Development Update – Vehicles, Systems Progress, and What’s Coming Next

Everything in This Post Is Playable Right Now in the Private Playtesting Branch

Before diving in: everything outlined below is already live and playable if you opt into the Private Playtesting branch on Steam. No password is required.

We’re using this branch to actively test vehicles, systems, and core gameplay changes before merging into public playtesting next week, at which point full, in-depth patch notes will be released.

Current Focus: Vehicles & Core Systems

As of now, roughly 70–80% of the vehicle roster is live in the private testing branch.

Our priority isn’t just getting vehicles into the game — it’s ensuring that the systems supporting them are solid:

• Pathfinding and movement behavior

• Formation logic

• Vehicle physics and spacing

• AI firing and engagement logic

Over the next few days, the remaining vehicle variants will be introduced:

• Cerberus Mortar

• MLRS

• Atlas Repair

• Atlas Tower

Once those are in, the rest of the week is dedicated almost entirely to refining pathfinding, formations, and movement/physics issues across all vehicles.

Formation System – Why We’re Doing This Now

Every vehicle in Cepheus Protocol has different proportions, sizes, and spacing needs. That makes formations one of the most complex systems to get right.

Instead of tuning formations per vehicle, we’re testing all vehicle types together. This gives us a much healthier sample size and allows us to build a dynamic formation system that adapts to different chassis types.

This work isn’t just for the current roster — it directly supports our development workflow and SDK. The goal is that future vehicles can be added far more seamlessly, ideally in a plug-and-play manner, without needing to rework formations every time.

We demonstrated this approach during the most recent CERC HQ, where the AJAX Medical Variant was added via a Saturday evening shadow patch with minimal friction.

Gate System Update – Clear Separation for Pathing

We’ve also made a structural change to improve base navigation and reduce pathfinding edge cases:

• The Tier 1 Gate is now an infantry-only gate

• The Double Gate has had its height doubled and is now the dedicated vehicle gate

This creates a clear separation of responsibilities:

• Infantry uses infantry gates

• Infantry & Vehicles use vehicle gates

This change significantly reduces confusion and inconsistent behavior, especially for larger vehicle chassis.

Infected Visual Update

A shadow patch going out shortly introduces the final, optimized male and female infected meshes.

These meshes are complete, performance-optimized, and ready for gameplay. They establish the final baseline for standard infected visuals.

Next week, we’ll be rolling in the remaining infected variations:

• Police

• SWAT

• Disbanded military units

[dynamiclink href="https://youtu.be/FlKfVGDYkPM"]Once those are in, infected visual variation work will be complete, and Michael will pivot fully toward game balance and operator polish.

A Quick Look Back: Recent Updates

In the last update cycle, we shipped a wide range of foundational improvements, including:

• Expanded Custom Game Options for Pandemic mode

• Steam Workshop preset support using JSON-based configs

• A new gun range added to the main menu

• Operation Stray Ember returning from Legacy(Calypso)

• Numerous stability fixes, AI fixes, pathfinding improvements, and crash resolutions

These changes set the groundwork for the current vehicle and systems push.

Public Playtesting & Patch Notes

When these changes merge into public playtesting next week, we’ll publish a full, in-depth patch notes post covering everything in detail.

At that point, we’re asking everyone to:

• Give the update a fair shake

• Try the vehicles and systems hands-on

• Share feedback and report issues

We actively read the Steam forums,