Hello engineers!
We know you’ve been eager for news about the next update! We’re happy to announce that Overhauled, the major update that we’ve been working on for nearly a year, will launch in late April 2020. The specific date will be announced early that month, along with the launch of a new trailer.
For anyone unfamiliar, the update overhauls a lot of systems and features under the hood and will improve most core issues, from unexpected derailments, janky controls and low performance, to things such as more engaging gameplay, adding new cargo types, and the eye-catching HAZMAT cargo.
Work on Overhauled started in April 2019, and since July, the entire team has been working exclusively on it, every working day. With roughly 6 years of man-hours done on it by the time of release, the update will be the biggest accomplishment of our team to date.
Closed beta starts early March
While doing the final touches, we will share the game to a closed group of testers in early March. The testers will be chosen among the most trust-worthy/active members on our Discord, where we’re active daily. We'll form a small team of testers with diverse hardware and controller types for both VR and NonVR.
Community Unlocks v3
With many changes coming to the game, we will also be revamping our online and social presence. The first to go live is our new Community Unlocks page.
Many new rewards were added to it, making it the new official public roadmap for Derail Valley. Here you can see what our plans are for the game, and the order it will be done in.
As we stated in the past, after Overhauled we aim to go back to regular weekly updates. Many of the “in progress” tasks will be done with Overhauled or soon after, and we aim for the future rewards to be released with the same frequency as the new ones getting unlocked.
Please let us know what you think and keep in mind that, until the new points economy settles, it may be further adjusted.
Going to Train Jam & GDC
In March, Slobodan and Nenad will be attending the Train Jam, a yearly event in which indie developers gather in a rented Amtrak train to jam games while travelling from Chicago to San Francisco. After that we’ll attend GDC. We’d like to thank the Train Jam organizers and their sponsors for the generous help they provided for us to visit these events! If you’re in the SF area (or LA) in that period and would like to meet up, let us know!
That's all for today, see you soon with more news!
-Slobodan