Purpose

So, CAT Interstellar: Recast was an effort to explore and learn all the new features in Unreal Engine 5 in the hope of using it for Episode II...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1572950/CAT_Interstellar_Episode_II

I don't want to say this effort was a mistake (it wasn't) but:

• It took a lot longer than expected due to bugs in the early access version of the engine

• Ultimately doesn't offer as solid of a build even with increased system specs

• Higher system specs exclude a large part of the community

What it does offer is some incredible leaps in visual fidelity using tech like nanite meshes and lumen global illumination.

Outcome

I am glad we did this little side project though because I was ~100% convinced this was the right approach to take with Episode II. What I should have known and what became obvious over the development cycle was increasing the minimum requirements to support nanite and lumen excludes a large portion of the supports of the first game.

I had a lot of pride in how optimized the first episode was but with this new tech there is less room for optimizations and a higher barrier of entry. Even without the current chip shortage I don't want to leave behind a portion of the fan base simply for flashier graphics.

Update

• The newest update has further optimizations to the Chaos system.

• More detail added to Cave and Glacier environment

• Additional story content

• Stability improvements

• Dialog

• Speech bubbles enabled by default

Future

One more positive thing this little deviation did was give me some serious practice at managing an indie project along with a full time job and a family. The remastered version took about 6 months to complete while working around my other obligations. I got a lot better at formulating a development plan and executing tasks given little pockets of time here and there.

Episode II is planned to release to Early Access this summer with the first 2 chapters relatively complete and access to the mechanics of the later game like rovers and... I don't want to give too much away but it's gonna be awesome!

As always, Thank You for your support and feedback. Now here's a clip of the next generation of game developers.