Pioneers,
Back in our previous announcement regarding Patch 1.07r we mentioned about beginning to bring you updates regarding our long-promised code base update. It’s taken us to the end of the month, but we’re now confident that what we’ve been working on in the meantime will be something you’ll all be pleased to see.
What have we been up to?
For transparency’s sake, in short, we decided it was best to bring JCB Pioneer: Mars back to the drawing board, collating all of the concerns, complaints and comments you guys have given us for the last 5/6 months - all of which are greatly appreciated.
The decision to address the code base, and effectively rebuild the game from the ground up, has given us the chance to be able to readdress a lot of the games inner workings, from mechanics and design to the UI (more on that to follow). From there, we plan to add more content, a narrative, new areas for you to explore and reduce those irritating Fatal Errors. The game is going to change drastically, it’ll perhaps look and feel different but this Version 2.0 of JCB Pioneer: Mars will be a better, fun experience that we hope will be exactly what you’ve been looking for in this game.
Upgrade Changes
We’ve turned the upgrade system to a point based one. Instead of using Research Points and JCB Credits you will have to achieve Upgrade Points. The ways of achieving these points is similar to the current Research & JCB Credits format but we will expand on it beyond gathering resources and completing missions. Finding new locations, picking up specific items, reaching a certain distance from your base, to name a few.
These Upgrade Points will allow you to upgrade your buildings, suits, vehicles and anything else that we may add in the future. You will be able to see how your upgrades affect the upgraded “asset” with a better designed, and clearer looking Tech Trees.
(We would like to point out that the UI isn’t complete, and will change between now and when you receive the Version 2.0 update.)
These Tech Trees will have multiple categories that you can upgrade independently, with each category having one or two available upgrades for each level. Your can prioritise what to upgrade and what to ignore and at some point down the line, you’ll be able to upgrade from wherever you are on the map and not have to keep returning to the HAB Unit.
Your Save Data Files
When we release our new code base (Version 2.0) there will be some discrepancies from the older game to the new one. However, we will be making sure that all of your save progress is retained when you download the version 2.0 update. In the case of the new upgrade system, we will reimburse players with Upgrade Points equal to the same number of upgrades they had gained in their Version 1 of the game. Buildings, vehicles and any resources you may have gathered and stored will remain in the same place, mission progress will also not be affected. We want to be able to make the transfer over to Version 2.0 as seamless and as painless as possible.
Over the months we’ll start detailing more on what we’ve been up to but for now, here’s a start.
Until the next announcement.
Atomicom Team.