Welcome back chasers! It's an exciting time for OUTBRK as we continue our work implementing much of the core feedback received from our most recent playtests. This newsletter will cover several of the improvements that we've made since then, and the majority of these modifications are a direct result of the feedback from it. We know our community is increasingly curious about when our next playtests will be and when we may have an idea of the timing of Early Access, each step that we take gets us closer to knowing when these things will happen. Our internal team, as well as our outside partners, have been hard at work getting the core components of the game integrated to provide an engaging, fun, and stable experience for players. This includes items such as new car models, networking components and many key in-game features and their respective user-interface systems. [b]New Camera Gameplay / UI : [/b] In our last playtest, we received very helpful feedback regarding the storm reporting features and how it interacts with the camera system in-game. Players in our playtest let us know that needing to exit the camera to then report storm features such as funnel clouds or debris was not efficient. Now, when players enter the camera and begin identifying key storm components, they will have the ability to report those storm structures right from the camera, earning them extra points. We'll also have some helpful hints on screen to help players of all knowledge levels know what they are capturing in their shots. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//36906632/031d53683dc3fc68ade79ae79dae5b4110ca2f93.png[/img] [b]Accessibility / Controller Support :[/b] When it comes to accessibility, we're working to design UI components that make it so even players who may have never played PC games before can interact with the world easily. We're integrating both keyboard based contextual labels as well as gamepad labels. Essential game controls will be accessible to players without ever having to enter a pause menu to review the game keybindings. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//36906632/ab9810fcdc33554223d89cb48d7cd39a0f0c36dc.png[/img] Alongside that work, we've also recently integrated our mini map. This was a highly requested feature from our playtests. With a massive world to explore, it's easy to get lost. While the full screen maps and forecasts products will remain accessible as needed, you'll notice our most recent design mockups now have a mini map! Stay tuned for more updates as we continue our work! Let us know what you think about these most recent community feedback-driven features! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//36906632/33307172e8b9a6da4a47e6e25b2703ce535e4849.png[/img] As we head into the peak of storm chase season, we hope to have some additional updates regarding our next playtests and eventually what our Early Access timing may look like. Many of the features that we continue to improve are foundational to the game experience. Game optimization and performance testing will be critical to getting ready for public Early Access. Be sure to give a glance at our public [url=https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game]Trello planification board[/url] to stay up to date with the OUTBRK’s development. We continue to remain transparent with our community and hope to have more exciting updates in the coming months! To conclude this newsletter, here’s a picture of Marc storm chasing in Minnesota yesterday (photo credits ©lauramayabron.com) : [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//36906632/cb07247fd8140360777115db26232a5710f5af73.jpg[/img] That is all for this month ! Stay safe, chasers ! -The OUTBRK Team