Alpha 1 Delayed (We're So Sorry!)

Hey everyone,

This is probably the hardest post we’ve ever had to write. We’ve been up all night, working on a solution for some massive problems, but there’s no easy way to deliver this news: Alpha 1 is being delayed.

We feel absolutely awful. This is a massive disappointment, and even though this situation is completely out of our hands, it’s taken a serious toll on all of us—physically, emotionally, in every possible way. Cryptic Moon broke down crying when we realized what was happening. Cali’s locked herself in her room and won’t come out. Revel is furious, and I’ve literally been so sick with anxiety over this that I’ve thrown up more times than I want to admit. We know how much this delay is going to let everyone down, and it’s been eating us alive.

We absolutely did not want to delay again. We already have a bunch of DJs signed up, and all the games, contests, and events for Alpha 1 were ready to go. We were trying everything up until the very last minute to make this work, and we know it sucks to announce this delay with such short notice. But we reached a point where there was just no way to deliver a functional Alpha 1.

We know this isn’t our fault, logically—we couldn’t have seen it coming—but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. Please, let us explain what’s been going on behind the scenes so you understand why this is happening.

The (Non-Technical) Breakdown

For those of you who don’t speak “game dev,” here’s the simplified version.

A couple of days after we announced the Alpha 1 dates, Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview dropped. This update brought some major improvements that we’ve been hoping for, especially around character models and performance. It was our #1 most desperately wished for feature, and was exactly what we needed to make sure 3XO runs smoothly, something we were worried about for Alpha 1 and launch.

But, this improvement came at a huge cost. Adopting these changes meant reworking a lot of the systems tied to our character models. We tried finding ways to keep Alpha 1 on schedule, but every solution we attempted ended up causing more problems. First, we tried disabling parts of the character system, and when that didn’t work, we swapped in some fun temporary Halloween avatars like mummies.

But nothing worked. And once those systems started failing, they caused a chain reaction, breaking other important features. Everything from UI customizations to chat and profiles stopped functioning. We tried to patch things up, but it became clear that there was no way to release Alpha 1 in a playable state without causing more damage. We can't risk compromising the actual testing of Alpha 1.

We had no choice but to delay. We hate letting you down like this, and we’re truly, deeply sorry.

The (More Technical) Breakdown: Our Step-by-Step Nightmare

For those of you who want the technical details, here’s how it all went down:

Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview Released Shortly after we announced the Alpha 1 dates, Unreal Engine 5.5 Preview dropped. It introduced Nanite support for skeletal meshes—a feature we’d been hoping for because it would drastically improve the performance of our character models. This was great news, but it required us to rework around 70% of our character workflows to make it happen.

First Attempt: Disabling Parts of the Avatar Editor Our first approach was to disable parts of the Avatar Editor and character system that were tied to Unreal Engine 5.5’s changes. We figured we could still move forward with the rest of the features, but it quickly became clear that these systems were too deeply connected to just disable certain parts.

Second Attempt: Temporary Character Models After realizing that disabling parts wouldn’t work, we tried replacing our entire character system with temporary Halloween avatars, like mummies. We thought this would be a fun workaround to still let players explore Alpha 1 while we reworked the character system in the background.

Everything Starts Breaking But replacing the character models wasn’t as simple as swapping in new meshes. Our Daz character system is deeply connected to the character database, and once that was disabled, everything connected to it—UI customizations, chat, profiles, galleries—broke down. Without a functioning character system, the rest of the game’s core features couldn’t function either.

How the Systems Were Affected

• UI Customizations: Settings like custom UI colors or saving dances/emotes to your Favorites are saved per character. No character system means those customizations don’t work because it doesn't save it to the database.
• Chat: Obviously connected to your character’s name. Without that database, there are no names. Our chat system also logs all chats to help investigate reports and ensure no minors or illegal activity are in 3XO. No database means no logs, so we can’t truly test the chat system.
• Profiles and Galleries: Clearly tied to the character database. No character system means no profiles, no galleries.

The Time Crunch: 48 Hours Left At this point, we had 48 hours left before Alpha 1 was supposed to launch. We realized that untangling these systems from the character database was too complex to fix in that time. And using an old 5.4 version of the game wasn’t an option because it wouldn’t reflect what 3XO truly is now. And it would have compromised the actual purpose of the alpha test, which is to focus on testing, not just entertaining.

Features We Were Supposed to Test in Alpha 1

We had planned to test a lot of core systems in Alpha 1. Here’s what we were originally going to put through its paces:

• Networking
• Chat
• Avatar Editor
• Profiles
• Galleries
• UI
• Dances
• Emotes

But with all the systems either being broken or their testing compromised, here’s what was left standing:

• Networking
• Chat
• Avatar Editor
• Profiles
• Galleries
• UI
• Dances
• Emotes

With nearly all major features tied to the character system broken or disabled, there was no way we could move forward and still give you a real Alpha 1 test. We're only left with Networking, and with only about 200 people with access to Alpha 1, that's not much of a network test...

Moving Forward: What’s Next?

Here’s how we’re moving forward to fix these issues and get Alpha 1 back on track:

Overhauling the Daz character system We’re reworking our entire Daz character workflow to take full advantage of Unreal Engine 5.5’s Nanite support. This will ensure that as soon as 5.5 is stable, we’ll be ready to go immediately and offer a smoother, higher-performance experience.

Untangling systems from the character database We’re also untangling systems like UI, chat, and profiles from the character database. This way, if Unreal Engine 5.5 isn’t stable by December, we can still move forward with Alpha 1. In that case, Alpha 1 will launch without the Avatar Editor or Daz models, but will include some of the features originally planned for Alpha 2, like Friends Lists, Blocked Lists, Groups, and Circles.

Revel’s New Strategy and Battle Plans for Content I have finally convinced Revel to abandon his marketing strategy of staying quiet and holding back previews! So from now until December, we'll be bombarding you with sneak peeks, previews, and updates. We'll be drawing up some new plans for a content schedule packed with so many previews and sneak peeks that you'll get sick of it! This will keep everyone in the loop and (hopefully) keep the excitement alive.

We’re So Sorry, and We’re Asking for Your Understanding

We know this delay is frustrating. We’re frustrated too. We were so close to the finish line, and we hate that we have to let you down like this. But we’re begging for your understanding. This situation was out of our control, and there was no way to make things work in time without breaking the game further or completely ruining the actual alpha test.

That said, we’re going to be flooding our Discord and socials with tons of updates and sneak peeks to keep you informed every step of the way. We hope this helps keep the excitement alive while we work through these last hurdles.

The Bottom Line

We wish we could have given you Alpha 1 as planned, but Unreal Engine 5.5 hit us with changes we just couldn’t work around. We hate that this happened, and it’s tearing us apart to have to announce this delay so close to launch day.

But despite everything, we hope you’ll stick with us through this rough patch. We’re not giving up, and we’re going to make sure Alpha 1, when it launches in December, is the best it can be. Your support means everything to us, and we promise we’ll make this worth the wait!

Thank you for believing in us, The 3XO Team