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OUTBRK: Development Outlook (May 2025)May 31, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello, Chasers! This month, we focused on squashing the final bugs as we prepare to launch our biggest update yet: version 0.3.0. At the same time, we're already hard at work on future updates such as contracts, updated probe gameplay and producing a lot more customization options. 0.3.0 UPDATE — ALMOST THERE! We’re putting the final touches on the 0.3.0 update before giving it the green light. This one’s been a beast, and we’ve poured a ton of time into optimizing both assets and core systems across the board. Our focus has been to stabilize the framerate so you experience fewer dips and a much smoother chase overall. It wasn’t all smooth sailing—some changes unexpectedly worsened performance before we could dial things in—but that’s part of the process. We’re now deep in final testing, which will confirm how much we’ve improved both average FPS and frame stability. Also worth mentioning: RAM usage has seen a modest reduction in this update, but we’re aiming for a much more substantial memory improvement with the upcoming world update that's currently in the works. WHAT’S NEXT — BEYOND 0.3.0 While 0.3.0 wraps up, our internal team hasn’t slowed down. We’re already building future updates: Angeline has made major strides on the upcoming contracts system, which will deepen your gameplay with new goals and rewards. Mathieu has been hard at work on a major backend improvement to decouple scenarios from game updates, allowing us to introduce new content—like upcoming real-life storm events—as playable scenarios on the fly. He’s also architected a full revamp of the probe system, laying the groundwork for smarter, more dynamic data gathering. NEW WEATHER MODEL — A GAME CHANGER We’re excited to share that the most complex part of our new weather model is DONE. The new system delivers exponentially higher resolution while running about twice as fast as the current version. That means better storms, faster updates, and more realism across the board. Our next step? We’re working on fully automating the process. Soon, we’ll be able to spin up new weather models on demand—just by plugging in coordinates, time ranges, and the parent model used for initiation. TONS OF NEW 3D MODELS ON THE WAY Here are some previews of assets our 3d modelers worked on this month that we will integrate in OUTBRK in future content updates: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/0e3e01a55e45d1930b3dcdfbfc7c3e9b58bef097.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/0b31d1aef8f65a6a1644d5d5225cf6fff3f84135.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/f28b87f14a6e1d42b422c800da78c3a17828c691.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/e5ce193320e9764dba6da96031efc56328037610.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9571f517c31370fd545f3fdcc0859d2f3cdf888a.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/4dd43265580b05e5c5d6fa9dd4340051f9fc0662.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9dfcf6c25f47329ab000d4870ff63547e2c191b9.png You can follow our progress on all our tasks here: https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game That's all for this development update ! Thanks...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (April 2025)Apr 30, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello, Chasers! This month, our efforts have been focused on squashing bugs for the upcoming major update 0.3, laying the groundwork for the new Daily Contracts feature, completing the repainting of terrain textures to support the new vegetation, and more. DEBUGGING 0.3 Releasing a major update is always a significant undertaking. This month alone, we've resolved nearly 90 bugs identified by our Quality Assurance team. While a few issues remain, we're making steady progress. Our QA team will continue conducting multiple review passes to ensure that our fixes don’t introduce any unexpected side effects. We've been working closely with the Catalyst team to eliminate all remaining visual artifacts caused by cloud downsampling, while also delivering the significant rain visual overhaul we previously teased. Throughout this process, we're carefully tracking game performance across various situations to ensure a smoother and more immersive experience. Overall, we're on track and confident that this highly anticipated update will meet our players’ expectations for quality and performance. TORNADO VISUALS UPDATE Between testing sessions, we've been providing the Catalyst team with a steady stream of real-world tornado footage to inspire the next major step after update 0.3: enhancing tornado behavior and visuals. The current tornado system is still in its early stages and lacks many of the complex details, shapes, and dynamics we ultimately aim to achieve. While our main focus remains on polishing and delivering update 0.3, planning for the next phase of tornado improvements is already well underway. NEW UPCOMING FEATURE: DAILY CONTRACTS We’re excited to introduce a new way to earn currency: Daily Contracts. This feature, coming in an update after version 0.3, allows players to complete bite-sized challenges in exchange for currency rewards, helping them progress toward their next garage unlock. Players will receive one new Daily Contract each day, with the ability to store up to three at a time. If a particular challenge doesn’t appeal to them, they’ll also have the option to reroll one contract of their choice each day. Here’s a sneak peek at the feature currently in development: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/59420ecbe59988cf689332aef8fdebb6b2211c80.png UPDATE ON VEGETATION We’ve made tremendous progress this month on the vegetation repainting pass. The entire world map has received a fresh layer of terrain texture painting, and new vegetation is currently being regenerated. Once the regeneration process is complete, which takes time but runs automatically, we’ll review the results in-game to ensure they align with our creative vision. After that, we’ll fine-tune the technical data for each vegetation asset and prepare everything for in-game destruction. We’re excited about this major visual upgrade and can’t wait to bring it to the world of OUTBRK. UPDATE ON THE TIV2 MODELING To finish the newsletter on a high note, here are the latest screenshots of ou...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (March 2025)Mar 31, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello, Chasers! This month we started to build the next major update for OUTBRK, which will be our 0.3 version. We’re also showing a preview of new character customisation to come in the future and showing some progress on our update to our weather model. WELCOMING A NEW TEAM MEMBER This month, we welcomed a new full-time member to our development team! Angeline is joining us as our newest programmer to help accelerate the development of gameplay features and quality-of-life improvements. She’s already proven to be incredibly skilled and a great fit for the team. Say hi to her on Discord! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/606e4023fbf11e3dd453f0c16cb09dd35acf0ad6.png BUILDING THE 0.3 UPDATE: PERFORMANCE UPDATE PROGRESS Performance and visuals upgrade of the weather is the main core of the 0.3 update. Our VFX team is putting the final touches on a major visual upgrade that eliminates nearly all rendering artifacts—like the blue or white pixels you might have noticed around trees, small objects, or distant geometry. These improvements also resolve pixellisation issues around objects, regardless of your cloud downsampling settings. On top of that, they've contributed to a major refactor of our weather data packaging system, resulting in a reduced memory footprint for scenarios and what appears to be a significant overall performance boost. With these changes—plus enhanced rain visuals and improved volumetric lighting—the storm chasing experience is about to look better, run smoother, and feel a whole lot scarier. (Screenshot taken with cloud downsampling set to its maximum value of 2) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d57a2a2d825e67730c234c8d26618befeed24ea3.jpg VEHICLES ON THE MAP We're adding new icons to the map to display vehicle locations, along with small info cards that show each vehicle’s occupancy in real time. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/5c846bd58510035b8a99f5a0ae1a7dcdcf0cb517.png SEAT INDICATOR We’re adding an indicator to show in which seat the player is sitting in and how many passengers are sitting in the car. This will be a crucial piece of information for drivers in sticky situations waiting for passengers to get back in their car before taking off as fast as possible. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d1b4b2e413beae7f4336a289d6553ebe6c063570.png REMOVAL OF “LOOK BACK” ACTION We're removing the "look back" action and replacing it with a fully immersive free-look system, giving you the ability to look around naturally in any direction. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/86d9d9c753c1054ff9e4b088c33a3027189df1d0.gif VEHICLE LIGHTS We’ve completely overhauled the engine’s lighting system to define our own custom falloff rates. This results in more realistic illumination of roads and objects ahead of vehicles. Lightbars now cast light properly as well, adding to the intensity and realism of the chase experience. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/82eee9c620ae98d98487ebd202b359fdb82be706.gif TOW AVAILABILITY AND MAP ICON Since not every gas station is a location you can ...HOTFIX 0.2.3.1139 - Controller improvements & bug fixesMar 7, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsCHANGES Changed "radio voice chat" from d-pad down to LB, for a more enjoyable driving + radio experience Changed "toggle action wheel" from LB to d-pad down Changed "toggle advanced products" from LB to left joystick click FIXES Fixed an issue with UI showing the wrong button for certain actions when using a controller Fixed an issue causing sudden death when stuck between gas pump and vehicles EDIT We forgot to mention that we made small changes to the dominator. increased the dominator's weight, and slightly increased the torque and brake strengthUPDATE 0.2.3.1113- Car Radio, Community Guidelines, and Bug Fixes!Mar 6, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsNEW FEATURES Added a functional CB radio to all cars in online matches {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9a8809d77a078871d1f9d352f946c8f111e2833c.png A total of 5 car-to-car communication channels with a default muted channel Ability to adjust channels in the driver and copilot seats Added an official community guidelines agreement to foster a safe and welcoming environment {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/44e0f70c30ead0540f98d75326c0d4c682c7213e.png Every update going forward will prompt this agreement Enforceable by new moderation features to ensure compliance {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/be36e86161fc540da1f2d40c2ad55c9546323dbe.png Added functional anti-aliasing Available in FXAA & SMAA CHANGES Updated the scenario pool to incorporate 15 brand new scenarios Updated the F9 menu to support reporting players and removed feedback category to remove noise from the reports. Keep sending feedback via Discord and Steam! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/b7bd84b8b92e3eabfe87d3038aad940968f354ea.png Changed controller bindings of Probe to DPad up and Camera to Dpad right to accommodate Car Radio being on Dpad Up. Removed some actions being replicated on the server to boost performance Removed voice chat icon displaying in offline mode to prevent confusion Removed the option to view game credits while in a match Removed all preexisting anti-aliasing options FIXES Fixed multiple issues causing the players screen to freeze after exiting vehicle Fixed an issue causing some servers to crash Fixed an issue causing a scenario to crash half way through Fixed an issue with a tornado appearing out of nowhere in a single scenario Fixed an issue with solstice wiper blades not clearing rain Fixed an issue causing players to get stuck in vehicles if opening camera while entering Fixed an issue causing terrain to not unload after driving long distances resulting in flying grass Fixed an issue causing the credits menu to not open while on title screen Fixed index errors on tornado calculations Fixed some logging at the end of scenarios OUTBRK: Development Outlook (February 2025)Feb 28, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello, Chasers! This month we prepared the content of the imminent new car radio feature and community guidelines update, started integrating and preparing to release the massive performance and storm visual update that will follow, and progressed on two new exciting unique chaser cars. UPCOMING UPDATE: CAR RADIO AND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES We’re in the final stage of testing our upcoming patch that will include a new multi-channel car radio feature that will allow players to voice chat with each other from car to car. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9a8809d77a078871d1f9d352f946c8f111e2833c.png We’re also implementing community guidelines that all players will see the first time they launch OUTBRK and have to accept it in order to play the game. This code of conduct outlines general online rules surrounding text chat, voice chat and general behavior. Breaking the community guidelines might result in different disciplinary actions such as getting prevented from using text and voice chat, or playing in multiplayer games for a limited time. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/44e0f70c30ead0540f98d75326c0d4c682c7213e.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/be36e86161fc540da1f2d40c2ad55c9546323dbe.png PERFORMANCE AND VISUAL UPDATE Right after this update goes live, we jump right back to work into preparing to finally release our biggest update to our volumetric weather since launch. This will include not only a notable improvement on performance, but also significant improvements on the visuals of the rain shafts, tornado blending, anti-aliasing, fog and lighting all around the environment. This is a massive one and we’re very excited about it! Here are few teasers, captured in editor, about what to come: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/1ea5c0f4c81598039f12d95fbb899ca2f3b2f154.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/154feaefe789b414e915844234db78b6dcb73fe4.gif NEW UNIQUE CARS We're not done with cool news. Here are some cars that are currently under development, in partnership with the car owners and our 3d modelers. First of all, the PredaTOR from Prairie Storm Chasers https://prairiechasers.com/vehicles {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/7fd736cffb7328ae87182d984263ae68ac8e37a1.png And we're very pleased to announce that we're bringing the TIV2 (https://stormofpassion.com/) to OUTBRK! The TIV team sent us a large amount of reference pictures and we're building the car as close to the reference material as possible. Here is a work in progress picture. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/1b6f20629a542deb8c55fa4e2c32395e7a00efbd.png NEXT STEPS With the progress made on the clouds and performances by our VFX team, they are now ready to start working on upgrading our tornado technology to bring bigger and more realistic tornadoes to OUTBRK. On the vegetation update side, we keep progressing on technical tasks to accelerate the deployment of the new grass and trees while improving rendering performance. We also hired a freelance vegetation modeler to create the broken version of all those new trees to ha...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (January 2025)Jan 31, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello, Chasers! This month, we released a patch enhancing the private match experience, kicked off development on sanctions for toxic players, and made progress on the vegetation update. Additionally, we have an update on the Catalyst team’s work on improving clouds and tornadoes. IMPROVEMENTS TO PRIVATE MATCHES AND SMALLER GROUPS We recently released a patch that lowers the minimum group size required to start a private match on a dedicated server from 8 to 4 players. Additionally, we introduced a timer for groups with fewer than 4 players, allowing the match to start automatically if additional players aren’t found during matchmaking. These changes aim to make it easier for friends to quickly start a chase together. However, early player feedback suggested this may have unintentionally reduced the number of players in open lobbies. To address this, we’ve just released a hotfix that should resolve the issue and restore a better balance between fast matchmaking for small groups and keeping open lobbies populated. This update also introduced UI improvements for passengers, allowing them to view the minimap and access important data, including wind speed (if the driver has the mesonet upgrade) and their own probe data. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/1158b3f152f17b36b4db5dfeefa384072fd8b310.png You can read the full patch notes of this update here : https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/597391378287190879/ ADDRESSING PLAYERS TOXICITY We’re aware that every online environment is bound to have a few bad eggs. We’ve been working on a solution to be able to put sanctions on players actively trying to be a nuisance online by abusing voice and text chat or having other unacceptable behaviors. In a future update that is soon to be entering its testing phase, we will be able to put timed or permanent restrictions to text and voice chat, or even to online play entirely to players that do not respect our terms of services. A more official and detailed communication will come regarding this in due time. VEGETATION UPDATE PROGRESS The vegetation update is a colossal task, but the technical work and preparation work is complete and the work in the world is starting. Here is a screenshot of the playground where all the assets and biomes were crafted and layed out next to each others to validate the cohesion and general feel of the entire palette: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/54d4a5b2da482e3eeb0b6b651f33fe28cc0428d8.png XQC PLAYS OUTBRK Twitch/Kick streamer XQC played OUTBRK a few times this month and made a video on his youtube channel. This is very relevant for us since we made a bunch of easter eggs about him in the tutorial room. XQC played on his own (not a sponsored stream) and loved the game enough to come back to it a few days in a row. We made a post on reddit to show the easter eggs we planted about him: https://www.reddit.com/r/xqcow/comments/1hveaak/outbrk_tutorial_room_xqc_easter_eggs/ Here is his youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watc...HOTFIX 0.2.2.1075 - Group Matchmaking AdjustmentJan 31, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsFIXES Increased timer for group chase to automatically convert to private match from 45s to 180s, to improve matchmaking. HOTFIX 0.2.2.1074- Hiding UI FixesJan 30, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsFIXES Fixed an issue causing the UI to not restore after toggling it back on with F1 Fixed an issue causing the camera to disappear on players after hiding the UI Fixed an issue causing player names on top of vehicles to not hideUPDATE 0.2.2.1073 - Private Matches, Voice Chat Improvements, and Bug Fixes!Jan 30, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsNEW FEATURES Added dedicated private server matchmaking option to group chase Requires 4 players to launch dedicated private server If a group is under 4 players, a private match will automatically be created if no match is found within 45 seconds Added visual display information while being a passenger Includes minimap, probe data, mesonet data, and warnings. Added a feature to center the map around your character Added a settings option to automatically center the map whenever reopening it Added a key bind to manually center the map CHANGES Improved the voice chat menu and activities to update in real time Added real time active speaker indicators to chaser menu and player's character Disabling social features now correctly sync across server Improved party matchmaking by disabling the option to cancel the match while loading in a game to prevent errors Improved the antenna to allow all vehicle passengers to receive warning notifications if enabled FIXES Fixed an issue causing passenger death to be out of sync with the drivers death Fixed an issue causing passengers to die unintentionally from debris Fixed an issue causing passenger player models to remain in vehicle after disconnecting Fixed an issue causing the distance driven statistic to not update for vehicle passengers Fixed an issue causing the party host privileges to transfer to other players unintentionally Fixed an issue causing the refuel bar to overlap with the product menu map Fixed an issue causing the "You have Died" screen to not appear if UI was disabled Fixed an issue causing a bright light to get stuck on the screen when loading in a match Fixed an issue causing a scenario to not have all advanced product maps loaded Fixed an issue causing the minimap not being hidden with F1 toggled Fixed an issue causing the chat history to not clear when entering a new match after losing connection Fixed multiple errors causing problems with entering/exiting a vehicle HOTFIX 0.2.1.1027 - Fix for probe deploy interruption bug.Jan 9, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsFIX Fixed probe deploy being interrupted by remote players entering their vehicle UPDATE 0.2.1.1026 - Hammerhead Vehicle, New Scenarios, and Bug Fixes!Jan 9, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsNEW FEATURES Added the new Hammerhead vehicle Enhanced off-road experience with 4WD Higher fuel consumption than the traditional car {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/2e6d14113abf84aac6accd81d2496e46ef200087.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/aac69fa47faccb7291fb8cdf0ed9403b9e8bef49.jpg Added ten new weather scenarios CHANGES Improved visibility of screen resolutions in the settings menu when the resolution is incorrectly altered by windows Improved networking of the dominator's anchor state to prevent deployment issues Improved game preloading phase by adding boot information Removed four existing scenarios from the rotation FIXES Fixed an issue where players could survive a tornado by standing on top of an anchored Dominator Fixed an issue where players couldn't exit vehicle if they entered while taking a photo Fixed an issue causing characters or vehicles to stay in-game even after the player left the lobby Fixed an issue locking the UI when entering the vehicle during probe interaction Fixed an issue causing a loud noise while loading back to garage from a game Fixed Zenith car seats improperly rigged, causing players to pile up in the driver's seat. Fixed missing game textures making servers crash mid-game Fixed John's ability to see his own eyebrows OUTBRK: Development Outlook (December 2024)Dec 31, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHappy holiday chasers! This month we released OUTBRK version 0.2 that contained the very anticipated passenger princess feature to allow players to ride in the same car, a new car: the Solstice, a lot of new car and character cosmetic options, and more ! RELEASE OF THE PASSENGER PRINCESS UPDATE 0.2 was our most successful release to date! Our testers did a fantastic job to help us release a very stable feature right from day 1 and we’re extremely happy to see how our community engaged with the feature. This was a colossal amount of work to get this feature ready but seeing all the crazy moments that emerged from players sitting in the same car is definitely worth it. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/30fa02d115d5fe4d34ed538cc6f940777c663beb.png MORE CUSTOMIZATION Part of the 0.2 update, we dramatically increased the amount of customization content in the game, with a brand new car, new wheels, new bullbars including rally lights, a new hail guard, a new bubblehead, new shirts, pants, shoes, and an accurate replica of the Tower probe from CONVEX. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/ec16f27e99ebf44ede4ce53f9bdaaddb00ae75d5.png We’ve been working on this mega pack of content for a while and it feels fantastic to finally see it everywhere in the OUTBRK world! INTRODUCING THE HAMMERHEAD! We’re now happy to show the next car to come to OUTBRK: the Hammerhead! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/70bd4979a62d1c9065240fc1f743ec4bf9b6cce9.jpg SHOWCASING FAN CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIAS Our social medias are buzzing with amazing OUTBRK content on a regular basis, and one of the great things we started doing more is showcasing the incredible content made by our players. Take a look at what we shared recently and drop a follow if you haven’t already! https://www.facebook.com/outbrkgame/videos/462760986622854 https://x.com/OutbrkGame/status/1872663695613894942 https://www.instagram.com/p/DDxn3EnzdYd/ https://www.tiktok.com/@outbrkgame/video/7453115790154403077 NEXT STEPS The team has been taking some very deserved resting time with our loved ones and preparing for a strong 2025 for the game. We cleaned up our Trello and prioritized our next developments for January. We’re excited to see our game grow, our team grow and our amazing players supporting us through this crazy journey. Happy holiday from the OUTBRK team! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/e30bf2f5e2bc0a4b3c6cdc897a5394538475b2f2.jpg 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 ! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1107320/OUTBRK/ Till next time, -The OUTBRK Team HOTFIX 0.2.0.1006 - Fix for fuel replication, death on foot and more.Dec 20, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsFIXES Fixed shared ownership between protection items not linked to the correct corresponding items Fixed an issue where fuel is not correctly replicated online Fixed an issue with players surviving tornadoes direct hits when on foot Fixed an issue with pasting group chase party codes with line returns or invalid characters leading to 'invalid code' message MAJOR UPDATE 0.2.0.999 - Passenger Princess, Solstice, Customizations, and more!Dec 18, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsChasers, We're excited to bring you the 0.2 Major Update, packed with new core features and other big improvements. At the heart of this update is the highly-requested Passenger Princess feature, enabling collaboration on the chasing field like never before. Get ready to chase storms in style, navigate with precision, and explore all the other enhancements we’ve packed into this update. NEW FEATURES Added the Passenger Princess Feature allowing you ride as a passenger Navigate from the front passenger seat with map pin control (Riding Shotgun) Capture the action as a passenger using camera and report tools Lock/unlock doors and eject players from your owned vehicle Added the new Solstice Vehicle {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/5108e08296f1962c1a9efb44cfd99f8b174a4085.png Added new Character Customizations Crop tops, tank tops, punk jackets, and exclusive Severe Studios apparel Joggers along with shorts with and without leggings Sport and skate shoes, sneakers, outverses, and western boots {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/ec0005c04b26164b1d4d507e166c52ba3788102f.gif Added new Convex Tower probe {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/75eca1c4fdda822227d5e38b53cf7457799b8cc9.png Added the new Custom Wheels category with 10 unique wheel models. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/16660f5b23b9e9b94011773df8ea9edbe966c6e3.gif Added several new bullbars in rally light and soft variants {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d6aab7ec792058eaceeefe23fc25c214603c4c5f.gif Added a new soft hail guard net for all vehicles {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d01b34d7f75f9414b5fb2d15880fb15868be998a.gif Added shorter party codes for easier party matchmaking. Added 10 new scenarios to scenario rotation. Added new vehicle decals including: Sheriff Strafe, NZP, and The Eh! Team Added new Ice Cream Dashboard Ornament {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/dc9ca01fd196434a9cb6d4e96d87edfe485788cf.jpg Added lightbar/strobe and rally lights to keybind menu Added shared ownership between vehicles for hail cages Added shared ownership between characters for certain items like shoes MAJOR FIXES Updated networking systems for smoother vehicle movement replication online. Improved UI and input handling for the action wheel Fixed an issue where vehicles took 2 seconds to start moving in reverse after pressing the input Fixed an issue where vehicles don't get picked up by tornadoes if the player isn't inside Fixed an issue with the danger effect showing up when tornado is on top of the player's vehicle even though the player is far away from it Fixed an issue where players can see themselves for a brief moment when entering or exiting vehicle Fixed an issue where players with high ping would get stuck between vehicle enter/exit states Fixed an issue where players couldn't see other remote players on foot Fixed an exploit allowing players to walk with the probe by opening text chat MINOR FIXES Fixed an issue with a background process reducing performance in garage menu Fixed camera input sensitivity not scaled down properly on Y axi...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (November 2024)Nov 30, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello chasers! This month our development work has been focused on getting the Passenger Princess ready for release and continuing the development on the vegetation and performance optimization of the game. PASSENGER PRINCESS Any new feature that is heavily relying on syncing multiple players together and server events are bound to bring a lot of edge cases, thankfully, our testing team have been hard at work to find and document those issues for us to fix rapidly. If you’ve been following our Trello or Discord, you’ve even seen this work in our work channels on a daily basis ! Since the beginning of the month, we resolved more than 30 bugs or tasks related to this feature alone. We still have a couple more to fix before releasing this massive feature, and you can follow the progress on our trello board here : https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game NEW CLOTHING Part of this same update we have a new car and new accessories that we have shown last month. This month we integrated new player clothing that will be part of the same update! Here is a preview: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/ec0005c04b26164b1d4d507e166c52ba3788102f.gif PROGRESS ON TERRAIN AND VEGETATION Last month we showed the start of the work on the terrain and vegetation, ending the newsletter on some exploration on the trees. This month we can show how far the vegetation progressed with some animated gifs of the OUTBRK biomes with new trees integrated and rigged for wind: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/a0ab6de6a7a2be0e58f678ce7cb21dee1f0bd03f.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/6f5aa20e52012b2d3a0f2f3b0ad04f3addfc7229.gif Follow the progress on the trello card here: https://trello.com/c/MQewzcXc/1219-improve-terrain-and-vegetation-visual-look CLOUDS PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Our external VFX team, Catalyst, has made significant progress this month on optimizing cloud performance. Our goal is to completely remove the blue artifacts caused by the "cloud downsampling" setting while retaining its performance benefits. Achieving the performance of a high cloud downsampling value without any visual drawbacks is a major step forward for the game's optimization. While we’ve successfully implemented this internally, there are still some side effects we need to address before we can roll out this substantial improvement to all players. WHAT ABOUT TORNADOES? Our extensive research and development on cloud performance requires a technical artist to be fully dedicated to this feature, working on it full-time. While it’s taking more time than initially expected, rendering full-scale weather model data within a game engine is largely uncharted territory, presenting us with significant challenges at every step. Given that our tornadoes are still in a very early stage compared to our vision, we’ve asked Catalyst to allocate a second full-time artist exclusively for tornado improvements and development. Starting in early 2025 (the soonest possible), a second developer from Catalyst w...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (October 2024)Oct 31, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHappy Halloween chasers! This month we’re sharing a recap of our 0.1 update, new car and car accessories coming soon, an update on the passenger princess feature, an update on the visual upgrade of our terrain and vegetation and welcoming a new member of our development team! PATCH 0.1 RELEASE On October 18, we released our biggest technical update to date, the release of the Group Chase and the permanent fix of the memory leak caused by the fix of the infamous lag spike that was present during the first few months of early access. We strongly encourage you to read our patch notes, including our long technical explanation of how we fixed the lag spike and memory management in OUTBRK here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1107320/view/4704662705448429833?l=english Shortly after, we released an additional hotfix patch to fix a couple of issues found by our community: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1107320/view/4535779621898170404?l=english SHORTER LOBBY CODES ARE COMING One of the feedback about the Group Chase feature is that party invite codes are too long to share, so we’re working on a system to generate shorter invite codes. Here is a sample of what new invite codes will look like: thunder-wedge-coast-temperate-99 NEW CAR AND ACCESSORIES The new car, the Solstice, has been fully integrated in the game and will be in an upcoming content patch deployed soon. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/dd819aa1916c02f1b97b34397ee34581ed2580ae.png A whole lot of new car accessories will also be part of this content update. A new hail guard, new rally lights and a very anticipated customisation option; wheel rims. The rims are currently cosmetics only, we’re investigating which kind of impact, if any, we want them to have in-game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/16660f5b23b9e9b94011773df8ea9edbe966c6e3.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d6aab7ec792058eaceeefe23fc25c214603c4c5f.gif {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/d01b34d7f75f9414b5fb2d15880fb15868be998a.gif PASSENGER PRINCESS Our next big gameplay feature coming up is the ability to be multiple players in the same car, commonly called the “passenger princess” feature. The task is progressing well and can be tracked on Trello here : https://trello.com/c/nYSdo4pZ/1214-passenger-princess-feature Here is a first screenshot of two players in the same car, replicated over network (obviously work in progress). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/79b0baa7c542718d5ab76309d40e96f753700682.png PROGRESS ON TERRAIN AND VEGETATION This month we’ve been working on improving the look of our landscape, terrain, grass, etc. This is a very long task and we still have a lot of work to do, but here is some screenshot of the progress so far (All screenshots taken in editor, not in-game, not final). Landscape Grass {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/b7fcb14aa51460ba57ce0d490029bb26b09b0c19.gif Forest Floor (No trees) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/78b718deb10d27cfcad6fbe5543cf19b4236dc15.gif Arid Landscape (3 textures blend, no grass yet) {STEAM_CLAN...HOTFIX 0.1.1.792 - Scenario Fixes, Random Deaths and Additional Bug FixesOct 19, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsFIXES Fixed a scenario with incorrect timestamps causing it to end as soon as players load in. Fixed a scenario freezing half way through. Fixed random death issue still occurring. Fixed action wheel events not properly working in online games especially when using keybinds. Fixed private party not queuing players. Fixed volume slider not affecting UI volume. Fixed controllers not recognized due to an addressables issue. Fixed server issue causing players with high ping to not be able to properly enter or exit their vehicle. MAJOR UPDATE 0.1.0.783 - Party System, Keybind System, World Fixes, and more!Oct 18, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsMAJOR CHANGES Added party matchmaking system with the ability to host private lobbies for larger parties {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/32fdc3f427713991d1a45218cd8eabb72b8fa60b.gif Added a new comprehensive keybinding system Fixed memory leak eventually leading to a crash when driving (Long technical explanation about this issue at the bottom of patch notes.) Added the ability to bind mouse buttons and other special keys Added the ability to bind actions that were previously only accessible in the action wheel {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9890e0504aa856cd6043e416b7340d4dfe9ed1b8.png Fixed all existing issues with the key binding system Added visual feedback when a player is using their microphone CHANGES Added 20 new scenarios to the rotation Added SevereStudios t-shirts {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/8fc46c04ea15dd3b592635d83f72c13491ac8e12.png Added raccoon bobble head cosmetic named Cior {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/11a136fa699464d14e37b7a5408a03bda439dd0c.gif Updated the wording of offline play to solo chase and clarified progression saving {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/ae0b185823a9f177e8d4731d6df76a529fee753b.png Increased timeout duration when server is loading the scenario for slower computers to still be able to load into a game Increased previously played scenarios taken into account in matchmaking from 8 to 16 MAJOR FIXES Fixed multiple issues causing players to randomly die Fixed a rare memory leak occurring on some systems Fixed an issue causing vehicles to vanish when exiting them Fixed an issue preventing cars to be started on match start Fixed an issue causing probes to give points when unintended Fixed an issue causing errors on vehicle exit MINOR FIXES Fixed several floating roads and objects throughout the world Fixed an issue causing one road to not be drivable Fixed an issue causing the world signs not displaying the proper town name Fixed an issue causing the towing feature to spawn players incorrectly Fixed an issue with exterior being visible through the Magnitude's hood when driving Fixed DOM3 windshield not displaying proper rain effects Fixed an issue with the lightning emitter Fixed an issue with a tornado having the incorrect flow Fixed an issue causing "enter vehicle" prompt to not display Fixed an issue causing bumpable objects to be movable by characters {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/5a914250e2b2932481023864bc31d1b922894a88.jpg When we first launched OUTBRK, we had some frustrating performance issues cropping up during gameplay. Players would experience occasional lag spikes, where the screen would freeze for up to a second—far from ideal when you're trying to enjoy a smooth driving experience. To address this, we cleaned up a lot of our scripts and assets. This helped reduce the amount of data being loaded and unloaded in memory, which significantly improved the situation. However, as we dug deeper, we discovered a more persistent issue. Unity's default memory management system wasn't releasing scene content from memory after ...OUTBRK: Development Outlook (September 2024)Oct 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello chasers! We've been working all month on the biggest OUTBRK update to date, so we're giving up an extended update on our progress and what is coming up after that. PROGRESS ON PARTY SYSTEM AND MAJOR PATCH 0.1 PARTY SYSTEM The party system is in great shape and almost ready to be released. It has been tested by our Quality Assurance team and we only have one remaining outstanding issue with some microphones configurations remaining to be fixed before being able to release the massive update we’ve been preparing. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/32fdc3f427713991d1a45218cd8eabb72b8fa60b.gif KEY REBINDING SYSTEM We reworked our entire keybinding system to fix the various issues players had when attempting to customize their gameplay experience. We also added various bindable actions that were exclusive to the action wheel menu, like wipers, lights, antennas, anchor, etc. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/9890e0504aa856cd6043e416b7340d4dfe9ed1b8.png BUG FIXES AND MORE We have identified the source of a memory leak causing crashes after a certain amount of playing time and we are currently testing a solution to eliminate it. Various bugs have also been fixed like some world design bugs, random deaths, cars not starting or not controllable due to server issues, probes giving points when they shouldn’t, and more. We’ve also added a black and a white version of a new SevereStudios.com t-shirt for characters to wear in game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/8fc46c04ea15dd3b592635d83f72c13491ac8e12.png We’re also testing the radio system to see if we can include it to the 0.1 update. MORE CONTENT ON THE WAY We’re working on adding more content to the game, here are some artist renders (not in-game yet) of what is to come in the near future. CARS AND CAR ACCESSORIES {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/61b3262a1ed451f6699fcfc44e87dcb0cfea94a3.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/e59ea134654c822fc2d76abfd8c734920fa3a5fe.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/2fd87dde211ee7c612fdb4d2e725e6da70bf3c59.png And a little teaser of the interior of an upcoming car. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/792949e15a38ac465456f66e321532b0f8aea8b2.jpg CHARACTER ACCESSORIES {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/852b5a786f5e836010bd4f7af9bb7d3be994eeac.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/073a7679af5e39b4c12fd6f6bbbe4b636897a2b3.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/36906632/2b2f74f8e9b80997dc4da9e467b30aefef765b81.png NEXT STEPS PERFORMANCES The team is still working hard on optimizing the cloud rendering system. We wanted the tech art team to put all their time and energy on doing research and development to improve the overall performances of the clouds and they are currently testing different theories to find a suitable solution. As soon as this is done, they will switch their focus on improving visuals and adding more tornado types. WEATHER MODEL We’ve made good progress on our weather model resolution upgrade which required us to set up a super-computer infrastructure. As previously mentioned, this will allow us to have a lot more detail...
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