Greetings pilots!
Firstly, we'd like to reach out yet again to all our great players that are helping us make heliborne great and giving us that much valued feedback. Without you all, we wouldn't be here and we realise that, and starting next week, we're going to be making strides to show you! How you might ask? Well, read below...
On 0.38
Update 0.38 is progressing, and we should have it out on Thursday. Hopefully this gives us a few days after the update to get hotfixes out and quick changes out should anything break. As I said in the last announcement, there's a lot of mechanical changes coming to heliborne, a lot of new code, and gameplay et all, and while we try our best to make sure the patches we give you are spotless, this one might have some issues pop up. Rest assured, Team JetCat will be on hand all day to hear you feedback and make changes as soon as any issues crop up.
On Future Updates
In regards to future updates, there might be some changes coming to the frequencey of the update cycle. As many of you have no doubt noticed, we've had to delay the weekly updates quite a few times lately. There's a myriad number of valid reasons for this, from large code changes, to integrating new team members, etc However, we feel it might be better if we move to a two-week update schedule from here on out so that we can provide patches that are more stable, as well as having more content in them. The next few updates are planned to be large, and with our goal to get Heliborne to a released state by December..we need to make sure the content we're putting out is on par. We'd like to hear you feedback on this!
On future Updates Part Deux..
Outside the update schedule I mentioned above, with a two week schedule, you can expect several more updates to the game before we shoot for a "release canadate". So, what can you expect to be coming over the following months?
Squadron/Deck building - This is the big one people have been waiting for, and it's coming! We're shooting for 0.39-0.40 area for this as there's a lot to it. 0.38 is adding a lot of the ground work for this system as was mentioned in my earlier update letter that was out earlier this week. With this first pass on this system you'll have 3 Slots to work with, and helicopters will cost points to field based on several factors. This system will be a first pass, so that means we can, and may change it with your feedback.
What else is coming?
- A new flight model, alongside changes in the base flight model adding things like "weight" as well as "crash situations" such as autorotation, crash landings, etc
- A fully featured stats tracking system that will keep you up to date on flight times, kills, deaths, etc
- New ground unit behavior
- New soldier types, such as the mortar team
- Reworked recon helicopter systems and gameplay
This isn't all of it, but it's the start and a lot of it you can expect over the next few months. We hope you like these new features, and look forward to your feedback.
For the community...
So, big announcement! JetCatgames is going to be at the following events,
- Digital Dragons - Poland - 16th and 17th of May
- Gamescom - Germany - 18th to the 21st of August
- EGX - London - 22nd to the 25th of September
You can expect to see us at these events if you're in Europe, so stop by our booths and say hi! play the game, talk with us directly, etc!
As to our North American Friends,
You can expect to see me, aka "Rayne" at the Vectren Dayton International Airshow in Dayton Ohio on the 18th and 19th of June. I'll be hanging around the US Army Aviation Heritage Foundation's set up, which just so happens to have several AH-1 Cobra's and UH-1 Huey's that are still flying and that you can get rides on! That and spending time around the airshow proper. I'll be sure and get you more information on how to meet up with me directly before the show.
What else can you expect community wise outside all that?
Join us on www.twitch.tv/jetcatgames for live Q and A sessions with guests, and gameplay during Digital Dragons on the 16th and 17th of May.
We'll be moving to a weekly live stream schedule after this initial stream, so stay tuned for more!
Also, Team JetCat is happy to annuonce that we'll be hosting tournaments over the coming months with what we think are pretty amazing prizes, such as a large scale RC helicopter, custom artwork, in-game helo skins, and more! More info on this is coming in future update letters!
Well folks, that's about it. Just some quick notes for you. Hope you enjoyed this little letter and all the info in it. Feel free to ask questions and keep the feedback coming!
-Rayne
Team JetCat