Seasons greetings everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying the holidays and are looking forward to the New Year. The time has come for another progress post regarding the long-awaited Fantastic Frontier update, so let’s get into it!
We’ve been rather quiet this year… And haven’t shared much on our socials, but worry not! Behind the scenes development has been in full swing, and it has been a very productive year for us. Of course, no year is without its challenges, both personal and in development, but overall we have watched our to-do lists steadily shrink and the prospect of a completed update grow ever closer. We remain optimistic, and are very happy with how the update is shaping up, and are eager to share it with you.
As of right now we feel confident to say the update will be arriving sometime in 2025. When exactly? We’re still not quite sure - while a lot of content has been finished and set aside this year, the amount we still have left to finish and connect together is no trivial task, so we have to stay focused and keep our heads down a bit longer.
Although the update is getting closer, we still aren’t quite to the point where we would want to reveal everything just yet. As such, we wanted to keep this post a bit on the simpler side - to just let you all know we are still very much alive and kicking, rather than share too much in terms of content and features. That said… There were a few things that we’ve been working on throughout the year I thought it might be nice to share some thoughts and details on.
Combat is something that has always been at the heart of Fantastic Frontier, and as such we are always looking to elevate the experience and make it the best it can be. This update includes a truly gargantuan amount of new monsters, bosses, weapons, and equipment. While the quantity of new content being added rivals that of all previous updates combined - we also feel that the quality level of these new additions is far and above that of which we’ve created in the past. I’m particularly proud of the new bosses Gorbachelli and I have cooked up for this update, which I can confidently say are unlike anything you have yet to see in Fantastic Frontier. (No disrespect to Circus and Mr. 58, we still love you!)
In addition to the new weapons and monsters that are added in the update, we’ve also been putting a great deal of care into making the core aspects of combat as fun as they can be. We’ve polished up some of the existing weak spots and have added heaps of new features that make combat much more exciting and dynamic. To share just a few of the combat-related features you can expect in the update:
-
Dodging
-
Blocking/Parrying for melee weapons (and some magic weapons like staves)
-
Bullet physics and improved projectiles
-
Weaknesses and resistances for individual monsters (Melee, magic, ranged)
-
Full screen boss HP bars
-
New equipment stats, such as the ability to reduce the cooldown of special attacks
-
Wider weapon variety within classes (More than just guns for Ranged, etc.)
-
Arenas and dungeons where players can fight monsters more consistently
-
Damage numbers to show how hard you are hitting
-
And much more…
We feel as though these changes have successfully breathed new life into the landscape of Fantastic Frontier’s combat. We hope that combat will now not only be a lot more satisfying, but also offer a much wider variety builds, weapon combinations, and ways to play.
Another topic that has been on our minds a lot this year is the balancing act between the quality of new and old content. Fantastic Frontier has been around for over 7 years at this point, with a large portion of that time being spent on this update - as such our skills as developers have grown considerably. To put it plainly, the quality of our new content outshines that of the old, sometimes to a stark degree.
This has led to a bit of a development dilemma for ourselves - exactly how much time do we put towards revamping old content? This is an especially tricky situation when it comes to thinking about new players, who might be playing FF for the first time after the update. After all, we want this release to be big, and for everyone to see the best of what we have to offer!
Throughout development of this update, we feel we’ve eventually arrived at a pretty good balance in this regard, but it’s also something I wanted to touch on in order to properly set expectations. We have improved and revamped a fair bit of old content in this update, especially around sore spots like the early game experience. With that said, we simply do not have the time to update every outdated piece of content that we’d like, and must ultimately prioritize new content and releasing the update.
We’ve come to the decision that with where we are at, and what we have already improved, we will likely continue to update and improve old content over time, after the update releases. There are still some old areas, monsters, and weapons that could use a fresh coat of paint - but the game overall is looking solid, and we’ve decided these changes can wait in service of finally getting this update released.
As a side note, I thought I should clarify on the image seen above. It features the classic ore-based armor set, in addition to a new upgraded version. The new armor is not a replacement for the old, but rather an improved version that can be crafted with more materials later in the game. It made for a nice visual representation of this section, but I thought some may get the wrong idea!
Five years is a long while to spend working on any one thing, but with this update that reality has hit particularly hard at times. Looking back to the beginning of our journey with this update reminds me of just how far we have come, and how much we all have grown and changed.
I’ve seen those of you around since the early days move through your own lives - graduating school, starting families, and building incredible projects of your own. Through the twists and turns of life, I imagine for many of you the memories of Fantastic Frontier may have grown more distant with time.
I feel though, that perhaps this is the way it was meant to be. That this update was always destined to arrive at a different time in our lives. I’ve come to see this update more so as a completion - a making whole of the project that was started those almost 8 years ago. Really, it is only now I truly feel we have what is required to deliver our full vision.
So, I ask of you all - continue living your lives to the fullest, and don’t slow down to wait. But, when the time comes, whoever you are and wherever you are in life…
