to the game, so players will soon be able to view Skew-T, hodographs, and a long list of atmospheric parameters, giving forecasting fans the full set of tools they expect.

NEW TORNADO

The team has completed the foundation of the new system and the volumetric lighting work that goes with it. It’s very technical but essential. They’re now finishing the visible rotation on tornadoes, and after that the focus shifts to multi-vortex capabilities.

3D MODELS

The TIV2 modeling is complete and is now starting the texturing stage !

Here is also a sneak peak of some more cosmetics being working on:

CHASER SUMMIT

If you’re planning to join us at the National Storm Chaser Summit, now’s the time to secure your tickets. The event sold out last year and it’s clearly heading that way again. Prices increase on December 1, so make sure you grab your spot before then. Everyone attending will be able to take part in the OUTBRK tournament we’re hosting at the summit, with some very cool prizes waiting for the winners.

https://www.chasersummit.org/

That's all for this development update ! Thanks for all your support, consider leaving a review on the steam store to reach more potential future chasers !

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

NEW ADDITIONS

• Added the brand new PredaTor vehicle

  • Unique vehicle equipped with two LED light bars, a mobile weather station, a communication antenna, and armoured glass with 100% hail resistance

  • Priced at 265,000 OUTBUCKS

• Integrated brand new Edgar Oneal (HOME | EdgarTheStormChaser) character and vehicle customization options

  • 4 Edgar T-Shirts

  • 3 Edgar car decals

• Integrated Pink Pony Storm Chaser Club decal

• Added auto-stop dominator before anchoring, and a system message confirming the anchoring action.

• Added several new scenarios to the active rotation

• Made all paint colors free

FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing the game to freeze when pressing the exit vehicle key while towing

• Fixed an issue causing players to die when entering a dead player's car

• Fixed an issue causing the radio not to close when pressing the "ESC" button

• Fixed an issue causing the solstice hail damage texture to cover the entire screen

• Fixed an issue causing the gathering probe points contract to auto-complete

• Fixed an issue causing players to die after towing their vehicle if it was previously lofted

• Fixed DOM3 flying into the air or rolling away after spawning in

• Fixed lightbars not appearing for some players on the DOM3 & LSC

• Fixed player name tags not appearing when loading into a match

• Fixed the brake caliper being in the wrong location on the VAN

• Fixed a sign labeled "Kickstarter Village" in Lost Flag Village

• Fixed the lock/unlocked door notification appearing when typing in the text chat

Hello, Chasers! This month we’re sharing what our programmers are working on, our important presence at the National Storm Chaser Summit, the progress on the new tornadoes, and the progress on the TIV2 modeling.

CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT - VIVOX

Vivox, our text and voice chat system, has faced several stability issues and limitations since launch. This month, we are dedicating time to addressing every problem documented by our testers and reported by the community in order to provide a solid, reliable foundation for all social features.

One of the most common issues players have encountered is the “Social features disabled” message that appears when the Vivox service experiences a connection problem.

This development stint will take care of this along with a wide range of stability improvements, including fixes for car radio communication, social settings in menus, and player muting functionality.

NATIONAL STORM CHASER SUMMIT

OUTBRK is heading to Denver, Colorado!

Join us at the National Storm Chaser Summit, taking place February 5-7, 2026.

Marc and members of the OUTBRK team will be there in person to meet the community and, together with storm chaser Edgar O’Neal, will host an official OUTBRK tournament with awesome prizes up for grabs!

The tournament is free for all summit attendees, so grab your ticket and come experience OUTBRK alongside some of the best storm chasers and severe weather enthusiasts in the world. Secure your ticket at

chasersummit.org

TORNADO DEVELOPMENT 

On the Catalyst side, the new tornado system has seen great progress. Most of its volumetric foundation is now complete. Tornadoes will no longer just be cloud-filled volumes, but true columns of rotating wind. The next steps are to bring their rendering up to the same fidelity as our cloud systems, replacing the current development preview you see in the screenshot. Once that’s complete, we’ll move on to validating the rotational behavior. After that, the focus will shift to implementing the multi-vortex structure, which has been accounted for in the system’s core architecture since the beginning of this rework.

TIV2 - INTERIOR MODELING

The TIV2 is one of the most anticipated vehicles in the OUTBRK community, and we’re giving it the attention it deserves. Our team is working closely with the TIV2 crew and our modeler to capture every detail with precision. The interior modeling is currently underway, and the results are already looking incredible.

Here’s a first look at some work-in-progress shots:

That's all for this development update ! Thanks for all your support, consider leaving a review on the steam store to reach more potential future chasers !

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the blur effect was missing on AMD GPUs, introduced with the WindShield VFX update.

VEHICLE EXPERIENCE

• Added a brand new Windshield VFX System

  • Realistic rain behavior & coverage to significantly decrease visibility that adapts based on precipitation rate

  • Dynamic streaking and directional flow based upon environmental conditions (wind direction, driving angle & speed, etc)

• Added a brand new 360-degree immersive audio system directly tied to current environment

  • Includes heavy rain, wind gusts, and dust impacting the vehicle's surface for elevated immersion in the strongest storms.

SCENARIOS

• Added several new scenarios to the active rotation

• Improved anvil lighting on all scenarios

FIXES

• Fixed an issue where the “Direct Hits from Tornado” statistic did not register after direct tornado impacts

• Fixed the text chat not closing while pressing "ESC" when used alongside the radio

• Fixed the motion sickness feature toggling on any enter/exit in a server

• Fix attempt for white geometry covering the world scene in sporadic cases

SECURITY

• Updated to the latest 2021 Unity Engine version to patch critical security vulnerability on previous Unity versions.

Please reference the official statement below by Unity for more information on this incident

Unity Security Vulnerability: Developer Remediation Guide

Hello, Chasers! This month we’re sharing exciting progress on bug fixes, vegetation updates, rain effects on vehicle windows, our upgraded weather model, and more. Also, OUTBRK is 20% off during the Steam Autumn Sale, making it the perfect time to join the chase or bring a friend along!

AUTUMN STEAM SALE AND BUG FIXES

We’re kicking things off with great news: OUTBRK is 20% off during the Steam Autumn Sale! A perfect chance to grab the game or get a friend chasing storms with you.

On the development side, we’ve been tackling technical improvements and bug fixes. One major fix is with daily contracts. Previously, if you skipped a few days, you only had one new contract waiting. Now, if you miss three days, you’ll find three contracts ready when you return.

We’re also working hard on connection and stability issues with our in-game text and voice chat. Expect these improvements in an upcoming update.

VEGETATION

The world of OUTBRK keeps evolving. A lot of progress has been made on vegetation across the map, and we’re excited to share some fresh previews here:

RAIN ON VEHICLE WINDOWS

We rebuilt the entire rain-on-glass system from the ground up. The goal: turn core-punching (driving through the precipitation core of a storm) from a visual effect into a genuine gameplay constraint. What’s new:

• Fully remade VFX pipeline: New material setup and simulation logic. Visibility now degrades under realistic conditions; wipers are no longer cosmetic.

• Wind-aware occlusion: Window obstruction scales with ambient wind, vehicle speed, and vehicle yaw vs. wind direction, matching real-world behavior.

• New 3D audio details have been added.

The feature is now complete and headed into its second round of QA testing.

WEATHER MODEL IMPROVEMENTS

We closed the loop on our higher-resolution model workflow: from generating new runs to converting fields into a game-readable format. As expected, cloud structures now resolve far more detail, especially in the lower parts of storms: what used to be a flat base now shows horseshoe shapes with RFD wrapping, clear slots, inflow bands, and wall clouds. This also improves perceived motion in the clouds. We’re finishing the last touch-ups to enable fast model runs with real-time output previewing so we can adjust simulations more quickly. We’re also working on adding new products for the map’s advanced section, as well as soundings. Once this is ready, we’ll share more details on how we’ll deploy this new generation of scenarios. This tech also unlocks OUTBRK Forecaster: model runs of imminent real-world weather events that we generate ahead of time and surface in-game before they occur, making it essentially the prototype of a new way to check live weather models.

Captured in editor, not final lighting.

PARTY SYSTEM

We’ve been designing an improved party system that makes it easier to chase together. Players will soon be able to:

• Stay grouped between games

• Customize social settings for the exact level of interaction they want

For example, if a party enables restricted interactions (party only), members will only see their party’s player icons and storm reports on the map, read their party’s text chat, and hear voice chat from their own group.

In this mockup you’ll notice enhanced player cards featuring titles and levels. These are purely exploratory visuals, we’re not actively designing how they work yet, just planning ahead and exploring possibilities.

GEFORCE NOW

OUTBRK has officially joined GeForce NOW. Players without high-end PCs can now subscribe to the service and stream OUTBRK on powerful cloud hardware.

That's all for this development update ! Thanks for all your support, consider leaving a review on the steam store to reach more potential future chasers !

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

ACCESSIBILITY

• Added two brand new launch options to help assist with motion sickness while driving.

  • Launch argument "MotionSicknessMode 1" adds a centered crosshair while driving

  • Launch argument "MotionSicknessMode 2" adds a centered crosshair and a subtle vignette while driving.

To access launch options simply, right click on OUTBRK in the steam library and click properties.

SCENARIOS

• Added several new scenarios to the scenario pool

• Cleaned up scenario pool to allow more of the newer scenarios first in matchmaking

• Added more variations in terms of tornado shape and size, along with the dust cloud on all new scenarios.

FIXES

• Fixed players not able to exit other vehicles if their vehicle is in motion

• Fixed "Refuel At St. John" daily contract task not completing from the correct gas station

• Added a fail safe to help prevent certain parts of the world from disappearing when game files are corrupted.

SCENARIOS

• Added several scenarios

• Cleaned up scenario pool to allow more of the newer scenarios first in matchmaking

Hello, Chasers! This month we’re excited to share our progress on UI improvements, visual effects, vegetation updates, and more!

UI IMPROVEMENTS

We’re working on improving our user interface elements to improve readability at a glance when driving. The different systems we’re currently tackling are the player icons on the map and the car module when sitting in the car.

MAP PLAYER ICONS

We’re making the in-game map easier to read. Right now, when several players are close together, names and icons tend to overlap and make things messy. Our goal with this update is to keep the map clear and simple while still giving you all the information you need at a glance and without getting in the way of weather products.

The new design combines each player’s info directly into their icon. You’ll be able to spot friends quickly by the first letter of their Steam name and the color of their car, with an option to display passenger counts if needed. Here’s a rough programmer-art preview of the concept, but keep in mind it’s still early and our UI artist hasn’t worked his magic yet.

UNIFIED CAR MODULE

We’re also refining how information is displayed while driving, aiming for a cleaner and more unified look across the interface. At the same time, we’re beginning to integrate our new design for the probe receiver data module. The screenshot below is a Photoshop mockup that represents our current vision for how these modules could come together. Keep in mind that this is still a work in progress, and the final in-game version will look different once fully implemented.

VISUAL EFFECTS PROGRESS

Rain on Window FX + Tornadoes

The rain effect on vehicle windows is nearing completion. The system now calculates the trajectory and accumulation of raindrops based on a combination of environmental wind vectors and the velocity of the vehicle. This means the orientation of each window surface relative to the wind field and vehicle direction directly determines how obstructed it becomes. A practical example: at 30 mph with a 60 mph tailwind, the windshield registers almost no rain while the rear window accumulates heavily.

We also integrated spatialized audio tied to these effects. Heavy rain bands have their own 3D-positioned audio sources that move with the storm environment, while dust impacts produce a “sandblasting” effect that shifts around the vehicle body. Both are linked to the same environmental data that drives the visuals, so the player hears exactly what they see.

On the tornado side, the Catalyst team is continuing work on the foundations of the new system. Their focus right now is on core architecture changes that will allow more detail and more accurate behavior once the system is fully implemented.

VEGETATION UPDATE PROGRESS

Last month we outlined the next steps for the vegetation update across OUTBRK’s world. As a quick reminder, these included major tool improvements (Trello link.), reducing overall tree density by about 30%, and replacing all ground foliage assets.

We’ve made significant progress on all fronts, and David is now repopulating the map for a fresh round of visual and performance testing. This is still an iterative process, with more work ahead on both the level design tools and the vegetation itself. In the meantime, here are two updated screenshots taken directly from the editor (please note these are not final gameplay visuals):

NEW 3D MODEL

CHAIN LINK HAIL CAGE (work in progress)

NEW DISCORD SUPPORT SECTION

Our lead tester, WalkOverYou, has set up a brand-new support section on our Discord server to make bug reporting smoother and more efficient. This will help us track community-reported issues faster and respond to your concerns more easily.

Discord remains the quickest way to reach us directly, but don’t forget that we also keep a close eye on the Steam forums for bug reports and general feedback.

If you haven’t joined yet, hop into our Discord here: http://discord.gg/outbrk

Here is what the new support section look like:

That's all for this development update ! Thanks for all your support, consider leaving a review on the steam store to reach more potential future chasers !

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team

BUG FIXES

Graphics

• Added security measures to all compute-shaders to prevent GPU crashes on specific hardware setups

• Extensively cleaned up compute-shaders to mitigate errors and GPU stalls

GPU CRASHES

We are actively working on fixing the remaining issues causing GPU crashes in the game, and we believe we have identified most if not all of them in this patch. If you experience another crash after this patch, we ask that you please fill out a bug report with your player.log file via the Bug Report form in our Discord server. We will assist in real time to resolve any remaining issues causing game crashes. We appreciate your patience with this issue!

- The OUTBRK Team