Hello, dear Rafters! It is a new year and it is time for a new DevBlog! We hope 2022 has treated you well so far, and that your holidays have been chill and full of joy! As things go, we have gone back to working from home here in Sweden, but our spirits are high and we are powering on as usual! So, let us get into what is happening with Raft!
Chapter 3
We will get straight into what you are all probably wondering; what is happening with Chapter 3? We have noticed a lot of you were expecting the next part of the story to drop before Christmas, and that is understandable as Chapter 1 and 2 were both released around October/November. We would have loved to be able to give you Chapter 3 at that time, but believe me when I say, it would not have been pretty. Chapter 3 is not quite ready, and that is mainly due to two factors.
Firstly, the Renovation update we released last summer did eat into development time from Chapter 3, as many of you have guessed. We have received quite differing opinions on whether prioritising the Renovation Update over Chapter 3 was a smart choice. Many loved the new building and furnishing options, but a lot of you also just craved more story. But the Renovation Update also included a lot of features, bug fixes and changes we had wanted to do for Chapter 3 anyways. So, it seemed to us that releasing all these changes, along with more decorative objects and features, was the best way forward, instead of waiting and bundling them together with Chapter 3, which we knew was quite a bit away still.
The second, and major, reason Chapter 3 has taken more time than the previous installments is simply that it will deliver a whole lot more than before. First and foremost, it will be bigger than before, and apart from the things you have come to expect from a chapter update, like new story islands, new small islands, new raft machines and building parts, we have some really cool things in the works that you have yet to see in Raft. We will not reveal all of that in this dev blog though.
New playable characters
First up on the list are new playable characters that you’ll be able to find and unlock out in the world. These will have a connection to the place where you find them and provide you some insight into their background. We are not ready to show the finished characters right now, but we will not leave you completely empty handed. So here is a teaser.
New destinations
If you follow us on social media you have probably seen some of the teasers we have posted there regarding one of the new destinations. In case you missed it, here you go!
But of course, that is not the only new destination for Chapter 3. We have got something a bit more… chilly for you. We posted the following images a while ago.
There has been some speculation as to where they belong, and we are glad to be able to reveal their snowy origins.
We generally do not want to spoil too much of what is to come in our updates, as we believe it is better to experience most of it in game. Therefore we will hold on to the final destination of Chapter 3 for a later time. Oh, yes, there is a third destination.
Story overhaul
With Chapter 3 in the works we decided to do a major refresh of the story. The essence remains the same, but we have rewritten almost all of the notes to make them easier to read and follow. Unnecessary characters and names have been removed to reduce confusion and we have made sure there is a more consistent and engaging story throughout all of the destinations. We have reduced the amount of text that does not add to the story, and we have added text that enriches it. We are even working on introducing playback for the notes, for those who prefer to just listen while they keep playing.
Trading outposts
You might find yourself with a lot of stuff in your storage that you do not really need anymore. Well, that is finally going to come to use! You will be able to process a variety of items, such as planks, scrap metal, plastic etc, into scrap cubes. These scrap cubes can then be used as currency at trading outposts which you will find at various locations around the world. The trading outposts will offer various items, including, but not limited to, special cooking and juicer ingredients, stunning hats and equipment.
With all of that being said, we have many more machines, buildables, quality of life fixes and much more in the pipeline, but we will get to that in a future devblog. For now, we wish you a great 2022 and good times on the sea!
//Redbeet HQ
P.S. Make sure to follow us on our social media to get all the latest Raft news!
Discord: https://discord.gg/raft
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RaftGame/
Twitter: @RaftSurvivaGame
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/RaftTheGame/
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