We’re releasing a balance change update today which also addresses a few bugs including an issue where there was increased collision damage when hitting landscapes. Check out the full patch notes below:
Balance Changes
Laser - Damage reduced from 24 to 22
Plasma - Recoil force increased from 45 to 75
Rail - Penetration energy increased from 4,500 to 5,200 - Recoil force increased from 750 to 2000
Thrusters -Standard Thruster bond strength override increased from 3 to 4 -Small Thruster bond strength override increased from 2 to 3
Other - Standard All-in-one turret connection health changes from 750 to 550 - Small All-in-one turret connection health changes from 375 to 400
Bug Fixes - Fix for increased collision damage when hitting landscape - Fix for the wheel orientation changes not applying correctly in multiplayer N:B. You will still need to resave the files but the behaviour you see in test mode should now match in multiplayer - Fix for a few inconsistent perimeter width values on shapes. Notably shapes that have wedge or triangle faces - Fixed colliders on joints to better match the visuals
Stay tuned for a content update happening very soon!
Update now live!
A new update is live! This update contains weapon and map changes based on community feedback, along with a load of bug fixes.
P.S. The team is still working hard to plan updates to address the plethora of feedback we've received from Steam reviews and the Discord community listed here and we'll continue to post frequent updates on our progress as we improve the game.
Stay up to date with the development
We urge anyone who wants to stay in touch with us and wants to see how we communicate with players on a daily basis to join us on the Discord. Several members of the team regularly engage in discussion and share thoughts! It’s also a great place to pick up on some extra building tips too!
Patch Notes - Robocraft 2's First Post EA update launching tomorrow
Hello Robocrafters!
We’re pleased to share an update to Robocraft 2 which will launch tomorrow! This update aims to make weapons feel more impactful and exciting. We have also introduced a variety of adjustments to all three maps and fixed a number of bugs.
We've put into action a lot of plans based on the feedback you've given us in Steam reviews and on Discord. We'll continue to give you frequent updates as we work through all of that.
Weapon Improvements
We’ve made big changes to the laser so that it is now more of an impactful all-rounder weapon type. The weapon now has the power to shred enemies at a reasonable rate. Here’s a look at a 1v1 laser battle between two medium-weight machines. You’ll see that blocks are being thrown all over the place, showing that you are dealing greater damage!
The Plasma has also undergone some big changes. We’ve introduced damage fall-off based on distance. Now shots up close will deal a lot more damage, and have a larger splash radius compared to shots further away. Here’s a comparison showing the damage fall off:
Rail has received a lot of love too. We've completely reworked the way rail penetration damage is applied in order to make the damage more satisfying and consistent against a broader range of robocraft build types.
The update will be live tomorrow and will include the following changes and bug fixes.
Map Changes
Map tweaks for Ma’adim Terminus
Extra cover outside spawn gate
Extra cover between spawn and mid point
Fix some forcefields that overlap landscape border
Elevator will now only be activated by occupied Robocraft
Map Tweaks for Iana Chaos
Extra cover outside spawn gate
Improved speed of the Subordinator
Map Tweaks for Helas Basin
Extra cover outside spawn gate
Fix some forcefields that overlap landscape border
Improved speed of the Judicator
Fix incorrectly coloured buildings
Other Changes
Volume slider for the announcer added to the options menu
Added yellow lines/arrows to the rail cannon barrel in build mode so players understand where the cosmetic collision is
Robocraft now have collision when assembling on the switchplate to prevent characters walking into them and dying on spawn
Rebalanced weapon shake
QMG is much less intense
Lasers on Robocraft have been increased slightly
Wheels Orientation Improvements
Previously, wheels would rotate and turn based on the orientation of the Seat
Seats that were sideways, upside down etc. would often cause wheels to turn unexpectedly and need to be tweaked/rewired
Seats that are not attached to the same group of blocks as the wheels would cause them to rotate against each other
Wheel orientation is now defined by the garage bay i.e. forwards is always the direction of the arrow on the floor
N:B.Existing Robocraft that used seats in other rotations will need to rewire/tweak their wheels to return them to normal behaviour
All newly created Robocraft will use the new system
Existing CRF Robocraft will continue to use the old seat system to avoid making purchased Robocraft unusable
Bug Fixes
Single blocks left behind after destruction are no longer indestructible
Fix for a crash when swapping account
Improvements to fail and retry states when connection drops happen
Selecting blocks in the inventory after entering Config mode will no longer prevent them from actually selecting
Fixed a rare error that could occur after reassembling
Fixed an issue with wheels and weapons sometimes not visually appearing after reassembly
Entering turrets in the Design & Test map before entering a seat on your own Robocraft will no longer cause them to lock up
Optimisation to the Battle Matrix to prevent excess data being loaded
Localisation updates based on community feedback for - Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian & Korean
Railgun will no longer penetrate through buildings in some specific scenarios
Recreating an existing wire will remove the one that is currently there
Character can no longer enter a blocked seat in some scenarios
Projectiles fired while on the switchplate will now deal damage
Reworked Battle Gate spawn zone to allow players to get back to the switchplate if they fall down
Fixed various shadows on functional parts vanishing up close
Character no longer floats when jumping up certain sloped surfaces
CRF default palette will no longer swap to ‘RC Default’ palette
Screenshot camera can no longer exit the workshop
Ghost block is no longer visible in the screenshot camera
Screenshot camera is now fixed at 1920x1080
Camera can no longer be pushed into the ground when shifting parts into it
Cursor mode can no longer be toggled while the ESC menu is open
Entering numbers into save file names will no longer swap the selected hotbar in the background
Material tab of the inventory no longer scrolls slower than other tabs
Triggering the ‘CPU limit reached’ dialogue will place you back in camera mode after closing it
Pressing ESC while popups are open in build mode will no longer remove your cursor
Added more loading feedback to various screens during connection issues
Battle Summary screen level up animation no longer breaks if you have an EXP booster active
Bit & Timer block label colour no longer reset in simulation
Adjusted LODs on Logic blocks & headlamps to prevent them culling in build mode
Block outline should no longer appear over random blocks in the world at times
Looking at a seat while the character is dead will no longer show the hint to enter it
Pressing ESC while recalling will no longer cause the character to be stuck in a walking animation
Fixed visual issue with character spinning when entering seats in the Design & Test map
Default language setting will show the correct language in parenthesis
When the Item Shop refreshes you will no longer be sent back to the featured section
Improvements to EVIL switchplate visuals
PLAY screen switchplates no longer show the forcefield
Fixed visual issues with boundary landscapes on the test zone maps
Matchmaking error text is localised again
Selecting an item in the Vault, then swapping to colour palettes will correctly update the info panels
Galaxy Cash store no longer appears empty when opened while looking at certain 3D models in the Battle Matrix
Fix for cancel audio playing whenever you change resolution
Audio added for removing parts from your hotbar
Updated models for some buildings
Voice lines should no longer trigger after the match has ended
Reassemble audio is now linked to the Sound Effects volume slider
Powered joint minor audio tweaks
Battle Matrix audio is now linked to the UI volume slider
We’re still working on a number of issues improvements and additions which are mentioned in the announcement here and we'll continue to share progress updates.
Thank you for your support and we will share more news soon!
Progress on Friends & Party System, Scoreboard and Undo
Hello Robocrafters!
We are still working through the feedback we received since the launch in Early Access and hope to share more progress and information very soon. You can read our observations and initial plans from this announcement:
We are planning to keep you all posted on the development of the game over the coming months and hope that you will all continue to watch our progress as we add more content, and features which will improve the game’s overall quality.
We have an update planned next week which will address the comments that “Weapons felt underwhelming” and will continue to update and improve over the coming months.
Friends & Party System We don't have much to share this week regarding this feature, but because it is so prominently asked for we wanted to make sure that it was included in this announcement. Development of this feature is making progress. The designs are complete, and the UI art assets have been created and set up. The UI code is in progress. The back end and matchmaking code are due to start next week. We’re still drilling down to try to work out when we will be able to release it and will share when we know that information.
Never P2W, addressing the confusion We’ve seen quite a few comments and even entire reviews that are telling players that the game is “Pay To Win”. This could not be further from the truth. All items in the game that can be purchased with premium currency are cosmetic.
We’re going to be making a bunch of changes to make this clearer to new users who misunderstood that the microtransactions were only for 100% optional cosmetic items and could not be used to unlock new parts or weapons.
We’re also planning to make changes to the Tech Ladder to bring it into the Main Menu and make it a branching Tech Tree similar to the one in Robocraft 1. All functional parts will remain unlockable for free (remember, never P2W). Once we have the design for these changes nailed down we’ll reveal more.
Scoreboard One of the quality-of-life features that we will be bringing to Robocraft 2 soon is the Scoreboard! This will track an assortment of stats which you will be able to bring up by pressing the Tab key.
The scoreboard will track:
Kills
Deaths
Assists
Damage dealt to Robocraft
Damage taken by Robocraft
Points earned by achieving objectives
Total of all the above
We also wanted to show that a highly requested feature is in the works!
It’s a weird one to showcase visually, so we put this gif together which shows that if you make the terrible mistake of deleting a pilot seat which has complex logic wired up, you can quickly get all of it back by hitting undo!
Fun fact: While Martin was working on undo, Unity’s in-built shortcuts would undo the addition of the undo input while testing undo. This did drive them a little crazy until they discovered what was happening.
Next Week, we’re going to release an update which will include several bug fixes, some map adjustments and our plans to make weapons not feel underwhelming! The items mentioned above are not going to be part of that update so stay tuned for more info and a date. Thank you for your patience and your support!
Our Plans For Robocraft 2 Based On Feedback
Hello Robocrafters!
We have spent a few days going through all of the feedback on Steam and within our Discord to begin preparing an action plan! Very soon we’ll be assigning development tasks to our team to address many of the feedback points that players have raised. This is not going to happen overnight and some of these will take quite a long time to implement, so please be patient whilst we work on this feedback. If you want to be kept up to date with the very latest news, please join our Discord.
Here are the main areas that we will be focusing on:
“No Party System”
This is a feature that we are actively working on and whilst we don’t have a date set for it, we assure you we want to release it as soon as it is ready. Here is a work-in-progress look at the party system within the main menu
“Not enough content”
We’re working hard on this with Hoverblades launching first, Tank Tracks well on their way, and new maps and game modes in production. We will be doing some planning in the studio to determine if we can increase the speed of production of these elements including looking at new weapons, and biomes (like Ice, and Earth planets).
We’re also working on Modular tank tracks and you’ll be able to create your own designs. We can’t wait to share more of this but for now, check out this tease we shared last week:
The Tech Ladder
We’ll be looking at reworking the Tech Ladder in its current form to make this more of a Tech Tree where you unlock functional parts and weapons for your Robocraft with branches so you can choose which parts to unlock sooner or later. We will also make this a Main Menu feature so it feels more like a key progression element of the game. We’ll also look at ways to ensure players get the build tools and do not need to unlock them on the Tech Ladder whilst ensuring that users get the info they need to be able to use them effectively.
Client performance (FPS)
We’ll put some programmers on optimisation of the client right away. This is an ongoing thing but we hope to get some improvements to you on this quickly. Robocraft 2 is particularly CPU intensive so we’ll be focusing on that area initially.
Combat slow \ Weapons underwhelming
Our main focus here initially will be on making changes to make the weapons feel more consistent, more satisfying to use, to provide better feedback for the damage you’re dealing. We will be discussing the specifics of how we’re going to do this with the community on our Discord server in the coming days.
On-foot pilot Gameplay
Issues with the On-foot pilots focused mainly on the underutilization of this new mechanic within the gameplay and the difficulty of killing pilots outside of their Robocraft.
We have some plans and designs which still need development which should help both controlling and killing pilots feel more fair, as well as take full advantage of what we think could be an exciting element to the gameplay of RC2.
Reassemble Mechanic
The ability to reassemble mid-combat has been controversial since we introduced it, especially in its current form. We absolutely recognise that it can feel both unfair and frustrating to players for their wins to go unrewarded because an enemy can suddenly rebuild their robocraft and there are a number of solutions we have planned for this.
Our aim is to keep the fundamental reassembly mechanic, but change how, when and why you can use it, alongside planned changes to on-foot pilots.
Ping/ Input lag
We’re going to look at ways we can improve latency and ensure players get better pings on average. We also want to look at ways to give players more control over which servers they play on and more visibility into which servers they are joining.
Physics lag and imprecision on weapons
Since we support rotating platforms and self-built weapon turrets we use physics to simulate the joints of the weapons. The physics simulation of the joints can produce some perceived ‘lag’ as the joints realistically try to accelerate and decelerate to get your gun pointing where you are aiming as well as the joints reacting to bumps in the terrain and recoil forces of the weapons. We think all of these things can contribute to a feeling of laggy aiming. Our aim is to do a bit of a deep dive into these systems to see if we can improve their responsiveness to aiming whilst retaining some of these realistic simulation elements.
Sound effects
Some players had feedback on the overall audio quality of the game, with a few specific places to focus on. We’re going to do a pass over the game's audio design, mixing some elements differently and completely reworking others.
Announcer's voice
The announcer has been pretty hit or miss within the Discord community but we can see quite a few players were not happy with this and would prefer something different. We plan to try some alternative options which we will run by the community on Discord to find something that works.
Lack of team comms (Text Chat, Voice Chat, Pings & Minimap)
We are fully aware that these are quite highly requested features and are planning to include them in the future. We will raise the priority since quite a few reviews mentioned these.
Building too complex
Whilst we have had quite a large number of players enjoy the building system, it is evident that we have seen players mention that this features a steep learning curve. There are two elements to improving the experience; polishing some of the existing UX and UI, as well as showing more information within Build Mode to help builders understand the underlying systems and how to build effective Robocraft.
Weapon CPU
We are considering the option to have only one pool of CPU, similar to RC1, but will need to figure out if we can do this while keeping the benefits of design and balance the current system offers the game.
Undo
It’s coming! I assure you! We already have block placing and deleting working with undo, as well as precon placing and deleting. We are working on wire placing and deleting at the moment. Then we’ll do material and colour painting as well as robocraft shifting.
Logic and Wiring
We’ve been wanting to redesign the Logic and wiring UX for quite some time. We understand many of the criticisms of the current system and have some plans that will allow us to improve the player experience. We also have plans for improving the UX for editing Tweakable Stats on parts.
More Graphic options
This is now also higher on our list as it was also mentioned in a few reviews and on Discord.
Stay up to date with the development
We urge anyone who wants to stay in touch with us and wants to see how we communicate with players on a daily basis to join us on the Discord. Several members of the team regularly engage in discussion and share thoughts! It’s also a great place to pick up on some extra building tips too!
A lot of these changes and improvements will take a while before they are released to you in an update. But we will make sure that we share some further plans and ideas very soon! Thank you
The Freejam Team
First Few Days of Early Access - Our Plans Based on Feedback
Hello Robocrafters!
We wanted to let you know about our plans over the next few days... We just launched on Steam Early Access and this meant a huge number of players joined us from Steam, including many who played our original game and some that did not.
Over the last few days we’ve had quite a large number of players negatively review the game on Steam. We have seen some very valid criticisms being raised that we need to work on. We’re going to be reading all the feedback across Steam and on our discord so that we can compile an action plan that will help us improve the game over the coming weeks and months.
We'll also be responding to many reviews directly and regularly talking with our players on the Discord too.
Please be patient with us as we compile this data! Of course if you’d like to leave a review on the Steam Page, please do! We have a lot of work to do and this is just the start.
Build, Drive, Fight!
Robocraft 2 Is Out Now In Early Access!
Hello Robocrafters!
Today's the day! The very start of our development with you all on Steam! We are looking forward to releasing a ton of new features, movement parts, maps and game modes over the coming months and you can find a huge post of information by checking out this Blog post:
Thank you to everyone who has shown their support, via the playtests, demo and those who are a part of our discord community.
Stay tuned for more news and information on our upcoming plans during development.
Build, Drive, Fight! Freejam
1 Day Until Release - Tease for Hovers And Tank Tracks
Hello Robocrafters!
10 years ago we launched Robocraft 1. Freejam has changed in the years since with an almost entirely different team who have set about creating a new game in Robocraft 2. It has been in development now for over a year with a small community of dedicated Robocrafters giving feedback via Discord. With their help, we have iterated the gameplay and the new unique server-side physics technology into a game that feels different to Robocraft 1 but tries to stay true to the goals of providing maximum creative freedom when engineering robocrafts for battle.
We are excited to see what incredible machines you create using our powerful building system and are looking forward to seeing all of them being absolutely obliterated in online matches with our block-by-block destruction tech!
You’ll be able to download the game tomorrow. Please make sure you add it to your wishlist to be notified when it is live!
We have a lot of work to do by adding new features, improving the core gameplay, optimisation, bug fixes and updating the game with various new parts… You can look at our development roadmap below for a list of features and functionality that are coming to Robocraft 2. Including partial gamepad support, a new map and game mode, weekly missions, mini-map, and even a world editor where you can create your own maps and game modes!
We wanted to touch on a couple of features that are coming!
Firstly, the next movement part to be released in Robocraft 2 will be hovers! We’ll be sharing more details on this part very soon but here’s a quick tease!
Another anticipated movement part that we want to bring to Robocraft 2 is Tank Tracks. But we’re not just letting you slap pre-created tracks on your machine, you’ll design their shape with modular building!
We still have quite a lot of work to do on Tank Tracks but this is just one example of how we’re providing players with more satisfying building systems and an additional level of complexity for builders who want to explore the game's mechanics further.
FRIENDS AND PARTY SYSTEM
One of the biggest requests from our community is a friend and party system. We are already working on this and hope to release it as soon as we can. We want players to enjoy spending time hanging out with their friends in the lobby so have been working on a new main menu screen, check out this work in progress:
One of the major parts of this main menu screen is the ability to see the characters that you and your friends have selected. You will also eventually be able to emote in this screen whilst waiting to start a match.
Players can also choose a mascot robocraft which allows this robocraft to appear within the main menu. Each player's mascot robocraft will appear in front of the player on the desk sitting on top of their currently equipped switchplate.
JOIN THE DISCORD
Over the last year, we’ve built up a community of 10,000 players who have been offering feedback and helping others learn the new mechanics and systems in Robocraft 2. If you want to join the community, you can do so by clicking here:
This is just the beginning! We’ve built up a great team of developers and have some big ambitious plans for the future of the game. Thank you for your support and we hope you enjoy the game in its current state and look forward to the future.
Build, Drive, Fight! Freejam
4 Days Until Early Access! Check Out The Launch Trailer
Hello Robocrafters!
There are just four days until we release Robocraft 2 onto Steam Early Access! We’re looking forward to seeing what incredible machines you bring into combat and hope that you join us as we begin a new development adventure!
Today we’re releasing the Early Access Launch Trailer which you can watch below:
We have a juicy blog planned for launch which will share a first look at a few upcoming features so make sure to add the game to your wishlist as you’ll be notified when the game is available to download for free!
Thank You For Playing the Demo! Prepare for Early Access Release!
Hello Robocrafters!
Thank you for playing the Robocraft 2 demo!
During Steam Next Fest, we were one of the top 50 most played demos during the event, thank you to everyone who gave Robocraft 2 a go and joined our community. We have a lot of work to do over the next several months as we are planning to improve the overall core gameplay experience and release new parts like Tank Tracks and hovers and new features like friends/ party system and Undo in build mode.
Make sure to add the game to your wishlist from the link below:
The demo is now disabled whilst we prepare to work on a number of bug fixes, optimisations and polish.
If you are part of the Playtest, you can continue to join us as we need your help to report bugs and issues ahead of the release on Steam! We'll be returning to scheduled Online Battle Test Times which can be found in the in-game calendar
One of the incoming features that we wanted to reveal was a new customisation options which will allow you to customise both your own created machines and ones that you have downloaded from the CRF
We will allow you to customise a variety of other parts including wheels and weapons soon!
Stay tuned for more information and join our Discord community for the latest news and information
