Howdy Builders,
The Chinese New Year flew by so fast, and it's already time for us to update everyone on our recent work. Lately, our main challenge has been ensuring that content updates are synchronized across all platforms. This task hasn't been easy, and we'll explain the details below.
What Devs are Working
PC
The new V1.3.0 free quarterly update and the new paid pet DLC are currently in progress, and things are going smoothly so far. For now, we've already completed all the basic features, and we just have some finishing touches left, such as adding special effects and sound effects. We plan to work with some players from the community to assist with beta testing in mid to late March, while also working on porting and optimizing for other console platforms. If everything goes well, we should be able to release it to everyone by mid to late April.
Of course, there's also the content of the free quarterly update to look forward to, such as the brand new "Sand Buggy Circuit" mini-game! You'll be able to drive race cars found in the Catori World and challenge your in-game NPC friends to an exciting speed competition!
Remember when we teased about hitching a ride on the 'Rambo' after tying the knot with Logan? You guys were stoked to catch a glimpse of this flying beauty, so here's a cool pic of Builder riding on the 'Rambo'! And guess what? Rambo is leveling up to become a 'two-seater mount'! You know what that stands for. But hey, what will it look like exactly? Well, saddle up and find out for yourselves!
Consoles
Switch
The Switch version 1.2.2, also known as "New Year, Better Me," is about to receive an update. We apologize for keeping Switch players waiting for so long, but we assure you, this wait will be worth it. In the upcoming update, we've made almost all possible optimizations, focusing on graphics and performance. For instance, the optimized version now achieves a basic FPS of nearly 28-30 frames (the early 20 hours will almost maintain 30 fps), with significant enhancements in UI loading speed, asset quality, shadow distance, grass color, and gradients. The overall experience is markedly different from two months ago, and we're hopeful that this new version will help regain your trust in Sandrock and in us. Currently, this version is slated for submission to the platform for review next week, and once approved, it will be rolled out to all players.
Simultaneous DLC Update for All Platforms
Our plan is to synchronize the update across all platforms. Yes, you heard it right - we're aiming for a simultaneous update on all platforms! Whether you're a PC, Switch, PS, or Xbox player, we want to deliver the V1.3.0 version to you at the same time. This actually adds a lot of complexity to our work, especially in terms of QA. For this update, we'll be packaging the PC version content in early March, followed by packaging for the other three main platforms in mid-March. Then, we'll likely spend around a month on QA and bug fixing. This may require some assistance from the community, as our QA resources are quite limited, and we're concerned about missing some important bugs. Therefore, after packaging, we'll be posting recruitment notices in the community for testing assistance. If there are players willing to help us out, please keep an eye on our official community channels for updates.
[Discord] [Reddit]
What Builders are Conerning
In addition to the mentioned free quarterly update, we're also planning a maintenance update for the current V1.2.1.4 PC version in the first half of March. The primary focus will be on handling art effects and optimizing some functional performances, such as factory queues and UI loading times. We've received feedback from players regarding certain graphics not being as good as before due to the change in the rendering pipeline for the PC version. Among these issues, some are related to the characteristics of the rendering pipeline itself, while others are display bugs that emerged after the change, which we hadn't previously identified. We appreciate all the feedback and reports from players pointing out specific issues. Our art team has been working on related fixes before the Chinese New Year and is currently undergoing testing and acceptance. We'll create a separate post to inform everyone about the specific areas we've addressed.
Here's all the content we want to keep you posted with you in this development update. Please trust us, we're continuing to maintain and add new content to this game. It's a game that you can play for over 100 hours, with truly rich and engaging content. We're working hard to make this game even better. So, if you enjoy this game and want to support it, please share with your friends, your family, your classmates, your colleagues - we need your word of mouth to help us generate more revenue to keep going.
Once again, we wish everyone a happy and enjoyable adventure in Sandrock!
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