Outbound is an open-world exploration game set in a utopian near future. You start with an empty camper van and turn it into the home of your dreams. Coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Playstation. Play it alone or together with up to 4 players!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Development Update #2 - Roadmap Update!
4 days ago
– Mon, Feb 10, 2025 at 08:07:46 AM
Hi everyone! ✨
TLDR: The Alpha will launch in April, development is on track!
Since our last update in December we are still very hard at work developing Outbound! A heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you for making this possible! With this update, we'd like to give you a brief overview of what we've been working on, and share an updated roadmap for Kickstarter backers!
Roadmap
The most important thing first, the development is on track! We originally promised that the Alpha would release in H1 2024 and we are happy to stick to that promise and to reveal the exact month: April! 🥳
We will send out Steam Outbound keys in April to Alpha backers. As a reminder, you are free to stream and share the Alpha with everyone (no NDA required)!
World Design
We finished the first biome and are now working on the second biome! The first biome will be part of the Alpha! We won't reveal the full map of the biome to avoid spoilers, but instead will show you some screenshots of locations that we worked on.
Motor & Battery
We did a couple of iterations on the motor of the vehicle and found a game loop that ties resources to the battery of the vehicle, especially in the beginning of the game. We added a bio burner to the vehicle that can burn biodegradable resources to fuel the electric motor. Later in the game you will be able to expand and ultimately replace the bio burner with solar and wind energy, building a fully sustainable energy solution for your vehicle.
Signal Towers
We found a cool way to further link exploration to progression! In the Alpha we will test and evaluate a mechanic with signal towers scattered in the world of Outbound for you to find. From these signal towers you will be able to download blueprints to add to your workbench or build menu. Most of the signal towers will provide multiple options to choose from. The offered options can vary from player to player, so each playthrough should feel fresh and different. From time to time, old signal towers will provide a new signal, so you can go back and complete your blueprint collection.
Compass
Due to popular demand, we added a compass to help navigating the world of Outbound! You will be able to track locations on your map that will show on the compass.
State of Multiplayer
We don't have any particular update on multiplayer, except for that it is getting more and more stable and almost all systems are working already. The status is still that we are optimistic that we would be able to include it into the Alpha.
Playtest, playtest, playtest!
What is one of the most important thing in game development? Playtesting! We are playtesting a lot to make sure that the Alpha will play as smooth as possible. Therefore we conducted a playtest with roughly 50 playtesters in January (all under NDA) and we will conduct another one with a similar number of players in March. From the last playtest, we received lots of feedback and bugs that we are currently working on. We are also positively surprised by the amount of playtime playtesters spent with the playtest build (only the first biome). Every fifth playtester spent more than 10 hours in the first biome, which is definitely above our expectations and a very good sign!
Thank you very much for reading and thank you again for your support!
Cheers,
Marc & Tobi
Development Update #1
2 months ago
– Mon, Dec 02, 2024 at 06:31:48 AM
Hi everyone! ✨
It's been a few months since the end of our Kickstarter campaign, and we've been hard at work developing the game! A heartfelt Thank You to each and every one of you for making this possible! With this update, we'd like to give you a brief overview of what we've been working on, and share some of the current state of Outbound.
TLDR: If you don't want to read through the whole update: Development is on track, we expect the Alpha to be publicly available in the first half of 2025!
World Design
One of the focus points of the last months has been World Design. Below is a screenshot of the first area of Outbound seen from above. To give you an idea of how far we've come in this short period of time, we've included a comparison of the world as it looked at the end of the Kickstarter campaign versus how it looks now. Please note, this map is just one part of the game. We'll be adding more biomes in the future, but for the Alpha version, you can expect the focus to be primarily on this area.
Playable area at the time of the Kickstarter
Playable area December 2024
We've made significant progress on the world of Outbound - bringing it to life with places to explore and secrets to find. As you can see, we're creating lots of locations to explore and to chill out and set up a campsite.
Points of Interests
We finished the first couple of Points of Interest for Outbound - one of them being the Old Fire Lookout that you have seen in the trailer. These Points of Interest will contain blueprints for key items that will help you progress the game further.
Backpack and Unit UIs
We also reworked big parts of the UI to make it blend better with the aesthetic of the game. We decided to go with a Journal with which you can keep track of your journey and the contents of your backpack. For the workstations (units) that you build in your vehicle, we decided to go with displays that contain the necessary information of that unit.
Content
We worked on more content for the game, namely more furniture, more decorations and also the bobbleheads that you will be able to place on your dashboard - one of them being Aiyana, the heroine from our previous game Above Snakes that you were able to acquire via Kickstarter.
Please note that it is likely that we will not include all of the decorations and furniture that you see here into the Alpha already.
State of Multiplayer
A good chunk of the multiplayer functionality has been implemented and we are slightly optimistic that we would be able to include it into the Alpha. There are still a couple of bugs and things that we will need to handle, so we can't tell for sure at this point if we are able to include it into the Alpha or not, but we will do our utmost best!
Office Play Tests
We conducted another round of play tests with our team and people from the office building that we are located in. We are happy to report that these tests have been very successful and people had a good time playing Outbound. Of course we found many small bugs and improvements for the game, but luckily no major gameplay issues came up. We will continue with another round of closed playtests under NDA shortly by inviting Patreon subscribers to test the game for a short period of time to gather extra data points before going into Alpha.
600.000 Steam Wishlists - Thank you!
So many of you wishlisted Outbound on Steam, which puts it at the top 50 most-wishlisted games worldwide - which is crazy to think about! Thank you very much for all of your enthusiasm for the game and your constant support. We really appreciate it! 💙
Roadmap
We are on track with development and we are positive that we are able to stick to the original roadmap that we published with the Kickstarter campaign. Therefore, the Alpha will be available in the first half of 2025. Stay tuned!
Backer Survey Reminder
If you haven't received a backer survey via BackerKit yet, please reach out to us via direct message here on Kickstarter. We have sent the surveys in October and reminders in November. Please check your email inbox (and spam folder) before contacting us.
Discord Backer Roles Reminder
Remember to claim your official Backer role on our community discord as described here.
Happy Holiday Season!
It is holiday season and we are running a Holiday event in our previous game Above Snakes! Make sure to participate and pick up limited items that can only be crafted at this time of the year (until January)! It is currently also 45% off!
Thank you very much for reading and for your support.
Cheers,
Marc & Tobi
Claim your Backer Role + Surveys + Above Snakes Keys!
4 months ago
– Tue, Oct 22, 2024 at 07:16:34 AM
Backer Surveys
Great news everyone! We were busy setting up everything to fulfill the first rewards! In order to do so, we recently started to send out the Backer Surveys! Please make sure to check your email inbox for an email from BackerKit. The email has the following subject: "Response Needed - Get your reward for Outbound - Cozy Camper-Van Exploration-Crafting Game". We kindly ask you to fill out that backer survey in order to receive your rewards. In most cases this will not take more than a minute of your time.
Claim your Discord Backer Role
All backers who backed for Digital Standard Edition or higher receive a special Discord backer role! The backer role will give you access to restricted backer-only channels in which you can discuss the game, the Kickstarter campaign, or interact with the developers. In order to receive your backer role on our community Discord, you will need to follow these steps:
Type and send the following message in that channel: /claim-role
You will receive a prompt which asks you for your email address. You will need to enter the email address of your Kickstarter account. Each email can only be entered once.
Above Snakes Keys
For backers who's pledge contains an Above Snakes Steam key, we have good news! We are ready to send these key out right now! In order to receive your Above Snakes Steam key, you will need to have filled out the Backer Survey (mentioned above). You will then receive another email from BackerKit asking you to claim your reward, which should contain your Above Snakes Steam key. Enjoy playing!
Thanks again for all of your support! 🫶 We are looking forward to keep you updated with the next rewards soon, when we are ready to ship the Alpha in the first half of 2025!
Forgot to add an Add-on? + Failed Payments + Updates + More!
5 months ago
– Mon, Sep 16, 2024 at 10:37:16 AM
Forgot to add something to your pledge?
We have received a lot of requests from fans to set up a possibility to still add Kickstarter Add-ons after the campaign has ended, since not everybody noticed that we introduced new Add-ons mid-campaign. We also received requests from people that came too late to the campaign to be able to participate in the Alpha. Therefore, we have set up a Late Pledge Store which will stay online for a limited time only.
With the late pledge store, you can get access to the Alpha and to some of the add-ons of the campaign. For full transparency: At first glance, the prices of the standard edition and alpha edition are the same as on Kickstarter, but they don't include discord backer roles, charms, or soundtracks.
Some Failed Payments
It is very normal for Kickstarter campaigns that some of the payments don't go through immediately. Don't panic, as in these cases you should have received an e-mail from Kickstarter, your bank, or your credit card provider. Sometimes you will need to authorize or confirm the payment, or check with your bank or credit card provider what to do (please always be careful with e-mails regarding payments and check if the sender is who they claim to be).
If you keep having issues with getting the payment resolved, please see here or check with Kickstarter support. In our experience, you have around 2 weeks to resolve the issues, otherwise your pledge and all of the backer rewards will get canceled by Kickstarter.
Apple ID Backers
Sometimes there are issues related to Apple ID backers when we try to contact you via the BackerKit pledge manager. That means, that you will not receive the e-mail for the backer survey or any rewards, since we can't access your e-mail address.
"Backers who have pledged to the campaign using their AppleID but haven't completely set up their Apple Pay account (linking their email address to their Apple Wallet) will have issues receiving their emails from BackerKit.
Those backers have a @privaterelay.appleid.com email address and will need to reach out to the creator team or BackerKit Support to update their email address in BackerKit.
You'll be able to reach out to BackerKit Support by clicking the "need help" link from the Lost Survey page: https://www.backerkit.com/are_you_a_backer. When you write in to Support, please provide your name and your Kickstarter pledge number, which can be found in your Kickstarter pledge confirmation email.
Please update your Apple Pay email as soon as possible to prevent this from happening in the future. You can learn more about hiding your email when signing in with Apple here."
Campaign Updates
Please make sure to stay subscribed to the updates that we send here on Kickstarter in order to get notified when the Alpha, Beta and release of the game are ready! We will also send the occasional Devlog update to keep you informed about the current state of the development. 😊
Backer Surveys
A small correction on our last update, the backer surveys will be sent out in October (not in September). Pardon the small mistake!
Again, Thank You!
Lastly, we want to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to each and everyone of you again! Your support and enthusiasm for Outbound have been invaluable to the success of our campaign. We are truly grateful and cannot wait to bring Outbound to life with your continued support. Thank you! ❤️
By the way, are you part of our lovely Discord community yet?
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🎉 Thank you!
5 months ago
– Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 09:06:50 AM
WE DID IT! It is still hard to believe, but with an astounding 5197 backers this campaign has truly been an incredible success!!! What a truly AMAZING month this has been, and we really can't thank each and everyone of you who believes in Outbound enough! 🫶
Because of your never-ending enthusiasm and support and all of you in the community, we can make Outbound into a very special game. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU.
What's next?
Kickstarter will start to collect payments shortly (beginning today). Please make sure to watch out for any e-mails from Kickstarter or your bank regarding authorization or failed payments.
Within the next 2-3 weeks, Kickstarter will have collected the funds and we can start sending out backer surveys.
After the funds have been collected, we will also start to assign Discord roles!
We expect backer surveys to be sent out in early September. With the backer surveys we will collect all necessary information from you, such as names for the credits, platforms of choice, etc. More information will follow soon :)
Final Community Achievement - Insect Hotels!
With our combined community power we did it and unlocked the final community achievement! Insect Hotels will be added to the game!
Also a big thank you from Lucky 💕
Thanks to all of your generosity, Lucky will get lots and lots of treats!
As we can't state this enough, thank you all for your support and enthusiasm for Outbound. Together we will make a great game!
We were featured recently in the Cozy Games Newsletter and we just had to share it with you all. The newsletter offers great added value for all cozy gamers who appreciate an overview of the latest releases and news.
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