Hi everyone!
The Launch
The launch is a success even though it experienced some issues. It is clear that we will be able to sustain ourselves and keep improving Worldwide Rush, which is fantastic! It took us roughly one year to reach this point, now let's see what happens in another year.
I am very glad to see how many people love the game. It is not for everyone, and that is okay. Now what is left is addressing issues and concerns so that those who enjoy it could enjoy it even more and hopefully attract back people who found it lacking. For now we will keep addressing issues with some minor balance changes.
Feedback
There is so much feedback everywhere that it is a bit overwhelming. We are gathering everything and looking for trends, but it is too soon to tell what the main priorities are. We might fail to answer everyone, as we are only a two man team and our current priority is bugs, but all feedback will be considered. The best part is that people are finding exact issues that they find trouble with instead of being obscure. This really helps us to develop the full picture of the situation. Keep that coming!
Why Not Early Access
There appears to be a misunderstanding for some about Early Access titles and why Worldwide Rush isn't one. Early Access is for games that are not content finished and have unclear or unfinished game ideas. It can last from several months to tens of years, with huge changes entirely changing the genre.
Worldwide Rush is a finished game, which means that ten years from now you will be able to launch it and have the same experience. The only difference will be a huge amount of QoL additions with extra gameplay modes like cargo. But down to its core, you will be able to play the passenger transportation game you liked the first time.
Our idea with this game is to have a solid foundation and add extra. Think of it like a game as a service, but without microtransactions and paid DLCs. As long as it sustains us, we will keep adding what you ask for.
Roadmap
Can't yet share our roadmap because of the feedback that is still coming. But I can talk about how I think it will look. Thank you for voting for features you would like to see. We will keep the poll open until the next Friday.
From the current poll results, it is clear that cargo is what people are asking for, followed by modding and multiplayer. Moreover, I can see the trend of cargo voters talking about modding and how important that is as well. So what if we make modding and add cargo as an official mod? My thinking is - if you can create a mod that adds entirely new gameplay with more features, then the modding system will be powerful enough to do anything with the game. Plus the benefits of an official open mod to debug for reference.
Funnily enough, the longest update to do is cargo, because of the vehicle's requirement.
QoL with further passenger systems improvements would go with each update. With this in mind, I can see the roadmap looking like this:
Simple modding. In-game systems with tooltips to easily add mods such as new cities, vehicles, change gameplay rules. This would allow you to create, download, and edit mods in the game. This could possibly be done in two months.
Advanced modding system with code injection allowing you to entirely change the codebase. Something like MonoMod integration.
Cargo using modding tools. We will probably start vehicle creation in the coming weeks.
Finally, multiplayer. But that is planning too far ahead.
Roadmaps like this would ensure relatively frequent updates. We will share our final plans and estimated dates in the next blogpost. Please let me know your thoughts!