Impassable woods advance onto cities from every side, as maddened animals and birds attack industrial complexes, military structures, warehouses and power-plants. Strange plants and mushrooms grow through concrete and steel. Scientists all over the world haplessly try to cope with the anomaly expanding with terrifying speed across the planet. Countries collapse; anarchy spreads throughout the world. Now force dictates who can survive.

"At the end of last week we announced the imminent Survarium release on Steam. Today we are pleased to reveal that the game will be available on April 2, 22:00 GMT+2.  Keep a close watch on the Early Access page as there are three very unique (Steam Exclusive) starter packs that will become available. However, they will only be on sale for a very limited time. So you will have to move quickly! Another noteworthy piece of information as that along with the Steam release we will be launching North American based game servers."

As many of you are new to our game and will no doubt be unaware of our development cycle or future plans we are taking this opportunity to try and explain the current state of the project (with some future plans outlined as well) in this short text diary.

Current Beta Status

At present the build offers only the PVP version of game. This mode consists of three different incarnations within the PVP mode itself. We plan to expand on this mode and introduce more variations of play. To find out more please read through the Dev Diary titled PVP below.

Now, you will most certainly experience bugs while playing the game. This is to be expected when Beta testing a build. However, the reason for us choosing this format of game and indeed starting development with the PVP mode is to work out the game mechanics in a more simple version of the game before we expand into the Freeplay and Co-Op game modes and also so we can develop the game in conjunction with you, the community; which is why we greatly value your feedback and suggestions.

We generally update the game version once a month (if all goes according to plan) and during the month release multiple patches to address in-game bugs. The client will always update automatically when a new patch or game version is available. Having said that, we also have a separate game client called the “PTS” (Public Test Server) which we enable for a few weeks before a new version release and allow you all to help with the Q&A process. This is a separate game client available on our website.

Naturally, with every new game version (when new items, features and changes are made) new bugs are always introduced. Many of these bugs are subjective and not experienced by all players. If you receive a bugtrap, we ask that you please click the “submit” button. The more feedback we receive, the faster we can address the issues. Also, regular participation on our forums at the official website discussing various aspects of the game with other forum users is a great help to us. We interact on the forums daily, directly with you. Answer questions, read through your suggestions and provide exclusive “Developer to Community” feedback.

Future Plans

As mentioned above we are currently very focused on the PVP modes of the game and want to use this time to increase engine stability. However, this is not to say that this is all we have planned for the game. No doubt many of you are awaiting the much anticipated Freeplay mode; also referred to as PvE. This mode is in development. So please do not make the mistake in thinking that Survarium is just an PvP shooter. We have extremely ambitious plans for the future of the game and with your help, we can achieve them. So, take a few moments to read through the develop diaries found here on the Steam page and also check out our forums and Youtube channel for video developer diaries. Thank you for reading this and supporting our project. We have a long road ahead but we are confident we can meet not only our own expectations but, and more importantly, yours as well!

In choosing what PvP modes will be implemented originally we were guided by the following thoughts:

• PvP modes should be focused on the confrontation between players. we want the game modes to be different in tempo and intensity of gameplay
• we want the aim of the player to be clearly defined and that the player did not have a dilemma between acting in the best interests of the team or personal interests. To play as a team should be the most effective strategy for the development of the character
• some game modes with more complex rules can be available to new players and or as a character develops, for example, after a certain number of battles
• game modes should not present too high requirements for a team because the coordination of players in games with random players always leaves much to be desired. At the same time, more cohesive teams should have an advantage;

Of course, it is impossible to please everyone and by introducing several modes we must give the player the option to choose which mode he wants to play. There is a reverse side of this coin: it is obvious that some modes are more popular than others, and this will complicate the matchmaking in less popular modes. We consider several variants of a solution for this. For example, you can limit the minimum number of selected modes.
Let’s go through the planned PVP modes.

Team Deathmatch

This game mode is already implemented in Survarium. Two teams fight until the complete destruction of the opposing team. Each team has a counter that is decremented by killing players of the team. When the counter reaches zero, the possibility of respawn is disabled but surviving players retain the ability to fight to the last and lead your team to victory. If before the expiration of the timer either team fails to win, the victory is awarded to the team with the higher score.

At the moment there are some problems with the fact that the battle is often shifted to one end of the map. We are looking for ways out of this situation to ensure that the battle was over a larger area and not only in the area of the base. The solution of random spawn points would not be effective as it results in many disoriented players.

Research

Two teams fight for control of mobile research facilities. Each installation under the control of the team gives a small contribution to the study of abnormal activity. The winner is the team that collects the necessary information first. This mode is very similar to many familiar modes with capture points, except with one big difference. The team does not require control of all installations, each installation will individually contribute to the total. That means even controlling one installation of the three at the end of the battle, the team can win if it made a good start in the beginning of the fight.

We are also considering the possibility of adding special missions, depending on the map, that can give great bonuses to the research total.

Storm

This mode is an evolution of the previous system for the collection of protective devices and replaces it. There is an approaching storm and the only way to survive is to build a special protective device that reduces the impact of the storm. The approaching storm has a significant impact on gameplay. Two of the most notable phenomena players will encounter is the increase in time of respawn, as well as increasing the number of random anomalies. Also, on some levels, static anomalies become even more deadly.

When the storm reaches its peak the respawning of players will be disabled but there will be practically no places where players could avoid abnormal damage anyway. The winner will be the team that will be able to live longer. The collection of the protective devices will reduce the damage from anomalies in a small area around its base.Full protection can only be obtained by gathering all devices, leading to an early victory.

Artifact Hunt

In this mode, two teams compete for the rare and very powerful artifact named "Shining of the Forest". Unlike most artifacts this one has no negative effects and does not create an anomaly around it. Players can collect and carry it without a container designed for artifacts. The appearance of the artifact is accompanied by a powerful flash and it cannot be determined in advance.

Once an artifact is detected, all players can see its position on the minimap. The winner is the first team who is able to find and bring to their base three such artifacts. The artifacts that have already brought to the base can't be stolen from it.

There can be only one "Shining of the Forest" at any one time. If the match times out then the winner is the team that has managed to collect more artifacts.

Sabotage

The aim of the game is to destroy the enemy base by using an explosive device. In the beginning of the match explosives are in neutral territory, at equal distances from the bases of both teams. The position of the explosives known to all players throughout the match. After the explosives are delivered to the enemy base, a timer is started counting down to detonation, during which the explosives can be defused.

Seek’n’Destroy

In this mode the goal of the two teams are different. The attacking team must destroy one of the two key points with explosives, which can be found near the base of the attacking team. The goal of the defending team to defend both points from destruction.

The battle is divided into ten rounds, with respawn only possible in the early rounds. After five rounds the defending and attacking teams switch places. The winner is the team that will be able to achieve its goal in most the rounds.

Please note that this list is not final and can be changed. It may be amended and the rules in certain modes may change. We are also ready to consider the players suggestions about other game modes.

I would like to talk about ideas for PvP modes with a third power, for example with the mutants. This idea is not new and periodically pops up not only in discussions of Survarium, but also in other projects. Moreover, we (and not only we), have carried out tests of PvP modes with the presence of a third force. The General opinion is that the presence of a third force that is able to kill the player shifts the focus from the PvP part of the game and causes a lot of chaos.

This idea is much more applicable in a more measured free play mode, where the player's aim is not only to destroy the opponent's team, and the definition of "enemy" is not so clear. One successful example of integration of PvP battles with PvE elements are MOBA games.