Hey Folks!
A little over a year ago, we launched Ostranauts on Steam Early Access. And over the course of the past year, we've had a number of stability fixes, quality of life changes, new features and content added to the game. We've also had a year of chatting with fans to get a better sense of what they're expecting out of Ostranauts, and a better idea of how fast we can work.
So we came together recently as a team to more concretely discuss the road to launch. Which features do we still want? Which ones do we have the time (and ability) to produce? Are any of them needed before others can be complete?
And most importantly of all, this roadmap is designed to help you (the customer) in deciding if this is a game for you!
How does the version numbering work? Where is 1.0?
One of the first things you might notice is our new version numbering system. Going forward, we'll be using version numbers like 0.X.Y.Z, where:
- X - A major feature or update.
- Y - A significant change within the major update.
- Z - A hotfix or patch.
And notably, versions like 0.8 don't directly correspond to "80% done." Ostranauts will leave Early Access sometime after 0.16, likely late 2022, or early 2023. At that point, we'll change the leading "0" to a "1." And we are approximately expecting about one of these major version updates per month. (Though some are definitely bigger than others, and therefore slower.)
Where is the ____ feature? Will it ever be added?
A FAQ is forthcoming for specifics, but for now, the answer is "it depends."
The list of features we want to build is extremely long. And we only had a limited amount of time to fit it into. Furthermore, some features just cannot be added until others are already done. So for now, a number of those features are in the "if we have time for it" bucket at the end of the list.
Maybe it'll get added before 1.0. Maybe even
after
1.0. But for now, consider the above roadmap to be the stuff we have planned for 1.0.
Will this roadmap change?
it might! We're pretty sure this roadmap is how it's going to play out. But we could be wrong! Something could interrupt us. Someone might be called away. Or on the other hand, maybe Ostranauts goes viral and we can hire more help!
The roadmap will update as time goes by, and we will do our best to keep it accurate.
Will there be another feature vote?
Maybe? But probably not.
The first vote was really helpful, and we learned a lot from it about what the players want. It gave us a clear list of priorities from the community, and helped us shape the order of this roadmap. You'll probably notice just about everything from the last feature voting round is here.
The order in which they have to be done, however, is now fairly well-known to us. So even if players want, say, combat to be first, it has systems like wounding which need doing first. And likewise, long range travel is going to require some ship-board systems be finished.
We're always chatting with fans, though. And always open to feedback! Part of what makes Early Access such a success is that it allows us to develop with the benefit of timely feedback, resulting in a better game for the people playing it.
I have questions!
Great! We (might) have answers!
If you want to ask us anything, feel free! We'll be keeping an eye on our Steam and BBG website forums, Discord, Reddit, and all the other places you see us active.
Thanks for reading, as always. And hope you're as excited about what's to come as we are!
Best,
Daniel Fedor
Founder, Blue Bottle Games, LLC