Fraymakers Early Access

Fraymakers Early Access is a series of playable early builds of Fraymakers available through Steam Early Access. It allows players to purchase the game at a discounted price and play it before its full release, with certain features not present or in an unfinished state. Updated builds are planned to be released over time, with newer versions containing new features or revisions to existing features, such as characters, Assists, stages, game modes, mechanics, or custom content integration.
The first version of Early Access, v0.5.0, was released on January 18, 2023.
== Tester Build ==
The Fraymakers Tester Build was a series of private early builds of Fraymakers released as a closed alpha. It released prior to Early Access in order to allow playtesters to provide feedback and find major issues to be fixed before the game's public launch. Access was granted to those who backed a reward tier of at least $75 to the game's Kickstarter campaign, and several players and content creators were provided Steam keys in January 2023 to help promote the game's upcoming launch, such as Choctopus, Coney, and TKbreezy.
The Tester Build launched with v0.4.0 on August 31, 2022, with FrayTools releasing on the same day. This initial release contained much of the content that was planned for the Early Access release, such as four playable characters — , , , and — with many unfinished animations; sixteen of the twenty planned Assists, with three of the four playable characters having Assist versions; five stages, with Stratostar and The Spire having versions with hazards; local and online multiplayer modes; a preliminary Training mode; and custom content integration. Updates to the Tester Build primarily consisted of performance improvements and bug fixes to the gameplay mechanics, controller connectivity, and rollback netcode, as well as balancing changes and character animation updates. Several features were also added, such as Octodad, Gunman Clive, Lea, and the Ape as Assists; the Custom menu; and a version of Backyard with hazards, though this was removed in a subsequent update.
The final version of the Tester Build, v0.4.20, was released on January 17, 2023, and access to the Tester Build was revoked the following day when Early Access launched.
== Release versions ==
Early Access uses semantic versioning to distinguish releases, with the major number being 0. Major updates are indicated by increases to the minor number and often include major content additions such as playable characters, with the patch number increasing otherwise. Hotfixes typically add letters to the end of the patch number to indicate that replays from the previous revision can still be viewed.
=== v0.5.0 ===
v0.5.0 is the first available version of Early Access, released on January 18, 2023. The initial release was based on the Tester Build and added the Crewmate as an Assist, with Stratostar's hazards being disabled due to causing desyncs with the rollback netcode. Like with the Tester Build, many of the updates focused on improving the game's performance, online netcode, and controller connectivity, which were stated to be the most common complaints of the initial release. Other notable changes included bug fixes and optimization to custom content, major balancing overhauls for the playable cast, and the additions of Super Hexagon and Rockman as Assists. The final patch for this version, v0.5.18, released on October 13, 2023.
=== v0.6.0 ===
v0.6.0 is the second major version of Early Access, released on November 3, 2023. The initial release added as a playable character, with him being the first character to release with all completed animations. Later updates added features such as emotes, an expanded Training mode, and an updated version of Stratostar with hazards, with fixes often being made for online desyncs, failed inputs, and blast line behavior. Additionally, a temporary beta branch was created for the game engine to run on Heaps 2 and Hashlink 1.14, which later merged with the main branch following several bug fixes. The final patch for this version, v0.6.13, released on June 27, 2024.
=== v0.7.0 ===
v0.7.0 is the third major version of Early Access, released on July 31, 2024. The initial release added as a playable character and made many balancing changes to the playable and Assist casts. Later updates added features such as Lady Luck and Cadence as Assists and updated versions of Backyard and Merchant Port with hazards, with fixes often being made for input buffer, rollback memory allocations, and replays. Two temporary beta branches were also created, with one being for optimized content unloading and the other being for threaded custom content loading, with the former being dropped and the latter being merged with the main branch.
Category:Fraymakers
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