Harrowfield: where we are and what comes next
17 October 2026. Your ask: a plan for the highest-quality game, the step we're on, what's done.
G0 is mostly done, G1 step 1 (the empty room) is well along, and the feel build is under way. That's the first build where you shoot Dead Island 2 Walkers with the AKS-74U, aimed at 31 October to 5 November.
Where each part stands
mostly doneG0: the nine smokes
- Done: provenance on results, version pins, agents driving the editor, first person (closed 16 October).
- Built, not run: the unattended capture (needs your one firewall click) and the shader-hold tools.
- Not run yet: 500+ zombies at 120 fps in 4K; ten players on your PC; a friend joining through Steam.
well alongG1 step 1: the empty room
- First-person camera with stance and lean.
- The server re-traces every shot.
- The client fire path and the damage path are built and reviewed, with their fixes being written now.
- The AKS-74U kit and watch, and EFT's weapon sway ported 1:1.
- The pause menu and session clock.
- Cheat and pause guards on the server.
startedG1 step 2: zombies
The Walker slice is under way: its body and 362 clips are in, and the damage path is built. No zombie fights back yet.
not startedG1 steps 3 to 6
Loot and stash, saves, extraction, the lit street's crowd, ten players, and the exit run.
How quality is held
- Feel first: the gun, movement and the first zombie must be great before anything is added. You play early builds and judge them.
- One zombie fully right before the horde (D-99).
- Measured bars, not adjectives: 120 fps in 4K with the horde, slowest 1% under 10 ms, server tick at p99 8 ms or less.
- The server decides every outcome. Every change ships its server and client halves together, with a two-client test.
- Every test proven by a planted bug, and risky changes get an outside review, a check and a fix pass.
- Real reference content: EFT's guns and sounds, Dead Island 2's zombies and voices.
- Quality is never traded for frame rate without your say.
The plan, in order
A
The feel build · now to about 5 November
The AKS-74U on the real shot path, up to six Walkers with their voices, and Tarkov's flesh impacts. Also a gun switch across the kit guns, the torch on the gun, and the Walker's finished look.
B
Shots from the swayed barrel, then the zombie rewind · about 7 to 15 November
The shot leaves the barrel where it points on screen, as in EFT. Then the server rewinds zombies to where you saw them, before any online play.
C
The Walker slice, finished
- Its AI, hearing, pathing and 21 server-resolved attacks.
- The body-zone health system.
- Checks that the conversion from Dead Island 2 is exact.
- A packaged acceptance run, then a full review.
Then the other bodies and zombie types.
D
The three unproven premises, moved early
- 500+ zombies at 120 fps in 4K: as soon as one crowd Walker exists.
- A friend joining through Steam: after the feel build. The RTX 5080 laptop can be the friend's PC, which needs a sign-in only you can do.
- Ten players on your PC: measured together with the 500 zombies.
E
The rest of G1
- Zombies and the body: about 18 zombies, the escalation beat, melee and takedowns, seven body zones, treatment, downed and revive.
- Extraction: loot and the grid, stash and saves, the exit, the debrief and welfare screens, settings.
- The lit street and the crowd: lighting, fear presentation, the sound mix.
- Co-op for ten: the squad HUD, reconnect, the spectator view.
- The exit run: ends with your "another?".
The grapple comes after G1, as the slice's first extension.
Being built right now
| Who | What |
|---|---|
| Gameplay | Fixes from the two outside reviews: W9's five are done, three of the fire path's eight are done, and five are left. Then build, test and prove. |
| Kit session | The attachment library batch until 07:30, then the morning slot: the Radian batch, the AKS-74U's world gun and the M4A1's parts. |
| Workbench (laptop) | The packaging crash-reporter check is fixed. Now the seven leftover tool fixes. |
| Zombies (next) | Zombie navigation setup and the feel controller that drives the Walkers. |
| Me | Code search (GitNexus) indexed for Harrowfield, which had never been done. The editor bridge update after the kit slot, and an outside check of the crash-reporter fix. |
Biggest risks
- Frame rate with the horde is unproven. The look assumes 120 fps in 4K with 500 zombies. Tested as early as possible.
- Online play is unproven. Steam's join, NAT and relays. Tested on the laptop after the feel build.
- The editor is the bottleneck. Kit mornings are fixed, code is written while builds wait, the laptop helps compile, and planted-bug proofs run at night.
- Disk: E: has about 79 GB free, and a full working copy costs about 73 GB. New lanes write code in slim copies.
Only you (nothing blocking tonight)
- Play the feel build when it's ready (about 31 October to 5 November).
- A few frames of Dead Island 2's Walker biting, for the inner mouth.
- Your preview retest: the O hold with a capture, and Esc from play.
- Be at the PC for one firewall prompt (S5), and one quiet frame sitting.
- The Steam sign-in on the laptop when we reach that test.
- Three questions offered as cards, and an OK to delete three scratch folders.