Hello everyone. We’ve been in Early Access for a few months now and we’ve continued to work on The Chaser’s Voyage in preparation for releasing the final build of the game. To give everyone an idea of what’s left to do, I created this little “starmap” detailing our plans for the rest of the year.
For Phase 1, we’re gonna finish up the essential components that will replace some temporary placeholders and improve the overall experience of our game. Right now, we’re working on getting our cutscenes done so that anyone playing the game can enjoy the base narrative of The Chaser’s Voyage.
Once the cutscenes are done, we will implement the tutorial. Right now, we have a video that teaches people the controls and mechanics of the game, but that was never in our vision for the final product. This new tutorial will let players learn how to play The Chaser’s Voyage in a more hands-on way that will also act as a prologue to the main story.
Once those are both complete, we will have hit our milestone of having the game ready for streamers. We will be connecting with our friends over at VoxPop Games to get their streamers playing the game and spreading the word. We’ll also try and have an updated trailer that will show off our new features, as well as give VoxPop Games equal standing with Steam as a place where people can purchase and wishlist the game.
Phase 2 will be our homestretch to complete all the features we really want to add in before launch. First, is a client update. Client stories were actually some of the first in-universe stuff we wrote for the game since they play a role mechanically, resulting in a lot of ideas that weren’t solidified. Since then, we’ve written a lot more narrative and added a lot more world building elements, which naturally means some client stories need to be adjusted to better fit the larger backstory. There was also plenty of room for more in-universe stories and adventures that you and your crew play a part in, so we will be adding in even more client stories.
In addition, we’re going to add in a brand new client type. If you’ve played the game, or watched our streams, you might have encountered the cartographer client. Cartographers are map makers who explore the galaxy to discover new planets and routes for fame and fortune. They are neutral clients who offer incredibly high rewards for extremely long trips, meaning your repairs could be limited and bounty hunters will be a constant threat. But, what if you also had to worry about a pursing Imperial batttleship? Or having to break through a patrolling UGS fleet? Aligned cartographers offer the same a challenge as a normal cartographer, but with the added threat of aligning with one of the two warring factions. This makes choosing such a client much more… exciting!
Going back to the lore, phase 2 will also see us adding in the Crew Journal. It’s a collection of excerpts from in-universe books, news articles, messages, and transcribed log entries that periodically unlock over the course of all your voyages. These entries can provide you with extra tips on how to survive in Sector 99, teach you more about why the galactic war is happening, provide info on every species of client you meet and every planet you land on, and even give you some backstory for each of your crew mates. There are over 380 entries in this journal, all of which also come with commentary from your crew.
The last big thing we want to include in The Chaser’s Voyage is the addition of a training mode we’ve been calling the “Flight Simulator.” A limited version of it already exists in Captain and Ace Mode, in the form of letting you retry a scenario after you lose, allowing you to practice your toughest encounters until you’re ready to start a new voyage. In the Flight Simulator, you’ll be able to choose any scenario to practice, preparing you for any challenge The Chaser’s Voyage can throw at you.
But, the Flight Simulator is not the last last thing we want to add. That would be some extra modes we’ve been excited about, but that never seemed as important as everything else. Right now, Voyager and Captain Mode split the challenge of the game into tiers. Things start off fairly simple, but eventually you will be given bigger threats, like battleships, and combinations of threats, like pirates in a debris field during a hail storm. In Ace Mode, you can get any combination of enemy, obstacle, and storm right from the beginning, while also taking more damage. For our last update before we exit Early Access, we want to add bonus “plus” modes that let you play Voyager and Captain Mode without the challenge tiers, but also without Ace Mode’s extra damage. These modes will be a fun twist for those who like Ace Mode’s randomness, but prefer a less punishing experience. This means there will five difficulty settings to choose from in our game, instead of three. Combine that with the 24 insignias currently in the game and that’s a lot of different ways to play The Chaser’s Voyage! But don’t worry, insignias unlocked in Voyager and Captain Mode won’t need to unlocked again in the Voyager+ and Captain+ Modes. The “Plus” modes are just a fun addition after all!
Once all of these things are complete, we plan on leaving Early Access and concluding major development on The Chaser’s Voyage. We have some ideas for later additions and polish, and will also be responding to any feedback we get, but nothing too big or game changing. We’re aiming to complete this starmap by the end of 2022, but estimating development time isn’t an exact process, which is why we decided to group the remaining work into phases rather than specific dates.
During this entire process though, we’ll also be focusing on updating some of the art and putting together an art book that will be sold with the game on Steam. If you want to keep up-to-date on stuff like that, we’ll be posting a bit more regularly on this blog and you’ll also be able to find more on our Twitter and our Discord.
