As you may know, we are working right now on a big feature of the game, the infinite map system.
This new system, infinite map
Finally you can go anywhere without any limits. At first you will miss some vehicles, but don't worry, they are coming!
Starting with the basic terrain, it will look pretty much like now, spreaded buildings with natural resources, but this will be only to start.
After we have everything working, we're adding safe zones and towns / cities, putting buildings together. Don't expect huge detailed cities at first. There will be some small buildings around yet, but smaller.
Load times almost gone!
This map is generated "on the fly", so almost no load times, you will see terrain being loaded and generated at the same time with no lag. Also, only those pieces of terrain that were changed (destroyed, built) will be saved, instead of the full map like now.
Infinite map, infinite possibilities
With this new system you will see coming a lot of new additions to the game, adding a lot of new gameplay and things to do, not only running on the map without a reason.
There will be a main goal, procedural tasks or missions, raider camps, and one of the best features we want to add is to build your own safe zones and get people in (NPC).
This is a lot of work, but totally worth it.
Everything seems amazing, anything bad coming with this?
Sadly, yes.
First, no more building editor for a while since it's not compatible with this new system.
Second, main menu scenary must be changed since it's using the old map system.
And finally, multiplayer will be deactivated just for a while, don't worry, it will be back and working with the infinite map system again!
Do not take the risk
To implement this new features we will be splitting the version of O.L.D in different beta branches that you will be able to select from Steam.
"Default" branch is going to get the update once it's tested and working, stable version.
"Stable" branch is going to stay with the current vesion of the game, no further changes, since it's quite stable and working.
"Beta" branch is getting the last update sooner to be tested for everyone who is willing to deal with bugs and report them.
And the best question is... when?
As I said there is a lot of work to do. Right now the system is working inside the game, an infinite terrain is loading and saving and you can run and kill things like now, but we have to add some buildings and more stuff yet, once it's working, we're adding the new branches.
Keep an eye, I'll be doing announcements with further info. Also if you have anything to say about this new system or any suggestion, do it!