Plans for Alpha 1
We've shared a lot of concept art and long-term goals recently. Today, we wanted to focus on our plans for the initial Early Access release of CBR, Alpha 1.
Note that this version will only be available to all Patreon tiers right away, but it'll still be the first and initial "release" of the game.
Patreon: https://patreon.com/scpcb
Trello: https://scp.zip/cbrtrello
Game Mechanics:
The initial version of CBR will feature all of the fundamental, basic mechanics and core systems like death, movement, the blinking, sprinting and all the other systems that are needed for the content listed below.
Apart from that, we are also planning on implementing procedural generation for the environment you'll be playing in.
Note that systems like the inventory are being delayed to not be a part of the inital release. The goal is to start out small and expand over time.
Environment:
For the initial early access release, the game will be limited to a smaller portion of the Light Containment Zone, with the Heavy Containment Checkpoint being the end goal to reach. Of course, you'll be encountering a few hazards and challenges along the way, next to some points of interest.
As mentioned, it will also feature procedural generation, which will hopefully make the gameplay a bit more exciting and varied. The exact extent and technology behind this will be shared later on.
SCPs:
The primary SCP in alpha 1 will be SCP-173 ("The Sculpture"), with it being the main threat to the player within the LCZ. A few interactions have already been seen here and there. What we can say is that the AI will be sure to oppose a challenge to you!
The second SCP that will be featured is SCP-1074 ("Stendhal's Nightmare"). Although it'll be a smaller threat than 173, it will still bring some variation and different gameplay aspects into the game. One of our goals, also for later on, is to add more of these "smaller" SCPs or points of interest to make everything feel a bit more alive, rather than just being a walking simulator.
Access:
Who will be able to play the first version?
Well, it depends. As mentioned, the initial release will most likely not be completely public, with patrons and a few key members of the community getting access to it. It'll go public a little later on, once we have collected as much feedback as we can on gameplay and ironed everything out.
Once the testing period has concluded, or we feel comfortable enough with the private builds, we'll be reducing our Patreon down to only three tiers to make everything easier to manage, and to remove the overabundance of perks we currently have.
Future plans:
As mentioned, the idea for the initial alpha 1 version is to start out rather small. Our goal is to build up on that as the project grows and time goes on, with a lot of stuff you've seen in other updates and more planned for later on. This not only includes more SCPs and the Human Rework, but also the environment, as we're starting off with a snippet of the LCZ and expanding towards the HCZ and the rest of Site-19.
For the foreseeable future, most updates will include improvements in gameplay and the addition of other important mechanics, systems and content. The goal is to have two major features added per release version. New SCPs like 012 and 714 are also already planned, although we can't share too much about them yet!
We are also planning on providing a roadmap for the plans and current state of development down the line. For now, what we can share is that the inventory and item systems are planned for the next release version, alpha 2.
Apart from that, visual overhauls, secondary details and performance improvements will still be developed and integrated on the side, but keep in mind that these changes will only be added incrementally.
We'll be sharing more updates about future plans and will keep you updated along the way, so stay tuned!