Starbreed Plans Moving Forward! Launch Dates + Progress Report: New Hscene, Neos2

Heyo everyone! A decent amount to cover in this post. First off, I hope you all enjoyed v0.13! Alongside this post I will be uploading a quick hotfix for v0.13. This hotfix is simple. All it is, is that the lamp in Titas2 will no longer attract auto-targeting attacks (like Lana, MITEs, Chargeshot, etc.), along with another tracking bug in Zol'gan2's boss. There will also be a poll being posted alongside this. This poll is not about levels, however, as there are no more levels to vote for. They will be about Hscene specifics.

Before going into the progress report I want to talk about the current state of the game, and what to expect in the future here.

As many of you may have deduced, v0.14 is Neos2, which is the last planned "named" level. After this will be v0.15: Finale1/Nova, and after that will theoretically be "v0.16": Finale2/Nova. Finale2 will be the final encounter. It will likely not be a "level" so much as solely the final boss fight.

With all of this in mind, that means Finale2 will likely be done on October 1st. The game has about 6 months scheduled after this for: Endings, polish, implenting final batches of VA, final batches of UI/UX, reworking any applicable levels/Hscenes, and of course getting things ready, and approved for launch on storefronts. This means launch is estimated to be Q2 of 2026. This isn't new information, but I do want to break down how these final stages will look like for supporters.

Much like SpunkStock, we will not launch v1.0 to Patreon/SubscribeStar supporters in a post like other builds. I will look to give a key to anyone who has contributed at least the price of the game(TBA) between the start of development and launch.

v0.16 (Finale2) will basically be an unrefined v1.0 (in terms of content). Because I want the finale to launch with the polished state of the game. This means there will be no launch of v0.16 anywhere (It will only exist in development). The last available version before v1.0 will be v0.15 (Finale1). The schedule will look like this:

v0.14 (Neos2) - June 1st

v0.15 (Finale1) - August 1st

v1.0 (Full Release) - Q2 2026(estimated)

This means there will only be 2 more builds posted here. That being said, support afterwards is still very much appreciated, as the final stages will still be very busy, and I will be sure to post weekly progress reports right up until launch!

That's most of what I was looking to cover here in this post. It's been a long road, but the light is at the end of the tunnel! Thanks so much everyone!

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Now let's look at this week's workload. Due do some things, I had a bit of a late start on it, so I wasn't able to get all the actual animations done, but I got a good start on them.

Obviously to start, I broke up the image, and meshed it all.

Next was rigging, and control parameters. There was actually a few extra parameters to set up here due to there being more active bodies.

Then of course it was time to get started on the animations, starting with the idle.

Along with the base animation

and a deep version.

 There is still come work to do on them obviously, but it's the start.

There are a couple other ideas I may try and tackle depending on time.

I will likely jump back onto this animation later on in the build, but for now I will be moving on. Next week I will either be moving onto Enemy layout of Neos2, or starting on Nika's 3rd Hscene depending on the state of assets over the weekend.

Neos2's setting will be around a specific character picking up where Pom left off. Seeking revenge and power, they have joined Nova to finish what Pom's virus' initial goal was. This character will be the boss of Neos2. In the level, however, you will be going through the city, and hangars looking to thwart the production of a powerful weapon. This level will likely have a bit more of an "industrial" setting than the first Neos.

If I do not start on the level, then I will be instead moving onto Nika's 3rd Hscene. Here is an early concept of it.

 Vending Machines are hard sometimes...

Anyways! Whichever gets done, I will be sure to report on it next week! Thanks again everyone! Catch you all then!

-Regulus