Dear Backers,

It’s update time again and we are looking forward to sharing news on the progress we have been making on JAF, so let's get to it!

First playable

We have made a first playable version of the game, which means that we have a sector in which we can have mercenaries walk around in, so very basic. However, this means that we’re closing in on opening up for the alpha backers within the next few weeks. We plan on releasing small slices of the for alpha backers once they’re ready, so we can get feedback as soon as possible. You can see glimpses from the first playable and get bit more info on the alpha in the dev diary.

Next Batch of Surveys

As we need to make sure which backers have access to the alpha version of the game we’ll be sending out the next batch of surveys soon, which will go up to the $220 tier as the $250 tier and above automatically get access to the alpha version. Please respond to the surveys as fast as possible so we can get a clear overview :). Thanks!

Dev Diary 2

We have created a new dev diary for you! This time around we wanted to give you a small glimpse behind the scenes. Similar to how we do it with the rest of the team internally, we casually share some of things we were working on. Hope you enjoy what you see! Bear in mind that all footage from the game is still pre-alpha, and does not represent the final quality - we are also still working on improving our movie making skills as we go along with the production. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDAhwGA8-6c&feature=youtu.be

Since the internet in the new offices is going to be a lot faster, we will be looking into the possibility of making Live Team Streams as we really like the concept and think it's a good way to connect with the community.

Mercenary Competition Winner

671 backers chose to vote for their favourite mercenary and you can see the result below:  

Congratulations to ccohen33, who submitted the Elodie “Fléchette” Neuville. We are looking forward to give the knitting mercenary a place on San Hermanos. We will do our best to get as much of the content submitted integrated in the game. Thanks to all the backers who submitted Mercenaries - it was a great read!

Wallpaper Girl  

Our concept artist Jesper recently createda wallpaper version of a poster he made to be used inside the game. Since not all backers are on twitter and facebook we decided to add it to the update as well. It was made for fun, and the resulting wallpaper is pretty cheesy and tongue-in-cheek. We think our concept Artist Jesper really liked the task...

If you don't want to miss some of the content we share along the way then follow us on Twitter or like our Facebook page.

Until next time!  

The Fullcontrol JAF Team

Very nice! Can't wait for the first alpha test...

It really loks great guys, can't wait to play around with it :)

There was one thing Roman said in passing that do concern me a bit, if I'm allowed to make it all about me for a moment ;)

Will the alpha be distributed by Steam only? I have a rule about installing spyware on my "work" computer, and if this is the case I'll be forced to play on my rather weak laptop. Or can I download it first and then play it on my computer without having the Steam spyware installed?

Congratz to the contest winner! The right merc won!

Looking forward to the alpha!

R@S - you know you can play Steam games offline, right? All you need is to log in once to Steam, install the game, set it in offline mode and you're done.

Nice things in there !

Your work on shaders is great. It will improve the visuals while saving dev time (and money).

The props look very nice and modular, very promising for your maps and the future map editor.

We don't see much of the first sector, but it seems quite nice already for such an alpha build.

Keep it coming guys'n'gals, and relax on cam ;) , we appreciate what you are showing.

 Hey,

I've seen some pretty cool stuff so far :)

But now my worst nightmare has come true - I knew I should've backed for alpha access!

Question: Is there any way to upgrade to alpha access if you didn't get it on Kickstarter?

Please say yes :) I bet you'd see some extra cash - it's worked for other projects as well.

Yes Shanga, I am well aware of those facts, but you still didn't address my concerns. Thanks for trying tho :) Did you read the EULA when you signed up on Steam, or Valve's ToS? Do you know what happens when you log on to your Steam account and which stuff is accessed on your computer? Or what the SteamClient.dll does when run?

I do, and it's why I asked if I can run the alpha on a computer without internet access.

I don't want a discussion about that here, I just want this to be clarified. When the final release comes in my mailbox(I signed up for the disc version) and it conatins Steam spyware, I'll just make my own launcher disabling it. But I don't want to spend my time on that with the alpha.

Looks good and I'm really looking forward to alpha access :)  Will you give the option to cut tree tops, like in JA2? It just crossed my mind, when Roman was showing the camera controls, it seemed that the higher trees were blocking the camera sight, if you know what I mean.

Awesome update, seeing the merc move around was very nice.

I have only two questions:

Is the line that shows the movement path the way you are going or is it going to be replaced with something more subtle (footsteps)?

Will there be a way to hide the minimap also?

The first Alpha! ^^ Can't wait. :D

Hello,

Thanks to all the voters and congrats to all the finalists and the people who submitted a mercenary.

Fléchette is now packing her brand new knitting kit which includes : 
- 1 x row counter, 
- 1 x 2.75 - 3.75 mm auxiliary needle, 
- 1 x 4 - 5 mm auxiliary needle, 
- 2 x 13 cm main needles for wool, 
- 1 x fully removable crochet hook for picking up that dropped stitch 
- 1 x Corvo, a Chilean double-edged knife with a curved blade of approximately 12 inches manufactured by FAMAE.

I look forward to playing the first Alpha. Keep up the good work.

ccohen33 a.k.a Claudius33

Looking good, wont be playing alpha but look forward to the beta.. hope we get see some of the merc portraits soon.

Not at the moment, but ofc something we can look into

Unfortunately it will be Steam only for the Alpha..it's a much simpler approach for us and we dont' want to spend too much time looking into other solutions. 

very happy with the video. Impressive what unity is able to nowadays! 

About the steam thing: Im far from being an expert but If steam spies on ppl's pcs it still needs an internet connection, right? So why not download the game once and then use your firewall to block any in- and outgoing steam related processes? But I figure being connected to steam once is already one time too often for you. Maybe get a second hard drive with an os for steam games. Plug out the important one and in the one for games before you start pc?..Not an expert...

Thanks a lot for the update and the video. Live streams would be a very cool thing, but please make sure that we can watch them later as well in case we miss them.
Congrats, Claudius33.
I love the animation while standing. Things like that will make the game feel more alive and immersive. The crouching animation looked a little strange to me, but overall it's looking really great already, especially for pre-alpha. Looking forward to the alpha a lot.

I just got the survey, but I have 2 questions:
1. If I added money for several add-ons, do I just randomly select one of them and then specify in the line below or do I just fill out that line?
2. If I pledged for a boxed copy, I have to choose a steam key, right?

Hello. I have also two questions.

1. What speed of Internet do you have in your current office and what kind of speed you will have in your new office? If of course this is not a secret :)))

2. Will you planning to do animation of swimming mercenaries? Will there be a some kind of water battles, like it was in JA2?

Thanks.

1: I don't remember,...I think it was 20/2...but shared amoung 20 people..the new place has 200/200 shared with 55+ people..as we moved in with another company

2: I actually don't know at this point, I guess we'll know more once the core part is in there

OMG! It's almost Dark Ages! Fortunately you are now in a good place to get more comfortable work. Can't wait for live streaming :)

Any plans when the first shot gets fired, do we get a video about it? :)

stay tuned!

next update is going to be a very interesting one content wise. we are doing overtime at this point to push as much of cool stuff as possible to our backers :)

hint: there might or might not be shooting.

Haha! Can't wait to see what you guys have done so far!!! =D

There seems to be a couple of now screenshots on the main page.. they look really good! You guys got me really anxious now!

Yeah we've been sharing a bit on the next sector in the behind hte scenes. I Will se if I can grab a little here and there for a sneak peak. Probably won't be today though, busy week :)

I'd like to see is some previews for the images of mercenaries. I know it does not show wishes, but this is my unfulfilled dream;)

I saw the new screenshot on the main page, too! It looks awesome!! Its really nice to see people having a vision when theyre doing creative work. This is rare in these times. I hope all the positive feedback (some negative sometimes as well) motivates and helps you guys making this vision to come true! It's still a pretty small fanbase and many of the old JA-Fans (veterans) maybe dont know anything about whats going on here, but they will be reactivated over time the fanbase will grow once again and be a great sucess I think!! I'm looking forward to your next diary-entries.

I look forward to the ALPHA, BETA, DEMO etc.

Drooling over the sector pics.

Need to get a towel . . . .

Yeah, as I make the pictures fullscreen.. i have this tendency to try and bring the mouse to the edges of the screen.... I wanna see more!!! =D

I forgot to mention something : The animations look really nice! Did i dream or we can feel some inertia in the motions? It seems the character accelerates and slows down quite naturally. When he turns it's quite smooth too. You say anims are not final, and i don't see them very well, but they seem really good yet. However, the character still has sliding problems ;)

I think they actually redid the system now, let's see if it has helped :) 

The coder behind the animation system and one of our new artists remade it completely since that video. It is way better now. :)

I don't know how to start the game can someone plz tell me

click on the game name on steam. it starts automatically after that