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Dead Water In development

Roadmap

Prove the cheap things first.

These are not release dates. They are questions, in the order we think they will kill the project if the answer is no. Each one has an exit test, and failing a test is allowed.

Milestones

  1. M0

    Boat toy

    in progress

    Prove that driving a go-fast at speed is fun on its own.

    Handling, water, throttle and trim, camera. Nothing else. If a stranger picks this up and puts it down after two minutes, the numbers are wrong and everything after it is wasted work.

  2. M1

    Solo loop

    next

    Complete a run alone, and feel it when you lose the cargo.

    One port, one route, buy cargo, make the drop, bank the cash. One patrol type. The whole point is whether losing a load actually stings.

  3. M2

    Co-op

    planned

    Two people on one boat should beat one person on one boat.

    Helm and deck as separate jobs, shared cargo and cash, one crew on one hull. Crewing has to feel like a relief before a world full of other crews means anything. If it feels like a chore, the station design is wrong.

  4. M3

    The heat game

    planned

    Make running dark a real decision rather than an obvious one.

    Transponder toggle, day and night, vision cones, searchlights, a helicopter tier, impound. Success looks like playtesters arguing with each other about whether to go dark.

  5. M4

    Demo cut

    planned

    A free demo worth putting in front of strangers.

    Three boats, three routes, three cargo tiers, a polish pass and enough tutorial to not need a manual. The demo is the marketing plan.

Deliberately not yet

Everything else

All of this is designed and none of it is being built. Adding any of it before the run itself is fun would just be decorating a thing nobody wants to do twice.

  • Vice districts, fixers and the intel economy
  • Crew articles, votes and mutiny
  • The contraband ladder above cut rum
  • Laundering, and the money layer that gives heat its teeth
  • Gangs, shared vaults and port influence
  • Dedicated servers and seasons

No storefront, no wishlist button

Follow the milestones

We email when something real happens, which is rarely. The devlog covers the rest.

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