Hey everyone, Mat here. I want to mark a real turning point for Rooted, so I will say it straight: the game is now in full production.
The first chapter of development was research and prototyping. Trying things, experimenting, learning what works, and figuring out what Rooted actually wants to be. Not everything made the cut, and that is exactly what that phase was for. It is what gave the game its direction and showed me the bar Rooted has to clear. That chapter is now closing.
What comes next is full production, and this is the part where every detail counts. Performance and optimization, how cleanly everything replicates across coop, every feature built to hold up under real play, all of it aimed at one thing: making Rooted the post-apocalyptic survival experience I set out to build. The goal is an Early Access release somewhere in late 2027, open to everyone on Steam.
A new world
The alpha map has been wiped to make way for a brand new world, built around the biomes you actually find in Oregon. The goal is a world where exploring means moving through genuinely different places, not one flat landscape, so every stretch of the map has its own character.
Where the game stands
A lot of the core is coming together. None of this is in the public build yet, but here is the shape of it:
- Survival that models a real body - not a single health bar. Hunger, thirst, hygiene, body temperature, how wet you are, fatigue. Wounds land on the part of the body that took the hit, so a bleeding arm and a fractured leg are different problems with different consequences. Infections and diseases can set in and even spread between players, cold and damp can turn into something worse, and the right clothing is what keeps the weather off you. It all runs underneath as a real simulation.
- Items and inventory - a reworked inventory screen, and a real split between what is on you and what you haul. A small personal stash stays with your character, while the backpack is where the weight is: it holds its own contents and carries visible weapons and gear, and if you drop it or go down, the bag and everything in it stays in the world as loot for someone else to grab. On top of that, loot is placed across the world to find.
- Building, two ways - the classic modular build sits on a stronger foundation now: pieces that snap together, a real stability model so a structure holds or comes down depending on what is carrying it, and reinforcements to harden what you raised. And on top of that, you can move into the places already standing in the world, clear out the inside, and make them your own.
- Crafting - workbenches with tiers, salvage, and repair.
- A world that lives on its own - wildlife that runs on real behavior, not scenery. Animals read the wind and your scent, a bear warns you before it commits, a herd of deer breaks and scatters. They keep their own schedule whether or not you are watching, and the world remembers: track a specific animal and it is still there, still wounded, the next time you cross its path.
- Vehicles built for land, water, and air - one architecture under all of them. Water craft are the first I am building out, and the same foundation is made to carry ground vehicles and flight too.
That is the systems layer. The meshes, animation, audio, and world content sit on top of it and are authored separately.
Under the hood
Most of this is built data-driven on purpose. The rules live in data instead of being hard-coded, which keeps them flexible to tune and friendly to modding as the game grows. Effort is also going into a dedicated server version, so a group can play on a server that runs on its own instead of leaning on one player to host.
Following the work
I also want you closer to the build from here on. Every week I will post a dev log, on the website, in our Discord, and on the game's Steam forum. It keeps to the essentials, short and to the point, just enough to show what I worked on and how the game is progressing. The same write-up, wherever you follow it. You can find all the dev logs here: rootedthegame.com/news.
The first chapter was a blast. This next one, building it all for real, is the part I am most excited about. Glad to have you along for it.
Mat
