OUTBRK: Development Outlook (January 2026)

This month, we’re sharing a preview of upcoming gameplay features, updates on our weather development, and details about our presence at the National Storm Chaser Summit 2026, taking place February 5 to 7.

MOST RECENT UPDATE

Last week, we released a major update that significantly improves the stability of our voice and text chat features while fixing a large number of bugs. Since OUTBRK aims to be a social online multiplayer experience, addressing this backlog of issues and strengthening our social systems was long overdue, and should now allow players to interact with each other far more reliably.

Read the full patch notes here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1107320/eventcomments/695377412021575256/

WEEKLY CHALLENGES

We’re currently working on the Weekly Challenges feature. We recently shared design mockups here, and our programmers have been hard at work implementing the system in game.

One design change we believe players will appreciate is the addition of a community reward granted to all participants, based on the final reward rank achieved during the weekly challenge.

We can’t wait to show this feature in its full form as soon as it's ready.

CHAT CALLOUTS

Another feature currently in the design stage is Weather Product Chat Callouts.

This system will allow players to quickly highlight areas of interest on the weather map for all chasers on the server, improving communication and collaboration during a chase. We’re also adding rich presence indicators (animated mockup for illustration purposes below) so players can see when someone is actively viewing their map.

Players will be able to point to a location on the map to send a preformatted system message in global chat, drawing attention to something worth watching. At the same time, an eye icon will briefly appear on the map to help other players quickly spot the referenced location.

HIGH RESOLUTION CLOUDS

This month, we’ve made strong progress toward finalizing our new model-resolution pipeline and validating the features that come with it. As expected, the increase in resolution brings significantly more detail to cloud structures, especially in the lower portions of storms, and the results are already very apparent. Storm bases now exhibit the complex shapes and features storm chasers expect to see in the field, including horseshoe-shaped bases, RFDs, inflow bands, tilted updrafts, and shelf clouds. Motion has also been refined, improving overall fidelity and delivering a more authentic storm-chasing experience.

TORNADOES DEVELOPMENT

The Catalyst team has continued to make strong progress on the multivortex tornado system introduced last month. Development has advanced significantly, with the core architecture now supporting multiple subvortices within a single tornado, with total control over them. This brings us much closer to fully realized wedge tornadoes and the complex internal dynamics that define them. With the foundation now largely in place, the next phase will focus on integrating this system into our existing scenarios to ensure a smooth and seamless transition to the new tornado model.

NATIONAL STORM CHASER SUMMIT

We’ll be at NSCS 2026 from February 5 to 7, hosting an OUTBRK tournament, meeting fans at the summit, and sharing updates across our social media channels. We have a lot planned, so be sure to mark your calendars.

Tickets are still available, so grab yours now:

https://www.chasersummit.org/

That’s all for this update!

You can follow our detailed development on Trello here:

https://trello.com/b/nsBmMfIa/outbrk-game

Consider leaving a review on the Steam store to help us reach more future chasers:

OUTBRK

Till next time,

-The OUTBRK Team