Hello Riftbreakers!
A couple of weeks have passed since the release of our latest major update for The Riftbreaker - the World Expansion III and the Heart of the Swamp DLC. We’re grateful for all the feedback and support we received from you during the release period. We hope you’ve enjoyed the new additions to the technology tree and the brand-new Fungal Swamp biome. We have to admit - it is very fun seeing you solve the challenges of the biome and find ways to maximize the potential of the new weapons and defensive towers. We will continue monitoring the situation and addressing the critical issues. We are working on a larger maintenance patch that will include several optimizations and resolve many remaining problems. It will be released near the launch of the World Expansion III update on consoles. Today, however, we would like to look at our updated roadmap and discuss our plans from a broader perspective.
Let’s grab the bull by the horns and tackle the hottest topic first - the Co-Op Multiplayer Mode. We are continuously working on adding it to the game, but because this process has been taking so long to finish, a number of legends have grown around it. We would like to use this opportunity to talk about the topics that show up most often in the online discussions:
- The Co-Op Mode update for The Riftbreaker is happening. It is taking longer than we expected, but we have not reached any obstacle that we could not overcome. We had to rewrite the entirety of the game’s engine to support online play, which was an enormous task. However, it is working now, and you can take a look at how it’s working in one of our recent coop playtest videos. We are currently preparing to start a limited closed beta within the next few weeks.
Watch on YouTube - Co-Op will NOT be a paid expansion. It will be a free update, much like the World Expansions accompanying our DLC releases.
- We DID NOT prioritize doing paid DLCs in favor of the free Co-Op Update. The only people in our 15-person team who can contribute meaningful work on the multiplayer mode at this time are programmers, who make up 6/15ths of the entire team. The rest of us need to do something in the meantime. With all game mechanics and systems in place, creating new content is possible with very little programming input.
- We have NEVER advertised The Riftbreaker as a Co-Op title, which is a common misconception. Initially, we said that The Riftbreaker would not support multiplayer features, but we decided to make an attempt to add one after the release. You can read the original Co-Op development announcement here. Co-Op is never mentioned as a game feature in our marketing materials. We will only start doing so after successfully adding the multiplayer mode to the game. We have also NEVER been in Early Access so we couldn’t have advertised that feature in EA.
- Adding online Co-Op is our top priority, but it isn’t our only priority. We understand that a lot of you are frustrated with how long it takes to add multiplayer functionality, but please be respectful of the rest of The Riftbreaker community. Campaign mode extensions and other single-player content have been requested by a large part of the community, which you can verify on our feature request board: https://riftbreaker.featureupvote.com/
We are working on adding multiplayer support as fast as we can, but we never said that it is the only thing that we want to add to the game.
We know this entire section feels very defensive - and it is. We simply can not allow misinformation about our work to spread further. Having a couple dozen ‘coop when’ comments every time we post is pretty funny, but reading false claims that spread like wildfire is unacceptable. It is okay to voice your disappointment, but please be respectful of the rest of the community. We do our best to keep you informed about our progress. We’re sorry it is not as quick as expected, but we are 100% doing our best. You can read our previous posts about the co-op development progress here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/3381659291157676103
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/3701435238673426124?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/3657536564724315072?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/3657539010840327508?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/3752120943822713623?l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/780310/view/4168714761879990385
With that out of the way, let’s talk about our plans.
We have been conducting online Co-Op playtests regularly, improving as we go. We believe that we have reached a satisfactory level of performance and that the current functionality is sufficient to start a closed beta test. During the closed beta, we are going to cooperate very closely with our testers to determine the areas where the game needs more work. One such area is communication. As the closed beta test unfolds, we will test various solutions for in-game pings, voting systems, chat, and many other social aspects of the game. We will also try out various ideas to make the game more dynamic and engaging to compensate for the extra firepower each player brings to the table. This part of the test will likely take a couple of months, during which we will steadily increase the number of players, trying to give everyone who signed up for the test access via our online form.
To sign up for The Riftbreaker Multiplayer Beta please fill in the following form:
We reserve the right to contact only select participants.
SIGN UP USING THIS GOOGLE FORM
After the Closed Beta phase, we will switch to an Open Beta phase. The shape and duration of the Open Beta will depend on the feedback that we gather during the process, so it is too early to talk about the details of this process. We see all of these steps as necessary to say that this feature is finished and ready for everyone to enjoy without frustration.
As you might have noticed, we have purposefully avoided any date announcements in the previous paragraphs. We can’t predict what issues we will face or how long it will take us to solve the significant problems. One thing we can say for sure, however, is that we are committed to giving you the best online playing experience that we can. If it turns out that the game has to stay in beta for a bit longer, we will be OK with that, and we hope that you will be there with us.
Next up on our roadmap is the Expanded Story Campaign update. This massive update will completely overhaul many of the game’s systems. We have already mentioned some of the upgrades in our Steam News, but we will summarize everything once more so that you have an overview of what we’re still planning to add to the game.
The Expanded Story Campaign update will bring you the following:
- The ability to access randomized planetary missions via the Orbital Scanner interface. Each of these missions will take place on a new map in the biome of your choice. You will also be able to choose if you want your mission to focus on exploration and finding new wildlife or if you are looking for a resource-rich mining location.
One of the map tiles we prepared for the randomized planetary missions. Can you guess what you will have to investigate here?
- The Improved Loot System and Weapon System Rebalancing. Our data suggests that Extreme quality weapons you can craft now are too strong, compared to other quality levels, mainly due to all the extra properties they get during crafting. We aim to make the power level increase across all levels more linear. We will achieve that by reducing the number of extra properties that craftable weapons receive. However, we don’t want to get rid of powerful weapons. Instead of having to craft them, each boss you kill, each bioanomaly you encounter, and each treasure cache will have a chance to drop a unique, powerful weapon way more potent than something you can craft. This will give you an extra incentive to explore the maps further and complete all those extra missions! We have already tested some of our prototype bosses and they are a handful even in multiplayer. We can't wait to see how you handle them!
- More challenging boss fights. We will implement a new boss creature system that will send out powerful creatures along with the attack waves. These bosses will get additional abilities, such as damage or healing auras, summoning other creatures, and special attacks. Each boss fight will be different. Any species of creature can become the boss of the wave. Their abilities will be chosen at random. You will have to figure out their weaknesses on the spot. It will be a challenge, but the rewards you will get will make it all worth it!
These additions will give you additional replay value after completing the main campaign storyline. Adding co-op on top of that will make it better, as you can explore all the new content and face new challenges with friends. The Expanded Story Campaign will be a free update for all our players. We will be developing it alongside the closed beta of the Co-Op mode. As such, we can’t offer any actual date - for all we know, we might release these two updates simultaneously.
We know you have been waiting for these additions for a very long time, and we’re sorry they couldn’t happen earlier. However, we finally see the light at the end of this tunnel. All we’re asking for is a little bit more of your patience.
EXOR Studios