Dear Backers,

Today we would like to announce that Jagged Alliance: Flashback is officially in Closed Alpha, which means that backers at $250 Tier and above, as well as backers who paid for the Alpha as an add-on, will get access to the game. We will launch with a Windows version and then make a Mac and Linux version over the next days.

We have chosen to run the Alpha on Steam, as this is the least time consuming approach for us, leaving us more time to develop the game. For the Alpha we will be sending out the keys through email, so keep an eye out for mails from Full Control. If you haven’t received a key please check your spam filters before contacting support@fullcontrol.dk. We will start sending out keys manually once we have everything setup on Steam sometime today.

As an added bonus, Alpha backers and Modders will gain access to the level editor sometime next week, which means they will be able to get a first look of the “engine behind the hood”. We are focusing heavily on moddability for JAF as we think this is what has been keeping the old games alive for all these years.

Alpha, Beta and Early Access Clarification

For those of you who haven’t seen that we are going on Early Access on Steam in Q2 2014, we would just like to officially state it here and also clarify what it means for the Alpha, Beta and Early Access backers we have on the Kickstarter.

When we ran the Kickstarter back in April 2013 we had no idea we would be going on early access on Steam or if we would hit our funding goal, which is why we ended up with Alpha, Beta and Early Access. It was communicated back then that Early Access was a Head Start to play the final version of the game minimum 1 week before everyone else. This is still the case, but to make sure there’s no confusion we have chosen to change the setup to. Alpha, Steam Early Access and Head Start.

As explained in the part about Alpha, we chose to go with Steam as it leaves more time for us to develop the game, facilitates community involvement and also makes the game visible to potential new supporters of the game. We will go on Steam Early Access with a price point of $45, which is the same as the base game + Beta as an add-on.

The community hub will first be made available for Steam Early Access.

New Logo

We have been considering changing the logo for a while, as a lot have changed for the game story wise. With the release of the Alpha version, it feels like the perfect time to make the change. Our concept artist Jesper, who made the first logo, got the task once more and after many iterations and a lot of discussion within the team, we ended up with this:

Image Link

Dev Diary 3: Explosions

Since it’s not everybody who has access to the Alpha, we decided to make Dev Diary, that shows off the Alpha and explains what is currently possible and what is to be implemented, in broad terms.

Jagged Alliance Flashback Dev Diary 3 (youtube)

New Shop Options

We have updated the shop on our website, so it is now possible to upgrade to alpha for $40. Furthermore, we have added a digital deluxe edition for late comers priced at $80. You can find more info on the shop page HERE.

Until next time!

The Full Control JAF Team

Dear Backers,

We would like to announce that we are now officially live on Steam Early Access!!

A big thanks to all of you for helping us get to this point, we are looking forward to your reactions as well as all of the feedback, suggestions and input you may have.

To start off the early access with a blast, we decided to make a kickass trailer in the spirit of the old games, to give both old and upcoming fans of the franchise a taste of the 80’s action themed atmosphere.

Jagged Alliance Flashback Early Access Trailer

Let there be no doubt, we really want to add both cheesy, odd and humorous elements to this game.

Here's the link for the Steam Store Page

Roadmap for Early Access

What is currently in?

The combat system (although not completely finished yet)
Quite a few sectors and mercenaries which are waiting for you
Some quests are in there as well
Daylight/Night cycle slightly influencing line of sight
Full features professional map editor and modable games + Steamworkshop integration
Probably lots of bugs we didn’t discover yet

What will follow?

That’s a tricky question. A lot would be the quick answer. We plan to have regular updates where we expand the world and the number of mercenaries. But these are “just” content updates. And as every true Jagged fan knows, content isn’t everything. Anyways: Expect such smaller updates more often. But don’t expect them to have lots of new features. Cause features will be added in far less often but much bigger updates.

Please keep in mind that the following list is not a list of promised features, but a list of what we want to add to the game. If we find that something on the list doesn’t fit like expected it will, it won’t go in. It may be added at a later point, but we have to prioritize our efforts.

The next big updated is scheduled for the very end of June, and is planned to include more advanced combat with more weapon classes, different ammo types and interrupts. Furthermore, we are itching to finally include grenades, explosions and destructible environments, as well as giving the strategic map more gameplay weight in regards to resource management.

Milestone Update 1

Advanced Combat (Weapon classes, Ammo types & reloading, Interrupts)
Explosions & Destructible Environment
Throwables & Grenades
Resource Management on Strategic Layer

Milestone Update 2

Stealth (Concealment, Skill, Hearing)
Melee combat
Conquering Sectors & Militia

Milestone Update 3

Advanced Characters (Perks, Morale, Breath, Medial & Mechanics)
Doors (Lockpicking, Breaching, Interaction)
Mercenary tasks out of combat (Train militia, repair, healing,...)

Milestone Update 4

Advanced Enemies (Classes, Grenades, AI)
Additional Equipment (Attachments, Goggles,...)
Sector Upgrades

Side note to NPC names

Currently the NPC and Enemy names you have submitted are added to the EA in one pool, which means that there can be instances where a male NPC ends up having a female name. We’re also still missing a lot of responses, primarily from Paypallers, which will be added at a later point. Additional coding is needed to separate the genders in the game as well as code to make sure that not all random NPC take names from the backer pool. - Would ruin the game if all NPCs on the island were people who didn’t really fit the setting.

Early Access Keys

Right after this Kickstarter update, we’ll be sending out the keys for (Beta) Backers, which are backers in Tier $75+ and backers who paid for the beta upgrade, ($25-$65) + 20)). There are a lot of backers and it’s easy to miss one or two on the list, so please contact us at support@fullcontrol.dk if you think that is the case.

By taking away the shop, we also removed the option of adding extra funds on top of backer’s original pledges to get access to Steam Early Access. We thought that was a shame, so we’re currently looking into a way of allowing backers to do so. It will most likely be by sending out keys for Steam, which are then redeemable for a discount coupon for the game. The coupon will only be valid throughout the Early Access phase.

Final Surveys

Now that the store on our site is closed down, we’ll finally be able to finalize the tiers for Humble Bundle. Additionally, we will also be able to send out the rest of the surveys, which is mainly for Paypallers at this point. We apologize for this to be taking so long, but other tasks have taken priority up until this point.

Until Next Time

The JAF Team

Dear Backers,

We have survived the craziness that is Gamescom and are now ready to release the next big update for JAF, which comes with an all new user interface and additional features to the tactical layer of the game:

Quick Overview of Features:

16 New Sectors
13 New Mercenaries
Melee Combat
Stealth System
Updated Inventory System with Quickslots
Interrupts
Viewcones
In-game UI Overhaul
You can find the full changelog here: Changelog Tactical Overload Update

It’s been very busy this last month so we haven’t manage to squeeze in a trailer for the next update. However, we still wanted to show off a few of the new features in this update and share a bit of information about their design, so we created a new dev diary:

Youtube link

Release Date and Launch Price:

For those who don’t know, we told journalists at Gamescom that we would be launching the final version of JAF in Mid/End October and that the launch price would be €29.99.

We’ve now settled on a release date, which is the 21st of October for both the digital version and the retail version.

We originally said we would launch in November 2014, but as we would be competing with a lot of big titles at that time, we have decided for this slot instead.

Info Regarding Boxed Copies for Backers

The boxed copies and collectors edition won’t be ready for when the final game is released digitally and physically. It’s mainly because of the more exotic items that need to be created and all of the individual shipments we need to make, making it a huge task on its own.

However, as all backers $25+ will have received a digital key at that point we hope it’s an acceptable way of handling this as everyone will then be able to play the game.

Strategic Layer UI Sneak Peek

During Gamescom we also shared a bit of information with journalists about what we have planned for the future and a new and improved Strategic UI is definitely part of that. We gave the journalists a sneak peek, so we only found it fair that you get it as well, so:
Strategic map

We took out some of the elements from the Strategic Layer for Gamescom as we didn’t want it to have too much information. This is still a work-in-progress image, so just an indication of where we’re heading.

Steam Trading Cards

With this update we’re also adding Steam Trading Cards to the game, so start collecting to unlock some nice profile backgrounds and icons :)

Background

Cards:
Spice
Elodie

Icons
We’ve used the same badges that we currently use on the JAF Forum.

Next Batch of Keys

We’ll be sending the next batch of keys for $35-42 next week (week 37). So please get back to us if you haven’t received one in that week and you are in one of those tiers.

Until Next Time!

The Fullcontrol JAF Team