Good news for all Old School ‘Scapers today, as we begin talking about one of the projects that we’ve been working on in the background, and alluding to in our livestreams and blogs.
When we released Old School on Steam a few months ago, it came with a C++ client, GPU support and vastly improved performance. Since that release – and for many years! - you’ve been telling us that’s not enough. You want us to implement some of the features you’ve grown to love. You’ve wanted us to expand those features onto mobile too.
Well, we’ve been listening and that’s exactly what we’ve been working on. Development on the features is relatively new, beginning in earnest towards the end of last year, but this project will be the fruition of significant time and investment. In addition to our own content and engine teams (which we’ve expanded!) we have built a fantastic relationship with an external development team who are working with us to make this a reality even sooner. Whilst the project is still relatively early in its development, and we have a lot of work ahead, we feel that now is the right time to ask for your help. In just eight days’ time we’ll be adding the first milestone drop of additional features to the game on Steam. We want you to try using them, test them out, and give us your feedback!
This is an exciting moment for us as a team. But maybe we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves here. The work going on behind the scenes began over 12 months ago and, to say it again, we’re still fairly early in the feature development phase. Of course, this is just the first step in what will be a long process. This is a project we’re committed to for the long-term. Implementing all the changes you’ve asked for will take time. This blog will tell you everything you need to know at this stage, and we'll be covering any initial questions on Thursday's livestream, as well as adding to the FAQ.
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the how, what and when.
Let’s Talk Testing
To begin with, Steam will be our initial testing platform. We’re choosing to do it this way because it will allow us to streamline and manage initial feature updates and testing via just one platform more effectively. It also means that it's going to be really simple for you - our existing players – to pick up and help test the added features. Plus, we think it will be useful to see how the new players coming through Steam use the features.
Going forward we’ll be expanding the test by bringing these features to the mobile version of the game in the near future. You won’t need to do anything special to get them – they’ll be a part of the normal mobile updates. We are considering some opt-in testing, and if we decide on this we will of course update you accordingly.
Over time, and when we have a fuller feature set to offer (all of which have been tested and improved with your help) we’ll ensure that the C++ client is packed up separately outside of Steam for other desktop players to use!
We know that we’re being fairly loose with timeframes here, and that’s deliberate. We want to focus on the quality of the features with a smaller testing base before we distribute the new features more widely.
About The Features
We know this is what you’re most keen to find out! It’s no secret that most of the Old School team are avid players of the game, and have deep experience of third-party clients. We leant on our own experience to identify what we felt was important. This has been coupled with your suggestions over the years. But that’s not all. We’d also like to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to Adam, of RuneLite, who has been really supportive in helping us to assess which features we should prioritise.
We want to focus on feature quality and ample testing rather than quantity. To that end, we're going to batch features into milestone releases and we’ll be releasing these incrementally for the duration of the project. This will allow us to engage with feedback and make changes whilst working on the next milestone, with the ability to refine features in parallel with a steady release schedule.
As for the features themselves, we’re not thinking of them as plugins in the traditional sense. They’re part of the game and you’ll find most of them within game settings. This is a big part of why we updated the settings menu! We’re thinking of the future, years ahead, and doing it this way means we have flexibility over the design of the features and menus. More importantly it will let us tie the features directly into the game content and game systems with all information to hand. This means that the features will be highly integrated and responsive, and can use contextually driven information. There will still be a side panel for the stuff that doesn’t fit or makes more sense to be adjusted outside of the game, however.
Building all of this directly into the game means most of it will be present on mobile too. We know this will make a huge difference to those of you who spend a lot of time playing away from your desktop.
So, without further ado, here's a look at the first milestone we have planned already. And the good news is that it will be with you on Wednesday June 23rd! If all goes well, you can expect the second milestone in late July/early August, and the third milestone in late August/early September.
Here's a look at what will be coming next week. Note: TLI = Top Level Interface. HUD = Heads-up Display
Future milestones contain things like ground item identifiers, loot trackers, HiScores panels, Bank tags, and a lot more! We’ll be sharing the next stage of the roadmap as the project unfolds.
A look at some of the upcoming features. We'll share more with next week's release!
What’s Next?
You’ll be able to start using the first milestone of features when they arrive on Thursday, June 23rd. All you need to do is link your Old School RuneScape account on Steam and download the update. It’s that easy! As with the Steam Beta we ran at the end of last year, we’d love it if you would join our dedicated Discord server to share your feedback with us. Once the features are out, we'll share the Discord server widely. Everybody is welcome!
We know you’ve probably got a lot of questions about these features and what it might mean in the future. There are a lot of different routes we could take, and we'll do what makes the most sense for the game and for you, the community. Right now, our focus is purely on working hard to give players the security and reassurance of an official alternative to existing third-party clients. Beyond that? Let’s work together to find out, but we’re confident that the future holds seriously exciting opportunities which will be unlocked by the work we’re doing.
We can’t wait for you to get stuck in and test the features!
The Old School Team
FAQ
Why did the project come about?
We know that our official Old School RuneScape game clients lack modern quality-of-life features. Things like visual and audio aids, tracking tools and additional accessibility options. Third-party game clients emerged to offer such things and it’s these clients, particularly RuneLite, that you find yourselves playing on. We want to give you an official alternative, one that can reach mobile and be ready for future projects.
How can I use the new features?
To begin with, you’ll only be able to try it on Steam. Eventually the features will make their way to mobile, and then later to desktop outside of Steam.
Why isn't there a poll for the features?
We’ve decided not poll the features because, well… we know that players have been using them for years. Many of you can’t imagine playing without them at this point! We think the need for these options is clear. In future, additional bespoke features could absolutely be polled.
What does this mean for other third-party clients?
Nothing! You can continue to use third-party clients that adhere to our guidelines.
If you’ve been working on this project for so long, why have you waited to tell us about the project?
We wanted to make sure it was deliverable. We don’t want to make promises and then fail to make good on them. You all remember early August and Winter 2017… And anyway, it’s the perfect time now that the first milestone is ready.
Why are you favouring RuneLite?
RuneLite is the most popular third-party client, so it made sense for us to speak with its developers for a broad insight into what features our players are looking for.
I want to test the features. How can I give feedback?
Once the features are out, we'll be welcoming everybody to our dedicated Discord server to share any thoughts on the new features and how they’ve been implemented. Naturally we’ll be keeping an eye everywhere else, like Reddit, Twitter and the forums!