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Alpha County is on the horizon, but it ain’t here quite yet. No need to worry, though, since the wastelanders at Icarus Studios have been making timely and incremental advances towards the big release. Meanwhile, Fallen Earth is getting its shoes polished with regards to Progress Towns, the center of player-driven content in sectors 2, 3, and Deadfall.
The terrain and environmental effects are getting some love as the developers work to make the atmosphere of Alpha County fit the overarching lore therein. Not content with recycling the same artistic style that dominates the wasteland, Icarus is starting from the ground up with improved tools and and a close eye on how the environment interacts with players as they progress through the story.
Many of the missions in Alpha County were written prior to the implementation of the art, giving us time to go back and make sure that we are involving the player in the story the way we want to. Getinthecar (our Content Lead) has been running the existing missions, tweaking them when appropriate as well as updating some of them to use new brains for improved gameplay
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The new terrain also calls for NPC pathing tweaks, so Fafnir (the Content Designer) has been unleashing hordes of critters and observing their behavior as they traverse the landscape. In addition, gear balancing for Alpha County is in the works, and crafting will see some augmentation come next patch.
There’s more to Fallen Earth’s April State of the Game, so visit the official post. See you in the wasteland!