Howdy again, survivors!
It’s been crazy times in the background. We are excited to unveil everything we have been working on over the last month. This announcement will glance over the public dedicated server, our transition to Unreal Engine 5.3, and the “Enhancing Core Systems” topic we briefly touched on in our last announcement.
Dedicated Server Testing
We have officially started testing the dedicated servers in preparation for publishing the dedicated server tool to Steam later on in the month! This will allow survivors to host servers on their machines! Beta testing for this tool will begin next week and will be public on May 27th. If you are interested in helping with testing these servers, be sure to opt-in to the beta branch in the ZSGO discord.
Transition to UE 5.3
As you already know from the April Dev Announcement, we have been in the process of swapping over to Unreal Engine 5.3. This is our first time updating the engine, so there have been some major hurdles that we have successfully overcome, along with a few more we are still dealing with. We are confident that this was the move and can’t wait to start using all the new features that this version provides.
Combat System Overhaul
While we don’t want to go into too much detail yet, this is the first step in pursuing the future plans referenced in the title. We all know that the current melee system is a little wonky, and it’s finally time to craft something far more fun and engaging for all the survivors out there.
Later on in the month, there will be a more detailed view of what this new combat system will consist of. This will be more than just making your axe swing look cooler, we can’t wait for y’all to see!
Funding to Grow the Game
For those who made it this far lol - Currently, we're actively seeking another round of funding to propel project ZSGO forward. We're eager to provide survivors with comprehensive updates on the systems we're enhancing and look forward to revealing more. While we are very committed to rolling out these updates, the timeline may extend without extra funding and will just take more time. Despite our first Kickstarter campaign not reaching its goal and being unsuccessful, our team managed to persevere! We are gearing up for a second campaign to continue our progress and deliver an updated roadmap. We have also been applying for other grant opportunities and will keep yall updated on any advancements.
Thank you so much for the support, survivors! These are exciting times, and big things are right around the corner. Creating this dream game is impossible without all the support you guys have given so far. <3