![[JEX-LibraryHeader.png]] ## Current Status > [!tip] *Journey Express* is currently in Early Access! 🎉 > [Check it out on Steam now!](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2127350/Journey_Express/) ✨ > > The **Open Playtest** concluded in September of 2025! > The **Early Access** launched on January 2nd, 2026! > ***1.0 release coming soon!*** ⌛ **There have been a number of additions, changes, and bug fixes since launch into Steam Early Access!** - **Trading posts** have been added to certain locations on the map! - **New interactive features** in 3D exploration like bird hunting, digging for resources, and berry bushes! - Improvements in **quality of life** and **new features** for the game UI in the main menu, while traveling, and while exploring! - Available **map locations** increased from 9 to 15, with some of them having the new trading posts feature! - New **map discoveries** added to increase the number to find from 6 up to 13! - The **Rumor Mill** was added to the Explorer's Guild for purchasing hint information for finding Discoveries! - **New and improved sound effects** in menus, traveling, and exploring! - The number of **randomized events** that can be encountered while traveling has gone from 18 to 27! - **Bonuses and penalties** given out upon completing a journey! - **Many, many bug fixes** and mechanics improvements across the entire game! - The options menu has been improved with **new graphics and game difficulty options**! - **Vastly improved performance** in the 3D sections of the game — upwards of 200%+ more FPS! ## In Development > *The things in this list are what I'm actively working on and should show up in the alpha branch of* Journey Express *soon! All changes are continuously [published to Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2127350) as they go live!* - **Playtesting:** Test all existing features for balance and bugs - **Tutorial:** Check for missing help content like indicating that deer and birds are the intended hunting animals in the bring items control UI ## Up Next > *These tasks will be moved into **In Development** as soon as the ones there are completed!* 🔮 ## Backlog > *These are all of the **possible** tasks that I'm tracking for* Journey Express, *including enhancements, adjustments, new features, and bug fixes.* > [!info] Features, Enhancements, & Changes > **Change:** Revisit effects of low food & starvation > **Feature:** Mutators and challenges for individual contracts > **Enhancement:** Marker/flag/indicator in inventory for items that are able to be brought into exploration > **Feature:** Show progress of discoveries, locations, and POIs somewhere > **Feature:** Add basic settings for audio > **Feature:** Make strange cave in the desert actually explorable > **Feature:** Consider alternative to current exploration gun mechanics: Doom-style centered posture, etc. > **Feature:** Configurable key bindings > **Feature:** Finish implementation of food consumption strategy selection: Perishable first, None > **Testing:** Verify behavior of taking interactive world object (full pack, etc.) > **Feature:** Add some kind of breadcrumb trail on map > **Change:** Add zoom in/out feature to map > **Other:** Polish splash screens during startup > **Enhancement:** Sprite-sheet for campfire smoke for more particle shape variety > **Feature:** Replace character controller for exploration > **Enhancement:** Look into underwater shader. E.g. *Staggart Creations* > [!bug] Bug Tracking > **Bug:** Monitor for any cases where buttons are pressed/activated via key presses or otherwise when they shouldn't be accessible > **Bug Report:** Fishing minigame feedback: > *"I didn’t get the Fishing minigame - I tried it once and the ball jumped away and never came back"*. Add safety catch — if the ball gets outside the play area or falls too far, reset the game > **Bug Report:** Registration feedback: "*Can’t change my family name on the registration screen*." — Maybe specific to Steam Deck and/or touch input? > **Bug:** Spawn point selection not working in exploration scenes > **Bug:** Storm and standard transition lighting modes during travel should be smoothed out > **Bug:** Depending on how items are added to the backpack, they may or may not respect the max tile stack property of the item > **Bug:** UI canvas scaling doesn't appear to work at 16:10 as expected > **Bug Report:** River crossing logic selected a point too far to the west when approaching from the east > **Bug Report:** Verify removal of selected/completed/failed contract from the available pool in the game state > **Error Report:** RemoveItemFromInventory exception during transition to exploration — unsure why this occurred #journey_express