PUNT: Rebirth Plans & Progress

 With the advent of PUNT becoming Greenlit, changes were bound to occur (thanks again!). However, the extent of these changes has yet to be fully discussed by us in any of our previous posts. In light of this, this article is dedicated to making the changes which have occurred known to the public, as well as the future of PUNT: Rebirth as a whole.

 As discussed in my previous post to this blog, we plan on having PUNT: Rebirth release on Steam with full Steam workshop support so that new puzzles will always be available. While the completion of the game is still a while off, the game will most likely be at least 50% complete by the beginning of September. To clarify, this means completing a chapter of the game per month. This goal is already being heavily worked towards, as we aim to have the entire first chapter of the game done by the end of the month. However, past that 50% completion mark, overall progress will become rapid due to the story elements which will be featured in the second half of the game. Still, in light of this goal, I'd like to set the estimated release for the game as early to mid 2017, However, please note that this may change in the future.

CURRENT ESTIMATES:

• May 31st: Chapter One completed.
• June 30th: Chapter Two completed, two advanced maps created
• July 31st: Chapter Three completed
• August 31st: Chapter Four completed
• September 30th: Chapter Five completed, all previous chapters revised to be in line with story
• October 31st: Chapter Six completed
• November 30th: Chapter Seven completed, Pre-Gold build pushed to testers
• December 31st: Chapter Eight completed
• January 31st, 2017: Feedback from Pre-Gold build taken into account, changes are made based upon it. General bug and optimization fixes made.
• February 1st - 10th, 2017: PUNT: Rebirth is released on Steam. 

 As far as gameplay changes themselves go, a new fizzler type has been added, dubbed the deactivation field. When a player or object goes through the field, all cubes within a given room have their abilities deactivated. In addition, various aesthetic changes are in the works as well, such as cleaner textures for the tiles. The E.C.H.O. / Punt gun also has work being done on it, including new sounds, particle effects, and more to come in the future.

 In addition to the main game, the final release of PUNT will include a collection of advanced puzzles as well which were deemed too skill based or difficult for the main game. There's also the possibility of us releasing periodic map packs post release as free updates for the game, but this is all still far from final. We plan on implementing achievements as well.

For those of you who are unaware, we currently have an ongoing puzzle concept / design contest. For the details, please refer to this post:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/updates/394046362/1461963353

 Lastly, we're currently looking for a new mapper who could help with the overall progress of PUNT: Rebirth, allowing us to reach our goals in time. Please note, we need experienced, talented mappers as applicants. Anyone who has experience with Portal 2 or similar mapping, please email me personally at tristan.h816@gmail.com along with a selection of your previous works.

 The next upcoming month or two may prove to be quieter than usual, but that's because we'll have our hands full with mapping. Once again, thanks to everyone who's supported us so far, and we hope that our plans for the future will prove to be worth waiting for.

Until next time,

-Tristan (BoxandRocks)