A New Direction and Updated Development Roadmap

I’d like to share some important news regarding the development of Privateer. At one point, I came very close to stopping work on the project altogether. There were two main reasons:

• I overloaded the game with too many mechanics.

• I ran into technical limitations of the Unreal Engine.

After that, I took a nearly six-month break to reflect on the situation and find a way out of the dead end I found myself in. Now, I can confidently say: I’ve found a solution — and the energy to continue development has returned.

Here are the decisions I’ve made:

• Reduce the project’s scope. Most likely, I’ll focus on preparing a version for Early Access or a short demo with 1–2 hours of gameplay.

• Cut back on some of the more ambitious features. Unfortunately, some of the previously showcased mechanics (such as seamless boarding during space combat) will either be significantly simplified or removed entirely. Instead of the boarding you saw in the trailers, there will now be a simpler teleport mechanic. These decisions are based on the fact that I’m working solo and don’t have the resources of a full team to overcome the engine’s technical limitations.

Privateer is still in development and will definitely be released — just not in the near future.

I’m setting a personal deadline: two years until the Early Access release. The project will be more modest than originally planned, but it will be alive — and achievable.

I sincerely apologize for the delay and for the fact that some of the previously promised features are unlikely to make it into the final release. Thank you to everyone who continues to follow and support the project — it truly means a lot to me.

Sincerely, Glue_BQ Developer of Privateer