Hi everyone,
This is the first of many Dev Blogs that we are releasing, offering an update on the latest events and developments regarding Fuel Needed.
On 23rd July 2026, we released our long-anticipated Steam page for Fuel Needed. This is something that we've been working on behind the scenes since the beginning of May. Putting together a few polished levels and implementing the split-screen competitive mode gave us the content that we needed to advertise the game on Steam.
Getting closer to the date of release also made us define the whole concept of the game, what mechanics should be prioritised, and what would be the selling points of the game, creating the Fuel Needed identity that you see today on our Steam page.
We want to give a massive thank you to everyone who has wishlisted the game, and to those of you who emailed us to show your support and appreciation for the way Fuel Needed looks. We are monitoring the analytics very closely, and we want every single one of you to feel special and appreciated. More announcements will come out in the following months regarding how the data has influenced our decisions.
On 3rd August 2026, we announced on our social media pages that Shannon Grant and D'Arcy Everrit have joined our Fuel Needed team on a freelance contract (Instagram Instagram). Both of them have just graduated with a First Class Honours in BSc Games Design and Development from University of Greenwich, London, and are extremely talented and committed to the project.
Shannon has a great level of knowledge in games programming with experience in both Unity and Unreal Engine, offering an outstanding portfolio for gameplay programming, physics, and AI. She has been tasked with implementing new obstacles, creating dynamic environments and putting together new levels that you will be able to explore when the game is fully released.
D'Arcy has shown a great portfolio of 3D environments and props, and she has proven to be a great 2D artist as well. D'Arcy has a very nice low-poly toon style that works very well with the artistic direction that Fuel Needed is using. D'Arcy has been tasked with creating all the 3D models from now on, as well as creating 2D images where needed and the level layouts.
Together they will be creating all the remaining levels, creating unique, fun and challenging environments for you to play in.
We will make future showcases of their work on our social media pages, so make sure to follow us to not miss out.
Up until now, we've only showcased our local multiplayer split-screen mode, but behind the scenes, we've been working on implementing online multiplayer in the same mode. This functionality is fully integrated with Steam, offering a friends list and an easy method of inviting your friends to your game session. This gives the Versus mode the possibility of playing fully locally with up to 4 controllers at once, fully online via Steam with 3 more friends, or a mix of both, with any invited account being able to register as many players as there are available slots, with the local players seeing themselves in a split-screen just for their rockets.
This is a very exciting development and something that we are really proud to have achieved. Giving you the option to play with friends however you like and create great memories with Fuel Needed offline or online.
We still need to polish a few more things, and then we will make a reveal announcement.
Another major update that we've been working on behind the scenes is accessibility features. So far, we have expanded the Options menu, offering more settings and adjustments to allow you to customise your experience, and we have been able to implement a custom keyboard input binding that dynamically adjusts the UI and the tutorials, offering main and secondary inputs. We will be working on implementing the same functionality on controllers as well, being able to support multiple types of controllers and dynamically adjusting the interface and the tutorials based on the type of controller you're using.
More accessibility features will come, so stay tuned for future announcements.
As stated before, Shannon and D'Arcy will be working on creating new levels with unique environments and obstacles. Up until now, we have only showcased Moon levels, but we are planning on including three more planets/satelites.
We will implement more accessibility features that will allow the players to customise their experience. We are planning a tool that will give the players the option to modify the menu colours and implement different languages for localisation.
We are also working on creating a leaderboard for each level, allowing you to compare your time with the rest of the world or just with your friends.
Finally, we are planning on releasing the demo during February's Steam Next Fest, with most of the work going towards polishing the game and finalising the remaining core feature before that.
I hope you enjoyed reading this Dev Blog. The release of the next Dev Blog will depend on how much content we'll be able to create. We are aiming for one every two weeks, but if there are no significant updates, we will release at least one a month.
Stay safe, and thank you once again for supporting Fuel Needed!