When the Early Access version of Robocraft 2 launched on Steam we received thousands of reviews, reactions and comments from fans of Robocraft. Whilst some players liked the new direction we had taken the game in, many many more expected and wanted something much closer to a modern version of the original game.

We took some time. We did some soul-searching. We reread every single review, word by word, considering again all the feedback we had received about the game from all of our social channels. We also looked at the stats. After all of that, we made the very tough decision to rebuild the game, from the ground up, to be much closer to a modern version of the original game. This time though, we want to build the foundations that can support a bigger game (in time) with lots of varied gameplay options, particularly introducing engaging and varied solo and co-op online PVE on top of the team PVP elements.

We wanted to give some more information on what features will be present in Robocraft 2.1:

• The core building system will stay true to OG but with modern graphics, animation, sound effects and polish - a key aim will be to make the building feel polished and satisfying.
  
• We will have Tiered blocks back and each tier will look visually different so we won’t be forced to colour them to indicate tier, instead allowing users to be able to use the colours they wish for cosmetic purposes.
  
• Colour mode will let you choose from a full RBG spectrum (16 million colours) and will utilize the 6-colour palette system we created for Robocraft 2, though we will upgrade this to allow players to create their own custom palettes where they can apply as they wish.
  
• Functional blocks like Wheels and Weapons will utilize the familiar systems from OG where internal wiring is automated for rapid building and iteration.
  
• We’ll be making sure that where you position the parts and how you stack them will affect the performance characteristics of your robocraft, so although building new robocraft and iterating will be fairly quick the choices you make will always make a difference (e.g. “old-wings” not “new-wings”).
  
• All staple QoL features will exist such as Mirror mode, Undo, Redo, Shifting, CoM indicator, etc.
  
• There will be a unified CPU limit (no separate Weapon CPU) and a cosmetic CPU limit for cosmetics.
  
• Robot Rank and Tiers will return, with the familiar Tier meter coming back in the HUD.
  
• All HUD UI will feel familiar to the original games but will be polished to meet modern graphical quality standards and expected layouts.
  
• The Build Bay will be rebuilt with beautiful graphics and we will make the consoles and screens that appear within the bay functional and interactive.
  
• Overall, our building systems will aim to engage players in the Build Drive Fight loop, with new players able to build their own working robocraft and get into online gameplay within a relatively short period of time and for them to learn quickly and intuitively how to iterate and evolve their designs through each cycle of the loop.
  
• There will be a back door in the build bay, which will be closed, but one day we hope to open it up and let you walk around as Cray out into a new larger mothership (called The Vanguard) and meet other players akin to a character hub.
  
• Not everything will be the same as OG. Some things worked really well in OG and some other things could have been better so we will always aim to improve those areas that can be improved upon.

• We want to ensure that transitions into and out of Test Mode are as near instantaneous and smooth as possible to support a fast and satisfying iteration loop when testing robocraft designs.
  
• We want to focus on short queue times and short loading into online gameplay, keeping you connected to servers you have chosen to play on, so after a round of gameplay or an iteration of your robocraft you can hop back in quickly with minimal loading or waiting.
  
• We hope that all this can help to make the Build Drive Fight iteration loop fun, satisfying and engaging.

• We will use the Robocraft 2 server technology as a base, but by moving to the OG building system we can simulate your (less physically complex) robocraft both on your client and the server. This allows us to give you low latency responsiveness for driving and aiming regardless of your ping to the server. Simulating both on the client (your robocraft) and server (everything) will allow the server to remain authoritative on the overall game state ensuring it is extremely difficult to hack and helping with fairness in PVP gameplay.
  
• The OG building system allows us to get more out of our new Robocraft 2 server tech which can allow us to have more units in battle (e.g. for larger teams in Elimination). The OG building system should be more friendly on the client FPS side too (better FPS for you all).
  
• One of the most exciting things we can look to exploit for the first time properly in a Robocraft game is AI on the servers. We can use this to help onboard players in PVP as they progress through the lower Tiers (with higher Tiers featuring more experienced human players).
  
• Probably the most exciting element is the way we can use AI to introduce solo PVE and co-op PVE gameplay to Robocraft for the first time.

• We would like to introduce a World Map [bringing to life for the first time an interactive version of the large screen that always existed in the OG Build Bay]. This world map will allow you to choose which planet to play on and where on the planet to deploy to and these choices will determine what type of gameplay you will get.
  
• Some locations on the World Map can be unlocked as players progress helping to onboard new players and provide other layers of progression.
  
• PVP game modes will of course exist, also accessed via the World Map. Game modes like Elimination (with OG team sizes), Battle Arena, Deathmatch, The Pit, and new modes can all potentially exist.
  
• To focus players on specific modes and planets to ensure both shorter queue times and improved matchmaking in all PVP game modes we can hold events on specific planet locations at specific times for greater rewards.
  
• Tiered locations on the planets can provide a range of PVE mission types to overcome, with tough enemies with unique AI behaviours.
  
• When you are out in the PVE parts of the world you will encounter other players who are also doing missions and fighting PVE in those same spaces so it can feel a bit like an MMO.
  
• Some locations can offer difficult Party-only PVE missions which only top-level players working effectively together may be able to overcome.
  
• This PVE gameplay also allows us to explore adding lore and story into the game.
  
• The use of AI can potentially provide new ways for Boss Fights and Megabots to make a return in some way, both as enemy combatants and in gameplay where you can play in those larger forms.

• We would add layers of progression systems, some of which are more focused on the PVE side of the game (where some PVE-focused progression bonuses are removed for some PVP modes to ensure fair matches).
  
• The Build Bay will start smaller than in OG and users will be able to upgrade it to make it larger by playing the game.
  
• The CPU limit will also be able to be upgraded.
  
• The Tech Tree will be re-introduced akin to OG to unlock the blue-print to craft parts in the Block Forge. Players will earn XP, level up and acquire TP to progress on the Tech Tree.
  
• Resources (such as Robits) gathered from PVE and PVP gameplay can be used to craft individual blocks with higher Tiers offering greater resources and higher-tiered parts having a greater resource requirement to forge.
  
• We plan to look at adding more progression elements to allow players to become more powerful beyond T10 in PVE gameplay, possibly being required to attempt the toughest Party-only missions.

The Cube Manipulator was used to place blocks in the build bay. We’ve been working on improving the visual quality of this weapon for Robocraft 2.1. Check out a work-in-progress render below:

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Earlier this week, we announced that we would be rebuilding Robocraft 2 from the ground up with modern graphics and technology, with a building system familiar to players of Robocraft from 2014 - 2015.

We’ve been working on an experimental prototype where we’re just exploring ways of making placing and deleting blocks feel fluid and satisfying with animation and sound.

This is not an early version of the rebuild or anything like that, it is a simple internal prototype exploring how to make placing and deleting blocks feel satisfying that we thought we’d share with you so you could try it:

BlockAnimPrototype Download [launcher.robocraft.org]

Hello Robocrafters,

As promised, here is some more information on the image of the Tier 1 cube we posted last week:

Given the feedback we have received from so many fans of Robocraft and the response the current version has received on its initial early access launch, we have decided to rebuild Robocraft 2 from the ground up to be much closer to OG (from the 2014-2015 era) with modern graphics and technology and with a greater variety of PVE and PVP gameplay for players to choose from which we will add over time.

We have put together this FAQ which will answer some of the questions players will have and we will monitor spaces where robocraft is being discussed and will add to the FAQ over time.

ROBOCRAFT 2 REBUILD FAQ[www.robocraft2.com]

More Info Coming Soon™

Hello Robocrafters

Tank Tracks are planned for the next major update to Robocraft 2! We wanted to share a first look at them in action. Check them out in the video below:

You can create a track of any size and shape with our new modular system. We'll be sharing more information soon!

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Hello Robocrafters!

A little while ago, we released an update to our development roadmap, which contains several interesting new features and content planned for the future!

Today, we wanted to go into a little more detail about one of those points:

"New Map with upgraded graphics & Iconic art assets."

All maps within Robocraft 2 are built using an in-game world editor that is planned to be released to players. Most don't realise this, and it is a surprise when we tell them! We want to release the World Editor that we use to players when it is ready so that you can unleash your full building potential.

Whether you use the world editor to create exciting new game maps and objectives or use the additional CPU limit to create huge, monstrous, and fun Robocraft designs, we felt it was an important part of Robocraft’s evolution, expanding beyond building robocraft.

We've seen player comments on the map design that we wanted to address. Most games feature multiple landmarks. Our next map will have multiple landmarks that help to make each map more unique and iconic. The first that we can share is going to be for a new map called The Noma Transmitter which will feature various iconic elements, one of which is an enormous satellite dish that can be seen from nearly any place within the map. Here’s a work-in-progress shot of the vista for the next Mars map:

The satellite dish is still under development, but we wanted to show an untextured look at the model to demonstrate the type of quality we’re aiming for:

Most of our art team is working hard over the next few months to make the new map interesting to look at and play! We’ll share more details on the other types of content they are creating to improve the overall look of the maps soon!

The landscape image above also features another improvement that will help us create visually exciting maps with the world editor. It’s called Off-Grid Placement and allows us to clip objects into other objects and create new landscape shapes. You can see it in the image below, where we rotated and scaled rock props to complement the landscape tiles.

We will add a procedural 'grounding' effect to make these look like they're integrated into the world with sand blended into the rocks where they intersect with each other etc.

Our goal at the moment is to improve our world editor functionality to provide better tools to let our level designer create! Ultimately, this will lead to better tools for players when they get access to it! We know that players will find really interesting ways to use the world editor and create maps and game modes that we didn’t anticipate! We hope you’re looking forward to using the world editor when it is ready!

In addition to the improvements in toolsets and the map landscape changes to give each map a better identity, we also wanted to show you the Hacking terminal that we’re working on which will be a part of the next map. Check it out below:

The hacking terminal is accessible only by the pilot. We’ll share more details on this particular object and the next game objective in the coming weeks!

Hello Robocrafters!

We’ve released a patch that includes some tweaks to hovers.

Hoverblades now use the average height of all active hovers when setting their own height. This allows the robocraft to more smoothly handle changes in altitude without instantly dipping.

Please stay tuned for later this week as we'll share a new dev blog.

Hello Robocrafters!

The holidays are coming and our present to you is an updated development roadmap! Much of the team will be away with family over the holidays and we will be returning in January in full force to work on awesome new features and content for Robocraft 2. We've already got a couple of Dev blogs planned for the next two weeks, one of which is showcasing some more progress on Modular Tank Tracks.

Read the Dev Roadmap below. If you're having trouble reading it, scroll further down to read a text version of the Development Roadmap


Content

• Modular Tank Tracks

Build Mode

• Undo (Material and colour painting)

Battle Mode

• Friends & Parties
  
• Reassembly Gameplay Reworked (with limited charges, and means of earning charges)
  
• Creating a new map with massively upgraded graphical quality and iconic key art assets
  
• New map will feature Capture Points and "Pilot Hacking Consoles"

Main Menus

• Daily, Weekly and Season Missions

Polish

• Hoverblade stability improvements
  
• Improved sound effects (and sound effects systems)
  
• Controller support for the Switch Plate UI

Not part of the next major update but actively being worked on right now:

• AI bots (to help with short queue times, more game modes, onboarding new users, improved pings, improved latency)
  
• Progression Tech Tree to unlock new parts in the Main Menu

Content

• Grenade (bouncing) launcher
  
• Wings
  
• Anti-air weapon
  
• Pilot weapon - Ion Disturber (via pickups in map)
  
• Pilot weapon - Laser guided rocket launcher (via pickups in map)
  
• Pilot weapon - Sci-Fi Grappling hook (via pickups in map)
  
• Pilot weapon - Mines (via pickups in map)
  
• Pilot Boost Glider
  
• Remote Camera Block
  
• Mech Legs
  
• Rotors
  
• Cosmetic Features (Sprays, Decals, Holo-emotes)
  
• More weapons and Modules TBD

Build Mode

• Rework wiring and tweakable stats UX
  
• Separate "heat maps" for Structural Integrity and Aerodynamics
  
• CoM indicators
  
• Controller support in Build Mode
  
• Vector3 Blocks
  
• World Editor
  
• Download and play World Editor created content from other players

Battle Mode

• Adding Health Bars and Damage Numbers to provide improved damage feedback
  
• End battle scores screen
  
• Text Chat
  
• Minimap
  
• Ping communication feature
  
• Player MMR, Ranked Mode, Player Leagues
  
• Voice Chat
  
• End battle victory \ defeat cut-scenes (large cinematic explosions etc.)
  
• Co-op PVE game modes

Main Menus

• Detailed GFX options
  
• Controller support in Main Menus
  
• Achievements
  
• Robocraft MMR, Creators Leagues

Polish

• Polishing the Main Menu UI
  
• Pilot character gameplay polish
  
• Client CPU optimisation

This is not a final list of content and there may be several features that we are working on that are not yet ready to communicate in a roadmap. Stay tuned to all socials to follow the development of Robocraft 2

Hello Robocrafters!

We’ve released a patch that addresses a couple of bug fixes.

• Fixed Arc Dischargers dealing little damage
  
• Fixed issue with CPU bars not updating correctly
  
• Tweaks to towers to prevent crystals falling off without being destroyed
  
• Fixed a couple of outstanding perimeter width values
  
• Removed extra dust VFX that spawns in during test mode