Hey everyone!
It's been a little over two weeks since release, and frankly it's been great so far. Thanks to the community members there have been even more fixes to various issues, which means a better experience for everyone. Don't forget to report any issues you run into still, I'll be happy to fix them and push out the updates!
Now that the game is stable (as per my own subjective interpretation!), I'll be moving on to the first big update: the Map Editor update.
People have asked - what kind of functionality can we expect in the map editor?
The answer: it will be the same map editor that the game was made with. In other words: cutscenes, campaigns, etc.
Creating a campaign will require you to have some Lua scripting knowledge, especially if you intend to do something crazy. One-off maps won't require that, though.
In order to make most non-linear campaign (ie. choices, multiple endings, etc.) you will have to wait until the extensive modding support update.
However, if you wish to have branching campaigns (ie. choice A leads to level X, and choice B leads to level Y), then the initial map editor update will accomplish just that without any problems.
Once the map editor update's ready, I will move on to adding official extensive modding support.
I've decided on providing the following: full campaign scripting support, weapon scripting support, and maybe object scripting support.
Not too sure on AI scripting, since it's not an easy thing to do, and requires a rather deep understanding of how the game code works.
All these things will require Lua scripting knowledge, however I'll try to make adding new basic weapons (guns that go pew pew) have a very easy implementation process.
You might have noticed the campaign selection screen seems to be made with more campaigns in mind - that's where the modding support comes in!
I want folks to create their own campaigns, publish them on the Workshop, and let others have fun with their work.
With that said, there's one caveat: I currently have some bureaucratic stuff to take care of (it was inevitable following the game's release, really), so I can't give you guys an approximation on when the map editor update will be released. It could take a month, it could take two, or even three - I don't know!
Life's gotten a bit busy lately, so I don't know for certain. One thing that is set in stone is the fact that the update will definitely be released this year. How soon or how late - that's a whole different question, one that I don't have a clear answer for.
Just to be clear: me working on the map editor update does not preclude fixes to bugs and crashes you guys might come into contact with, so be sure to report them if you run into any!
Lastly, you can definitely expect trading cards, backgrounds, and all the other goodies to become available even before any of the updates come out. I'm not in charge of the art side of things, and can therefore delegate these things to people that do it for a living. :)
That about wraps it up for the third "What's Next?" post in the series!
Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying the game!