Untamed Isles
Untamed Isles goes into hiatus
Today I want to share extremely sad news with you all. We have to pause the development of Untamed Isles and put the project on hold. With a heavy heart, we made this decision and we understand our amazing community will be shocked reading this.
Fighting every day against an inevitable current because of the promise I made when we embarked on this journey. A promise I will still intend to keep, but not one that I now have the ability to decide the timeline to. There have been a myriad of factors that have caused the lead-up to this very moment but what this all comes down to is that we are unable to financially keep up with the demands of what we set out to do.
Untamed Isles is a very ambitious title being an open-world monster-catching MMORPG. To work on this project we brought more than 70 staff members on board and we were working relentlessly for more than 2 years to build the game we all were dreaming about. The truth is that the cost of development is high and there were lots of bumps on our way to this moment. Since we started the journey in 2020, the economic landscape has changed dramatically both generally and specifically for cryptocurrency, and we are not confident in the current market. We ran out of financial resources and we can’t carry on the development at this moment.
We leaned into the crypto market and expanded rapidly off the back of the positive interest. When the crash came, we ended up heavily exposed with too short of a runway. The game remains game-first, crypto-second in design, but crypto funds have become, and remain, essential in getting us to the release. Unlike many of the projects that have foundered in the storm, we actually have a great game design that could stand on its own two feet. But until the crypto situation is resolved - and we're confident it will be at some stage - then we have to hibernate development on this project.
We have such a passion for Untamed Isles and we don’t want to see it launch unsuccessfully and be forgotten. We want to bring our vision to life. Unfortunately, in current circumstances, it means that we have to take a pause and rethink our approach. We can’t say how much time it will take, but we still hope to see you at the Isles one day.
We couldn’t ask for a more caring and loving community. You guys were there for us on every step of this journey and we had so much fun together during beta tests and game nights. The team that worked on Untamed Isles are the most talented and amazing group of people. Making today’s announcement is one of the most difficult things in my life because of all the love I and every team member have for this project.
I’m sure you have lots of questions and we will try to answer as many as we can. You can find a FAQ in the next message covering some of the things. Please respect the privacy of team members and don’t send DMs.
Thanks for all your support,
Josh & the Phat Loot team
Developer Update - July 2022
Hey Tamers,
It’s a date! It is nearly time to embark on the Isles, with the official launch date being announced for 6th October 2022. You can read more about this in our Official press release.
With just a few months until launch, let’s take a look at what has been done so far.
Dev Vlog
As always, you can watch the dev vlog to learn more about this update.
Teaser Trailer
For the best introduction to Untamed Isles, you need to check out our teaser trailer. It has tame encounters. It has snow. It even has a cute Guppy chasing a butterfly. You can watch the full video here. Support our project by liking the video and sharing it with your friends.
Pre-order
Our pre-order packs are now available to purchase. Kit your character out in exclusive cosmetics, loot some Fragments (premium currency) and be amongst the first to access the Isles.
Support the development of our game and get into a magical world on Untamed Isles! Packs are available to purchase here.
Tame generation
Some pretty intense development work was needed to make tames generate based on the world around them, but we are so excited to announce this has now been implemented.
Some tame mood types like getting caught in the rain, other mood types only appear at night. Some tame species love spending time in the depths of the swamp, while others prefer the calm of the meadows. While we don’t want to spoil too much for you, here are some of the factors that impact your wild tame encounter:
Biome: Tame species
Weather & time: Tame mood
Starting stat allocation, island sector & player level: Tame level
Long grass is now fully integrated with tame generation so tames will attack you while walking through the grass.
Island biome
Curious about what biomes will be appearing in the Isles?
Map zones and a biome system have now been introduced and will be used for player progression. Here are some of the biomes in the Isles and why you might love them.
Meadow: A grassy and open area, perfect for tames to play. While a Guang may prefer the open skies in these areas, fluffy Burrl’s prefer areas with more shelter.
Beach: Who doesn’t love a beach day out? Grumpy Thoona, that’s who! Guppy naturally loves the beach.
Forest: Many tamers picture thick forestry when thinking of the Isles. Pluff’s in particular love to play in and around the dense trees. Pango prefers areas that are easier to dig through.
Mountain: Tamers who are wanting to get their step count up and venture through the mountains are sure to be rewarded. Feonii’s love the views from the mountain tops. Chemmy’s don’t like mountains as they prefer areas with more trees to swing from.
Swamp: “This is my swamp” says Skelt, our nature-loving tame. Brackis also loves to play in the depths of the overgrown swamp.
While every tame species can be found in every region, some are extremely likely to encounter, whereas others are extremely rare.
New features around the Isles
The Isles have been coming to life with even more magical features.
We have introduced a zoning system on Settlement Island for the player to progress through. This means trickier areas will only be unlocked after levelling, helping players only venture through areas in their current skillset.
We have also completed the 3D model of the researcher ship. This ship is steampunk-esque and we can’t wait for you to see it. The dock area has also been updated, you may have noticed a sneak peek on the teaser trailer. Missed it? Watch again closely.
PS
The best way to keep up to date with all our updates is to wishlist Untamed Isles on Steam and join our Discord server. See you there!
And more:
Developer Update - June 2022
Hey Tamers,
Well, we are halfway through the year and even closer to the early access launch of Untamed Isles. There’s a little bit of something for everyone in this dev update; battlers, collectors and NPC-fanatics can all find a thing or two to enjoy. On that note, let’s press on with it.
Dev Vlog
Don’t miss the video version of this update! Watch the new Dev Vlog with Taylor & Bre.
Rare tames
If you’re a shiny hunter or a collector, you’re going to want to pay attention to Gemborns and Alphas. This month we coloured some of our gemborn tames. Thoona sculpted out of rose quartz? What about a ruby-style Thoona? If you’re lucky to encounter a wild gemborn tame, make sure you capture it as these tames are incredibly rare!
The fierce Alpha Burrl is also taking shape. This alpha is a bold mix of floofy and toothy. Look at that overbite!
Combat Improvements
Tamers who love to battle will be pleased to hear that our combat system has gone through some serious refinements. The combat system is now easier to understand in battle with readability UI improvements.
We have also introduced a counterplay / adaptability combat mechanic to improve engagement.
Wild Tame Encounters
Be careful strolling through the long grass, you never know who you might encounter. Devs have been working on programming the wild tame encounters in the long grass.
Tame Combinations
Imagine a monster taming game launching with just ten tames. Now imagine with those 10 tames, there are 1,500,000 different visual combinations to capture and battle. Watch our new video explaining how limb swapping works in Untamed Isles.
NPC’s now chase, wander, and… fall in love?
NPCs are now popping up all over the isles. Thanks to our clever devs, they now chase the player (you!) into battle and stroll through the isles looking for adventure.
The art team have crafted all tier 1 faction NPC models in 3D. We’ve been releasing some of the original concept art for NPCs, which it is fair to say our Untamed community have been loving. In p -yet-to-be-released-researcher NPC and Tucker have been shipped.
Fan art by Jie_isles
Community
What says “ooh ahh”, has a curly tail, and hordes a polished crystal? Our cheekiest tame has now been designed with the help of the community. Throughout June our community worked together to select the monkey’s head, body, and colouring. The end result is very cute.
The Untamed community is a creative bunch and this has really shined through during June. The community photoshopped their favourite tames into real world scenarios to help imagine a world full of tames. The community also put their creativity to the test building an Untamed Isles Minecraft server.
PS
The best way to keep up to date with all our updates is to wishlist Untamed Isles on Steam and join our Discord server. See you there!
And more
Developer Update - May 2022
Hey Tamers!
We are one month closer to the launch of Untamed Isles. The team is busy as always working on the game and building the magical world for all our Tamers to enjoy. Let’s recap what has been happening in May and also have a sneak peek at some exclusive content we haven’t shared until now.
Taylor’s Video
As always, this update is available in video format with your favourite host Taylor.
Character customisation
Finally it’s time to add personality to your in-game character. Character customisation is now up and running to help you create unique combinations of appearance and clothing.
We have a selection of cosmetics, tattoos and other customisation options available now with lots more to be added soon. Character customisation will be available to all our tamers participating in next tests. In the meantime, you can have a look at this beautiful video showcasing some of the outfits.
NPC updates
The work on NPCs continued after last month’s progress, and now we have even more updates to share with you. We’ve completed 3D models for Revolutionary, Bandit, Banker, Auctioneer and Merchant NPC and we are so excited for Tamers to meet them on the isles. The team also developed an NPC AI system for more interesting battles and interactions.
Monkey Tame Design - Community Voting
This month we also continued a tradition of designing tames with our community. After the Monkey tame (name is still undecided) was created during the stream, we asked the Untamed Community to select their favourite design of this tame’s face. We had a pretty close voting with a couple of options attracting lots of attention, but in the end there was a clear winner. It’s time for the design team to work on the body of this tame and get back to the community for the feedback. Keep an eye on our Discord to participate in future polls!
World Updates
Seeing how the world of Untamed Isles is coming together is absolutely magical! The work continues on many fronts with the team developing new areas of the Settlement Island as well as making improvements to systems created earlier.
This month, huge progress was made on the weather system, which now reacts with the time of day. There are also new Dungeon environments in development as well as updates being made on professions.
User Interface
Every detail is super important because we want to provide our Tamers with the best user experience possible.
In May, our design team was focused on creating new icons and updating user interface elements. Just have a look at these tames icons, how cute they are! The first version of the game launcher has been completed on both design and programming end, which is a big milestone in the development.
Discord spring clean
We love our Discord server because it’s the place where our community is most active. To make the server even better, we gave it a spring clean.
You can now see the updated roles for game and community announcements, new channels structure, refreshed rules and faq posts. Next step is introducing more community activities. Make sure to join our server to get the latest news about Untamed Isles!
And more:
