End of April Update

Hello Survivors,

Anton here! Today we will be talking about updates coming to our FAQ. Also, we will be sharing a brief development update from NikZ. In addition, our Head of Studio Derek Czerkaski will give a quick update on our studio changes and hires. We won’t be going into detail on our 0.8 update today, but we will have lots to share about that in the next couple of weeks.

Also, we still have some job opportunities we are looking to get filled. We are on the lookout for an experienced Lead Level Designer to help mentor, manage, and support our team of level designers. We are also looking for Animators, Programmers, and Designers. If you have the passion, skills, and a portfolio of your work, we would love to see it. Please explore our current opportunities on our website: https://jobs.qi.games/

Housekeeping

There are a lot of questions about Dead Matter. These questions range from ones about our Closed Alpha, our Early Access plans, or anything else relating to Dead Matter. The best resource for these questions has been our FAQ pages. But, it has been a while since we updated our FAQ, and a lot has changed with development. Over the coming week, we will make quite a few updates to our FAQ. For today’s blog post, I will highlight some of the big questions we are updating for 0.8.

When is the next development update?

Our 0.8 update for the Closed Alpha should be released later this month (May 2022). We will share an exact release date with our Closed Alpha testers when we have timeframe we’re happy with.

How will the Early Access build differ from the Closed Alpha?

The Closed Alpha version of Dead Matter is an Alpha build of the game. That is to say that the Closed Alpha build is not ready to be played like a regular video game. Instead, the Closed Alpha represents a living, breathing early stage of our development process. A majority of the content in the Alpha is subject to rapid and drastic change. In short, the Closed Alpha is when core gameplay elements are being tested and modified.

The Early Access build will be significantly closer to a finished product than the Alpha. The Early Access build is designed to be played like a regular game. Obviously, the Early Access build is not the final version of Dead Matter, as we plan on continuing to update the game after it launches. The Early Access version of the game will be available for purchase and open to the general public.

What’s different with the Dead Matter team?

The core leadership of QI Software is our CEO and Game Director, NikZ. He has been working on Dead Matter throughout its entire development cycle. In 2022, we’ve grown our team significantly by doubling its size. Moreover, we’ve acquired an impressive pool of senior talent to help develop the game. This new era at Quantum Integrity Software means we are improving our work schedule, developing better production goals, and reaching the quality we want with Dead Matter.

Why are you sharing development updates if the game has not come out yet?

We believe that it is vital to inform our community about the changes coming to the Closed Alpha. Doing so makes it easier for us to test out various features and get direct feedback on the game. Also, our updates inform the general public about Dead Matter and our goals for the Early Access launch.

These are just four of the 60 questions we are updating for our FAQ. We want this FAQ to address as many questions as we can answer. Transparency is key to us. We would not be here if it were not for our community, and we believe that it is essential for you to keep up with the work we have been doing to deliver Dead Matter. Additionally, we will be updating the FAQ as we release more information over the year.

The first wave of FAQ updates will roll out in the first week of May. We will share these updates on our social media accounts.

Development Update

For the first part of our development update, I’m going to invite NikZ to share some thoughts on the direction of the 0.8 update.

Hey, survivors! NikZ here.

Our team has been working hard on our 0.8 update. What’s exciting about 0.8 is its focus on the survival aspects of Dead Matter. We’ve focused on improving how it feels to walk around the post-apocalyptic Canadian Rockies. With limited infrastructure, essential needs like hunger and thirst become a greater threat to your health. In 0.8, we want these essential needs to feel as worrisome as walking past an infected. Dead Matter is a punishing experience, and getting these gameplay elements properly balanced is key to creating that feeling.

Making sure that the survival elements in Dead Matter work well with each other means that we have to test out and update our existing survival systems. As we’ve worked on 0.8, we’ve asked ourselves several questions about the survival aspect of Dead Matter. How often should you stumble across food or water? How often should you have to eat or drink? How does running affect these stats? How punishing should the game be if you’re malnourished. These are just a few of the questions we’re trying to answer with update 0.8. Of course, we’re planning on tweaking these stats as development progresses, but 0.8 is the starting point that will make survival a proper gameplay element.

0.8 is also about restructuring our development process. We’ve been working for months on getting QI Software into the best possible shape for our Early Access development. Update 0.8 is the first update that our new team will release. It’s exciting for the team to see this update shaping up, and it sets us in the right direction for our Early Access release down the road.

Thanks, Nik! For the second part of our development update, our Head of Studio, Derek Czerkaski, will share some of the changes to our Dev Team and how they will assist in the development of Dead Matter.

Greetings, everyone! Derek here.

It’s been a busy month at Quantum Integrity Software. Our studio continues to grow and expand, as we conclude “Phase 2” of our ramp plan. We’ve made several hires in the art department, including rounding out our Art Leadership, this month. These hires will support our initiative to establish a baseline and standards for all our art assets moving forward. This hiring round will take our team size from 22 to 27 members. Our final concentrated push for company expansion will begin in the first week of May! This push will be our most challenging phase of the ramp, as we’ll be looking primarily for Designers, Level Designers, and Programmers. As always, please feel free to review our active job postings and apply if you feel you’d be a good fit for any of our listed roles :)

Conclusion

Things are heating up for 0.8, and we’ve got plenty of stuff we can’t wait to show to you. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to wait a little longer to find out what those things are. Also, a quick reminder, we’re doing an AMA after the launch of 0.8. The AMA is closed to backers and media partners only, as they’ll have had a chance to test out Dead Matter. I’ll have more information about our AMA when 0.8 launches. But for now, start thinking of your questions.

That’s all for this blog post, folks.

See you in a couple of weeks,

Anton

Housekeeping

Development Update

Conclusion

0.8 Closed Alpha Update Announcement

MID APRIL UPDATE