Auto Age: Standoff
Launch in 2 Days!
3 Days Until Launch!
Launching September 21, 2017!
We have a launch date!
Wishlist to grab AUTO AGE on day one!
Developer Diary 19: Indie Prize Finalists
See you in August, Seattle!
“Auto Age: Standoff” is a finalist for the 2017 Indie Prize at Casual Connect USA in Seattle. Programmer Adam Eaton will be demoing the game on August 1 - 3 in the conference's Indie Showcase, gunning for an award win. Dozens of other devs with great games are also in the running -- good luck and have fun, everyone!
Roadmap updates
We’ve been tracking well against our public roadmap. Although our beta test is currently closed to new players, we rolled out an update for current testers that got rid of our placeholder vehicle selection screen and replaced it with a proper 3D representation of available vehicles.
We are now testing our Loadout (car customization) system internally and are able to outfit vehicles with weapons and equipment based on a points system. Each vehicle chassis has a certain points capacity, and every item you put in your car uses up available points. We can add more factors (such as restricting items based on vehicle size) but what we have now seems to be working pretty well. Custom loadouts are saved to the Steam cloud. We hope to have this available to closed beta testers within the next two weeks.
More weapons!
Along with our new Loadouts system will come a handful of new weapons, including a Missile Pod II (6-missile swarm instead of 3), four classes of Ram (Ram IV shown above), and automatic turret weapons (twin Autogun II turret shown above). Currently automatic turrets are passive weapons that fire at any available target within range, but we will certainly be toning that down, for example requiring activation and having a limited duration before cooldown.
What’s next?
We’ll be pushing the Loadouts system and all the new weapons into beta testing for refinement and polish, probably within the next 2 weeks. On July 10, we’re going into the recording studio for some new VO to be used in upcoming trailers and our tutorial. We’re overhauling our HUD, iterating on our menus, and continuing work on our unreleased Base Assault map called Welcome Center. We are getting the last big new features of the game done and are then in the final stretch.
More news to come this summer.
Until next time, drive offensively!
Developer Diary 18: New Maps, Beta Update
Thanks, testers!
Last year we made early builds available to our community, and have received a lot of feedback about the game. We also gather feedback at every public demo we do, such as GDC and PAX. We’ve gotten feedback from former team members of the Twisted Metal series and Vigilante-8. Recently we got a useful round of feedback from a very successful mainstream game studio.
Thank you for talking to us about Auto Age: Standoff. We appreciate your time and are glad to get your input.
Since opening the game to tester feedback, we have made many changes and improvements to the game, and will continue to do so. One of the most interesting aspects of gathering feedback is the diversity in opinion about the game’s features and areas of improvement. It is definitely a challenge to balance arcade and simulation physics--on top of this there are pretty hard limits as to what our physics can actually do.
Our game has a high learning curve. We’re looking at strategies to help new players understand better what they can expect from the game, particularly when it’s so different from hit games like Rocket League. We will try to come up with a better tagline than “It’s not Rocket League!”
As always, we are available via our Steam forum, Discord channel, Twitter, Facebook and now Instagram if you have a better tagline idea :)
Discord https://discord.gg/2s3nz2A
Twitter @phantomcompass https://twitter.com/phantomcompass
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wemakegames/
Instagram @phantomcompass https://www.instagram.com/phantomcompass/
Beta v0.167
We’re up to beta v0.167 this week, and have gotten a lot of work done since our last public build.
Here’s a summary of the changes and additions:
Gameplay Updates
- Autogun and Cannon weapon DPS increased.
- Health bars now replace previous percentage values in HUD pips.
- Base Assault Mode: Audio and visual cues added for objective capturing and controlling.
- Loadout system partially implemented: You can view preset loadouts but stats and chassis model not visible yet.
- Your player name now highlighted in Status view and Game Over view.
Map Updates
- NEW Core Sample deathmatch map added. It’s a tiny experimental map, use at your own risk.
- NEW Aerie deathmatch map added. It’s a tiny experimental map, use at your own risk.
- Eagle’s Nest size reduced, minor art changes and additions. Driving surfaces smoothed for better handling. Energite hazard added.
- Ghost Town downsized to half its original size, new art added. More refinements coming. Map boundaries not enforced (will fix).
- Crossroads map driving surfaces smoothed for better handling.
- Hot Dam driving surfaces smoothed for better handling.
As always, our Readme page and Steam forum contains full changelog notes.
Big Map Changes
Eagle’s Nest
We downsized the Eagle’s Nest map, used in Deathmatch and Base Assault modes. The previous version was unnecessarily large. The size reduction helps focus play to the most used parts of the map.
Along with the size reduction, we added a few specific pieces of art to help give this map more character.
Further refinements will be made as we continue to test this new version.
Ghost Town
Once our largest map, Ghost Town has been chopped in half. It’s now a comfortable size for as few as eight players -- nobody has trouble finding other players anymore.
We did an art refinement pass on this map to give it more character and also to help with wayfinding. One half of the map has neon blue accents and the other half has neon pink accents, so it’s much easier to tell what side of the map you’re on.
Further refinements will be made as we continue to test this new version.
NEW: Aerie
We’ve added an experimental map. It’s very tiny, suitable for 2 - 4 players. We are testing game play in small maps as we consider a potential Sumo mode.
NEW: Core Sample
Another experimental, tiny map. This one is even smaller than Aerie, suitable for 2 - 4 players.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Welcome Center
We are still designing and developing the SAIGE Welcome Center map, where we hope to stage our Story Mode (tutorial) and Base Assault matches.
New vehicles coming!
As discussed in previous posts, we’re working on new vehicles for the game.
The Hotrodz faction is aligned with Dark Jaw.
Our game’s Story Mode (short tutorial) features Valentina Vega’s damaged “jalopy” muscle car and a new hotness version. We may make these available as additional M-Type vehicles or as a special hero type, not sure yet.
Lastly, we have Longhorns in our concept and design queue. They are a cowboy style faction aligned with Val Vega and SAIGE.
Beta closure
Our team is approaching game launch (no specific date announced yet). We have gathered a ton of feedback from our existing test group as well as industry folks and now are in full implementation mode. Maybe even “crunch” mode. We’re going to close up our beta for now. Might reopen it closer to launch, but until then, stay tuned to our Steam group for the next developer diary!
Developer Diary 17: Construction Ahead!
What we’re up to.
With successful demos (and award win!) at the Game Developers Conference and PAX East behind us, we’re back under the hood of Auto Age and have updated our public roadmap accordingly.
In summary, we’re optimizing our networking to reduce connection issues, we’re adding new original soundtrack material by Jim Guthrie and JJ Ipsen, we’re working on a standalone game server, we’re creating a new map (Welcome Center), we’re working on two new vehicle factions, and more!
Our next beta build will be a big update with new content and new features. For more frequent updates or to chat with our team and players, please join us on Discord.
Early look: Welcome Center.
Our level design and art team is preparing a new map, probably our most detailed map to date. Named the Welcome Center, it was a pre-apocalypse tourist-friendly facility built to showcase the wonders of “energite,” the mysterious energy source in our Auto Age universe. The map is designed around a single capture/control point for Base Assault mode, but we’ll also be trying our other modes in this map as well.
Here’s some really early concept work on this very, very 80s-style map. Super retro!
Early look: new factions.
We already have four vehicle factions in the game: the SAIGE team and S-Force; the Dark Jaw team (Jawlings) and Neon Ninjas. We’re working on two additional factions, with the working names “Cowboys” and “Hotrods.”
Here’s early work on the Hotrod faction by artist Dan Tozer. Designs and paint jobs subject to change!
Game over, man. Game over!
Our next beta build will have the first iteration of our end-game stats presentation system. In this system, a chart of performance metrics is shown at the end of the match. You’ll be able to compare scores, and also items like damage dealt, kills, kill streaks, and team healing, depending on the game mode.
See You At PAX East 2017!
Our very own Adam Eaton (Programmer) and Eric McQuiggan (Senior Programmer) will be demoing Auto Age: Standoff at PAX East this week in booth 24102. Get your hands on the latest beta build, 4-player splitscreen style!
Adam will be a guest on the XSplit Stage this Friday, March 10, to stream a play session hosted by Chris Slight and mystery YouTubers!
If you can't make it to PAX, check out the stream at
twitch.tv/XSplit and beam.pro/XSplit
Looking forward to it!
Developer Diary 16: “Best In Play”
We won a GDC Play “Best In Play” Award!
Best in Play showcases the finest games at the Game Developers Conference GDC Play expo. Phantom Compass has been awarded a 2017 Best In Play Award for “Auto Age: Standoff” by a panel of veteran GDC organizers and Gamasutra editors. Thanks to the judges for their award and congratulations to the other winners!
We will be demoing Auto Age in booth PL4627.
Beta v0.102 Now Live!
Our latest beta build features the long-awaited Base Assault mode where two teams battle over capture and control of an objective zone. The first team to fully control the zone wins. This mode is currently exclusive to our updated Eagle’s Nest map (was DM07), but we will likely add it to other maps as well.
For all the details on the latest beta, visit this forum thread.
GDC and PAX
Tony Walsh (game director), Jos Yule (technical director) and Thomas Detko (game designer) will be demoing “Auto Age: Standoff” at GDC again this year. We will have 4-player splitscreen running on an 80” projection screen, so come on over to booth PL4627 and grab a controller on March 1, 2, or 3.
PAX is soon to follow GDC, and we’ll be there with the same setup but different staff. We’ll give you the full details after the dust from GDC settles.
Roadmap Reminder
We keep a regularly-updated public roadmap of all our main features and content over on Trello.
Every time we post a new build of the game, we update the roadmap. If you’re following along, you’ll notice a steady migration of items into “Available in Beta” from “Working on Now” That’s progress!
The roadmap is a quick visual way to see what’s in, and what’s coming up. Please visit our Discord or the Steam forum if you have any questions or suggestions.
Developer Diary 15
First Trailer of 2017!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm-gRwHIQFs Our first new trailer in almost a year revs up with an updated look and listen to the universe and game play of “Auto Age: Standoff.” If you like it, share it!
Beta v0.91 Now Live!
Our latest beta build includes the Neon Ninja and S-Force vehicle factions, improvements in vehicle handling across the board, and much-needed health pickups in all maps. For the full details, check out our v0.91 forum post.
In case you missed it, our last beta build re-introduced bots to the game, so you no longer need to rely on other human players to practice :)
GDC and PAX East
We’re gearing up to return to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and PAX East in Boston. Will be demoing the game at booth PL4627 at GDC, not sure what booth at PAX yet, but we’ll keep you posted!
Developer Diary 14
Bots and More In Latest Beta
Beta v0.84 is now available to testers, bringing new and improved bots back to the game!
This latest iteration, along with Host Options support, brings up to 15 bloodthirsty bots into any local or online game. The bots are great in Free-For-All Deathmatch, but are getting some major driving lessons in Team Deathmatch mode.
Thanks to tester feedback, we retooled areas of our Ghost Town map, casting it in midnight moonlight, reducing its overall size, and adding more vertical play areas.
We added some new drivable areas to Hot Dam after months of testing, bridging a previously-disconnected area at one end of the map and allowing more vertical play.
New in this beta is the debut of a brand new map, temporarily named “DM07” until we think of something better. This map is the first draft of a work in progress, and has placeholder art with a new tileset we will be refining over the coming weeks. We put the map into beta testing to gather feedback about it--looking forward to your comments.
We added “FORM A GANG” to our main menu. This feature allows local players to register controllers / keyboard to play local and/or online games as a group.
Tons of networking fixes, audio fixes and content also went into this latest beta build, all in line with our Roadmap, which is updated weekly.
Next Major Beta Build
While we are likely to make some incremental updates in the coming weeks, we hope to get another major beta build out before the Game Developers Conference at the end of February.
The next major build will include the Neon Ninja (allied with Dark Jaw) and S-Force (allied with SAIGE) vehicle factions, which bring six new vehicles into the game.
On the “hopefully” side we could have a super early look at Base Assault, our stand alone server could be ready for testing, and we might even have a preview of our Loadout system in place. Lots of possibilities, but the new factions are 100% shipping in next big beta push.
See You At GDC 2017!
Meet us at the Game Developers Conference, February 27 through March 3, 2017! We will be returning to demo the game in the GDC Play booth PL4627 with our splitscreen setup.
Phantom Compass studio founder Tony Walsh (aka Professor Complicated, game director), studio partner Jos Yule (aka Hyakugei, lead programmer) and associate producer Thomas Detko (aka Devros, game designer) will be on site.