Posted February 24, 2021 by shiftBacktick
I’m excited to announce that S.E.A. will receive a Steam release, hopefully later this year! With this post I’d like to formally outline its roadmap to release, which includes a few large updates:
Within the next few weeks you’ll be able to enjoy the Night update. It expands the simulation with a day/night cycle which adds new graphical enhancements, audio cues, and tidal effects. It also includes enhancements to the movement model so you can leverage tidal waves for bigger jumps and spins.
From there I plan to begin work on an update that, in response to overwhelming feedback, will add aquatic creatures like dolphins and seagulls. Each creature will have its own sounds and behaviors that pepper the open sea.
Also planned for this update is a variety of underwater biomes that introduce new musical textures to the caves beneath. These may include drones, percussive sounds, and motifs.
Coming up in June is yet another Steam Game Festival. Last year I had the pleasure to participate with soundStrider. For this festival I intend to submit a recent build as an early access demo. I’m thrilled to share S.E.A. with a wider audience and receive feedback through livestreaming and Q&A sessions.
The final major update to S.E.A. is planned to expand its lore. Explore submerged alien structures that have been long abandoned after a clandestine intergalactic conflict. With these new areas will come a plethora of new treasures to collect and a rebalance of the overall loot tables.
For the full Steam release I’d like to polish loose ends so I can wind down development and focus on my next unannounced project. Although S.E.A. will always remain open-source, I’m considering a small price increase for the Steam launch that reflects the value added since its early days as a submission to No Video Jam. Please let me know how you feel about that.
Until then, there’s plenty of work to be done. I’m excited to share more with you soon. Cheers!