The Road to U12

Hello mates! Baron here with the latest B&S news on the roadmap, our next update, and some info on the path to full release.

U11... what an update, eh? ːeaglegagː Our "little update" ballooned into the biggest I think we have ever done, so naturally it nuked our roadmap timeline. But KospY and the team have now been able to go over the damage and adjust accordingly and overall its not so bad, especially when you see what we have been secretly working on.

I know Crystal Hunt still seems like a shimmering oasis on the horizon, so the first part of the roadmap shift is we decided rather than wait a long time for the next update we will be aiming to release a "small" update aimed for December. This will be U12. What is not 100% certain is whether this will all be ready in time as a complete Update 12, or maybe a bit more like U11 where the bulk of the update will drop and then there may be some smaller content patches later.

So without further ado, here are some little teasers to whet your beaks on what the Warpfrog team have been working on for the upcoming update!

Physics-based Swimming

I think you guys all secretly knew this was coming... ːwftogrinː When we added the ocean in U11, the natural player response was then to ask for swimming, haha. We agreed it was a cool idea but we didn't want to add a swimming system that was just moving around with a D-Pad.



Like everything else in B&S, we are aiming for an immersive experience, so the work we wanted to do on it was to make it possible to swim using the motion controllers in an actual swimming motion; it worked surprising well out of the box! Likewise we also wanted to spend the time adding new swimming animations so that your legs don't look too derpy like you are moving around like superman underwater, as well as add some VFX, etc.



You can also see that with this physics based system, objects like the oar will have drag and propulsion depending on the direction of the stroke. In fact any item in the game can now have a new component (meaning it could be utilized by clever modders too!), defining a "drag area"; this areas will be able to cause drag underwater and also propel you in the opposite direction as is the case in reality.



All of these small attentions to detail are quite simply because this is the B&S design philosophy, and we are always looking to push physics innovation and make the most realistic VR simulation we can.

There is not currently any critical gameplay mechanic attached to swimming and it is just for fun, however we do have some new dungeon rooms that will have water to swim in and explore. ːsteamdanceː

Breakables

Here is a little something you probably weren't expecting.



Admit it, since the dawn of B&S you have wanted to break that chair prop over someone's head. Now you can! Or unleash your inner Link and smash a bunch of pots. We just thought this would be a fun addition and might lead to some more dynamic fights.

New dynamic music system

Something we have been working on for a while now; Dungeons will have a new dynamic music system where music will trigger contextually in and out of combat. This should make the Dungeon experience more dynamic and interesting for those who find it a bit to quiet.

Along with this, we should have all new custom-made music tracks for each arena. (currently we are missing just one track iirc) We have long wanted to break away from store bought tracks to make a more comprehensive soundtrack.
The music being custom-made is also good news for youtubers as I'm sure you guys know that there are some unscrupulous companies out there (who shall remain nameless!) who love to spam videos unwarranted with copyright claims. ːsteamdeadpanː

More Animation Overhaul progress

As mentioned many times before, work on AO never ends and will continue all the way up to 1.0 and then probably even beyond.

In the next update, you can expect to see more combat animations, more tweaks, and some new AI behavior such as the AI now shield bashing you.



Shield enemies in general should be more competent, and will opt for a more turtling and riposte fighting style than their non-shield counterparts.

New outpost rooms, including underwater sections

This is another one of those things that will keep being padded out to 1.0; new Outpost Dungeon rooms.

In this case though these rooms are actually side rooms, or you could say expansions to current rooms. We were able to add doors into the dungeons, so now there are these little side rooms to explore, as well as the possibility to smash enemies into the doors. ːwftolaughː We are also currently working on the AI for enemies to navigate through these doors.



Ultimately the point of these side rooms is that in Crystal Hunt they will contain loot, so in that sense they are going to eventually be an optional loot-gaining venture, but for now they are purely just for exploration.



As mentioned in the Swimming section, there will also be some underwater sections and in the future we are hoping to add even more, and maybe even more complex underwater areas. But again, they are purely for fun and exploration for now.

MODDING

Now for some very juicy news that we have been keeping secret for a while... ːsteamsunnyː Since around U11 we have been adding a bunch of goodies for modders to expand the modding scene even more.

Before I forget, a request from the Warpfrog devs to modders: U11.4 will likely be the very last patch for U11 and this will be your last chance to report any issues with modding components and get them fixed before U12. Please touch base with one of the Warpfrog team on the discord.

In-game mod manager

Ye of little faith! ːpraisesunː Heheh, I told you guys Warpfrog would look into it and all this time we were doing just that. We had some technical complications and hurdles that we had to iron out, but the team are feeling more confident now to the point we can now talk about it.

Although we are working as fast as we can and progress is going well, as of yet I cannot guarantee this will be timed for U12. Please just expect it to arrive eventually, without tying yourself in a knot about the exact release date.

The idea is that players will be able to access a mod manager from the main menu and activate or deactivate mods one-click, all from within the headset. No more manual mod installs, although it's worth noting that you will still be able to manually install mods if you like.

Needless to say, this is most likely going to be a dream for Nomad players who will no longer have to fiddle around with apps or link cables and PCs, but PCVR players will benefit majorly too.
As well as being one-click installs, there should also be some cool and convenient filters to sort the mods, but the best of all being able to filter mods by version so that you can very quickly see what mods are updated to the latest game version and what mods are out of date.

Then within the game, there is also going to be a mod options section in the book, for reasons such as if a modder has options to tweak in their mod; players could then access these options via a nice, clean dedicated mod page in the options book.

I will keep you guys posted on progress of the in-game mod manager and let you know if there is any date that is looking likely for release. Remember, we *hate* giving release ballparks only because some players take it as gospel and then are disappointed when that ballpark is missed and this adds unhappiness and pressure for our devs working on it. For this reason it's much more appealing for us to withhold any dates until we are more sure, but just because there is no release dates doesn't mean a lot of progress is not being made!

New moddable dungeon system

Mapmaking has been a thing in B&S forever, but when it comes to Dungeons there was always some complication for mapmakers because we were using a 3rd party asset that meant it was not legally possible for us to distribute the full tools needed for modders to make randomly generated dungeons. While mappers could still make big arena maps, it nonetheless sucked that they couldn't do their own version of Dungeons.

Some of you guys who are regulars in the community might have seen me talking about it before, mentioning that the only way around this would be to literally remake the Dungeons system ourselves so that we would have full ownership, and then we could give permission to modders because we own it. But of course as I mentioned, it would be absolute madness to undertake this.... well... ːwftogrinː

A love letter to our modmakers and mod community, we did just this. Now we can give modders our full permission to go nuts.

The idea is that just like our Dungeon rooms, modders will be able to make their own rooms as if they were small maps, and assort them into their own randomly generated Dungeons so that it will operate like our Outpost Dungeons.
Just like all mapmaking, this would be a ton of work of course, but one nice thing to remember is Dungeon rooms would be a lot smaller to make than the usual large arena maps, so I have confidence some modders are going do some amazing stuff with this. It is also more possible that since the rooms are smaller we could see more collaborative efforts between modders; if a group of mapmaking modders pool together and make some smaller rooms, those rooms could be pooled together towards making a new custom dungeon. So no one modder would necessarily have to carry the whole workload.

In theory, a talented modder or modders could even make their own themed Dungeon biome. We will try our best to get documentation to modders to help them.

Armour modding support

Another modder restriction unshackled - Modders will have the ability to now make custom armours and clothes without any restrictions or 3rd party frameworks, fully native to our SDK. Again we will try our best to get documentation to modders on how the system works.

A word on scripting for Nomad players

Nomad players read these Steam news too, and only because I know I will get asked for news: Still same as always, scripted modding for Nomad is being worked on, progress is being made, but I can't give any release date because it is too unpredictable. Currently it is working and our guy is testing mods with it, but there are still nasty bugs popping up with some mods (all mods are different) and we want to fix that first to prevent a disastrous release.

I know you guys are eager, and some of you guys are impatient, but please remember that this is unprecedented modding support for the Quest and our guy is breaking his back on it already. Being upset or angry for a release date doesn't make anyone move faster than they are capable of and only serves to discourage.



Thanks for your patience!

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So, what about beyond U12?

U12 will be the last stop before 1.0 release, and the 1.0 is going to be gargantuan since it will have all the Crystal Hunt mode rolled into it with features and content that we haven't even revealed.
Rest assured by the way, that game development is not linear where 20 people all hammer the same nail. It is more like a beehive, with many people working on all sorts of different things simultaneously. Work on Crystal Hunt has been underway even as early as U11 as part of the team are focused on it, but we just don't like to spoil things too early.

However just to give you guys a sampler, I managed to twist KospY's arm into allowing me to show you this teaser so you can see just how massive the stuff we are secretly working on is:

Enter the Dalgarians

"The ancient Dalgarian Ruins have opened. The nations and factions of Byeth scramble to claim the treasures within; the great Crystal Hunt has begun!"

Surprise! A whole new biome is coming, completely free as part of Crystal Hunt mode, with all new architecture, design, assets, mechanics, lore, etc. It will look distinctly different from the Outpost Dungeon, and aimed to be comparable in size, although you will see that the scale is so much more huge.

The image above is a WIP room only and not entirely finished or polished. If you look closely you may see some little white mannequins - this is just a Unity asset to give you a sense of how massive and epic this architecture is. It will look awesome in VR.

Big fat reminder: this is not for U12 and we just wanted to give you guys a sneak peak of the end-game. We have a policy at Warpfrog of underpromise and overdeliver, because ultimately we don't want to disappoint the players by over-hyping you guys and then letting you down, so we generally temper ourselves in what we show so that when the update does release you are more likely to be pleasantly surprised.

But if you are not a long-term follower of our studio then you may not have known this is our style, and it may not be apparent just how much we are working on. We are always expanding the game and if you bought the game in 2018 for $20, our hope is that you feel like it was value for your investment in us and that you enjoy following along the active development and expansion of the game, which is a huge part of B&S' identity. We are not racing to any finish line!

So I will leave it there with this little teaser; Dalgarian Dungeons is still too far off and we wanna avoid spoilers too early.

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That's it for this news, guys! There is so much more secret development stuff about Crystal Hunt I am bursting to share, but the wisest thing is to wait until we are more solidly in the run up to 1.0 release, and for now we will focus on U12. Underpromise and overdeliver!

Cheers!