WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Go to the Robocraft Steam Page and CLICK the big Green Playtest Button to sign up!
DONE IT?!
Good! Were running a closed Playtest which starts TOMORROW! This is an exciting chance to play a version of the game before it opens up to everyone else!
Well be inviting players to the Playtest regularly, so make sure you check your emails as Steam will notify you when youve been selected!
For those who get access to the Playtest tomorrow, you can:
Share footage and images with other players anywhere! Be it via our Discord, tiktok or posting to our X account.
if you haven't done so already, go and sign up for the playtest now!
Robocraft 2 Team
Attention Robocrafters,
The time has come to enlist in the Vanguard Testing program. We need pilots to sit in the 'seat of progress' and play early content and features in Robocraft 2 during the early stages of development.
Much like how your buttocks can shape the leathery mould of this seat over time, so too can your involvement in the Vanguard Testing Program shape the development of Robocraft 2.
Apply now
We will contact successful applicants when the game is ready to be tested by players.
Good luck!
Whilst a number of the team are working towards the first playable version of the rebuild, our artists have been continuing their efforts in recreating OG Robocraft blocks to bring them to 2024 standards! Check out the T1 and T2 lasers below:
Check out the T1 and T2 wheels coming to Robocraft Rebuild.
When the Early Access version of Robocraft 2 launched on Steam we received thousands of reviews, reactions and comments from fans of Robocraft. Whilst some players liked the new direction we had taken the game in, many many more expected and wanted something much closer to a modern version of the original game. We took some time. We did some soul-searching. We reread every single review, word by word, considering again all the feedback we had received about the game from all of our social channels. We also looked at the stats. After all of that, we made the very tough decision to rebuild the game, from the ground up, to be much closer to a modern version of the original game. This time though, we want to build the foundations that can support a bigger game (in time) with lots of varied gameplay options, particularly introducing engaging and varied solo and co-op online PVE on top of the team PVP elements.
Robocraft 2.1 Features
We wanted to give some more information on what features will be present in Robocraft 2.1:
Building Systems
- The core building system will stay true to OG but with modern graphics, animation, sound effects and polish - a key aim will be to make the building feel polished and satisfying.
- We will have Tiered blocks back and each tier will look visually different so we wont be forced to colour them to indicate tier, instead allowing users to be able to use the colours they wish for cosmetic purposes.
- Colour mode will let you choose from a full RBG spectrum (16 million colours) and will utilize the 6-colour palette system we created for Robocraft 2, though we will upgrade this to allow players to create their own custom palettes where they can apply as they wish.
- Functional blocks like Wheels and Weapons will utilize the familiar systems from OG where internal wiring is automated for rapid building and iteration.
- Well be making sure that where you position the parts and how you stack them will affect the performance characteristics of your robocraft, so although building new robocraft and iterating will be fairly quick the choices you make will always make a difference (e.g. old-wings not new-wings).
- All staple QoL features will exist such as Mirror mode, Undo, Redo, Shifting, CoM indicator, etc.
- There will be a unified CPU limit (no separate Weapon CPU) and a cosmetic CPU limit for cosmetics.
- Robot Rank and Tiers will return, with the familiar Tier meter coming back in the HUD.
- All HUD UI will feel familiar to the original games but will be polished to meet modern graphical quality standards and expected layouts.
- The Build Bay will be rebuilt with beautiful graphics and we will make the consoles and screens that appear within the bay functional and interactive.
- Overall, our building systems will aim to engage players in the Build Drive Fight loop, with new players able to build their own working robocraft and get into online gameplay within a relatively short period of time and for them to learn quickly and intuitively how to iterate and evolve their designs through each cycle of the loop.
- There will be a back door in the build bay, which will be closed, but one day we hope to open it up and let you walk around as Cray out into a new larger mothership (called The Vanguard) and meet other players akin to a character hub.
- Not everything will be the same as OG. Some things worked really well in OG and some other things could have been better so we will always aim to improve those areas that can be improved upon.
Transitions to Gameplay
- We want to ensure that transitions into and out of Test Mode are as near instantaneous and smooth as possible to support a fast and satisfying iteration loop when testing robocraft designs.
- We want to focus on short queue times and short loading into online gameplay, keeping you connected to servers you have chosen to play on, so after a round of gameplay or an iteration of your robocraft you can hop back in quickly with minimal loading or waiting.
- We hope that all this can help to make the Build Drive Fight iteration loop fun, satisfying and engaging.
The Server Technology
- We will use the Robocraft 2 server technology as a base, but by moving to the OG building system we can simulate your (less physically complex) robocraft both on your client and the server. This allows us to give you low latency responsiveness for driving and aiming regardless of your ping to the server. Simulating both on the client (your robocraft) and server (everything) will allow the server to remain authoritative on the overall game state ensuring it is extremely difficult to hack and helping with fairness in PVP gameplay.
- The OG building system allows us to get more out of our new Robocraft 2 server tech which can allow us to have more units in battle (e.g. for larger teams in Elimination). The OG building system should be more friendly on the client FPS side too (better FPS for you all).
- One of the most exciting things we can look to exploit for the first time properly in a Robocraft game is AI on the servers. We can use this to help onboard players in PVP as they progress through the lower Tiers (with higher Tiers featuring more experienced human players).
- Probably the most exciting element is the way we can use AI to introduce solo PVE and co-op PVE gameplay to Robocraft for the first time.
Online Gameplay
- We would like to introduce a World Map [bringing to life for the first time an interactive version of the large screen that always existed in the OG Build Bay]. This world map will allow you to choose which planet to play on and where on the planet to deploy to and these choices will determine what type of gameplay you will get.
- Some locations on the World Map can be unlocked as players progress helping to onboard new players and provide other layers of progression.
- PVP game modes will of course exist, also accessed via the World Map. Game modes like Elimination (with OG team sizes), Battle Arena, Deathmatch, The Pit, and new modes can all potentially exist.
- To focus players on specific modes and planets to ensure both shorter queue times and improved matchmaking in all PVP game modes we can hold events on specific planet locations at specific times for greater rewards.
- Tiered locations on the planets can provide a range of PVE mission types to overcome, with tough enemies with unique AI behaviours.
- When you are out in the PVE parts of the world you will encounter other players who are also doing missions and fighting PVE in those same spaces so it can feel a bit like an MMO.
- Some locations can offer difficult Party-only PVE missions which only top-level players working effectively together may be able to overcome.
- This PVE gameplay also allows us to explore adding lore and story into the game.
- The use of AI can potentially provide new ways for Boss Fights and Megabots to make a return in some way, both as enemy combatants and in gameplay where you can play in those larger forms.
Progression
- We would add layers of progression systems, some of which are more focused on the PVE side of the game (where some PVE-focused progression bonuses are removed for some PVP modes to ensure fair matches).
- The Build Bay will start smaller than in OG and users will be able to upgrade it to make it larger by playing the game.
- The CPU limit will also be able to be upgraded.
- The Tech Tree will be re-introduced akin to OG to unlock the blue-print to craft parts in the Block Forge. Players will earn XP, level up and acquire TP to progress on the Tech Tree.
- Resources (such as Robits) gathered from PVE and PVP gameplay can be used to craft individual blocks with higher Tiers offering greater resources and higher-tiered parts having a greater resource requirement to forge.
- We plan to look at adding more progression elements to allow players to become more powerful beyond T10 in PVE gameplay, possibly being required to attempt the toughest Party-only missions.
Cube Manipulator
The Cube Manipulator was used to place blocks in the build bay. Weve been working on improving the visual quality of this weapon for Robocraft 2.1. Check out a work-in-progress render below:
Follow on Twitter Follow on Tiktok Join The Discord
Earlier this week, we announced that we would be rebuilding Robocraft 2 from the ground up with modern graphics and technology, with a building system familiar to players of Robocraft from 2014 - 2015.
Weve been working on an experimental prototype where were just exploring ways of making placing and deleting blocks feel fluid and satisfying with animation and sound.
This is not an early version of the rebuild or anything like that, it is a simple internal prototype exploring how to make placing and deleting blocks feel satisfying that we thought wed share with you so you could try it:
BlockAnimPrototype Download
Hello Robocrafters,
As promised, here is some more information on the image of the Tier 1 cube we posted on socials earlier this week:
Given the feedback we have received from so many fans of Robocraft and the response the current version Robocraft 2 has received on its initial early access launch, we have decided to rebuild Robocraft 2 from the ground up to be much closer to OG (from the 2014-2015 era) with modern graphics and technology and with a greater variety of PVE and PVP gameplay for players to choose from which we will add over time.
We have put together this FAQ which will answer some of the questions players will have and we will monitor spaces where robocraft is being discussed and will add to the FAQ over time.
ROBOCRAFT 2 REBUILD FAQ
Hello Robocrafters!
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here:
https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Additionally, Robocraft 2 is now available via Steam Early Access and you can download it here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/
Community Balance Patch Notes Below:
Hello Robocrafters! The servers are now back up and running. Thank you for being patient as we adressed the issues! Original post Hello Robocrafters! We were made aware of server issues for Robocraft and are currently investigating the issues now and hope to resolve them soon. Thank you for your patience, Stay tuned for further updates and information.
Hello Robocrafters!
Cray, the unstoppable robot warrior and Mars ultimate Protonium hunter is an unstoppable SCU that has been a part of the Robocraft universe since 2015! Now, due to an assembly error, Crays thick robotic outer shell was accidentally replaced with a cuddly exterior and the manufacturing size was set to Cuddly
Act now to claim your limited edition Cray Plush! Because once our engineers fix the assembly error in the next two weeks you will not have a chance to procure one of these ultra rare Crays!
Visit this page now: https://www.makeship.com/products/cray-plush
Here are some pre-approved scenarios where your cuddly cray can be used
- Snuggle buddy
- Dog chew toy
- Ambient decoration
- Theatre productions
- Your plus one for social events
- Car pooling
- Paperweight
- Taunting those who do not have their own Cray plush
- Door stop
- Ally in any upcoming battles*
- Family portraits
*The Cray plush is not equipped to fight in battle They are too soft and cuddly!
Hello Robocrafters!
An update to Robocraft has launched which brings back a couple of cosmetic items that were previously part of the first season of Robo Pass. Were also giving away 7 days of premium and have some other exciting news to share!
Firework Vapour trail
Imagine this: you're in the heart of the action, and with just a click, you're zooming up and down the map at breakneck speed, leaving behind an awe-inspiring trail of fireworks that light up the battlefield like the Fourth of July! This cosmetic vapour trail is now available in the item shop!
Firework T5 Seeker
This T5 seeker cosmetic shoots out a beautiful trail before erupting into an epic colourful explosion! Your enemies might even thank you for making their last moments an extraordinary spectacle of light!
These items have been added to the item shop rotation right now!
Weve also got a code for 7 days premium which you can redeem using the code below:
ROBOCRAYMIUM
A character from Robocraft is going to be making their debut appearance as a plush! Cray, Mars ultimate protonium hunter is available to purchase from Makeship for the next 30 days.
Visit this link to purchase your very own cuddly Cray. https://www.makeship.com/products/cray-plush
Additionally, Robocraft 2 launches its Demo on Steam later today so make sure to add it to your wishlist so that you can be reminded when the game is available to download!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/
Hello Robocrafters!
We're currently working on Robocraft 2 and wanted to provide you all with a short update on a few things. Firstly, we're planning to invite thousands of playtesters to try out the game in a playtest that will be live throughout the entirety of this weekend.
These invites are sent out randomly by Steam, but you will receive an email if you are successful.
You can register for the playtest from the Steam page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/
Invites will start going out on Friday and throughout the weekend.
The servers will be active from 16:00 UTC on Friday 25th of August to 12:00 UTC Monday 28th of August
Additionally, we wanted to share the latest Robo Herald for Robocraft 2:
Here are a few short gifs recorded over the last few weeks for Robocraft 2
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here:
https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Robocraft Twitter
Robocraft Facebook Page
Add Robocraft 2 to your wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/
Hello Robocrafters! We will be entering maintenance on 12/07 at 09:00 UTC to deploy the latest community balance patch. This is expected to last up to 2 hours. We'll share details on the changes in a post tomorrow. Robocraft Twitter Robocraft Facebook Page Add Robocraft 2 to your wishlist https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here:
https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Hello Robocrafters, Robocraft will be entering maintenance on 10/05 at 10:00 AM UTC to address ongoing issues with the CRF and to apply the latest community balance patch. this is expected to last up to 2 hours
Hello Robocrafters!
Ten years ago, on March 7th 2013, Robocrafts first-ever playable build launched! It was a huge milestone as Freejams first-ever game! We are humbled that there have been over 16 million players during that time that have built robots, driven them into battle and fought against other players online. Thank you, from everyone at Freejam.
The art above was created by Sonia, one of our artists at Freejam!
To celebrate we have a code which will provide you with 10 days of premium and 500 cosmetic credits.
How to use the code
- Open up Robocraft
- Press escape while in the main men
- Select Enter code
- Enter the following code:
ROBOCRAFT10
This code will expire in 30 days and can only be used once per account We also have released some cubes on the item shop that can be purchased with CC
Retro Cubes were first introduced as part of Robo Pass Season 2 around 4 years ago. They are now available to purchase from the item shop using CC and are priced at 500 for a bundle of four cubes. Additionally, the team is now working on Robocraft 2 and we have begun accepting requests to join Robocraft 2s first Steam Playtest. Head over to the Steam page and click Request access to join. Well have more details in the future. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2 Build! Drive! Fight! Freejam
Hello Robocrafters, Over the last few months weve been working on a sequel to Robocraft. You can add it to your wishlist via the link below: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/ Check out this trailer which was created from some very early online closed alpha battle tests with the community. [previewyoutube=pYPAdXWFZ4o;full][/previewyoutube] Build, Drive, Fight will continue to be our mantra for Robocraft 2. Youll construct robots out of blocks, bring them into battle and then fight online against other players. Youll earn Robits for each battle which can be spent in-game. We will be introducing a number of changes like getting out of your robot, the ability to stretch and scale blocks, and changing robots mid-battle. We also have plans to provide new and interesting ways to build your robots ranging from physics-based joints like axles, hinges, servos and pistons. But youll also be able to create tank tracks using a modular system. We have an example of it working in this concept video: [previewyoutube=3VtTSwAe7BA;full][/previewyoutube] Below is the core list of features in Robocraft 2 that were not in the original Robocraft
- Block-by-block destruction - Deal damage to the blocks of each robot to destroy their connections! Robots break block by block and this affects the structural integrity of a machine and ultimately its performance in battle.
- Switch robots mid-game - If your tactic in battle is not working, head to your switch plate and select a new robot.
- Get out of the robot - Leave the robot and hop into a teammate's spare seat. Control multi-manned machines and in the future, larger Mega-bot-like creations which could be found on the map!
- On-foot combat - While out of the robot you are equipped with the Quantum Machine gun, great to use against other pilots
- Server-side physics - Every smash, collision and projectile is handled server-side. Machines can even lift and push each other. Weight really matters! Accelerate a heavy robot into a light robot and itll tear it apart in a satisfying explosion of blocks!
- Stretch and scale - Blocks can be stretched into various shapes across the grid to create unique shapes for your robot.
- Material painting - Paint each block with a different material which affects weight, strength, friction and bounciness.
- A huge selection of new shapes not seen in Robocraft before - Including plates, pipes, cones, and posts which offer unrivalled robot design and functionality.
- New joint parts like axles, servos, pistons and hinges - Create interesting mechanical designs like robots that crush other players with deadly pincers, or a machine that is capable of launching itself into the air to quickly travel across a map.
- Robust logic and sensor blocks - Use a variety of logic chips to create a plethora of engineering functions which can create very unique robot mechanisms.
- Wiring system - Wire up the pilot seat to control various parts of your machine. Combine logic and sensor blocks for complex robot functions. Auto-wiring makes the building accessible for all!
- Tweakable stats - Each part of your robot can be tweaked, including max/min angle and extension. You can even tweak the fire delay of your weapons to change weapon fire rates from a single shotgun-style blast from all guns to a coordinated sequence of guns for a constant fire rate.
We are planning to share news quite frequently on the development of Robocraft 2 over on our Steam Page as well as on our socials. Please make sure to add Roocraft 2 to your Steam Wishlist to stay up to date. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Robocraft_2/] Add Robocraft 2 to your wishlist Twitter Discord
Update 19.01.2023 We are now out of maintenance. Thank you for your patience Original post: Hello Robocrafters, Robocraft will be entering maintenance today (19/01) at 14:00 UTC for essential server maintenance. This is expected to last up to 2 hours
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here:
https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Robocraft will be entering maintenance on Tuesday 20/12/2022 at 10am UTC to deploy the latest community balance patch and perform server maintenance. This is expected to last up to 2 hours.
UPDATE 05.10.2022
We have released a hotfix with the following changes:
ORIGINAL POST:
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Build, Drive, Fight!
Hello Robocrafters, Robocraft will be entering maintenance on 04/10 at 11am BST for server maintenance and to deploy the latest community balance patch. This is expected to last up to 2 hours.
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
]We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Robocraft will enter maintenance tomorrow on the 13th of July 2022 at about 10:00AM BST. It will last approximately up to two hours. This will implement a community balance patch and well share more details tomorrow via a separate announcement which will detail the specific changes made in this update. Stay tuned!
In other news we recently shared some footage of PVP combat for our upcoming free-to-play title, Techblox. Check it out below:
If you'd like to support that game's development, do add it to your wishlist via the link below. We are nearly at 20,000 wishlists and would like to thank everyone who has shown their support so far.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Techblox/
Hello Robocrafters!
We wanted to let you know that the Steam Page for Techblox is now live! This is a game that we have been developing for a little over a year and we believe that a lot of Robocraft players will be interested in it.
Like Robocraft, it will be free to play, so please add it to your wishlist to be notified when it will be available to download:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Techblox/
Techblox is a new free to play vehicle and machine build-em-up where players can build powerful weaponized creations and compete against others online in PVP vehicular combat. There are also other game modes like racing and special events like football so there will be an assortment of different reasons to build, be it for combat, racing or even art!
Check out the latest trailer below:
[previewyoutube=QusRYK18n5Q;full][/previewyoutube]
Building in Techblox will feel pretty familiar to Robocrafters as players construct their machine within a garage bay. All of the machines are built from blocks.
The main differences in building with Techblox are joints, logic and the wiring. This allows creators to construct a machine with custom logic to create something truly unique. Perhaps they will want to create a machine that flips other creations, a giant hammer that swings down to deal damage or even rotating platforms. These parts offer an insane level of customisation and we are adding more parts throughout development.
When playing in a PVP combat game mode, damage and destruction is caused not only by weapons, but by collisions of any sort. If you drive into a truck at 200 miles per hour, your machine is definitely going to feel it and parts of it will satisfyingly fly off!
If your machine is damaged too much, it may begin to affect its performance. Wheels will fall off, engine components will no longer be attached, entire logic systems will lose their wiring! You must protect the integrity of your own machine, while trying to destroy your opponents.
Techblox will also be our first ever game to utilise server side physics. This means collisions with other machines should feel truly accurate and reduces any odd client to client physics issues when playing online. It will also allow us to develop new types of weapons and gameplay modes that are only possible with server side physics.
One of the other core features of Techblox is the ability to leave your machine. This means that players can create some really interesting machines that can be operated by multiple people at once. One player will be in full control of the steering, whilst another will man a turret and fire at opponents! We are looking to have up to 60 players on a single server with further optimisations.
We have a lot of plans for the future of Techblox and we hope that youll join us. Visit the Steam page and add it to your wishlist and youll be notified when the game is available to download.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991140/Techblox/
Twitter
Discord
Hello Robocrafters,
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Build, Drive, Fight!
Hello Robocrafters! Robocraft will be entering maintenance at 11:00 AM UTC+1 on 04.05.2022 to deploy a new balance patch. This is expected to last up to 2 hours.
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Build, Drive, Fight
Hello Robocrafters! Robocraft will be entering maintenance at 15:00 UTC on 27.01.2022 to deploy a new balance patch. This is expected to last up to 2 hours. Stay tuned for more info including patch notes. Thank you for your patience.
Hello Robocrafters, We have made some changes server side to resolve an issue where players were unable to connect to our servers. We expect that some players will be able to play right now, whilst others may need to wait just a little while longer as the servers will take some time to update. We expect that all players will be able to play by 19:00 GMT tonight. Thank you for your patience as we resolve these issues.
Hello everyone, We are aware that the Robocraft servers have been down, leaving players unable to log on. We are working hard to address these issues. We will share more information when it becomes available. Thank you for your patience.
Update 25.11.2021
The values on the plasma and rail fire rates in the last balance patch were incorrect, we will be entering maintenance tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM UTC to address this.
Original post:
We have just updated Robocraft to implement a number of suggestions that have been made by a community from the Robocraft Balance Patches Discord. These suggestions were discussed in detail within that discord and if youd like to join the discussions, you can join it here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Changes have been made to Chassis, Weapons and modules. The full details can be found below:
In addition to the balance changes, Robocraft Premium For Life is now 50% Off.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/570960/Robocraft__Premium_for_Life_Pack/
Build, Drive, Fight
The Robocraft Team
Hello Robocrafters! As you may have noticed, custom avatars were removed and players have been unable to upload replacement avatars. This is definitely not intentional and was caused by an issue with our CDN provider. We have been attempting to retrieve these avatars, however weve been informed that they have been deleted and it is unlikely that they can be recovered. We understand that this is frustrating for players and we have taken some steps to ensure that this does not happen again. We have addressed the issue and players are now able to upload their own custom avatars. However, we understand that there have been players who purchased a period of premium specifically to change their custom avatar. To those players affected we are providing a special code that can be during the next six months which will let you redeem seven days of premium so you have the time to re-upload your avatar. Please redeem the code below to activate your seven days of Premium 7DAYSPREMIUM Steps on redeeming the Code
- Open the pause menu with ESC
- Click on the ENTER CODE button
- Type the code 7DAYSPREMIUM and click CONFIRM
Hello Robocrafters, Robocraft is entering maintenance today. This will start at 11:00 BST. We forsee it to last no longer than one hour but will update you all if it should take longer than this. Stay tuned for further news Thank you for your patience Robocraft Team
We have restored the Robocraft servers!
It has been a tough week, weve been doing our best to restore all of the backup data for 13,230,547 accounts. All data has been restored up to March 9th 2021 00:01 UTC.
This includes Robots, currency, garages, avatars, experience etc.
Whilst we shared that the cause of this outage was a serious issue with the servers provided by OVHcloud. We never explained exactly what had happened. Many players did their own digging and found that this was the result of a fire in OVHclouds data centre in Strasbourg. Here is an image of the data centre taken by Xavier Gareau (@Xgarreau)
This affected dozens of other titles that were using OVHcloud and millions of websites. Thankfully no one was injured in the fire. In response we have opened new servers for Robocraft and they are NOW LIVE! You can log in right now and play the game.
Those who do log in to Robocraft between now and the 22nd of April 2021 will be able to use a code to redeem the following items
- 10 days of Premium
- 500 Cosmetic Credits
Hello Robocrafters,
Please read the annoucnement below regarding the current Robocraft server outage.
Text version
Hello Robocrafters,
The team is making great progress on bringing the servers for Robocraft back up and running. Internally, we are now able to log into our accounts in game and are able to see all of our robots, currency, friends etc. We can also load into single player and multiplayer games.
Were still in the process of internally testing the servers and working through issues as they arise, but once we have more news we will update you as soon as it becomes available. Thanks for your patience.
Freejam Games
Hi everyone. We have the database up and running with the data from the back up. Today, our awesome server engineer will be reconnecting our Freejam dashboard. This means that internally we'll be able to see and query user accounts. This will be a great step forward in proving things are on the way to normality and the return of the Robocraft servers, which we are still expecting to return next week. Thank you for all of your patience during this time. We will try to update you tomorrow if there has been any further developments. Freejam Games
Hi Robocrafters,
We wanted to update you daily on our progress on bringing the servers back online. Please read the information below:
Text version:
Hello Robocrafters,
After an issue with our data server (provided by OVH), the team is still looking to restore the backup data for Robocraft, but we wanted to provide you with an update on our progress.
We have setup a new database server at a new data centre and it is now slowly being re-populated with the data from our backup. We have several other servers to set up too and were hoping to restore playability during next week.
Once again, thank you for your patience. Well continue to update you with more information as it becomes available
Freejam Games
Hello everyone,
Important update on the current server issues we are experiencing. Please read:
Below is the announcement in text, in case the image above is not legible:
Hello Robocrafters,
Yesterday, the data centre we use (OVH) had a severe issue that has resulted in our game servers going offline. We wanted to provide you with an update on our progress towards getting the servers back up again for all of you.
Over the last 24 hours we have prioritised reclaiming the back up data for players. This includes information like garages, robots, purchases, robits, levels etc. We have now secured the back up for this data and are now working towards restoring it along with new servers so that you can play online again.
We normally back up our data each day, however as the servers went down during the middle of our back up we unfortunately will have to use a previous days complete back up which is from 00:01 UTC on the 9th of March 2021. This will mean anyone who played past March 9th 2021 00:01 UTC will have lost the progress they made during that time once the servers are back up and running.
Thank you very much for your patience during this time. We will continue to share more news as soon as we have further information.
Freejam Games
Hello everyone,
We are aware that the Robocraft servers have been down and are working hard to address the issues that have arisen. We will share more information when it becomes available. Thankyou for your patience.
Hello everybody.
Today we have launched a new update which includes several balance changes.
The details below:
Hello everyone,
A new community balance update has just been made live with the help from the 'Robocraft Balance Patches Discord' server. If you would like to contribute to the discussion, you can join the server here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Thank you for everyone involved! The members of the community even created an infographic that details the changes generaly in terms of buffs and nerfs.:
Here is the full list of balance changes. I've also included the changes in text form underneath the images below. Let us know if you prefer the tables or the text form!
Changes in text form
Chassis
Cubes
Medium
- Health increased from 1,725 to 1,800
- Health increased from 992.4 to 1,250
- Mass increased from 0.3 to 0.8
- Health reduced from 2,801 to 2,800
- Mass reduced from 100 to 50
- Health increased from 4,312 to 4,500
- Health increased from 6,237 to 7,500
Rods
Rod
- Health increased from 5,175 to 5,400
- Health increased from 3,450 to 3,600
- Health increased from 8,625 to 9,000
- Health increased from 5,175 to 5,400
- Health increased from 3,450 to 3,600
- Health increased from 6,900 to 7,200
- Health increased from 3,450 to 3,600
- Health increased from 8,625 to 9,000
- Health increased from 8,625 to 9,000
- Health increased from 13,800 to 14,400
- Health increased from 8,625 to 9,000
Struts
Strut
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 13,200 to 14,400
- Health increased from 33,000 to 36,000
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 17,600 to 19,200
- Health increased from 26,400 to 28,800
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 26,400 to 28,800
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 33,000 to 36,000
- Health increased from 12,300 to 19,200
- Health increased from 19,800 to 21,600
- Health increased from 59,400 to 64,800
- Health increased from 59,400 to 64,800
Electroshields
T2 A
- Health reduced from 48,400 to 46,200
- Health reduced from 52,800 to 50,400
- Health reduced from 61,600 to 58,800
-
T3 A
- Health reduced from 70,400 to 67,200
- Health reduced from 79,200 to 75,600
- Health reduced from 88,000 to 84,000
- Health reduced from 96,800 to 92,400
- Health reduced from 105,600 to 100,800
- Health reduced from 114,400 to 109,200
- Health reduced from 123,200 to 117,600
- Health reduced from 266,500 to 234,000
- Health reduced from 266,500 to 234,000
- Base speed reduced from 231.5 to 230
- Health increased from 17,370 to 17,500
- Health increased from 34,740 to 36,000
- Health increased from 52,110 to 55,500
- Health increased from 69,480 to 76,000
- Health increased from 86,850 to 97,500
- Health increased from 173,700 to 200,000
- Additional speed boost increased from 8% to 10%
- Steering Speed for heavy vehicles increased by 50%
- Time to Max Acceleration for heavy vehicles reduced by 33%
- Base speed reduced from 195.8 to 180
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 1,000%
- Health reduced from 120,087 to 117,000
- Mass reduced from 2,340 to 2,250
- Health reduced from 133,430 to 132,500
- Mass reduced from 2,600 to 2,500
- Health increased from 146,773 to 148,500
- Mass reduced from 2,860 to 2,750
- Health increased from 160,116 to 165,000
- Mass reduced from 3,120 to 3,000
- Health increased from 333,575 to 350,000
- Mass reduced from 6,500 to 6,250
- Health increased from 45,475 to 65,000
- Top speed increased from 366 to 400
- Base speed increased from 163 to 170
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 1,300%
- Health increased from 112,900 to 115,000
- Mass increased from 1,500 to 2,000
- Health increased from 139,996 to 146,320
- Mass increased from 1,860 to 2,480
- Health increased from 171,269 to 179,080
- Mass increased from 2,550 to 2,960
- Health increased from 203,897 to 213,280
- Mass increased from 2,970 to 3,440
- Health increased from 237,880 to 248,920
- Mass increased from 3,380 to 3,920
- Health increased from 509,179 to 533,000
- Mass increased from 7,070 to 8,200
- Base speed reduced from 216 to 200
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 600%.
- Health reduced from 72,345 to 70,000
- Mass increased from 1,437.5 to 1,750
- Health increased from 141,796 to 176,400
- Mass increased from 2,817 to 3,430
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 860%
- Health increased from 91,766 to 95,200
- CPU reduced from 40 to 34
- Mass reduced from 120 to 102
- Robot Ranking reduced from 4,000 to 3,400
- Health increased from 100,943 to 123,200
- Base speed increased from 190 to 200
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 860%
- Health increased from 15,000 to 16,000
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,304 to 1,400
- Health increased from 16,500 to 18,700
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,434 to 1,600
- Health increased from 18,000 to 21,600
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,564 to 1,800
- Health increased from 19,500 to 24,700
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,728 to 2,000
- Health increased from 21,000 to 28,000
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,825 to 2,200
- Health increased from 99,750 to 150,000
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 6,256.8 to 8,000
- Base speed increased from 171 to 180
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 1,000%
- Health reduced from 37,500 to 36,000
- Optimum Carry Mass reduced from 2,850 to 2,800
- Health increased from 60,469 to 67,500
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 4,499.2 to 5,600
- Health increased from 84,375 to 108,000
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 5,875.8 to 11,200
- Base speed reduced from 260 to 240
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 400%
- Health reduced from 17,754 to 16,500
- Optimum Carry Mass reduced from 2,122.3 to 2,000
- Health increased from 19,368 to 21,600
- Optimum Carry Mass reduced from 3,368.3 to 3,500
- Health increased from 23,080 to 27,300
- Optimum Carry Mass reduced from 5457.4 to 5,000
- Health increased from 27,115 to 33,600
- Optimum Carry Mass reduced from 7,276.5 to 6,500
- Base speed reduced from 260.5 to 240
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 500%
- Health reduced from 14,250 to 12,350
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 397.8 to 500
- Health increased from 15,750 to 16,800
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 717.4 to 1,000
- Health increased from 18,975 to 21,850
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,038.7 to 1,500
- Health increased from 22,500 to 27,500
- Optimum Carry Mass increased from 1,360 to 2,000
- Base speed increased from 180 to 240
- Heavy machine mass threshold increased by 176%
- Health reduced from 7,500 to 6,000
- Additional speed boost reduced from 0.53% to 0.50%
- Health reduced from 9,000 to 8,400
- Additional speed boost reduced from 0.84% to 0.60%
- Health increased from 10,500 to 11,200
- Additional speed boost increased from 1.47% to 1.75%
- Health increased from 12,000 to 14,400
- Additional speed boost increased from 2.02% to 2.25%
- Health increased from 13,500 to 18,000
- Additional speed boost reduced from 3.02% to 3.00%
- Mass increased from 150 to 250
- Mass increased from 300 to 500
- Base damage increased from 5,442 to 5,634
- Rank 10 damage increased from 7,618 to 7,887
- Energy use decreased from 130 to 121.5
- Base damage increased from 7,689 to 8,053
- Rank 10 damage increased from 10,380 to 10,871
- Energy use decreased from 173 to 162.5
- Base damage increased from 11,222 to 11,924
- Rank 10 damage increased from 14,588 to 15,500
- Energy use decreased from 237 to 225
- Base damage increased from 14,969 to 16,222
- Rank 10 damage increased from 18,711 to 20,277
- Energy use decreased from 297 to 286
- Base damage increased from 19,030 to 21,263
- Rank 10 damage increased from 22,836 to 25,515
- Energy use decreased from 354 to 350
- Base damage increased from 22,431 to 24,667
- Rank 10 damage increased from 26,917 to 29,600
- Shots per second increased from 6.67 to 6.90
- Base damage increased from 12,750 to 28,947
- Rank 10 damage increased from 17,849 to 40,24
- Energy use increased from 405 to 921
- Shots per second reduced from 20 -> 4.76
- Blast radius reduced from 24 to 20
- Base damage increased from 16,600 to 37,686
- Rank 10 damage increased from 22,410 to 50,876
- Energy use increased from 486 to 1,106
- Shots per second reduced from 16.67 to 4
- Blast radius reduced from 26 to 21
- Base damage increased from 24,030 to 54,800
- Rank 10 damage increased from 31,238 to 71,238
- Energy use increased from 653 to 1,486
- Shots per second reduced from 12.5 to 2.94
- Blast radius reduced from 26 to 22
- Base damage increased from 35,880 to 81,000
- Rank 10 damage increased from 44,850 to 101,250
- Energy use increased from 890 to 2,025
- Shots per second reduced from 9.09 to 2.17
- Blast radius reduced from 28 to 23
- Base damage increased from 52,965 to 124,660
- Rank 10 damage increased from 63,558 to 149,592
- Energy use increased from 1,213 to 2,760
- Shots per second reduced from 6.67 to 1.6
- Blast radius reduced from 28 to 24
- Base damage increased from 73,204 to 166,667
- Rank 10 damage increased from 87,844 to 200,000
- Energy use increased from 1,620 to 3,687
- Shots per second reduced from 5 to 1.
- Blast radius reduced from 30 to 25
- Base damage increased from 61,184 to 64,100
- Rank 10 damage increased from 82,598 to 86,535
- Shots per second reduced from 2 to 1.52
- Accuracy recovery time reduced from 0.5s to 0.46s
- Base damage decreased from 80,242 to 79,510
- Rank 10 damage decreased from 104,314 to 103,362
- Shots per second reduced from 1.71 to 1.33
- Accuracy recovery time reduced from 0.58s to 0.55s
- Base damage decreased from 103,063 to 102,235
- Rank 10 damage decreased from 128,828 to 127,793
- Shots per second reduced from 1.5 to 1.16
- Accuracy recovery time reduced from 0.6667s to 0.665s
- Base damage decreased from 139,825 to 131,600
- Rank 10 damage decreased from 167,790 to 157,920
- Shots per second reduced from 1.33 to 1
- Accuracy recovery time increased from 0.75s to 0.8s
- Base damage decreased from 216,668 to 208,334
- Rank 10 damage decreased from 260,001 to 250,000
- Shots per second reduced from 1 to 0.67
- Accuracy recovery time increased from 1s to 1.3s
- Energy use increased from 5,000 to 5,208
- Energy use increased from 95 to 105
- Energy use increased from 138 to 147.42
- Shots per second reduced from 15.38 to 15.15
- Energy use reduced from 187 to 182
- Mass reduced from 36 to 32
- Base damage reduced from 46,788 to 42,900
- Rank 10 damage reduced from 58,485 to 53,625
- Energy use increased from 325 to 332
- Shots per second reduced from 10 to 9.62
- Energy use reduced from 700 to 675
- Energy use reduced from 237 to 200
- Base damage increased from 58,781 to 64,284
- Rank 10 damage increased from 70,537 to 77,140
- Shots per second reduced from 3.33 to 2.58
- Shots per second reduced from 2.5 to 2.42
- Energy use reduced from 600 to 570
- Base Stack damage reduced from 5,747.5 to 3,967
- Rank 10 Stack damage reduced from 6,897 to 4,760
- Single gun fire rate reduced from 2.5 to 3.76
- Health increased from 300,000 to 330,000
- Health increased from 173,250 to 181,500
- Shots per second increased from 16.67 to 18.52
- Single gun fire rate increased from 8.33 to 12.51
- Health increased from 366,844 to 373,750
- Health increased from 145,000 to 159,500
- Energy use decreased from 1,875 to 1,800
- Single gun fire rate reduced from 0.76 to 1.15
- Health increased from 245,000 to 254,800
- Base damage reduced from 228,838 to 225,000
- Rank 10 damage reduced from 274,605 to 270,000
- Energy use decreased from 3,078 to 3,000
- Blast radius reduced from 50 to 40
- Health increased from 82,500 to 130,000
- Cooldown reduced from 35s to 30s
- Cooldown reduced from 30.5s to 25s
- CPU cost reduced from 255 to 200
- Health increased from 210,375 to 165,000
- Mass reduced from 765 to 600
- Robot Ranking reduced from 25,500 to 20,000
- Tihonium Canyon removed from Elimination due to AI bug
- Elimination team size reduced to 8v8
- Quest Robit rewards increased from 35,000 to 50,000
- Quest EXP rewards increased from 70,000 to 100,000
- T3 Max Robot Ranking increased from 65,652 to 90,000
Movement
One notable change across the majority of movement parts is the increase to the heavy machine mass cap. These changes mean robots can be much heavier before receiving agility penalties and will be spread out more evenly. Individual movement part thresholds will be listed below.
Wheels
All Wheels
Tank Tracks
All Tracks
Mech Legs
All Legs
Sprinter Legs
All Legs
Insect Legs
All Legs
Hovers
All Hovers
Rotors
All Rotors
Wings
All Wings
Rudders
All Rudders
Thrusters
All Thrusters
Propellers
T3 Propeller
Weapons
Lasers
T0
Plasma
T0
Rail
T1
Nano
T2
Tesla
T2
Seeker
T3
Flak
T4
Chaingun
T4
Ion
T4
Mortar
T5
Modules
Windowmaker
Robocraft Premium for Life is 50% off between the 21st September and 28th September.
Hello Robocrafters, we'll be in maintenance for 1 hour tomorrow(26th Aug) at 11am (UTC +1)
Robocraft Premium for Life is 50% off between 27th July and 2nd August
All Robocraft DLC will be at a 50% discount from June 25th to July 7th as part of the Steam Summer Sale.
With the Premium for Life Pack you can get extra colors for your robot, and give your account a personal flair by uploading your own Avatar, as well as doubling the amount of experience and Robits you receive from battles and quests.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/570960/Robocraft__Premium_for_Life_Pack/
The High Flyers Bundle offers 30 days of Premium, 3,000 Cosmetic Credits and access to a variety of aerial cosmetic parts.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/490330/Robocraft__High_Flyers_Bundle/
The Speed Bundle offers 7 days of Premium, 500 Cosmetic Credits and some more cosmetic parts.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/513430/Robocraft__Speed_Bundle/
These changes were decided on by working closely with the great community members from the 'Robocraft Balance Patches Discord' server. If you would like to help contribute to these changes, you can join the server here: https://discord.gg/qDRmyB3
Again, thank you so much to the community members for taking 133 days to discuss the various balance changes that have amounted to this balance pass.
Chassis Parts
Movement Parts
Wings and Rudders
Mech and Sprinter Legs
Other Movement Parts
Weapon Parts
Laser
Plasma
Rail
Nano and Tesla
Other Weapon Parts
Modules
Other Changes
Hey Robocrafters. we'll be going into maintenance at 11:00am(BST) for 2 hours to perform some vital server maintenance as well as put some balance changes live.
Hi Robocrafters, i'd like to share the new that there will be a competition ran by the community. Registrations will be open until the 21st of June. Teams should have 5-10 members. The Game scedule will be published once registration ends, with the aim for the league start in July. The best 3 teams will earn a cosmetic badge ingame. If intrested, please join through this server link. Server link: https://discord.gg/U7NSV9x
Starting today (9th March 2020 5:00pm GMT) until 15th March 2020 5:00pm GMT, were running a discount across Freejam Products.
Gamecraft will be at a 25% discount, along-side one of our biggest updates. We have a series of Dev Blogs which each mention a different feature of this update and you can read the latest one here: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791464559041/announcements/detail/1694981324150246172
Cardlife will be half price, a big 50% discount. Hand-draw your own character, tools and building pieces in this innovative science-fantasy creative survival game.
Robocraft - Premium for Life will also have a 50% discount. Get extra colors for your robot, and give your account a personal flair by uploading your own Avatar, as well as doubling the amount of experience you receive from matches and quests.
Hey Robocrafters, we've put out a new client which fixes a bug causing robots to be unable to move in single player.
Weve teamed up with a bunch of fantastic, highly creative developers to bring you the Steam Builder Games Sale!
Youll find massive discounts across a whole host of great games, all focused around building, that were sure youll love as much as we do. With a couple of our own titles included of course! The sale will run from January 11, 2020 @ 9:55am PST to January 18, 2020 @ 10:05am PST so be sure to check it out and pick up some amazing games to unleash your creativity.
Gamecraft is 50% off during the sale
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078000/Gamecraft/
Robocraft Lifetime Premium and all DLC bundles are also 50% off
https://store.steampowered.com/app/301520/Robocraft/
Hey Robocrafters, This winter season we will be hosting a Double XP and Robits event. From now until January the 6th 2020 you can double your experience and robits. We've also made a balance change to the Rails T1 Damage: 80878 -> 68746 Energy Cost: 2500 -> 2375 T2 Damage: 98851 -> 84023 Energy Cost: 2750 -> 2612.5 T3 Damage: 125000 -> 106250 Energy Cost: 3250 -> 3087.5 T4 Damage: 175000 -> 148750 Energy Cost: 4000 -> 3800 T5 Damage: 275000 -> 233750 Energy Cost: 6000 -> 5700
We will be entering maintenance tomorrow at 11am(GMT). We'll be putting Live a double XP and Robits Event that will last until the 6th of January. We'll also put live a balance change to the Rail.
First, let us say a huge thank you to everyone in the RobocraftX community for some of the incredible games youve built with the very limited set of components weve given you so far. Your creativity and ingenuity has amazed us. With this announcement well be covering a whole suite of new upcoming features that are designed to give you Creators the parts you need to begin to turn your creations into compelling pieces of content, and to enable you to self publish them for others to download. Well also be announcing a change to the name of the game and an announcement about pricing. First up, we'll give you the lowdown on the suite of cool game creator features were adding:
Pilot Seat, Passenger Seat and Control Panel
The Pilot Seat, Passenger Seat and Control Panel are parts that you can put on any creation. You can put seats anywhere, even on ceilings and walls.
Leo can use/sit in the seat by left clicking when the crosshair is over it (i.e. this is how you use things in RCX). As long as you have a line of sight to a seat you can get in it. When in a seat you push E to exit the seat again. When in a seat you are seat belted to the creation/vehicle so you move where it moves. The seats come with special cameras too. When in first person, if your seat goes upside down, then you see the world upside down. The Pilot Seat and Control Panel have two different 3rd person cameras. The Pilot Seats camera works like classic Robocraft so you can view vehicles with the Alt+MouseWheel controlling zoom distance. The Control Panel will always keep character in view, so if an object gets in the way it will move forwards closer to the character. These different behaviours are useful in different scenarios. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl1syecFVDs Pilot Seats and Control Panels allow you to assign keyboard and mouse input actions to functional parts that are connected to them (via conductivity and signal channels). You can configure Motors and Servos (and anything else) to respond to the players input when in a seat. Its pretty easy to rig up cars, cranes, etc. using them, but its also possible to rig up some incredibly creative controllable contraptions using the same system. The seat even sends a signal when you are simply sat in it, so you can make cockpits close and doors open automatically when someone sits in the seat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1BXXyNP7Jk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ_sT6nCZ1M
Text Block
The Text block is a scalable block that can be scaled from 1x1 to any size. When you place it in the world a UI pops up allowing you to input text on it. Using rich text tags you can set variable font size, colour, italic, and bold. You can mount the Text Block on anything, static things, walls, and moving things like vehicles. You can also give each Text Block a unique ID. Using the command console you can issue a command that can update the text on any Text Block in the world at run time. Read on to find out how the Script Block can be used to trigger console commands to change text whenever you need in your games.
Triggers
Were adding Object and Character Triggers too. Triggers are microchips that you put on your creations and then scale to define a trigger volume. Trigger volumes can be overlapped which youll find very useful for complex creations. Triggers are visible when building games, but not when playing games, so your players wont see them when they play your games. There are multiple trigger types, OnEnter sends a pulse signal on anything connected (via conductivity) each time something enters it. OnExit is similar but sends the signal when something exits it. The OnStay trigger sends a continuous signal when anything is inside it. You can rig up movement parts like Motors or triggerable parts like Script Blocks to the triggers to create various gameplay behaviours such as: Using these triggers you can:
- Make lifts rise automatically when a character is stood on it
- Trigger a script command to change the gravity when a vehicle drives into an are
- Make a vehicle automatically steer when it gets near objects (its possible to attach triggers to moving things too)
Script Block
The Script Block is akin to the Command Block in Minecraft, but it works with all the wonderful physics in RCX. A Script Block placed on the same conductivity cluster as any signal sender can respond to it and trigger console commands. This means you can do stuff like:
- Teleport the player when someone enters a trigger volume
- Update the text on a Text Block when someone gets into a pilot seat
- Change the gravity when someone pulls a lever
As you can see, the RCX build system is really going to step up a gear with the addition of the Pilot Seats, Triggers and the Text and Script Blocks.
Saving Multiple Creations
Were adding a proper save game system. At any time youll be able to save the game and you can have as many save files as you like.
When you save the game youll get a Screenshot Taker so you can save a cool thumbnail image, you can give it a Title and Description.
You can edit, delete, and update any of your saved games at any time via the new My Games screen.
Publishing to Workshop
Were also integratring RCX with Steam Workshop. Youll be able to click a Publish button from in game and your game will automatically upload to Steam Workshop. If your game is already published on Workshop youll be able to update it at any time in the same way.
Once published itll be available for everyone in the community to play. From in game you can add a screenshot, title and description and if you want your games to really stand out you can use all the Steam Workshop functionality to add your own custom photoshopped click bait thumbnail, screenshots, youtube videos etc. Users can give you votes on your content using Valves Workshop voting system but they can do it from in game. Players will be able to Sort content by Newest, Most Popular and other common sorting methods like that. Users can Follow creators and can Subscribe to your game so they automatically get updates when you make them. They can Favourite games also to create a short list of favourites that can be revisited at any time. Users can comment in Workshop on your games and you can respond to feedback you receive.
End Game Command
Game creators will be able to trigger custom end game screens. You can trigger them whenever you want; say when someone falls off the side of a platform or if a puzzle is solved incorrectly. You can also trigger the end game screen when the player succeeds and congratulate them with custom text content and styling. For the first time youll be able to make proper games which players can Win and Lose. The End Game screen will have options to Retry and Quit. The EndGame console command will be triggered via the Script Block. Of course in the future well add Counter Blocks, Timer Blocks, Logic Blocks etc, so youll be able to do proper logic in your games.
Physics changes
Weve been working hard on the core physics. This work will never really stop as well always seek to improve this element. Weve done some work to make joints more rigid which we will release with Experiment 09. Weve also done some work to improve collisions between objects. Weve reworked the Servos and Pistons to prevent them glitching through things so much. All of these changes have altered the behaviour of some of the existing games and well be working hard at Freejam to fix them for you and re-introduce them, or if you decide to fix them yourselves and upgrade them with these new features above (such as Pilot Seat) well focus on integrating your update as quickly as we can until the self publishing options are live.
Materials & Colouring
Were aiming to add more materials too and the ability to paint colours on all of them. Materials like Carbon Fibre, Wood, Ice, Brick, Tile, and others we have planned will come online.
Timing
Were aiming to have this all done by Halloween, its a lot to do so weve got our work cut out but that gives you an idea of whats in store very soon.
Multiplayer beta
Were also hoping to release around the same time a beta branch which will include the very earliest version of the multiplayer engine. Youll need to use console commands to connect to friends and we expect youll find bugs and issues at this early stage but were keen to release a beta branch this time (something we never did in Robocraft Classic) so that we can let you play with new features and feedback on them early.
Name change
Weve been feeling that the name RobocraftX isnt really properly communicating what the game is. Whilst we hope to bring destruction, weapons and team multiplayer into the product, the aim is to add these as features you game creators can use to make awesome games for the RCX community. RobocraftX is way more than just a Robot building game, its a full Game Creator where you will be able to build full working multiplayer games with logic, narrative, characters etc. and all with blocks. For this reason, on October 17th, along with the release of Experiment 10 well be changing the name to Gamecraft. Heres a work in progress new logo:
Price
Finally we want to discuss price. We had originally thought the game would be free-to-play, but we have struggled to design the free-to-play business model to work well with grinding / buying blocks. We feel the product will work so much better if its a simple pay-up-front Premium model with a fair price point that starts very low and escalated as the product gets better. Our plan is to shift the game over to $5 Premium (i.e. pay up front) on October 17th along with the brand name change.
This next bit is important:
ANYONE WHO ALREADY HAS A COPY OF THE GAME WILL KEEP THEIR COPY, FOR FREE, FOREVER. ANYONE WHO DOWNLOADS THE GAME BETWEEN NOW AND THE 17th WILL ALSO KEEP THEIR COPY, FOR FREE, FOREVER. SO - TELL YOUR FRIENDS OR ANYONE YOU THINK MAY BE INTERESTED TO OWN THE GAME IN FUTURE, THAT RIGHT NOW IS THE LOWEST PRICE THE GAME WILL EVER BE (i.e. FREE!) AND TO GET IT NOW. Well be posting repeated posts in the coming weeks about the name and price change so nobody misses the opportunity to get the game for free whilst it is free. NB: Along with this change well remove the limits on block counts in the Inventory.
Hey Robocrafters, thanks for your feedback and collaboration on getting this community balance update together.
General Changes
- Unflattened the Energy consumption of weapons to make them like they were in the boost-era days. This has meant some damage values and fire rates needed to be tweaked also, these will be listed below.
- Gamemode rotation is now every 30 minutes instead of every 60 minutes
- Tweaked the matchmaking to be faster so battles start sooner.
- Mars and GJ 1214b Gravity set to be the same as Earth.
- Changed the Score to XP/Robits conversion to be more rewarding on better plays and more punishing on worse plays.
- Cost of Bay upgrades has been reduced by 10% (Except Mega Bay upgrade which has the same price).
- Tweaked the selection of AI robots to choose higher CPU builds.
General Balance Changes
- Removed in-air inaccuracy from Lasers
- Removed Movement inaccuracy from Lasers and Rails (No weapons have movement inaccuracy now)
- All weapons are now 25% Lighter
- Compact Cube Mass changed from 3 to 2.5
- Heavy Cubes have a 10% increase in health.
- Helium has a 10% increase in health.
- Helium has a 20% Increase in Lift.
Movement Balance Changes
- Wheels - No changes
- Tank Tracks - Increase tank health by 10%
- Mech Legs - No changes
- Sprinter Legs - Increase Sprinter health by 5%
- Insect Legs - Increase Insect health by 10%
- Skis - No changes
- Hovers - No changes
- Rotors - No changes
- Wings - No changes
- Rudders - Rudder Speed now the same as their wing counter parts.
- Thrusters - No changes
- Propellers - No changes
Weapon Balance Changes
Lasers
- Scales from 210 - 451 Energy per shot
- Scales from 8,640 - 23,612 Damage per shot
- Scales from 16 - 6.67 Shots per second
- Scales from 500 - 1,620 Energy per shot
- Scales from 15,000 - 73,204 Damage per shot
- Scales from 20 - 5 shots per second (with optimal weapon count)
- Explosion radius scales from 4 to 6.5
- Scales from 2,500 - 6,000 Energy per shot
- Scales from 80,878 - 275,000 Damage per shot
- Scales from 2 - 1 Shots per second
- Projectile speed increased
- T2 uses 0 energy, T3 - T4 uses 125-200 energy per shot
- Scales from 4,500- 12,481 Heals per shot
- Scales from 20 - 13.33 Shots per second
- Projectile speed increased by just under 15%
- Projectile range increased by just over 40%
- T2 uses 0 Energy, T3 - T4 uses 350-700 Energy per shot
- Scales from 20,00 - 99,551 Damage per shot
- Scales from 20 - 5.99 shots per second
- T3 uses 244 Energy per shot, T4 - T5 uses 1,450 - 1,900 Energy per shot
- Scales from 3.33 to 2.50 Shots per second
- Scales from 600-817 Energy per shot
- T4 & T5 Scales from 5 - 4 Shots per second
- Scales from 2,250 - 2,450 Energy per shot
- Scales from 16.67 - 14 Shots per second
- Increase both tier health by 5%
- Scales from 1,850 - 2,650 Energy per shot
- Scales from 210,000 - 312,165 Damage per shot
- Scales from 1.33 - 1.11 Shots per second
- No changes
Hello Robocrafters, We are now out of maintenance and loading times should be back to normal! Build, Drive, Fight
Hello Robocrafters,
We will be entering maintenance Today (5th of July) at 15:00PM UTC+1 to address the issues with longer loading times. This is expected to last up to 1 hour.
Thank you for your patience.
Build, Drive, Fight
Hello Robocrafters, We are now out of maintenance! We had 121 votes in the community balance feedback poll, which resulted in the following changes being made:
Weapons
Laser
- No changes
- Damage [10% Reduction]
- Shots per Second decreased [Was 6.6 shots now 5]
- Damage [5% Increase]
- Movement inaccuracy reduced
- Healing [5% Increase]
- Projectile Speed [25% Increase]
- Energy per shot [9% Reduction]
- Damage per shot [10% Increase]
- Projectile Speed [20% Increase]
- Damage per stack [5% Reduction]
- Damage [10% Decrease]
- Energy per Shot [10% Decrease]
- Damage [5% Increase]
- Shots per second decreased [Was 1.02 shots now 1.11]
- No changes
- Damage [10% Reduction]
- Health [10% Increase]
- Damage [5% Increase]
- Shots per second increased [Was 5.7 now 6]
- Energy per shot [8% Reduction]
Movement
Wheel
- Health [5% Increase]
- Agility increased
- Health [10% Increase]
- Top Speed [2.5% Increase]
- Agility increased
- Health [7.5% Increase]
- Agility for Heavy Vehicles increased
- Health [Increase 5%]
- Top Speed [Increase 5%]
- Agility increased
- Jump Height [10% Increase]
- Health [Increase 5%]
- Top Speed [Increase 5%]
- Agility increased
- Jump Height [10% Increase]
- Health [10% Increase]
- Top Speed [5% Increase]
- Agility increased
- Optimum carry mass [10% Increase]
- Agility for Heavy Vehicles reduced
- Agility for Heavy Vehicles increased
- Optimum carry mass [10% Increase]
- Agility for Heavy Vehicles increased
- Top Speed [15% Increase]
- Spin-up Time [20% Reduction]
- No changes
Cubes
Medium Cubes, Compact Cubes, Helium, Rods, Struts
- No changes
- Health [5% Increase]
- Health [10% Increase]
- Health [10% Increase]
Modules
Energy Module, Disc Shield Module, Ghost Module & EMP Module
- No changes
- Range [13.7% Increase]
- Reveal Duration [7.5 second Increase]
- Cooldown [5 second reduction]
[UPDATE]
Maintenance will now take place on Thursday the 4th July 2019 at 10:30AM UTC+1. Apologies for any confusion and inconvenience caused.
[Original message]
Hello Robocrafters, We will be entering maintenance on the 3rd of July 2019 at 10:30AM UTC+1. This is for essential server maintenance and is expected to last up to 2 hours, but may be extended if we encounter problems. We will also be deploying the latest round of balance changes based on the recent community feedback form. Thank you for your patience. Build, Drive, Fight
Hello Robocrafters!
RobocraftX development is coming along nicely and Experiment 03 has just been released! This Experiment introduces; Levers, which allow motorised parts to be controlled manually, conductive blocks, more cube shapes, new materials with different properties such as bouncy Rubber and Slippery Oily cubes and a host of visual improvements and bug fixes.
Head over to the secret store page to learn more by following the link below.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078000/RobocraftX/
Hi Robocrafters, We are now out of Maintenance! This maintenance resolved an issue that prevented players from uploading custom avatars for their profile and clan. Thanks for your patience! Build, Drive, Fight
Hi Robocrafters, We are now out of Maintenance! The following two issues should now be fixed.
- Altimeter when equipped does not show correct HUD or update the numbers on the display.
- Text chat feature is not working
Hello Robocrafters,
We will be entering maintenance on the 14th of June 2019 at 10:00AM UTC+1. This will last approximately one hour. We are intending to address the following issues
- Altimeter when equipped does not show correct HUD or update the numbers on the display.
- Text chat feature is not working (We may need more time to address this issue)
Hello Robocrafters, We are now out of maintenance! Players who experienced several error messages while playing should now be able to play the game correctly. Thank you for your patience during this maintenance! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
We are entering emergency maintenance now to address some errors a number of players are having. We hope that this will not take very long and will update you of any further news. Stay tuned.
Hello everyone, Robocraft is now out of maintenance. This was to address an issue where players who had a high MMR were only being matched against AI opponents. Now players with a High MMR rating are more likely to be placed against human opponents! Build, Drive, Fight!
Hello Robocrafters!
We first mentioned Robocraft X a little while ago! The project has been evolving quite steadily and we are now at a stage where we want to invite more players to try out this new game that a team at Freejam are working on.
What is RobocraftX
Robocraft X is being built from scratch with new technology which provides incredible powerful physics simulation. We're able to create axles, hinges rotating platforms, levers and more with this technology and we're just at the very start of our development journey. RobocraftX is designed as a sandbox physics game with competitive and co-operative elements. Players can construct incredible machines and eventually create entire game modes which others can download and play. The vision is to give players more creative power and freedom by giving them the same tools developers use to create game modes. The latest prototype (we call them Experiments!) introduces a few new features during this early development stage. First up is our character Leo, who constructs machines and will pilot vehicles once we implement control rigs like a pilot seat.
We are going to be adding more parts over time, but for now we have a few foundations to create interesting and unique machines including tyres, axles, motors and hinges!
At this very early stage, we're experimenting with various parts and physics simulation and have been able to build some fun, interesting and even odd machines from these early parts.
And the community have built some truly remarkable vehicles including one that automatically corrects its steering to drive up a mountains highest incline. RobocraftX will be free-to-play. But you can download the prototype now by visiting the secret steam page from the link below: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078000/RobocraftX/ We are really early in development for Robocraft X but if you want to join us on our development journey, please do download the prototype! The Robocraft X Team
Update
We are now out of maintenance. Players are now able to deal damage to other robots in 10 vs 10 Elimination mode. Thanks for your patience!
Original post
Hello Robocrafters, We are deploying a fix for an issue that appeared recently where players could no longer damage each other in elimination. We will enter maintenance at 14:00 UTC+1 and will last no longer than 30 minutes. Thank you for your patience. Build, Drive, Fight, ReelBigKris
We will be entering maintenance at 12:30 UTC+1 to revert the Event system changes after debugging the no damage issue. We are still working on this issue, but please let us know if you experience any issues and send your Output logs to us!
Hi Robocrafters!
We are now entering maintenance to force the elimination game mode for a short while so that we can try to debug issues where during a match, players are unable to damage each other. Please let us know if you experience any issues.
Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters, Robocraft is now out of maintenance! The update included the following fixes.
- Players will no longer wait three minutes to join a game if another player disconnects BEFORE the match loads
- Fixed a bug where changes to your emotigram loadout would not be saved -
Hello Robocrafters, We will be entering maintenance tomorrow on the 23rd of May 2019 UTC+1 for approximately one hour. The update will contain the following fixes
- Players will no longer wait three minutes to join a game if another player disconnects BEFORE the match loads
- Fixed a bug where changes to your emotigram loadout would not be saved - or something along those lines
Hi everyone! We are now out of maintenance! The update includes the following additions and fixes.
Additions
- In Test mode, players will be able to select gravity conditions to test their robots before battle
Fixes
- Voice over on BA will now play the correct dialogue
- Robots with zero weapon load outs will no longer be given an error message telling them that they have a full load out.
We are entering maintenance today at 10:00AM UTC+1 to deploy a fix to several bugs. This will last no longer than one hour
Hello Robocrafters!
We are planning to enter maintenance on the 22nd or the 23rd of May 2019 at 10:00AM UTC+1 for one hour to address the below issues.
Additions
- In Test mode, players will be able to select gravity conditions to test their robots before battle
Fixes
- Players will no longer wait three minutes to join a game if another player disconnects BEFORE the match loads
- Voice over on BA will now play the correct dialogue
- Robots with zero weapon load outs will no longer be given an error message telling them that they have a full load out.
Hello Robocrafters! We hope that you have been enjoying the most recent update! Today we have launched a hot fix which introduces the new visibility conditions to the game. You can read more about this particular feature from the post below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1629651860413160490 Alongside this addition, we are also making one more change. We will be removing Gliese Lake from the map rotation for BA. We noticed that one of the teams was able to attack the other team from the safety of their own base, and this causes some further issues to balancing, giving one team an unfair advantage over the other team. However, Gliese Lake will still be present in the map rotation for Team Death Match and Elimination. Thank you everyone who has been playing the game, we hope you enjoy the new visibility conditions! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters
We have now released the latest update Plan, Adapt, Eliminate to Robocraft!
This update contains the following core highlights
- Event system added
- Gravity added to each of the three planets
- Elimination game mode added with 10 vs 10
- Weapon balance changes
Event System
Youll be told of the current map, game mode and its conditions BEFORE you even choose to join a game. This means you can select an appropriate robot for the situation. The event viewer will display the following conditions
- Map Name
- Game Mode
- Gravity
- Visibility conditions (Currently set to clear at all times)
- Auto healing active or disabled
- Air density
Elimination Returns!
A highly requested game mode returns to Robocraft! When Elimination is selected from the event system, this game mode will come with a few other conditions which are not available in any other game mode.
- The team size will increase to ten
- Auto healing will be disabled
- There will be no respawns
Weapons
NANO
- Increased Healing per Shot by 5% (BUFF)
- Decreased Energy per Shot by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Projectile Speed by 10% (BUFF)
AEROFLAK
- Decreased Damage per Stack by 2.5% (NERF)
- SEEKER (T4 & T5)
- Increased Projectile Range by 5% (BUFF)
TESLA
The Mass changes from the previous Feedback Form will be implemented in this patch.
- T2 - 48 32
- T3 - 60 40
- T4 - 72 48
MOVEMENT
WHEEL
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
TANK
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
MECH
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility for Heavy bots (BUFF)
- Increased Jump Height (BUFF)
SPRINTER
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
- Increased Jump Height (BUFF)
INSECT
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
- Increased Jump Height (BUFF)
- T3 - 160 120
- T4 - 176 132
SKI
- Increased Health by 5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
HOVER
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
- Increased Optimum Carry Mass by 7.5% (BUFF)
ROTOR
- Decreased Light bot Agility (NERF)
- Increased Heavy bot Agility (BUFF)
WING
- Increased Health by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
RUDDER
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Increased Agility (BUFF)
- Increased Optimum Carry Mass by 2.5% (BUFF)
THRUSTER
- Increased Top Speed by 2.5% (BUFF)
- Decreased Spin-up Time (BUFF)
- T1 - 10 7.5
- T2 - 12 9
- T3 - 14 10.5
- T4 - 16 12
- T5 18 13.5
CUBES & MODULES
Helium
- Increased Helium Health by 5% (BUFF)
Light Cube
- Increased Cube Health by 5% (BUFF)
Heavy Cube
- Increased Cube Health by 5% (BUFF)
Blink Module
- Decreased Blink Cooldown by 10% (BUFF)
- Increased Blink Range by 10% (BUFF)
Ghost Module
- Decreased Ghost Cost by 10% (BUFF)
EMP Module
- Decreased EMP Cooldown by 10% (BUFF)
Window Maker Module
- Decreased Window Cooldown by 10% (BUFF)
- Increased Window Duration by 2.5 seconds (BUFF)
Additions
- Event system added
- Elimination Mode added to event system rotation
Matchmaking
- Party MMR calculations updated to avoid high level parties gettign matched against low level players
- Better team balancing by trying to balance MMR/Tier better across both teams where possible
AI
- Ai support player spotting
- AI will no longer 'disconnect' when a player leaves
General
- Improved load times when editing, selecting and creating robots
- Balance changes to weapons and parts
- Localisation adjustments (thanks to our Mods!)
Fixes
- Fixed an error when trying to upgrade a max CPU bay
- Cosmetics in robopass screen are now labelled as cosmetic instead of cube
- clicking 'Get robits' in the insufficient funds dialogue will no longer cause an issue.
- Robopass progress screen no longer appears at the end of custom games.
Hello Robocrafters! We revealed the new Event System last week which adds a new map rotation system which lets players know exactly what map and game mode they will be entering before they even select a robot. You can read more about that system from the link below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1628525322510368490 Today we wanted to reveal a new factor which will also be included in the rotation and will affect the type of weapons that you would bring into battle. There are in total three variations that will affect map rotation and the first of which is:
Visibility
Earth, Mars and GL1214b will each have factors which will affect their visibility.
- On Earth, your visibility will be affected by a wave of fog lingering over the power plant!
- While on Mars, nature itself will hurl the very ground around the map with aggressive sand storms!
- And on the freezing planet of GL1214b, your vision will be obscured by the falling snow!
As previously shared, the Event System will rotate game maps and game modes every few hours. The Event System will also select a level of visibility for each map and youll be alerted before you select a robot and enter the battle. We expect that visibility will now have an impact on the type of weapons youll bring into a game. During good visibility, long range rail guns will be a force to be reckoned with. But during very poor visibility, a high speed tesla robot attacking from the fog will be a formidable opponent! The visibility will also affect usernames and the distance at which an AI robot will be able to spot you! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hi Robocrafters,
We will be entering maintenance on 10th of May 2019 at 10:00AM UTC+1 to issue a temporary fix to the "error loading item shop bundle" error. This should last no longer than one hour.
All the best,
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! Last week we revealed the Event system, designed to make building matter more by providing players with information on the map and game mode BEFORE entering a battle. Today we wanted to reveal two additional parameters which will be at play for each of the three planets currently available in Robocraft.
Air density
We will be adjusting the density of the atmosphere for each of the planets, This will adjust the flight ceiling. Both Earth and GL1214b will see their air density remain much the same but Mars will be affected by these changes Mars lower than normal air density will mean that aircraft will fly at a lower height than on any other planet. This will mean that those using aircraft as their primary robot will need to be cautious as they wont be able to fly quite so high on Mars, making them a bigger target for all players. In addition to air density changes we will also be making adjustments to each planets gravity.
Gravity
Each planet will have its own gravity which will impact a few core factors when designing your robot.
- Jump height
- Falling acceleration
- Optimum carry mass
On Mars, Gravity will be reduced and this means that youll even be able to attach more to your robot before their carry mass is maxed out. But be careful, while playing on GL1214b, Gravity will be increased and will mean that it is in your best interest to design an efficient robot which is not impacted by the increased gravity of the planet.
One more condition to reveal
The Air density and Gravity are locked to a planets atmosphere. But there will be one more condition which will change the battlefield. We'll reveal more news on that soon! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hi everyone, Robocraft is now out of maintenance! This was to implement a temporary fix for an issue with our server and databases. This should remove some error messages which would allow players to continue to play the game while we continue to work on a true fix for this issue. Thank you for your patience as we try to address these issues. We will continue to update you with further news. As we continue to fix these issues. Please let us know if the issues you have experienced over the last few days have been resolved. Our team is still working on the server and will continue to address any issues that arise. We are currently looking at our systems to compensate players who were affected by server issues during the weekend and will reveal more news on that soon. All the best, ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters, Over the weekend we received a number of reports from players who are experiencing issues with connecting to the Robocraft server. There were several variants of messages that have popped up and we have been working over the weekend to try and find the cause and solution to these issues. Unfortunately we still need a bit more time to fully eliminate these issues and thank everyone for their patience so far We are sorry about this and are doing our very best to get you back to building, driving and fighting as soon as possible. I will update this announcement as I receive further news. All the best, ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters, Yesterday we shared some news regarding our next update title 'Plan, Adapt, Eliminate'. Unfortunately we will need to spend just a little more time to address several issues that were discovered during our tests. We now anticipate that the update will release on the week starting May 13th. As we get closer to that date, we will confirm a concrete date. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience. All the best, ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! Today, were revealing a new system that will help increase the optimisation of matchmaking and allow players to make impactful build decisions BEFORE they enter a match. We call it, the Event system So what is the event system? We do have a list of our objectives below:
- Make building matter More
- Increase Matchmaking Quality
- Decrease queue times
- Fewer team spots taken by AI
- More varied gameplay and map conditions
- Make Building Matter More
Plan
The event system will allow you to see what map, game mode and conditions are currently active. This will refresh every few hours and will allow you to plan your next step
Adapt
You may need to adjust your playstyle and robot selection when considering the map, game mode and current conditions. Perhaps a long range weapon is not feasible due to the current conditions? Maybe there will be times when a short range weapon will be much more useful, but can lead to incredible chaos. Adapt your robot to compete efficiently.
Eliminate
You've checked the event viewer, you've selected your robot, now you need to launch into battle! That last point is even more apt as we are bringing back a highly requested game mode, Elimination! Elimination will be placed into the new game mode rotation on the 9th of May. This is a highly requested game mode from many players and we are looking forward to seeing you try out the Elimination game mode If you are not familiar with Elimination mode, each team will start with a number of players. If any person is destroyed, they will be eliminated from the game and will be unable to respawn. The last team with at least one robot still standing will win.... However you can also try to capture the enemy's Base to win the game. When Elimination has been selected by the Event system, there will be a few changes from other game modes.
Auto healing is disabled in Elimination
We have heard that players have requested the removal of auto heal. While Elimination is active, Auto heal will be disabled. So you're going to want to make sure your team has at least one healer to keep your team in the battle!
Team sizes increase to ten per team in Elimination
Each team will now start with 10 robots! We will be keeping an eye on feedback and performance during Elimination. There is a chance that this team size may be reduced if it causes significant issues for players, but we will keep you posted. And finally, a couple of maps will be added into the map rotation
Returning to Helion Crater
We will be adding Helion Crater to the map rotation! This was the first map ever created for Robocraft when we launched and we hope veterans and new players will enjoy its return to map rotation.
Gliese Lake!
The frozen map of Gliese Lake will be added to the map rotation too! The Event System, elimination mode and the two returning maps will be a part of the next update due May the 9th. We will also share more details next week regarding the 'conditions' that the Event System will select for each event. Until then; Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters,
A team at Freejam are currently working on a series of playable prototypes titled Robocraft Experiments. We plan to release our first playable experiment very soon. If you want to find out more and become an Experimenter, please follow us on Reddit and Twitter from the links below:
Reddit and Wiki
Twitter
Hello Robocrafters!
We will be entering maintenance at 11:00AM UTC+1 today and will last about 30 minutes.
This update will be changing the way that the matchmaking rating for parties is calculated, so they tend to get matched against slightly tougher opponents than currently.
Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! As you may know, we temporarily increased team sizes over last weekend as an experiment. We hope that many of you had a lot of fun and felt it would be interesting to share some of our observations with you based on this event. We saw a lot of positive comments regarding the increased team sizes, it seemed like many of our most vocal players really enjoyed the event, however there was a call out for increased map size and better optimisation. Our internal analytics also shed a bunch of light on this experiment.
- Load times increased when entering a match.
- Frame Rates for players were significantly affected.
- Queue times were longer.
- More AI bots filled team spaces.
Hello Robocrafters!
We will be entering maintenance at 11:00AM UTC+1 later today. This will be to remove the increased team size event that ran over the weekend. This maintenance should last no longer than 20 minutes.
Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Earlier this week we shared details that we will be temporarily increasing team size from 5 to 8! We received a large number of comments from players to make this happen and has been received positively from many players thus far!
Why are we doing this?
A vocal number of you had commented on increasing team size and we wanted to open this up to a wider number of players. We will be watching what players do, how many AI are placed into games and how many of you come to play Robocraft during this limited time event! If you want to see the team sizes increase, make sure you play this weekend and let us know what you think via social media and our forums. Team Deathmatch has had a slight increase in kills required for victory due to the increase in team size. A team must now destroy 25 robots to win! Do consider that there may be an increase to queue times and a possibility of more AI in games. Well be keeping track of these via our own tools throughout the weekend. 8 vs 8 ends on the 22nd of April, so go play it now! In addition, we have also made some balance changes based on community feedback, see the details below:
WEAPONS
LASER
- No Changes
- 5% Decrease (NERF) in Damage per Shot
- No Changes
- 5% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy per Shot
- 5% Increase (BUFF) In Projectile Speed
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Damage per Shot
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Damage per Stack
- 5% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy per Shot
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Projectile Speed
- 5% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy per Shot for T3 Seeker
- 10% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy per Shot
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Damage per Shot
- Increase (BUFF) shot per second by 1
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Damage per Shot
- 5% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy per Shot
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Damage per Hit
MOVEMENT
WHEELS
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) In Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) in Agility for Light Vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- Increase (BUFF) In Agility for all Vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- Decrease (NERF) in Single leg Movement speed from 75% to 50%
- 5% Increase (BUFF) In Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) in Agility for Light Vehicles
- Increase (BUFF) Jump Height for all Vehicles
- Decrease (NERF) in Single leg Movement speed from 75% to 50%
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) In Agility for Light Vehicles
- Increase (BUFF) Jump Height for Light Vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) In Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) Agility for all vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Carry Mass
- 5% Decrease (NERF) In Top Speed
- Decrease (NERF) Agility for all Vehicles
- 5% Decrease (NERF) in Carry Mass
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) Agility for all vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Carry Mass
- Increase (BUFF) Agility for all vehicles
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Carry Mass
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) Agility for all vehicles (Spin-Up Time Reduced)
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Top Speed
- Increase (BUFF) Agility for all vehicles (Spin-Up Time Reduced)
ADDITIONAL CHANGES
HEAVY CUBE
- 5% Increase (BUFF) In Health
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Health
- 10% Increase (BUFF) In Range
- 10% Decrease (BUFF) in Energy Consumption
- 5% Increase (BUFF) in Deploy Range
- 10 second Decrease (BUFF) In Cooldown Time
- 2.5 Second Increase (BUFF) in Duration
Hello Robocrafters!
Season 3 of the community hosted Robocraft World Cup is nearly upon us! Slap your countries flag on your robot and queue up to engage in a competitive brawl to become the best! Join their discord to register as a player.
discord.gg/U7NSV9x
Once youve joined the discord read the rules, check if a team of your nationality exists and, if so, contact the captain of said team. If there is no team of your nationality but you want to play anyway, you can search for players of your nationality in the recruitment channel, if you have enough players you can create a new team.
Best of luck to everyone who enters! Freejam are still finalising the details of prizes for this event, but the Discord server will contain more news when it becomes available.
8 vs 8 event coming soon
The 8 vs 8 limited time event will launch in just a couple of days! For more info, read the announcement from the link below! https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/3294855378038878088 Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Last week we ran a poll regarding reducing the max party size in response to players being concerned with 5 man teams being pitted against smaller team sizes. There were several plans we had in mind but ultimately we had an overwhelming feedback to keep max party size to 5.
However, something else came from this poll while reading comments...
So were going to run a short experiment Over the easter weekend between the 18th and 22nd of April. All game modes will have their team size increased from 5 to 8!
8 v 8!
Starting from the 18th of April, all game modes in Robocraft will be 8 v 8 until the 22nd of April.
It is important to note some of the cons of bigger team sizes; we believe it may lead to longer queue times, looser matchmaking and perhaps more AI in games. Of course, were going to be keeping a very close eye on feedback from players during this period and will decide whether or not we should make the increase to team size permanent. Well be sharing some more exciting news very soon... Let us know what you think of this experiment and we'll see you on the battlefield on the 18th of April 2019! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters,
Earlier today we entered maintenance for about 30 minutes. This resulted in just a couple of changes. We have adjusted lobby config settings to reduce the number of games with multiple robot tiers in them. Our second change is adding an item to the item shop. But we should go into a little more detail as to why we've added this item!
Yesterday the first ever image of a black hole was shared with the world, taken from the event horizon telescope ! We offer our congratulations to everyone involved in this momentous achievement!
Photograph: EHT Collaboration
To celebrate we are releasing both the black hole spawn and the black hole death animations on the item shop These will be available in the item shop until 21st of April, after then there will a random chance that they will appear on the item shop. Josh is giddy with excitement in seeing more players using this awesome effect.
I'm aware some players may be wondering why these items have been added to item shop when they were previously unlockable via RoboPass Plus, I wanted to reveal some further info.
We did not promise exclusivity on the items included within RoboPass Plus. We did inform players that they would make a monetary saving if they purchased Robopass, in the case of Robopass Season 1, we calculated the items value at $100 combined. The black hole death effect is currently valued at around $8.99 while Robopass Plus season 1 cost players just $9.99. Purchasing all of the cosmetics individually over time is possible, but can cost a significant amount and you will have to wait for them to arrive on the item shop.
To confirm, RoboPass Plus items will slowly roll out to the item shop, some purchasable via Cosmic Credits, others via Robits. But you'll make a greater saving purchasing RoboPass Plus during the seasonal period.
We'll have further news on future Robocraft features very soon. Stay tuned for more info. Until then;
Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Note: I did not include information regarding the fact that Black Hole items will be available as a featured item on the Item shop until the 21st of April. After this period, these items will appear randomly on the item shop.
Hi everyone, Robocraft has left maintenance! The new build includes the following bug fixes.
- All completed daily quests are now replaced each day.
- Three daily quests are given to new users on login, rather than one.
- Fixed missing sprites in inventory for Radar Jammers.
- Emotigrams now appear in Pit custom games.
- Users can no longer purchase RoboPass Plus multiple times.
- Fixed an issue that caused emotigram audio to be offset.
- Tapping V will now play the default emotigram, holding V will now open the emotigram wheel.
- Clan player list now displays correctly if opened while in lobby queue.
- Fixed missing localisation on the season 2 holoflag.
Hi everyone,
Robocraft will enter maintenance at 10:00 AM UTC+1 on the 2nd of April 2019 for one hour. This is to prepare a hotfix which will include the following bug fixes.
- All completed daily quests are now replaced each day.
- Three daily quests are given to new users on login, rather than one.
- Fixed missing sprites in inventory for Radar Jammers.
- Emotigrams now appear in Pit custom games.
- Users can no longer purchase RoboPass Plus multiple times.
- Fixed an issue that caused emotigram audio to be offset.
- Tapping V will now play the default emotigram, holding V will now open the emotigram wheel.
- Clan player list now displays correctly if opened while in lobby queue.
- Fixed missing localisation on the season 2 holoflag.
Hello Robocrafters! RoboPass Season 2 is now live! Progress through 30 Grades to unlock awesome cosmetic items. This season is very much focused on several parts which have been present in Robocraft before, including the bunny pilot seat, jammers, radars and retro cubes! Theres just one more item to reveal
The Retro Mothership
Some veterans may remember this mothership bay from 2014! We have brought it back as an unlockable bay skin and edit area. Here is the classic old bay skin.
And here is the classic retro edit area
Over the past week weve revealed a bunch of unlockable cosmetic items here are just a few highlights:
Emotigrams
We also announced an entirely brand new feature, the emotigrams, which provides a different way to communicate with team mates and the enemy.
RoboPass will last three months and end on July the 1st at 11:00 UTC+0. This should give players plenty of time to progress through all the grades before RoboPass season 2 ends
RoboPass
This version of RoboPass is free for all players. They will be able to progress as standard through all grades but will only be able to unlock the following items for free.
- Retro Cube
- Bunny Holoflag
- Cartoon Boom Explosion Death
- Season 2 Holoflag
- Heart Emotigram
- 225,000 Robits
- LOL Emotigram
- Loot Crate Spawn
RoboPass plus
Available for $9.99 (or $4.99 for Premium For Life owners), RoboPass Plus owners will earn EXP to progress through all grades, they will unlock the items listed above from the free version and an additional number of cosmetics listed below:
- Easter Egg Spawn
- 22,500 Robits
- Retro Edge Cube
- Chicken Face Emotigram
- Retro Corner Cube
- Easter Egg Holoflag
- Retro Inner Cube
- Jammer Part Bundle
- 100,000 Robits
- Flower Vapour Trail
- 150 Cosmic Credits
- Spring Rod Part
- Bunny Pilot Seat
- 175,000 Robits
- Spring Rod Part (Short)
- 225 Cosmic Credits
- Radar Part Bundle
- Reciever Part Bundle
- Retro mothership Bay Skin
- 300,000 Robits
- Warp Out Explosion Death
- 300 Cosmic Credit Bundle
- Warp In Spawn
- Face Palm Emotigram
- Egg launcher (Mortar)
- Flipper part Bundle
- 400 Cosmic Credit
- Nuclear Explosion Death
Premium For Life Owners
Premium For Life owners will receive 50% off RoboPass plus and will also progress through grades at double the speed due to their double EXP perk. Find out more about Premium For Life from the following link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/570960/Robocraft__Premium_for_Life_Pack/ Best of luck progressing through all the grades and unlocking all of these cosmetic items! This build also contains some significant changes to weapon and movement part balancing so well be very interested in seeing what you think of these changes too! See you on the battlefield Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
RoboPass Season 2 Patch Notes
Additions/Changes
- Added Strut Diagonal 3d L/R short variants
- RoboPass Season 2
- Emotigrams
- EAC update
- Fixed a bug that caused the weapon upgrade prompts to appear on max power weapons
- Skis now turn correctly
- Fixed an issue where swapping to another screen while weapon power/rank bar is animating, youll be stuck with visual effects looping
- Copying a robot into a bay that requires an upgrade will set both bays to the same CPU limit
- Fixed an issue where players were not receiving Robits when users play with their CRF robot
- Fixed an issue where if you receive a rate this robot dialogue after battle, the loadout slots in the info panel will be incorrect.
- Clans can no longer have Chinese or Russian characters.
- You can no longer select weapons in the robot info panel while in edit mode
- Improvements to handling when reversing with tank tracks
- Neon cube no longer appears in the tutorial inventory
Hello Robocrafters! Today were revealing a brand new feature to Robocraft. Emotigrams!
What are Emotigrams?!
They are a digital transmission which is conveyed via methods of iconography. When they say A picture tells a thousand words were pretty sure they were talking specifically about Emotigram technology. Emotigrams can be used in battle to communicate with fellow teammates and even the enemy. They could be used to show your love of another players robot
Or they can be used to comment on another players shortcomings!
Several of these emotigrams are unlockable via RoboPass Plus and a couple will be available immediately as standard for all players.
How do we use the Emotigrams?
Emotigrams can be selected by clicking your avatar and selecting Emotigrams from the drop down window. This will open the Emotigram window where you'll be able to select up to six Emotigrams to use in battle.
Once in game hold V and you'll be bring up the Emotigram wheel. Hovering over one of these and letting go of V will then play that Emotigram.
The thumbs up and thumbs down Emotigrams will be automatically added to the Emotigram wheel of all players in tomorrows build. Other Emotigrams will be unlocked via RoboPass Season 2.
Planned maintenence
At 10:00AM UTC on 28th of March 2019, there will be scheduled maintenance to prepare Robocraft for the incoming update. This will last approximately two hours and a full patch note list will be released once the build has gone live.
RoboPass launches at around 12:00 UTC 28th March 2019!
We are very much looking forward to seeing you create awesome new robots with the new cosmetic items and trying out the new balance changes which we revealed yesterday. You can read more about these balance changes by clicking the link below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1827805804457687417 Tomorrow we'll reveal our last cosmetic item part of RoboPass season 2. We'll see you then! Until then; Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Happy Easter!
Sure, were nearly four weeks early, but if you ever went into a supermarket from early February youre bound to find a ton of Easter Eggs taking up important shelf space! Easter will take place in the middle of RoboPass Season 2 and there are several items which can be unlocked within RoboPass including an epic new weapon skin.
Some say the Easter bunny travels through the star system powered by the smiles of all the children on planet earth. Thats baloney, he travels with the star system on a basket of eggs powered by Biofuel.
Bunny Pilot Seat
The Easter Bunny takes his seat in the battle. Dont let his rotund exterior or his buck teeth fool you. He is a terrifying force of nature with an overwhelming urge to eliminate anything that is not cute and fluffy. Watch out!
Bunny holoflag
One of our probes travelled across the entire galaxy to locate any sign of life, when they came back they found only one image... A flag planted firmly on the surface of a planet which we believe is unable to sustain organic life.
Were not sure how many planets the Easter Bunny has claimed in his galactic journey across space, but we know we dont want to be on the receiving end of this ancient beings conquest through our star system. Make sure to equip this flag on Easter Sunday to avoid their wrath!
Bringing an egg to a gunfight
The Easter Bunny has designed a mortar that they have named the Egg launcher. This large scale weapon launches hefty decorative eggs designed to annihilate the opposition. We have stolen this technology and started to implement it into our own weapons.
Once the Mortar shell hits its target the surrounding area will spawn some rather beautiful flowers!
But dont let this fool you, we have reason to believe that this weapon is in fact an ancient terraforming weapon which alters the properties of an entire planet. In this case the results last but a few seconds, but we suspect that the Easter bunny is constructing a much larger scale device to terraform the planets that he has already claimed.
All of these items will be a part of RoboPass which launches on 28th of March 2018. Unlock all of these items and swear allegiance to the fluffy one before Easter Sunday on the 21st of April.
Balance Changes
Part of RoboPass Season 2's update will include a selection of balance changes. Read below for more details
Additions
- Strut Diagonal 3D Left Short part
- Strut Diagonal 3D Right Short part
- You can find these parts in the Tech Tree
General Changes
- Light,and Heavy Cubes are all being set to Tier 1 to match the Medium cube Tier. (Originally Light [Tier 4], and Heavy [Tier 3]. Compact Cubes will remain Tier 5.) We are doing this to let players experiment with light, medium and heavy tiers (and the impact this has on agility) from the start of the game.
- All Modules will be set to Tier 3. (Originally all modules were Tier 5).
- In order to better position the heavy and light cubes with the change in tier, the tech tree has been updated
- Robot Ranking Re-adjusted to allow for better CPU restrictions per Tier.
- Rebalance of Challenges(Previously known as Campaigns)
Mass changes
- The Mass of the Compact Cubes will be increased from 0.666 KG/CPU to 1 KG/CPU
- The Mass for all Modules will be set to 3 KG/CPU
- The Mass for all Electroshields will be set to 1 KG/CPU
Cube health changes
- Light Cube health will be increased from 675 to 750
- Medium Cube Health will be increased from 1350 to 1500
- Heavy Cube Health will be increased from 1620 to 2000
- Compact cube health will be increased from 3000 to 3750 (1000 HP/CPU to 1250 HP/CPU)
- Helium health changed from 2025 to 4500 (337.5 HP/CPU to 750 HP/CPU)
Movement part health changes
- Mech legs will have 2000 HP/CPU
- Tank Track will have 2000 HP/CPU
- Wheels will have 1500 HP/CPU
- Skis will have 1500 HP/CPU
- Insect Legs will have 1500 HP/CPU
- Rotors will have 1250 HP/CPU
- Sprinter Legs will have 1250 HP/CPU
- Propellers will have 1250 HP/CPU
- Hover Blades will have 750 HP/CPU
- Wings and Rudders will have 750 HP/CPU
- Thrusters will have 750 HP/CPU
Other health changes
Module Health will increase from 202.5 HP/CPU to 750 HP/CPU Electroshields health will be set to 2000 HP/CPU Strut weight will change from 5 KG/CPU to 10 KG/CPU Strut health will change from 1856 HP/CPU to 2000 HP/CPU Weapon health will be set to 1000 HP/CPU for all weapons.
Movement part CPU changes
- T2 Wheel and T2 Steering Wheel CPU changed from 35 to 30
- T3 Wheel and T3 Steering Wheel CPU changed from 50 to 40
- T4 Wheel And T4 Steering Wheel CPU changed from 70 to 50
- T2 Tank Track CPU changed from 65 to 50
- T3 Tank Track CPU changed from 85 to 55
- T4 Tank Track CPU changed from 105 to 60
Weapon Balance changes
- Single gun fire-rates for T3 Seeker, T4 Seeker, T4 Aeroflak and T4 Chaingun set to 2x slower instead of 1.5x slower.
- T3 Seeker Range decreased by 10%
Weapon Feedback
Laser: No Change Plasma: No Change Rail: Decrease Damage per shot by 5%, Increase Energy Consumption by 10%, Increase Time between shots by 0.1 seconds Nano: Increase Healing per shot by 5%, Decrease Energy Consumption by 5% Aeroflak: Decrease Energy Consumption by 10% Seeker: No Change Ion: No Change Chaingun: Increase Damage per shot by 5%, Increase shots per second to 13 from 12, Reduce spin up time by 5%, Decrease Accuracy Spread by 5% Mortar: No Change Tesla: Decrease Mass/CPU from 4 to 3, Decrease time between shots from 0.2 to 0.175
Movement Feedback
Wheel: Increase top speed by 5%, Increase Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles Tank Tracks: Increase Top Speed by 3%, Increase Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles Mech Legs: No Changes Sprinter Legs: No Changes Insects Legs: Decrease Mass per CPU from 5 to 4, Increase Top Speed by 5%, Increase Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles, Increase Jump height for Light and Heavy Vehicles Skis: Decrease Mass per CPU from 1 to 0.9, Increase Top Speed by 5%, No Increase in Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles as Skis dont have agility component. Hovers: Increase Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles, Increase Optimum Carry Mass by 5%, Increase Hover Height for Light Vehicles by 10% Rotors: Decrease Agility for Light Vehicles Wings and Rudders: Increase Top Speed by 5%, Increase Agility for Light and Heavy Vehicles, Increase Optimum Carry Mass by 5% Thrusters: Increase Top Speed by 5% Propellers: No Changes Below is the data we received from these feedback forms.Click the images for a larger version of this data
RoboPass will launch in just two days, tomorrow we'll reveal a new feature which will contain several new cosmetics. Until then; Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Blasts from the past!
We revealed a few announcements ago that we will be bringing back a few items in cosmetic form to Robocraft. Today is the day that we share further info!
Alignment Rectifier
The Alignment Rectifier is today's first part making a cosmetic return to Robocraft. Initially, these were implemented into Robocraft and would be used to flip your vehicle. However these were removed as we adjusted how players are able to flip their vehicle back into an upright position.
Jammers
No, we have not placed tiny miniature 3d recreations of the freejam team as a cosmetic part. The radar jammers were initially in the game to cause your blip on enemy radars to disappear.
Radar Receiver
This spherical device allowed you to see enemies on your team mates radar within the receivers range. This meant that in order to get a good understanding of conflict on the battlefield, a radar receiver was useful to provide you with the location of the enemy. Various updates to our radar and map system have rendered this device unnecessary.
Enemy radar
The enemy radar pointed towards the nearest in-range enemy whilst also providing the location of nearby surrounding enemies on the mini map. This item did make it much harder to be ambushed by the enemy team but changes to the mini map system have made this device unnecessary.
Retro Cubes
And finally, Retro cubes are returning in cosmetic form in Robopass! We did tease them very briefly in yesterdays Spring rod post, but seems like no one noticed them! These cubes take on the material of cubes which many veterans may remember.. We hope that this brings back some nostalgia to those who are still playing today!
There are just a few more days until RoboPass season 2 launches! Until then; Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters, Today were revealing a new cosmetic item called the Spring Rods. Coming in three flavours, these parts will bounce your robot* into battle
They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
The spring rods were developed at a research facility to assist with impact force. Using teleportation technology to transport robots into battle is an expensive process. The plan was simple, launch robots from one planet to another and use spring rods to reduce the impact damage from the planets gravity. The project was not successful and spring rods were rebranded to become a cosmetic item. Spring Rods come in three sizes; large, not so large and not very large at all.
The Spring Rods will be an unlockable item once RoboPass arrives on the 28th of March! Tomorrow well reveal more cosmetic items! Until then; Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris *Spring Rods are a purely cosmetic item and thus no actual bouncing will occur, pilots expecting to see increased elevation by installing these parts will be significantly disappointed.
Hello Robocrafters,
Sometimes you gotta ride fast, or face being destroyed by a volley of projectiles! Earlier today we revealed a new death effect which will be coming to RoboPass.
All robots run on electricity, until another form of power can be found. Sometimes their power cores can be a little unstable though. Which can result in this happening -
Don't panic though! The explosion is (relatively) small, and the amount of radiation released is harmless... to robots.
Our second death effect which we revealed earlier today is related to the warp in spawn effect we revealed yesterday. The Warp out death effect transports your robot the very second before it is ultimately destroyed!
Similar technology to the Short-Range Warp, the Emergency Reclamation Warp system was designed when robits were still extremely precious after the collapse of major production infrastructure during the battle of Mars. Since robits were so valuable, use of inexpensive disposable beacon drones was common to salvage robots before they were completely destroyed, to minimize loss of resources and allow robots to be repaired instead of replaced.
Where does your robot go? Damned if we know On a side note, Javier, if you are reading this, let us know youre safe, your parents wont stop calling the office.
Our final Death effect brings a sense of humour to all of the destruction you see on the battlefield.
Surely this comical display of robotic ruin will brighten anyone's day. Equip this death effect when youre feeling rather chipper!
And finally, to those of you who are so skilled that you are genuinely concerned that you will never get to experience your own destruction effects, may I present to you a new vapour trail
In a world filled with mechanical mayhem and colossal carnage, the Flower vapour trail is a breath of fresh air!
Thats it for todays cosmetic reveal, tomorrow well be sharing further cosmetic items for our RoboPass which launches on the 28th of March 2019
Until then; Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Keeping in line with RoboPass tradition (Can it be classified as a tradition on the second occasion?) we are first revealing the new spawn effects which are part of Robopass. Earlier today we revealed the Warp in spawn effect.
An early prototype of the modern E14-designed deployment warp, which transports large objects by directed energy beam; early designs had much longer range, but targetting required the use of local warp beacons to calibrate the warp properly and prevent robots from warping into solid objects and being instantly crushed.
This spawn effect is inspired from a classic earth film where a robot travels back in time to eliminate an organic being. The sequel is our favorite though, as another version of this robot travels back in time, finds the organic beings child and through the power of love breaks all robotic protocols to initiate the dangerous thumbs up maneuver. Truly a classic.
Next. Were happy to announce the return of Loot Crates!
Just kidding! We dug up one of the old unloved crates we buried behind the office when we scrapped them last year. We then converted it into a transporter device which will deliver your robots into battle in style!
There is just one more spawn effect to unlock which well reveal in just a few days! It is part of a pack so it felt wrong to separate them!
RoboPass Season 2 launches on 28th of March 2019. Tomorrow well reveal another cosmetic type!
Until then; Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Note from ReelBigKris on Youtube premiere: Earlier today we revealed the Warp In effect via YouTube as a live premiere. While we did mention this would have just one item to reveal, maybe it was a bit too extravagant. Players expected much more! While well still be revealing short new videos at 17:00 several days throughout the next week they will NOT be revealed via YouTube premiere. Sorry to those that were expecting more, it was an experiment and on this occasion it did not work. Any Youtube live premieres planned for the future will be significantly much more substantial!
Hello Robocrafters!
Were pleased to announce that RoboPass Season 2 is nearly upon us. In fact Season 2 will go live in just seven days! There will be thirty items to unlock, some of which will be part of a new upcoming feature.
All items in RoboPass will be purely cosmetic. Veterans may recognise some of the items which will be making a return in cosmetic form. Season 2 will cost $9.99 but Premium For Life owners will receive a 50% discount while also progressing twice as fast through all grades.
Tomorrow well be revealing the very first cosmetic item at 17:00 UTC via Youtube premiere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzeWPgKZT1E&feature=youtu.be
A blog post following shortly after at 18:00 UTC will provide further details.
Stay tuned, but until then, Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hi everyone, A new hotfix has just been made to address some issues and fix bugs. Full details are below:
Changes
- Rebalance Robot Ranking of Parts
- RR per CPU for T4 parts changed from 500 to 1,000
- RR per CPU for T5 parts changed from 2,500 to 10,000
- Upper boundary for T4 robots changed from 875,000 to 1,750,000
- T5 robots begin at a RR of 1,750,001
- Weapon Upgrade banner now stays on screen slightly longer to make it easier to read
- New weapon stats after an upgrade are highlighted green until you swap weapon to help make it clearer
- Player 'Rank Up' banner now has AFX and lasts a bit longer
- Slight tweaks to enemy spawn counts in T3 campaign to improve framerate
- Strut Short Diagonal 2D now has 60kg Mass and Strut Diagonal 2D has 90kg Mass
- Improved visual messaging in the Robot Info Panel for weapons that can be upgraded
Additions
- Rank/Power icons added to their bars in the Robot Info Panel to provide clearer messaging
- New Visual effects on the weapon Rank/Power bars
Fixes
- Fixed an issue with the camera when opening the Body Builder with a Bay Skin equipped
- Fixed issues with the Battle Loading screen in 21:9 resolutions
- Fixed a sizing issue with the power exp label
- Weapons screen now uses the selected quality settings.
- Fixed an issue where Bronze Rank Steam achievement was not being awarded
- Swapping screen during the 'weapon upgraded' banner animation no longer causes it to get stuck
- Challenge badge award screen no longer uses a poorly scaled badge
- Fixed lighting on Weapons screen
- Fixed an issue where languages were not being updated when you change language in game
- Idle weapon upgrade animation no longer plays when you open the weapons screen after the first time
- Fixed an issue where after upgrading a bay in edit mode, any changes to the loadout will not be saved/displayed correctly
Amendment to some changes which were not included in last weeks patch notes
We realised that the patch notes didn;t include all of the changes from the Rise up the ranks update. Specifically changes to weapon mass. Weapon mass has now been normalised. All weapons now have a mass of 4KG per CPU. As an example a T0 laser is 40Kg and a T5 laser is 1000KG. This was to address inconsistencies in the weapon masses across the board. There are just a few more hours left for our weapon and movement balance feedback. Not only are we reading comments based on the questions, but were also reading comments placed in the additional section. If there is something you want heard, make sure to submit your responses now! Weapon balance Feedback Movement balance feedback Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hi everyone,
At 10:00AM UTC on 15th of March, Robocraft will enter scheduled maintenance for one hour. This is to prepare the game for a bug fixing update. Patch notes will follow once maintenance has completed
All the best,
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
A massive update has just gone live to Robocraft! The team have been working on a new feature which will provide greater progression across all weapon types! That feature is called Weapon Ranking!
Weapon Ranking
Any time you deal damage with a weapon or heal with nano's you will be earning XP for that weapon. Earn enough XP and you'll be able to upgrade that guns power with the help of Crays giant robot claw!
There are currently thirty weapons to upgrade, each of which have ten levels to progress though. You can read more about the weapon upgrade system by clicking the link below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1821048502382338610
Leaderboards
The global and regional leader boards will track player ratings and weapon ratings. You can participate as an individual, or you and your friends can rise to the top as part of a clan. Read more about the leader boards by clicking the link below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1776011874558230316 Try out the latest update now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/301520/Robocraft/
Manual Display name Change!
In addition we have also given players the chance to change their name manually! You can log into your account and change your name by clicking the link below: Change my Display name You will however be unable to change your name if you have received a warning or a mute in the past. In these cases, you must contact support.
Update notes
Additions:
- Allow Player name changes in account settings (website)
- Weapon upgrades
- Leaderboards
- AI Support for Nano, Chainguns & Rotors
- 6th Birthday Holoflag added to the Item Store for 0 Robits
- Fixed a visual issue with Tesla in the voting screen.
- Fixed a bug that caused Sprinter leg/Rotor combinations to travel at unintended speeds
- Fixed a bug that caused the tutorial bot to fall over
- Fixed a bug that occasionally caused the player to be locked to the paint gun in edit mode when switching between the guns
- Party members are no longer kicked out of the lobby if the leader changes their Robot tier
Weapon Balancing
We received a ton of feedback from players for weapon balancing and have implemented balance changes for many of the weapons. below are a list of changes for each weapon part Laser
- Decreased damage by 5%
- Reduced energy consumption by 5%
- Decreased damage by 10%
- Reduced energy consumption by 10%
- Increased time between shots by 0.05%
- Increased explosion radius by 5%
- Increased damage by 5%
- Increased Energy consumption by 10%
- Increased time between shots by 0.1
- Increased projectile speed by 10%
- Decreased movement inaccuracy by 5%
- Reduced energy consumption by 10%
- Decreased energy consumption by 15%
- Decreased damage by 10%
- Increased projectile range by 5%
- Increased damage per shot by 2.5%
- No changes to the chaingun
- Increased projectile range by 5%
- Increased health by 5%
- Increased health by 10%
- Increased health by 7.5%
- Decreased top speed by 10%
- Increase mass by 10%
- Increased agility for heavy mechs
- Increase health by 5%
- Increase to speed by 10%
- Increased agility for heavy and light sprinters
- Increase health by 5%
- Mass set to 1 per CPU instead of 0.5 per CPU
- Increased agility for light and heavy hovers
- Increased health by 7.5%
- Decreased top speed by 10%
- Decreased speed boost by 10%
- Decreased agility for Heavy and light rotors
- Increase health by 5%
- Increase top speed by 5%
- Increase top speed by 10%
- Increase speed boost by 5%
- Decreased agility for light thrusters
- Increased top speed by 10%
- Wheels - 20kg per CPU (Current)
- Tank Tracks - 40kg per CPU (Only the lowest track current has this value)
- Mech Legs - 30kg per CPU (Current)
- Sprinter Legs - 25kg per CPU (0.5kg/CPU increase)
- Insect Legs - 5kg per CPU (Increase from 0.37kg/cpu)
- Ski - 1KG per CPU (Increase from 0.5kg/cpu)
- Hover - 5kg per CPU ( Only the Mega Hover currently has this value)
- Rotor - 5kg per CPU (Increase from 0.36kg/cpu on average per part)
- Wing - 1kg per CPU (Increase from 0.43kg/cpu on average per part)
- Rudder - 1kg per CPU (Increase from 0.32kg/cpu on average per part)
- Thruster - 1kg per CPU (Increase from 0.465kg/cpu on average per part)
- Propeller - 3kg per CPU (Current)
Hi Robocrafters!
A major update launches tomorrow! This is the first major update to Robocraft in 2019 and we plan to create even bigger and better updates as we progress throughout the rest of the year!
Below are the core highlights for this update:
1) Weapon upgrading
2) Leaderboards
3) AI Support Nano
4) AI Support Rotors
5) AI Support Chaingun
6) Maximum Loadouts reduced from 5-3
7) Player can change their own name manually (On Account settings on Website)
8) Agility changes for Aerofoils
9) Agility changes for Tank tracks
10) Agility changes for Insect Legs
11) Agility Changes for Wheels
12) Improved loading speed when logging in and when returning to garage.
13) Balances changes based on community feedback
As we revealed earlier in the week, Weapon upgrading will use Robits which you earn at the end of matches. Play Robocraft now, and begin earning Robits!
Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Last week we revealed that players will be able to level up their weapons with Crays giant robotic claw! Today we wanted to reveal more information on how you upgrade weapons.
As you deal damage (or heal) in matches, your gun will earn XP. Lets say you have a robot equipped with lasers and nanos. If you spend all of your time dealing damage with lasers, the XP you earn in game will be given exclusively to that weapon. If you ONLY used nanos, then you would only receive experience for your nano weapon.
However, if you deal damage and heal at the same time, the amount of XP that youll earn will be split between the two respective on much damage or healing you caused with each weapon. So if you spent a lot of time dealing damage and only a little time healing, then youll gain a significant amount of XP for the damage dealing weapon compared to the healing based weapon.
Level up!
Once you have filled the XP bar for a weapon, youll be able to spend Robits to level up that weapon! There are ten levels to progress through for over 30 weapons which means there are 300 opportunities to level up your arsenal! The weapons level will be shown in your inventory.
But you will upgrade your weapons from the weapons tab on the home screen.
But what happens once you level up a weapon? They will increase in firepower. Here are the stats of a level 1 Tier 0 laser
And here are the stats for a level 5 Tier 0 laser
It will take a significant amount of time to level up a weapon completely and well reveal how all of these these new changes will affect Matchmaking very soon! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Earlier this week we revealed the full image of the next new feature were working on. This featured Cray and a giant robot claw looming over a laser.
And today we wanted to reveal just a little more information on this image.
We shared this image in yesterdays tease. That blast from the robot arm is used to level up weapons! There are ten levels in total for each weapon. Progressing through each level will increase your weapon ranking and will play a factor into the matchmaking process (but more on that later)
On March 7th you'll be able to upgrade 30 weapons, each with ten levels of progression. We'll reveal a little more info on the weapon level system on Monday! Until then; Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! In one of our last updates we revealed that we were planning to introduce leaderboards into the next major build on March 7th! We already revealed weapon ratings but today were going to talk about player ratings and clan ratings Player Ratings Player ratings will be used to factor in a players diversity across all weapon types. Should a player solo one single weapon, they will see a significantly lower player rating than another who has mastered several weapons. Clan Ratings Clan ratings can be split across weapon and player rating. The clans rating is based on the sum of the ranking criteria for all players. So if a clan has several inactive players this will likely bring their overall rank down. Leaderboard scopes It is going to be a tough road to the top of a leaderboard. It may seem a very tough goal to reach, but there will be several ways to encourage competitiveness among friends and regionally! Global And Regional While there can only be one global person at the top of the leaderboards, there will also be several regional leaderboards:
- Africa
- Antarctica
- Asia
- Europe
- North America
- Oceana
- South America
Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters,
Earlier today I lured the server team away from their desks and managed to get a little more info on the new system they are working on for the next update.
This image is still very much work in progress*
Leader boards!
Thats right, looks like were going to be tracking core data to celebrate the top players and clans in Robocraft. The leaderboards will track two core factors in game. Player Rank and Weapon Rank. Today we wanted to talk a little bit more about one of those core factors in the leaderboard system
Weapon Rank Explained:
Weapons will now have their own individual matchmaking rating. This means that the more you use a weapon and win battles, the higher your weapon rank will increase. There will be 5 main ranks to progress through starting from Bronze and moving through Silver, Gold, Diamond and ultimately Protonium. Each main rank will have 5 sub ranks to progress through before you are able to rank up to the next main rank. This means in total there will be 24 opportunities to rank up across each weapon. Putting this into greater perspective, there will be over 30 weapons which will have their own weapon rank and this means there will be at least 750 sub ranks for you to progress through!
How Does Winning And Losing Affect My Weapon Rank?
The amount of weapon ranking points that you will earn or lose is dependant on that weapons current weapon rank. To start it will be easy to climb through the ranks, but over time it will be tougher to increase your weapon rank. Below are the points youll earn for winning and losing for each rank.
To show the epic sacel of this weapon progression ranking, in order to reach maximum rank for ALL weapons in game you would need to play over 4,000 games and never lose a single match.
Be the best
With this new Weapon ranking system we are hoping to see players refine their skills and talents to become the best with their favorite weapon! But were also hoping the allure of ranking up other types of weapons will provide players with a greater reason to try other weapon types. These systems will play a larger role in matchmaking and we plan to provide a greater skill level match among all players Tomorrow well share details on the player rank system and clan rankings. Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris *The leader board will not exclusively track the accomplishments of the user 'very very very very long name'... The final leader board will represent all players, regardless of the length of their name
Hello Robocrafters! A little while ago we made some changes to the physics of several movement parts. We are still gathering core feedback from these changes. On March 7th, further adjustments to movement parts will be made to factor in F=MA. Those parts include
- Tank treads
- Wheels
- Insect legs
- Aerofoils
More news tomorrow
One of the rooms where we keep our server team was unlocked and unattended we managed to snag this photo!
Tomorrow we plan to lure the server team away from their desks to get images with greater fidelity. Stay tuned! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Over the past week weve been teasing you with a few images of our upcoming feature planned to go live on the 7th of March. We promised that today well place something on that particularly empty platform.
At the end of this week well reveal what Cray and his giant robot claw are going to be doing to this little laser!
Until then; Build, Drive, Fight
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters,
Over the last few days we have teased a few zoomed in images which alludes to a new feature launching on March 7th
The first image we shared were two crays at a control panel.
This sparked some comments about rotating platforms, mini bot builders, a bonding table and suggestions that Cray was trying to look busy with his tablet!
The following day we then shared another zoomed in image!
This led to players alluding to a few other ideas including a mega nano, bot switching, and the ability to build tiny support bots
And finally, today we share the whole picture zoomed out completely!
This is a new area that can be accessed within Robocraft that will launch on March 7th. This is still currently in the concept stage so a few things may change up to its public release. Do you think the platform is a bit empty right now? Well sort that out on Monday! Until then; Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! Our next big update is planned for March the 7th! With it will come a few new additions. Some of which will provide new content for all players to achieve, more uses for Robits and of course more movement parts being introduced to the new Physics overhaul.
Further Agility overhauls
The following parts will be overhauled to make way for the F=MA physics system we have made available to previous parts.
- Wheels
- Tanks
- Insect Legs
- Aerofoils
Tomorrow well be revealing the whole picture Until then; Build, Drive Fight! ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
We will be launching our next major update to Robocraft on March 7th* and more info will be revealed in the coming days. Everyone is hard at work including Cray who is overseeing the next new feature to Robocraft! Can you guess what hes working on?
Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
*This is an estimated date and may be impacted should we come across any issues during the development period Of course, if we dont hit that date, blame Josh!
Hello Robocrafters! We are now out of maintenance. We have addressed the following bugs in this update:
Fixes
- Robots at 10,000CPU with extra cosmetic CPU can now be downloaded from the factory into a new bay without bringing up an error.
- Copying a robot that exactly fits in a bay into another bay of the same size will no longer show a cost to perform this action.
- Fixed a bug that could trigger an error if the confirm button of the Bay Upgrade screen was clicked multiple times
- Fixed visual issues with EMP effects
- The tutorial can now be skipped.
- Single leg builds can now be controlled without needing to force a respawn.
Hello Robocrafters!
We will be issuing out a hot fix on February 20th at 10:00AM UTC which will address several bugs. This maintenance period should last just one hour.
Thank you for your patience! Patch notes for this update will be made live once the update is live.
Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters! The big physics agility update is now live! Josh and Chris live streamed a developer build last night, showing off the changes to the agility system, the CPU progression system and revealed the NEW flying AI robots. We uploaded that video to our YouTube channel where you can watch it on demand!
https://youtu.be/JeNdlJxoL3g
MAJOR PHYSICS OVERHAUL
This massive update includes big changes to the way robots feel. Gifs, screenshots and text dont do it justice, you HAVE to play it in order to really experience the types of changes that F=ma has on all existing and new robots! So what are you waiting for?! Play it now, install the game if you havent done so already and then let us know how the new robots FEEL when controlling them. For those of you who arent able to access a PC to play Robocraft RIGHT NOW, read on for further details on the changes in this major update.
AGILITY OVERHAUL
Heavy robots feel heavier, lighter robots are much more nimble. Robots will also rotate at different speeds to factor in these new changes, meaning if you have created a completely fearsome robot with Weapons attached to one side, you should be even more cautious of being flanked if you haven't factored in your rotation speed! We expect players will create new strategies, playstyles and even builds to consider for this major change to movement. Sprinter Legs have also had a particularly nice adjustment made to them which removes the delay in movement after landing from a jump. They are now more agile than ever before, and will be able to jump in and out of battle quickly.
The movement parts that have received the F=ma physics overhaul include
- Sprinters
- Mechs
- Hovers
- Rotors
- Thrusters
- Propellers
CPU Progression
Another system that we introduced last week was CPU progression. This system gives new players a greater sense of progression and adds greater value to Robits.. We understand that building massive robots from scratch can be pretty intimidating, so new players will start with a garage bay of 750CPU. From there they will spend Robits to upgrade their bay at a reasonable pace, while learning more about the building systems. Theres a lot of complexity during the later tiers of Robocraft and it can be quite challenging for new players. Of course, as we see new players interacting with these changes, we will adjust to improve everyone's play experience. Players who have already created various garage bays will not have to worry about these changes for any robots that were attached to a bay BEFORE this update went live. Your robots garage bays are automatically upgraded to store your robot without spending additional CPU. however when purchasing any new garage bays, you will need to upgrade them via Robits.
There will be other forms of usage for Robits which will affect ALL players. We understand many veterans have amassed a massive number of Robits and have also MAXED out all their garage bays, so the CPU progression system won't affect you. BUT the next feature we will implement will give everyone a reason to use Robits
New Starter bots!
In order to provide players with robots that meet the 750CPU limit, we have had to create a few new starter robots for players. Check them out below!
Adjusted Body Builder Templates
The Body builder templates have been adjusted so that they are well below 750CPU AND still allow you to place movement parts and weapons onto the robot.
AI have taken to the skies!
The AI robots have obtained their pilots license and are now able to use robots installed with wings and rudders! As seen in last night dev stream, they are tenacious!
Cosmetic Credits are now Cosmic Credits
We have rebranded Cosmetic credits into Cosmic credits, youll still be able to purchase Cosmetic items with these credits and theyll continue to function as originally intended. However they will have the added functionality to exchange them for Robits as we make Robits more valuable.
Weapon Balance Feedback Changes
Around 1,000 players were involved in our last big weapon balance feedback form! Wed like to thank everyone who took the time to answer a few questions and even submit a couple of suggestions on how you feel we should improve Robocraft. We are currently talking internally about some of the most requested features and will update you once we have more concrete plans. This update included a variety of weapon changes based on community feedback and we wanted to share the results so that you know why we are making certain changes. Of course, balancing is an ongoing development as we continue to improve Robocraft. So a few days from now well be opening up the weapon balance feedback thread once more. Below are the results from the feedback form and on the furthest right hand side is a column of changes were making.
In addition, below is a list of changes in text form in case it is difficult to read the images above: Laser
- Decrease Damage by 5%
- Decrease Energy consumption by 5%
- Decreased Damage by 15%
- Reduced Energy consumption by 10%
- Increased time between shots by 0.025
- Increased explosion radius by 5%
- Increased damage per shot by 10%
- Increased energy consumption by 10%
- Increased time between shots by 0.25
- Decreased movement inacuracy by 5%
- Increased healing per shot by 5%
- Decreased energy consumption by 5.25%
- Increased damage by 5%
- Decreased energy consumption by 10%
- Decreased damage by 5%
- Decreased energy consumption by 5%
- Increased projectile range by 5%
- Increased damage per shot by 2.5%
- Decreased energy consumption by 5%
- Decreased time between shots by 2.5%
- No changes
- Increased damage by 2.5%
- Increased projectile range by 5%
- Increased health by 5%
RoboPass Ends on February 18th
Our first season of RoboPass ends this Monday on February 18th! Players were able to progress through 30 grades to unlock cosmetic items and cosmetic credits. Some of these items included a firework seeker, new spawn and death animations and Neon cubes! Those who progressed through the free version of Robopass unlocked several items, but those who purchased RoboPass plus unlocked additional items at the cost of $9.99 (or $4.99 for owners of Lifetime premium) If you have played the free version of RoboPass, you can purchase RoboPass plus to unlock all items up to your current grade! These items in total (including CC) would be worth around $100 if purchased individually. Well reveal more news on Season 2 of RoboPass soon!
Live Stream later today at 17:00 UTC
Later today Josh and Chris will stream Robocraft once more, playing the latest MAJOR agility physics update against other players! The stream will be broadcasted directly on the Steam Page, on Twitch and on Youtube! Steam Link: (https://store.steampowered.com/app/301520/Robocraft/) Twitch Link: (https://www.twitch.tv/freejam) Youtube Link: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt4-QGbiUuO9a5ketAuf3xg)
UPDATE IS NOW LIVE! GO PLAY IT
What are you doing reading this still!? Go play Robocraft right now and experience the MAJOR changes to agility that we have been working on! If you still need more reading material, patch notes will be posted below, but in order to really understand the new changes we have made, you NEED to play it! Patch notes are below, but seriously, go play Robocraft right after reading them! Features:
- Agility Physics for Sprinters, Mechs, Hovers, Rotors, Thrusters and Propellers
- New Garage Bays now have a 750 CPU limit and can be upgraded using Robits
- Changed Starter Robots and Body Builder parts to fit within the 750 CPU limit
- Rebalanced Tier brackets to give an effective CPU limit for each tier
- Weapon balance changes based on player survey feedback
- The AI can now use flying robots with Wings and Rudders
- Reverted intro video trailer
- Extra Robits can now be bought in the Store using CC
- CC renamed from Cosmetic Credits to Cosmic Credits
- Mortar VFX improved
- Single gun fire rate for Plasma didn't match the stats shown on the weapon info tooltip
- Neon cubes no longer have a darker border
- Clicking 'back to the game' after a successful purchase in a non-Steam client now closes the store instead of going to another thank-you page
- Further Improvements to lobby queue time accuracy
- The base speed of the rotor has been increased from 160 MPH to 200 MPH
- Weapon inaccuracy is lost after pausing in single player
- CoM orb now displays when entering edit mode if it is enabled in the settings menu.
- Centre of Mass orb is no longer visible on the home screen
- Fixed a bug that caused weapons to stop firing if one of them ended up pointing into the terrain while the others were valid
- Fixed an issue with players who were forced to quit due to a daily quest error (if you experienced this issue before, please let us know if this has resolved the issue)
- Fixed an issue where certain users end up unable to accept or send party invites due to bad redis data
- AI robots with Tesla can no longer deal damage to their own reactor
- Fixed a bug that caused the 'sideways driving' checkbox setting to be visually incorrect in certain situations
- Rail crosshair no longer pulsates when idle
- The camera is now centred on the Supernova if you are shooting and moving your camera as the match ends
- Players are unable to use the Skip Tutorial button
- Single leg builds will not work properly until they respawn.
We will be having a scheduled maintenance from 10am to deploy the Agility and CPU Upgrade build, we expect the maintenance to last about 2hrs
Read more about the planned update here:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1760248640397529922
Hello Robocrafters!
The BIG physics update will go live tomorrow! But this evening Chris and Josh are going to be streaming a new build of Robocraft today and tomorrow! Today theyll be building new robots in preparation for the big agility update. And tomorrow theyll be using the robots they built to play online against other players!
Make sure to check out the streams at 17:00 UTC directly on the front page of Steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/301520/Robocraft/
Tomorrow marks the release of our overhauled agility system! Along with it will come various bug fixes and weapon balance adjustments based on feedback from the community. Were very much looking forward to seeing exactly what you think of our new F=ma system and would love to hear your feedback once you experience it.
Tomorrow the update will include the following features:
- Weapon Balance changes based on survey feedback
- Rebalancing Tier brackets
- Updated Steam starter robots
- Updated Steam Body Builder robots to all be under 750CPU
- Convert Cosmetic Credits into Cosmic Credits
- Sprinter & Mech Legs Agility Movement
- Thrusters & Propellers Agility Movement
- Hovers Agility Movement
- Rotors Agility Movement
- Upgrading bays via Robits
- Robits now purchasable from the item shop
- AI can now use Aerofoil movement parts in BA and TDM
Year of The Pig Chinese New Year!
We ran a year of the pig artbot competition to line up with the Lunar New Year! There have been some truly awesome entries and wed like to thank everyone who has taken the time to build some incredible robots. The grand winner of 500CC is Manana81 with his robot THE GENEROUS PIG 2019
This incredible pig & Dragon combo is not only visually beautiful to look at but is also combat ready. The teslas provide this robot with a dangerous bite and the pig is wielding a bowl filled with healing goodness!
Runner Ups:
We also have four runner ups BR4Y4NGAM3R with his robot Pig Lunar
This blue piggy bot is an elegant answer to the question what if pigs had wheels?. Charming and was one of the favorites of a few members from the Freejam team Kronoswms Okkoto was inspired by the film Princess Mononoke (if you haven't seen it, you should!). This bot does an incredible job of creating a spiky fur and an incredible level of detail in comparison to its film counterpart.
Kura3000 entered three robots into this competition. For fairness we included just one of his piggy bots into the draw. That Pig was aptly named Year of the pig which uses neon cubes to create a great vibrant background and platform for one of the happiest pigs you ever did saw!
Hoelderlins Festival Pig encapsulates the Lunar New year perfectly! Bright red chinese lanterns and adorable little hoofed feet complete this pigs red attire.
Blue_Diamond_2017 created a Megapig called laser pig. We are particularly fond of its giant curly tail!
Honorable mentions:
The first honorable mention is from Pun_Shinamon, unfortunately they were just one day late to enter the Artbot competition so their entry didn't count. But as a result of this, in the future all Artbot competitions will run for two weeks so that we can give players much more time to enter.
InsaneLiving shared his pig based version of Ghidora, an iconic villain from the Godzilla films
Thank you to everyone who entered this art bot competition, If you want to see all of the entries, You can still view the entries by clicking this hashtag #RCLunarNewYear See you tomorrow when the BIG physics update launches! Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Welcome to February the 6ths Dev Jam! This week we share details on movement physics overhauls, CPU progression system and remind you about this weeks Artbot Challenge
Making Building Matter More!
A major physics overhaul factoring in F=MA (and inertia!) will launch next week. Robots which are large and bulky will not be as nimble as a much smaller and lighter robot. While it is very difficult to describe how this feels in words, we know that you will feel the difference once these changes are live. We can't wait to see what you think of this major update as robots should feel much more satisfying to control. The first selection of movement parts that will benefit from the agility and physics overhaul will be:
- Rotors
- Thrusters/ Propellers
- Hovers
- Mech legs/ Sprinter Legs
CPU Limits
To provide a refined building experience and to help new players settle into Robocraft we have reduced the initial CPU limit for garage bays. We have chosen to do this for the following reasons: Reduce the size and complexity of robots for new players. Give players a sense of incremental progression. Provide a long term use for Robits. In addition we are going to be changing the robot ranking scores and limits so lower tiers effectively have lower CPU limits. This ensures a robot at the CPU limit for a new bay will still be effective in Tier 1 and gradually raises the size and complexity of robots that players can build as they progress.
Individual CPU Limits for bays
Each garage bay will have its own CPU limit and will start at 750CPU. However, each bay can be upgraded individually up to a maximum of 2,000 CPU. In order to increase the CPU it will cost a number of Robits. Each upgrade will increase the CPU limit of each bay by a small amount
The Robits cost per upgrade from this gif are not representative of the final values and may be subject to change
Megabots
Once a bay reaches the normal CPU limit of 2,000, you can upgrade it once more to turn it into a Max CPU bay. Once you have done this, the bay can not be upgraded any further and youll be able to build robots in it to a CPU limit of 10,000. Please note, that even if you upgrade a bay to Max CPU it doesnt mean that everything you build in that bay needs to be a Megabot.
Downloading Robots from the Factory under the new CPU progression system
We will be updating the factory to provide more information on the amount of CPU you will be expected to have in a bay before you download a robot from the factory. If you have a bay that only has 1,000 CPU, youll be unable to download a 1,500 CPU robot until you upgrade your bay to fit the 1,500 CPU requirement of the bot that youd like to download.
Starter Bots
We have adjusted the starter bots and the modularized body builder so that they fall below the 750CPU limit for new players.
Current bay CPU Conversion
We will be converting all current T1 - T5 active bays into a 2000 CPU bay. However if you have a Megabot in a garage bay, that bay will be converted into a Max CPU bay.
Making Robits meaningful
The CPU progression is just one upgradeable feature that players will be able to spend their Robits on. Over the coming weeks well be sharing more details on new types of uses for Robits.
Cosmetic Credits Turning Into Cosmic Credits
During the next update we will be renaming cosmetic credits for all accounts into Cosmic Credits. While players will still be able to purchase cosmetic items with this form of currency, were also going to be allowing players to purchase Robits with Cosmetic Credits.
Lunar New Year - Pig Themed Robot
To celebrate the Lunar New Year, Robocraft Premium For Life is on sale at 30% off! We are also running an Artbot competition To celebrate the dawning of the year of the pig which will end on the 12th of February. Five robocrafters will receive 100 CC each and one lucky Robocrafter will win 500CC! For more details on how to enter, please visit the competition announcement below: https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1756870026710119858 The competition closes on february 12th, winners will be chosen at random on the 14th of February Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
To celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Pig! We wanted to run a fun art bot competition for players. We've been focusing a lot of our time over the last several weeks to balance the game to make combat more fun but this week we want to see your incredible robotic creations.
The prizes for this competition include:
- 1 grand prize of 500 CC
- 5 runner up prizes of 100 CC
Year of the Pig Rules
- Create an awe inspiring pig robot
- Take a screenshot of your pig robot
- Post the screenshot on twitter and include your display name, the robot name and the following Hashtag # RCLunarNewYear
- The tweet must also include the following Bitly link: (http://bit.ly/RCLunarNewYear)
Lifetime Premium now 30% off
Additionally Lifetime premium is now 30% off in Steam's Lunar new Year Sale. Click the link below to purchase. https://store.steampowered.com/app/570960/Robocraft__Premium_for_Life_Pack/ Tomorrow we will release a new Dev Jam! So until then; Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hi everyone! We have completed our planned maintenance and Robocraft is now up and running. We have been updating our database infrastructure. Players may experience some issues over the next few days. Do let us know if you see anything odd! Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris
Hello everyone, Welcome to the January monthly recap! A special announcement post which details the last month of happenings in bitesize chunks! If a particular topic interests you further you can read more about it by clicking the relevant links.
January 9th & 10th - Balance Update
We issued a new balance update based upon early player feedback which contains changes to various weapons. At the same time, a community feedback thread had been pinned to the top of Steam forums and website forums to gain valuable data direct from players.
January 17th - F=ma Progress update
We revealed the first work in progress gifs showing the new F=ma changes were looking to release in an upcoming update. The first movement part we had shown which had these changes implemented were rotors.
Of course, more parts will receive these agility changes so stay tuned for further updates!
January 24th - Community Balance Update Live
Based on a couple of community feedback threads we had created several weeks ago, we began to roll out our findings in a brand new update! The data we had received was very valuable and allowed us to release the first Community Balance Update. We are hoping to continue to create interesting polls and feedback forms to allow us to greatly refine the core game experience. Alongside this community balances update we included a variety of quality of life improvements and bug fixes. Our current community balance feedback survey has over 300 players sharing their thoughts on Robocraft
January 28th - Premium For Life Sale
While not an official announcement, It is still worth mentioning! The Premium For Life membership for Robocraft is now on sale at 30% off. It contains the following benefits:
- Grants all paint colours for use in the Editor
- Doubles the amount of experience and robits earned from matches
- Upload your own personal avatar picture
- Additional Cosmetic CPU
The Protonium Campaign Challenge
While not directly linked to January, we are announcing the winners for the Protonium challenge competition today! Well be crediting the following players 5,000 CC each for successfully completing Protonium Difficulty and sharing their video on Twitter
- Rafyfou
- -Lumen-
- Dued
- Coob2003
- BONEs_BROKER
- The-Alien
- Nefilm
- Venturinblue
- Vectron2
- Nakkaryo-n
- LordForce
- Serg_04
- JJson400
- Chan Tzi
- Iwaken225
- Dustybin
- Hosi
- Drake1001
- Sharkaporyum
- TheReD40
- VintageGriffin
- Gabriel317
- Ben-Skywalker
- PathForger
- DehSpy
February
RoboPass ends on the 18th of February, so make sure that you have unlocked all of the grades by then to unlock awesome cosmetic items. To purchase these items individually will cost over $100 but of course playing through RoboPass to unlock these items will cost just $9.99 (Or $4.99 for Premium For life owners). Additionally below is just a tease of our workload for the month of February:
- Physics adjustments to movement parts.
- Provide more value to Robits for new players and veterans.
- Flying AI bots and other AI changes
- Work towards RoboPass Season 2
Hello everyone!
Yesterday we released an update to Robocraft which contained several changes to weapon balancing. Do try out the latest build and experience the changes for yourself. There were a variety of buffs to several weapons, and a nerf to the Plasma.
Read the full announcement by clicking here
We feel that we got some really valuable information from players when we asked for feedback and wed like to continue to have this sort of interaction with our community when approaching certain topics such as balancing.
A new survey has been created which allows us to collate the data much more easily than our last feedback survey thread. It contains a selection of multiple choice questions as well as a few areas where you can submit feedback not linked directly to Weapon balancing. Based on overall consensus and our own internal analytics well be able to make some good decisions that will help improve the overall quality of Robocrafts weapon balancing and core game experiences.
A google account is required to fill out the form below:
Feedback Form
We thank everyone in advance for taking the time to fill out this form, it will be very useful and we cant wait to get some really amazing feedback from you all.
Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
We have a pretty substantial update today which includes weapon balance changes based upon data we have received from our latest community feedback thread. There are also a ton of bug fixes and quality of life improvements.
New Trailer
A community group known as Robocrew have created an incredible brand new trailer for Robocraft. This trailer will appear in game when you launch Robocraft https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYCwFvUuOh8
Weapon Balance Pass
A couple of weeks ago we asked you all to provide us with some information which would allow us to help with weapon balancing. Thank you to everyone who provided us feedback, weve acted upon them and are happy with the new balance changes but would love to hear your feedback. Well be running another community balance survey in the future. But first, lets detail the core changes we made to weapons Lasers There were no solid agreements on changes that need to be made to the Laser in regards to nerfs/buffs and due this this, no balance changes will be made to the Lasers at this time. Plasma Overall consensus was that plasma should receive a damage nerf. We have decided to reduce the damage output of the Plasma by 5%. Rails This weapon seemed to be in a relatively good place at this current moment in time. The least contested change was related to accuracy whilst moving. Players wanted the time to regain accuracy after coming to a stand-still to regain faster. So instead of 1.5 seconds to regain accuracy after moving, it has been reduced to 0.75 seconds. Nanos One of the most debated topics from our weapon balance thread was that Nanos needed a significant buff. We have chosen to give nanos a 10% buff in healing rate and a 5% reduction in energy cost. Flak After looking into the flak damage values we discovered that there was a bug which was causing the in-air damage from the flak to be registered incorrectly. This bug is now fixed and means that the Flak will now deal greater damage to in-air targets. Seekers We didn't want to make any drastic changes to seekers as were still receiving feedback on the range changes we made since our last update. We are hoping to gather more feedback for this weapon again in combination to the other changes made during todays update. Ion After discussing this weapon internally, we believed that the Ion would feel more balanced once Plasma has received a nerf. The nerf to the Plasma in this update should address this. Chaingun Feedback had shown that players wanted an increase in damage and an increased fire rate. Based on this, we are increasing the shots per second from 10 to 12 and increasing damage per shot by 5%. Mortar Players reported that the Mortar consumed far too much energy. We have chosen to reduce energy consumption by 10%, this will increase the shots launched in 1 energy bar from 5 to 6 Tesla The tesla will have three major adjustments in this balance pass. Firstly, they have increased damage by 5%, reduced energy cost by 5% and finally an increase in hits per second from 4 to 5. We felt that the community feedback that we received a few weeks ago really was incredibly useful and we are planning to do it again very soon In fact, well be posting a new feedback balance thread in time for the weekend. We have made a ton of changes in this update to weapons, so please do spend some time playing the latest update so you can get a good understanding of the core changes and how they affect the gameplay. Tomorrow well be creating another feedback thread post in the form of a survey to make compiling the data even easier.
Voting Screen Particle Effects
As an extra little bit of polish weve added some visual particle effects to the voting screen. Clicking the Best Played and Best Looking buttons will activate them.
Based on the number of votes for Best Played and Best Looking, another particle effect will appear behind the card.
Patch notes of the changes and fixes are included below: Changes
- New Robocraft Trailer added to intro
- Balance Pass based on community feedback
- Added a new label under the crosshair to better indicate how/when to flip your robot"
- Provided better information to show players how to use the picker tool.
- Voting cards become interact-able faster
- Neon cube has updated saturation
- The camera now has a zoom out to better display the new spawn effects
- Visual update to rail projectiles
- After an error during the infinitisation update we noticed that speed boosts were not reduced after stating that they were. Weve now reduced Speed Boost across the board by 20%
- Flak explosion damage is now correctly calculated for air based robots
- T5 Flak now contains the correct damage per stack info in the tooltip
- Purchasing Robopass Plus during the battle summary flow will update the RoboPass screen correctly
- Fairy lights now highlight invalid placements of cubes if the lights were placed first.
- Fairy lights now keep their hitbox after leaving test mode
- All Plasma tiers now trigger robot shake
- Effects now play during the voting screen once a robot reaches 3/6 votes for best looking robot
- No longer able to move during the first spawn animation in Test/ Play vs AI, while the camera is moving
- Party widget now displays correctly when queuing for battle and while in build mode
- Average queue time while in lobby is now more accurate
- Voting buttons on the end-of-battle screen now have the correct icons displayed
- T5 Laser muzzle flash locations are now correct
- Neon cubes that are disconnected will now display in the correct shade of red
- T4/T5 seekers now award the correct credit for the Ive Got Tone. The Seeker/LOML are now merged into this achievement. Also removed "Not the Bees" achievement and added "Lob it" achievement for Mortar kills
- AI robots equipped with rails will no longer attempt to shoot at other robots through walls
- Player list HUD in Battle Arena now correctly shows respawn times next to players rather than kill count
- Sorting by CPU in the Robot Factory will now display search results across all tiers
- AI kills are now appearing in the kill feed during Play vs AI matches
- Pausing during the campaign countdown will no longer cause the UI to be stuck for the rest of the round
- AI will no longer shoot at the last place a robot was destroyed until it respawns
- Fixed an issue where labels that show the queue status of your party were not working correctly.
- Mortar explosions on the boundary shields no longer create an odd square effect
- Player lists in the top corners now sort by highest kills in TDM
- Fixed an issue where Nano and LOML will lose lock on functionality if you have placed multiple tiers of the same type of weapon, and one of them is shot off
- Fixed an issue that could sometimes leave users stuck after battle"
- Fixed overflowing texts on some dialogue windows
- Fixed an issue where users that created their account during Early Access but did not receive their pilot seat rewards
- Fixed an issue where the PLAY button in the top bar will not highlight when looking at the custom game screen
- Fixed an issue where player lists would have too much spacing in lower resolutions until the list is refreshed
- Rail and Laser projectiles are no longer invisible when firing over certain distances
Known issues:
There may be a chance that some players will experience an issue with their Steam Achievements. If you see anything odd happen, do contact Steam support. Thank you everyone for your feedback and continued support. We hope you enjoy this update. Build, Drive, Fight ReelBigKris
Hello Robocrafters!
Tomorrow well be pushing out a new update to Robocraft which features balancing changes suggested by YOU! Yes, YOU! Providing your responded to one of our community feedback threads on the official forum or within the Steam forums.
These feedback threads were very useful and Id like to thank everyone who took the time to send over comments on each weapon type with details on energy usage, fire rate, damage output and varying other factors. The changes weve made in response to this feedback will go live tomorrow at around midday UTC.
Well also have a new trailer, a plethora of bug fixes and some quality of life improvements coming in tomorrows update.
To prepare Robocraft for these new changes we will need to enter maintenance at 10:00am UTC. The maintenance period will last approximately two hours.
Ill be around to read feedback once the update goes live tomorrow. But until then! Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris
Hello everyone!
We hope that youve been enjoying RoboPass over the winter holidays. We have just one more month until our first season ends on the 18th of February 2019. So there is still time to unlock the new cosmetic items!
Weapon Balance Feedback
Last week I asked for your feedback and thoughts to aid us in locating what weapons were in need of a nerf or a buff. While the post is currently locked you can read through the feedback in the post below: Weapon balance Feedback Thread The data we received from this post has shown some areas where the community have come to a general consensus regarding certain weapon types. We will work with this data to implement decisions based directly from player feedback. Id like to thank everyone who participated in providing feedback, it was very useful and I intend to create similar posts in the future to provide the team with better data which they can react to.
Physics! F = ma
You may remember that a few months ago we discussed a plan to improve the physics within Robocraft to make building matter more. We mentioned Newtons second law of motion F = ma to help provide some insight into the type of changes we wanted to make. In summary, we want large, chunky robots to have some real weight to them and become a sturdy opponent with increased armour. While smaller robots can dart in and out of battle quickly at the cost of much lower armour. As mentioned in one of our previous updates, this is going to take a lot of work to roll out across all movement parts. We are working on one movement type at a time, with the aim to release all of them together in our next major update. The Rotors will have 4 variables that will adjust the agility of robot which are affected by the type of parts you place on your robot. Light robots will see the following changes:
- Faster change in direction
- Faster strafing
- Faster turn speed (this also responds to turning on the spot to face your camera)
- Faster acceleration when moving forwards or backwards.
Here are the differences between a heavy and light robot accelerating forwards and backwards
Heavy Robots wont be able to strafe as fast as lighter robots, but theyll also be much slower in changing direction as seen from the strafing gif below
Giving lighter robots the ability to change direction very quickly also affects how fast they can switch between increasing and decreasing altitude too
We believe that the changes made will make each robot feel more unique in maneuverability and increase the quality of core game feel. Thanks for reading, if you have any feedback on any of the info in this post, do let us know! Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris
Early Feedback Response From The Community
Hi everyone, I wanted to append some info which is based on early responses to this announcement. Some players expressed concerns over inertia from the gifs that were shown, we do have a system that calculates inertia based on mass. The current work in progress gifs are the two extremes of light and heavy. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all think of these new physics changes once they go live. Thank you everyone for the initial feedback, continue to share more comments and I'll do my best to respond where possible.
Hello everyone! We have just left maintenance and the latest weapon balance changes are now live.
FLAK
Projectile Speed: 260 -> 500 Energy Cost: 1500 -> 1250 Cooldown between shots: 0.5 -> 0.25
T4 & T5 SEEKER
range: 226 -> 150
ION
energy cost: 4000 -> 3250 Range: 50 -> 75 Base inaccuracy: 7 -> 5 These changes are not directly linked to our weapon balance feedback thread. I have yet to collate the data input here so please make sure to continue posting feedback in this thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/301520/discussions/2/1744482869755567871/ it is likely this thread will be locked down at some point later today, so do provide any feedback when you can. A great deal of you have given us some awesome feedback and I'll be collating the info to send to the team very soon. All the best, ReelBigKris
Hello everyone! The first balance update is now live! It includes some nerfs, some buffs and weapon accuracy changes.
Laser Weapon Changes
Tier 0 - 10,260 Damage Tier 1 - 14,364 Tier 2 - 18,468 Tier 3 - 22,572 Tier 4 - 24,480 Tier 5 - 26,163
Plasma Weapon Changes
Tier 0 - 48,510 Tier 1 - 62,370 Tier 2 - 76,230 Tier 3 - 90,090 Tier 4 - 103,950 Tier 5 - 117,810
Rail Weapon Changes
Tier 1 - 70,200 Tier 2 - 85,800 Tier 3 - 101,400 Tier 4 - 117,000 Tier 5 - 132,600
Nano Weapon Changes
Tier 2 - 6,458 Tier 3 - 7,896 Tier 4 - 9,335
Aeroflak Weapon Changes
Tier 4 - 15,750 Tier 5 - 22,050
Seeker Weapon Changes
Tier 3 - 7,088 Tier 4 - 76,388 Tier 5 - 103,950
Ion Weapon Changes
Tier 4 - 210,000 Tier 5 - 282,975
Chaingun Weapon Changes
Tier 4 - 8,663 Tier 5 - 12,863 Mortar Weapon Changes Tier 5 - 236,250
Tesla Weapon Changes
Tier 2 - 54,600 Tier 3 - 68,250 Tier 4 - 81,900 Do try out the latest build and once you've had a few games, get in touch with us and let us know your feedback. We've created a pinned post in the Steam forums where you can give feedback to weapon balance changes. https://steamcommunity.com/app/301520/discussions/2/1744482869755567871/ We'll be sharing more juicy content in the coming weeks, but until then, Build, Drive, Fight! All the best, ReelBigKris
Below are the patch notes after the maintenance today 21/12/2018 - AI enemies Health Boost reduced in Challenge mode. - AI enemies Damage Boost reduced in Challenge mode. BALANCE CHANGES (applies to all game modes): Important: Please remember these values can change based on your feedback and our own data we collect. T4 Laser - Damage reduced to 27200 T5 Laser - Damage reduced to 29070 T2 Nano - Healing increased to 6150 T3 Nano - Healing increased to 7520 T4 Nano - Healing increased to 8890 T4 Aeroflak - Energy cost reduced to 1500 T5 Aeroflak - Energy cost reduced to 1500 T4 Ion - Damage increased to 200000 T5 Mortar - Energy cost reduced to 3600
The game will be offline on December 21, 2018 at 9:00am (UTC) to update the game and we expect this to take up to 30 minutes. Please be aware if we hit any issues it may take longer.
Thank you
Hello Robocrafters!
RoboPass has officially launched! Make sure to hop in to Robocraft right now to begin unlocking new cosmetics as part of this major update.
RoboPass is available in two flavours, RoboPass Free and RoboPass Plus. check out the GIF below to see the full content unlockable from grade 1 to 30!
Those with the free version of RoboPass will unlock the bottom row, Whilst players who purchase RoboPass Plus will unlock items from both rows!
RoboPass Plus will cost just $9.99, or your local price! Owners of Premium For Life will be given a 50% discount and will also progress through the grades much faster due to earning double EXP
New Christmas Challenge
One of the changes we made during this update is to change the naming of Campaigns to Challenges. We felt that this better represented the current game play. In addition we've also created a brand new challenge called "Sleigh Ride" where you'll face waves of Christmas themed robots on a Christmas themed map previously seen at the end of 2016.
New HoloFlags
Weve created several new holoflags for players to unlock. To celebrate our very first season of RoboPass there will also be a very special season 1 HoloFlag which will unlock at grade 11!
The Season 1 HoloFlag will be available for the free version of RoboPass and RoboPass Plus.
Previously revealed content
Over the last week we've been sharing news every single day, for those who missed these here are just a few of the new pieces of content which will be available with RoboPass:
Go Play RoboPass Season 1 now!
So without any further ado, The RoboPass update is live right now! It will be available to purchase in game for $9.99. Premium For Life players will receive a 50% discount! So go play it, give us your feedback!
Robocraft Update: #1.13-2665
Below are the full patch notes for the RoboPass Update; to find out more information about some of the new features and content, please read the accompanying post here.
NEW:
- RoboPass Season 1 is live! Earn XP to unlock free cosmetics, or buy RoboPass Plus to get lots of extra rewards from this Season. Premium For Life players get 50% off RoboPass Plus!
- Boost removal and associated weapon rebalance. Full details here.
- New Christmas Challenge Sleigh Ride available to play at all difficulty levels!
- New flaming exhaust blower and flaming exhaust stacks cosmetic cubes obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Death & Spawn Effects! Unlocked effects can be set in the Customize screen for each robot in your mothership.
- New Present spawn and Firework death effect obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Black hole spawn and Black Hole death effect obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Royale Lander spawn and Feather death effect obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Christmas Present (Large and Small variants) obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Neon Cubes obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Fairy Light cosmetic item obtainable via RoboPass.
- New T5 Seeker variant: Firework Launcher obtainable via RoboPass. Please note: This requires the unlocking of the T5 Seeker Launcher on the tech tree to use.
- New Holoflags: Snowflake, Candy Cane, Santa Cray, 2019, & RoboPass Season 1 obtainable via RoboPass.
- New Vapor Trails: Snowflake and Firework obtainable via RoboPass.
- New native real money store. A cleaner and clearer user interface for making in-game purchases.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS & CHANGES:
- Obtaining multiple Tech Points in a single battle (via gaining more than one level) will now only display one screen.
- Players below level 76 in Tiers 1 & 2 playing in Bronze or Silver ranks will be match-made in a different lobby to improve new user experience.
- Item shop now has notification badge on top-bar UI when new items are available for purchase.
- Added Quick Purchase buttons to currency UI to make it clear where to add more Cosmetic Credits and Premium.
- Updated pricing of real-money items to make local currency exchange rates more consistent.
- Item shop improvements.
BUG FIXES:
- Tesla blades properly animate to open when active.
- Windowmaker Module no longer highlights team mates when activated.
- Ghost Module effect no longer removed when another robot in battle is destroyed.
- 2000 CPU robots with additional cosmetics now display as T5, not TM in mothership UI. This also addressed an issue that prevented users queueing as a party if one members robot was considered TM due to cosmetic parts.
- Chaingun fire rate at 0 energy fixed to work as intended.
- Fixed T3 Cross Strut connection point issue.
- Robots downloaded from CRF are no longer given keyboard controls by default.
- Go to Tech Tree button now correctly opens Tech Tree UI.
- ESC now closes the language selection screen on login UI without throwing an error.
- If the party leader changes robot within the same Tier as the rest of the party, party members will no longer be kicked from queue.
- Windows firewall popup no longer triggers on first connection to multiplayer match.
- AI Players now show loadout correctly in pre-battle UI summary screen.
- Protonium core shimmer VFX properly disappears after protonium core is damaged but not destroyed.
- Custom avatars no longer removed for users without active Premium when dismissing the avatar selection dialogue with ESC key or Cancel.
- Premium bonus now correctly messaged as +100% not +25%. This awarded 100% bonus to Premium users correctly but messaged the premium bonus incorrectly.
- Item shop purchase confirmation text now correctly swapped with post-purchase thank you text.
- Brawl daily quest will not be drawn while Brawl mode is set to inactive as it cannot be achieved.
- Fixed issue where the Hover/Rotor daily quest Hover Over could not be completed.
- Custom Game UI now correctly renders on 4:3 resolutions.
- Glass Cube Health and Mass details now correct on tooltip UI
- Missing audio effect for when rolling over UI elements in Campaign details fixed.
- Fixed problem where users who haven't logged in for a long time would have their robots disappear from the CRF until their next login.
- Campaign restrictions now accurate across tiers. Previously there were exceptions where a part may have been permitted within the rules as written but excluded due to tier restrictions.
- Top 100 Holoflag missing texture fixed.
- Addressed edge case where a user with a pending completed quest confirmation pop-up would be stuck on a blurry screen when logging in.
- Addressed rare account corruption issue that prevented users from logging in.
Hey everyone! We are just one more day away until RoboPass launches!
Today we wanted to reveal another Cosmetic item. The T5 Firework Seeker!
The T5 Firework Seeker is based on the T5 Seeker but has a much more festive skin equipped with pre-lit fireworks which are used as projectiles! These projectiles also explode into a colourful firework display!
Balance Changes
Last week we shared some details on the balance changes that were coming to Robocraft in combination with RoboPass. Based on feedback from the community, the Seeker, Chaingun and Mortar have had their health reduced just a little bit. so the health per CPU is consistent for all weapons. Once this update goes live. We will follow the data very closely to see how players respond to these changes. Based on feedback we will change the numbers. Of course, once you play the latest update, do let us know your thoughts!
Planned Maintenance
To prepare the game for RoboPass and our other changes we will need to go into maintenance beginning from 10:00AM GMT and will last approximately three hours. Tomorrow well reveal the very last piece of content that will arrive as part of the RoboPass update as well as a full ChangeLog. Until then, Build, Drive Fight! ReelBigKris - Comms Manager
Hello Robocrafters!
It is but two days until RoboPass launches! Some of you may have been pretty eagle eyed during our first content tease drop for Robocraft! During the Spawn announcement, we shared an image of the customisation window.
You may have noticed an additional tab called Destruction Effects. These are special effects that play when your robot is destroyed by enemy players. There are three Destruction effects available to unlock in Robo Pass.
The first is the feather destruction effect. This effect is available to unlock for players for the free RoboPass and RoboPass Plus.
The second destruction effect is the firework!
And the final destruction effect which is the very last grade for RoboPass Plus is the Black Hole destruction effect
Not only do these effects look great, but each of them will play a sound effect when used!
RoboPass Season 1 will release on the 18th of December 2018! We know youre going to have a lot of fun with the content planned for this major seasonal update. But there is still more content to share. So until then, Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris - Comms Manager
RoboPass Season 1 will arrive in just a few days and weve already revealed a number of cosmetic unlocks Today were revealing another new type of cosmetic!
https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1723087600601888693
In todays post we wanted to share with you a new cosmetic piece which will behave just a little differently compared to previous types of cosmetic items. The Exhaust Blower
Once youve placed the the Exhaust Blower, your robot will look awesome. But once your robot starts moving, the Exhaust Blower will begin to function!
The flame effect that plays from the exhaust blower will only emit once you press the W key. This is the very first cosmetic item in Robocraft which will react to a button press from the player. In the future wed love to give players even more actions which are performed with a button press. Let us know what you think of this type of cosmetic item which react to button presses!
In just a few days all of our players will be able to experience the first ever RoboPass! Stay tuned to tomorrow's new content reveal. Until then, Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris - Comms Manager
Hello Robocrafters!
We are a few days away from the launch of our first ever RoboPass, currently set to go live on December 18th 2018!
RoboPass is a seasonal event where players can unlock new cosmetic items during the two month active period; RoboPass Season 1 will end February 18th 2019.
You can read more about what RoboPass is exactly by following the link below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1723087600601888693
Theres a ton of content coming with it that weve already announced which includes:
Brand New Spawn Effects
Players will be able to choose how they enter the fight with three awesome spawn effects.
New Cosmetic Item
The fairy lights were revealed as a new type of cosmetic item.
Present Cosmetics
Available in large and small!
Neon Cubes
Making their first appearance in Robocraft, these neon cubes debuted in Robocraft Infinity on the Xbox One.
And today we are revealing another pair of cosmetic items:
New Vapour Trails
Vapour trails allow players to set an effect which will follow their robots movements. As part of RoboPass season 1, there will be a couple of new trails which youll be able to place on your robot. The first one is the snowflake vapour trail.
Our second vapour trail effect is the firework vapour trail!
RoboPass is scheduled to go live on the 18th of December, but we still have more content to reveal! Check back tomorrow for more info! Until then, Build, Drive, Fight! ReelBigKris - Comms Manager
Dear Robocraft Community, For those of you who follow us on Twitter, you would have seen our announcements for our upcoming RoboPass feature that will be released alongside the Boosts removal update. Weve announced tons of new cosmetics that will make their way into the game through this RoboPass which will be released next week. A couple of you have inquired about the balance of the parts with this update, so this DevJam hopes to answer some of those questions.
Time to Kill
The community asked us to remove the Boosts, and so we are removing them with this RoboPass release. Removing Boosts brings with it a huge change to the TTK (Time To Kill), so in order to compensate for this, weve had to make some changes to the DPS (Damage Per Second) of the weapons. These change are reflected in the table below.
More like 2014
With such a big change to the balance of the game, we felt it would be a good idea to also make some adjustments to the weapons stats, to make them feel similar to how they were in the early Robocraft days. When Loot Crates were introduced, weapons were balanced so that a T0 Laser could be as effective as a T5 Laser, as robots were not split by Tiers any Tier of Laser could be used on your robot. They were balanced to be fairly equal when it came to DPS, however, after RoboPass T5 Lasers will be more powerful than T4 Lasers and this pattern will be true for all weapons. NB: The cooldown (time between shots) and Energy cost per shot have been normalised across weapon Tiers. This makes the firing rate the same for any Tier of that weapon, with Damage per shot, CPU Cost and Health being key differences as you go up the Tiers. [table] [tr] [th]Type[/th] [th]Tier[/th] [th]CPU Cost[/th] [th]Max Fire Rate[/th] [th]Energy Cost[/th] [th]Damage[/th] [th]Health[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]10[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]11,400[/td] [td]10,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]15,960[/td] [td]14,140[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]20,520[/td] [td]18,540[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]25,080[/td] [td]23,760[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]26[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]29,640[/td] [td]29,120[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Laser[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]250[/td] [td]6.67[/td] [td]500[/td] [td]29640[/td] [td]300000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]0[/td] [td]14[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]46,200[/td] [td]14,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]59,400[/td] [td]18,180[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]72,600[/td] [td]22,660[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]26[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]85,800[/td] [td]28,080[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]99,000[/td] [td]33,600[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Plasma[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]112,200[/td] [td]360,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Rail[/td] [td]1[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]1.33[/td] [td]2750[/td] [td]70,200[/td] [td]18,180[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Rail[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]1.33[/td] [td]2750[/td] [td]85,800[/td] [td]22,660[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Rail[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]26[/td] [td]1.33[/td] [td]2750[/td] [td]101,400[/td] [td]28,080[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Rail[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]30[/td] [td]1.33[/td] [td]2750[/td] [td]117,000[/td] [td]33,600[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Rail[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]260[/td] [td]1.33[/td] [td]2750[/td] [td]132,600[/td] [td]312,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Nano[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]18[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]5,130[/td] [td]18,540[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Nano[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]22[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]6,270[/td] [td]23,760[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Nano[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]26[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]7,410[/td] [td]29,120[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Aeroflak[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]150[/td] [td]2.0[/td] [td]1750[/td] [td]15,000[/td] [td]168,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Aeroflak[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]2.0[/td] [td]1750[/td] [td]21,000[/td] [td]360,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Seeker[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]100[/td] [td]13.33[/td] [td]300[/td] [td]6,750[/td] [td]130,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Seeker[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]140[/td] [td]2.5[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]72,750[/td] [td]196,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Seeker[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]275[/td] [td]2.5[/td] [td]2000[/td] [td]99,000[/td] [td]412,500[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ion[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]145[/td] [td]1.0[/td] [td]4000[/td] [td]174,000[/td] [td]162,400[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ion[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]245[/td] [td]1.0[/td] [td]4000[/td] [td]269,500[/td] [td]294,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Chaingun[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]165[/td] [td]10.0[/td] [td]1750[/td] [td]8,250[/td] [td]231,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Chaingun[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]325[/td] [td]10.0[/td] [td]1750[/td] [td]12,250[/td] [td]487,500[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Mortar[/td] [td]5[/td] [td]290[/td] [td]0.87[/td] [td]4500[/td] [td]225,000[/td] [td]435,000[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Tesla[/td] [td]2[/td] [td]16[/td] [td]4.0[/td] [td]1250[/td] [td]52,000[/td] [td]16,480[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Tesla[/td] [td]3[/td] [td]20[/td] [td]4.0[/td] [td]1250[/td] [td]65,000[/td] [td]21,600[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Tesla[/td] [td]4[/td] [td]24[/td] [td]4.0[/td] [td]1250[/td] [td]78,000[/td] [td]26,880[/td] [/tr] [/table]
Important Notes
- Cooldown (time between shots) and Energy per shot is the same for each tier of weapon
- Damage and health increase the higher the tier of the weapon
- CPU values of parts are not changing
- TTK(Time To Kill) is going to decrease due to the boost removal
- 20% reduction in speed boost
- Movement part health is getting a 10% increase
- Health and Damage boost are removed
- Laser projectile speeds at low Tier have been increased, so now they are slower as you progress to Tier 5 (meaning a higher skill with Lasers is required at higher Tiers)
Hello RoboCrafters!
Today we wanted to reveal a few new cosmetic pieces that will light up your robot. These new pieces of content will arrive on the 17th of December with the first season of RoboPass.
Our first reveal today is a brand new type of cosmetic item which has two connection points. Youll be able to create some beautiful patterns for your robots: The fairy lights
Weve decorated a robot with these new lights to show you just how it will look in game.
Additionally, for those who want to do something creative with the lights, the lights blink based on a BPM of 100! So its technically possible to match up a song to these lights.
To partner up with the fairy lights is another cosmetic item which is the present.
Available in both large and small, combined with the fairy lights you can create some beautiful festive robots! Here is a Santa Sleigh packed to the brim with the new present cosmetics.
Our last cosmetic reveal for today may be familiar to those of you who played Robocraft Infinity on Xbox One. Previously an Xbox One exclusive, the neon cubes will very soon be placeable in Robocraft.
These new cosmetic items will join the already announced spawning effects that were revealed yesterday as part of the RoboPass update. There will be more announced tomorrow! Until then, Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris - Communications manager
The RoboPass is coming! It is just the start of our growing efforts to provide players with content much more frequently. Read more about the details of the RoboPass by checking out the announcement below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1723087600601888693
Starting today we plan to reveal new info on RoboPass every day up to its launch on the 17th of December
Today we wanted to reveal three new spawn effects for your robots. The first of which will be familiar to many: the drop pod spawn!
The second spawn effect is the black hole which we revealed last week!
And finally, because were steadily approaching the holidays, the third spawn effect that players will be able to unlock is the present spawn.
You can have a different spawn effect for every robot in your garage via this customisation window:
Stay tuned for more updates as well be sharing more info between now and RoboPass release Until then, Build, Drive, Fight!
ReelBigKris - Communications Manager
Hey Robocrafters,
We have some great news about a major update coming before Christmas - ROBOPASS!
Many in the community have been asking us to give more information on this so in response, here is some more detail on RoboPass.
For a while now weve had a lot of requests from players who have unlocked everything in game, they want something to play for. RoboPass is designed to give everyone 2 months of new content to earn by playing and earning exp.
Heres how RoboPass works:
- RoboPass is a new screen added to the game
- Whenever you return to the Mothership after battle your progress on RoboPass will be updated
- RoboPass has 30 Grades, Grades are a bit like Levels but these are specific to RoboPass (Grades are earned at different rate to Player Levels)
- You earn Grades by gaining XP
- To get all 30 Grades will take around ~60 hours of play (based on average XP earning rate)
- To get everything you must earn all 30 grades within the 2 months that RoboPass will be running
- There are 2 x Rows of content, the bottom row is for players who are playing for free, so even if you do not own RoboPass Plus you can still unlock new content by earning the Grades
- The Top Row is called RoboPass Plus and ensures you unlock tons of extra content* on top of what is available for free
- Even if you don't own RoboPass Plus, your progress throughout the grades will be saved, so at any point in during the RoboPass period you will be able to buy RoboPass Plus and retrospectively unlock all the items for Grades you have previously earned
- The best content* is on the RoboPass Plus row but there is some cool content* on the top (free) row also
- Premium users progress through RoboPass 2x faster than those without Premium
- Premium for Life! Users will get a 50% discount on RoboPass Plus**
- RoboPass contains a total of $100 worth of new content*
- RoboPass Plus is $9.99 (so you get $100 content for $9.99)
- Premium for Life! Users get RoboPass Plus for $4.99 (so $100 content for $4.99)
Hello Robocrafters!
We have some pretty big news to share very shortly but first you may be wondering who on earth has hijacked the Robocraft announcements section. Im ReelBigKris, the new community manager on Robocraft.
Ive been within the games Industry for around 16 years working across retail, content creation, publishing and development. Its an honor to be a part of the studio and Ill do my very best to help the team hear the communities voice to improve the game further.
Last week we revealed that well be removing boosts from Robocraft to address some balancing issues, you can read the full details of this announcement by clicking the link below:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1721961065876589295
We were planning to launch these changes this week, however we are going to hold these back to release with RoboPass! A major update coming before Christmas.
Here's one of the custom spawn effects that will be part of RoboPass:
Do stay tuned for next week as well have some more news to share. Until then... Build, Drive, Fight!
Reel Big Kris - Communications Manager
Hey there Robocrafters!
Earlier in the week we challenged you to create some new starter Robots for us as we felt the current roster of Robots that new players receive when they first create a Robocraft account were fun to look at but not that great in a battle scenario. What we really wanted was Robots that were both FUN and FUNctional. So the challenge was set!
You accepted the challenge as we were inundated with some really cool and crazy looking Robots. You can see all the submissions by searching for "SB01" in the Factory. We were only looking for five and these will be added to the game on Monday, December 3rd, replacing the current starter Robots.
So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are the five our judging panel selected:
SB01 Robot by Addrion
SB01 ARMORED CRAY by Smilemachine
SB01 T-34 by FacuSQ
SB01 Blue Falcon by Accorlei
SB01 Vanguard by Meme_Turtle
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone that participated in the competition. If you enjoyed this and would like us to do more of them, please let us know in the comments below. Also, do you have a favourite? Again, let us know in the comments.
To see all submitted Robots, simply search for "SB01" in the Factory in-game.
Planned Maintenance:
In order for us to add these to Robocraft, we will need to take the game offline for a brief period in order to update the game. We will have maintenance at 10:00 (UTC) on Monday, December 3rd for a period of two hours. We don't expect the game to be offline that long, but just in case we hit any snags when deploying the update.
Thanks and happy gaming!
Dear Robocraft Community,
First off, thank you to everyone that recently re-joined the community and all newcomers since we released the Infinity update. Were really pleased that, on the whole, you liked the new direction.
We have something really special lined up for Christmas; another really huge update with loads of new content and some awesome new features. We will release details about it in a week or so, so keep an eye on the blog for more info on that.
Many of you in the community have given us feedback since the Infinity Update and we have been gathering this feedback and wanted to let you know of some plans.
Boosts be gone!
Boosts are a game mechanic in Robocraft; they are a set of percentages that are applied to a Robot's health, speed, and damage when building. Some new players don't find the Boost system as intuitive as we'd like and a majority of the community seem to want us to remove the Boosts, as they encourage min/max build behavior such as 'block spamming' and so we have decided that next week we will release an update with both Damage and Health Boosts removed. Speed Boost will remain (under the hood only) as adding more Thrusters will still make you go faster. The Boosts HUD will be removed from the game as it will no longer be needed. We will also rebalance both weapon damage and Nano healing to compensate for the removal of Boosts; we'll let you know in advance as to what these changes will be.
CPU Progression
Something wed like to introduce in future but havent yet planned in is CPU progression akin to previous versions of Robocraft. Heres how it might work:
- New players will start with a max CPU of 750
- Players earn 25 CPU each time they Level Up
- Players reach the max CPU of 2000 by Level 50
- Tier 1 will have a CPU cap of 1000, so any Robot larger than that will be Tier 2
- Tier 2 will have a cap of 1250, Tier 3, 1500 and Tier 4 1750
- The CPU caps are there to prevent new users having to fight Robots much bigger than they can build themselves and to provide a level playing field for competitive play
Physics and Long Term Diversity
CPU progression will provide some diversity with each Tier feeling quite different to the next, with Robots getting bigger as you go up the Tiers; but wed love to provide more diversity in future by adding some more realistic physics into the game. Heres the idea: F=ma F = ma, Newton's famous second law of motion denotes that heavy things accelerate and decelerate more slowly, which reduces their ability to change direction. Wed like to inject some more realistic physics into the game by making Mass (and the way you distribute that mass) much more important. Weapons and hardware tend to be heavy too, so Robots packing a bigger punch will tend to be less agile. Robots packing lots of health will be less agile also. Smaller, lighter, more nimble Robots may emerge, unable to defend a point but be very good in many other roles. Essentially we want to push diversity by making physics matter more in your builds. Adding this comes at a cost though - time and resource. This work will take a long time so were mentioning this early on to get an understanding from you in the community as to how important to Robocraft you think this is. Based on your feedback, we can put more devs on it if it's something that you feel is more important than more game modes for example. Please jump on the forums, on our social media spaces (Facebook / Twitter) if you like (or hate) this idea and then well get an idea of how much dev time we should spend making it happen versus doing other things. Thanks for listening!
UPDATE 17:13 (UTC): We're out of maintenance. Thanks!
PSA: We will be entering a short period of maintenance at 17:00 (UTC) to hotfix the game. We expect this to take up to 30 minutes.
Apologies for the short notice. Thanks for your patience while we update the game.
If you're a regular visitor to the Robocraft Hub here on Steam, you will have seen that with the recent Infinity Update, we updated the Robocraft branding too; replacing the old orange branding with a cooler looking blue hue and exciting new key art. One thing we didn't do though was update the game screenshots on the Steam page. With the art team currently focused on creating awesome new things that are coming to Robocraft soon, we don't have the bandwidth to capture new screenshots. So, we thought we'd call on you, our wonderful and incredibly creative community to assist in updating our assets.
Simply upload your best Robocraft screenshots to Steam; we'll pick our favourites and use them to promote the game right here on the Steam Store. In recognition for your hard work, we're also going to add the Robocrafter's name to any of the images we select.
What are we looking for?
Here are a few bullets to give you an idea as to the kind of screenshots we're looking for.
- Exciting battle scenes with lots of action
- Examples of Robots being built in Edit Mode
- Robots in Garage Bays
- Custom Mothership bays being used
TOP TIP: Turn the in-game HUD off/on by pressing the "=/+" key
Submission Criteria: There are a few 'rules' that you must adhere to or your images may not be selected.
- Uploaded screenshots must be 1920 x 1080 in dimension
- No photoshopping permitted
- Game graphics settings must be 'Fantastic' - there's no point in capturing images if they aren't the best they can be
Hey there Robocrafters,
It's been ages since we hosted a Robocraft Artbot competition and there are many of you out there in the community who love a design-based challenge. So, how do you fancy designing some new Starter Robots for Robocraft? These are the Robots that new players receive when creating a new account.
We know that the current starter Robots look like they're fun to play, but they're not as competitive as some of the opponents they go up against. What's the point in having a cool looking Robot if it gets destroyed within seconds? So we want to update them with some community-created Robots?
We're looking for five fabulous looking Robots that also play well in battle - this competition is about putting the FUN in Function.
If you to participate in the competition, you haven't got long as the competition ends at 23:59 (UTC) on Wednesday, November 28th. So get busy building and uploading your creations to the Factory!
RULES:
- Design a Robot that you believe new players coming to Robocraft would have fun with in battle
- The Robots must have form AND function - we want lovely looking Robots that can withstand a barrage of plasma or a well-placed rail
- Diversity - we want a range of different movement and weapon types - we're not looking for 5 mech or 5 wheeled vehicles
- Starter parts only - Robots with only T0 and T1 parts will be accepted (so no cosmetics or special parts)
- Tier 1 only - Submitted Robots should fit within the Tier 1 band
- Robots must be uploaded to the Factory in-game
- The names of the uploaded Robots must start with "SB01" - so we can filter the search results quickly and find all submissions
- All robots must be uploaded by 23:59 (UTC) on Wednesday 28th November 2018
- Winners will be announced on social media after the competition has closed
PRIZES:
- We will pick 5 winners
- The winning Robots will be added to Robocraft as Starter Robots for new players
- We will add the creator's name to the Robot (we reserve the right to chose a different name if required)
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which failed to display the inventory of some base and cosmetic parts even though they were unlocked on the Tech Tree
- T2 Laser health has been corrected to 15,795
- Pilot Seat description has been updated
- Corrected text on some flag descriptions
- Corrected energy consumption tooltip information on T3 (110) and T4 (175) Nano Weapons
- Gold chaingun tooltip has been updated to match the base part variant
OTHER CHANGES:
- Filtering by Tier in the Factory will now display Robots uploaded prior to the Infinity Update
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 10:00 (UTC) on Monday, November 26th for a period of one hour in order to hotfix the latest update.
Please be aware that although the maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, if we hit any issues it may take longer.
Thank you for your patience while we update the game.
The patch notes for the hotfix will be published during the downtime.
UPDATE 09:58 (UTC): We are out of maintenance! Happy gaming all
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 09:30 (UTC) on Friday, November 23rd to apply a hotfix to the game.
Please be aware that although the maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, if we hit any issues, it may take longer.
Thank you for your patience while we update the game.
Grab a deep discount on Lifetime Premium in our Autumn Sale. For a limited time, the price of Lifetime Premium has fall(en) by 30%.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/570960/Robocraft__Premium_for_Life_Pack/
Why buy Lifetime Premium at a discounted rate?
- Doubles the amount of experience (XP) earned from matches
- Allows all paint colours for use in the Editor than the standard colours
- Additional Cosmetic CPU
- Upload your own personal avatar picture
BUG FIXES:
- Mortar placement fixed - they can no longer be placed on the side or below a Robot
- Fixed some incorrect/missing text strings
- T5 Lasers and variants now have the correct health
- In-air Rail weapon crosshair accuracy corrected
- Fixed an issue with 21:9 aspect ratio displays not seeing the 'continue' button on the battle summary screen
- Cosmetic wing/rudder parts weight now match their base part
- Fixed a bug which caused the clan list to be cut short if it was opened while in the lobby queue
- Bubble Blower render limit decreased in-battle to prevent possible lag/clash exploiting by players
OTHER CHANGES:
- Updated the images on all bundles in the Item Shop to show all parts in the bundle
- New robots uploaded to the CRF will now be available for 24 months instead of 6 months
BALANCE CHANGES:
- T4 Chaingun energy consumption is now 2,350 per second from 1,882.5
- T4 Chaingun cooldown between shots is now 0.1 from 0.08333
- T5 Chaingun energy consumption is now 2450 per second from 1882.5
- T5 Chaingun cooldown between shots is now0.085 from 0.07142
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 10:00 (UTC) on Friday, November 16th for a period of two hours in order to hotfix the latest update.
Please be aware that although the maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, if we hit any issues it may take longer.
Thank you for your patience while we update the game.
The patch notes for the hotfix will be published during the downtime.
Play the all-new Infinity Update!
- Infinity Cube System - once you unlock a part on the Tech Tree or purchase a cosmetic, you can use it as many times as you like
- Tiers have returned to Robocraft
- New Tier 3 and Tier 4 Campaigns
- New Custom mothership skins (purchasable from the Item Shop when in rotation)
- More colors for all players - Premium players have 32 colors; free players have 10
- New Ops room Tab
- New Quickplay system - opt in or out of TDM and Battle Arena game modes
- New Item Shop for cosmetic items and custom mothership skins
- New Robot Ranking system tied to Tiers
- Infinity Factory (CRF)
- New Strut parts added to the game
- New weapon projectile effects
- New weapon projectile hit effects
- Edit mode HUD updated to display shortcut commands
- Robot voting system at the end of the battle
- New 'incomplete parts' system that alerts a player when they only have the left version of something so they are less confused when using the mirror function in edit mode
- HUD can be turned off in mothership and edit mode with = button
- New Feedback/Support/FAQ buttons
- Improvements to matchmaking - players now matched by Robot Tier
UPDATE 5: We're sorry for the radio silence. The team are hard at work on fixing tech tree/missing parts issues. We don't have an ETA on when the game will be back online. It'll be back up ASAP and not before. Thanks for hanging in there.
UPDATE 4: The game is currently in maintenance mode to address some new issues. Please bear with us as devs are fixing the problem ASAP. We apologize for the inconvenience.
UPDATE 3: Hey Robocrafters, thank you for your continued patience and support while we address the launch blocker. We're testing a new build and if all goes well, Steam players will be able to login in about an hour. Sorry for the downtime, but as you will have seen from the patch notes, this is a major update for Robocraft and sometimes issues don't show their heads until we test in a live environment.
Thanks again for your support and dedication to the game.
We will keep you updated.
UPDATE 2: Due to an issue with custom Avatars which is preventing the game from working, we are unable to exit maintenance at this time. In order to investigate and fix the issue, we need to extend maintenance by a further two hours.
We sincerely apologise for this delay.
UPDATE: Due to unforeseen issues when deploying the update, we have extended maintenance by one hour. We apologise for this inconvenience and delay.
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 09:00 (UTC) on Wednesday, November 14th for a period of four hours in order to add the Infinity Update to the game.
Please be aware that although the maintenance is expected to take up to four hours, if we hit any issues it may take longer.
Thank you for your patience while we update the game.
Read our recent announcement post that details some of the exciting things coming to Robocraft with this update.
Below are the full patch notes for the Infinity Update; to find out more information about some of the new features and content, please read the accompanying post here.
NEW:
- Infinity Cube System - once you unlock a part on the Tech Tree or purchase a cosmetic, you can use it as many times as you like
- Tiers return to Robocraft
- New Tier 3 and Tier 4 Campaigns
- New Custom mothership skins (purchasable from the Item Shop when in rotation)
- More colors for all players - Premium players have 32 colors; free players have 10
- New Ops room Tab containing the Tech Tree, Daily Quests and Tier overview screen (to see your Tier progress)
- New Quickplay system - opt in or out of TDM and Battle Arena game modes
- New Item Shop for cosmetic items and custom mothership skins
- New Robot Ranking system tied to the new Tiers
- Infinity Factory (CRF) - If you have the parts unlocked you can download Robots freely
- New Strut parts added to the game
- New Tech tree layout to accommodate changes and new parts
- Tech Point unlock costs reworked in line with item part Tier placement
- All Tier 0 and Tier 1 parts unlocked on the Tech Tree for new players. Existing players can unlock them at zero Tech Point cost
- New weapon projectile effects
- New weapon projectile hit effects
- Edit mode HUD updated to display shortcut commands
- Robot voting system at the end of battle - vote on the best robot from the top 5 scorers
- New 'incomplete parts' system that alerts a player when they only have the left version of something so they are less confused when using the mirror function in edit mode
- HUD can be turned off in mothership and edit mode with = button
- Feedback/Support/FAQ buttons in the Home screen
- Players matchmade by Robot Tier eg. Tier 3 Robots matched against Tier 3 Robots
- All party members must play with the same Robot Tier
- New Play menu layout
- New loading screens for Home/Test
- New battle loading screen
- New Lobby screen while waiting for battle
- New Login screen layout
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS & CHANGES:
- All players now have improved bay visuals
- The game checks a Robot has functional cubes (movement + weapons) before allowing it to enter battle
- Updated settings screen with tabs for Visual/Audio etc.
- Profanity filter enabled for all players and can no longer be switched off
- Players existing League Rank converted to new Tier 5 Rank
- Updated the Altimeter and Speedometer models to remove any units from the texture (ft/m & mph/kph)
- Updated old orange Robocraft branding to new blue Robocraft branding
- Updated the branding across the official Robocraft website, forums and social spaces
- Updated the minimum specification requirements on Steam Store
- Electroplates have been reorganised so there are three per Tier (T2, T3, T4 and T5)
- General lighting improvements on a number of maps
- Controls can be edited via the Pause Menu when in battle
- Settings can be edited via the Pause Menu when in battle
- Improved visual fades between game screens
- In-game user-interface now supports dynamic scaling to support higher monitor resolutions
- Improvements to the battle kill feed above the mini-map to make it easier to read
- Tooltips added to a number of buttons in-game to assist new players
- Improvements to Factory search filters (part of a series of planned improvements)
- Updated in-game buttons to 'Save and Test' and 'Save and Exit' to make it clearer for players when saving a Robot in edit mode
- General improvements to menu layouts in the game
- Building Gun model in Edit mode no longer displays selected cube quantity
- Paint Gun model updated in Edit mode to accommodate additional colors
- XP is earned more appropriately to the infinity unlocking system
- Forge and Recycle functionality removed as it is no longer required with players having infinite inventory
- League Arena mode removed - both TDM and BA game modes are now competitive and contribute to your Tier ranking. Players cannot drop rank any lower than their highest rank badge in each tier i.e. if you reach silver, you will never drop below silver but you can fluctuate between silver and gold
- General improvements to Campaign Mode
- Award Golden variants of the legendary weapon and movement parts to players who have 25+ of their regular version in their inventory prior to the Infinity Update
- Main menu screen improvements including a split screen showing the player's Robot on the right-hand side
- Windows XP no longer supported
- Hurt Locker achievement changed to Win a Campaign
BUG FIXES:
- The Gold Laser, Top 100 Holoflag, Gold Silver and Bronze badges are now displayed right at the bottom of the player's inventory rather than being grouped together
- Fixed a bug which caused jagged shading on the Cardboard Ion particle effects
- Campaign localisations further updated
- Fixed some missing localised language text in Campaign mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong error message to appear when attempting to enter a Campaign with a zero CPU Robot bay
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong voice-over to play at the start of a Campaign
- Fixed a bug which caused the music to clip in Test Mode
- Cardboard ION and Wheel parts now darken when damaged in-battle
- Fixed an issue with 'click focus' on the custom avatar image select pop-up
- Fixed a bug which sometimes caused AI weapons to fire through solid objects
- Fixed a collision issue on the Carbon 6 variant of T5 Plasma weapon
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Robots that are uploaded by new players' will not appear in search results when filtering by username
- Chat channel tags ([Clan] etc.) may overflow onto another line if they are long enough
- On the Battle Summary screen the get premium button displays even if you have premium
- The get Premium button on the Battle Summary screen will not open the Store
- Factory downloaded robots are defaulting to Keyboard Controls
We're very excited to announce that the Infinity Update will be released this Wednesday, November 14th. The Infinity Update is the culmination of many months of hard work from the development team and brings with it a number of changes and gameplay improvements to Robocraft including:
- Infinite Cubes and parts
- Tiers
- New Item Shop
- New Campaigns and Campaign Mode Improvements
- Custom Mothership Skins
- Additional paint colors for all playersl
- Visual FX improvements
- In-Battle improvements
- Play Menu improvements
- Factory improvements
- New Struts!!
Alongside the infinitisation and graphical overhaul that's coming to Robocraft with the planned Infinity Update, the team have also given Campaign Mode some love, with new Campaigns to play, game modes and improvements.
Tiered Campaigns
Campaigns have been tweaked so they're specific to a Tier. This means that alongside any other Campaign restrictions that are in place, your Robot must fit within a required Tier. Previous cube restrictions in both Target Practice and Mask Raid Campaigns have been lifted.
New Game Modes
The Infinity Update will introduce two new game modes to Campaign - Survival and Blitz.
- Survival - As the name suggests, you need to survive an ever-increasing horde of enemies until the timer hits zero.
- Blitz - This is a variation on the existing Elimination mode; only this time you have to destroy all the enemies within a time limit.
Other Improvements to Campaign Mode We'll be adding a number of improvements to Campaign Mode; check out the list below:
- Campaign Mode now supports multiple Robot types in a single wave
- Continuous spawning in a wave now supported
- The current Target Practice Campaign will be changed to a T1 Campaign where only T1 Robots are permitted to enter. Other restrictions have been lifted for this Campaign
- The Mask Raid Campaign will become a T2 Robot only Campaign. Other Campaign restrictions have been lifted
- Enemy robots now spawn in after the wave start countdown has ended
- In Campaigns where there is only one Boss, their health bar will be clearly displayed on-screen (see screenshot below)
Why the Infinity Update? As developers we want to be able to deliver more cool content and fabulous features to you faster, but as were currently split between three very different versions of Robocraft (RC Steam/Launcher, RC Infinity on Xbox One and the F2P Robocraft Infinity in China (co-developed with Tencent)) its incredibly difficult for a small indie to deliver on that. So with the Infinity Update, we will be bringing all the good stuff from the Chinese version to the Steam version. This parity between the versions will allow us to deliver more new features, improvements, bug fixes and content faster. The Infinity Update is scheduled for release in November and is Robocraft's single biggest update. As such, players should expect some issues on launch day. By working with us and reporting issues and bugs through our support system, we can fix them as quickly as possible. Thanks as always for your continued patience and support.
Hey there Robocrafters,
We're continuing our look at the new content coming to Robocraft this month in the planned Infinity Update; today we're going to take a peek behind the curtains and talk a bit about the new Item Shop and why not everything is free in a free-to-play game like Robocraft. But before we get into the fine details of the new Item Shop, we want to talk a little bit about revenue.
Free-to-play games aren't free-to-make
Games, like books and movies, are entertainment; to many, they're distractions from the real world. To us, they're our livelihoods; they're our chosen career. Some people choose a profession in medicine, we choose to make games. This won't be a surprise to many of you, but making games costs money; and more often than not, multiplayer online games that are run as a service (like Robocraft) cost considerably more to make and maintain than say a single-player 8-bit inspired game created by one talented person in their bedroom.
Keeping the lights on
Robocraft is developed by a team of incredibly talented and hard-working individuals whom all need to be paid for their hard work - they, like many of you, have families to feed and bills to pay. So how do we keep the Robocraft lights on when it is free-to-play? With your support; through the purchase of Premium, Cosmetic Credits, and in the past, crates. We're not going to sugar-coat this, or cover anything up; crates in Robocraft kept the lights on, and without crates in the game prior to them being removed, there's a very good chance that you wouldn't be reading this now.
We're not "money hungry" or "greedy devs" as some have stated; we're keeping the game powered and alive. But things change, and your feedback regarding crates in the game combined with the attitude shift towards them in the industry resulted in them being removed back in the early part of 2018. While the removal of crates from the game was the right thing to do, it hit us hard in terms of money coming in. When one well dries up, you need to look at sourcing water from other streams to keep the hydro-powered generator running that powers Robocraft's lights.
The Item Shop
With the Infinity Update, we're looking to source water from a new stream - the Item Shop.
We're not shying away from the fact that the Robocraft Item Shop looks similar in both form and function to the shop in the incredibly popular game Fortnite. Let's be honest here, they completely nailed it and it's incredibly hard not to be inspired by it. So we're adopting a similar model; with time-based, limited availability items that are rotated on a regular basis.
The Item Shop is split into two areas:
- FEATURED - with items being rotated every 7 days
- DAILY - with items being rotated every 24 hours
If you've been following our Infinity Update announcements, you'll know that we're bringing back Tiers to Robocraft. Be sure to check out our recent forum post on this exciting news if you haven't read it yet. To accommodate Tiers, we need to update other parts of Robocraft which are either directly or indirectly impacted by their reintroduction. One part of the game that is indirectly affected by Tiers is the Community Robot Factory (or Factory as referenced in-game), and so with the Infinity Update, we will be introducing some changes to the Factory. Please be aware that this is the first pass for the Factory and it will be improved further still. We'll be completely honest; we ran out of time! It just wasn't possible to get all the improvements in for the Infinity Update.
New Factory
The updated Factory will still be the place to upload and download Robots that have been created and shared by the community; it will just look somewhat different to what it does currently.
The new Factory will look just like the image above; you can see that Robit earnings are still displayed in the top left, and Search is still on the right-hand side of the screen. What has moved is the filter button. Please note that this is a temporary move, all filter options will return to the left side in a future update.
For the Infinity Update, we've streamlined the number of available filters; adding in tiers and limiting categories to movement and weapon type. As already mentioned, this is the first pass at the Factory; the art team is already working on improving the Factory. Here's a work-in-progress screenshot of what you can expect in a future update.
As you can see, a lot more filter options will be added later; so please bear with us during this transitionary period. Other visual changes you'll notice are that if you have selected "show locked bots" in the filter options, unavailable Robots will appear greyed-out in the results. Available Robots are highlighted blue; while the currently selected Robot will be highlighted in white.
Important information about Tier filters
Please note that any Robot uploaded before Infinity Update will not have Robot Ranking data embedded. This means that while the Tier will be correctly displayed and your Robots will appear in the CRF when NOT filtering by Tier; when filtering by Tier they will not appear.
We do recommend that you re-upload your Robots to the Factory once the Infinity Update releases if you want to get on the filtered Tier results. It's the perfect opportunity for your Robots to potentially fly to the top of the Factory market if they appear in the filter by Tier search results on release day.
Robit Rewards
If players upload Robots to the Factory, they'll earn Robits every time a downloaded Robot is played in battle. The maximum amount that can be earned is 15,000 Robits per Robot download. So, if your Robot is downloaded 100 times and each person that downloaded it completed 10 battles with it, you would earn 1,500,000 Robits!
But what will you spend the Robits on if there's no forge and all parts are infinite? Cosmetics! With the Infinity Update, we'll be launching a new Item Shop where you'll be able to spend your Robits on cool cosmetics. We'll be talking about the Item Shop in detail tomorrow, but rest assured, we've planned for lots of awesome items that you'll be able to spend your Robits on.
Why the Infinity Update?
As developers we want to be able to deliver more cool content and fabulous features to you faster, but as were currently split between three very different versions of Robocraft (RC Steam/Launcher, RC Infinity on Xbox One and the F2P Robocraft Infinity in China (co-developed with Tencent)) its incredibly difficult for a small indie to deliver on that. So with the Infinity Update, we will be bringing all the good stuff from the Chinese version to the Steam version. This parity between the versions will allow us to deliver more new features, improvements, bug fixes and content faster.
The Infinity Update is scheduled for release in November and is Robocraft's single biggest update. As such, players should expect some issues on launch day. By working with us and reporting issues and bugs through our support system, we can fix them as quickly as possible.
Thanks as always for your continued patience and support.
Hey there Robocrafters,
Today in our continued look at the forthcoming Infinity Update for Robocraft, we're going to dive into the new and improved "PLAY" menu, and talk a bit about Quick Play.
Along with all the new features and content we're adding to Robocraft with the Infinity Update, we are also giving the main menu and UI an overhaul, and introducing a new "Quick Play" option. As you can see from the screenshot below, the play menu is now split into three areas; "Multiplayer", "Single Player" and "Custom Play".
Multiplayer
For many of you, you just want to battle other Robots and are happy to play either Team Deathmatch or Battle Arena modes. Currently, you have to queue for either and take a chance that others are queueing up for the same game mode. As queuing up for a different game mode to others could lead to increased wait time to start a game, we're going to reduce queue times by giving you the option to jump into a random game mode. By default, the game will pick a game mode (currently TDM or BA) and you'll join other players in the same Robot Tier. The chosen Tier you'll be playing is displayed above the word "multiplayer" and this is based on the selected Robot. As you can see from the screenshot above, the Gladiator is a Tier 1 Robot.
If there's a particular game mode you don't want to play, you can opt-out of it by clicking on the cog icon in the multiplayer select box.
It's worth mentioning again that both Team Deathmatch and Battle Arena are 'ranked' game modes, and playing these will allow you to progress through the Tier Ranks. Read our recent Tiers announcement post for more information.
Where's Elimination?
You'll notice from the above screenshot that only Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch are available in Multiplayer mode; we know many of you will be wondering where Elimination is. Initially, only BA and TDM will be available in quick play; we are looking to add Elimination in the future, and we'll let you know more as and when we confirm the details. So stay tuned as they say!
Single Player
Single player is where you'll find Campaigns, Play Vs AI, and the game's Tutorial. We will have a new campaign ready for the Infinity Update, and we'll reveal what that is later in the week.
Custom Play
Clicking on Custom Play will take you to Custom Games and the BRAWL game modes.
To finish, and we apologise for repeating ourselves, but the Infinity Update is without question the biggest single update we've ever planned for Robocraft; the Infinity Update is more than just a new "PLAY" menu. Due to the sheer size/scope of the update we want to make it absolutely clear that there will in all likelihood be issues and bugs associated with the launch; it's simply not possible for us as a small dev team to have crossed all the "t"s and dotted all the "i"s and thought of everything when coding everything. But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues through support, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible.
Thanks for your continued support for Robocraft and for your patience when things don't always go to plan.
Hey all,
If youve been following our Twitter or Facebook channels, our Steam page, or visited the Robocraft forums in the past week, youll have no doubt seen our daily Infinity Update announcements and reveals.
If youve missed any of the announcements, heres what weve revealed to-date:
- The Great Golden Gun Exchange Programme
- The Infinity Cube System
- Tiers are Returning
- Custom Mothership Skins
- More Colors for all
- Visual FX Improvements
- In-Battle Improvements
Hey there Robocrafters,
Today we wanted to let you know about some very important Quality of Life improvements coming to Robocraft with the Infinity Update - specifically, in-battle QoL.
Battle-ready Robots
There's nothing more annoying to both you and your teammates when you enter battle with a Robot that isn't battle-ready. So, with the Infinity Update we will be running a background 'battle-ready check' prior to a player queuing up for battle. If your Robot doesn't have Movement Parts and/or Weapons attached, then you'll be presented with a little pop-up and you won't be able to queue.
In-battle Settings
One of the many QoL requests from our players is the ability to access the game's main settings and control/keyboard mapping options in-battle. We're pleased to announce that both of these will be accessible in-battle when the Infinity Update launches this month.
In-battle UI Improvements
Finally, the observant of you may have already spotted this in our earlier reveals, but the in-battle UI is also getting a fresh lick of paint. We've made a number of improvements to the in-game UI and you'll see these in the screenshot below. Among these improvements is that players will now see the correct team colors on the kill-feed located above the mini-map.
As you can probably imagine, the Infinity Update is shaping up to be the biggest single update we've ever released for Robocraft. As such, there will be issues with it when we launch it later this month. The team are working incredibly hard on fixing the bugs and issues associated with the update, but it simply isn't possible for us to spot every single issue and so we're going to need your help. Once the update is live and you see something unexpected or broken, please do let us know so we can fix it as quickly as possible.
Happy gaming!
As the development team take a well-earned break for the weekend, the Infinity Update reveals continue with gusto! We promise to keep this one short and sweet; we'll let the visuals do all the talking. As part of the Infinity Update, we're also updating the version of Unity (the development engine we use for creating Robocraft). This newer version of Unity brings with it a lot of cool new features, fixed some bugs caused by legacy systems that have been overhauled and has allowed us to give some of the visual effects (VFX) some love. Here's a couple of short video clips taken from a development build (and so are to be considered work in progress). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0L12N7bykc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRAE-n-C9Xk All of these lovely things do come at a cost though as we will no longer be able to support Windows XP when the Infinity Update is released later in November. Important information about the Infinity Update The Infinity Update is without question the biggest single update we've ever planned for Robocraft; it's more than just the introduction of the Infinity Cube system. Due to the sheer size/scope of the update we want to make it absolutely clear that there will in all likelihood be issues and bugs associated with the launch; it's simply not possible for us as a small dev team to have crossed all the "t"s and dotted all the "i"s and thought of everything when producing the update. But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues through our support team, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible. Thanks for being awesome!
Hey Robocrafters,
As we continue on our journey to release the Infinity Update, we're sharing with you some of the new features and content you'll be able to enjoy when the update lands later this month.
One of the most requested features from our community of awesome artbot builders is more colors; as many of you felt that the current palette was quite limiting. This can be especially so for those who don't have premium. So we've rooted through Bob Ross' box of acrylics and selected some lovely shades that we're bringing to Robocraft.
When the Infinity Update is released, Premium players will have an increased 32 color palette (up from 16) and free players will have 10 paint colors unlocked (up from 4). Check out the screenshot below of the new and improved color palettes. We're really excited to see how you use the new colors and so be sure to share your creations with us on our social channels and upload them to the Factory for others to view, download and enjoy in battle.
To finish, and I know we've already mentioned this in the previous posts, but the Infinity Update is blooming massive; we're adding so much content to the game that despite our best efforts, there will in all likelihood be day-one issues. But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible.
Thanks as always you awesome Robocrafters.
Hi,
Continuing with our look at all the new features and content coming to Robocraft with the Infinity Update later in November, today we can reveal that mothership bay changes aren't just for Hallowfest. No siree! You'll soon be able to change them whenever you want. With the Infinity Update, we are adding custom mothership skins!
Purchased via the new Item Shop with Cosmetic Credits, the custom mothership skins are applied to Robots via the 'configure' button (which is also getting a bit of a makeover) on the main game screen. This means that your different Robots can have different mothership and garage bay skins.
So, what skins are going to be available? Take a look at these beauts!
Three skins will be available initially, and the art team have promised more will be added in the future.
When you apply a custom skin, it not only updates the garage bay, it changes the edit mode view too. They're like Star Trek Holodecks made real (real in Robocraft).
New Standard Mothership bay
Alongside the new custom mothership bay, we will be switching all players, both free and premium, to a new fresh-looking mothership bay that can be seen in the screenshot below.
Important information about the Infinity Update
The Infinity Update is without question the biggest single update we've ever planned for Robocraft; it's more than just the introduction of the Infinity Cube system. Due to the sheer size/scope of the update we want to make it absolutely clear that there will in all likelihood be issues and bugs associated with the launch; it's simply not possible for us as a small dev team to have crossed all the "t"s and dotted all the "i"s and thought of everything when producing the update. But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues through our support team, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible.
Thanks for being awesome!
Hey there Robocrafters,
In the run-up to the Infinity Update that we plan to ship to you later this month, we're going to be revealing more about all the new content coming to your favourite Robo-building game. So far we've talked about how you can get some super-sweet golden guns and what the Infinity Cube system is. In this post we're going to cover Tiers, explaining what they are, how they'll work, and what changes they'll bring to the game. We'll also be sharing some screenshots of the amazing work the art-team have produced to highlight this new feature.
I know we've already mentioned this in the previous posts, but the Infinity Update is without question the biggest single update we've ever planned for Robocraft. Due to the sheer size/scope of the update we want to make it absolutely clear that there will in all likelihood be issues and bugs associated with the launch. But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible.
5 Tiers
Those of you who've been playing Robocraft since the early days will no doubt be familiar with the concept of Tiers as they were in the game back when it was still in Early Access. As part of the development of the game, they were later removed. After listening to your feedback and investigating alternatives, we are going to bring them back. As Robocraft has changed a lot since they were originally in the game, we couldn't simply add them back as they were. Instead, we went back to the drawing board and have worked them in from the ground-up.
Robocraft will soon have five standard Tiers used for matchmaking and an additional one for Megabots. A Robot's Tier placement is solely dependant on the parts used to construct the Robot; this is known as the "Robot Ranking". Any Robots built above 2,000 CPU will automatically be placed in the Megabot Tier, regardless of the robots Robot Ranking.
Robot Ranking
Every part in the game including cubes, weapons, modules and cosmetics will be given a Robot Ranking stat; you'll be able to see a part's ranking stat by hovering over it in your inventory. When constructing/editing a Robot, you'll see both the Robot's current Tier as well as a running Robot Ranking total. Adding more parts or changing parts for ones with a higher ranking stat will increase the ranking stat. Removing parts or changing them for parts with a lower ranking stat will decrease your Robot's ranking. Once a Robot ranking moves above or below a threshold, the Robot will change up/down a Tier. This system allows you to fine-tune your Robot to fit a desired Tier.
You may have already spotted this in the screenshot we released yesterday; with the introduction of Tiers, each Robot part will also be renamed to follow the previous Tier naming convention: eg. a Laser Wasp will become a T0 Laser, and a Laser Leviathan will become a T5 Laser etc. Please note that placing a T5 Laser on a Robot may not make the Robot a Tier 5 Robot, a Robot's Tier placement is calculated by the Robot Ranking.
Changes to Matchmaking
With the introduction of the Tiers, we no longer be matching players queuing for battle by MMR; players will be matched by the Tier of their Robot. Keeping both the MMR and Tier as a form of matchmaking would greatly increase the queue times for battle and so by removing one form of matchmaking, queue times will be improved.
New players will not initially be able to play in any Tier other than Tier 1. However, as they level up and unlock new parts on the Tech Tree and start building new Robots they will be able to play in other Tiers.
If you're playing with friends in a party, you will need to ensure you're all picking Robots with the same Tier. The Party widget and UI will clearly display what Tier each Party member is in and it will be clearly displayed in-game that this is the case.
Tier Rank Progression
One of the biggest game changers coming with Tiers is the introduction of a new form of game progression, Tier Ranking. Unlike the previous Tier system, the new Tiers will also have a Rank progression system, similar to current League but there will be one for each Tier. In each Tier you will be able to progress from Bronze through to Protonium by winning more games of TDM or Battle Arena (excluding custom games, BRAWLs or single-player games) than you lose.
As you move through the ranks, your progression bar will increase and decrease based on your wins and losses in battles. However, unlike the current League, in the new Tier system, once you acquire a whole Rank (eg. Tier 4 Gold) you will lock it in, so if you decide you want to mess around in T4 for a bit you wont ever lose that Gold rank.
Also the progression system will be different at each Rank and each Tier. This means it will be easier to get from Bronze to Silver than it is to get from Diamond to Protonium, and easier to get to Protonium in Tier 1 than it is in Tier 5. As you progress through the Tier ranks you'll be able to view your progress on the Tier Ranking screen via the "OPS ROOM" (more on this below).
We should point out that with the introduction of this new Tier-based progression system, we will be retiring the current one as the two are not compatible.The Old League badges will be unobtainable when Tiers have been added, but will remain in the game and be useable by players who have already unlocked them. All current League rankings will be transferred to the Tier 5 ranking.
Ops Room
To finish today's post, a number of you out there were intrigued to know what was hidden behind the Ops Room screen that was teased in yesterday's post. Well, we can reveal that the Ops Room is where you'll find the Tech Tree, Daily Quests and your Tier Rank. The Ops Room will grow as we add more content and features required to run your Robocraft mothership.
Again, we want to stipulate that the sheer scale of the Infinity Update will bring with it unforeseen issues and bugs but together we can stamp them out!
Thanks as always for your continued support and feedback for Robocraft, it is very much appreciated.
Hey all, Yesterday we told you all about our plans for the "Great Golden Gun Programme" that will reward those of you who've built up an inventory of legendary weapons and movement parts with unlimited golden variants when we release the Infinity Update later in November. In this post we're going to explain/re-cap a bit more about one of the biggest changes coming to Robocraft - infinite parts; explaining what it means and how it will affect you. Before we do, I just want to clarify a couple of points raised in relation to yesterday's Golden Gun forum post as there was some confusion as to what parts are included and if parts on robots were counted.
- Only the parts listed on the forum post (see here) are included in the programme. Legendary modules, blocks or Carbon 6/Cosmetic skins are not included
- Players must own at least 25 of an included legendary part either in their inventory or on any of their robots in order to qualify for the golden variant
- Players having an excess of one part cannot request a golden variant of another
- We have no plans to make the golden variants available to Robocraft PC players outside of this promotion at this time.
- If you don't currently have enough inventory to meet the minimum requirements, you've a couple of weeks before the update lands and so there's still some time to forge the parts. If you're low on Robits, consider recycling unwanted parts as these will become redundant when the Infinity Update is released. Remember premium offers triple the recycle rate and it's available to purchase in the in-game store.
Player Inventories When we release the Infinity Update (currently scheduled for Mid-November), all player accounts will be upgraded to the Infinite cubes system. Any parts a player has unlocked on the Tech Tree or any special cosmetic parts they own will be Infinitised! This means you'll have unlimited quantities of that part. Whether you have 1 Top Laser Wasp or 1,000, once the Infinity Update has been released, you'll have unlimited Top Laser Wasps. Even if you have zero Top Laser Wasps in your inventory, as long as it has been unlocked on the Tech Tree, it will be Infinitised. Boost your Robits balance As already mentioned, the Infinity Update will remove the recycle functionality, it will no longer be needed as everyone will have unlimited parts. So if you want to boost your Robits or Cosmetic Credits balance, we do recommend you recycle your inventory before the update to maximise your Robocraft Bank Balance. So, if you have five Pirate Flags, recycle 4 of them. Got 30 Steering Wheel Monster? Recycle five of them to take advantage of the special golden gun initiative. Pro-Tip: Premium will give you triple the Robits when recycling standard (non-cosmetic) parts. Spending Robits post-Infinity Update Currently, players use Robits to forge new parts; with the removal of the Forge, it would make Robits redundant as there would be nothing to spend them on. So, we're going to give you things to spend them on - cosmetics! As previously mentioned in an earlier dev jam, we're going to make some cosmetic parts forgeable with Robits. Some will still remain CC-exclusive, but rest-assured, there will be things to spend your hard-earned Robits on. Important information about the Infinity Update The Infinity Update is without question the biggest single update we've ever planned for Robocraft; it's more than just the introduction of the Infinity Cube system. There are so many new and exciting features and content being added to the game including Tiers, Quick Play, visual improvements, new Item Shop, CRF changes, and some new parts too. All of these and more we will be talking about in the run-up to the Infinity Update release! Due to the sheer size/scope of the update we want to make it absolutely clear that there will in all likelihood be issues and bugs associated with the launch; it's simply not possible for us as a small dev team to have crossed all the "t"s and dotted all the "i"s and thought of everything when coding all the great stuff that's coming! But, by working with us to raise any game-breaking / glaringly obvious issues through the correct channels, we'll be able to fix them as quickly as possible. Even though we don't have a confirmed release date yet, we're looking at dates that fall in the early part of the week so we can fix any game-breaking issues before the end of the week. Again, once we've nailed down the release date, we'll let you know. Thanks for your continued support for Robocraft and for your patience when things don't always go to plan.
Hey all,
It's time to announce the details of the "Great Golden Gun Exchange Programme".
When we announced our plans to "Infinitise" Robocraft, we revealed that we would be rewarding players who owned a number of legendary parts with sparkly golden variants that would be automatically added to player accounts upon the release of the Infinity Update. At the time, we were unsure as to how many copies of a legendary part you would need in order to get the golden variant and we stated that once this had been confirmed, we'd let you know.
So, how many parts do you need to get a golden variant? 25 (or more)!
If you have at least 25 of a Legendary movement or weapon part listed below prior to the Infinity Update, you'll receive a golden variant once the update is live.
Legendary Movement Parts:
- Steering Wheel Monster
- Wheel Monster
- Mech Leg Titan
- Hover Blade Hurricane
- Laser Leviathan
- Plasma Goliathon
- Rail Impaler
- LOML Viper
- Ion Distorter
- Chain Shredder
- Gyro Mortar
Deep Discount on Lifetime Premium in our Halloween Sale
This Halloween were slash(er)ing 30% off Lifetime Premium!!! A no-brainer of a deal for all you ghouls and zombies! This discount is now live until 17:00 (UTC) November 1st when purchasing it through Steam or in-game via Xsolla. Why buy Lifetime Premium at a discounted rate? - Doubles the amount of experience (XP) earned from matches - Allows all paint colours for use in the Editor than the standard four colours - Additional Cosmetic CPU - Upload your own personal avatar picture Sale prices: - Lifetime Premium: WAS: 31.99 / $44.99 / 37.99 - Lifetime Premium: NOW: 22.39 / $31.49 / 26.59 The sale prices in your country's currency can be found on the Robocraft Steam Store page or via the in-game shop. Remember, this will end at 17:00PM (UTC) on Thursday 1st November. Don't miss out!
Hey there Robocrafters, Please note that well be taking the game offline from 09:30 AM (UTC+1) for up to 1 hour on Friday October 26th for maintenance.
Thank you for your patience while we update Robocraft.
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 09:00 AM (UTC+1) for up to four hours on Tuesday October 23rd for essential server infrastructure maintenance.
With the team 100% focussed on delivering the forthcoming Infinity Update, we need to ensure that our server infrastructure and back-end systems are ready to support it. This four hour maintenance allows us to make any changes that are required.
We apologise for this extended downtime and we thank you for your patience and support while we lay the foundations for the future of Robocraft.
NEW:
Hallowfest 5 event:
- Time-limited Trick or Treat Campaign with exclusive night map
- Updated build-mode Mothership bay
- Maps updated with spooky pumpkins
- Promotional code for FREE cosmetic parts (code found in-game)
- Spooky sounds and music for Trick or Treat Campaign
OTHER CHANGES:
- All cosmetic parts now display a base health of 1
- Respawn shield bubble now works in Campaign mode excluding initial wave start respawn
- Spawn shield timer reduced from 10 seconds to five in Team Deathmatch and Campaign (respawns only) modes
- AI-controlled bots in Single Player vs AI mode can now use a wider range of weapons
- Restricted some parts that were unintentionally permitted in the Target
- Practice and Mask Raid Campaigns
BALANCE CHANGES:
The following spooky parts will receive a health boost for the duration of the Hallowfest 5 event. These boosts affect all game modes.
- Scary Mask base health increased to 1,620
- Spider Insect Legs base health increased to 74,250
- Vampire Bat Wing base health increased to 25,988
- Vampire Bat Rudder base health increased to 18,985
- Bat Wing base health increased to 21,938
- Bat Rudder base health increased to 15,525
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused some Robots with a low centre of mass to spawn underground in Campaign mode
- Fixed a bug which prevented voice-overs from playing in multiplayer games
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Team Deathmatch intro voice over plays at the start of any Campaign game played
Hallowfest 5 will bring with it a time-limited Trick or Treat Campaign complete with exclusive night map, a special promotional code that will unlock a number of scary cosmetic parts, an updated Mothership with animated haunted portraits of some of the developers, terrifying pumpkins scattered across the different maps and much, much more.
Trick or Treat Campaign:
Darkness has fallen across the land in the special time-limited Campaign, Trick or Treat. Battle five waves of ghastly robotic beasties across the darkened landscape of Hell Crater; complete with haunting sound effects and music. The Trick or Treat Campaign will require players to build Robots that utilise specific spooky cosmetic parts.
FREE spooky parts for all players:
To participate in the Trick or Treat Campaign, you will need to build a robot that uses Spider Insect Legs or Bat Wings and Rudders. We know that these parts can only be forged using Cosmetic Credits and so everyone is going to get a stack of them for FREE when redeeming a promotional code in-game. The code will only be valid until 23:59 (UTC) on November 4th so youll need to use it before then if you want the free parts. The code will be revealed in-game once the update is live.
When using the code, players will receive:
- 1x Complete Scary Mask
- 6x Spider Insect Legs
- 4x Vampire Bat Wings
- 4x Vampire Bat Rudders
- 4x Bat Wings
- 4x Bat Rudders
Please note that the spooky parts are cosmetic variants of existing base parts and players must have the base part unlocked in the Tech Tree and have available inventory in order to use the cosmetic variant. Health boost for spooky parts: The spooky parts will receive a health boost for the duration of the event. These boosts affect all game modes.
- Scary Mask base health increased to 1,620
- Spider Insect Legs base health increased to 74,250
- Vampire Bat Wing base health increased to 25,988
- Vampire Bat Rudder base health increased to 18,985
- Bat Wing base health increased to 21,938
- Bat Rudder base health increased to 15,525
Hey there Robocrafters,
Please note that well be taking the game offline from 10:00 AM (UTC+1) on Friday October 12th so we can apply a hotfix to the game. Please note that maintenance is expected to take up to one hour but could go on longer if we hit any issues when deploying the build.
The hotfix will address the following:
GAMEPLAY:
- Additional Campaign Mode language localisations added
- Team Victory banner updated to state Wave Complete in Campaign Mode - Updated the Victory and Defeat banners in TDM and Battle Arena/LA game
modes
BUG FIXES:
- Languages in Campaign mode now update correctly when changing language in the game client
- Fixed a bug which made the game unplayable if a Campaign mode image failed to load
- Fixed a bug which caused the animation and sound between Campaign Waves to be out of sync
Thanks for your continued patience and support while we update the game.
Last week, in the run-up to Campaign Mode First Draft launching, we released a couple of videos showing our community manager LeftofNever attempting to defeat a wave of killer bees in a few different Robots that were constructed very quickly with the sole intention of showing just how difficult Protonium level is in the new Campaign Mode. If you missed his gallant efforts, check out the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQRj5LAOU0&t=65s
Some of you out there were quick to pour scorn on our battle-weary CM for his apparent lack of gaming prowess when faced with 20 very angry bees and proclaimed that you could beat them without breaking into a sweat. So we want you to prove it! Show us a video of you beating any or all of the new campaigns on the hardest difficulty setting (Protonium).
We have 50 x 5,000 Cosmetic Credit bundles to give away and if you want to win one of them, simply share a video of yourself completing any Campaign game on Protonium Difficulty. We will then pick 50 videos at random, and their creators will each win 5,000 Cosmetic Credits.
Now, in order to validate your entry and to prove to us that you did indeed beat Campaign Mode on the hardest difficulty, you will need to capture your victory in video form, upload it to the Internet and share it with us on our Twitter page. You can use any video upload service but the video must be set to public and be viewable by anyone. You can if you want stream your efforts and share with us the recording afterwards. Remember also to include your Robocraft username in your Tweet so we can add the CC to the correct account!
Also, we don't want to see just the victory; we want to see the whole journey. This means you'll need to record video of yourself selecting the Robot and progressing through the Campaign Mode game from Wave 1 through to beating the Boss in Wave 5. It must be a single cut, with no sneaky edits.
Good luck!
NEW:
- Campaign Mode (First-Draft) - an exciting new single-player experience for
- Robocraft. Take on waves of Robots across five difficulty levels - will you defeat the Megabot final bosses?
- AI Robots in Campaign mode use a wider range of weapons:
- Laser
- Rail
- Plasma
- PSK/LOML (do not lock on but will fire)
- Ion
- Tesla
- Flak
- Mortar
- Chaingun
- Fixed a bug which caused some Robots equipped with hovers to be flipped when spawning
- Lock-on weapons now display the correct text
- Robot momentum no longer carries over upon respawn
- AI Plasma splash damage now works as intended
- AI can no longer see and shoot players using an active Ghost Module
Today, October 11th 2018, we released the first iteration of our new Campaign Mode for Robocraft. This early work-in-progress first-draft of Campaign has been added to Robocraft so we can get your valuable feedback on the new mode; allowing us to make the right design and development decisions that are important to you, our valued community of Robocrafters.
Campaign Mode is an exciting (currently) single-player game mode where you take-on waves of Robots before taking on a final Boss Robot. In todays update, we added 3 different campaign games for you to play; each offering a different set of game rules and Robots to fight against. We will add more campaign games in the future, with a special time-limited campaign coming next Thursday! Youll need to keep an eye on our social spaces to find out more about that from Monday.
Our plan is to update and iterate on Campaign mode based on your feedback which you can leave over on the official feedback thread on the forums.
NEW:
- Added promotional cardboard cubes and parts that will automatically unlock when Robocraft players purchase CardLife on Steam when it launches on October 9th. For more information on these exclusive parts, please read the blog post.
- In readiness for the new Campaign Mode launching on October 11th, XP earned in Play vs AI mode has been reduced. For more information on the new Campaign Mode, please read the blog post.
- Fixed a bug which prevented player display names from showing in friends and clans lists.
Hey there Robocrafters,
We’ll be taking the game offline from 10:00 AM (UTC+1) on Wednesday October 3rd so we can add the new cardboard cubes and parts to Robocraft. These cubes will be available to any Robocraft player that purchases our new game CardLife on Steam. To find out more about these cubes, read our recent blog post.
Please note that maintenance is expected to take up to one hour but could go on longer if we hit any issues when deploying the build.
The update will also fix the known issue with player names not displaying correctly in both friends and clans lists.
Thanks for your continued patience and support while we update the game.
Hey there Robocrafters,
It is with great excitement to reveal that on October 11th, we’ll be releasing an early, first-draft version of the new Campaigns mode for you play. It’s incredibly important to us that we make Campaigns mode the best it can be for you and for that we will need your constructive feedback on the new mode. So, instead of spending valuable development time second-guessing what we think you’d like, we’re going to release it early.
This version will be feature incomplete, will probably have a few bugs and is in no way representative of the final version, but we wanted to get it out to you early in order for you to give us your feedback and input on the development direction of Campaigns. With your constructive feedback on the new mode, we’ll be able to ensure that the Campaign development team’s focus is on the things that matter to you in Campaigns.
The first draft version will only have two or three campaigns available to you and the AI in those campaigns won’t be as intelligent as the final version; so do bear that in mind when decimating the waves of Robots intent on your destruction on the battlefield. Also, please be aware that there may be some placeholder artwork; which we will update throughout development. Basically, anything and everything could change; again, it’s entirely down to your feedback.
Leading up to release on the 11th, we’ll be revealing more about Campaigns on our social channels so please ensure you’re following us on Twitter and Facebook if you want the news as we announce it.
To finish, here’s a first-look at where Campaigns mode will sit within the play menu.
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook if you want the news as we announce it.
Here at Freejam we specialize in creating positive gaming experiences through user-generated content (UGC). We’ve been doing that with Robocraft since 2013 and in just over a week’s time we’ll be releasing our next UGC game on Steam built entirely around cardboard - CardLife.
To celebrate this milestone event and to thank those of you that choose to support us through the purchase of our games, we’ve collaborated with the CardLife team to bring some of their cardboard aesthetics to Robocraft.
What is CardLife?
Created by a dedicated and incredibly talented team here at Freejam Games, CardLife is an online science fantasy survival game made entirely of cardboard. Play by yourself or with others as you explore a fully editable cardboard world. Mine for resources, fight fantastical creatures and bring your imagination to life as you draw everything you craft. It’s coming to Steam Early Access on October 9th. If you haven’t already done so, you can add it to your wishlist over on Steam.
Check out the trailer for the game below.
https://youtu.be/4UOXMTcD9u4
How to claim your free cosmetics:
These new cosmetic parts are super-exclusive and can only be obtained by purchasing CardLife on Steam. When you purchase CardLife, the cosmetic parts will automatically appear in your Robocraft account when you next login through Steam. If you have multiple Robocraft accounts, please ensure that you login to your main Steam-linked account as the parts will be bound to the first account that it logs and parts are non-transferable.
As these parts are cosmetic variants of existing Robocraft parts, you must have those parts unlocked first, or you won’t be able to use them on your robots; they’ll remain locked until you unlock the vanilla part on the Tech Tree.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- 10,000 cardboard Medium Cubes
- 10,000 cardboard Medium Edge Cubes
- 2x cardboard Wheel Geoterrain
- 2x cardboard Steering Wheel Geoterrain
- 1x cardboard Ion Distorter
Hey there Robocrafters, As you know, last week’s new login system update didn’t go as well as we’d originally planned and hoped. Your incredibly valuable feedback on the update was key to us improving the player experience and reverting some of the changes we made.
Last week we rolled out a hotfix that removed the automatic login for Steam users and reintroduced the login dialogue box, allowing Steam players to login manually. There was still some additional work to be done in the display name department, and today’s update fixed the remaining issues players had with the update.
Here’s what we fixed:
- The #suffix has been removed from player names and so player names are unique once more
- Signing in with Steam will no longer dynamically change your display name in-game
- All players whose original Robocraft display name was dynamically changed to their Steam name or SteamUserXX, their original Robocraft display name has returned*
- Players that registered after the new login system update but before this hotfix went live will be asked to choose a display name when logging in for the first time
- All new Steam players will see a dialog box asking them to pick a display name when logging in for the first time.
Hey there Robocrafters, Please note that we’ll be taking the game offline from 09:00 AM (UTC+1) on Thursday 27th September so we can fix the remaining issues with player display names in Robocraft.
Please note that maintenance is expected to take up to three hours but could go on longer if we hit any issues when deploying the build.
The update will address/fix the following issues:
- The #suffix has been removed from player names and so player names will become unique once more
- Signing in with Steam will no longer dynamically change your display name in-game
- All players whose original Robocraft display name was dynamically changed to their Steam name or SteamUserXX name will have their display name reverted back to their display name. Please note that this does not apply to those that contacted support to request their display name be different from their original Robocraft username; those players will see their new name sans-suffix
- Players that registered after the new login system update but before this hotfix goes live will be asked to choose a display name when logging in after the hotfix is live
After this hotfix is live, all new Steam players will see a dialog box asking them to pick a display name when logging in for the first time.
Known issue: If a player has ticked “remember me” at login since the introduction of the new login system, they will see an error upon logging in and so will need to re-enter their username without the #suffix or registered email address.
Dear Robocraft Community,
Here’s another Dev Jam to keep you up to date on everything that the Robocraft team is working on at the moment and to give you some exciting news about a new work-in-progress feature we hope to release on Steam in the next few weeks.
Firstly I want to take the chance to let you know that we haven’t stopped working on all the things we said we’d do before, namely:
- The Big Robocraft Infinity upgrade - This is well on it’s way with several of the programmers working hard to do all the work necessary to make the upgrade possible
- Tiers - This is already complete and live in the China version of Robocraft Infinity currently in Closed Beta via Tencent’s WeGame platform, so as soon as we complete the Infinity Upgrade, Tiers will be included with it when it is launched
- Login and Display Names - We’re working hard to allow all users to have the Display name they had prior to the launch of the new login system and removing the four digit suffix from names displayed in-game
Campaigns
We've prototyped a Single Player Campaign system to see if it was fun. We kept it simple so we could get something together quickly so it works a bit like this:
- You have 5 ‘lives’
- You start the campaign and a ‘wave’ of enemies spawns in
- There are anything from 1 to 20 Robots in a wave
- All the Robots in a wave are the same design and we built that Robot for our tests
- AI controls the enemies (a bit like the AI in Single Player TDM at the moment)
- Once you kill all the enemies in a wave you get a new wave of different enemy Robots
- When you kill 4 waves the 5th wave is a boss megabot
- There are 5 difficulty levels, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and Protonium
- You don't need to complete a lower level before attempting to beat a higher one - you can jump straight into Protonium if you so wish.
- In Gold you get just 3 lives, in Diamond you get 2 and in Protonium you get just 1 life
- The different difficulty levels apply different Health Boost and Damage Boost values to the waves as well, so in Protonium enemy Robots are super buffed (like the buff that’s applied to you when everyone on your team has left the battle in BA and you’ve got to win against 5 solo), whereas in Bronze it’s like vanilla Robocraft balance
- Each Campaign can have ‘restrictions’ a bit like BRAWL, so perhaps you have to build a Robot with less than 750 CPU to Campaign A and build a Robot with only Thrusters and Lasers to enter Campaign B, and a Tier 1 Robot in Campaign C etc.
- The HUD shows how many enemies are left in the wave and how many lives you have left
- You get XP and Robit rewards for playing this game mode
- You also get to see the highest ‘wave’ you’ve reached in each difficulty level as the Campaign screen shows this
- Beating Bronze is easy if you have played a lot of Robocraft but we’d like to balance Protonium so even vets have a tough time getting it complete
Here’s a work in progress screenshot of the Campaign Briefing Screen:
Beyond the initial release we’re already working on a few quick improvements. Supporting a few different styles of Campaign like ‘Survival’ and ‘Timed Elimination’ and supporting multiple Robot types in a single wave and more weapons supported by the AI. We’re even adding a ‘Wave intro animation’ which allows you to see the enemies that will appear in the wave and will allow them to have some dialogue too so we can make the campaign have a bit of ‘flavour’ making them funny and light hearted. Here’s a work in progress GIF of the ‘wave intro’ animation:
UGC Campaigns - The exciting part!
We’ve been thinking that if when released you seem to like it and want us to keep working on it more, we could look at upgrading the whole system to allow you, our fabulous Robocrafters, to make and share their own campaigns. We’d love you to be able to create sets of Robots, upload them, configure the campaigns, balance them, name them, set the dialogue for the Robots that appear in the weave intro screen, and share them in a CRF style store where other users can play them, rate them, etc etc. If you really like the campaigns we can keep adding to it, supporting more functionality and co-op campaigns etc. Anyway, please let us know your thoughts on the idea. Happy gaming! Team Freejam
Hey there Robocrafters,
If you've been active in the game recently, you'll no doubt be aware that yesterday (September 17th), we rolled out a new website, forums and login system for Robocraft. While the launch of the new website and forums went without a hitch, the same couldn't be said for the new Robocraft login system. Unfortunately, the update was beset with issues relating to the new way we displayed player names and the automatic login of players loading the game via Steam.
We sincerely apologise for the obvious inconvenience and annoyance this caused many of our players who found themselves with unwelcome numbers after their usernames, incorrect usernames and the inability to choose which account to login to via Steam.
So, what are we going to do? We've listened to your feedback and wanted to let you know that we will revert some of the changes made yesterday. These will be rolled out in steps in the coming days to ensure a smooth and hopefully issue-free delivery.
- Remove the #hashcode from the end of player names in-game
- Bring back the old login system, allowing Steam users to choose which account they want to login to
- New players logging in via Steam will now get to choose a unique username at the point of playing for the first time
- Make usernames unique once more (no more multiple ToastyMike accounts)
- Any usernames that are currently incorrect will be reverted to their original name. Any players whose display name can't be reverted can request a change by contacting support
- Fix the current issue with usernames displaying incorrectly in both Friends and Clan lists
- Fix a bug which is causing the number 2 to appear at the end of player names
Hey there Robocrafters,
We've been busy bees here, working on updating Robocraft with a new login system, website and forums. All the hard work has now been completed and you can once again login to the game, visit the lovely new website to manage your game account online and post on the forums.
What's changed? We've updated our systems and you can now login to Robocraft using your in-game username, registered email address, or automatically through Steam. It's also possible for us to change player display names. So if you've found yourself locked out of your account due to an inappropriate username (remember Robocraft is a 10+ game), then you can request a new display name via support. Player names in-game will now display a unique identifier in the form of a four character hashcode (eg. ToastyMike#2341). This does mean that usernames will no longer be unique, but the hashcode assigned to the username will be.
Alongside the new login system, you'll find a new Robocraft website and a feature-rich vBulletin website for you to use.
Please note that while we migrate users to the new system, some players may experience longer-than-usual loading times while connecting to the game's servers. Also, players logging in via Steam may notice an additional number after their username and before the #XXXX; this is a temporary character and will be automatically removed once migration has been completed and they login once more.
Important information for Steam users:
When we announced the changes last month, we did state that Mac and Linux users would only be able to login automatically their Steam ID as the Robocraft launcher is Windows OS only. This, it turns out, caused a few unforeseen issues with some Mac, Linux and PC players wishing to login into an un-linked Robocraft account. So, in order to accommodate those players, we've got a little work-around so you can bypass the auto-login through Steam and input your account username/password instead.
By default the Robocraft client launched through Steam will automatically log that player in to their Steam account regardless of operating system. If you want to access your old standalone Robocraft account then you will have to do the following:
- Download the "LauncherLogin" file from here: http://patch.robocraftgame.com/LauncherLogin
- If the file downloaded is named `LauncherLogin.dms` , rename it to `LauncherLogin`
- In the Steam Client, right-click on the Robocraft game name in your library list and select "Properties"
- Click on the "Local Files" tab and select "Browse Local Files"
- Move the "LauncherLogin" file into this folder
- The Score to XP ratio in Play vs AI Mode has been updated to match all Multiplayer modes
Hey there Robocrafters,
We want to give you advance notice that on Monday, September 17th, from 09:00 (UTC+1) Robocraft will be offline for a period of four hours. The reason for this extended maintenance is so that we can deploy the new Robocraft login system and launch the new website and forums.
Click here to find out more about the Robocraft Login System
We apologise for the extended period of maintenance, but it is essential to ensure a smooth deployment of the new system and website.
We expect the maintenance to take up to four hours, but it could be extended if we hit any snags. Maintenance could also be less than four hours if the update goes swimmingly well without issues.
Thanks for your continued support and patience during this time.
It's time to don your favorite overalls and open the toolbox as building Robots in Robocraft has just got a lot more advanced. Today's update solely focuses on giving you more parts to build with; unlocking the potential to fine-tune your creations for maximum impact on the battlefield. With 24 new Cubes as well as the introduction of six new Rods, there never has been a better time to build the Robot of your dreams and take control of the battle!
All the new parts are now live and can be unlocked via the Tech Tree in-game.
Click here to read the patch notes
NEW:
- 12x Light Cube:
- Tech Point unlock cost: 3 Tech Points per Cube type
- Rarity: Epic
- CPU Load: 1 pFLOP
- Base Health: 675
- Health Boost: 0.06%
- Mass: 0.3kg
- 12x Heavy Cube:
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points per Cube type
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 1pFLOP
- Base Health: 1620
- Health Boost: 0.06%
- Mass: 100kg
- Rod Short
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 2 pFlops
- Base Health: 2700
- Mass: 2.0kg
- Rod Arc Short
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 2 pFlops
- Base Health: 2700
- Mass: 2.0kg
- Rod Diagonal 2D Short
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 2 pFlops
- Base Health: 2700
- Mass: 2.0kg
- Rod Plus
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 5 pFlops
- Base Health: 6750
- Mass: 5.0kg
- Rod Cross
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 5 pFlops
- Base Health: 6750
- Mass: 5.0kg
- Rod Frame
- Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
- Rarity: Rare
- CPU Load: 8 pFlops
- Base Health: 10800
- Mass: 8.0kg
OTHER CHANGES:
- Tech Tree adjustments to accommodate new Rods and Cubes:
- All Health Cubes have been renamed to Medium Cubes
- All Light Cubes have been renamed to Compact Cubes
- Compact Cube Tech Point cost increased from 1Tech Point to 5 Tech Points per cube
- Compact Cube forge cost increased from 120 Robits to 500 Robits
- Compact Cube recycle cost increased from 24 Robits to 125 Robits (Premium players will receive 3x this amount)
- Compact Cube rarity increased from Uncommon to Legendary
- Updated the Tech Point cost on some parts that had incorrect Tech Point values:
- Tank Track Elephant now cost 2 Tech Points
- Tank Track Mammoth now cost 3 Tech Points
- Electroshield D (Both) now cost 1 Tech Point
- Electroshield G (Both) now cost 1 Tech Point
- Rod Short renamed to Rod
- Strut Short renamed to Strut
Hey there Robocrafters!
Producer Phil here with another Dev Jam to talk about the upcoming additions to Robocraft. In our next update we’ll be releasing new rods for you guys to craft with and new classes of cubes to further hone your robots towards the style of play you most enjoy.
We originally planned for cubes and rods to launch alongside the tiers update but as the work is almost done we wanted to get it to you early! Don’t worry, we’re still hard at work to bring you all the improvements we promised in the previous Infinitisation Dev Jam as well as a new single-player mode (we'll reveal more on that soon™), but as you can imagine, overhauling the game while we integrate new features is no small task so please be patient as our expert team of jammers continue to improve Robocraft.
New Cubes!
As discussed in a previous Dev Jam we want to add a new cube system to allow more strategic building of robots. We already have a Light cube and a normal (Health) cube which each serve a different purpose but form a duality rather than a spectrum of approaches when designing and building a competitive fighting machine. Our new cube system will be more intuitive, as well as a powerful addition for those of you who love to get the most out of your robots; the cube system will have 4 types:
- Light Cubes
- Medium Cubes - existing Health Cubes will be renamed to Medium Cubes
- Heavy Cubes
- Compact Cubes - existing Light Cubes will be renamed to Compact Cubes
Light Cubes: The new version of Light Cubes are designed for flying attack craft and aerial dogfighters. They will be the same CPU as Medium Cubes but will be lighter and with less health. Builders will be able to build featherweight flyers and nimble duelists but the trade-off will be that they need to make themselves smaller targets and/or nimble pilots to mitigate the increased likelihood of structural damage in battle. Medium Cubes: Health Cubes will be renamed to Medium Cubes and have the same stats. They are middle-of-the-road cubes likely to be seen on starter bots (as they come automatically unlocked on the tech tree), art bots (due to their untextured nature lending themselves to clean pixel art) and jack-of-all-trades robots that need to balance speed with damage resistance in battle. Heavy Cubes: Heavy Cubes are a brand new addition to the Tech Tree. They will be the counterpoint to the Light Cubes and are designed for heavy tanks, point contesters, gunbeds, assault mechs, and megabots. They will be the same CPU as the Light and Medium Cubes but have higher higher health with the tradeoff of increased weight. The more direct builders amongst you that want an unsubtle robot that thrives in the heat of battle will want to upgrade your existing robots to Heavy Cubes. Compact Cubes: As already detailed, existing Light Cubes will be renamed to Compact Cubes.
New Rods!
In addition to the new Cubes system we’ve also created a set of Rods to open up even more building options. The more astute builders amongst you will spot some downsized versions of existing favourites, the 1x5 now has a 1x2 version, the 3x3 curve now has a 2x2 curve variant, and so on. We didn’t just make mini versions of existing Rods though; we're also introducing a new crossbar Rod too. Please note, the current Rod Short will be renamed to Rod to make sizing easier.
In the very near future we’ll also be bringing you Strut variants to further bolster your expanding roster of building parts. How do you get the new parts? When we release the new parts, they'll be added to the Tech Tree and you'll need to unlock some of them with Tech Points.
- Medium Cubes will remain as the default cube that's unlocked for everyone.
- Heavy Cubes will be added to the Tech Tree and cost 2 Tech Points each to unlock.
- Light Cubes will be moved further down the unlock path and unless you already have them unlocked require heavy cubes to be unlocked first. They will cost 3 Tech Points each to unlock.
- The Rods will cost 1 Tech Point for each variant.
Hey there Robocrafters,
There's no Dev Jam this week, instead we wanted to let you know about some very important changes coming soon™ to your Robocraft account, the Robocraft website and forum. So think of this blog post as a Public Service Announcement (PSA) rather than a Dev Jam.
New Unified Authentication System
As developers we're always thinking ahead and looking at the different ways we can make the playing experience across our current and future games better. One of the ways we can do this is to have a 'Unified Authentication' system in place. Unified Auth offers many benefits including the ability for players to login with a single account across multiple games rather than having to register each time we release a new game. Another benefit, one that's been requested for a while, is the ability to change your in-game name. Currently it's not possible to change a player's username once it has been created and so if a player creates an account with a username that isn't permitted, we need to suspend access to that account. With Unified Auth, we will be able to change a player's display name without breaking their account! Players will be able to request a change to their display name by contacting support and we will change player names on a case by case basis. In order to accommodate the new Unified Auth system, we need to make some changes to how player names are displayed. We will be adding a unique ID at the end of player names in the form of a four number hash eg. #7474. Anyone who has a battle.net account will already be familiar with this system. Unified Auth means that usernames will no longer be unique; so there may be many "toastymike" usernames but there will only be one "toastymike#2341" or "toastymike#5735".
New display name in-chat In-game, usernames will now be displayed as [username]#ID eg. toastymike#2341 and you'll need to ensure you enter the full player username + ID when directly communicating with players via the in-game chat or inviting them to a clan or party in-game. Important changes to game login: Currently you can load into Robocraft a number of different ways:
- Robocraft Launcher with your username & password
- Through Steam with your username & password
- Through Steam with your Steam ID (by clicking on the sign in with Steam button)
- Robocraft Launcher with your account email address & password
- Through Steam with your Steam ID
New Website
There's no denying the fact that the Robocraft, website is looking a bit tired and somewhat dated now. Robocraft is five years old and while the game has been improved and updated during this time, the website hasn't. So we're going to give it some love as part of our continued drive to improve the player experience both in and out of the game. We've got a gorgeous new website for you that is in-keeping with the other Freejam Games websites, Robocraft Infinity and CardLife. The new website will still have all the latest Robocraft news and info so should remain your first port of call for Robocraft-related info. You'll also be able to access your Robocraft player account through the website and access the new forums. Currently, if you want to update your registered account email you need to contact our support team. With the new Unified Auth system, we're putting the power to update your registered email and password in your hands! You'll soon be able to do this via your account page accessible via the new Robocraft website. You can also subscribe/unsubscribe to any of our newsletters from there too.
New Forum
Just like the website, the Robocraft forums are looking a bit old now and so with the Unified Auth changes and new website we felt it was the perfect time to update the forums too. The new forums will be powered by vBulletin which allows us to add some cool community features that aren't available with the current system. The new forums won't have as many sub-categories as the existing one as we'll be retiring a few of the less-frequented sub-categories. What about the old forums? It isn't possible for us to merge the two forums together but don't worry, we're not deleting the old ones. For now, you'll still be able to view the posts and link to them, but you won't be able to post new threads or comment on existing ones.
Coming Soon™
So when can you expect these changes? Well, if all testing goes to plan and there are no project-breaking bugs that prevent us from launching, we hope to make the changes within the next two weeks (as of 23rd August). We will let you know a definite date/time once we're happy with everything.
Hey there Robocrafters, it’s Hannah here!
The whole team is hard at work implementing Tiers currently, so for this week’s Dev Jam we thought we’d do a spotlight on our Art Team. We’re currently made up of three artists: myself, Wu, and James. Each of us sat down and wrote a little bit about what it’s like working at a small indie developer, our backgrounds, how we got into the industry, and why we do what we do. Lets begin with me first of all.
Hannah: Lead Artist
I’ve been at Freejam for over 2 and a half years now, and I literally get to do my dream job. I’ve always loved video games, they’ve been my biggest passion since I was a tiny child watching my Dad play Dungeon Keeper 2; so when I found out that making video games was actually a job that you can do, I pored over University courses to find the one that fit me best. After 3 years on a Game Art Design course, I started at Freejam, it was my first job in the Industry. I didn’t really know what to expect when I started here but it turns out I was pleasantly surprised; Freejam has a really nice vibe.
My specialisation is 3D Environment and Prop Art. The Lock-On Missile Launcher was the first piece of content I generated for Robocraft, and is still my favourite. The standard software I use is Maya for modelling, Photoshop for texturing, and Unity as our engine. However since we’re a small art team, I’ve also created large and small scale marketing assets, UI sprites, and also been involved in various design decisions. As Lead Artist, I’m involved in all the artistic decisions made in the game as well as actually getting to do fun art (and the inevitable bug fixing that comes along with it). I’m also involved in planning meetings, reviewing my fellow artists’ work and co-coordinating with our Producers to figure out their schedules and workload. There really aren’t enough hours in the day…
Working in a small art team means you have to be a Jill of all trades; like me, you’ll likely be involved in all different art disciplines so it helps to have some understanding of each one, even if you have a speciality. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to an aspiring Artist, especially if you’re looking to work for a small scale indie, is nail your art fundamentals - composition, colour theory, anatomy, material definition, understanding of design principles, etc. They all transfer into every piece of work you do, whether that’s you generating a cool new weapon, putting together an environment, or designing a new UI screen. As an Artist, allow yourself to be inspired by your favourite games, movies, and other media! The artists who made them put in a huge amount of time and effort and also likely looked at reams and reams of real world reference to ground that cool thing they designed in reality; engine blocks, 1950’s bumper cars, the inside of a nuclear reactor, brutalist architecture, sports cars, natural rock formations, drones, etc. These are just a teeny tiny selection of things I’ve been inspired by while working at Freejam. One of the best things about working on Robocraft is the creative freedom we’re given. We’re given a goal e.g. give the players better feedback during battle, and as artists we can set out to achieve that goal in any way we see fit. The recent Weapon Feedback update was a massive collaborative effort between the Art Team, the Coders we had assigned to support us, and Designers’ input. It was a really fun challenge, being able to sit down to play the game together and see what a difference our ideas made to the pace and feel of battling was really rewarding.
James: VFX Artist
I've been developing games since I was 9 years old when my dad taught me BASIC. I started designing and coding games in my spare time outside of school and eventually spent most of my lunchtimes developing games in the school IT rooms and doodling game designs on scraps of paper between classes. I wanted to go into gameplay programming, so I applied to universities to do programming and got into a Computer Science course, where I learned how to code properly. Unfortunately, Computer Science wasn't the kind of practical course I was looking for and I left after 2 years to work out what I wanted to do. Eventually I ended up deciding to go into cinema special effects, but after a year I remembered that my real love was games and I last-minute transferred directly into the second year of a Games Art course and learnt 3D art, shader programming, and modern graphics technology. I graduated in 2017 and later applied for a job at Freejam as a Visual Effects Artist. While I'm primarily a VFX Artist, my background is in Technical Art, which involves programming material shaders, post-process and camera image effects, scripting, rigging character models and getting all the technical parts of a games art working, basically bridging the gap between art and code. At FreeJam I've worked on many effects, but my favourite thing to work on was the Tech Point screen where I coded the materials and surface lighting, created the visual effects, and created the animation for the tech points.
Working in a small indie team is amazing because we have a tight-knit community of developers and this means everyone has to cover a wide skill set. It's nice to have such a variety of challenges and no two days are ever the same. Keeping on top of many different art and code disciplines is important so that I can understand problems that come from both sides and communicate well between them.
Wu: UI Artist
At Freejam, I create new game UI for Robocraft including menus, buttons, and HUD. Recently I worked on the Weapon Feedback update and the upcoming Infinity update, which contains UI improvements for the entire game.
I have background knowledge in various area such as Architecture, 3D Art, Graphic Design, & VR. Previously, I worked as a Freelance Graphic Designer supporting independent businesses. Working for a small indie developer is busy but nice. I enjoy collaborating with other artists and designers in the team to achieve a better user experience for players. It also allows me to explore freely and come up with ideas that will improve the visuals of Robocraft. Robocraft has been out for 5 years and it’s still constantly evolving. Much of the existing UI might be accepted by current Robocraft players but I always have new ideas to improve the user’s experience, making it cleaner, clearer, and more enjoyable. I believe art in Robocraft should always remain progressive in order to attract new players and keep the community alive.
My main advice for working in the game industry is don’t restrict your art style because you are good at it. Be versatile and gain knowledge of different things. It helps a lot if you have knowledge of other art disciplines or even code/design; it will greatly improve the outcome of the collaboration with your colleagues. Thanks for reading guys, we’ll keep you updated on what’s happening at Freejam! Have fun <3 Hannah
Hey Robcrafters! Now the game has been hotfixed and maintenance is over, please find the patch notes below. BUG FIXES:
- Light cube mass set to 2 kg.
- Vampire rudder mass set to 7.6 kg and Bat rudder mass set to 8.8 kg.
- Bat wing mass set to 11.7 kg.
- Rail gun ‘in-air’ accuracy decreased when robot is not touching the ground.
- Energy text in the cross-hair removed.
NEW:
- Improved weapon feedback systems - click here to find out more about these new features
- Audio Improvements including new laser sounds and dynamic sound mixing
OTHER CHANGES:
- Improvements to CRF sorting algorithm to favour more recently uploaded Robots from active players
- Changes to Game Mode order on play menu
- [NEW PLAYER LEVEL XP - For players with a low level, we have reduced the experience required to level-up.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to move under the map when blinking through the enemy base shield
- Fixed an audio bug on Propellers, Hovers, Rotors and Thrusters
- Fixed a bug which prevented some hotkeys from working on the Tech Tree and Quests screens
- Fixed a bug which allowed some buttons to be pressed whilst the pause menu was displayed
- Fixed a bug which permitted players to unfairly gain XP in edit mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the cosmetic seats to be displaced in some game modes
- Fixed a bug that caused the player to get stuck on a screen when attempting to purchase Premium via the Battle Summary screen at the end of a League match
- Fixed a visual bug with the Gold Developer Supporter Flag trail
Hey there Robocrafters,
We’re keen to continue to share with you what it is we’re working on in Robocraft. Recently we released a Dev Jam explaining Tiers, If you didn’t catch that one, you can read about it here.
With the majority of the team focussed on the Tiers update (planned to release with the Infinity changes), we’ve carved out some time to add a few quality of life changes. The most obvious thing was to get the improved fighting experience which is in the PC version of Robocraft Infinity into the Steam version of Robocraft. In this Dev Jam we're going to focus on all the cool stuff the art, audio and indeed code teams are doing to make firing weapons and engaging in Robot fisticuffs feel awesome.
ROBOT RECOIL AND CAMERA FEEDBACK SYSTEMS
We took a hard look at what made an arena shooter feel really immersive and cool. The first and most obvious thing that we have, but could improve substantially, was the visual feedback relayed through the camera. Currently we have some feedback to the player that they are in the midst of a fight, firing weapons and taking hits, but we wanted to really drill home that you’re firing futuristic military-grade weaponry in the midst of interplanetary conflict and do so in a way that quickly read as meaningful feedback without being intrusive to the battle experience. So, we added a “Robot Recoil” system and a new “Camera Feedback” system to give us loads of control over how you ‘feel’ the weapons when they fire and when you take damage. Each weapon has been given a unique recoil action to really make it feel satisfying to fire; watch your mech strain against the force of unleashing barrages of plasma, feel the lull after a massive railshot as the weapon works to load another devastating round into the breach or revel in the vibrations generated by the chain shredder pumping out damage at a monumental rate. BTW, you will have the option to disable camera feedback effects if you don’t like them, but rest assured we’ve kept camera movement to a minimum, focusing on only subtle polished movements with the majority of feedback coming from audio, SFX, Robot movement/recoil and other UI feedback. Additionally, in the heat of battle, it's important to know who's shooting at you and from where, quickly. Having the robot get visually impacted while being shot helps you work out your bearings faster than ever; being hit will move the robot based on the direction of the incoming shot, letting you know where the damage is coming from. The scale of the visual impact is based partly on damage taken, meaning if you receive a huge hit (perhaps from a top tier rail or plasma) you’ll not only see large chunks of your robot missing, but it will lurch as if it took a huge hit, much more so than if you were being peppered by small laser fire.
It’s worth noting that we apply this force in a purely visual manner, so don't worry about your carefully-tuned drone getting blown off course by a stray laser! In future we plan to make the red vignette at the edges of the screen be directional to improve the feedback for where damage is coming from.
AUDIO IMPROVEMENTS
With all these visual improvements designed to make battle as immersive as possible we had to have our maestro Simone take some time to improve the audio too. Here are a few audio clips of the new improved sound effects for Laser and Plasma fire. https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/robocraft-enemy-plasma-audio https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/robocraft-player-lasers-audio https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/robocraft-laser-enemy-audio Not only has he improved on the audio samples for a number of weapons, Simone is currently integrating the Resonance Audio plugin into Robocraft. This incredible spatialization engine from Google simulates how sound waves interact with human ears and their environment. In Robocraft this means that you'll be able to detect where you are being attacked from without even seeing the enemy - it's a real game changer. For example, if an enemy fires a Plasma volley and you're close to it, the audio you hear will be different to an attack from a greater distance or if the enemy is to your left or right. Paired with the audio rework on the samples, everything will sound less noisy and much more detailed. If you're interested in finding out a bit more about the Resonance Audio plugin, check out this short video presentation; while not related directly to Robocraft, it will give you an idea as to its potential in the game. https://youtu.be/IYdx9cnHN8I
REGULAR HITS AND CRITICAL HITS
While we were working on making your favourite weapon really feel like it should, we also wanted to make some other visual improvements to reinforce what is going on while you’re playing. While we clearly show health bars and have some visual feedback, we could communicate a lot better what is happening when you attack or or heal someone. We decided that having the damage inflicted appear in numerical form would really convey that it’s you hitting and damaging your target and our crosshair improvements will further reinforce your shots connecting with an enemy hull. More traditional games with humanoid models have a simple rule that is generally applied: A headshot is a critical hit and deals bonus damage. This allows for a refinement of skill and allows the great players to separate themselves even further from the good players. Considering this we realised that we have the same principle in Robocraft: destroying vulnerable cubes to sever large chunks of robots results in a much larger net DPS than targeting individual cubes.
We quickly established a simple visual language: White is a hit, red is a critical hit. We then wanted to make it clear when you landed a hit; in the maelstrom of battle it’s not always clear when you’re landing damage on the enemy and when it is your teammates. To this end we added numbers that will come off the enemy robots that indicate damage you are doing. If you score a “crit” (defined as doing more than 2x the damage the weapon is normally capable of) then the text will turn red. For most veteran players this will reinforce old practices but we also hope it will subtly teach new players that aiming for joints to destroy more cubes with less parts is at the core of a good robocrafters strategy.
Nanos have been a firm part of the hybrid or medic build for a long time but we have always had one issue we never properly resolved: Am I wasting nano on healing someone who is fully repaired or do they still need healing in some way? With the new numerical damage system nanos will generate green numbers when you heal an ally telling you how much you are healing them for. Numbers will stop being generated when the affected player has been healed to full health so you can save your energy or turn your attention to another wounded ally much quicker. Thanks again for taking the time to read through the Dev Jam; we’ll have another for you soon.. Happy Gaming! Freejam
If you follow us on Twitter, you'll have no doubt seen that we recently gave you the opportunity to vote on what the next BRAWL should be. Over the course of a week, we published a number of polls, giving you different BRAWL settings/rules to vote on.
The results of those polls determined that you wanted a 10 v 10 Elimination with a max CPU of 1,500 and auto-heal off. So, that's what we've done and you can play it now as it's live in the game!
BRAWL Rules:
- Game mode: Elimination
- Team sizes: 10 v 10
- Maps: Random
- Auto-heal: Off
- Max CPU: 1,500
- Parts/Weapons: All permitted
- First win bonus: 2x XP
We'll be doing another BRAWL vote soon over on our Facebook page; follow us there if you want to participate and chose the next BRAWL rules.
Hey there Robocrafters,
As you'll know, if you read last week's Dev Jam, we're keen to share with you with more frequency what it is we're working on in Robocraft. Last week we released a Dev Jam explaining how we’re planning to upgrade the Steam version to Robocraft Infinity. If you didn’t catch that one, you can read about it here.
With the Tech Tree now live in Robocraft, our focus has now shifted on to the Tiers system. As we’re currently adding Tiers to the PC version of Robocraft Infinity, which will come to the Steam version when we upgrade it to the Infinity version, we wanted to give some more detail on how Tiers will work.
Tiers
If you've been playing Robocraft for a while, you may already be familiar with the concept of Tiers as they were in Robocraft back when the game was still in Early Access. Although we removed them as part of the continual development of the game, many of you in the community felt that was a mistake and so we have decided to bring them back. But rather than just bringing them back as they were, we've woven them into some of the cool features we have added since their original removal; such as additional game modes, League Ranking and things like that. Here is a breakdown of how Tiers will work:
5 Tiers
- There will be 5 standard Tiers plus one for Megabots (T1-5 and TM)
- Each Robot part will have a Robot Ranking and this will be displayed as a stat in the Inventory screen
- Each Robot part will also be renamed to follow the previous Tier naming convention: eg. a Laser Wasp will become a T1 Laser, and a Laser Leviathan will become a T5 Laser*
- All Robots will be placed in a Tier; this will be based on the total sum of the Robot Rankings of all the parts used on that Robot
- As you build a Robot, it's Robot Ranking and Tier will be clearly shown, so you’ll be able to easily optimize your Robot for each Tier
- Any Robots built above 2,000 CPU will be regarded as Megabots and will be placed in the Megabot Tier
- When you enter battle you will be match-made with other Robots of the same Tier
- New players will not initially be able to play in any Tier other than Tier 1
- By unlocking new parts on the Tech Tree and building Robots with them, players will be able to progress through the Tiers from T1 to T5
- Each Tier will have an XP bonus; with the higher Tiers providing more XP than lower Tiers
- Players will need to design Robots that are optimal for each Tier by paying careful attention to the Robot Ranking
- The Tier of any Robots in your Garage and those on the CRF will be clearly displayed in their thumbnail image
- We will also add a Tier filter to the CRF to make it easier to find Robots for a given Tier
- All players in a Party will need to ensure their Robots are the same Tier before entering a battle
- The Party widget and UI will clearly display what Tier each Party member is in and we will message this so that players understand this is the case
- The Battle Loading Screen will be updated to show the Tier of every Robot in battle so that users can see that the game is fairly match-made by Tier
Tier Rank Progression
- Unlike the previous Tier system, the new Tiers will also have a Rank progression system similar to current League but there will be one for each Tier
- In each Tier you will be able to progress from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond to Protonium by winning more battles than losing via the MMR system that is in League (aka like an ELO system)
- Unlike the current League, in the new Tier system, once you acquire a whole Rank (eg. Tier 4 Gold) you will ‘lock it in’, so if you decide you want to mess around in T4 for a bit you won’t ever lose that Gold rank
- In between each Rank you will still gain and lose MMR as you win and lose battles so you will need to win more than you lose to lock in that next rank
- The MMR system will be different at each Rank and each Tier so that it is easier to get from Bronze to Silver than it is to get from Diamond to Protonium, and easier to get to Protonium in T1 than it is in T5
- A new Tier Rankings screen will be added so you can see your progress in each Tier at any time
- A new Tier progression screen will be shown at the end of each battle to show your progress in the ranking of each Tier
Multiple Game Modes, One Button
- In order to allow for Tiers to come back we are moving Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch to a single ‘Battle’ button
- We will also be bringing back Elimination permanently (this will be 8 vs. 8)
- When players queue for battle, a game mode will be chosen at random, so you will get a different mode and/or map each time you enter battle
- This system has been designed for a number of benefits:
- More players in the same queue that will allow us to matchmake fairly by Tier
- Keep the queue times down
- It allows us to add more game mode variants in future
- There will be a settings option for game modes that allow you to ‘opt out’ of game modes you do not like. Please note that opting out of some game modes may result in longer queue times; so it will be down to player preference
In this small update, we've made a few improvements to how XP is earned in Robocraft.
- Earn XP in build mode - In order to reward those players who prefer to spend time building robots rather than battling, players will now earn XP when they build their own robots. The Building XP system simply allows players to level up while they are in build mode, generating an amount of level experience as if they were in Battle. As long as you’re actively building, and not just sitting in the edit mode, you’ll earn XP.
- Removal of Mastery System - With the addition of XP for building, the old Mastery System has been removed from the game. Players whose Robots are downloaded from the CRF and used in battles by other players will still be rewarded with Robits - this functionality has not been removed. When a Robot is downloaded from the CRF and used in battle, the creator will receive 1,500 Robits per battle for up to ten battles. This means that for every download the creator can receive up to 15,000 Robits (1,500 x 10).
- Changes to XP earned in battle - We've been listening to your community feedback and many of you have let it be known that you're leveling up too quickly. Prior to the update, XP earned was directly proportional to score. This meant veteran or more experienced players with low-level secondary accounts were leveling up too quickly at the start. With this update we have introduced a non-linear relationship between score and XP to ensure that levels are gained at a more even pace for all players.*
Hey there Robocrafters,
It's been a while since we've done a Dev Jam and a few of you out there in our community have asked us to do more of them so you've a greater insight into what's going on here in terms of Robocraft's on-going development. We really want you to join us on the development journey and so we're going to try to do Dev Jam blogs more frequently.
This Dev Jam will focus on our plans to upgrade the Steam/Launcher version of Robocraft to Robocraft Infinity. We will have another Dev Jam for you next week that will give more details on Tiers (No More Crates Phase 3) and other new features coming soon™.
Robocraft Infinity coming to Robocraft with Tiers
Many of you in the community have been frustrated with the speed at which we’ve been releasing new features, content, and community-suggested improvements to Robocraft. There are some big differences between the newer Infinity version of Robocraft and the older Robocraft that makes bringing the new features and improvements we make to Infinity to Robocraft incredibly difficult and time-consuming. So, in order to speed up the process of giving you lots of awesome new stuff for Robocraft, we've made the decision to upgrade the original Robocraft to Robocraft Infinity as a totally free update which will allow us to bring 100% of all the exciting things we are doing in Infinity to all of the community on Robocraft. Our goal is to get you the upgrade sometime in the next 6-8 weeks and we'll let you know when a more concrete date is set. So, what are we going to bring to Robocraft? Here's a break down of the awesome features and content you'll be getting for free in Robocraft:
- Infinity Inventory system - unlock a part on the Tech Tree and then use it an Infinite number of times, no need to Forge parts anymore
- Infinity CRF - download as many Robots as you like as long as you have the parts unlocked, with rewards going to the builder based on when users play with those downloaded Robots (even if they edit/tweak them after download)
- Infinity Duplication system - duplicate and tweak your Robots an infinite number of times, create 10 of the same Robot with different paint jobs and loadouts if you wish, tweak designs to your heart's content without sinking parts from your Inventory
- A new Item Shop - spend your hard-earned Robits to unlock Cosmetics for free, i.e. those cosmetics that would otherwise be ‘CC only’ will be available for Robits also, so nothing in the game will be behind a paywall, everything will be available for free
- Tiers - this is being implemented in Infinity now so will come straight to Steam with this upgrade
- More paint colours - 8 for free, 32 for Premium
- Cosmetic Garage and Building bays - configurable for each Robot allowing you to have Earth, Mars or Ice planet as backdrops whilst building and when viewing your Robots in the Garage (available via Item shop for both CC and Robits)
- New Main Menu and UI - an overhauled Main Menu and UI with an improved flow, look, and better handling of different resolutions including those higher than 1920x1080 up to 5k
- Improved CRF sorting algorithm - focusing on bringing Robots from active players that are ‘new’ and ‘trending’ and ‘most popular’ to the top of the searches
- New improved weapons crosshairs
- Massive improvements to Weapon Feedback and Fighting - improved Special Effects, improved Audio Technology, Improved Audio Effects, many changes to the HUD to give you much better feedback for how much damage you’re doing, how much you’re taking, and where the damage is coming from
- Improved graphics, better lighting
- Controls can be edited via the Settings screen even when in battle
- Battle-ready Robot Check - Robocraft checks the user has functional cubes on the Robot and warns before they enter battle
- Building hints, help users learn the advanced controls and can be hidden in Settings menu
- Kill feed is colored when in battle mode so it’s easier to read
- End of battle Robot voting screen
- Popup tooltips on many of the buttons and options in the Main Menu
- Improved network technology for improved reliability and connection to the Robocraft servers and backend
- New Unity version for improved performance and stability
- CPU values will remain the same as current Steam version
- Max CPU will remain the same as current Steam version
Community Concerns
Some veteran players in the community have some concerns regarding the Infinity system; these are:
- “I had to grind for my parts but new users would get an Infinite number of them, this isn’t fair”
- “I like grinding for parts, it gives me motivation to play battles”
- We will release exclusive golden variants of all Legendary functional base parts (excluding C6 and cosmetic variants). Every player who owns more than X number of a Legendary part (either loose in their Inventory or on current Robots) will receive an exclusive Golden version of that same part
- We haven’t decided how many of X part you will need to get the golden variant but we will reveal the number and give you plenty of time prior to releasing the Infinity upgrade so you can make sure you don’t miss out
- The golden variants will be exclusive to those who played before the Infinity upgrade and will come with golden special effects
- We will be releasing a new Item Shop where users can buy Cosmetic parts that are normally real money only with Robits also
- We will be adding a number of new goals for players to chase. These have been specifically designed to challenge our veteran players with long term goals.
- We’ve expanded on the old Tiers system to add depth to it
- We’re adding a new Career system that gives prestige and rewards to those who have invested a lot of time into Robocraft
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Based on player feedback, we've greatly improved the level progression for new players from level 1 through to level 375
In this hotfix we've added a new feature that will reward players with a number of pre-forged parts when they unlock them on the Tech Tree. The table below is a breakdown of what a player will receive when they unlock a part on the Tech Tree.
This will allow players to start building cool Robots without the need to forge a part first. The number of parts awarded to a player will depend on the rarity/type of the part unlocked on the Tech Tree.
This change applies to all accounts with parts on the Tech Tree still locked and has been added as a stop-gap while we continue to bring the infinity cube system over to Robocraft.
Alongside this addition we've added some new starter robots (Mecha Ranger, Deadly Dino, Gladiator and Warthog), opened up the Tank Track Warthog and the Front Laser Wasp on the Tech Tree as well as increased the starting inventory for new players:
- 10,000 x each basic building cube (no change)
- 10 x Mech Leg Spartan (+6)
- 10 x Tank Track Warthog (+10)
- 20 x Front Facing Laser Wasp (+20)
- 20 x Top Laser Wasp (+10)
BALANCE CHANGES:
- As in TDM and Battle Arena game modes, we've introduced level banding in League Arena mode. The banding has been added to ensure better matchmaking and improved gameplay experience across all player levels.
- We've lowered the XP required for level 1 players to earn their first Tech Point taking them up to level 2
- Update (04/07/18): We've increased the speed at which new players level up from level 1 through to level 10.
GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS:
- Updates to network connectivity code that we hope will reduce player disconnections
- Improvements to the in-game camera environment handling and view distance
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused some Mac player's games to crash when using certain resolutions
- Fixed a bug which was preventing some players from reconnecting to games
GAMEPLAY CHANGES: Update 16:20 (BST)
- Play vs AI + Team Deathmatch modes - Reduced the number of kills required to win from 25 to 15
- Battle Arena + League Arena modes - Reduced the game time from 13 minutes to 11
- Platoon size difference is no longer factored in Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch modes
- Improvements to matchmaking banding to further reduce queue times
- Player level banding is no longer applied in League Arena mode - matchmaking in this mode is based on player MMR only
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Matchmaking Improvements - New players entering the game feel that they are matched unfairly with existing players and so we have introduced some new level brackets for PvP game modes. We will monitor the level brackets to ensure both matchmaking and queue times are acceptable and change if necessary.
- Easier AI - We've found that 'Play vs AI' mode is particularly hard for some new players using the default Starter Robot and so we've adjusted the difficulty level to make it easier and more fun for new players.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed the Plasma Devastator and C6 Variant tooltip for consistency
Deep Discounts on DLC in the Steam Summer Sale
Fancy saving some dosh on a selection of Robocraft DLC including Lifetime Premium? Well, from now until July 5th, you can save 25% on selected Robocraft DLC when purchasing it through Steam. You can choose from either the high-octane Speed Bundle with its vehicle-themed cosmetic parts plus 500 Cosmetic Credits and 7 days premium, the high-flying High Flyers Bundle that includes 30 days premium, 3,000 Cosmetic Credits, a complete Eagle Mask cosmetic and more. In addition to these two fantastic bundles, we've knocked 25% off Lifetime Premium when purchasing through the Steam store. You'll find the sale prices below.
Sale prices:
- Speed Bundle: WAS: £8.99 / $11.99 / €11.99 – NOW: £6.74 / $8.99 / €8.99
- High Flyers Bundle: WAS: £26.99 / $34.99 / €31.99 – NOW: £20.24 / $26.24 / €23.99
- Lifetime Premium: WAS: £31.99 / $44.99 / €37.99 NOW: £23.99 / $33.74 / €28.49
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Plasma projectile speed increased from 96 to 144
- Healing score reduced slightly
BUG FIXES:
- Plasma tooltip energy consumption corrected
- Players who have unlocked everything on the Tech Tree will no longer see the Tech Point awarded animation when leveling up
- Players with Lifetime Premium will no longer see the 'buy premium' button on the battle summary screen
- Fixed a bug which failed to display some screen resolution options on the settings screen
- Fixed a bug which caused the Tech Tree top bar to disappear when deleting a copied robot
- Fixed the hover-off state on the 'Go To Tech Tree' and 'Buy Premium' buttons
- Pressing ENTER on the Level Up and battle summary screens will now close those screens
- Fixed a bug that caused the Tesla SFX to continue playing even if the weapon or your Robot was destroyed
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Some players may experience flipped robots when re-spawning. If you are affected by this issue in-game, please press F to rectify.
Today, June 19th 2018, we released Phase 2 in our series of planned updates to add new content and progression into Robocraft, and remove all loot crates from the game. This major update sees the welcome return of the Tech Tree to Robocraft, a new battle rewards system, improved Robot Factory, and the removal of ALL crates from the game. Alongside these big changes to your favourite Robot building and battling game we have made levelling-up quicker, improved scoring in battle, tweaked the balance on some parts, and fixed a few bugs too.
The full patch notes can be found here
NEW:
- Tech Tree - a new progression path for players in Robocraft. Unlocking parts with Tech Points, earned through levelling up, grants players access to parts that can then be forged and placed on Robots. For more information on the Tech Tree, read our FAQ.
- Tech Points - Tech Points are used to unlock parts on the Tech Tree. Players will receive 1x Tech Point for each level up to and including level 343 as this is the amount of Tech Points required to unlock everything on the Tech Tree.
- Robit rewards for battle - Players will now receive Robit rewards for completing battles; this is proportional to their performance in battle. Perform well and you'll receive more Robits.
- All salvage reward crates have now been removed from Robocraft. Players will no longer see, receive or are able to purchase any Salvage Reward crates in Robocraft. These have been replaced by Robit rewards for battle performance, Tech Points and Daily Quests.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Faster player levelling - In order to reduce player grind, we have increased the speed at which players up to level 375 level up. Depending on XP earned in battle, players level 1-10 will earn a level-up every 1-2 games. For players up to level 375, and depending on XP earned in battle, you’ll level-up every 3 games. For players above level 375 and above, you’ll level-up every 10 games. Again, these numbers are dependent on XP earned in battle.
- Changes to the starter inventory for new players - A basic inventory of Robot Mech Leg Spartans and Laser Wasp Weapons are awarded to new players to enable them to start building quickly.
- Community Robot Factory (CRF) improvements - 'All Robots' regardless of parts unlocked on the Tech Tree will now be seen by all players on the CRF. Robots that a player can use, as they have the required parts unlocked on the Tech Tree, are differentiated by colour from those that cannot be used. Players can also chose to hide Robots that cannot use via a checkbox on the left-side of the CRF screen.This checkbox is turned on by default; uncheck it to see all Robots.
- 1024 x 768 minimum resolution supported - Players at 800 x 600 resolution can still play at this resolution, but may experience a reduction in game quality.
- Performance improvements to Earth maps containing trees
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Scoring - The following changes have been made to the scoring system:
- Healing score increased by 50%
- Mining point capture score increased by 50%
- Score in Play vs AI mode reduced by 30%
- Scores in Battle Arena, League Arena, Team Deathmatch and Elimination modes increased by 30%
- Thrusters - Thrusters have had their speed boost amounts reworked to bring the larger versions back in line.
- Lynx : 0.5% down from 0.55%
- Panther: 1% down from 1.009%
- Leopard: 1.75% (No change.)
- Puma: 2.4% down from 3%
- Cheetah: 3.6% down from 5%
- Gyro Mortar - Energy consumption increased by 25%
- Plasma - Plasma has had a slight rework to bring it closer to the way classic volley Plasma worked. All tiers of plasma now have the same energy cost and fire rate with varying damage values. This excludes the Mega Plasma which has higher damage and energy cost.
- Projectile speed reduced by 50%
- Fire rate increased by 75%
- Energy Consumption increased slightly
- Nanos - As well as an increase to the score they give when using them, Nanos are also receiving a slight buff:
- Binder - projectile speed increased from 66 up to 68
- Mender - Projectile speed increased from 66 up to 68 and energy consumption reduced by 5%
- Constructor - Projectile speed increased from 66 up to 68 and energy consumption reduced by 5%
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented Plasma and Gyro Mortar weapon projectile splash from dealing damage to reactor crystals
- Fixed a bug which caused audio playback issues on the control remapping menu
- The muzzle flash on the Laser Leviathan Carbon 6 has been realigned
- Fixed a line of missing cubes on the back portion of Body Builder 'Breacher' chassis
- Corrected the Russian translation of the [MOD] tag in-game
- Corrected the order of the Forge and Recycle buttons in build mode
- If you change your resolution via the settings menu in game, the mouse-over colliders on the top-navigation bar will no longer be offset, making it easier to click
- Renamed the hotkey label for buying Cosmetic Credits
- Fixed a bug which caused the 'Clan Play' Quest to throw an error if you finished a match while you are not in a clan, but in a party
- Fixed a bug that did not remove you from a Custom Game if you closed the game client
HOTFIX #1
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from re-spawning if destroyed in battle
- Re-balanced scoring and player progression as players were leveling up faster than intended
If you've been following Robocraft's development recently, you'll be aware that we're removing Salvage Crates from the game, introducing loads of cool new features and re-imagining some fan favourites too. In our next update, Phase 2, we will be removing the last remnants of Salvage Crates from the game, adding Robit rewards for battle performance, Tech Points and a Tech Tree with which to spend them on.
Many of you have asked how the Tech Tree will work, so here's a short FAQ to give you an insight.
What is the Tech Tree?
The Tech Tree is a new progression path for players in Robocraft. Unlocking parts with Tech Points grants you access to those parts that you'll then need to forge in order to put them on your Robots.
The Tech Tree
What are Tech Points?
Tech Points are used to unlock parts on the Tech Tree and you'll earn one Tech Point whenever you level-up.
The maximum number of Tech Points you can earn is 342 as this is the maximum number required to unlock all the parts on the Tech Tree. Once you've unlocked everything, you will no longer receive Tech Points when you level up. Please note that if you've unlocked everything and we add new parts to the Tech Tree, you'll start earning Tech Points until you've enough to once again unlock everything and at that point, you'll stop earning them.
How many Tech Points do parts cost?
Depending on their rarity, parts require a different amount of Tech Points to unlock
- Uncommon Parts - 1 Tech Point to unlock
- Rare Parts - 2 Tech Points to unlock
- Epic Parts - 3 Tech Points to unlock
- Legendary Parts - 5 Tech points to unlock
I'm an existing player with parts in my inventory will I lose them?
No, any parts you have currently in your inventory or on your Robots will be automatically unlocked when we roll out the update. Any parts you don't have will be locked on the tech tree, and you'll need to unlock them to be able to forge them. Any parts you haven't unlocked will not be displayed on the Forge, Inventory, or Recycle screens.
Can I reset my account to lock the Tech Tree as I want to experience the unlock progression?
No, I'm afraid we don't offer account resets; if you want to experience the Tech Tree and the new progression, you will need to dismantle all your Robots and recycle all your inventory before the update launches. If you don't want to do that, you can create a new account and start from scratch.
I'm level 300 and have some parts unlocked in my inventory, will I get my missing Tech Points?
Yes! For example, if you're level 300 and you have parts unlocked which total up to 200 Tech Points, you'll have 100 Tech Points on your account when you first login after the update. If you're level 400 and you've unlocked 100 Tech Points worth of parts prior to the update, you'll have 242 Tech Points on your account when you login after the update. This will allow you to unlock any remaining parts on the Tech Tree.
I have Tech Points to spend, can I unlock anything on the Tech Tree?
No, you can only unlock parts that are adjacent to any other part that has already been unlocked (see image below). We believe this form of progression is fairer and doesn't give players instant access to the rarest items. The Tech Tree will tell you which parts can be unlocked and which ones cannot.
How is player levelling going to work with the Tech Tree?
With the Tech Tree update we will be increasing the speed at which players up to level 375 level up as we want you all to enjoy all of the parts without a massive grind. Depending on XP earned in battle, players level 1-10 will earn a level-up every 1-2 games. For players up to level 375, and depending on XP earned in battle, you'll level-up every 3 games. For players above level 375 and above, you'll level-up every 10 games. Again, these numbers are dependant on XP earned in battle.
How can I speed up progress?
There are a number of different ways you can speed up your level progression:
- Building and playing your own Robots in battle will give you more XP than downloading one from the Factory as they start at Mastery level 10 (Factory downloaded Robots start at level 1)
- Playing League will reward you with bonus XP
- Playing games in a party with friends will give you an XP bonus
- Purchasing premium will give you 2x XP
- BRAWLs will sometimes give additional XP when winning your first battle
I have a Carbon 6 Laser Leviathan but not a Laser Leviathan, will I lose access to the C6 variant as I don't have the regular version?
No, for existing players we will automatically unlock the required 'parent part' so you can continue using the cosmetic version.
Does the Tech Tree impact the Factory?
In a small way it does yes; and so we're making a few improvements to the Factory:
- You'll be able to see all Robots once more
- You can filter out Robots that contain parts you haven't unlocked on the Tech Tree
- You can view but not download Robots that contain parts you haven't unlocked on the Tech Tree
Our latest BRAWL, Hellion Crater CARnage is now live in Robocraft. Ten cars will enter battle but only one will be victorious in this brutal futuristic road battle BRAWL. Will you be the ultimate road warrior and take the crown? The new BRAWL is a wheels and Tesla only game mode which makes great use of the Body Builder tool. Check out the CRF for the "Brawl CARnage Bot" Robot if you want to jump straight into a game with a pre-built Robot.
NEW:
- BRAWL: Hellion Crater CARnage
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Map: Hellion Crater
- Players: 10
- Special Rules:
- Max CPU 1,100
- Permitted Movement: Wheel Discoverer Only
- Permitted Weapons: Tesla Slicer Only
- First Win Bonus: 3x XP and 3x Protonium Crates
- T-Rex Cosmetic Mask added to the game. For more information on how to obtain this legendary mask, click here.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Updated EAC (Easy Anti Cheat)
NEW:
- BRAWL: Hellion Crater CARnage
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Map: Hellion Crater
- Players: 10
- Special Rules:
- Max CPU 1,100
- Permitted Movement: Wheel Discoverer Only
- Permitted Weapons: Tesla Slicer Only
- First Win Bonus: 3x XP and 3x Protonium Crates
- T-Rex Cosmetic Mask added to the game. For more information on how to obtain this legendary mask, click here.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Updated EAC (Easy Anti Cheat)
Get Your Robocraft Robot In Robocraft Royale
When the Robocraft Royale team set about creating their game, one of the things they wanted from the get-go was a close relationship with Robocraft and it's amazing Robot creating community. The goal is to have a way of Robocraft players getting their Robot's into Royale. As you'll know if you've been following RR's development journey it's still very early days for the game and while there isn't a magic "export my Robot to Royale" button, we are making improvements to the CRF which will allow you to participate in these collaborative competitions easier. We'll reveal more on what those CRF improvements are soon™. While we work on the improvements, it's time to rollout a good old artbot competition where you could see your winning Robot featured in Robocraft Royale. Want to know how you can do this? Simply follow the brief (and read the rules) below.
The Brief:
The brief for this competition is simple, we want to see your crazy prehistoric-themed Robots; ones that you think would be fun to play in Robocraft Royale. You can build anything you want: a nimble velociraptor, squawking dodo, a terrifying flying pteranodon or a diplodocus the back of a pickup truck. It doesn't have to be dinosaurs either - it could be a car inspired by your favourite prehistoric cartoon series or people from the neolithic era. The crazier and sillier, the better; we want players to laugh out loud when they discover your Robots on the Robocraft Royale map. For this competition, we're not not picking 5 winners and an overall winner; instead we're going to pick our favourite ones and we'll add them to Robocraft Royale in a future update. So, if we love 500 of your Robots, we will add 500 of them to the game (not at once mind you). So, read the rules, create a robot, upload it to the CRF and ensure the name starts with RR01 - it's that simple!
The Prizes:
Every Robot that we pick will be added to Robocraft Royale in a future update and the creator will be credited by name on the Robot's stats pop-up. In addition to having their prize-winning creaton added to Robocraft Royale, the creator of a winning robot will win one of the exclusive T-Rex Cosmetic Masks for use in Robocraft. These masks are super-special as they can only be obtained by purchasing Robocraft Royale on Steam (it's out on Monday March 26th). https://sketchfab.com/models/6fe41e91b8eb41a49a5ad689fcb2ee05
Robot Building Rules:
Robocraft Royale does have some specific building requirements which must be adhered to if you want to see your prehistoric creation in the game. Please ensure that your submission is built within the following requirements:
- No Robots under 500 CPU
- Robot CPU 500 - 999 Uncommon and Rare movement parts only
- Robot CPU 1000 - 1499 Rare and Epic movement parts only
- Robot CPU 1500 - 2000 Epic and Legendary movement parts only
- Avoid weird combos that might cause controls conflict eg. Hovers should not be combined with Mechlegs
- No more than two movement types per robot eg. Hovers and Thrusters
- A maximum of 3 weapon or module types permitted on a Robot
- The 1st weapon slot should be the Robot's primary weapon
- The 2nd weapon slot should be the Robot's secondary weapon or Module
- The 3rd weapon slot should be a Module only (if needed)
- 4 maximum of a single weapon type per Robot eg. 4 Laser Blasters
- Cosmetic parts are permitted
- Damage boost is not in RR and carry masses have been increased so there is no need to over engineer your bots with thrusters or copter blades etc
Permitted Weapons:
- Tesla Ripper
- Laser Blaster
- Laser Disintegrator
- Laser Leviathan
- Plasma Bombarder
- Plasma Devastator
- Plasma Goliathon
- Rail Decimator
- Rail Erazer
- Rail Impaler
- Aeroflak Sentinel
- Aeroflak Guardian
- Ion Destabilizer
- Ion Distorter
- Gyro Mortar
- Proto-seeker
- LOML Stinger
- LOML Viper
- Chain Splitter
- Chain Shredder
General Competition Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one T-Rex Mask if multiple Robots of your are picked to appear in Robocraft Royale
- Competition period: Thursday March 22nd - 16:00 (UTC) - Saturday March 31st 23:59 (UTC+1)
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- Your robots must meet the requirements of the Robot Building Rules
- The term RR01 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- The Robot must have a name in addition to the term RR01
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- The Royale team also reserve the right to modify your robot to help it fit better into the game. But you'll still be credited.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
If you watched our recent Robostream, you will have no doubt seen our little tease in the form of some dinosaur head concept art. If you didn't see the stream, here's the art that we revealed.
So, what's that all about? The image above was the first draft of some concepts for a new cosmetic mask that we wanted to add to Robocraft celebrating the release of Robocraft Royale on Steam. Now it's time to reveal the mask in all of its glory.
https://sketchfab.com/models/6fe41e91b8eb41a49a5ad689fcb2ee05
This new cosmetic mask is super-exclusive and can only be obtained by purchasing Robocraft Royale on Steam (which is released on Monday March 26th). When you purchase Robocraft Royale, the mask parts will automatically appear in your Robocraft account on your next login through Steam. If you have multiple Robocraft accounts, please ensure that you login to your main Steam-linked account as the mask will be bound to the first account that it logs and masks are non-transferable.
With this mask, we've made it a lot easier to construct on a robot. If you rotate the model preview and view behind the neck, you will see the 6 connection points: top left/right, middle left/right and bottom left/right. These correspond to the top, middle and bottom sections of the mask.
Top tip: Put your headphones on and listen to the awesome Taunt that accompanies the mask (you will need to reload the page if you didn't hear it the first time).
Here are those all-important stats:
- Part Name: T-Rex Mask
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Legendary
- Cosmetic CPU: 6 pFlops (1 per part)
- Forgeable: No
- Recyclable: No
- Found in crates: No
- How to obtain: Through the purchase of Robocraft Royale on Steam
Robocraft has just turned five years old and we’re celebrating the occasion with a (belated) birthday party livestream. Guess what? You’re all invited!
Join us on Twitch from 16:00 (UTC) on Thursday, March 15th for some food, fun, frolics and freebies - we may even play some Robocraft (we will).
We’ll be handing out some exclusive codes for free premium time and cosmetic bundles - so tune in or you’ll miss out! As it's our fifth birthday, we'll be giving out FIVE lifetime premium codes instead of the usual 1-day premium codes.
The mayhem starts at 16:00
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Those of you that have been with us for sometime will know that today in 2013, Robocraft was born unto the world. That means that today we’re celebrating our fifth birthday! We want to thank everyone that has supported the game and continues to do so - we really wouldn't be here today without you guys so thanks!
As a special gift for you all, we've created a strictly time-limited 5th Birthday Holoflag that you can get in-game and add to your Robots.
The Holoflag is only available via the code below and cannot be forged or uploaded to the CRF. You can if you wish, recycle it, but once it has left your account, that’s it; there’s no getting it back. In addition to gifting 2 of the lovely Holoflags above, the code will give players one day of free Premium time.
Click here to find out how to redeem codes in Robocraft
The code can only be used once per player account and is valid until 23:59 UTC on Sunday, March 18th. In addition to adding the new flag to the game, we've added some other bits too. You can read the full patch notes here.
NEW:
- Body Builder Artbot competition winners added to the game - The following robot bodies have Been added:
- Mantis by WurmpleWarrior
- Scientist by Cipher7
- Submarine by Sarr_Cat
- Train by SaveTheWhales
- Breacher by Cipher7
- Special 5th birthday celebration flag - To celebrate Robocraft's fifth birthday on March 7th 2018, we added a special flag to the game. The flag can only be obtained by redeeming a special promo code that will be announced by Freejam.
- Updated login screen to promote the League Arena Competition.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- ION Distorter single gun fire rate now 1 per second
OTHER CHANGES:
- Game Battle Timer now set to 13 minutes in Battle Arena and League Arena game modes
- Tweaked MMR banding for players at higher levels when playing League Arena Mode - players will be more closely matched in battle. Please note that this may increase queue times for battle.
- Updated EAC (Easy Anti Cheat) - Please note that this requires Linux users to update their OS to Ubuntu 16.04 as a minimum
Gun for Glory
Think you're a great Robocraft player? Can you make it to Protonium League alongside the best of them? Want to prove it and win an exclusive weapon in the process? As part of our 5th birthday celebrations (we turn 5 on March 7th), we're going to be hosting a Solo League competition that will run from Thursday March 1st, through to March 29 and to participate all you need to do is play Robocraft's League Arena game mode during the competition period. League Arena is Robocraft's competitive game mode where players win/lose MMR based on their performance in battle. Get into the top 100 in League Arena and you'll win some sweeeet prizes.
Prizes:
So what can you win? Well, place anywhere in the top ten and you'll win a couple of these bad boys. A unique golden Laser Leviathan Weapon that you can use in-battle. Come first, second or third and you'll receive four of them. https://sketchfab.com/models/c025f1bdd2c94bb09635474d58b33e37/ We also have some nice updated League Arena badges (for the top 3 players) and a special competition Flag which everyone in the top 100 will receive two of.
New League Badges
League Flag Design A full breakdown of prizes is below. 1st Place:
- 1x Golden League Badge (new design)
- 4x Golden Laser Leviathan Weapons
- 2x Sprinter Leg Hermes Carbon 6 Legs
- 2x Top Laser Disintegrator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Laser Leviathan Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Devastator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Goliathon Carbon 6 Weapons
- 1x Silver League Badge (new design)
- 4x Golden Laser Leviathan Weapons
- 2x Sprinter Leg Hermes Carbon 6 Legs
- 2x Top Laser Disintegrator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Laser Leviathan Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Devastator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Goliathon Carbon 6 Weapons
- 1x Bronze League Badge (new design)
- 4x Golden Laser Leviathan Weapons
- 2x Sprinter Leg Hermes Carbon 6 Legs
- 2x Top Laser Disintegrator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Laser Leviathan Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Devastator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Goliathon Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Golden Laser Leviathan Weapons
- 2x Sprinter Leg Hermes Carbon 6 Legs
- 2x Top Laser Disintegrator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Laser Leviathan Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Devastator Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Plasma Goliathon Carbon 6 Weapons
- 2x Exclusive top 100 League Arena Flags
Changes to League Arena:
For the purpose of the competition we'll be making some changes to League Arena:
- Disabled platoons/parties - this is a strictly solo competition
- Team Sizes increased to 6-a-side
- All players MMR reset to 0 at the start of the competition
- Reduced the MMR 'K-factor' making it more difficult to reach the higher echelons of League
Rules:
To ensure the competition is as fair as possible, we have a few rules that do need to be adhered to. Anyone found breaking these rules may forfeit their right to participate in the competition.
- Competition runs from: 12:00 (UTC) March 01, 2018 - 10:00 (UTC) March 29, 2018
- No alt accounts to increase chances of winning prizes - play with a single account only
- No griefing, throwing games or going AFK intentionally
- No intentionally disconnecting from game
- Be nice, play fair, and don't be a salty sailor
- Have fun!
NEW:
- Improved networking code designed to reduce player disconnections in battle
- RC Winter Games BRAWL - In celebration of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, the E14 have decided to host their own Winter Games:
- BRAWL rules:
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Permitted Movement type: Skis, Wheels, Hover, Tank Tracks and all three leg types
- Maps: Gliese Lake, Spitzer Dam, Ophiuchus Valley
- BRAWL rules:
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Mortar minimum world firing angle introduced. We’ve also made some additional changes to the Mortar:
- Projectile Speed Increased
- Projectile Range increased
OTHER CHANGES:
- XP for building A/B test removed - Having reviewed the analytical data for this test, we have opted not to add this feature to Robocraft at this time. Accounts that previously had the feature will no longer have it.
- AFK timer reduced from 3 minutes to 90 seconds
- Removed avatar images over player names in all battles
BUG FIXES:
- Mech Leg Talos mass corrected
With reconnect coming soon™, we have laid down the foundations for it being added to the game with our latest update. The ‘Preconnect Update’ includes improved networking code that, we hope, will reduce the number of disconnections players experience in Robocraft. We have tested the code thoroughly internally and have seen improvements, but we won’t know for sure until we release it into the wild.
In addition to the network code improvements, we’re be celebrating the Winter Olympics with a special BRAWL, and we have made some changes and improvements to the Mortar weapon.
Click here to read the full patch notes for this update
xin nian kuai le*
Tomorrow many of our players will be celebrating the start of the Lunar New Year. Centuries old and steeped in tradition with many myths and legends surrounding it, Chinese New Year is an important festival; in fact it is one of the World's most celebrated. We're celebrating the Year of the Dog with a weekend full of bonus XP in Robocraft. Play anytime between Friday 16th February 12:00 (UTC) and Monday 19th February at 12:00 (UTC) and you'll earn double XP. This means everyone will level up quicker and so will receive their level up Protonium rewards crates quicker too. It also means that clan members will receive more Robits at the end of the current season. So, if you're short of Robits, join a clan and get playing over the weekend. If you’re a Premium player your double XP will be doubled again!! That’s a whole lotta XP coming your way. *(pronounced "sheen neean kwai luh") Happy New Year
Today is a special day in the calendar; it's the day when we celebrate the 3rd century Roman saint Valentine by showering our loved ones with flowers, chocolates and other such gifts.
While we can't bestow upon you flowers and chocolates in the real world, we can show our appreciation and love for you with a promo code for some lovely things to put on your robots.
So how about a couple of legendary cosmetics?
Using the code below will get you 2x Bubble Blower and 2x Balloon cosmetic parts.
VALENTINES2018
This promo code is case sensitive will be valid until 23:59 (UTC) on February 18th 2018. If you don’t use it before it expires, you’ll miss out on the gift. For instructions on how to redeem codes in Robocraft, please click here. We don't say it enough, but we really do love you guys for your passion, commitment and continued support for Robocraft. We really wouldn't be here without you.
Hey there! LeftofNever, Robocraft's Community Manager here with the latest Dev Jam and a pretty darn important Dev Jam it is too as it's all about the long-awaited reconnect feature that's been 'soon™' for such a long time. We wanted to use this Dev Jam to give you an insight into how reconnect is going to work, what we're doing to reduce disconnections and also why it's taken so long to implement.
Why players disconnect
First off, why do players disconnect from Robocraft? It's all about the data… As you know, Robocraft is an online multiplayer battle brawler with Robots made from blocks and parts. Robocraft sends a lot of data back and forth between our servers and you whenever you play. The Robots you build are stored on our servers and delivered to you (the clients) when you play games, get Robots from the CRF (Community Robot Factory), or edit them. Each block is data, every colour is data, where each block is placed and what cube is next to it is data and how much damage each block and part has taken is data. There's also other data being sent back and forth such as all the social side (chat, avatars) and most importantly in battle where your position, your teammates position, your enemies position and all the cube data contained on all the robots needs to be sent back and forth continually to ensure a great end-user experience. This data needs to remain in-sync with the servers and all the game clients in the battle and when a game client can't send/receive data to ensure a smooth game, then a disconnection can happen.
Disconnections don't happen to everyone; some players never disconnect, some only occasionally, and some almost all the time. A player who never disconnects can still be affected by a disconnect as it can mean a battle being lost. Robocraft needs a constant internet connection to play; if you've got spotty wifi or you're playing using your mobile phone's 4G signal for example, then you may experience disconnections. Your location in the world or distance from our servers can also contribute to disconnections as data needs to travel back and forth at high speeds between everyone in battle. Also, we need to ensure our netcode (a blanket term used to describe networking in online games) is water-tight and working as well as it can be.
Reconnecting players
So, what are we doing about getting players back into battle if they disconnect? We promised some time ago that we'd add a reconnect button into the game and that's what we're doing. If a player gets disconnected in battle, they'll be given the option to reconnect or leave the battle.
Leaving the battle or failing to select an option before the battle ends will result in an early leaver penalty. If you attempt to reconnect to a battle that has ended, you will see a different pop-up. If you fail to rejoin a battle before it has ended then you will not receive any rewards associated with the battle.
One of the most asked questions regarding reconnect is "Why has it taken so long? Surely you can just add a button?" Unfortunately it isn't as simple as adding a button and writing a bit of code that added players back into their last game. Reconnect has required an almost complete rewrite of the existing networking/battle code and you need the right type of coder for the job. They're a bit like chefs in a way; you wouldn't put a pastry chef in charge of the meat course. Add to that unforeseen issues and bugs along the way and development time gets longer and longer. But the end is in sight; reconnect is nearly here.
Reducing player disconnects
Putting reconnect into Robocraft isn't the end of the story; we're also working on making improvements to the game's netcode to reduce the number of disconnects players experience. Ed on the Robocraft Royale team and Alex on the Robocraft Infinity team have been investigating and testing some new network code for their games and if the test results are positive, we'll be adding it to Robocraft. Our goal is to implement the new network code prior to adding reconnect.
When is reconnect coming?
Soon™ ;) … very soon. We're in the final testing phase and once all the bugs associated with reconnect have been squished and the new network code applied (if the initial tests are positive), we'll get reconnect out to you. Thanks for reading! As usual, we welcome your feedback.
It's the first Robostream of 2018 and joining Robocraft's Community Manager LeftofNever on this week's edition will be our new designer _CluLy_ (aka Scott) who will be taking us through the latest update to the game, answering some of your questions and playing a few games of the new BRAWL too. He'll be taking us through some building basics too. So, if you've ever wanted to know how to build a 'railer robot', you'll want to tune in to the stream.
As usual, we will also be giving away a few one-day premium codes.
We'll be livestreaming on Twitch and YouTube from 16:00 (UTC) on Friday 02/02/2018
Please note that we have a new Twitch URL so please make sure you update your bookmarks and don't forget to hit the follow button.
The fun starts at 16:00 JOIN US!
NEW:
- Big Battle Arena BRAWL
- Rules: Standard Battle Arena Rules
- Game Mode: Battle Arena
- Players: 20 (10 v 10)
- Map: Gliese Lake
- CPU Limit: 2000 CPU per robot
- XP for Building A/B test - Our new Building XP system allows players to level up while they are building robots. As long as you’re actively building, and not just sitting in the edit mode, you’ll earn XP. We want to ensure that the feature works as expected outside of studio and so we're going to be rolling it out to a portion of new players in what's known as an A/B test. If all goes well with the test, we'll roll it out to everyone. You can find out more about XP for building and the A/B test by reading our recent Dev Jam.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Nano projectile ranges increased by 10%
- Nano Mender energy consumption reduced by 20%
- Nano Constructor energy consumption reduced by 20%
- All Tesla weapons base health increased by 12.5%
- Gyro Mortar base health reduced by 12.5%
- Sprinter Leg base speed reduced from 180 mph to 170 mph
- Thruster Lynx Force increased by 10%
- Thruster Panther Force increased by 10%
OTHER CHANGES:
- Improvements to Insect Legs - We have made changes to Insect Leg parts that make them a lot more stable. They now flip less frequently and work smoothly with copters and flyers. There was an issue before where an insect would flip out of control if it had rotors attached and it tried to land on the ground. This has now been fixed in such a way where the insect leg mechanic does not take effect until the legs are touching the ground (before they would take effect a short distance off the ground).*
Today, February 1st, we changed out the current 15 v 15 Total Elimination BRAWL for a bigger Battle Arena BRAWL that we imaginatively titled the "Big Battle Arena BRAWL". We doubled up on team sizes to really ramp up the battle action and excitement. More players on the battlefield means more enemies to watch out for and more teammates to assist in winning the war - it's EPIC! In addition to the new BRAWL, we made some balance changes and rolled out some improvements to Insect Legs.
Read the full patch notes here
Hey everyone, _ClulY_ (aka Scott) here with my first Dev Jam since joining the Robocraft team late last year. For those that don't know me or know of me, I was a long-time player and member of the Robocraft community prior to joining the dark side (game development). So, what do I do here at Freejam? I lead the 'Silence of the Jams' team on original Robocraft, and it's my job (along with the rest of the team) to make Robocraft the best darn "built it, drive it, fight it" game on the market.
Rewards in Robocraft
Before we get into the 'how' of the Dev Jam, I first wanted to give you a bit of background on the 'why'. Why are we releasing a new feature? It won't be a surprise to know that Robocraft attracts different types of players. There are those that like to solely battle, some like the social aspect of teaming up with their mates, some like to spend a bit of time building and a bit of time in battle. There are those that don't like to battle at all; instead preferring to spend hours creating amazing artbots or battle-ready robots for their friends and others to play with via the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
[House For Sale by Prometheus_Robotics] Robocraft rewards you for your battle efforts and it rewards you when others download your robot creations from the CRF and play them in battle. But what about those that just like to build? What do they get for building? Currently zero. And that's something we want to address.
Rewarding the Builders
In short, what we want to do is reward players with XP when they build. The new Building XP system simply allows players to level up while they are in build mode, generating an amount of level experience as if they were in Battle. As long as you're actively building, and not just sitting in the edit mode, you'll earn XP. Your player level and XP will be represented by a new level meter located in the top-left of the screen (as shown in the image below).
The more time you spend building, the more XP you'll earn. If you level up while you're building, you'll be notified and a level up reward crate will be waiting for you when you return to the garage screen.
Testing the new feature
Before we roll this out to everyone, we're going to be running an A/B test; something we often do as a way of learning more about how our players interact with the game. We want to ensure that the new feature is stable, working as expected and not negatively impacting our KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) such as retention and monetisation. What we're going to do is give 50% of the new players the new feature and the other 50% will not see it. We'll then run this for a few days and compare the data between the two sample sizes. We will of course share our findings with you whether good or bad. Thanks for reading and remember, we always welcome your feedback.
PSA: We will be entering a short period of maintenance at 10:15 (UTC) to address on-going server issues.
Thanks for your patience and support.
NEW:
- Total Elimination BRAWL
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Players: 15v15
- Autoheal: Off
- Map: Vanguard's End
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Mech Legs have had their speed increased from 145 mph to 155 mph.
- Wings and Rudders have had their Speed Boost percentages significantly reduced.
- Lynx and Panther Thrusters have had a slight Speed Boost increase.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Gravity has been buffed by 45%
- Removed Christmas Craft II event
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue with missing audio in the tutorial cut-scene
We've taken down the Hellion Crater Christmas tree, packed away all the festive baubles and xmas presents for another year and will be swapped out the BRAWL. Our latest Total Elimination Update brings with it a new BRAWL that's even bigger than our Christmas Craft II BRAWL with 15 players a side battling for domination on Vanguard's End. We've also be made a few balance changes; all of which can be found below.
NEW:
- Total Elimination BRAWL
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Players: 15v15
- Autoheal: Off
- Map: Vanguard's End
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Mech Legs have had their speed increased from 145 mph to 155 mph.
- Wings and Rudders have had their Speed Boost percentages significantly reduced.
- Lynx and Panther Thrusters have had a slight Speed Boost increase.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Gravity has been buffed by 45%
- Removed Christmas Craft II event
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue with missing audio in the tutorial cut-scene
Big savings on our most popular bundles and Premium plans
Looking for some end-of-year digital discounts on your favourite Robot building PC game? You are? Great! You’ve come to the right place. From now until Thursday January 4th at 10:00 (UTC) you can save 20% on selected Premium packages and Salvage Crate bundles from the Robocraft in-game store! In addition to that, we’ve also discounted all of our Steam bundles by 20% too! That includes the tasty Premium for Life pack! Please note that the Steam promotion will start at 18:00 (UTC) on 21/12/2017. What’s really great about the Steam bundles is that you can gift ‘em. That’s right! Know someone that’s also a fan of Robocraft, or you want to give your folks a wishlist of things you’d like? Give the gift of Robocraft this Holiday Season. What do these discounts look like? Please note that the prices below are shown in GBP/USD/Euro; please check your Xsolla or Steam Store for the correct pricing in your country. Steam Bundles:
- Speed Bundle: WAS: £8.99 / $11.99 / €11.99 – NOW: £7.19 / $9.59 / €9.59
- High Flyers Bundle: WAS: £26.99 / $34.99 / €31.99 – NOW: £21.59 / $27.99 / €25.59
- Spooky Bundle: WAS: £14.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 – NOW: £11.99 / $15.99 / €15.99
- Premium For Life: WAS: £32.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 NOW: £26.40 / $40.00 / €36.00
- 7 Days of Premium: WAS: £5.39 / $5.99 / €5.99 – NOW: £4.32 / $4.80 / €4.80
- 30 Days of Premium: WAS: £9.99 / $10.99 / €9.99 – NOW: £8.00/ $8.80 / €8.00
- 90 Days of Premium: WAS: £25.99 / $28.99 / €26.99 – NOW: £20.80 / $23.20 / €21.60
- Premium for Life: WAS: £32.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 NOW: £26.40 / $40.00 / €36.00
- 25 Protonium Crates: WAS: £7.99 / $9.99 / €9.99 – NOW: £6.40 / $8.00 / €8.00
- 65 Protonium Crates: WAS: £18.99 / $24.99 / €22.99 – NOW: £15.20 / $20.00 / €18.40
- 140 Protonium Crates + 2x Dev Supporter Holoflags: WAS: £37.99 / $49.99 / €46.99 – NOW: £30.40 / $40.00 / €37.60
- 300 Protonium Crates + 2x Dev Supporter Holoflags: WAS: £76.99 / $99.99 / €92.99 – NOW: £61.60 / $80.00 / €74.40
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that permitted players to fly outside the boundaries of the BRAWL map
- Fixed a bug which caused player's mouse sensitivity settings to reset when exiting test mode
We will be taking the servers offline at 14:45 (UTC) to apply a hotfix to the latest Christmas Craft II Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
NEW:
- Christmas BRAWL
- Game Mode: Elimination (10v10 / no re-spawn upon death)
- Map: Christmas Hellion Crater
- Permitted movement types: all parts
- Permitted weapons: all weapons
- Festive Music in BRAWL
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Speed Boost Changes - We’ve made changes to the Speed Boost percentages some parts give. The reworked values can be found in the chart below
- Thrusters and Propellers - Larger thrusters have had a massive increase to the speed boost they now offer, as have propellers. This is to make building with them more fun and make them more viable for all robots.
- Wheels - Wheels have had their base speeds reduced, however, their speed boost percentage now scales up towards larger versions. Previously there was very little reason to use larger wheels over the easier to hide smaller versions.
- Wings - Wings have had their base speed reduced, however, their boost percentage now scales up towards larger versions.
- Rotor Blades - Rotor blades have had their base speed and speed boost percentages reduced slightly. Rotors are currently very strong in the meta, this will help tone them down a little without reworking them or apply large nerfs. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the strength of these parts over the coming weeks however.
- Skis - Skis have had their base speed increased. Blame Josh. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Auto Healing - Auto heal duration increased from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Low-quality Ghost Module shader tweaked to be as close as possible to the high quality one
- Improved interpolation of other player's Robots to reduce 'jittery' visuals when other players move
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused players to see an error message when they placed a propellor on their Robot and then entered a game mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the end animation on the Disc Shield Module not to play
- Fixed a bug which caused server problems for some players when destroying base crystals in Battle Arena mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the chat window to close whenever a player changed chat channel
- Fixed a bug which caused some players to experience overlapping Robots in garage bays when purchasing Steam Bundles
Christmas has come to Robocraft with the return of the festive BRAWL, Christmas Craft II.
Our Christmas-themed in-game event takes place on Hellion Crater complete with giant Christmas tree, seasonal snow and presents-a-plenty dotted around the map. Many of you have asked for a bigger Elimination mode BRAWL and so we've upped the sides to 10 v 10!
In addition to the festive BRAWL we've made some balance changes and fixed some bugs too; all of which can be found here
If you opened your Robocraft Advent calendar on Saturday 16th December, you will have no doubt seen the awesome new Bubble Blower cosmetic that we snuck behind the door.
This fun new cosmetic will automatically send a flurry of popping bubbles into the air when placed on your Robot.
These super-exclusive cosmetics won't be put into reward crates until sometime in 2018 and so if you want to get them early, you have until 23:59 (UTC) on December 25th to redeem the advent calendar code.
https://sketchfab.com/models/7e4e0f540f6c4388a2b610a936885150
Here are those all-important stats.
- Part Name: Bubble Blower
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Legendary
- CPU Load: 3 pFlops
- Forgeable: No
- Drop Quantity: Single
- Notes: This item is exclusive to the Advent Calendar and will not be found in crates until sometime in 2018
We're incredibly proud to once again support the awesome Yogscast Jingle Jam Humble Bundle.
The Humble Bundle is a great way for you to support some worthy charities while grabbing some top digital content and games for just a few $$. Pay $35 (about £26.20) and you'll get access to $847 of awesome stuff including the Robocraft Jingle Jam pack which contains the following items:
- 2x Yogscast Flags
- 3 Days of Premium
- 12 Protonium Crates
- 1x Complete Honeydew Cosmetic Mask
Get the Robocraft Jingle Jam Pack in the Yogscast Jingle Jam Humble Bundle
So, the holidays roll around once again and what better way to celebrate, (and avoid the family), than to spend your time arranging coloured cubes in an artistic fashion to a set theme, better known to us, as the Christmas Artbot contest?
We’ve got 5 categories again this season and we want to see your best. There are no movment part restrictions this time but I will give bonus points for creative uses of the new eyes, (or any other cosmetics that may or may not be given away throughout the next week). We’ll pick our favourite five (along with two runners-up for each category) and award some prizes. The week afterwards we’ll hold a public vote and let you guys pick, from the top 5, an overall ‘best in show’ Robot and make that a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF.
The Brief:
Design a festive-themed robot based on one of the following five categories:
- Santa’s Other Ride - What does Santa drive when he’s not delivering presents or his Sleigh has broken down?
- Holiday Elves - Santa’s little helpers, wood elves or Members of the Thalmor it’s up to you, as long as they are wrapped in tinsel or have a Santa hat.
- Santa Claus / Mrs Santa Claus - A classic, bonuses for creativity.
- Alternative Holiday celebrations (Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa etc) - This is a fairly open theme, just leave out the big red fat man.
- Festive Animals - The classic Polar bear and penguins or do you prefer a Dog with antlers? The holiday season is for every species, show us how the echidna celebrate!
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive one week of premium membership or 25 Protonium crates if the winner has lifetime premium. In addition to this, each will receive a mystery cosmetic to be revealed soon. The overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory). Please note that failure to include both the DB18 term and the Category number in your submission will result in it being excluded.
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday 11th December 2017 - 23:59 (UTC) Sunday 17th December 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF and a have a video showcase.
- The term DB18 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- The term "DB18 Artbot Christmas 2017" must be included at the beginning of the Video title when uploaded to Youtube.
- The submission category must be included in the Robot description.
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
On Tuesday December 12th at 9:00 (UTC) we will enter maintenance to roll out some additional tweaks, changes and bug fixes Robocraft. Check out the patch notes below to see what's coming.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Blink Module:
- Blink range increased from 60 to 70
- Cooldown decreased from 50 seconds to 45 seconds
- Sprinter Leg Agility increased by 50%
- The Sun was too bright on some maps so we've reduced the brightness/glare
OTHER CHANGES:
- The drop-rate for all cosmetic parts in reward crates has been increased by x5
- Additional logging data recorded for outputlog.txt to assist with resolving user issues more effectively
- Robot Info text more readable at higher resolutions (already in-game)
- Improvements to the CRF Filter user-interface - making it more readable for 1920x1080 resolution
- Improved visibility of the 'report robot' button in the CRF (community robot factory)
- A warning sound will now play in the edit mode when a player's Robot exceeds 2,000 CPU
- General optimization to the VFX/particle system in-game
BUG FIXES:
- The bottom half of the buttons in the garage (EDIT / TEST / COPY etc) now work as expected
- Fixed a bug which caused a player to lose all input control when downloading a Robot from the CRF with no movement parts, constructing it and then entering Test Mode
- Fixed a bug which prevented outputlog.txt files from generating on some player accounts
- Fixed a spawn point placement bug which resulted in some players spawning outside their shield in Battle Arena mode
- Fixed a bug which resulted in some 2,000 CPU Robots being incorrectly loaded as Megabots when players used Cosmetic CPU
- Fixed a bug which resulted in collision inconsistencies between the Hover Blade Tempest and the Electroshield D
We recently rolled out some balance changes to Robocraft; you'll find these below. We wanted to give you the weekend to try them out and give us your feedback. We may make additional balance tweaks next week based on this feedback.
BALANCE CHANGES:
Mid Range Robot Viability 1350-1750 - We’ve raised the damage boost curve to make mid range Robots more viable, damage will drop off more sharply at higher CPU levels.
Hovers - Increased turning speed for all Hovers Modules:
- Disc Shield Module:
- Range 25 - Down from 50.
- Shield Duration 7.5 seconds - Down from 10 seconds
- CPU Cost: 205 - Down from 225
- Blink:
- Range 60 - Down from 80
- Cooldown 50 Seconds - Down from 60
- CPU 255 - Down from 285
- Power Module:
- Cooldown 30 Seconds - Down from 60
- Power restored 50% - Down from 100%
- CPU 150 - Down from 165
- EMP Module:
- CPU 175 - Down From 195
- Ghost Module:
- CPU 230 - Down from 255
- Tesla Nova & Ripper:
- -7.5% Energy Consumption.
- Game time reduced from 15 minutes to 12 minutes
- Domination Mechanic now ends games in 1 minute and not 3 minutes
- Protonite Cores will now appear at 4 and 8 minutes remaining
The season of goodwill and festive cheer is almost upon us and to celebrate we've created a Robocraft Advent Calendar just for you.
From today December 1st, and every day up to and including Christmas Day we'll be opening a new door on the advent calendar. Behind each door will be an exclusive promo code that will unlock some goodies in Robocraft. We will be opening the doors at 10:00 (UTC) each day and you'll need to visit the Robocraftgame.com website after this time to get the latest gift for that day.
Each promo code will only be valid until 12:00 (UTC) the following day, and if you don't use it before it expires, you'll miss out on the gift.
What's behind the first door? Head on over to the Robocraftgame.com website to find out
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to place weapons inside cubes
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to exploit the speed and acceleration cap
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to place parts inside other parts
- Fixed a bug which which incorrectly set the default resolution when running the game for the first time
Fancy saving a few $$, ££ or €€ (other local currencies are available) on some sweet Robocraft in-game goodies? From now until Wednesday November 29th at 10:00 (UTC) you can save 25% on ALL our Premium packages and Salvage Crates bundles on the in-game store. On top of that, we’ve discounted a couple of Steam bundles by 25% too!
What do these discounts look like? Please note that the prices below are shown in GBP/USD/Euro. The sale is global and isn't limited to just these currencies so please check your Xsolla or Steam Store for the correct pricing in your country.
Steam Bundles:
- Speed Bundle – WAS: £8.99 / $11.99 / €11.99 – NOW: £6.74 / $8.99 / €8.99
- High Flyers Bundle – WAS: £26.99 / $34.99 / €31.99 – NOW: £20.24 / $26.24 / €23.99
Premium Membership:
- 1 Day – WAS: £0.99 / $1.19 / €1.19 – NOW: £0.75 / $0.90 / €0.90
- 3 Day – WAS: £2.59 / $2.99 / €2.99 – NOW: £1.95 / $2.25 / €2.25
- 7 Day – WAS: £5.39 / $5.99 / €5.99 – NOW: £4.05 / $4.50 / €4.50
- 30 Day – WAS: £9.99 / $10.99 / €9.99 – NOW: £7.50 / $8.25 / €7.50
- 90 Day – WAS: £25.99 / $28.99 / €26.99 – NOW: £19.50 / $21.75 / €20.25
- Lifetime – WAS: £32.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 – NOW: £24.75 / $37.50 / €33.75
Protonium Crate Bundles:
- 12 Protonium Crates – WAS: £3.99 / $4.99 / €4.99 – NOW: £3.00 / $3.75 / €3.75
- 25 Protonium Crates – WAS: £7.99 / $9.99 / €9.99 – NOW: £6.00 / $7.50 / €6.75
- 65 Protonium Crates – WAS: £18.99 / $24.99 / €22.99 – NOW: £14.25 / $18.75 / €17.25
- 140 Protonium Crates – WAS: £37.99 / $49.99 / €46.99 – NOW: £28.50 / $37.50 / €35.25
- 300 Protonium Crates – WAS: £76.99 / $99.99 / €92.99 – NOW: £57.75 / $75.00 / €69.75
When we announced the Body Builder tool, many of you were quick to ask if it would be possible to add/upload your own custom bodies to the tool and share them with the rest of the community. While this isn't currently possible in the game, Mark, Robocraft's director, did want to see what sort of things you could create given the opportunity. So, here it is, our first Design A Body Competition.
In short, we want to see your Robot chassis and the best ones will be added to the game.
For this competition we're going to have two different categories and you can submit entries to either or both. The two categories are:
- Category 1: Design Front & Rear chassis for an existing movement 'Class'
- Category 2: Create a completely new movement 'Class' (this will require a minimum of 4 complete chassis to be submitted)
Building Guidelines - Category 1
In this category we want to see your chassis designs for any existing Body Builder Class - Tank, Car, Mech or Hover. Your chassis MUST use only health cubes (the free ones) and include the block formations in the template examples below. This must be in the middle of the chassis as this is where we split it. This will allow us to easily slice your winning chassis in two and add it to the Body Builder tool.
You don't need to add weapons or movement parts to the chassis, just be aware to ensure that they're built to accommodate them. As a size guide, the following movement parts should be considered:
- Car - Discoverer Wheels
- Mech - Mech Leg Centaur
- Tank - Tank Track Warthog
- Hover - Hover Blade Squall
- For simplicity, please use only 3 of the four basic colors (excluding white)
- All completed chassis should be uploaded to the CRF (community robot factory)
- Your chassis name should begin with the term BB01 and then a short name (such as hotrod / blimp / charger )
- Your chassis description must include the existing class your chassis is for ie. Car, Mech, Tank or Hover
Building Guidelines - Category 2
For this category we want you to come up with a completely new class of Robot Chassis - this could be whatever you like; something futuristic such as spaceships or more down to earth like animals - it's completely up to you. However, please consider that not everyone has all the parts and so try and create Chassis that can be used with low-tier movement parts. The new Class you're creating for must, as a minimum, have four complete Chassis submitted and all of them must use the same block formations at the 'slice' point. This will allow players to mix and match the front and back parts seamlessly in the Body Builder tool. Because this category requires a lot more work from you, we are permitting collaborative submissions. Work with your friends on creating chassis for a new class and individually upload them to the CRF. Any collaborative builds must be flagged as such in the description field when uploading your chassis to the CRF. Your chassis MUST use only health cubes (the free ones) and include the block formations in the template examples below in either the front or rear portion of your chassis. This will allow us to easily slice your winning chassis in two and add it to the Body Builder tool. Colors:
- For simplicity, please use only 3 of the four basic colors (excluding white)
- All completed chassis should be uploaded to the CRF (community robot factory)
- Your chassis name should begin with the term BB01 and then a short name (such as hotrod / blimp / charger )
- Your chassis description must include the NEW class your chassis is for eg. Animals, Insects, Spaceships
- If you are collaborating, ensure that you and your friends are using the same class name and that you mention that your submission is a collaborative one
- You must upload, at a minimum, four chassis per new class - Failure to upload four Chassis per new category could result in all submission being invalid.
Prizes:
For this competition, we'll be picking our favorite chassis for both categories and will add them to the game in a future update. All winners will be announced on the Robocraftgame.com website.
Rules:
- Follow the building guidelines for the category you're submitting Chassis to
- Individual submissions must be your own work
- Collaborative submissions are permitted for category 2
- Only submissions with basic health cubes are permitted
- Competition period: Monday 20th November 2017 – 23:59 (UTC+1) Sunday 26th November 2017
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one chassis was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their chassis to the CRF
- The term BB01 must be included at the beginning of the chassis title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused some players to get stuck in a loading loop when using the Body Builder tool and quickly switching between chassis parts
Building Better Bodies
We've rolled out the latest Robocraft update titled Body Builder. This update brings with it a new and exciting way for inexperienced Robot builders to make a range of Robot bodies that are both functional and beautiful within a matter of seconds. For those with more building experience we've added the much-requested Undo functionality to edit mode. As well as those two amazing features, we've got some gorgeous new cosmetic parts and Elimination is back in BRAWL mode. We've made some balance changes and squished a few bugs too.
Click here to read the full patch notes
NEW:
Body Builder Tool The Body Builder tool has been designed to give players who are maybe not yet comfortable with building in Robocraft the power to create nice looking Robot chassis quickly with just a few clicks of the mouse.
The Body Builder interface is very easy to use:
- Select a Robot class (car, mech, tank or hover)
- Select a front body (multiple selections available)
- Select a back body (multiple selections available)
- Select color scheme
- Create your robot body
- Pressing the player-assigned* Undo hotkey while in Edit Mode will undo the last action:
- Robot part being placed
- Robot part being removed
- Robot part colour being changed
- Robot being moved (up, down, left or right)
- Undoing a mirrored action will undo one action at a time. I.e placing 2 cubes in mirror mode will undo one, and then the other
- Undo history starts from the moment of entry into Edit Mode
- Up to 2000 Undo actions permitted per 'save session'. Save sessions refresh when the user leaves the garage bay
- New on-screen hint for Undo
To activate the Undo functionality, existing players will need to assign a hotkey. This can be done through the controls settings which can be accessed by pressing the Esc (escape) key on the main game screen.
New cosmetic eyes Three new cosmetics based on Human, Cyborg and Feline eyes have been added to Robocraft. These new cosmetics can be used to add real character and charm to your Robots as they'll animate too. https://sketchfab.com/models/02ffad6f37e141c4b749fddfc6f22e71 Here are the all-important details on the cosmetic eyes:
- Part Name: Cat Eyeball
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Epic
- Forgeable: No
- Drop Quantity: Single
- CPU: 3
- Notes: Left and right variants
- Part Name: Vigilant (Human) Eyeball
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Rare
- Forgeable: No
- Drop Quantity: Single
- CPU: 3
- Notes: Left and right variants
- Part Name: Cyborg Eyeball
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Legendary
- Forgeable: No
- Drop Quantity: Pairs
- CPU: 3
- Notes: This part can be rotated to make either a left or right eye
OTHER CHANGES:
- Changes to Robot carousel to accommodate the new Body Builder tool
- Players will now see a “NEW ROBOT” icon at the far right of the carousel on the main game screen. Pressing the “NEW ROBOT” icon will open a new menu.
- Common building cubes are now free to forge. In order for us to accommodate the Body Builder tool, the following cubes will have a zero forge and recycle cost. These parts will no longer drop in crates and players will receive common Robit rewards instead.
- Health Cube
- Health Edge
- Health Corner
- Health Inner
- Health Edge Round
- Health Corner Round
- Healthy Inner Round
- Health Edge Slope
- Health Corner Slope
- Health Inner Slope
- Health Cone
- Health Pyramid
- Changes to new player account inventory items. To enable new players to use the Body Builder tool if they wish, they will receive the following inventory items when they first login to the game:
- Top Laser Wasp x10
- Plasma Pulser x10
- Rail Piercer x10
- Steering Wheel Discoverer x10
- Tank Track Warthog x10
- Mech Leg Centaur x10
- Hover Blade Squall x10
- All common building blocks x10,000 of each part
- Revert changes made for Hallowfest event:
- Remove splash screen
- Remove Hallowfest Flak Cannon
- Remove Halloween Music & SFX
- Remove Pumpkin Crates
- Reverted Halloween mothership
- Reset legendary item drop-rates
- Remove pumpkins from maps and replace with rocks
- Reset drop-rate for Spider Leg, Scary Mask, Bat Wings/Rudders and Spike cosmetic parts
- Default key bindings changed to accommodate the Undo functionality in Edit Mode:
- Manage Loadout is now L
- League Arena is now N
- Robots built in bays that have previously contained a Robot downloaded from the CRF can no longer be uploaded to the CRF
- Based on Steam's guidance regarding pricing, we have made some small reductions to prices on all Steam Bundles (including Lifetime Premium purchased through Steam) in the following currencies:
- Indonesian Rupah (IDR)
- Malaysian Ringit (MYR)
- Philippine PESO (PHP)
- Singapore Dollar (SGD)
- Thai Baht (THB)
- Korean Won (KRW)
- Indian Rupee (INR)
- Chilean Peso (CLP)
- Peruvian Peso (PEN)
- Colombian Peso (COP)
- South African Rand (ZAR)
- Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
- Taiwanese Dollar (TWD)
- Saudi-Arabian Riyal(SAR)
- Emirati Dirham (AED)
- Commenwealth of Independent States (CIS- USD)
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Electroplates and Struts have had their health increased by 12.5%
- All Electroplates have had their mass reduced by 50%
- All Hovers have had their "pure" carrying capacity increased by 25% ("pure" means "excluding the carrying capacity meant to lift their own mass")
- Thruster Force has been increased by 10%
- Thruster health has been increased by 20%
- Both Chain weapons have had their spin-up time reduced from 3 to 2 seconds
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused Insect legs and Mech Legs not to animate when viewed from a fair distance
- Removed the white box from all weapon rotational degree yellow lines
- Updated icons for Spike Pin, Spike Claw and Spike Dagger cosmetics
- Fixed a bug which caused the HUD to vanish in battle when pressing = in chat
- Fixed case sensitivity with the /partyinvite command
- Fixed a bug which caused some robots with hovers on multiple vertical layers to get stuck to the ground
- Fixed a bug which caused some sound effects to play when logging in or entering/returning from game modes even if you mute all audio channels
- Fixed a focus bug with the Xsolla payment screen when using the Robocraft Client
- Corrected the colour of the 'fluid' in each Nano canister to green when in test mode
- Corrected the colour of invite pop-up in Custom Game invitations
- Fixed a bug which caused an "unable to load bot" error when dismantling a Robot that you have copied
They're blinking marvel-eye-ous!
Keep your eyes peeled when opening crates from Thursday November 16th as we're adding some beautiful new cosmetics into Robocraft that will bring your robots to life. With this week's forthcoming Body Builder update, we're going to add three different types of globular organ to Robocraft based on human, cyborg and feline eyes. These new cosmetics can be used to add real character and charm to your Robots with their animations. Check out the awesome Sketchfab model of the new parts below. https://sketchfab.com/models/02ffad6f37e141c4b749fddfc6f22e71 Here are the all-important details on the cosmetic eyes:
- Part Name: Cat Eye
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Rare
- Forgable: No
- Notes: Left and right variants
- Part Name: Human Eye
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Rare
- Forgable: No
- Notes: Left and right variants
- Part Name: Cyborg Eye
- Part Type: Cosmetic
- Rarity: Legendary
- Forgable: No
- Notes: This part can be rotated to make either a left or right eye
In a recent artbot competition to celebrate our annual Hallowfest event we tasked you with creating some scary Halloween-themed Robots. We were inundated with all manner of weird and wonderful creations which made picking the winners for this competition particularly hard. But pick winners we did and below you'll find our favourite five from each category alongside the winner for that category. The overall competition winner is revealed at the very bottom.
Congratulations to all the category winners and thank you to everyone that took time to create a Robot for the competition.
Category 1 - Up to 750 CPU
- DB17 Skeleton Chariot by Insanes
- DB17 Cackaling Skull by grimex1236
- DB17 Master Hand by Vincentio
- DB17 Good Luck Kitty by JSUInsane
- DB17 LITTLE REAPER by djieff
WINNER: DB17 LITTLE REAPER by djieff
Category 2 - 751 – 1,000 CPU
- DB17 Mr. Beelzebub by Sheep_wielder
- DB17 ghost girl by leon.z.andersson
- DB17 Spider's Web by Meep805
- DB17 gaint spider by spaceshadow26
- DB17 Grimm Boglin by milt69466
WINNER: DB17 Mr. Beelzebub by Sheep_wielder
Category 3 - 1,001 – 1,500 CPU
- DB17 Headless Reaper by ArtyomAlekseyevich
- DB17 Bone by Yimo1120
- DB17 Vampire Biker by Nogard
- DB17 - Lycanthrope by Bluhman
- DB17_Jack Skellington by tina.ronnestam
WINNER: DB17 Vampire Biker by Nogard
Category 4 - 1,501 – 2,000 CPU
- DB17 Spooky Pumpking by Arwesblackburn
- DB17 The Spook Train by Darkdron270
- DB17 Noisy hat witch by hideka
- DB17 Friday the 13th by Modigliani
- DB17 PumpkinRidingTrex by RoboAratt
WINNER: DB17 Friday the 13th by Modigliani
Category 5 - 2,001 and above CPU
- DB17 slime swamp by dasher_to_levels
- DB17 RealisticSkeleton by ZombieJesus666
- DB17 Halloween Theater by cyt_3568
- DB17 ={APOCALYPSE}= by Phantom454545
- DB17 The Reaper by Gromek999
WINNER: DB17 ={APOCALYPSE}= by Phantom454545
Overall Winner
OVERALL WINNER: DB17 Friday the 13th by Modigliani
One of many things that sets Robocraft apart from other robot battling games is that it gives you, the player, the ability to create robots from scratch - just like those famous Danish block building toys from your childhood. Just like making robots from plastic blocks, constructing robots in Robocraft can be a time-consuming endeavor and one that requires a bit of creative thinking if you want to build the perfect car, tank or walking mech.
With our new Body Builder tool that's coming to Robocraft on November 16th, we're introducing a new and exciting way of creating beautiful Robot bodies.
Body Builder Basics
The Body Builder tool has been designed to give players who maybe are not yet comfortable with building in Robocraft the power to create nice looking Robot chassis quickly with just a few clicks of the mouse.
*These colours are currently being tweaked, so expect a different colour palette in the final version.
- The Body Builder interface is very easy to use:
- Select a Robot class (car, mech or tank)
- Select a front body four front bodies (multiple selections available)
- Select a back body (multiple selections available)
- Select colour scheme
- Create your robot body
- Health Cube
- Health Edge
- Health Corner
- Health Inner
- Health Edge Round
- Health Corner Round
- Healthy Inner Round
- Health Edge Slope
- Health Corner Slope
- Health Inner Slope
- Health Cone
- Health Pyramid
When the update is launched you'll see a "NEW ROBOT" icon at the far right of your carousel on the main game screen. Pressing the "NEW ROBOT" icon will open a new menu, giving you the option to:
- Create Robot (Body Builder tool)
- Build From Scratch (traditional robot building in Robocraft)
- Download Robots (via the Community Robot Factory)
From there you'll be able to build or download new robots until your 100 bays are full. For those of you that have mastered the art of building in Robocraft, we've not forgotten about you; alongside the Body Builder tool, we'll be adding an "Undo Button" to the standard building mode - giving you almost unlimited levels of undo if you need it.
We really hope you like the new Body Builder tool and make good use of it. We'll be monitoring your feedback (as we always do), so make sure to let us know of any issues or bugs that may need addressing. The Body Builder Update will be arriving on Thursday November 16th!
If you tried to log onto Robocraft servers yesterday (9th November), you may have come across some problems logging in. These issues were due to our third party server provider suffering a power cut at their datacenter which caused network issues for our game.
To compensate all those who lost limited time Premium during the downtime, we've decided to give out free 3 Day Premium to everyone via the promo code below:
BODYBUILDER16
This code expires on 17/11/2017 at 23:59 (UTC). For instructions on how to redeem the code please head here: https://robocraftgame.com/how-to-activate-giveaway-codes/ For those of you with Lifetime Premium, we will be gifting your accounts with 10 of our spooky spider leg cosmetics. We'd like to thank everyone for their patience during these issues.
After several hours of downtime, Robocraft servers are now back up. However we'll be tracking stability carefully over the next 12 hours. If we don't have any downtime after that we will release a 1 Day Premium code to all. Thanks to every player out there for being patient during the unscheduled downtime. [strike]Due to technical issues with our third party server provider, Robocraft servers are currently down. We're currently working with our server provider to come up with a solution to get everything back up and running. There is no ETA on when service will resume as normal, but rest assured we're working on deploying a solution as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience. We hope to get you back playing very soon. [strike]UPDATE #1: Servers will be back online at or before 4pm UTC. We will be releasing a 1 Day Premium code to everyone to make up for any lost Premium game time. Again, we'd like to apologies for the downtime.[/strike] [strike]UPDATE #2: Unfortunately we're still getting issues with our server provider, so we have no choice but to extend maintenance to 6pm UTC. Keep an eye on this news story for future updates.[/strike] UPDATE #3: Our third party servers will not be back up at 6pm UTC as anticipated. We are now pursuing an alternate method to get everything back up and running by putting in place alternate infrastructure. No timeframe on when servers will be back at present. UPDATE #4: Servers are now back online and we'll be tracking stability carefully over the next 12 hours. If we don't have any downtime after that we will release a 1 Day Premium code tomorrow. [/strike]
Greetings Robocrafters!
In addition to all the spook-tacular festivities currently going on in Robocraft as part of Hallowfest 4, we’ve discounted and updated our Steam-exclusive Spooky Bundle! The Halloween-themed pack is currently available for 25% off its usual price and has been updated to include the new 4 Spider Leg cosmetics, replacing the Flak Cannon.
The current in-game x5 increased legendary drop rate also applies to the crates included in this bundle. Fancy right?
A word to the wise; we plan on removing this bundle from sale on 16th November, so be sure to snap it up before it goes into hibernation until Hallowfest 2018.
To see what you get in this newly improved bundle click the box below:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/545090/Robocraft__Spooky_Bundle/
Today we have deployed a new hotfix to solve some issues that were formerly in the live build. These are:
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused EAC to not install correctly for first-time players
- Fixed a bug which caused some Mech and Sprinter Leg parts to not display (render) correctly at a distance
- Spikes now mirror correctly
NEW:
- Hallowfest 4 special event
- Halloween mothership
- Spooky in-game music during battles, in the mothership and during menus
- Pumpkin salvage crates
- Cackling skulls from Aeroflaks
- Spooky Aeroflak explosions
- Hallowfest 4 splash screen
- Scary death screams when a player dies in battle
- Spider Insect Leg Part
- Rarity: Epic (Uncommon during the Hallowfest 4 event)
- Robot CPU Load: 44 pFlops
- Base Health: 59,400
- Base Speed: 155 mph
- Speed Boost: 1.1%
- Mass: 16.0 kg
- Jump Height: 67.4 meters
- Bats & Spiders BRAWL - It's land vs air in this spooktacular halloween-themed BRAWL. Who will be victorious in the battle between bats and spiders? Create Robot monstrosities and fight to the death!
- BRAWL Rules:
- Permitted weapons/modules: all weapons and modules permitted
- Permitted movement: Insect Legs and Wings/Rudders only
- Permitted CPU: All
- Game Mode: Battle Arena
- BRAWL Reward: x3 XP and x1 crate for first victory bonus
- HUD - ON/OFF - Players can now hide/unhide the in-game HUD by pressing the +/= key. This has been added to enable streamers and video content creators to capture cleaner gameplay footage. Players can also turn on the HUD by pressing the TAB key.
- 3 new Spike Cosmetics - Spike Claw / Spike Needle / Spike Pin
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Robot CPU Load: 1 pFLOP
- Base Health: 0
- Mass: 0.0kg
- Note: These items are classed as cosmetics and so cannot be forged
IMPROVEMENTS:
- We have made a number of improvements to Wings and Rudder parts including Bat Wings and Rudders at all sizes. The rate at which they ‘bank’ and ‘turn’ and ‘elevate’ as well as their ‘thrust’ has been adjusted. We have improved the largest parts a small amount, and the smaller parts have been improved a lot to ensure less performance loss when using smaller Wing and Rudder parts. We have also greatly reduced the loss of performance the heavier your Robot gets - so rather than a 75% reduction in performance, you'll have a 50% reduction.
- General improvements to Insect Legs making them more enjoyable to use in battle
- Improvements to Hover Blade parts
- Battle Arena rewards increased from 3+3 to 4+4
- Steam Achievements have now been localised
OTHER CHANGES:
- The rarity of all Spooky Cosmetic parts has been reduced to Uncommon for the duration of the Hallowfest 4 event
- The drop-rate percentage of Legendary parts in all crates has been increased to x5 for the duration of the Hallowfest 4 event
- Hover Blades are now affected by carry mass
- Unity game engine updated to version 5.6
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused a 'Photon Error' when a player purchased a Robot from the CRF and immediately dismantled it. This photon error would then lock a player out of their account when re-logging
- Fixed a bug which prevented some players from editing Robots due to a "Cubes you don't own are placed on this Robot" error
- Fixed a bug which caused default player avatars from appearing correctly in the party invite widget
- Fixed a bug that caused your 'cube/part gun' to incorrectly display the number of laser wasps you own when completing the tutorial
We will be taking the servers offline at 12:45 (UTC+1) to allow us to hotfix today's Hallowfest 4 Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Something wicked this way comes
Hallowfest has once again corrupted the world of Robocraft! From Thursday, 19th October players can celebrate the spooky season with our in-game event Hallowfest 4. For this year's event we've added some arachnid-inspired Spider Legs, introduced a special "Bats & Spiders" BRAWL, given the Mothership a Halloween make-over and much, much more. Alongside the Hallowfest 4 event, we're also making some improvements to a number of parts including all Wings & Rudders, Hover Blades and Insect Legs. If you're a Robocraft content creator or streamer, we've added a HUD toggle switch just for you! We've also fixed a number of bugs too - you'll find all of these below.
NEW:
- Hallowfest 4 special event
- Halloween mothership
- Spooky in-game music during battles, in the mothership and during menus
- Pumpkin salvage crates
- Cackling skulls from Aeroflaks
- Spooky Aeroflak explosions
- Hallowfest 4 splash screen
- Scary death screams when a player dies in battle
- Spider Insect Leg Part
- Rarity: Epic (Uncommon during the Hallowfest 4 event)
- Robot CPU Load: 44 pFlops
- Base Health: 59,400
- Base Speed: 155 mph
- Speed Boost: 1.1%
- Mass: 16.0 kg
- Jump Height: 67.4 meters
- Bats & Spiders BRAWL - It's land vs air in this spooktacular halloween-themed BRAWL. Who will be victorious in the battle between bats and spiders? Create Robot monstrosities and fight to the death!
- BRAWL Rules:
- Permitted weapons/modules: all weapons and modules permitted
- Permitted movement: Insect Legs and Wings/Rudders only
- Permitted CPU: All
- Game Mode: Battle Arena
- BRAWL Reward: x3 XP and x1 crate for first victory bonus
- HUD - ON/OFF - Players can now hide/unhide the in-game HUD by pressing the +/= key. This has been added to enable streamers and video content creators to capture cleaner gameplay footage. Players can also turn on the HUD by pressing the TAB key.
- 3 new Spike Cosmetics - Spike Claw / Spike Needle / Spike Pin
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Robot CPU Load: 1 pFLOP
- Base Health: 0
- Mass: 0.0kg
- Note: These items are classed as cosmetics and so cannot be forged
IMPROVEMENTS:
- We have made a number of improvements to Wings and Rudder parts including Bat Wings and Rudders at all sizes. The rate at which they ‘bank’ and ‘turn’ and ‘elevate’ as well as their ‘thrust’ has been adjusted. We have improved the largest parts a small amount, and the smaller parts have been improved a lot to ensure less performance loss when using smaller Wing and Rudder parts. We have also greatly reduced the loss of performance the heavier your Robot gets - so rather than a 75% reduction in performance, you'll have a 50% reduction.
- General improvements to Insect Legs making them more enjoyable to use in battle
- Improvements to Hover Blade parts
- Battle Arena rewards increased from 3+3 to 4+4
- Steam Achievements have now been localised
OTHER CHANGES:
- The rarity of all Spooky Cosmetic parts has been reduced to Uncommon for the duration of the Hallowfest 4 event
- The drop-rate percentage of Legendary parts in all crates has been increased to x5 for the duration of the Hallowfest 4 event
- Hover Blades are now affected by carry mass
- Unity game engine updated to version 5.6
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused a 'Photon Error' when a player purchased a Robot from the CRF and immediately dismantled it. This photon error would then lock a player out of their account when re-logging
- Fixed a bug which prevented some players from editing Robots due to a "Cubes you don't own are placed on this Robot" error
- Fixed a bug which caused default player avatars from appearing correctly in the party invite widget
- Fixed a bug that caused your 'cube/part gun' to incorrectly display the number of laser wasps you own when completing the tutorial
Not So Incy Wincy Spider
If you follow our social media channels, you'll have no doubt seen last week that we teased the return of our much-loved Halloween event, Hallowfest. Yes, Hallowfest 4 is coming this week and we'll update you all on what we have planned starting today. We can reveal that as part of the Hallowfest 4 update we will be rolling out some much-needed improvements to the insect leg movement type. So, what better way to celebrate these improvements that with some suitably spooky and incredibly hairy arachnid-inspired legs. Check out the awesome Sketchfab 3D model of the Spider Insect Leg below. https://sketchfab.com/models/3978124fe6d1433b9bc1197ffd00f5f6 Here are those all-important stats for the Spider Insect Leg
- Rarity: Epic (Uncommon during the Hallowfest 4 event)
- Robot CPU Load: 44 pFlops
- Base Health: 59,400
- Base Speed: 155 mph
- Speed Boost: 1.1%
- Mass: 16.0 kg
- Jump Height: 67.4 meters
#HALLOWFEST4
It's time to get your witchy thinking hats on and design a suitably spooky Robot in our latest Artbot Competition. Create a creepy-looking Robot and you could win some super-awesome Protonium crates and a set of the new Insect Leg Spider parts.
We love celebrating Halloween with you guys and if you've been following our social feeds, you'll have seen a tease for Hallowfest 4 - yup we're bringing it back. Alongside the Hallowfest event we have this Artbot Competition where we want you to design a Halloween-themed Robot.
The Brief:
So, what do we want you to create this year? Spooky Robots of course! We want to see your ghosts, ghouls, monsters of mayhem and Robots of horror. There are a few rules we need you to stick to, so make sure you follow them or your submission won't be valid. We will be splitting the winners into five categories; these are based on a Robot's CPU. So, if you upload a 750 CPU robot it will be in category one. You can upload multiple Robots to multiple categories but you will only be eligible to win one prize.
Categories:
- Up to 750 CPU
- 751 - 1,000 CPU
- 1,001 - 1,500 CPU
- 1,501 - 2,000 CPU
- 2,001 and above CPU
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive one week of premium membership or 25 Protonium crates if the winner has lifetime premium. As an extra special prize, each of the five winners will receive four of the new Insect Leg Spider parts. These will all be added to the winner's accounts once they've announced. In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You will only be eligible to win one prize
- No cosmetic parts are permitted
- Competition period: Monday 16th October 2017 - 23:59 (UTC+1) Sunday 22nd October 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB17 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
Today we've released a balance change update to Robocraft which contains the following changes:
- Chain Shredder accuracy improved (now 15% more accurate than Chain Splitter)
- LOML Stinger and LOML Viper damage increased from 52,426 to 57,669
- Proto-Seeker damage increased from 4,323 to 4,755
- Gyro Mortar fire rate reduced from 1.0 to 0.87 per second
- Gyro Mortar energy cost increased from 2282 to 2589
- All Light cubes health increased from 2,700 to 3,000
- All Light cubes health boost increased from 0.05% to 0.06%
- Lynx Thruster speed boost increased from 0.6% to 0.7%
- Thruster Panther speed boost increased from 0.81% to 0.93%
- Thruster Leopard speed boost increased from 1.05% to 1.19
- Thruster Puma speed boost increased from 1.32% to 1.48%
- Thruster Cheetah speed boost increased from 1.62% to 1.8%
- Propeller Tomahawk speed boost increased from 3.375% to 3.875%
- Propeller Thunderbolt speed boost increased from 7.125% to 8.125%
Thursday October 12th 4pm - 5pm (UTC+1)
Got a question you'd like to put to Robocraft's designer Sergii? This Thursday, October 12th from 4pm-5pm we'll be livestreaming a Q&A over on our Twitch and Facebook channels where Sergii will be answering some of your submitted questions along with a few live ones too. Post your questions in the comments below or join us on the livestream over on Twitch or Facebook. Please post one question at a time so we can see them easier. We only have an hour so please keep your questions short and to the point. We don't want to spend time reading out paragraphs of text when we could be answering questions.
Check your range and fire away with out latest BRAWL, Heavy Artillery that's now live! In this special ranged-combat BRAWL designed for Tank Tracks and Mech Legs, the weapons of choice are Plasmas and the recently released Gyro Mortar.
BRAWL Rules:
- BRAWL name: Heavy Artillery
- Permitted weapons: Plasma and Mortar only
- Permitted movement: Mech Legs and Tank Tracks only
- Permitted CPU: 1250 and above
- Game mode: Battle Arena
- First Victory Bonus: x3 XP and x1 crate
NEW:
- New BRAWL
- BRAWL name: Heavy Artillery
- Permitted weapons: Plasma and Mortar only
- Permitted movement: Mech Legs and Tank Tracks only
- Permitted CPU: 1250 and above
- Game mode: Battle Arena
- First Victory Bonus: x3 XP and x1 crate
OTHER CHANGES:
- Updated Gyro Mortar splash damage VFX when you hit yourself or shields
BUG FIXES:
- Gyro Mortar and Plasma explosion splash damage will now work correctly when interacting with objects such as walls, bridges, your own Robot and shields
- Fixed a bug that prevented users from earning the "Keep on Truckin'" achievement
- Fixed a bug that prevented users who are in the same clan from seeing more than one clan avatar of those members in battle
UPDATE: We have extended the maintenance by a further 1 hour. Thanks for your patience.
We will be taking the servers offline at 09:00 (UTC+1) to update Robocraft with a new BRAWL.
The maintenance is expected to take up to three hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, September 21st, a new dawn will arrive and with it will come a new weapon of war - the fabled Gyro Mortar. Long has this weapon of mass destruction been talked about; often in tales and stories stretching far and wide across the galaxy. You'll be able to experience its full power for yourself when we unleash this weapon in less than 24 hours!
Along with the Gyro Mortar weapon, tomorrow's update will bring with it a wealth of new features, changes and bug fixes; all of which you'll find below.
NEW:
- Gyro Mortar Weapon:
- Rarity: Legendary
- CPU: 290
- Fire rate: 1 per second
- Max fire rate count: 1
- Power per shot: 2,282
- Damage per shot: 236,967
- Blast radius: 50 meters
- Projectile speed: very slow
- Angle of Fire: 10° - 80° (optimal angle for greatest distance 45°)
- Health: 117,450
- Mass: 1160 kg
- Other notes: Usable on ground only
- 'Sideways Driving' setting
- This setting is only applied to Wheels, Wings, Rudders, Skis, Thrusters, Propellers when using camera controls
- When ‘Sideways driving’ is off, your Robot (with these parts) will not turn/strafe when you push ‘left and right’, you can only steer with the camera (this is simpler for new users and easier to understand when you are learning camera controls, and some players may also prefer it this way)
- When this setting is off, your Robot will always turn to go forwards when you push forwards and reverse when you push backwards (again, easier to learn and understand if you’re a new user, and some may prefer it this way)
- This applies to thrusters too, although thrusters retain their ability to ‘strafe’ when left and right is pushed
- ‘Tanks turn to face camera’ setting
- This setting is only applied to tank track parts
- When turned off, Tanks will not turn constantly to face the same direction as the camera (as they do now) and will only turn when you push one of the direction keys (i.e. forward, back, left, right)
- ‘Forward bias’ has also been removed, so your tank will always move forwards or backwards in the quickest way they can go based on the direction you are saying you want to go, as opposed to taking longer to turn sometimes in favour of driving forwards
- These settings only apply when using camera controls
OTHER CHANGES:
We've made some changes and improvements to some of the parts in the game:
- Wheels:
- Improved handling when using Camera controls, particularly very tight turning when you are moving slow
- Added some steering capabilities to non-steering wheels. They aren’t as good as steering wheels, but they can steer a little.
- Skis:
- These have been reworked, they now behave a bit like wheels but without any forward force generation or braking (think more like ice skates than skis if you like).
- You will still need thrust to make them move though
- Skis work now have a camera control option.
- Windowmaker Module:
- Windowmaker Module Forge cost reduced from 67,500 to 50,000 robits
- Windowmaker Module Recycle rate reduced from 16,875 to 12,500 robits
- Windowmaker Module health was reduced from 27,338 to 20,250
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which allowed some cosmetic parts to block rail weapon penetration
- Premium awarded via promo code now applies instantly - players no longer need to re-log to see the premium on their account
- Fixed a bug which prevented some rail guns shooting forward when used on small Robots
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Chain Splitter crosshair from rotating/spinning up correctly
- The Rail Piercer and Aeroflak Sentinel models no longer change when zooming in with the camera
- Fixed a bug which allowed rails to penetrate some electroshields when they shouldn't
- Rail gun crosshair 'X' now appears in the correct situation to indicate that the weapon is not ready/cannot be fired
- Fixed a bug with the Headlamps model that failed to render the 'light bulb'
- Players can now correctly see the light projected by the Headlamps on Robots that are not their own (Headlamp light is only visible to players with GOOD quality settings and above)
- Player avatars now display correctly in Play vs AI mode
- If a player changes their custom avatar or clan image while another player is viewing the clan/friends list or party/custom game widgets the image will update correctly
- Multiple language corrections
- Current BRAWL play screen text fully localised
The fabled Gyro Mortar is now live as part of the latest free update to Robocraft!
Long has this weapon of mass destruction been talked about in issues of Robonews, as well as on the Robostream, and now you can finally get your hands on its explosive, area denial, goodness.
Along with the Gyro Mortar weapon, also brings with it a wealth of new features including new control functionality, bug fixes and refinements. The full patch notes can be found by clicking the link below:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1478727366609867242
The latest free update for Robocraft is now live! Full patch notes are below.
NEW:
- Gyro Mortar Weapon:
- Rarity: Legendary
- CPU: 290
- Fire rate: 1 per second
- Max fire rate count: 1
- Power per shot: 2,282
- Damage per shot: 236,967
- Blast radius: 50 meters
- Projectile speed: very slow
- Angle of Fire: 10° - 80° (optimal angle for greatest distance 45°)
- Health: 117,450
- Mass: 1160 kg
- Other notes: Usable on ground only
- 'Sideways Driving' setting
- This setting is only applied to Wheels, Wings, Rudders, Skis, Thrusters, Propellers when using camera controls
- When ‘Sideways driving’ is off, your Robot (with these parts) will not turn/strafe when you push ‘left and right’, you can only steer with the camera (this is simpler for new users and easier to understand when you are learning camera controls, and some players may also prefer it this way)
- When this setting is off, your Robot will always turn to go forwards when you push forwards and reverse when you push backwards (again, easier to learn and understand if you’re a new user, and some may prefer it this way)
- This applies to thrusters too, although thrusters retain their ability to ‘strafe’ when left and right is pushed
- ‘Tanks turn to face camera’ setting
- This setting is only applied to tank track parts
- When turned off, Tanks will not turn constantly to face the same direction as the camera (as they do now) and will only turn when you push one of the direction keys (i.e. forward, back, left, right)
- ‘Forward bias’ has also been removed, so your tank will always move forwards or backwards in the quickest way they can go based on the direction you are saying you want to go, as opposed to taking longer to turn sometimes in favour of driving forwards
- These settings only apply when using camera controls
OTHER CHANGES:
We've made some changes and improvements to some of the parts in the game:
- Wheels:
- Improved handling when using Camera controls, particularly very tight turning when you are moving slow
- Added some steering capabilities to non-steering wheels. They aren’t as good as steering wheels, but they can steer a little.
- Skis:
- These have been reworked, they now behave a bit like wheels but without any forward force generation or braking (think more like ice skates than skis if you like).
- You will still need thrust to make them move though
- Skis work now have a camera control option.
- Windowmaker Module:
- Windowmaker Module Forge cost reduced from 67,500 to 50,000 robits
- Windowmaker Module Recycle rate reduced from 16,875 to 12,500 robits
- Windowmaker Module health was reduced from 27,338 to 20,250
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which allowed some cosmetic parts to block rail weapon penetration
- Premium awarded via promo code now applies instantly - players no longer need to re-log to see the premium on their account
- Fixed a bug which prevented some rail guns shooting forward when used on small Robots
- Fixed a bug that prevented the Chain Splitter crosshair from rotating/spinning up correctly
- The Rail Piercer and Aeroflak Sentinel models no longer change when zooming in with the camera
- Fixed a bug which allowed rails to penetrate some electroshields when they shouldn't
- Rail gun crosshair 'X' now appears in the correct situation to indicate that the weapon is not ready/cannot be fired
- Fixed a bug with the Headlamps model that failed to render the 'light bulb'
- Players can now correctly see the light projected by the Headlamps on Robots that are not their own (Headlamp light is only visible to players with GOOD quality settings and above)
- Player avatars now display correctly in Play vs AI mode
- If a player changes their custom avatar or clan image while another player is viewing the clan/friends list or party/custom game widgets the image will update correctly
- Multiple language corrections
- Current BRAWL play screen text fully localised
If you were paying attention to our social channels last week you'll have no doubt heard an incoming audio transmission from Alpha Scuti III. Many of you were quick to correctly guess the origins of the audio and what the new weapon would be. We're incredibly proud to uncover the latest advancements in gyro-based weapon technology - the Gyro-Mortar.
With a blast radius of 50 meters, the high-damage dealing Gyro-Mortar will be a force to be reckoned with when it is unleashed later this week.
Here is the all-important data for the new weapon (please note that this is correct at time of publication and is subject to change).
- Rarity: Legendary
- CPU: 290
- Fire rate: 1 per second
- Max fire rate count: 1
- Power per shot: 2,282
- Damage per shot: 236,967
- Blast radius: 50 meters
- Projectile speed: very slow
- Health: 117,450
- Mass: 1160 kg
- Other notes: Usable on ground only
Attention! Incoming Audio Transmission
Our top engineers have descrambled an audio transmission from Alpha Scuti III.
[url=https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/classified-transmission-1]
Keep an eye on Robocraftgame.com for more information on this story as it breaks.
#FIREFORCOEHOORN
Get Ready To Rumble
Login to Robocraft and participate in our latest BRAWL - Rare Rumble. Designed as a great introduction to the Battle Arena game mode, Rare Rumble is a strictly no Epic and Legendary parts affair; you'll need to build a Robot with rare parts or below to be able to participate. BRAWL Rules:
- BRAWL Name: Rare Rumble
- BRAWL Description: Destroy your enemies on battlegrounds where legends will be born not played. In this Battle Arena BRAWL all Epic and Legendary parts are prohibited.
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game mode: Battle Arena
- Map: All Battle Arena maps
- Excluded parts: All Epic and Legendary parts - including both functional and cosmetic parts
- BRAWL Prizes: First victory bonus - x2 XP + additional crate
NEW:
- BRAWL
- BRAWL Name: Rare Rumble
- BRAWL Description: Destroy your enemies on battlegrounds where legends will be born not played. In this Battle Arena BRAWL all Epic and Legendary parts are prohibited.
- BRAWL Rules:
- Game mode: Battle Arena
- Map: All Battle Arena maps
- Excluded parts: All Epic and Legendary parts - including both functional and cosmetic parts
- BRAWL Prizes: First victory bonus - x2 XP + additional crate
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Change to Damage Boost curve - Currently, we're seeing that 'Alpha Strike' Robots around 750 CPU are too powerful and Robots around 1500 CPU aren't powerful enough. To address this issue we're making the following changes to the Damage Boost curve.
We feel these new changes will bring a better balance to Robot damage at all CPU ranges. If we had opted for a straight diagonal line from 100% down to 0% we would have penalized Robots around 1,100 CPU which we felt was unfair as Robots at this size were not the issue. We will continue to monitor your feedback and may make further adjustments if we feel they are needed.
BUG FIXES:
- Increased the maximum vertical camera angle from 80° to 89.9° in both directions
- Fixed Roboshield bug that was causing connection issues for some players
Hey all,
We wanted to let you know that we've made the following balance changes to all Laser weapons in Robocraft.
As de-gunning is what Lasers were good at, the recent health increase of big guns resulted in an indirect nerf to most Lasers.To compensate this, we have increased the damage per shot for most Laser weapons.
We felt that smaller versions of Laser weren't strong enough and were running out of energy way too slow and so their energy consumption and damage per shot has been increased more than the larger Lasers (in terms of percentage increase). We also wanted to make Lasers more different and so the inaccuracy was increased as well.
The Laser Disintegrator damage per shot was increased; its Energy and Inaccuracy values have stayed the same as we felt they were in good spot already.
As for the Leviathan, we felt it was way too similar to Rails in terms of doing heavy damage with every hit and running out of energy very fast. That's why we have decreased its damage per shot and reduced its Energy consumption per shot to compensate this damage reduction.
In order to see these changes, log out of Robocraft and log back in.
NEW:
- Steam Achievements - players loading Robocraft through the Steam Client and logging in with their Steam ID will now earn achievements for completing different challenges in the game. To see the full list of achievements, click here.
BALANCE CHANGES:
In this update we fixed a bug that prevented high fire rate weapons from reaching their listed fire rates. In fixing the bug, it became apparent that all high fire rate weapons were now more powerful. As we don't want to affect the balance with a bugfix, we are setting fire rates those weapons to what they actually were:
- Chain Splitter: 12 shots per second, down from the listed 18
- Chain Shredder, Proto-Seeker and all Nanos: 14 shots per second, down from the listed 20
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to duplicate non-forgeable parts
- Fixed a bug which sometimes failed to load team buffs correctly when a team lost a player
- Fixed a bug which caused a "Photon request raised an error" dialogue to appear for some players
- Fixed a bug which prevented flipped players from rectifying correctly if they were next to a wall
- Fixed a bug that prevented high fire rate weapons from reaching their listed fire rates
- Fixed a number of collision issues with different cosmetic parts:
- Eagle Feathers Right, Overwolf Eye Right and Overwolf Ear Right had some collision issues which permitted players to get inside the mask
- It was impossible to place the Overwolf Mask from top to bottom as the player would see an "Incorrect Cube Placement" dialogue
- Fixed a bug which failed to remove a robot from the CRF results page if it expired while it was being displayed on a player's screen
- Fixed a bug which permitted players to still send friend/party/clan invites to those players that had previously blocked them
- Repositioned cosmetic plates in the Special Tab for better consistency
- Multiple language corrections
UPDATE #1: we have extended maintenance by one hour. Apologies for any impact this has to your gaming
We will be taking the servers offline at 09:00 (UTC+1) to add Steam Achievements to Robocraft.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
We will be taking the servers offline at 12:00 (UTC+1) for essential database restructuring.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
The Hunt Is On
Achievement noun: "a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage." We know from chatting with many of our players that some of you feel that Robocraft lacks a sense of achievement outside of seeing your username at the top of the end-of-battle leaderboard or the unlocking of a Protonium League badge. Well, this week we aim to change this with the inclusion of Steam Achievements for Robocraft! This Thursday, we're adding 43 different achievements that will be unlocked through regular play of Robocraft. Please note that achievements can only be unlocked if you're running the game through the Steam Client and not the Robocraft Client. Now, in order to fully test the achievements prior to releasing them, we are required to put them into the Steam backend and make them visible. So, starting today, you will be able to see them in the Steam backend, but you won't be able unlock them until after this Thursday's update. Want to know what achievements you can unlock? Check out the full list below.
- Shredder!!! - Get 25 kills with the Chain weapons.
- The Bees! - Get 25 kills with ProtoSeeker
- Hugs! - Get 25 kills with Tesla Blades
- Points of Light - Get 25 kills with Lasers
- Magnetic Personality - Get 25 kills with Rails
- I've got tone! - Get 25 kills with Missiles
- Burn Therapy - Get 25 kills with Plasma
- Bring the Pain - Get 25 kills with Ion weaponry
- Fly Swatter - Get 25 kills with the Aeroflak
- Shield Wall - Use your Disc Shield Module five times in one battle
- Disappearing Act - Use the Ghost Module five times in one battle
- Lights Out! - Use the EMP Module five times in one battle
- Energize! - Use the Blink Module five times in one battle
- Power Up! - Use the Weapon Energy module five times in battle
- Open Window - Use the Windowmaker module five times in one battle
- Protonium Miner - Capture 20 control points
- Party Animal - Win 5 battles with a full party
- Sneaky, Sneaky - Get a kill with Tesla Blades within two seconds of de-cloaking
- Surgeon General - Heal an ally at 20% health to 100% health 20 times
- Bronze League - Earn a bronze ranking in League
- Silver League - Earn a Silver Ranking in League
- Gold League - Earn a Gold Ranking in League
- Diamond League - Earn a Diamond Ranking in League
- Protonium League - Earn a Protonium Ranking in League
- Hurt Locker - Fight your first ranked battle
- Doctor - Heal an ally at 20% health to full health
- Mr. Popularity - Earn robits via the CRF 100 times
- Power Shopper - Gain mastery level 10 on a robot purchased from the CRF
- I Got This - Complete the Tutorial
- Get to the Choppa! - Play 25 games with a robot with Rotors
- Walk this Way - Play 25 games with a robot with Mech Legs
- Scuttle Time! - Play 25 games with a robot with Insect Legs
- Fly the Friendly Skies - Play 25 games with a robot fitted with Wings or Rudders
- Keep on Truckin' - Play 25 games with a robot with Wheels
- Armored Cavalry - Play 25 games with a robot with Tracks
- Such a Fan! - Play 25 games with a robot with Hovers
- Skeeter Beater - Kill 25 robots with Rotors
- Sweep the Knee! - Kill 25 robots with Mech Legs
- Burn it with Fire! - Kill 25 robots with Insect Legs
- Wing Clipper - Kill 25 robots fitted with Wings or Rudders
- Flat Tire - Kill 25 robots with Wheels
- Tank Killer - Kill 25 robots with Tracks
- Hitting the Fan - Kill 25 robots with Hovers
Want to be 'in the know' about all things Robocraft Infinity? Get yourself over to the Robocraft Infinity website and sign up to the newsletter. If you sign up before 23:59 (UTC+1) on Thursday 7th September, you'll get a free one-day premium code to use in Robocraft!
So that's free Robocraft premium just for keeping up to date on Robocraft Infinity.
Upon signing up to the newsletter, you will be sent an email asking you to confirm your registration. If you don't confirm your registration before 23:59 (UTC+1) on Thursday September 7th, you won't receive a promo code. If you've already subscribed to the newsletter, you'll also receive a code.
We will start sending out the promo code emails from 10:00 (UTC+1) on Friday September 8th so keep an eye on your inbox. Also, check your spam folders too just in case it lands there by accident.
Once you receive your email with the promo code, copy/paste it into Robocraft. For instructions on how to redeem your free promo code, click here.
About Robocraft Infinity:
Robocraft Infinity is the console version of Robocraft, optimised for Microsoft platforms, with all new progression system revolved around Infinite cubes, a combat redux and more! Robocraft Infinity is planned for release in early 2018 on Microsoft Xbox One and Windows 10 platforms. Robocraft Infinity will also feature Xbox One X enhancements including 4k support, faster loading times and 60 frames per second. For more info (and to register for the newsletter) visit https://robocraftinfinity.com/.
Happy gaming all!
Based on your feedback, we have made the following balance changes in Robocraft:
BALANCE CHANGES:
- The Disc Shield Module cooldown has been increased from 25 to 30 seconds
- The Windowmaker Module CPU has been reduced from 135 to 100
- Mech Legs and Sprinter Legs now move at 75% of their full speed with 1 leg - this is up from 50%
- The LOML Stinger weapon has had its energy consumption increased by 5%
- The Chain Splitter weapon has had its fire rate reduced by 5%
BALANCE CHANGES:
Based on feedback from the community, we've made the following balance changes to the game: In this hotfix we've made a significant change to the Physics of Aerofoils (i.e. Wings and Rudders) designed to reduce the effectiveness of super-tough, flying-bricks with 'spammed' wings in Battle Arena as the dominant meta. This change also increases the effectiveness of light airplanes. Our focus has been on agility and is also based on introducing a little more realism.
- Heavy planes will be less agile and feel more 'lumbering' like bombers do.
- Light planes will be more agile light fighter jets do.
- Roll Speed - how fast you rotate around your forward axis
- Elevation Speed - how fast you rotate around your side axis (i.e. to point up to the sky or down to the ground)
- Bank Speed - how fast you rotate in the air, i.e. turning circle
- Thrust - how fast you accelerate and change direction forwards and backwards
- VTOL Speed - how fast you VTOL up and down
BUG FIXES:
- Wings or Rudders with their tips pointing forwards of backwards no longer provide Thrust
- Fixed a bug which prevented Rudders from properly affecting the handling of the aircraft
- Fixed a bug with Helium which was causing unexpected lean on Robots
- Fixed a bug which caused the Football Electroplate parts to have the wrong health
Celebrating Robocraft 1.0
Join us on Friday 25th August from 16:00 (UTC+1) for a very special Robostream. We’re blowing up the party balloons and putting on a lavish spread of crisps, cake, sundry snacks and fizzy pop as we celebrate the Robocraft moving out of Early Access and into 1.0. Joining community manager LeftofNever on the stream will be some (hopefully all) of the Robocraft team including the founding fathers of Freejam. They’ll be on-hand to answer some of your questions while recounting tales of the early life of Robocraft. We’ll also be giving away some free codes and announcing a new competition where you could win some awesome and exclusive Gamepedia swag. The fun kicks off at 4! You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- Cosmetic CPU
- Every Robot will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool
- Putting a single cosmetic part onto a Robot will remove 1 pFlop from the Robot’s Cosmetic CPU Pool
- When the number of cosmetic parts added to a Robot exceed the available Cosmetic CPU Pool, the pFlops from the Robot’s regular CPU Pool will be used
- The available Cosmetic CPU a Robot has will be displayed in the Robot Info panel in-game
For more information on the new Cosmetic CPU feature, read our recent Dev Jam.
- Taunt Feature
- Taunt your enemy with fun audio and visual FX in battle
- Taunts are triggered in battle with the press of the Q key (set by default)
- Taunts can only be used on Robots with complete masks
- If a mask part has been destroyed in battle players can still taunt
- New visual FX for complete masks on player Robots
For more information on taunts and to hear the fab audio, read our recent Dev Jam. Early Access Player Rewards As way of thanking you for being part of the development journey we're going to be handing out some very exclusive rewards to all our players who registered accounts before us releasing tomorrow's update. When you log in after tomorrow's update has been released you'll receive some goodies - what you receive will be dependent on how long you've been with us.
There are four types of Early Access reward, with your account age determining what you’ll get when you log in after 1.0 launches on 24th August. You won’t need to input a promotional code on launch day or anything like that, instead these items will be gifted to you directly after you log-into the game. This handy table below details what you get:
Please note that the cut-off point for receiving the rewards is 08:59 (UTC+1) 24th August 2017. If you register an account after this point, you will not receive any rewards. Don't forget that the Pilot Seat Cosmetics are exclusive to the update and so you won't find them in crates, the shop or in the forge. You also won't be able to download Robots from the CRF with Pilot Seat parts you don't have. Also, if you recycle the parts, you'll lose them and won't be able to get them back. For more information on what rewards you can expect to receive, click here.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Play Menu user-interface updated
- Tweaked the default sorting for Robots on the CRF so that 'most bought' Robots are shown first
- All glass cubes moved from Cosmetics to Chassis tab in Inventory/Recycle
- All parts in the Cosmetic Category and visual variants of some parts can no longer be forged*
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Sprinter Leg Perseus and Sprinter Leg Hermes base speed increased from 160 to 180 mph
- Chain Splitter and Chain Shredder damage per shot decreased by 10%
- Chain Splitter and Chain Shredder energy per shot decreased by 19%
- Before the patch, Chain Weapons often ran out of energy fighting a tanky Robot in a 1 vs 1. We want Chain Weapons to be a proper counter to such Robots, so the energy per shot was reduced. Leaving their damage the same would surely make Chain Weapons overpowered, so it was reduced as well. Overall, Chain Weapons are shifting a bit from 'alpha strike' to sustained damage
- Nominal count for all weapons in the 100-200 CPU bracket reduced to 2
- Nominal count for all weapons 200 CPU and above reduced to 1
- Health for common chassis cubes increased from 1,200 to 1,350
- Cosmetics now have a mass of zero and health of zero
- Health Boost for common chassis cubes decreased from 0.075% to 0.06%
- All parts (excluding Cosmetic parts) have had a 12.5% health increase
- In addition to the 12.5% increase, we've re-balanced health for many parts:
Notes on these changes:
- Wings are very strong now, so their their health doesn’t need to be as high as before
- At the same time, Rudders weren’t strong enough, so we increased their health
- For a long time, for balance reasons, Thrusters health was low (and for Thruster Lynx it was way too low). We have taken this opportunity to fix their health
- Now Sprinter Legs provide no Health Boost they can be a bit tougher while still being different enough from Mech Legs
- Big guns were always rather easy to destroy, but with the Damage Boost change they were just too fragile
- Electroshields and Struts had lost their niche with the introduction of Health Boost. Now, having more base Health per CPU than Health Cubes do, those parts may see more use again
- Rods had their Health increased as well, per CPU it’s now identical to Health Cubes. Combined with their low weight, this should make them more regularly used
- Other health changes were just to create more consistency in terms of Health per CPU
BUG FIXES:
- Reduced the projectile firing distance (no longer much further than the player view distance)
- Flattened some bumps in the terrain on Birmingham Power Station as they were causing some wheeled Robots to spin out of control
- Fixed the ceiling height for Wings - before they could fly above the max distance of an Aeroflak
- To improve server stability, clan avatars have been temporarily removed from Player friends
- Fixed various translations in the game across multiple languages
- Fixed a bug which allowed you to copy and construct Robots with non-forgeable parts
- Fixed a bug which failed to half the base speed of legs if the Robot only had 1 leg
- Fixed a bug that caused the tutorial to not complete if you selected another Robot during the bay loading screen
- Increased the Rail Impaler recoil force
- Fixed a bug which allowed muted/silenced players to continue to send whispers
- Fixed a bug that caused a weapon crosshair to not behave correctly when fast-switching between some weapons
- Fixed a bug which caused the lobby cursor to shrink when placed over the Xbox advert in-game
- Fixed the Base Capture Speed setting for Elimination in Custom Games
- Fixed AI for hover Robots - they will no longer rise when you look at them, fall when you look away in Play vs AI mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the tutorial Robot to briefly load in when entering the tutorial via the main menu
- Fixed a bug which caused an incorrect error message to appear if you sent a friend invite on the battle stats to someone who has the maximum amount of friends
- Removed an extra layer of connection points from the Mech Leg Titan
- Removed invalid connection points from underneath Tank Track parts
- Removed invalid connection points from the Hover Hurricane part
- Fixed a bug which permitted the placement of blocks on Electroshield B parts
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to select a part in your inventory while not being in Edit Mode
- Fixed a bug that caused custom game invites to be sent to the last invited player if the text field is empty
- Fixed a texture color on Carbon 6 Thrusters
- Corrected the placement of the 'shop expiry' widget for any Robots uploaded to the CRF
UPDATE #1: Due to unforeseen issues, we're extending maintenance for a further 1 hour. Thanks for your patience. We'll be back up soon!
We will be taking the servers offline at 09:00 (UTC+1) to deploy the Robocraft 1.0 Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 2 hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, August 24th 2017, will be a very special day in the Robocraft calendar - it's the day we leave Early Access and officially become Robocraft 1.0! We're celebrating this milestone with a cracker of an update with some cool new features and cosmetic effects. We're also making further improvements to the game and fixing a whole raft of bugs too.
That's not all; as way of thanking you for being part of the Robocraft development journey, everyone that has registered prior to tomorrow's update will receive some awesome rewards that include super-exclusive Pilot Seat Cosmetics that will never be found in crates, be purchasable or made in the Forge. More on what these rewards are can be found below.
So, what's in tomorrow's update? Read on…
NEW:
- Cosmetic CPU
- Every Robot will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool
- Putting a single cosmetic part onto a Robot will remove 1 pFlop from the Robot’s Cosmetic CPU Pool
- When the number of cosmetic parts added to a Robot exceed the available Cosmetic CPU Pool, the pFlops from the Robot’s regular CPU Pool will be used
- The available Cosmetic CPU a Robot has will be displayed in the Robot Info panel in-game
For more information on the new Cosmetic CPU feature, read our recent Dev Jam.
- Taunt Feature
- Taunt your enemy with fun audio and visual FX in battle
- Taunts are triggered in battle with the press of the Q key (set by default)
- Taunts can only be used on Robots with complete masks
- If a mask part has been destroyed in battle players can still taunt
- New visual FX for complete masks on player Robots
For more information on taunts and to hear the fab audio, read our recent Dev Jam. Early Access Player Rewards As way of thanking you for being part of the development journey we're going to be handing out some very exclusive rewards to all our players who registered accounts before us releasing tomorrow's update. When you log in after tomorrow's update has been released you'll receive some goodies - what you receive will be dependent on how long you've been with us.
There are four types of Early Access reward, with your account age determining what you’ll get when you log in after 1.0 launches on 24th August. You won’t need to input a promotional code on launch day or anything like that, instead these items will be gifted to you directly after you log-into the game. This handy table below details what you get:
Please note that the cut-off point for receiving the rewards is 08:59 (UTC+1) 24th August 2017. If you register an account after this point, you will not receive any rewards. Don't forget that the Pilot Seat Cosmetics are exclusive to the update and so you won't find them in crates, the shop or in the forge. You also won't be able to download Robots from the CRF with Pilot Seat parts you don't have. Also, if you recycle the parts, you'll lose them and won't be able to get them back. For more information on what rewards you can expect to receive, click here.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Play Menu user-interface updated
- Tweaked the default sorting for Robots on the CRF so that 'most bought' Robots are shown first
- All glass cubes moved from Cosmetics to Chassis tab in Inventory/Recycle
- All parts in the Cosmetic Category and visual variants of some parts can no longer be forged*
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Sprinter Leg Perseus and Sprinter Leg Hermes base speed increased from 160 to 180 mph
- Chain Splitter and Chain Shredder damage per shot decreased by 10%
- Chain Splitter and Chain Shredder energy per shot decreased by 19%
- Before the patch, Chain Weapons often ran out of energy fighting a tanky Robot in a 1 vs 1. We want Chain Weapons to be a proper counter to such Robots, so the energy per shot was reduced. Leaving their damage the same would surely make Chain Weapons overpowered, so it was reduced as well. Overall, Chain Weapons are shifting a bit from 'alpha strike' to sustained damage
- Nominal count for all weapons in the 100-200 CPU bracket reduced to 2
- Nominal count for all weapons 200 CPU and above reduced to 1
- Health for common chassis cubes increased from 1,200 to 1,350
- Cosmetics now have a mass of zero and health of zero
- Health Boost for common chassis cubes decreased from 0.075% to 0.06%
- All parts (excluding Cosmetic parts) have had a 12.5% health increase
- In addition to the 12.5% increase, we've re-balanced health for many parts:
Notes on these changes:
- Wings are very strong now, so their their health doesn’t need to be as high as before
- At the same time, Rudders weren’t strong enough, so we increased their health
- For a long time, for balance reasons, Thrusters health was low (and for Thruster Lynx it was way too low). We have taken this opportunity to fix their health
- Now Sprinter Legs provide no Health Boost they can be a bit tougher while still being different enough from Mech Legs
- Big guns were always rather easy to destroy, but with the Damage Boost change they were just too fragile
- Electroshields and Struts had lost their niche with the introduction of Health Boost. Now, having more base Health per CPU than Health Cubes do, those parts may see more use again
- Rods had their Health increased as well, per CPU it’s now identical to Health Cubes. Combined with their low weight, this should make them more regularly used
- Other health changes were just to create more consistency in terms of Health per CPU
BUG FIXES:
- Reduced the projectile firing distance (no longer much further than the player view distance)
- Flattened some bumps in the terrain on Birmingham Power Station as they were causing some wheeled Robots to spin out of control
- Fixed the ceiling height for Wings - before they could fly above the max distance of an Aeroflak
- To improve server stability, clan avatars have been temporarily removed from Player friends
- Fixed various translations in the game across multiple languages
- Fixed a bug which allowed you to copy and construct Robots with non-forgeable parts
- Fixed a bug which failed to half the base speed of legs if the Robot only had 1 leg
- Fixed a bug that caused the tutorial to not complete if you selected another Robot during the bay loading screen
- Increased the Rail Impaler recoil force
- Fixed a bug which allowed muted/silenced players to continue to send whispers
- Fixed a bug that caused a weapon crosshair to not behave correctly when fast-switching between some weapons
- Fixed a bug which caused the lobby cursor to shrink when placed over the Xbox advert in-game
- Fixed the Base Capture Speed setting for Elimination in Custom Games
- Fixed AI for hover Robots - they will no longer rise when you look at them, fall when you look away in Play vs AI mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the tutorial Robot to briefly load in when entering the tutorial via the main menu
- Fixed a bug which caused an incorrect error message to appear if you sent a friend invite on the battle stats to someone who has the maximum amount of friends
- Removed an extra layer of connection points from the Mech Leg Titan
- Removed invalid connection points from underneath Tank Track parts
- Removed invalid connection points from the Hover Hurricane part
- Fixed a bug which permitted the placement of blocks on Electroshield B parts
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to select a part in your inventory while not being in Edit Mode
- Fixed a bug that caused custom game invites to be sent to the last invited player if the text field is empty
- Fixed a texture color on Carbon 6 Thrusters
- Corrected the placement of the 'shop expiry' widget for any Robots uploaded to the CRF
COSMETIC CPU
For a long time now we've wanted cosmetic parts to be more widely used in Robocraft, aside from some very creative use of specific cosmetic parts to create some awesome looking artbots, they aren't used as much as we'd like. So, we're going to address that with some exciting changes to how cosmetics work in Robocraft with the introduction of Cosmetic CPU and Taunts (more on that later). In our next update, scheduled for launch on Thursday 24th August, we'll be adding a new Cosmetic CPU Pool into the game; here's how it will work:
- Every Robot will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool
- Putting a single cosmetic part onto a Robot will remove 1 pFlop from the Robot's CPU Pool
- When the number of cosmetic parts added to a Robot exceed the available Cosmetic CPU Pool, the pFlops from the Robot's regular CPU Pool will be used
So, how much Cosmetic CPU will robots have? Well this depends entirely on whether or not you have premium on your account.
- Non-premium players will have a Cosmetic CPU Pool of 6 per Robot (this is enough for a complete mask)
- Premium (but not lifetime) players will have 12 Cosmetic CPU Pool available to them
- Lifetime premium players will have 24 Cosmetic CPU Pool
- All cosmetic parts (with the exception of League Badges) will no longer be forgeable
- Cosmetic parts will only be obtainable via Salvage Reward Crates
- Any Robots in the CRF that use unforgeable parts will not be visible to players who don't have those parts in their inventory
- All cosmetic parts (excluding specialty weapons and movement parts such as Carbon 6 variants and Bat Wings) will now have zero mass and zero health
TAUNTS
With the introduction of the new Cosmetic CPU Pool mechanic we sat down as a team and thought about how we could make complete cosmetic masks more meaningful in Robocraft. We wanted players to embrace complete masks on their Robots and make them a fun and enjoyable part of the game. Also, with the removal of the forge for Cosmetics, we wanted to make them even more special when you obtained a complete set of parts to make a mask. So, alongside the Cosmetic CPU Pool, we'll be adding a new 'Taunt' VFX/SFX combo into the game. Every mask in Robocraft will have an associated visual FX and sound FX that is triggered via a keypress in battle. The following masks will have unique VFX/SFX taunts:
- Eagle Mask
- Rhino Mask
- Alienware Mask
- Honeydew Dwarf Mask
- OverWolf Mask
- Ninja Mask
- US Football Mask
- Mech Mask
- Scary Mask
- Sabretooth Tiger Mask
- Cockpit
- In battle, a Robot's taunt is triggered by pressing the associated key (Q by default)
- When a taunt is triggered, the Robot's mask will spawn its taunt effect and sound
- If a Robot has multiple masks present, then one will be picked at random when a taunt is triggered
We’ll have more information on all these features on Wednesday, when we release the full patch notes. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on the forums, reddit and Twitter. Catch you in-game! Thanks for reading! Mark, Game Director, Freejam
Greetings Robocrafters,
We're pleased to announce that Robocraft will officially enter 1.0 and exit Steam Early Access on Thursday, 24th August. On that date we will release a new build that features new effects for our mask cosmetics (more details on that next week), bug fixes and free pilot seat cosmetics for every player!
Yep, you heard it right. Pilot seats are returning to Robocraft in cosmetic form!
Pilot Seats from left to right - Cray, Mega, Gene and Retro
There are four types of Early Access reward, with your account age determining what you'll get when you log in after 1.0 launches on 24th August. You won't need to input a promotional code on launch day or anything like that, instead these items will be gifted to you directly after you log-into the game.
This handy table below details what you get:
Unlike Robocraft's original pilot seats (no longer in game), these new pilot seats don't impact robot health, function or survivability. They are simply cosmetic items that will allow you to show proudly that you were here before Robocraft exited Early Access.
Here's a sneak peek of what the new Pilot Seats will look like in-game
These rewards are our way of saying thanks to the entire Robocraft community for supporting us through the game's continued evolution, from when we first appeared on Steam in July 2014 to today. Robocraft will continue to evolve and improve after we exit Early Access, and we invite you to join us in-game as we celebrate this massive development milestone.
Robocraft is a success because of you; your support has allowed the game to grow beyond our wildest dreams.
Keep a close eye on Robocraftgame.com for more reveals about what's in the 1.0 update next week.
In today's mini update we have released an all new BRAWL titled Sniper's Paradise! This new limited-time mode allows players to showcase their sniping skills with Rail weapons only and robots restricted to 1000 CPU.
Full details of the new mode are below:
GAME RULES:
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Map: Regular Pit Map Rotation
- Max CPU: 1000
- Permitted Weapons: Rail Piercer, Rail Penetrator, Rail Decimator, Rail Erazer and Rail Impaler
- First victory bonus: x2 XP + additional crate
Hey all!
As part of our overhaul of the way cosmetics operate in Robocraft (https://robocraftgame.com/forums/topic/psa-removal-of-cosmetics-from-forge-on-24th-august/) we're adding SFX and VFX to all masks currently in-game.
We'll have more news on this soon, in the meantime check out the new and improved Eagle Mask:
Expect more details on this early next week!
#TimetoMaskUp
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug in the current BRAWL which resulted in all players having zero energy
- Corrected the color for the CPU bar in the Robot info panel
- Corrected a spelling mistake in a lobby advert
NEW:
- Rail Impaler lobby advert added to the game
NEW:
- All players regardless of Robot CPU now have the same amount of weapon energy in battle (based on player feedback this has been increased from our original announcement). The amount of weapon energy available to players will be 12,550 (the same amount for a 1,600 CPU Robot)
- Damage Boost % displayed in Robot stat panel
Copy Robot - One of the most requested features for Robocraft is here: the ability to copy your Robots. With a single-click players can make a copy of their Robots without requiring additional parts.
- Copied Robots are displayed in green garage bays
- A copied Robot can be freely played in any applicable game mode
- A copied Robot will not require additional parts however it cannot be edited initially
- To edit a copied Robot, players must construct it - this will use existing parts or Robits to forge any missing parts
- Copied and then constructed Robots can be uploaded to the CRF (this does not apply to Robots downloaded from the CRF and copied/constructed)
CRF 2.0 - You can now 'get' a copy of another player's Robot from the Community Robot Factory (CRF) for free as long as you have the parts in your account (whether in your inventory or on another Robot).
- If you want to get a Robot from the CRF and you don't have all the parts, any missing parts will need to be forged
- Any Robots obtained from the CRF whether for free or for a cost can be played in any applicable game mode but cannot be edited without being constructed
- Constructed Robots will use existing inventory parts and/or Robits to forge any missing parts
- Robots downloaded from the CRF will appear in green garage bays until they are constructed as editable robots
- Copies of downloaded Robots from the CRF cannot be uploaded to the CRF
- CRF search results will now show Robots you have existing parts for before Robots that require some additional parts that need to be forged
- Each Robot has a Mastery stat which starts at Level 1 and increases to Level 10
- The Mastery of a Robot increases by one Level each time you complete a full battle
- Each Mastery level gives you 30% extra XP when you play with that Robot
- Robots built from scratch start with the maximum Mastery Level 10
- Robots downloaded from the CRF start with Mastery Level 1
- Robots that are copied in your Garage copy their Mastery Level from the copied Robot
- A Robot's mastery level is displayed in the Robot stat panel
- To compensate for the massive Mastery XP bonus, we have reduced the League XP bonus from x2 to x1.25
- Experience required to level up has been scaled up to accommodate the Mastery System
- To keep robit rewards at the end of season around the same, the Clan Season XP/Robits rewards conversion reduced from 0.0033 to 0.0015
- Each Mastery Level gained will reward the original creator 1500 Robits (increased from our originally planned 500 Robits)
- A Robot creator remains the creator even when a Robot is copied, constructed and edited
- Rarity - Legendary
- Cost - 130,000 Robits
- CPU Load - 260 pFlops
- Base Health - 67080
- Mass - 1040.0kg
- Damage - 154537 per hit
- Energy Consumption - 6000 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate - 0.5 per second
- Max Fire Rate - 1.0 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count - 2 guns
- Elimination Mode base capture speed multiplier (from 10% to 500%)
- Set game length (from 1 min to 50 mins)
- Available Custom Game options will now show/hide depending on game mode selected
IMPROVEMENTS:
Maps scaled up by 20% - more room for flying and more room for fighting
- Removal of the Weapon Energy to CPU relationship to allow for the new Damage Boost System
- Hover Robots added to Play vs AI Mode
- Removed the "potential change" messaging from all in-game user-interface bars
- Weapon Energy Module fully replenishes energy upon activation
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Thrusters and Propellers have had their speed boost increased 1.5 times
- All Plasma Cannons, Rails and Aeroflaks had their damage reduced by 10%
- Laser Leviathan damage increased from 26,330 to 29,429
- Nano mechanics have changed: if 2 or more Robots heal a teammate at the same time, the heal will be applied only from the Robot who started healing first
- Aeroflak mechanic has been changed and can no longer be used while the Robot is in air
- Rotors have had their agility/acceleration massively increased
- Reduced the speed at which Wings and Rudders bank from side to side to remove the feeling of weightlessness
- Nominal count is now 4 for all non-Legendary Laser, Plasma, Rail and Nano Weapons
- Nominal count is now 2 for all Tesla Weapons
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an exploit that allows you to get unrealistic levels of speed by driving aircraft in circles
- Fixed an issue with pixelated game mode images when using lower quality settings
- Fixed a visual layering issue between the chat window, Robot Info panel and the 'rate this robot' pop-up when using a low resolution
- Extended the background box on the Battle Summary screen
- Fixed alignment issues with weapon descriptions in German language
- Fixed an audio bug which resulted in the aerofoil sound continuing to play after a player's Robot had been destroyed
- Fixed a bug which prevented some flying Robots from diving down if they flew too high
- Fixed a bug which displayed the wrong messaging when the BRAWL mode is locked. It should read "Game Mode is currently locked"
- Fixed a visual bug which displayed a clan invitation as being 'greyed out' and unavailable (even though it could still be clicked on and accepted/rejected)
- Fixed a collision bug which detected connection points where there were none on the following:
- Blink Module
- Tesla Weapons
- Hover Tempest
- Insect Leg Soldier
- Mega Plasma
- Wing Falcon
We will be taking the servers offline at 10:00 (UTC+1) to add the latest update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, August 10th, we're releasing our latest update, a double-hitter of an update, that includes the addition of a new Damage Boost mechanic designed to give all players regardless of their Robot's CPU, the same weapon energy, as well as some pretty major changes to the Community Robot Factory (CRF) that include a new 'mastery' system and also brand new functionality such as the much-requested 'Copy Robot' feature.
Oh, there's an exciting new weapon too - the Rail Impaler! We're also giving you more room on the battlefield with a 20% upscale to the maps; I honestly don't know how we've squeezed it all in.
As usual, we're addressing some balance issues (based on your feedback) and squishing a whole raft of bugs too - all of which can be found below.
NEW:
- All players regardless of Robot CPU now have the same amount of weapon energy in battle (based on player feedback this has been increased from our original announcement). The amount of weapon energy available to players will be 12,550 (the same amount for a 1,600 CPU Robot)
- Damage Boost % displayed in Robot stat panel
Copy Robot - One of the most requested features for Robocraft is here: the ability to copy your Robots. With a single-click players can make a copy of their Robots without requiring additional parts.
- Copied Robots are displayed in green garage bays
- A copied Robot can be freely played in any applicable game mode
- A copied Robot will not require additional parts however it cannot be edited initially
- To edit a copied Robot, players must construct it - this will use existing parts or Robits to forge any missing parts
- Copied and then constructed Robots can be uploaded to the CRF (this does not apply to Robots downloaded from the CRF and copied/constructed)
CRF 2.0 - You can now 'get' a copy of another player's Robot from the Community Robot Factory (CRF) for free as long as you have the parts in your account (whether in your inventory or on another Robot).
- If you want to get a Robot from the CRF and you don't have all the parts, any missing parts will need to be forged
- Any Robots obtained from the CRF whether for free or for a cost can be played in any applicable game mode but cannot be edited without being constructed
- Constructed Robots will use existing inventory parts and/or Robits to forge any missing parts
- Robots downloaded from the CRF will appear in green garage bays until they are constructed as editable robots
- Copies of downloaded Robots from the CRF cannot be uploaded to the CRF
- CRF search results will now show Robots you have existing parts for before Robots that require some additional parts that need to be forged
- Each Robot has a Mastery stat which starts at Level 1 and increases to Level 10
- The Mastery of a Robot increases by one Level each time you complete a full battle
- Each Mastery level gives you 30% extra XP when you play with that Robot
- Robots built from scratch start with the maximum Mastery Level 10
- Robots downloaded from the CRF start with Mastery Level 1
- Robots that are copied in your Garage copy their Mastery Level from the copied Robot
- A Robot's mastery level is displayed in the Robot stat panel
- To compensate for the massive Mastery XP bonus, we have reduced the League XP bonus from x2 to x1.25
- Experience required to level up has been scaled up to accommodate the Mastery System
- To keep robit rewards at the end of season around the same, the Clan Season XP/Robits rewards conversion reduced from 0.0033 to 0.0015
- Each Mastery Level gained will reward the original creator 1500 Robits (increased from our originally planned 500 Robits)
- A Robot creator remains the creator even when a Robot is copied, constructed and edited
- Rarity - Legendary
- Cost - 130,000 Robits
- CPU Load - 260 pFlops
- Base Health - 67080
- Mass - 1040.0kg
- Damage - 154537 per hit
- Energy Consumption - 6000 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate - 0.5 per second
- Max Fire Rate - 1.0 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count - 2 guns
- Elimination Mode base capture speed multiplier (from 10% to 500%)
- Set game length (from 1 min to 50 mins)
- Available Custom Game options will now show/hide depending on game mode selected
IMPROVEMENTS:
Maps scaled up by 20% - more room for flying and more room for fighting
- Removal of the Weapon Energy to CPU relationship to allow for the new Damage Boost System
- Hover Robots added to Play vs AI Mode
- Removed the "potential change" messaging from all in-game user-interface bars
- Weapon Energy Module fully replenishes energy upon activation
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Thrusters and Propellers have had their speed boost increased 1.5 times
- All Plasma Cannons, Rails and Aeroflaks had their damage reduced by 10%
- Laser Leviathan damage increased from 26,330 to 29,429
- Nano mechanics have changed: if 2 or more Robots heal a teammate at the same time, the heal will be applied only from the Robot who started healing first
- Aeroflak mechanic has been changed and can no longer be used while the Robot is in air
- Rotors have had their agility/acceleration massively increased
- Reduced the speed at which Wings and Rudders bank from side to side to remove the feeling of weightlessness
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an exploit that allows you to get unrealistic levels of speed by driving aircraft in circles
- Fixed an issue with pixelated game mode images when using lower quality settings
- Fixed a visual layering issue between the chat window, Robot Info panel and the 'rate this robot' pop-up when using a low resolution
- Extended the background box on the Battle Summary screen
- Fixed alignment issues with weapon descriptions in German language
- Fixed an audio bug which resulted in the aerofoil sound continuing to play after a player's Robot had been destroyed
- Fixed a bug which prevented some flying Robots from diving down if they flew too high
- Fixed a bug which displayed the wrong messaging when the BRAWL mode is locked. It should read "Game Mode is currently locked"
- Fixed a visual bug which displayed a clan invitation as being 'greyed out' and unavailable (even though it could still be clicked on and accepted/rejected)
- Fixed a collision bug which detected connection points where there were none on the following:
- Blink Module
- Tesla Weapons
- Hover Tempest
- Insect Leg Soldier
- Mega Plasma
- Wing Falcon
Rail Impaler - A Legend Is Born
If you're all up-to-date with Robonews, the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service, then you'll no doubt be aware that a new weapon is about to be unleashed in Robocraft. Say hello to the legend that is the Rail Impaler. This high-powered rail gun, with it's high DPH (damage per hit) is our largest rail weapon by quite some way and is going to be a sniper's dream when it arrives with this week's update. Here is the all-important data for the new weapon (please note that this is correct at time of publication and is subject to change).
- Rarity - Legendary
- Cost - 130,000 Robits
- CPU Load - 260 pFlops
- Base Health - 67080
- Mass - 1040.0kg
- Damage - 154537 per hit
- Energy Consumption - 6000 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate - 0.5 per second
- Max Fire Rate - 1.0 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count - 2 guns
DAMAGE BOOST
We’ve been listening to your feedback on Weapon Energy and we’ve decided to keep it a fixed amount regardless of CPU, so now - all weapons can be used on all CPU ranges and for the first time large weapons will become viable on large Robots and vice versa. The Weapon Energy will be fixed for all Robots at the amount of energy you currently have at around 1,700 CPU and some weapons damage will be tweaked to ensure good balance. We wanted to allow you the freedom to make low CPU and high CPU Robots and for them to be viable in battle so we will be replacing the Weapon Energy to CPU relationship with a new stat called ‘Damage Boost’. Like Health Boost and Speed Boost, Damage Boost will provide an additive Damage Boost applied as a % to all your weapons (much like the buff you get when a player leaves on your team). The Damage Boost % will be highest at low CPU ranges and lowest at high CPU ranges - i.e. proper Tank, DPS and Medic teams will be viable and effective in BA and possibly even in TDM. Here is a graph showing how the Damage Boost varies with CPU:
CRF2.0 & MASTERY
With this next release we are making probably the biggest change to the underlying Inventory, Garage and Community Robot Factory (CRF) since the launch of these features. This change is designed to make experienced users, new users, and CRF contributors all happy at the same time.
COPY ROBOT
- For the first time ever you will be able to copy a Robot in your Garage with 1-click
- And, you will be able to copy a Robot, even if you do not have the parts spare in your Inventory
- Yes, I said that, you will be able to duplicate Robots without needing duplicate parts
- Example: You luck out and get 1 Chain Shredder, so you build a tank with your Chain Shredder, then you ‘copy it’, and you edit the Robot to have wheels. Now you have two Robots, one Tank and one Wheels both with a Chain Shredder on and with one chain shredder in your Inventory - Just Wow!
- Copied Robots appear green and cannot be edited themselves
- You can edit a copied Robot by clicking a new button called ‘Construct’ which then takes the cubes from your inventory and builds it so you can edit and paint it - you can only do this if you have the parts spare
- So you will be able to make multiple copies of your favourite Robot and give each one a different paint job
- You will be able to make multiple copies of your favourite Mech with different Loadout and Module setups
HOW DOES THIS RELATE TO THE CRF?
- Copy Robot works from the CRF too
- So, you can download any Robot from the CRF as long as you have the parts in your Inventory - even if those parts are already used in another Robot you have in your Garage
- So, you have one Chain Shredder, and this now gives you access to thousands of Robots in the CRF that you can download, drive and take into battle with a Chain Shredder on
- As with the Copy Robot feature, once in your Garage it is green meaning it cannot be edited but can be driven into battle
- Clicking ‘Construct’ on any ‘green’ Robot copy can convert it into a fully editable owned Robot in your bay
- So Clans can now share Robots more easily and friends can share designs with each other much more easily and freely
- All together these represent a set of huge new freedoms via the CRF and Copy Robot features
MASTERY
- Building Robots from scratch takes time, downloading them does not, so builders need to get proper rewards
- So, we’re adding a new ‘Mastery’ stat. ‘Mastery’ means you have ‘mastered your Robot’
- Each Robot has a Mastery stat which starts at Level 1 and increases to Level 10
- Each Mastery level gives you 10% extra XP when you play with that Robot
- Robots built from scratch start with the maximum Mastery Level 10
- Robots downloaded from the CRF start with Mastery Level 1
- Robots that are copied in your Garage copy their Mastery Level from the copied Robot
- The Mastery of a Robot increases by one Level each time you complete a full battle
- The end aim is that players who build from scratch tend to earn - on average - more XP than those who never build
CRF REWARDS
- We’re changing the way builders are rewarded when others use their Robots too
- Currently many players use their Inventory to get robots for free - which is great - but as builders currently get a % of the Robits paid, often the builder is not rewarded
- Instead we want to change it so that every time someone adds a Mastery Level to a Robot downloaded from the CRF (by completing a battle) the original builder gets rewarded
- Each Mastery Level gained will reward the original creator 500 Robits
- The Robits rewards can potentially be insane for very popular meta Robots being download by thousands of users each levelling them up to Level 10 Mastery
- Hopefully this will incentivise CRF contributors to upload more battle ready Robots also as they’ll likely get more repeated play from well-built combat-ready robots
- A Robot creator remains the creator even when a Robot is constructed and edited, only when the last cube is deleted in the bay does the original creator get removed, so even players downloading Robots and editing them are rewarding the original creators
Want a sneak peak at the next Robocraft update? Check out the latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
Attention! New transmission coming in from the Frontline!
Want to get a sneak audio peak at a new tool of war coming to Robocraft next week? Check out the latest audio transmission on our official Soundcloud page below: https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/classified-transmission-2 More info to be revealed on Robocraftgame.com later this week... :) #Impaler
Today we've added a new BRAWL to Robocraft. Say hello to the Flight and Fight BRAWL, and another minor bug fix.
NEW:
- Added BRAWL: Flight & Fight gametype.
- Game Mode: Battle Arena
- Map: Regular Battle Arena Map Rotation
- Permitted movement parts: Wings and Rudders only
- Restricted Weapons: Aeroflak Sentinel and Guardian. Rail Piercer, Rail Penetrator, Rail Decimator, Rail Erazer.
- First victory bonus: x2 XP + additional crate
BUG FIX:
- Fixed a bug related to Vampire Bat Wings and Rudders changing colour in-game.
BUG FIX:
- Fixed a bug related to the auto-spotting system where allies and enemies couldn't be easily distinguished. The system now works as it did before the Aerofoils update.
NEW:
- Wings and Rudders re-worked - We've gone back to the drawing board and given planes some much-needed love; making them viable in the game once more. We've updated how they work and added new functionality including camera controls and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) For a complete break-down of the improvements, read our recent Dev Jam.
- New wings and rudders art, vfx, animations, and audio
- Speed Boosting - You wanted more speed, we've given you more speed. We've removed the global speed cap and changed the way speed works in Robocraft. For more information on the new Speed Boost system, read the Dev Jam.
*When we published our Speed Boost Dev Jam (#14), some players were concerned that increasing your base speed was more efficient than stacking speed boosts. For example, adding a small Rudder on a Mech gave a higher overall speed increase than simply adding an epic Thruster. Our short-term solution for this is to reduce the amount of base speed increase for hybrids so that a Mech would prefer a thruster over a rudder. We have reduced it by quite a bit for now (20 times from the previous value). Hopefully in the future we will find a more permanent solution to make the base speed increase more noticeable for hybrids.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Robot Mass, Base Speed, and Speed Boost % now displayed in the robot information panel
- Updated PLAY screen messaging for Megabots - making it clearer and consistent on which game modes are locked/unlocked for Megabots.
- Visual improvements to the Megabot thumbnail icon in both the garage bay and CRF
- Mech Legs and Tank Tracks now have health boost bonus
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Light Cube Health Boost reverted back to 0.05%
- Sprinter Leg Perseus mass changed from 1900 to 1225
- Wings and Rudders carry mass decreased
BALANCE CHANGES UPDATE 17:20 (UTC+1):
- Reduced accuracy for both Aeroflak weapons while they are in the air
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed some of the visual bugs which caused new garage bay thumbnail images to display incorrectly
- Fixed a bug which prevented Monster Wheels from reaching their advertised maximum speed
- Fixed a bug which prevented the CRF search filters from working as expected
- Fixed a bug which caused the robot info widget to not reposition correctly when a player joined or left a custom game while in Edit Mode
- Fixed a visual bug which failed to display the CPU bar correctly in the robot info widget when a player's robot reached the max 10k CPU
- Fixed a bug which prevented the Bat Wings/Rudders from reaching the same speed as their regular counterpart
- Fixed a bug which made player names appear detached from their robots in battle when playing at 4K resolution
- Replaced a missing visual asset on the Thunderbolt Propeller
- Fixed supernova camera on Hellion Crater and Gliese Lake in Custom Games
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly displayed health boost values in empty garage bays
- Jump/hover heights are now more accurate
- Fixed a bug which prevented the music from playing in Custom Game Pit modes on all maps
- Fixed a bug which causes the potential CPU used segment to remain in the Robot info panel if a block/part is selected but not placed on the robot
- Light Cubes 'circuitry' now glow blue as originally intended
We will be taking the servers offline at 11:00 (UTC+1) to add the latest update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, July 27th, we're heading skywards at supersonic speeds with our latest update simply called, Aerofoils. With this new and exciting update, we're going to be releasing a completely re-worked Wings and Rudders movement parts system. We're also removing the global speed cap on movement parts and adding a new Speed Boost system which will allow your robots to travel faster than ever before!
In addition, we're also making some other improvements and fixing a few bugs too - all of which are detailed below.
NEW:
- Wings and Rudders re-worked - We've gone back to the drawing board and given planes some much-needed love; making them viable in the game once more. We've updated how they work and added new functionality including camera controls and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) For a complete break-down of the improvements, read our recent Dev Jam.
- New wings and rudders art, vfx, animations, and audio
- Speed Boosting - You wanted more speed, we've given you more speed. We've removed the global speed cap and changed the way speed works in Robocraft. For more information on the new Speed Boost system, read the Dev Jam.
*When we published our Speed Boost Dev Jam (#14), some players were concerned that increasing your base speed was more efficient than stacking speed boosts. For example, adding a small Rudder on a Mech gave a higher overall speed increase than simply adding an epic Thruster. Our short-term solution for this is to reduce the amount of base speed increase for hybrids so that a Mech would prefer a thruster over a rudder. We have reduced it by quite a bit for now (20 times from the previous value). Hopefully in the future we will find a more permanent solution to make the base speed increase more noticeable for hybrids.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Robot Mass, Base Speed, and Speed Boost % now displayed in the robot information panel
- Updated PLAY screen messaging for Megabots - making it clearer and consistent on which game modes are locked/unlocked for Megabots.
- Visual improvements to the Megabot thumbnail icon in both the garage bay and CRF
- Mech Legs and Tank Tracks now have health boost bonus
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Light Cube Health Boost reverted back to 0.05%
- Sprinter Leg Perseus mass changed from 1900 to 1225
- Wings and Rudders carry mass decreased
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed some of the visual bugs which caused new garage bay thumbnail images to display incorrectly
- Fixed a bug which prevented Monster Wheels from reaching their advertised maximum speed
- Fixed a bug which prevented the CRF search filters from working as expected
- Fixed a bug which caused the robot info widget to not reposition correctly when a player joined or left a custom game while in Edit Mode
- Fixed a visual bug which failed to display the CPU bar correctly in the robot info widget when a player's robot reached the max 10k CPU
- Fixed a bug which prevented the Bat Wings/Rudders from reaching the same speed as their regular counterpart
- Fixed a bug which made player names appear detached from their robots in battle when playing at 4K resolution
- Replaced a missing visual asset on the Thunderbolt Propeller
- Fixed supernova camera on Hellion Crater and Gliese Lake in Custom Games
- Fixed a bug that incorrectly displayed health boost values in empty garage bays
- Jump/hover heights are now more accurate
- Fixed a bug which prevented the music from playing in Custom Game Pit modes on all maps
- Fixed a bug which causes the potential CPU used segment to remain in the Robot info panel if a block/part is selected but not placed on the robot
- Light Cubes 'circuitry' now glow blue as originally intended
THE NEED FOR SPEED
You want speed, we’re giving you speed. More speed than ever before in Robocraft. Yes, we’ve completely reworked how speed works by adding a new Speed Boost system which comes with a couple of new stats in the HUD as shown in the image below:
GLOBAL SPEED CHANGES
- We’ve removed the ‘global-speed-cap’, so there is no arbitrary global limiter to speed anymore
- Adding more mass no longer reduces your Top Speed (it still adds inertia and momentum so it still affects your acceleration and deceleration but does not reduce Top Speed)
- We’ve removed ‘Diminishing returns’ on Movement Parts too as it was no longer relevant
- Hybrids no longer move at the speed of the slowest part, i.e. Wheels + Tanks will move faster than before as the wheels actually make the tanks faster
BASE SPEED + SPEED BOOST %
- Each type of Movement Part (i.e. Wheels, Hovers, Tanks, etc.) has a Base Speed and a Speed Boost
- The Base Speed is the speed it goes by default
- The Speed Boost adds a % extra speed to all parts in your Robot
- Think of it like the Health Boost system, but for speed
- All parts of the same type (i.e. Wheels) have the same Base Speed, but the higher rarities have more Speed Boost (so the biggest wheels go fastest, as they do now)
- Thrusters and Propellers have the lowest Base Speeds but by far the highest Speed Boost (per CPU spent)
- Speed Boost is applied in the direction of travel, so if you have loads of Thrusters pointing forwards and none backwards, you will go faster forwards than you do backwards (same applies to sideways and up and down too)
- Both Base Speed and Speed Boost stats are shown updating in real-time as you add and remove parts during Build Mode
- Previously, if you’d built a wheeled Robot with some of the largest wheels and then added some small wheels, the small wheels would have reduced your top speed.
- With this new system the small wheels will not reduce your top speed so you are free to add them without compromising your Robot - go build that battle dragster if you wish
HYBRIDS
- Previously if you built a hybrid the Robot would have moved at the speed of the lowest common denominator (i.e. slowest part)
- For example, a Wheel and Tank hybrid would have moved at the speed of the Tank Track
- The new system generates a ‘weighted average’ speed based on the amount of CPU spent on each type of part, so adding Wheels to your Tank makes the Tanks go faster
- This works with all combinations of movement part (except Thrusters and Propellers, see below)
THRUST AND PROPELLERS
- Still apply all the same forces they did before, so you can use them for increased agility etc.
- Propellers still deliver massively higher forces than Thrusters, but have less Speed Boost per CPU and have a spin-up-time as they always have
- Propellers apply their Speed Boost bi-directionally
- Thrusters and Propellers have lowest Base Speed but highest Speed Boost per CPU spent
- Unlike other Hybrids, adding Thrusters and Propellers does not reduce your overall Base Speed, i.e. your average Base Speed does not reduce when you spend CPU on Thrusters
SOME OTHER THINGS
- Tank Tracks and Mech Legs will now have Health Boost incorporated to compensate for their reduced speed
- Carry Mass is still applied to the parts ability to ‘carry mass’, i.e. you will not be able to lift an aircraft with your Wings if you have more Mass than your Wings are able to carry. Same applies to Hovers, Rotors and Rudders
NEW STATS
With the removal of ‘adding mass reduces your top speed’ Wheels and Sprinters got a big buff. Also, with huge new maximum speeds being achievable with the additional of Speed Boost we’ve had to make some changes to the Base Speeds. Our goal is to add loads more depth into the build system and loads more freedom and diversity without elevating the net average speed massively in game (we expect some elevation but don’t want it to go too far). With that in mind, here are the numbers you can expect on release day (although there may be some late changes, this is what they are at the time of writing):
PS: Megabots with thousands of CPU spend on Thrusters can go really silly fast, so enjoy :) Thanks for reading! Mark, Game Director, Freejam
VIABLE AIRPLANES
When we released Wings and Rudders - a long time ago now - we had hoped for players to be flying around the skies in beautiful futuristic airplanes conducting dogfights, bombing runs, anti-air, all that cool stuff. It didn’t pan out that way. The advantages of lateral movement provided by Helicopters and Thruster drones have generally meant that they perform better than airplanes in the air for the kind of gameplay we have in BA (Battle Arena) and TDM (Team Deathmatch). So, we went back to the drawing board on Wings and Rudders. Our goal was simple - to make airplanes viable. For a type of Robot to be ‘viable’ there must not be a better kind of alternative Robot at a specific skill. Q: What skill do we want Wings and Rudders to be able to do that separates them from every other type of aircraft in Robocraft and makes them better at that skill than Drones or Copters? A: Speed, speed, speed. LIke Wheels on the ground, we want Airplanes to be the clear cut fastest thing in the air at the same time as being able to carry a decent amount of Health Boost on board.
GOALS
- So, let's establish some goals:
- Must feel and look like flying a futuristic airplane
- Be easy to build so many can enjoy them, but have tons of depth in building for the pro-builders
- Be easy to fly so many can enjoy them, but reward the best pilots who control them best
- Have Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL), better suited to our maps
- Be able to stop on capture points
- Be the fastest aircraft type in Robocraft by a significant margin
- Work with Camera controls as well as Keyboard controls
- Remain stable when you lose a Wing or Rudder in combat but have plenty of redundancy
- As many existing airplanes as possible should still fly
SELF-PROPULSION
- The new Wings and Rudders have built-in Propulsion
- They tilt down towards the ground when you push SPACE so you can take off vertically
- You can stop mid air and they will tilt towards the ground to provide vertical thrust
- They tilt forwards so you can reverse (they are airplanes from the future after all)
- We have completely reworked how Thrusters and speed works in the game introducing a new Speed Boost system and removing any caps on speed - more on that in another Dev Jam (if you watched Friday’s livestream you will have seen something on this)
- They are incredibly fast on their own, but adding Thrusters makes them faster, and the more Thrusters you add, the faster you go - i’ve clocked 500 mph on a Robot
- with just Wings, Rudders and tons of Thrusters (not very viable in combat, but a lot of fun)
CONTROL SYSTEM
- We’ve reworked the way you fly airplanes too
- Best analogy for the way they fly now is if Copters drive like Hovers that go up high in the sky, Airplanes are like Cars that go up high in the sky
- Steer right and your airplane banks hard right and begins a clockwise turning circle (like steering a car in the air), hit Space and your airplane does a steep incline, the banking and elevating is handled for you so you can focus on your target and teamwork
- Slow down and your aircraft goes into a hover, you have amazing control over your speed
- Reverse and you reverse like a car; the banking, elevating, and hovering is covered for you (the are airplanes from the future after all)
- Now, I know that the description above is going to alarm those that like flying planes - it is a controversial change for you guys for sure - but I can promise you that we have invested tons of time trying many prototypes out and when you get used to this new way of flying as a plane in Battle Arena you will hopefully appreciate the change and I am very confident you will see tons more players taking to the air in airplanes after this goes live
- There are loads of little subtle tricks and moves you can pull off that require a bit of practice and skill that are made possible by the in-built propulsion
- You can easily stop and hover on a capture point, fly fast towards a mountain top and stop there and rest just on top of it, then dive down the front real fast and make a bombing run. Stop behind cover, tons of combat moves that weren’t possible before - the main thing they can’t do that Copters can do is strafe sideways
- Camera controls work very well with this new control system, steering with the mouse and camera works well and effortlessly. I think it works best with ‘Tilt’ disabled so you can look down at the ground to bomb targets, but it does work with tilt enabled as well and you can literally fly planes by simply holding ‘W’ and steering with the camera if you want to
BUILD TRICKS
- You get different turning characteristics the closer you put the Wings to the left and right of the COM
- You get different elevation characteristics the closer you put your Wings to the forward and aft of the COM
- Rudders help you to turn sharper and faster, and the distance from the COM displays different turning characteristics
- Rudders work better as Rudders and Wings better as Wings
- You get better force from the propulsion and strong turning and elevation from the larger wings and they carry more mass, so more Health Boost, but as before the smaller Rudders are easier to conceal and fit on and protect, so there is a pro and con to give you build complexity to play with
- Wings and Rudders no longer add ‘drag’
- Wings and Rudders placed facing backwards in Drone mode still provide some Angular and lateral stability but do not provide lift or propulsion force
It's Amazing!
Join Robocraft's community manager LeftofNever and
- Log into Robocraft
- Click the mouse pointer inside the chat entry widget
- Type: /join Robostream
- Press enter
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 21/07/17 You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
NEW:
- Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Map: The six maps that are in current rotation in all regular game modes
- Number of Players: 8 v 8
- Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
- Special Rules: All robots 2,000 CPU or less permitted
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused auto-regen to take longer than expected if a player had too much total health/CPU
- Fixed a bug which caused the player invite dropdown in Custom Games to not display correctly at certain resolutions
- Fixed a bug which caused some Team Deathmatch Custom Games to freeze around the 1 minute mark on Hellion Crater and Gliese Lake maps
We will be taking the servers offline at 11:00 (UTC+1) so we can add a new BRAWL to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 30 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
NEW:
- Chassis Shape equalization- all Chassis Shapes will have the same Mass, Health and CPU. As all shapes now have the same stats, you're no longer forced to make square, blocky robots in order to have as much health as possible - you're free to experiment with all the different shapes. The stats are:
- Mass: 10Kg
- CPU: 1 pFLOP
- Health: 1,500
- Light Chassis Shapes - The shapes lovingly known as TX-Cubes are coming back to Robocraft. Now known as Light Chassis Shapes, these new building blocks have less mass than standard Health Blocks and are perfect for creating lighter, more agile robots. The stats are:
- Mass: 2Kg
- CPU: 3 pFLOPS
- Health: 4,500
For more information on the new system, read our recent Dev Jam.
- Health Boost System - Each Chassis Shape (Health or Light version) placed on your robot will grant a 0.05% health boost to the robot's total health. This means that all parts on your robot will have their health increased by this %. Players will see a running total health boost in both the edit mode screen and garage screen.
- Garage carousel and bay improvements - We've given the garage bay a much-needed tweak; adding new buttons to make it easier to edit, test, upload, and configure your Robots.
- Robot stats in the Garage Bay - We've removed the CPU strip from the robot carousel and added it to a new robots stats overlay which details CPU, Weapon Energy, Health and Health Boost.
- New play menu - To reflect the improvements to the garage bay carousel, we've given the 'PLAY' menu an overhaul, making it easier to find the game modes you want quicker.
Disable Chat added to settings - It is now possible to completely disable the in-game chat box via the settings menu.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- All standard cubes renamed to Health cubes
- 'Add Bay' button in robot carousel renamed to 'Build From Scratch'
- Browse Robots button in the garage carousel renamed to 'Get More Robots'
- General improvements to CRF sorting and robots shown by default
- Edit and Test mode removed from the play menu (as these can now be found above the garage bay slots)
- Edit and test mode removed from the custom games screen (as these can now be found above the garage bay slots)
- Players dismantling all their robots in the garage bay will no longer result in 3 empty slots - players will now see one empty slot, but can still create more
- Tutorial renamed to ‘Robot Building Tutorial’
- Curse Voice logo removed from the login screen
OTHER CHANGES:
- All robot parts have had their health reduced by around 28.6% to ensure that TTK is about the same with the introduction of the Health Boost system
- Advanced Info panel was removed (as it was in the same place where the new robot info panel is) - Robot mass information will be added to the new info panel in the next update
- Health of some movement parts were incorrect:
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which allowed players to buff themselves in Play vs AI mode
- Fixed a bug which failed to display the padlocks on game modes if a player had a megabot selected and went direct to the play menu via the CRF
- Fixed a bug which permitted players to build a megabot over 10k - although it was not possible to play this robot in battle
- Fixed a visual bug which failed to 'grey out' the + symbol on both the custom games and party player widgets for invitees
- Fixed a visual bug which failed to display the correct mouse-over effect when hovering the mouse pointer over a garage bay slot
- Fixed a bug which caused the mouse scroll-wheel to zoom in/out the garage bay regardless of where your mouse pointer was situated
- Fixed inconsistent labeling on the premium mothership floor
- Fixed display issues with the game mode details for multiple languages
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to blink through part of a solid feature under certain conditions
- Fixed a visual bug which cropped part of the top of a party leader's crown in the party widget when queuing for battle
- Fixed a bug which caused the pause menu to appear when a player pressed the 'ESC' key when on the 'per garage bay' setting or 'dismantle robot' pop-up instead of closing the pop-up
- Fixed a bug which would, under certain conditions, nullify both a DSM and an enemy shield when adjacent to each other
- Fixed inconsistencies with UI margins and widget positioning
- Fixed a bug which caused the CRF to show robots with no weapons or movement parts when the "any movement" and "any weapon" filters were selected
- Fixed translation issues for both "Health Multiplier" and "Weapon Energy Multiplier" in Custom Games
- Fixed text alignment issues for some weapon information when German language is selected
- Fixed a sizing issue with the background for the leaderboard when playing Pit Mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the language list to remain open if a player closed the settings menu while the language list was still open and then returned to the settings menu
We've given the humble 'cube', the building blocks from which all robots are built, some much-needed love with our latest update that's out now! The new update gives builders more creative freedom to construct great robots without sacrificing how they look. In addition, we have added a new 'Health Boost' system which will give your robots an additional health boost % for every block placed on your robot.
We've added more great content and fixed some bugs too; the details of which can be found here.
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with DanSupportJammer and special dev guests on Twitch and Facebook from 16:00 (UTC+1) today, July 7th for our latest live Robostream.
On this week's livestream, they'll be delving into the the latest Dev Jam and fielding your questions, playing some more custom games and looking at some of your Megabot creations. They’ve even got a few promo codes to give away too.
In addition to that, they'll also be giving away lifetime premium to one lucky viewer. You'll need to watch the whole stream to find the five clues to reveal the code that will grant the first person to enter the full code in the game, premium for life!
Also, if you want to increase your chances of playing alongside the team in one of their Custom Games, please ensure that you've joined the 'Robostream' chat channel in the game. To join the chat channel follow these instructions:
- Log into Robocraft
- Click the mouse pointer inside the chat entry widget
- Type: /join Robostream
- Press enter
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 07/07/17
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
THE CHASSIS IS THE CORE
For a long time now the humble Chassis blocks have been neglected by Freejam and we felt it was time to give these noble geometric shapes some much-needed love. So, with the next update we’ll be making some surgical changes to the Chassis and the way they work in Robocraft that at first may seem small but are set to really improve Robocraft’s building engine significantly. These changes have been designed to give you ‘more freedom’, ‘more diversity’ and ‘more depth’, so read on for more detail on these exciting changes.
EQUALIZATION OF THE CHASSIS
This change was requested by a number of members of the community and after listening to their reasons for requesting the change we were sold so have decided to make the change in-game. ‘Equalization of the Chassis’ simply means: ‘All Chassis Shapes will have the same Mass, Health and CPU’ The benefits of this change are as follows:
- You’re no longer forced to use a specific shape everywhere on your Robot because of it’s ‘efficiency’, you can now use shape for shape
- You can now make your Robots look cool without having to sacrifice health
- We will be adding a new set of Chassis shapes with this update that are lower Mass to allow you to still build compact light Robots and to allow for complex Chassis
- rigs to remain a thing in Robocraft
- Name: Health Cube (will explain why this name below)
- Mass: 10Kg
- CPU: 1 pFLOP
- Health: 1,500 (will explain why this is reduced from 2,100 below)
TX CUBES ARE BACK
Again, after many requests from the Robocraft community to bring back the much loved TX cubes we’ve listened and we’re bringing them back, but this time all Chassis shapes will be represented in TX form.
The values:
- Name: Light Cube
- Mass: 2Kg
- CPU: 3 pFLOPS
- Health: 4,500
NEW HEALTH BOOST SYSTEM
This change is a big one. An altogether new system called ‘Health Boost’.
How it works?:
- Every ‘Health’ and ‘Light’ Cube (or other shape) added to your Robot will add a % ‘Health Boost’ to your Robot
- All parts in your Robot have their health increased by this %
- ‘Health Cubes’ have 0.1% Health Boost per block placed on your Robot
- ‘Light Cubes’ also have 0.1% per block, but as they are 3 pFLOPS they provide less % Health Boost per CPU spent
- The total Health Boost % in your Robot is added to all blocks in the Robot at the beginning of battle, including the Chassis Blocks themselves
- A simple but powerful build system providing deeper build options
- A strong reason to choose to add more Chassis blocks to your Robot
- Difficult choices; will you add more functional parts for redundancy, or more chassis for more health?
- Less requirement to spam functional parts on your Robot as you now have an option to make them tougher
- Electroplates work brilliantly with this system, EP protecting frontal weak points on your Robot are also boosted by the other Chassis blocks in the rest of the Robot making them even stronger
- EP do not provide Health Boost themselves, so work well in combo with Health and Light cubes
- Many more options to be creative in the shape of your Robot, add a tail to you Robot, a nose, or teeth, or spikes on the back, they all add extra health boost - might not be the most efficient way to place your blocks but adding a few creative elements to your Robot no longer penalises you in the same way as before
- So, since the health of the Chassis Cube (new name Health Cube) has fallen from 2,100 to 1,500 the Health Boost system can boost that lower health back up to reach same average TTKs*
Recently, we tasked you with creating awesome Robots using the newly-remodeled and reworked wheels in Robocraft. The brief was simple, build a wheel-based vehicle in one of five CPU ranges and upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF).
I have to say, you guys really did an amazing job with your Robots; we had over 1,500 Robots submitted during the competition period and the quality was simply outstanding. So much so that we're picking a couple of extra winners as we were super-impressed with the builder's skills. In the last category (1,501 - 2,000 CPU), we saw so many great submissions that we're picking two winners from this category. We're going to give a special award (and prize) to one builder for their outstanding contribution to the competition.
Below you'll find the finalists for each of the five categories and the winner (or two winners in the case of the 1,501 - 2,000 CPU category)
All winners will receive either a week of premium or 25 Protonium crates (if they have lifetime premium already), and the overall winner's Robot will be featured on the CRF.
To see all of the submissions, search the CRF for 'DB16'.
Up to 500 CPU finalists:
- DB16 Let's Race - Ataribot
- DB16 MiniBike NL - Nogard
- DB16 Drag Racer - baconfreak99
- DB16 Tron Scene - Vordum
- DB16 F1 Racer - American180
Winner: DB16 Tron Scene by Vordum
501 to 750 CPU finalists:
- DB16 LP - 6 Spyder - Wova43
- DB16 trator Lindao XD - lwyzr
- DB16 RoboRat - angjminer
- DB16 ES-1 GT - SouliTk
- DB16 SlipStream mk2 - FanciestBanana
Winner: DB16 SlipStream mk2 by FanciestBanana
751 – 1,000 CPU finalists:
- DB16 Toy Tank - Emptyside
- DB16 Type - P - IVIario
- DB16 Mc-Queen - Zak-Z-Ninja
- DB16 Old Train - TheEnderCow
- DB16 Flippin F1 - chewybakker_3
Winner: DB16 Mc-Queen by Zak-Z-Ninja
1,001 – 1,500 CPU finalists:
- DB16 Mini Cooper MkII - Micsso
- DB16 The Rat - ragusta
- DB16 TakeOff - McNugg2710
- DB16 T-Bucket - moss972
- DB16 MarioKart Yoshi - Snaika
Winner: DB16 T-Bucket by moss972
1,501 – 2,000 CPU finalists:
- DB16 Project Car - Ndizel
- DB16 MonsterTruck - DixkeyPL
- DB16 Brum - Deputy_Spork
- DB16 Protonite Racer - Nonamecfaft1
- DB16 Cargo hauler - BlinkDrive
- DB16 B&P Railroad - Slayer450
- DB16 Hello kitty - DasVokul
- DB16 Excavators - BeagleA
- DB16 Escort - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB16 F1 Mega Racer - Dplayer11
Winner 1: DB16 Escort by Prometheus_Robotics
Winner 2: DB16 F1 Mega Racer by Dplayer11
Overall Winner:
DB16 Escort by Prometheus_Robotics
Outstanding Contribution to the Competition Award:
For this special award, we wanted to reward and celebrate the outstanding work done by community member 'Snaika'. As you can see from the shortlist above, their MarioKart Yoshi robot made it into one of the categories but they had uploaded a whole bunch of Mario Kart inspired Robots which made picking that particularly difficult. So, we decided to create a special additional prize just for them. Check out the great robots below.
Thanks as always to everyone that took time to participate in this and all of our other Artbot competitions.
I LIKE BIG BOTS
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with DanSupportJammer on Twitch and Facebook from 16:00 (UTC+1) today, June 30th for the latest Robostream. On this week's Livestream, they'll be checking out all the awesome things added to Robocraft in our latest Return of the Mega Update, playing some crazy Custom Games and announcing the Artbot Contest Shortlist (the winners will be announced on Monday). They’ve even got a few promo codes to give away too.
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 30/06/2017
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- Megabots added to both Custom Games and Play vs AI modes
- FREE to all players
- Highest CPU is now 10,000
- Any Robot over 2,000 CPU is flagged as a Megabot on the edit bay floor
- Megabots can only be played in Custom Games or Play vs AI modes
- Weapon Energy doesn't change building beyond 2,000 CPU
- Megabots in garage bay slots are highlighted with a red flag
- Megabots can be uploaded and downloaded to/from the CRF
- New CPU filter added to the CRF to accommodate Robots 2k - 10k CPU
- New Custom Games sliders:
- Health Multiplier - set down to 10% or up to 500% Health multiplier for all Robots in battle
- Weapon Energy Multiplier - set down to 10% or up to 500% Weapon Energy multiplier for all Robots in battle
- If any player in a Custom Game clicks on their player avatar on any screen, they can chose to leave the Custom Game
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Improvements to the CRF with added search/sorting filters
- Sort CRF results for specific parts or Robots with no movement or weapon parts
- Sorting by cost
- “Any weapon” now rejects robots with no cubes from “weapon” inventory category
- “Any movement” now rejects robots with no cubes from “movement” inventory category
- Helium removed from CRF movement filter
- Thrusters added to the CRF movement filter
- Removed the hover over info pane from the CRF
- Play Screen updated to lock-out game modes if player has a Megabot selected
- Improved Nano VFX and SFX as a direct result of player feedback
- Improvements to team buff UI
- Visual improvements to the drag-and-drop of players in Custom Games
- Added missing SFX to some Custom Games actions/events
BALANCE CHANGES:
To make the Nano projectiles look more like a beam, we increased their fire rate to 20 shots per second and proportionally reduced their energy consumption and heal per hit. The overall heal per second should remain the same
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed Pit Mode to work with Tharsis Rift Map
- Fixed a visual bug that caused some module icons in the loadout to repeatedly flick between small and expanded circles when being used
- Fixed a typo on the Hellion Crater name in the Custom Games map list
- Reverted zero mass change for Helium Cube because it was causing unexpected issues
- Fixed a bug which caused the party widget to appear on the crate screen when returning from a match
- Fixed a bug which allowed a custom game leader to interact with the party widget while in the queue for battle
- Fixed a bug that caused the Custom Games damage slider to be in the incorrect position to some players when they returned from a Custom Game
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong score to be displayed under player names in The Pit
- Fixed a bug that caused the + button in Custom Games to sometimes fail when switching between Pit and another mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the in-game camera to be off-centre when using the Blink module in certain situations
- Fixed a bug which caused the active garage bay to zoom in/out when using the scroll wheel anywhere on the screen (including chat)
- Changes to Custom Games invalid invites to ensure consistency with party invites
- Fixed a bug which caused the mouse icon to appear as a hand when in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which caused early leaver penalties to carry over into Custom Games
- Fixed a bug which permitted Custom Games party members to interact with the party widget
- Fixed a bug which allowed party invitees to interact with the party widget
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from using the scroll wheel in Custom Games chat unless they were hovering over the scrollbar
- Fixed a bug in the Pit which caused players to spawn in and around the same area as everyone else
- Fixed an audio bug which caused the wheels engine sound to continue playing when a player loaded back to the mothership
- Custom Games sliders and checkboxes are now greyed out for players joining a custom game
- Fixed a bug which prevented the pending clan invite "!" from disappearing if an invite has been accepted/rejected
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Excessive use of flags on a Megabot will result in severe game lag for the player using the Megabot
- Setting the Weapon Energy Multiplier in Custom Games to 10% may cause some weapons to not fire. This is caused by a player having less weapon energy available than what is required for a weapon to fire
#BigBotsAreBack
This week, we're travelling back to the future and bringing back some old friends - Megabots! We listened to you guys and we're bring them back in a bigger, better and ultimately more free-er way than before. From tomorrow, June 29th, you'll be able to build MEGA Robots up to 10,000 CPU and take them into Custom Games as well as Play vs AI mode. Megabots* will be free for all players, a premium membership is not required to enjoy them. In addition to the awesomeness that is Megabots, we'll be making a number of other improvements including some changes to searching the CRF and fixing a stack of bugs too. To find out what's in the update, check out the patch notes below.
NEW:
- Megabots added to both Custom Games and Play vs AI modes
- FREE to all players
- Highest CPU is now 10,000
- Any Robot over 2,000 CPU is flagged as a Megabot on the edit bay floor
- Megabots can only be played in Custom Games or Play vs AI modes
- Weapon Energy doesn't change building beyond 2,000 CPU
- Megabots in garage bay slots are highlighted with a red flag
- Megabots can be uploaded and downloaded to/from the CRF
- New CPU filter added to the CRF to accommodate Robots 2k - 10k CPU
- New Custom Games sliders:
- Health Multiplier - set down to 10% or up to 500% Health multiplier for all Robots in battle
- Weapon Energy Multiplier - set down to 10% or up to 500% Weapon Energy multiplier for all Robots in battle
- If any player in a Custom Game clicks on their player avatar on any screen, they can chose to leave the Custom Game
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Improvements to the CRF with added search/sorting filters
- Sort CRF results for specific parts or Robots with no movement or weapon parts
- Sorting by cost
- “Any weapon” now rejects robots with no cubes from “weapon” inventory category
- “Any movement” now rejects robots with no cubes from “movement” inventory category
- Helium removed from CRF movement filter
- Thrusters added to the CRF movement filter
- Removed the hover over info pane from the CRF
- Play Screen updated to lock-out game modes if player has a Megabot selected
- Improved Nano VFX and SFX as a direct result of player feedback
- Improvements to team buff UI
- Visual improvements to the drag-and-drop of players in Custom Games
- Added missing SFX to some Custom Games actions/events
BALANCE CHANGES:
To make the Nano projectiles look more like a beam, we increased their fire rate to 20 shots per second and proportionally reduced their energy consumption and heal per hit. The overall heal per second should remain the same
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed Pit Mode to work with Tharsis Rift Map
- Fixed a visual bug that caused some module icons in the loadout to repeatedly flick between small and expanded circles when being used
- Fixed a typo on the Hellion Crater name in the Custom Games map list
- Reverted zero mass change for Helium Cube because it was causing unexpected issues
- Fixed a bug which caused the party widget to appear on the crate screen when returning from a match
- Fixed a bug which allowed a custom game leader to interact with the party widget while in the queue for battle
- Fixed a bug that caused the Custom Games damage slider to be in the incorrect position to some players when they returned from a Custom Game
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong score to be displayed under player names in The Pit
- Fixed a bug that caused the + button in Custom Games to sometimes fail when switching between Pit and another mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the in-game camera to be off-centre when using the Blink module in certain situations
- Fixed a bug which caused the active garage bay to zoom in/out when using the scroll wheel anywhere on the screen (including chat)
- Changes to Custom Games invalid invites to ensure consistency with party invites
- Fixed a bug which caused the mouse icon to appear as a hand when in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which caused early leaver penalties to carry over into Custom Games
- Fixed a bug which permitted Custom Games party members to interact with the party widget
- Fixed a bug which allowed party invitees to interact with the party widget
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from using the scroll wheel in Custom Games chat unless they were hovering over the scrollbar
- Fixed a bug in the Pit which caused players to spawn in and around the same area as everyone else
- Fixed an audio bug which caused the wheels engine sound to continue playing when a player loaded back to the mothership
- Custom Games sliders and checkboxes are now greyed out for players joining a custom game
- Fixed a bug which prevented the pending clan invite "!" from disappearing if an invite has been accepted/rejected
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Excessive use of flags on a Megabot will result in severe game lag for the player using the Megabot
- Setting the Weapon Energy Multiplier in Custom Games to 10% may cause some weapons to not fire. This is caused by a player having less weapon energy available than what is required for a weapon to fire
Last week, we gave you the job of designing amazing Robocraft vehicles using the newly re-worked wheels as the core movement part. Basically, we wanted you to create some kick-ass cars, trucks and other 'wheely' awesome Robots. And you did not disappoint (you never do to be honest)!
We had over 1,500 Robot submissions uploaded to the CRF last week and we looked at each and every one of them. Picking the final winners for this competition is not going to be easy I can tell you.
Below are our favourites that make up the longlists for each of the five categories. You'll notice that the higher CPU categories have more finalists than the lower CPU categories; this is simply because there were more Robots submitted in these categories.
Thanks as always to everyone that took the time to submit a Robot to the competition. We will be announcing the winners next week.
Up to 500 CPU:
- DB16 Mach 6 2.0 - moss972
- DB16 Hot Rod - Micsso
- DB16 Trick Tricyclist - Sheep_wielder
- DB16 Hotshot Hotrod - BRindustries
- DB16 Deadly Banana - FanciestBanana
- DB16 Let's Race - Ataribot
- DB16 MiniBike NL - Nogard
- DB16 Drag Racer - baconfreak99
- DB16 Top Gear P.D. - CoyeIndustries
- DB16 Happy Camper - Chairinator
- DB16 '67 Mustang - If.u.test.me.u.will.fail
- DB16 Tron Scene - Vordum
- DB16 Little Tykes - Acorlei
- DB16 F1 Racer - American180
501 to 750 CPU:
- DB16 Mini Car - ToastCrafter
- DB16 Bicycle - AJ1AJ1
- DB16 ZELO Spyder - SouliTk
- DB16 LP - 6 Spyder - Wova43
- DB16 Drag Race - JBC363
- DB16 Baja Beach Bum - BarnsBroadside
- DB16 boaty mcboatface - __none__
- DB16 trator Lindao XD - lwyzr
- DB16 Classic Car - MariaOzawa
- DB16 milky way V2.0 - axellemmens
- DB16 RoboRat - angjminer
- DB16 ES-1 GT - SouliTk
- DB16 SlipStream mk2 - FanciestBanana
- DB16 Police Officer - Vordum
- DB16 ZIL-130 - Modigliani
- DB16 lader abriss gmbH - DragonFighter28
- DB16 RoboKart - allbeknow
751 – 1,000 CPU:
- DB16 VW T1 - Micsso
- DB16 Chimera 2 - Zak-Z-Ninja
- DB16 Ferrari Snapot V2 - blackbirdx
- DB16 Toy Tank - Emptyside
- DB16 Kingpin - Tofu_Taco
- DB16 Type - P - IVIario
- DB16 Lil' FERGY - herebeus2
- DB16 Dune buggy - BLR_carter
- DB16 Sunday Drivers - DGGrimAV
- DB16 BattleBike NL - Nogard
- DB16 Robot Wars Shunt - TrueFormFreeze
- DB16 Lil Pink Cadillac - merfh3
- DB16 Mc-Queen - Zak-Z-Ninja
- DB16 Old Train - TheEnderCow
- DB16 Flippin F1 - chewybakker_3
1,001 – 1,500 CPU:
- DB16 Mini Cooper MkII - Micsso
- DB16 Dodge Viper GT - Chameleonosaur
- DB16 Ecto-2 - Zak-Z-Ninja
- DB16 Land Cruiser 40 - SouliTk
- DB16 Trabant 601 s - Snaika
- DB16 ProComp Skateboarder - Vasdef
- DB16 Sniper'sCamperVan - UNITGX48
- DB16 netskeip - netskeip
- DB16 Danger - BlackLinex
- DB16 MarioKart Peach - Snaika
- DB16 Scavenger - DunkynTheTerrible
- DB16 Desert Flak Truck - ShuTingYu
- DB16 Batmobile - qwertyse2
- DB16 The Rat - ragusta
- DB16 TakeOff - McNugg2710
- DB16 T-Bucket - moss972
- DB16 Mater - Vonzif
- DB16 DARKRACERBIG - DragonFighter28
- DB16 MarioKart Yoshi - Snaika
- DB16 car - BuranEnergia
- DB16 Blockade Runner - Razor-Dragon
- DB16 Drop-off - Erinec
1,501 – 2,000 CPU:
- DB16 Dragon racer - Rickardomon
- DB16 Pirates Of Wastes - Chameleonosaur
- DB16 Tumbler - Maikerusan
- DB16 Car - Micsso
- DB16 F1"R3D-Six" - SousuK3KawarA
- DB16 BikerDog NL - Nogard
- DB16 Project Car - Ndizel
- DB16 Interceptor - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB16 BearlyFun - angjminer
- DB16 Flink that ink!!! - BRindustries
- DB16 ~Moonshiner~ - Snaika
- DB16 Stretch Limousine - Ocker7
- DB16 Engine 909 - jesterketch
- DB16 BM-V2 - ferhat.konca.33
- DB16 Truck F1 - Wova43
- DB16 MonsterTruck - DixkeyPL
- DB16 Brum - Deputy_Spork
- DB16 Scorch - ferhat.konca.33
- DB16 Protonite Racer - Nonamecfaft1
- DB16 Optimus 2.0 - moss972
- DB16 Big Digger - DGGrimAV
- DB16 WhenYouLeave - angjminer
- DB16 Formula 1 by JB - jamesburberry110
- DB16 Racer - moss972
- DB16 Cargo hauler - BlinkDrive
- DB16 B&P Railroad - Slayer450
- DB16 Mariocart - masterblaster65
- DB16 Trophy Truck - TheMYTHBUSTER
- DB16 Hello kitty - DasVokul
- DB16 Peterbilt 389 - scorpion-41
- DB16 Excavators - BeagleA
- DB16 Escort - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB16 Vehicle Transport - Angersmith
- DB16 Formula Robocraft - American180
- DB16 F1 Mega Racer - Dplayer11
- DB16 REDNECK - cannonbk3
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
[url=http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/6281279/4d8bb3f9ef34d8f1399cbdd884aa11d4244ab0ff.jpg]
#BigBotsAreBack
Would you look at that? The Steam Summer Sale is now live! Get 20% off all our bundles for a limited time only!
TWO TEAMS ENTER, ONE TEAM LEAVES
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with DanSupportJammer on Twitch and Facebook from 16:00 (UTC+1) tomorrow June 23rd for the latest Robostream. On this week's chilled livestream they'll be looking at some of the current submissions in our vehicle-based Artbot Competition, playing some BRAWLs and a few crazy custom games (which will no doubt involve wheels). They’ve even got a few promo codes to give away too.
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 23/06/2017
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Va-Va-Voom
If you're a regular Robocraft player you'll know that recently we gave wheels a much-needed major re-work - making them faster, more controllable and a whole lotta fun to use. The feedback from you, the community, has been great and we're really happy you love the improvements our Wheel Big Update brought with it. Keen to keep the wheel momentum rolling, we unleashed a new wheels-only BRAWL last week and we had a lot of fun playing both alongside and against you in our livestream last Friday. Now we know you love the wheels in battle, we really want to see what you can build with them. So, for this Artbot Competition we're tasking you with creating a 'wheely good' Robot. Just follow the brief below and upload a suitable wheel-based vehicle to the CRF and you could win a cool prize.
The Brief:
- Design a wheel-based vehicle that fits into one of the following five categories:
- Up to 500 CPU
- 501 to 750 CPU
- 751 - 1,000 CPU
- 1,001 - 1,500 CPU
- 1,501 - 2,000 CPU
- All submissions must be able to move freely around the battlefield - wheels must be on the ground
- Ensure your Robot vehicle's name starts with DB16
- Upload your entries to the CRF
- You can submit more than one Robot
How to submit your entry:
Submitting your entry is really easy - all you need to do is upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF). To upload your entry:
- Go to the garage bay view and select the robot you wish to upload
- Ensure your Robot is named DB16 [plus your name for the robot]
- Click the 'upload robot' button (the first button on the left next to your Robot's CPU)
- Make sure your Robot's name is correct
- Give it a description - tell us about the Robot.
- Check the box to tell us you agree to the T&Cs
- Finally click the '0 to upload button'
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (which will be awarded if the winner has lifetime premium). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- All submissions must be able to move freely around the battlefield - wheels must be on the ground
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday June 19th 2017 - 23:59 (UTC+1) Sunday June 25th 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme (the brief) during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB16 must be included at the beginning of the Robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Changes to BRAWL:
- Current BRAWL changed to TDM
- Parties now permitted in BRAWL
- Helium removed from permitted parts for current BRAWL
- Healing audio improved
- Nano range reduced by one third
BUG FIXES:
- Nano thumbnails updated to show correct imagery
- Fixed a bug which caused an error if a player sorted the Pit scoreboard by 'current streak'
- Fixed a bug which caused the damage to not update correctly on the Pit scoreboard
- Fixed an audio bug which caused the Custom Game invite audio loop to continue playing until the player changed to a different screen
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with Robocraft's Designer Sergii and DanSupportJammer on Twitch and Facebook from 16:00 (UTC+1) today as they run through our latest update Custom Games Mk1.5
They'll be checking out all the cool new stuff in Custom Games, playing a few BRAWLs, and discussing the recent improvements and balance changes to the game.
They've even got a few promo codes to give away too.
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 16/06/2017
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
We will be taking the servers offline at 11:30 (UTC+1) to apply a hotfix to the Custom Games Mk1.5 Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
NEW:
- Helion Crater and Gliese Lake maps added to Custom Games
- Pit Mode added to Custom Games
- The following options are now selectable in Custom Games:
- Health Regenerate ON/OFF
- Capture Segment Memory ON/OFF*
- Damage multiplier slider - set down to 10% or up to 500% damage multiplier for all Robots in battle.
- Micro Mashings BRAWL:
- Movement type: Wheels only
- Weapon type: No restrictions
- CPU Limits: 500 CPU or less
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Number of players: 10
- Map: Helion Crater
- Fixed Weapon Energy amount: 10,000
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Nanos:
- All Nanos now have Proto-Seeker-like aim-assist
- Nano crosshair will now display a 'lock' message when locked on a target
- Improved VFX for all Nanos
- All Nanos except Constructor have had their heal values increased
- Nano Constructor has had it's energy consumption reduced from 1213 per shot to 1032
- All Nanos have had their range increased by almost 3 times; matching Proto-Seeker range
- VFX for all kinds of heal (base heal, auto heal) were changed to match the nano heal VFX
- Shields:
- We have removed the recharging shield mechanic from the game. All parts that previously had a shield stat have had their health values increased
- We have taken the opportunity to re-balance Electroshields. All Electroshields with one connection point now have 2100 HP per CPU, and all multi-connection Electroshields now have 1470 HP per CPU
- Removed the numbers displayed on the arrows on all wheels
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Mech Legs have had their health values multiplied by 4 times
- In order to make all modules useful in battle, they will no longer use Weapon Energy upon activation; the Ghost Module will still use Weapon Energy while active.
- Forge costs, recycle rates and health reduced for all modules except Blink Module
- CPU load reduction for the following Modules:
- Blink Module cooldown increased to 60 seconds to compensate for the removal of activation cost
- All Rails have their damage buffed by 20%
- All Plasmas except Goliathon had their explosion radius increased to 25 meters to match the Goliathon's blast radius
- All Lasers except Leviathan and Disintegrator have had their accuracy increased. Bigger Lasers are still more accurate, but the difference in accuracy between
- Leviathan and Wasp is now only 25% and not 100%
- Tesla Slicer and Tesla Ripper have had their damage per hit increased:
BUG FIXES:
- Refined server requests in order to reduce CPU spikes
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the wheels on other player's Robots to glitch
- Fixed a bug which made it possible for all players in a custom game to be on the same team
- Fixed a bug that caused the profanity filter to enable when you relog or enter a game mode
- Fixed a bug which caused helium to affect the centre of mass on Robots
- Fixed a bug which caused a gap to appear above the team lists on the battle loading screen at some resolutions
- Corrected some hovers so their actual speed matches their thumbnail value
- Fixed a bug which disabled the Esc key if a player joined a Custom Game and queued up
- Fixed a visual bug which failed to display a '0' alongside the friends icon if a player had no friends
We will be taking the servers offline at 10:00 (UTC+1) to add the Custom Games Mk1.5 Update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, June 15th, we'll be expanding Robocraft's gaming options with the release of our latest update, Custom Games Mk1.5. This new update will bring with it customisable game options, Pit Mode and the welcome return of two classic maps: Helion Crater and Gliese Lake.
In addition to all the awesome Custom Games content, we'll have a new 'Micro Mashings' BRAWL, we're giving Nanos a re-work with improved VFX, a new aim-assist mechanic as well as some stat changes too. On top of all this we'll be making a number of balance changes, and squishing a bag full of bugs too. All of which can be read below.
NEW:
- Helion Crater and Gliese Lake maps added to Custom Games
- Pit Mode added to Custom Games
- The following options are now selectable in Custom Games:
- Health Regenerate ON/OFF
- Capture Segment Memory ON/OFF*
- Damage multiplier slider - set down to 10% or up to 500% damage multiplier for all Robots in battle.
- Micro Mashings BRAWL:
- Movement type: Wheels only
- Weapon type: No restrictions
- CPU Limits: 500 CPU or less
- Game Mode: The Pit
- Number of players: 10
- Map: Helion Crater
- Fixed Weapon Energy amount: 10,000
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Nanos:
- All Nanos now have Proto-Seeker-like aim-assist
- Nano crosshair will now display a 'lock' message when locked on a target
- Improved VFX for all Nanos
- All Nanos except Constructor have had their heal values increased
- Nano Constructor has had it's energy consumption reduced from 1213 per shot to 1032
- All Nanos have had their range increased by almost 3 times; matching Proto-Seeker range
- VFX for all kinds of heal (base heal, auto heal) were changed to match the nano heal VFX
- Shields:
- We have removed the recharging shield mechanic from the game. All parts that previously had a shield stat have had their health values increased
- We have taken the opportunity to re-balance Electroshields. All Electroshields with one connection point now have 2100 HP per CPU, and all multi-connection Electroshields now have 1470 HP per CPU
- Removed the numbers displayed on the arrows on all wheels
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Mech Legs have had their health values multiplied by 4 times
- In order to make all modules useful in battle, they will no longer use Weapon Energy upon activation; the Ghost Module will still use Weapon Energy while active.
- Forge costs, recycle rates and health reduced for all modules except Blink Module
- CPU load reduction for the following Modules:
- Blink Module cooldown increased to 60 seconds to compensate for the removal of activation cost
- All Rails have their damage buffed by 20%
- All Plasmas except Goliathon had their explosion radius increased to 25 meters to match the Goliathon's blast radius
- All Lasers except Leviathan and Disintegrator have had their accuracy increased. Bigger Lasers are still more accurate, but the difference in accuracy between
- Leviathan and Wasp is now only 25% and not 100%
- Tesla Slicer and Tesla Ripper have had their damage per hit increased:
BUG FIXES:
- Refined server requests in order to reduce CPU spikes
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the wheels on other player's Robots to glitch
- Fixed a bug which made it possible for all players in a custom game to be on the same team
- Fixed a bug that caused the profanity filter to enable when you relog or enter a game mode
- Fixed a bug which caused helium to affect the centre of mass on Robots
- Fixed a bug which caused a gap to appear above the team lists on the battle loading screen at some resolutions
- Corrected some hovers so their actual speed matches their thumbnail value
When we first started the Dev Jam series, our goal from the outset was to give you, the community, a greater insight into the inner-workings of Freejam. Finding out what makes us tick and why we do the things we do. Also, using them as a platform to announce new and exciting Robocraft-related content.
So, when I say I'm really excited about this Robocraft announcement, believe me; I and the whole team here at Freejam are excited about this and I know many of you will be too as it's something you've asked for… Robocraft will be coming exclusively to Microsoft's Xbox One platform as part of the ID@Xbox developer program. This new version of Robocraft , titled Robocraft Infinity will be released in early 2018 and will be 'Play Anywhere' - purchase it once and it's yours to play on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PC platforms.
Before I go into any more detail on Robocraft Infinity, I want to allay any concerns that you guys may have with regards to the current and future development of Robocraft on the PC. Let me be crystal clear, we're not stopping development of Robocraft PC; this could not be further from the truth. We have a huge development schedule which will see us creating content for the PC version of Robocraft for years to come. In fact the revenue generated from both the Steam and Xbox versions will be combined to help us create more features and content for all versions.
What Is Robocraft Infinity?
Robocraft Infinity is a new product that is being developed alongside Robocraft. This standalone, buy-to-play game is being fully remastered for Xbox One with new controls, new physics, new achievements, an all-new progression system and more! We will be revealing more about Robocraft Infinity over the coming months as we get closer to launching in early 2018. One thing I can say at the moment is that we'll be introducing a new 'Infinite Block' (hence the Infinity name) progression system into Robocraft Infinity; designed to suit this 'pay-up-front' version of the game.
What About Regular Robocraft?
So what does this mean for regular Robocraft? As I said earlier, the development of regular PC Robocraft will continue as normal. We're still working towards leaving Steam Early Access in July and in the coming weeks we'll be making more changes and improvements to the PC version. We have enough content for the next few years to keep us busy.
In fact, Robocraft Infinity is a great thing for PC version as there will be a lot of cross-pollination between the two products. For example, we'll be bringing controller support to the PC version as well as achievements.
Again, I want to make it clear that we're not 'downing tools' or diverting critical resources from the Robocraft development team to Infinity, in fact we've been boosting the Freejam family specifically for this product. In our next Robocraft update coming on Thursday June 15th, we'll be adding more content to custom games including The Pit Mode, old maps and a few options for you to play with. We will also be putting in a new BRAWL as well as more balance changes. Keep an eye on Robocraftgame.com; we'll reveal more next week.
Tell Us More!!
At the moment we're unable to give you anymore information as to what Robocraft Infinity is all about; however, if you're in Los Angeles next week and you've got a ticket to the hottest show in-town (no, not Ric's pole dancing world tour), I'm talking about E3, then head over to the Microsoft stand as both Luis and Andy will be in attendance and they'll be showing off an early build of Robocraft Infinity.
You can keep up to date with all things Infinity-related by signing up to the newsletter.
Got a question about Robocraft Infinity? Write it down, and bring it to a future Robocraft Infinity Robostream special where we will be answering your questions. Again, keep an eye out on the Robocraftgame.com website as well as our social spaces for when that will be.
This is an exciting time in Robocraft's development and one we very much hope you'll join us for.
[Ric:] My nan is excited; she's a hardcore XB1 player. What's her gamertag? It's 'Mad Gerald'
Best,
Mark Simmons, Game Director and CEO, Freejam
Ric Turner, Art Director, Freejam
Save over 50% on Robocraft Eagle Pack
We're proud to be supporting this year's special "E3 2017 Digital Ticket" Humble Bundle with our exclusive Eagle Pack. The Humble Bundle is a great way for you to support some worthy charities while grabbing some top digital content (such as our Eagle Pack) and games for just a few $$. If you pay more than the average $6.02 (correct at time of going to press), you'll get the Robocraft Eagle Pack which contains the following:
- 7 Days of Premium
- 12 Protonium Salvage Crates
- 4 Humble Bundle HoloFlags
- 1 Eagle Mask Cosmetic (Eagle Neck Left, Eagle Neck Right, Eagle Feathers Left, Eagle Feathers Right, Eagle Face Left and Eagle Face Right)
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with DanSupportJammer on Twitch and Facebook on Friday June 9th from 16:00 (UTC+1) for the latest Robocraft livestream. In this week's episode they'll be announcing the winners of our recent Ninja-themed Artbot Competition.
They'll also be taking on all-comers with some crazy custom games which will no doubt include ninjas of some description as well as participating in some vehicular-based combat shenanigans.
They've even got a few promo codes to give away too.
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 09/06/2017
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
We will be taking the servers offline at 10:00 (UTC+1) to allow us to hotfix the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
In our most recent Artbot Competition, we tasked you with creating awesome ninja robots and while the rules stated that your creations must include all six parts of the Ninja Cosmetic, we didn't say that they needed to be together. Many of you took it as an opportunity to do something a bit different and get really creative with your builds.
As usual, we were inundated with some great ninja-themed robots, so thank you to everyone that took the time to create and upload one or two to the CRF. Here are our favourite 30 (sorted in alphabetical order); we'll announce the winners in this week's Robostream on Friday June 9th from 16:00 (UTC+1) over on Twitch.
You'll find all the entries on the CRF; do let us know your favorites in the comments below.
We will be taking the game offline at 10:00 (UTC+1) for server infrastructure improvements.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused Sprinter Legs, Mech Legs and Hovers to 'wobble' when using Camera Controls
- Fixed a bug which caused AI Bots to fire far too slowly
- Fixed an audio bug that caused the VO for your team being buffed to play while waiting for players to leave the game at the end of battle
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) so we can hotfix the Wheely Big Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Burn some rubber
Join our Community Manager LeftofNever along with DanSupportJammer on Twitch and Facebook on Friday June 2nd from 16:00 (UTC+1) as they guide you through our latest Wheely Big Update. They'll be hurtling around the maps in some hot rides and taking on all-comers with a few Custom Games of Battlecars (that's cars only). So if you want to join them, have a few cars ready* and join the livestream from 16:00 (UTC+1). They'll also be testing out the latest BRAWL - Building Challenge 1, showcasing some of the entries in the current Ninja Artbot Competition and they've got a few promo codes for the new weapon LOML Stinger to give away too!
THE FUN STARTS AT 16:00 (UTC+1) ON FRIDAY 02/06/2017
YOU CAN JOIN THE STREAM OVER ON TWITCH OR FACEBOOK
CLICK HERE TO SEE EXACTLY HOW LONG UNTIL THE STREAM STARTS!
*Having cars ready does not guarantee that you'll be able to join the devs in-game.
NEW:
- Wheels re-work - We've taken wheels back to the drawing board and re-engineered them for 2017… They're faster, more stable, come in different sizes and can be camera controlled too.
Here's the all-important data for the new improved wheels:
- Camera controls for wheels added
- New weapon - LOML Stinger
- Classification: Epic
- CPU: 140 pFlops
- Health: 54,754
- Damage per hit: 52,426
- Mass: 560kg
- Energy Consumption: 2013 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate: 1.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate: 3.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count: 4 guns
- Blast Radius: 12.5 meters
- Forge Cost: 35,000
- Buff to minority teams due to player disconnection/leave - In BA, League and TDM, whenever a team is in a minority, this team's Robots will receive a buff. The buff is applied to Damage, Healing (Nanos only), Health and Shield amount (Electroplates and Mech Legs only). The magnitude of the buff depends on player counts in teams:
- Robots that have the buff will display an icon near their avatar, showing they’re buffed
- If teams sizes become equal while a buff is active, the buff will be removed
- New voiceovers for player buff system
- New Builder Challenge 1 BRAWL:
- Game Mode: TDM
- Team size: 5v5
- Restrictions: No chassis or glass cubes permitted
- 1st Win Reward: Double XP and an extra crate
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Insect/Wolf Legs:
- Speed increased by 59%
- Jump height doubled
- Health increased by 43%
- Carry mass increased slightly
- Mech Legs:
- Speed increased by 21%
- Health and Shields increased by 18%
- Sprinter Legs:
- Sprinter Leg Perseus speed increased by 17%
- Sprinter Leg Hermes speed increased by 6.5%
- Tank Tracks:
- Speed increased by 22%
- Skis:
- Health increased by 43%
OTHER CHANGES:
- Removed all-player kickback from game lobby if a player fails to connect
- In-game camera optimisations for smoother visuals
- Player name now displayed as a tooltip on the Custom Games teams widget
- Added Red/Blue projectile color variants for Chain Shredder and Chain Splitter weapons
- Update to Roboshield/EAC to safeguard players against potential exploits
- Chinese, Russian and Japanese language corrections
- Existing Legendary tier LOML renamed to LOML Viper
- Adjusted wheels carrying capacity and diminishing returns according to their new CPU
BUG FIXES:
- Corrected the headers on both the "inventory has been updated" and "Some cubes are obsolete" dialogue boxes
- Fixed a bug which caused errors with the widget if a player was removed from a custom game party
- Fixed a bug which caused pending friends to appear on the party invitation dropdown
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robits image in crates not to appear in the correct position
- Fixed a bug which caused the + icon to appear in the Custom Games player dropdown list to appear next to players that were already in a party
- The 'Drag & Drop' label and icon no longer appear for all players in a Custom Game other than the Custom Game creator
- Fixed a bug which allowed the 'camera tilt' setting to be ticked when keyboard controls was selected on all non-English language clients
- Fixed a bug which failed to remove a clan avatar from a player's profile when they left a clan
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the '!' ping icon to be greyed out if you pinged behind an obstacle
- Fixed a visual bug which didn't render the Rocket Launcher shadows solid
KNOWN ISSUES:
- Diagonal Wheeled Robots can be a bit buggy, i.e. if you build diagonally to allow the Robot to fall forwards onto the front wheel when the game starts.
- Very tall Robots can topple the wrong way sometimes.
- When going extremely fast using Keyboard Controls you can sometimes get momentary oversteer which can send you off-direction and require you to correct, which is a challenge at 300mph. We're working on some additional improvements to the Traction Control which will smooth this out.
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) so we can add the Wheely Big Update to Robocraft.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, June 1st, we're putting the pedal to the metal with our latest 'Wheely Big' Update (you can blame our community manager LeftofNever for the update name). We've stripped the wheels back to their hubs and given them a much-needed re-work both in terms of how they perform and how they look. You can read more about the changes to wheels in our recent Dev Jam, but rest assured they are VERY FAST, VERY STABLE and VERY FUN!
In addition to the new and improved wheels, tomorrow's update will bring with it a new mini-LOML called the Stinger, and a new BRAWL, which is the first in a series of building challenge BRAWLs. But that's not all as we're introducing a number of balance changes to existing parts, introducing a player buff for uneven teams and squashing some bugs too. All the info you need is below.
It 'wheely' is a big update!
NEW:
- Wheels re-work - We've taken wheels back to the drawing board and re-engineered them for 2017… They're faster, more stable, come in different sizes and can be camera controlled too.
Here's the all-important data for the new improved wheels:
- Camera controls for wheels added
- New weapon - LOML Stinger*
- Classification: Epic
- CPU: 140 pFlops
- Health: 54,754
- Damage per hit: 52,426
- Mass: 560kg
- Energy Consumption: 2013 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate: 1.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate: 3.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count: 4 guns
- Blast Radius: 12.5 meters
- Forge Cost: 35,000
- Buff to minority teams due to player disconnection/leave - In BA, League and TDM, whenever a team is in a minority, this team's Robots will receive a buff. The buff is applied to Damage, Healing (Nanos only), Health and Shield amount (Electroplates and Mech Legs only). The magnitude of the buff depends on player counts in teams:
- Robots that have the buff will display an icon near their avatar, showing they’re buffed
- If teams sizes become equal while a buff is active, the buff will be removed
- New voiceovers for player buff system
- New Builder Challenge 1 BRAWL:
- Game Mode: TDM
- Team size: 5v5
- Restrictions: No chassis or glass cubes permitted
- 1st Win Reward: Double XP and an extra crate
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Insect/Wolf Legs:
- Speed increased by 59%
- Jump height doubled
- Health increased by 43%
- Carry mass increased slightly
- Mech Legs:
- Speed increased by 21%
- Health and Shields increased by 18%
- Sprinter Legs:
- Sprinter Leg Perseus speed increased by 17%
- Sprinter Leg Hermes speed increased by 6.5%
- Tank Tracks:
- Speed increased by 22%
- Skis:
- Health increased by 43%
OTHER CHANGES:
- Removed all-player kickback from game lobby if a player fails to connect
- In-game camera optimisations for smoother visuals
- Player name now displayed as a tooltip on the Custom Games teams widget
- Added Red/Blue projectile color variants for Chain Shredder and Chain Splitter weapons
- Update to Roboshield/EAC to safeguard players against potential exploits
- Chinese, Russian and Japanese language corrections
- Existing Legendary tier LOML renamed to LOML Viper
BUG FIXES:
- Corrected the headers on both the "inventory has been updated" and "Some cubes are obsolete" dialogue boxes
- Fixed a bug which caused errors with the widget if a player was removed from a custom game party
- Fixed a bug which caused pending friends to appear on the party invitation dropdown
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robits image in crates not to appear in the correct position
- Fixed a bug which caused the + icon to appear in the Custom Games player dropdown list to appear next to players that were already in a party
- The 'Drag & Drop' label and icon no longer appear for all players in a Custom Game other than the Custom Game creator
- Fixed a bug which allowed the 'camera tilt' setting to be ticked when keyboard controls was selected on all non-English language clients
- Fixed a bug which failed to remove a clan avatar from a player's profile when they left a clan
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the '!' ping icon to be greyed out if you pinged behind an obstacle
- Fixed a visual bug which didn't render the Rocket Launcher shadows solid
We're always keen to bring new and exciting weapons to Robocraft and so we're pleased to reveal that alongside this week's wheels re-working, we'll be introducing a new younger, smaller sibling to the LOML family - please say hello to the LOML Stinger.
This hungry young pup is smaller and lighter than its bigger brethren, but still packs the same punch in terms of damage dealt per hit.Here's the stats for the new weapon and a model preview care of Sketchfab:*
- Name: LOML Stinger
- Classification: Epic
- CPU: 140 pFlops
- Health: 54,754
- Damage per hit: 52,426
- Mass: 560kg
- Energy Consumption: 2013 per shot
- Single Gun Fire Rate: 1.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate: 3.33 per second
- Max Fire Rate Count: 4 guns
- Blast Radius: 12.5 meters
- Forge Cost: 35,000
True Story - I have a ninja suit! It's somewhere in the back of my shed, probably covered in mold now (it's been in there for years), But I have one. When I got it over 10 years ago, it fulfilled a childhood dream to be a ninja. I wasn't a very good ninja, but I was a ninja nonetheless - I even wore it in public (there was footage of my ninjery antics on YouTube).
So, imagine my excitement when we slipped a ninja cosmetic all stealth-like into Robocraft! Now I could be a ninja in Robocraft too; except I'm not a very good artbot builder. But hey, you guys are and so we want to see your ninjas in Robot form.
If you don't have the Ninja Mask cosmetic in your inventory, it can be forged using Robits.
The Brief:
- Design one or more Robots that utilize the Ninja Mask Cosmetic
- All Robots submitted must include all six of the Ninja Mask Cosmetic parts
- Ensure your Robot's name starts with the term DB15
- Upload your entries to the CRF
How to submit your entry:
Submitting your entry is really easy - all you need to do is upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF). To upload your entry:
- Go to the garage bay view and select the robot you wish to upload
- Ensure your Robot is named DB15 [plus your name for the robot]
- Click the 'upload robot' button (the first button on the left next to your Robot's CPU)
- Make sure your Robot's name is correct
- Give it a description - tell us about the Robot
- Check the tick box
- Finally click the '0 to upload button'
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (which will be awarded if the winner has lifetime premium). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- Robots must include the ninja mask in its entirety (all parts)
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday May 29th 2017 - 23:59 (UTC+1) Sunday June 4th 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme (the brief) during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB15 must be included at the beginning of the Robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
THE CHALLENGE
Let’s face it. Hovers are agile, fast, avoid Plasma splash damage, can carry a decent load, they’re stable and versatile. We like Hovers now and we don’t want to nerf them or change them (possibly make them descend faster but that’s it). So, how do we make wheels viable? Surely it isn’t possible? If Freejam achieves it everyone will be amazed right? I mean, top clan teams driving around the map with 3 Wheeled vehicles and 2 Drones in the sky, that will never happen? Well, anyone claiming to make Wheels viable has to have that aim, and that is the aim we’ve had since we started reworking the wheels.
NEW SIZES & NEW ART
One of the first things you’ll notice about the new wheels is the size. We’ve resized them for a better size increment as you go up the range. Previously you had 5 small wheels and then the Mega wheel called 'Wheel Monster' in-game, so we’ve resized them so you get a fairly even increment in size as you go up the range from the smallest to the largest.
Since resizing wheels will break Robots, what we’ll be doing is stripping the wheels off your Robots and putting them back in your inventory so you can replace them and tweak your wheeled Robots as necessary.
SIZE PROS AND CONS
As Wheels get bigger they get faster, much faster. The downside is that you have to invest more CPU in them and they become more exposed and harder to protect within your Robot so you’re more likely to get demobilized with the larger wheels.
THEY ARE FAST, VERY VERY FAST
The new wheels will be the fastest ground movement type by a fair margin. We’re still balancing but we’ve had the Megawheels driving at 300+ mph around the battlefield in tests. Not just in a straight line either, yes that’s 300 mph round corners and over bumpy terrain without randomly spinning out or flipping over and whilst maintaining full control :)
THEY ARE STABLE, VERY VERY STABLE
To make them viable we need you to be able to focus your attention on positioning, fighting and driving all at once. Robocraft isn’t a rally game, it’s a fighting game. If there is too much fiddly management of driving the car required to position yourself for a fight, Wheels will no longer be in vogue and the meta will revert to Hovers. So, we’ve put tons of effort into making them very stable whilst still feeling like wheels from the future. We’ve built in modern car management systems like ‘dynamic suspension for anti-roll’, ‘traction control’, ‘dynamic shock absorption’ and a ‘power delivery management systems’ to keep you on the road and in control. They don’t drive themselves though, trust me at 300mph you have to have your brain switched on to get the most out of that crazy speed.
CAMERA CONTROLS WORK, WELL
Like all the other parts we’ve reworked recently we’ve added in Camera Control support. Wheels work surprisingly well with this new control method and there are a few converts in the studio that prefer the new Camera controls over the Keyboard. Art Director Ric aka @FatDigester is still a stalwart for the Keyboard controls though, so both are very viable and great fun.
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER MOVEMENT PARTS?
All other movement parts will be getting some balance changes including some movement speed increases with the aim of making them all viable. Aerofoils are already in the workshop for a revamp also with the aim of making real airplanes totally viable too. We’ll be giving more details on the actual speeds you can expect in the full patch notes coming next week. We really hope you enjoy the new wheels. Thanks for reading! Mark Simmons, Game Director and CEO, Freejam
Peashooters at the Ready!
Tune in to this week's Robostream to get your recommended daily allowance of five fruit and veg. In this special Robostream, we will be attempting once more to control Robots in battle with actual vegetables. You'll have to watch the stream to find out more! So, join us as we dive into some of the crazy custom games that you, the community, have created. If you'd like to be part of the Robostream, we'll be playing the following custom games:
One-Shot
- The Greatest Custom Game Mode Ever Made (according to Awesome Soul) - Requirements: 1x Hover Blade Squall, 1x Rod Arc, 1x Rail Piercer - Game mode: Team Deathmatch - Game designer: Awesome Soul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0SHkLE_OeY More info: http://aegis.website/robolympics/one-shot/
Ostrich Herding
- It's survival of the featheriest in this game of chase - Requirements: An Ostrich Robot from the CRF - Game mode: Elimination - Game designer: Gromek999 https://youtu.be/iC1DI1xhDvM More info: http://aegis.website/robolympics/ostrich-herding/
Fidget Spinners
- The current playground favorite comes to Robocraft - Requirements: A Fidget Spinner Robot (your own or one from the CRF) - Game Mode: Team Deathmatch - Game Designer: Frommy97 https://youtu.be/GGxxFbPAAX0
Fruit & Veg Fight
- Who said fruit and veg was healthy? - Requirements: A fuit/veg themed robot - Game Mode: Battle Arena - Game Designer: LeftofNever - Freejam If you want to participate, please ensure that you have a suitable Robot for the game mode being played. Be logged into the game, in the chatroom 'customgames' and make sure you're not in an existing party or custom game (otherwise we can't add you if you're picked). Please note that due to the sheer volume of players wanting to join in the fun, spaces are limited and so don't be too disappointed if you don't get to battle with us. In addition to playing some excellent custom games, we'll be giving out some promo codes and showcasing some community creations.We may even have a surprise or two too*.
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) on Friday 26/05/17
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
A special thanks to the following Robocrafters who provided bots used in the Robostream image:
- dankhole
- Gottchar
- ALPHAFERT
- Sheep_wielder
We've teamed up with The Yogscast team in the UK to give an opportunity to get your hands on a nice little Yogscast-themed Robocraft bundle with a very tasty 20% discount. Normally these items cost over £34, but for a limited time, you can pick the whole lot up for just £24.99.
So, what's in the bundle?
- 25 Protonium Salvage Crates. Each crate contains a random selection of 8 weapon, cosmetic, movement or construction cubes with 1 legendary item guaranteed.
- 90 Days Premium which unlocks all items in crates, additional paint colours for use in the editor, double XP level progression, Premium mothership design and triple robits when recycling items.
- 4 Yogscast Holoflags to attach to your robot
- Complete Yogscast Honeydew Cosmetic Mask
We will be taking the servers down at 10:30 (UTC+1) for server infrastructure improvements
The maintenance is expected to take up to 30 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
Up, Up and Away!
Join Robocraft's community manager LeftofNever as he's takes us through the latest addition to Robocraft, the much requested and long-awaited Custom Games!! He'll be running through how it works as well as our plans for future updates. He'll be creating a few games too - so join him in-game and on the stream to be part of the action. On the livestream LeftofNever will be joined by Dan to play a couple of Custom Games games of what we like call 'Car Wars'. They'll be using one of the following Robots that are available on the CRF; if you want to participate, make sure you download one of these robots:
- DR "Planet Rover"
- DR "The Fool"
- DR "Assassinator"
- DR "Ram"
- DR "The Tower"
- DR "Low Riser"
- DR "The Beast"
If you wish to participate in the Custom Games livestream, please load into Robocraft and join the CustomGames chat channel - to do this, in the chat box window type:
/join CustomGames
They will use that chat channel to invite players to the livestream Custom Games.
As well as all the Custom Game fun they'll also be showcasing the winners of our recent Spaceships Artbot Contest.
And that's not all - we'll be giving away some of the new Windowmaker modules and Chain Splitter weapons too in the form of our now regular 'missing character promo code giveway game'
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1)
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- Custom Games Mk1 - Custom Games has taken a LOT of development effort to support. We’ve had to rework our entire server infrastructure and lobby code to enable it. We’re releasing Custom Games in four stages; the first, the MK1 release, we will official release tomorrow. The reason we’re splitting it up like this is to get the feature to you as quickly as possible, by doing it in steps we can get it to you quicker and get it stable faster and learn from the way you are using the feature and feedback on the feature when it’s live.
- In Custom Games Mk1 you can invite 1-9 players to play private games, choose game mode, choose map, and host a private custom games chat channel
To find out how Custom Games Mk1. works, watch our 60 second overview video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqVuaYn7qc For more information on what's planned for Custom Games, read our recent Dev Jam.
- Robits in crates - All players will now have the opportunity to receive Robits in all salvage reward crates. Robits will be dropped into crates randomly - the same as all other items. The drop rates and Robit reward amounts are:
- Ninja Mask Cosmetic - Channel your inner-ninja with the awesome ninja mask cosmetic that's now available in the game. You can forge the parts or find them in crates
OTHER CHANGES:
Based on your feedback from the Custom Games Mk1. Alpha test last week, we've made a number of changes and improvements to some of the Custom Games user-interface.
- Friend/Clan drop-down added to Custom Games and Party widgets. To invite more players to a Custom Game or Party the leader simply clicks on the ‘plus’ icon in the appropriate team and then invites players, either by typing in the username or by clicking on a friend/clanmate who is currently online from a scrollable drop down list that appears.
- User-interface improvements to the Custom Games Widget in both Edit and Garage Modes
- When a Custom Game leader queues up, all other players will now see a dialogue stating 'Your party is waiting for you'
- All uncommon, common and rare items in crates now appear' quicker
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused an 'Error loading clan info' message to appear when a player appeared in the same clan multiple times
- Fixed a bug which caused a grey border to appear around both the Robocraft & New Zealand Holoflag images in the inventory and forge screens
- The Speedometer and Altimeter no longer colour bleed on higher quality settings
- Fixed a bug which caused the overlay for 'Pending Invite' and 'In-game' to turn player avatars black
- Fixed a bug which allowed invited Custom Game players to interact with the Custom Games Widget
- Fixed a bug which allowed a player to create a Custom Game whilst invited to another
- Updated the 'drag and drop players' label so that it no longer appears for Custom Game invitees
- Fixed a visual bug that gave the impression that Custom Games invitees could change settings
- Fixed a bug which caused the Custom game widget to cover the 'advanced info' stats on all resolutions
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robocraft cursor to still be present in Edit mode
- Having the block party invites box checked now prevents players from receiving Custom Game invitations
- Fixed a bug which caused an unintentional monochrome effect to a player when being hit by an EMP in battle
- Fixed a bug which caused the BRAWL description to appear incorrect
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the bay to rotate in garage view while dragging players from team to team in a custom game
- Fixed the ceiling boundary on Tihonium Canyon and Tharsis Rift maps.
KNOWN ISSUES:
- When opening crates that contain Robits, the animation for Robits dropping into crates may sometimes appear out of alignment with the drop slot
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) so we can add the Custom Games Mk1. Update to Robocraft.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
After a week of testing and tweaking, we're happy to announce that tomorrow, May 18th, we'll be officially launching Custom Games Mk1. We've been blown away by your love and support for the new mode and we're continually amazed by your Custom Games creativity - keep those YouTube videos coming; we love 'em.
In addition to officially launching Custom Games Mk1. we're adding the much-requested Robits to all reward crates; this includes end of battle crates, purchased crates, daily login crates and level up crates too!
As usual, we'll be making some other improvements and fixing a stack of bugs too - all of which are below.
NEW:
- Custom Games Mk1 - Custom Games has taken a LOT of development effort to support. We’ve had to rework our entire server infrastructure and lobby code to enable it. We’re releasing Custom Games in four stages; the first, the MK1 release, we will official release tomorrow. The reason we’re splitting it up like this is to get the feature to you as quickly as possible, by doing it in steps we can get it to you quicker and get it stable faster and learn from the way you are using the feature and feedback on the feature when it’s live.
- In Custom Games Mk1 you can invite 1-9 players to play private games, choose game mode, choose map, and host a private custom games chat channel
To find out how Custom Games Mk1. works, watch our 60 second overview video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqVuaYn7qc For more information on what's planned for Custom Games, read our recent Dev Jam.
- Robits in crates - All players will now have the opportunity to receive Robits in all salvage reward crates. Robits will be dropped into crates randomly - the same as all other items. The drop rates and Robit reward amounts are:
OTHER CHANGES:
Based on your feedback from the Custom Games Mk1. Alpha test last week, we've made a number of changes and improvements to some of the Custom Games user-interface.
- Friend/Clan drop-down added to Custom Games and Party widgets. To invite more players to a Custom Game or Party the leader simply clicks on the ‘plus’ icon in the appropriate team and then invites players, either by typing in the username or by clicking on a friend/clanmate who is currently online from a scrollable drop down list that appears.
- User-interface improvements to the Custom Games Widget in both Edit and Garage Modes
- When a Custom Game leader queues up, all other players will now see a dialogue stating 'Your party is waiting for you'
- All uncommon, common and rare items in crates now appear' quicker
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused an 'Error loading clan info' message to appear when a player appeared in the same clan multiple times
- Fixed a bug which caused a grey border to appear around both the Robocraft & New Zealand Holoflag images in the inventory and forge screens
- The Speedometer and Altimeter no longer colour bleed on higher quality settings
- Fixed a bug which caused the overlay for 'Pending Invite' and 'In-game' to turn player avatars black
- Fixed a bug which allowed invited Custom Game players to interact with the Custom Games Widget
- Fixed a bug which allowed a player to create a Custom Game whilst invited to another
- Updated the 'drag and drop players' label so that it no longer appears for Custom Game invitees
- Fixed a visual bug that gave the impression that Custom Games invitees could change settings
- Fixed a bug which caused the Custom game widget to cover the 'advanced info' stats on all resolutions
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robocraft cursor to still be present in Edit mode
- Having the block party invites box checked now prevents players from receiving Custom Game invitations
- Fixed a bug which caused an unintentional monochrome effect to a player when being hit by an EMP in battle
- Fixed a bug which caused the BRAWL description to appear incorrect
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the bay to rotate in garage view while dragging players from team to team in a custom game
- Fixed the ceiling boundary on Tihonium Canyon and Tharsis Rift maps.
In our most recent Artbot Competition, a gentle nod towards the celebration of a special day in the Sci-Fi fan calendar on May 4th, we wanted to see your Robocraft Spaceships. Whether they were from your favourite movie, video game or from the depths of your imagination - we wanted to see it in Robo-block form.
And boy you did not disappoint; we received over 1,400 submissions during the competition (and a stack load more afterwards too!). It certainly made picking the winning robots a challenge. The quality of the Robots submitted were outstanding as usual - so thanks to everyone that took the time to create their spaceships.
If you missed our longlist announcement last week, you can read it here.
So, on to the winners. Usually, we split the finalists into five different categories, but for this competition it was a bit more difficult and so we're going to announce the final 15 with the top five robots all receiving prizes. Please note that the final 15 list below are not in a particular order. There's also a couple of honorable mentions too; you'll find those at the bottom.
THE FINAL 15:
- DB14 The Star-Struck / Mister.E
- DB14 ESS VANGUARD / JUMPIER.SET.472
- DB14 Regulus / ferhat.konca.33
- DB14 Hope / Zalera57
- DB14 Kom'rk Custom / notmyrealacc
- DB14 Eagle 5 / ProfDriftwood
- DB14 Titan 5.1 / rev_juliocesar
- DB14 NCC-1701 / Adrival42
- DB14 Albatross C6 / aoxmaica
- DB14 Old Bessie / world_inc
- DB14 Star Trek Klingon / Valorel1982
- DB14 Viper MKII (BSG) / Lornar
- DB14 Deep Space / Gadafil
- DB14 StellarColony / BRindustries
- DB14 Androxus / ocahitsmen
THE WINNERS:
DB14 ESS VANGUARD / JUMPIER.SET.472
DB14 Hope / Zalera57
DB14 NCC-1701 / Adrival42
DB14 Viper MKII (BSG) / Lornar
DB14 Androxus / ocahitsmen
OVERALL WINNER:
DB14 Hope / Zalera57
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
DB14 Eagle 5 / ProfDriftwood
DB14 Old Bessie / world_inc
We will be taking the servers down at 11:00 (UTC+1) for server infrastructure improvements to Robocraft.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 30 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the 'remove from session' button to not display correctly when removing a player from team 2 in Custom Games
- Fixed a bug which prevented some of the Custom Games option from displaying correctly on some screen resolutions such as 1280x1084
- Fixed a bug which disabled Bloom on Beautiful or Fantastic quality settings
- Fixed a bug which caused an error when returning to the Custom Game lobby from Test Mode
OTHER CHANGES:
- Custom Game party widget now appears on the mothership/garage and game queue screens when players are in a Custom Game party
- Blink cooldown increased from 25 seconds to 50 seconds
- Players are no longer automatically taken to the Custom Games UI upon accepting a Custom Game invitation
Up, Up and Away!
Join Robocraft's community manager LeftofNever as he's takes us through the latest addition to Robocraft, the much requested and long-awaited Custom Games!! He'll be running through how it works as well as our plans for future updates. He'll be creating a few games too - so join us in-game and on the stream to be part of the action (you may want to have an animal bot ready). We'll also be announcing the winners of our recent Spaceships Artbot Contest so make sure you join us to see if your Robot is a winner, winner, chicken dinner. And that's not all - we'll be giving away some of the new Windowmaker modules and Chain Splitter weapons too in the form of our now regular 'missing character promo code giveway game'
The fun starts at 16:00 (UTC+1) today!
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
This functionality is available via the Custom Games button on the main menu and this button will be activated for a thousand users at a time in a gradual rollout over the next 24 hours. As we discussed in Mark's Dev Jam earlier this week, this gradual rollout means that we won't have to take down servers if Custom Games causes stability issues for the rest of the game.
If all goes well, we hope to have Custom Games Mk.1 rolled out to everyone within the coming days. If you don't happen to be in the first 10% of players who are randomly selected to be part of the launch, please be patient; we're doing all we can to get this launch right for everyone.
Our Community Manager LeftofNever has put together a handy video which goes through all the details on what functionality is launching with Custom Games Mk 1. Alpha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqVuaYn7qc
It's worth noting that even if you aren't part of the early rollout, you will can still join Custom Games if invited by the host. If we do detect any issues with Custom Games Mk. 1 over the coming days, we will temporarily disable the functionality while we investigate the issue.
Please keep an eye on this blog post for updates on the rollout process
UPDATES
UPDATE #1 - 12:56 (UTC+1): Custom Games MK.1 Alpha Now Live to 10% players who are active on live UPDATE #2 - 14:10 (UTC+1): All has gone well with server stability at 10% being given access to Custom Games Mk.1 Alpha, so we've upped it to 50%. UPDATE #3 - 15:30 (UTC+1): All has gone swimmingly well with server stability at 50% of players being given access to Custom Games Mk.1 Alpha, so we've opened the floodgates and given everyone access to Custom Games Mk.1 Alpha! Take a deep breath, it could get a bit rough for a while. #dangerzone
NEW:
- Custom Games Mk.1 Alpha added
- In today's update the feature was added, but the Custom Games button in the Play Menu was initially disabled
- We will then enable it for a random % of users and check everything is stable
- If any issues arise we will switch it off again, fix the issues, and then enable it again as quickly as possible
- We will increase the % of users who have access to the feature step-by-step and as fast as possible until 100% of users have access to the feature
- When all seems stable, we will promote the feature to the users who aren’t paying attention to the website and may want to come check it out
To find out how Custom Games Mk1. works, watch our 60 second overview video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqVuaYn7qc For more information on what's planned for Custom Games, read our recent Dev Jam.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from seeing their own or others pings when hidden behind terrain/objects on the lowest quality setting
- Fixed a bug that displayed the wrong error message when a user logged into the Robocraftgame.com website with an email address
- Fixed a bug which prevented Battle Arena players from receiving rewards when they only gained a score through capturing points, destroying crystals or the Protonite Core (ie. no kills in battle)
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to start a party using the /partyinvite command while they had a pending invite
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) so we can start the rollout of Custom Games Mk1. Alpha in Robocraft.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
"Take it to the moon, Take it to the stars"
For our most recent Artbot Competition, we challenged you to create an out of this world spacecraft; one that would be battle-ready and able to jump to warp speed upon request from its Captain. Well by jove, you didn't disappoint; we were inundated with all manner of craft from the four corners of the galaxy. This was by far our most popular Artbot Competition to date and we saw over 1,400 spaceships submitted during the competition period - it took us a while to look at them all! You can have a look at all the submissions by logging into the game and searching for 'DB14' in the Factory. The longlist below are our favorites and we'll be whittling it down to a final 15 soon and of the final 15, we'll be picking five winners (who will all each receive a prize).
- DB14 LUKEIAMYOURFATHER - UnitedBuilder
- DB14 Battlevruiser V.2 - schuka
- DB14 The Star-Struck - Mister.E
- DB14 Bird of Prey - Ataribot
- DB14 ESS VANGUARD - JUMPIER.SET.472
- DB14 Aplelion - CD-Alyn
- DB14 Regulus - ferhat.konca.33
- DB14 Aegis Pathfinder - Forged1212
- DB14 Hope - Zalera57
- DB14 F61 Trident V2 - Mindless_Bot
- DB14 Resistance X-Wing - b_funk_masta
- DB14 Borg Cube - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB14 Human's Last Hope - Bio4
- DB14 Space Shuttle - hubuki
- DB14 Viper MkII - Rodrijandro
- DB14 Bird of Prey - Metaflyer
- DB14 Spear of adun - tomo2398
- DB14 Sky Command - Sorgon
- DB14 Turret Fighter - Caesar277
- DB14 Hammerhead - cmdTRTY
- DB14 Esclavo 1 - ROBOrobots
- DB14 JFK23 - Pouadadiste
- DB14 Star Falcom - Simfinch
- DB14 Star Invader - fawazthani9165
- DB14 Starfighter - tedbash
- DB14 Kyllasros - BDXRonin
- DB14 X-Wing - ___3z
- DB14 StelarKnight - Naruto10
- DB14 Pugnator - latenightsukkels
- DB14 X-Wing - Bivirhino
- DB14 Dauntless Cruiser - mac
- DB14 Valley Forge - masterblaster65
- DB14 starfighter - djeff
- DB14 Last Guardian - Nord_Act
- DB14 Arcadia - davy99
- DB14 ESS Vanguard - Zalera57
- DB14 Kom'rk Custom - notmyrealacc
- DB14 Star Scavanger - DeStilleKiller
- DB14 Avalon - stoepsel4ever
- DB14 The Reaper - SzoneXD
- DB14 YAMATO - yamakimu
- DB14 Neseion - Kuba6PL9
- DB14-Starbug1 - Wylie_Kyote
- DB14 Eagle 5 - ProfDriftwood
- DB14 Nucleonic Pulstar - SuperAtomicTooT
- DB14 Wraith Cruiser - Karillya
- DB14 Cosmowing - ArcticBear40
- DB14 Titan 5.1 - rev_juliocesar
- DB14 NCC-1701 - Adrival42
- DB14 Galatic Guardian - Der_Razor
- DB14 Pathfinder - Andry42
- DB14 Albatross C6 - aoxmaica
- DB14 Uranite Cosmo - Scribble-the-Pug
- DB14 Enforcer - Vicious_Chicken
- DB14 Old Bessie - world_inc (film/tv)
- DB14 Cocoon 6 - Aberhazard
- DB14 Interstellar v1 - Snak3333
- DB14 Star Wars B-Wing - Sheep_wielder
- DB14 Enterprize 1701 - MasterOfBRICKS
- DB14 Guardians Galaxy - Predatore64
- DB14 Dreamer - NRMaDOS
- DB14 Photon - UltimateCheeze
- DB14 [Grand Dyer] - beagleA
- DB14 USS Cygnus - Vasdef
- DB14 Star Trek Klingon - Valorel1982
- DB14 THUNDERBIRD-1 - djieff
- DB14 Squadron - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB14 Viper MKII (BSG) - Lornar
- DB14 Deep Space - Gadafil
- DB14 Peace Patrol - GrenouilleFurtive
- DB14 StellarColony - BRindustries
- DB14 space shuttle - A144CLASSIFIED
- DB14 Omega - manzano_james
- DB14 Star_Blade - Warrior05
- DB14 UNSC - Pelican - techhunter
- DB14 StarFox (Arwing) - llwreptileSUN
- DB14 - Planet Express - Zachops
- DB14 Androxus - ocahitsmen
- DB14 Darth V's Tie - tedbash
- DB14 [BAY 01] - ByKali28
- DB14 CR90 Corvette - Vectron2
- DB14 T-Wing - _p0rksh0p_
- DB14 Vengeance Class - Lornap
- DB14 X-wing starwars - spaceshadow26
- DB14 GALAGA - jimmymcgoochie
- DB14 Aurora - Micsso
- DB14x-wing - stefemu
- DB14 X-Wing - ___3z
- DB14 - Acquila - Kuba6PL9
- DB14 TARDIS - Snakecgg
CUSTOM GAMES
Lets me start by giving you some great news: [olist]
CUSTOM GAMES ALPHA
Custom Games has taken a LOT of development effort to support. We’ve had to rework our entire server infrastructure and lobby code to enable it. We have tested it internally as much as we can but it is hard to predict how popular the feature will be, how users will use it, and therefore how the infrastructure will cope when it's launched. For these reasons we have decided to do an Alpha launch (yes, I know, an Alpha launch inside a Beta is just weird, but we really wanted to have a way to launch this and keep the rest of the game live and stable as we get it out to everyone). Here’s how it will work:
- Thursday 11th May we will launch an update which includes the feature, but the Custom Games button in the Play Menu will be disabled
- We will then enable it for a random % of users and check everything is stable
- If any issues arise we will switch it off again, fix the issues, and then enable it again as quickly as possible
- We will increase the % of users who have access to the feature step-by-step and as fast as possible until 100% of users have access to the feature
- When all seems stable, we will promote the feature to the users who aren’t paying attention to the website and may want to come check it out
MK1, MK2, MK3, MK4
We’re going to release Custom Games in four stages. The first is the MK1 Alpha release which starts this Thursday 11th May. The reason we’re splitting it up like this is to get the feature to you as quickly as possible, by doing it in steps we can get it to you faster and get it stable faster and learn from the way you are using the feature and feedback on the feature when it's live. The stages will be as follows:
- MK1 - Invite 2-10 players to play private games, choose game mode, choose map, private automatic custom games chat channel
- MK2 - Crate rewards added to Custom Games (probably based on time played), many options and sliders added to change game variables
- MK3 - Megabots can be built and played in Custom Games
HOW IT WORKS
Here is an example of the interface for the Alpha launch:
Here’s how it works:
- If you want to create a Custom Games you go to the Play Menu and select Custom Game Alpha and you will see this menu
- Custom Games are treated like 2 x 5 player Parties, Team 1 and Team 2
- You don’t need to fill both Teams, you can have 1 vs. 1, or 5 vs 1, or 3 vs 2 or 5 vs 5, it’s up to you
- You invite players in the same way you do with Parties by clicking on the Custom Games Party slots in ‘Team 1’ and ‘Team 2’
- We’ve upgraded the drop down that appears when you click on the ‘Party Widget’ so it lists Friends and Clan members who are online, as well as being able to invite users by name
- You can drag and drop players between the two teams
- You can right click to remove players from the Custom Game also (as with Parties)
- The Leader can choose Game Mode and Map (in later versions you will be able to set many game options also)
- As soon as you start to setup a Custom Game a chat channel is created and you automatically join it
- Anyone who accepts an invite to the Custom Game also auto joins the chat channel
- The Custom Games setup screen has a chat window visible all the time so you can discuss how you’re going to play and see the options that the leader is selecting
- When you ‘Ready Up’ you are taken to the lobby and as soon as everyone is Ready the game will connect you to a free server and you will be away
- To return to the normal Play Menu you need to leave the Custom Game via the aptly named ‘Leave Custom Game’ button
MK2
We hope to launch MK2 in around a month of MK1 with all the following options that are configurable by you: General Options
- [Slider] Damage multiplier
- [Slider] Health multiplier
- [Slider] Power multiplier
- [Slider] Ceiling height
- [Slider] Game time (mins)
- [Toggle] Health Regen active
- [Widget] Exclusion list of cubes that are not allowed in the battle
- [Slider] Respawn time
- [Slider] Protonium harvest rate
- [Slider] Capture speed
- [Slider] Core health
- [Slider] Core destroy time
- [Slider] Core appear frequency
- [Toggle] Capture segment memory
- [Toggle] Base shields go down
- [Slider] Number of kills to win
- [Slider] Respawn time
- [Slider] Capture speed
- [Slider] Points total required
- [Slider] Respawn time
- [Toggle] Points multiplied by kill streak
- [Slider] Min CPU
- [Slider] Max CPU
OTHER CHANGES:
- Chain Splitter barrel length reduced
- Chain Splitter collision radius reduced by one cube
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) so we can add the latest Windowmaker Update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Open Eyes, Saves Lives
Tomorrow May 4th 2017 we're re-writing the 'Robocraft Spotter's Handbook' with the introduction of the new Teamsight game mechanic along with a new all-purpose, all-seeing Windowmaker Module and an 'epic' new weapon - the Chain Splitter. With the introduction of the new module and spotting mechanic, we'll be retiring all existing radar parts currently in the game. Along with the new additions to the game, we’ve made a few changes and fixed some bugs. As usual, you’ll find all the info below.
NEW:
- Teamsight - All enemy robots that are visible on player’s screen are in “spotted” state and are shown on the HUD and in-game minimap. A player will remain "spotted" until they are obscured by map geometry; after which point they will remain "spotted" for one second. Any target visible to a team member is also in the “spotted” state for all teammates. All Teamsight information is sent to all team players every one second.
- Windowmaker Module - This exciting new module will display the location of all 'live' players on the opposing team for a set period of time (see data below). The location of the opposing team players will appear on both the HUD and in-game minimap to all players on your team. Any enemies that are 'off-screen' will be displayed in the in-game HUD as an arrow pointing to their location. Any opposing players who are cloaked are immune to the module's power.
- Windowmaker Module data:*
- Classification: Legendary
- CPU: 150
- Health: 37,800
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
- Effect duration: 7.5 seconds
- Activation cost: 2,000 energy
- Chain Splitter Weapon - This new weapon is lighter than its bigger brother The Chain Shredder; it requires less CPU and is significantly smaller so it should be both more versatile and more viable for smaller builds.
- Chain Splitter Weapon data:*
- Classification: Epic
- CPU: 165
- Health: 74,498
- Damage per hit: 13,906 (same as Chain Shredder)
- Energy per second: 2,333 (same as Chain Shredder)
- Max fire rate count: 4 guns (to get max fire rate with CPU investment similar to 2 Chain Shredders)
- Max fire rate: 19.05 per second (5% lower than for 2 Chain Shredders)
- Single gun fire rate: 13.33 per second (14% lower than with 1 Chain Shredder, due to lower CPU cost)
- Note: 2 Chain Splitters provide 5% lower fire rate than 1 Chain Shredder – similarly to the max fire rate described above
OTHER CHANGES:
- Removal of all current Radar parts from the game (including Radar, Receiver and Jammers)**
- Removal of manual spotting functionality via 'Q' keybind
- Updated Italian language translations in-game
- Moved all Electroshields from Weapons to Special category in the forge/recycle/inventory screens
- Change end of Clan season screen top bar to just display "End of Season X" [where X is the last season number]
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented the Carbon 6 Thruster from glowing
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the ice around a Tower on the Spitzer Dam map to Flicker
- Fixed a visual bug which caused the base of League Badges to flash black every few seconds
- Fixed the sharpness on the Altimeter text at low quality settings
- Fixed a visual bug which prevented the Weapon Energy Module from glowing
- Fixed missing blue textures on Nanos
- Fixed a graphical glitch near the South base on the Birmingham Power station map
- Fixed a bug which caused Hover blades not to show the team colour correctly
- Fixed the boundary collision on the Tithonium Canyon map
This week's radar-changing Windowmaker update has a surprise, new addition! Allow us to introduce the miniaturized version of the Chain Shredder, known as the Chain Splitter.
This new weapon is lighter than its bigger brother, requires less CPU and is significantly smaller so it should be more versatile and be more viable for smaller builds.
Here's the stats for the new module and a model preview care of Sketchfab:
- Name: Chain Splitter*
- Classification: Rare
- CPU: 165
- Health: 74,498
- Damage per hit: 13,906 (same as Chain Shredder)
- Energy per second: 2,333 (same as Chain Shredder)
- Max fire rate count: 4 guns (to get max fire rate with CPU investment similar to 2 Chain Shredders)
- Max fire rate: 19.05 per second (5% lower than for 2 Chain Shredders)
- Single gun fire rate: 13.33 per second (14% lower than with 1 Chain Shredder, due to lower CPU cost)
- Note: 2 Chain Splitters provide 5% lower fire rate than 1 Chain Shredder - similarly to the max fire rate described above
- Name: Windowmaker*
- CPU: 150
- Health: 37,800
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
- Effect duration: 5 seconds
- Activation cost cost: 2,000 energy
Every time we do one of our Artbot competitions, we're continually surprised by your level of creativity - you guys are brilliant! In some of our recent competitions we saw some truly amazing spaceships being submitted and while they were in keeping with the theme, we felt they should have a competition all of their own. So…..
For this artbot competition, we want to see your battle-ready Spaceships. Your designs can be whatever you like; something from a sci-fi movie, cartoon, comic book or video game. They can even be your own design.
We will still be judging the competition in terms of a Robot's artistic merit, but we want all entries to be able to hold their own in a game of Team Deathmatch and so your Robots will need to be primed and ready for battle with some weapons attached.
The Brief:
- Design one or more spaceships
- All spaceship submissions must include weaponry
- Ensure your Spaceship's name starts with the term DB14
- Upload your entries to the CRF
How to submit your entry:
Submitting your entry is really easy - all you need to do is upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF). To upload your entry:
- Go to the garage bay view and select the robot you wish to upload
- Ensure your Robot is named DB14 [plus your name for the robot]
- Click the 'upload robot' button (the first button on the left next to your Robot's CPU)
- Make sure your Robot's name is correct
- Give it a description - tell us about the Robot
- Check the box to tell us you agree to the T&Cs
- Finally click the '0 to upload button'
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (which will be awarded if the winner has lifetime premium). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- Robots must include at least one weapon (ie. be battle ready)
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday May 1st 2017 - 23:59 (UTC+1) Sunday May 7th 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme (the brief) during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB14 must be included at the beginning of the Robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
Robostream Declassified
Join community manager LeftofNever along with some of the dev team for our next Recon Robostream. Join them over on Twitch and Facebook on Friday April 28th from 16:00 (UTC+1) where they’ll be discussing the latest Robonews, announcing the winners of the recent C6 Sprinter Legs Artbot competition as well as playing a few games of Robocraft. They’ll be giving away a few promo codes too! You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) for further server infrastructure and database improvements.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
We will be taking the servers down at 09:00 (UTC+1) for server infrastructure and database improvements.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Attention! New transmission coming in from the Frontline!
Want to get a sneak audio peak at a new component coming to Robocraft next week? Check out the latest audio transmission on our official Soundcloud page below: https://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/classified-transmission There will be more information revealed on Robocraftgame.com tomorrow... :) #SharpEyesSaveLives
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed spawn points on multiple maps for 8 vs 8 Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL. Spawn points for Spitzer Dam are unfortunately still broken, so it has been taken out of BRAWL rotation. It will be added back in next week.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Essential internal database maintenance
Robocraft servers will be down for maintenance from 10:00 (UTC+1) today, so we can deploy a small hotfix to the 8 vs 8 Elimination Battlegrounds update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Robocraft's latest BRAWL, Elimination Battlegrounds, has been upgraded and overcharged with a new 8 versus 8 player count! Formerly this game mode was 5 versus 5 only.
The BRAWL is still based around the classic Elimination gameplay formula (single spawn, last team to survive wins) on the new maps, only now the action is dialed up with more combatants.
This update also has a host of bug fixes and further tweaks. You can learn about all of these by checking out the patch notes, handily linked below:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/301520/announcements/detail/1301947220319121694
NEW:
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Maps: All
- Number of Players: 8 vs 8*
- Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
- Special Rules: None
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Capture points in Elimination Battlegrounds now sync up more closely to the capture point geometry.
- More EXP sticker placement optimized for multiple languages.
- Removed small hiding spot by the nose of the spacecraft on the Vanguard's End map which small bots could manipulate for protection.
- Updated collision geometry for the crashed spaceship on Vanguard's End to minimize the ability of smaller robots to hide between the ship's different wall layers.
- Fixed a bug related to MMR rating not updating correctly when a player accrues around 300 MMR at 3 stars.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Minor translation improvements in main menu
- Made the Carbon 6 branding on the Sprinter Leg a brighter shade, so it is easier to see when players change the component's color.
- More EXP sticker placement optimized for multiple languages.
Robocraft servers will be down for maintenance from 10:00 (UTC+1) today, so we can deploy the 8 vs 8 Elimination Battlegrounds update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 2 hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Robocraft's latest BRAWL, Elimination Battlegrounds, will be updated tomorrow (20th April) with a new 8 versus 8 player count! Formerly this BRAWL was 5 versus 5 only.
The BRAWL is still based around the classic Elimination formula (single spawn, last team to survive wins) bolstered with the new maps and more robots on the battlefield to dial up the mayhem.
Tomorrow's update also has a small number of improvements and bug fixes - all of which are detailed below:
NEW:
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Maps: All
- Number of Players: 8 vs 8*
- Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
- Special Rules: None
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Capture points in Elimination Battlegrounds now sync up more closely to the capture point geometry.
- More EXP sticker placement optimized for multiple languages.
- Removed small hiding spot by the nose of the spacecraft on the Vanguard's End map which small bots could manipulate for protection.
- Updated collision geometry for the crashed spaceship on Vanguard's End to minimize the ability of smaller robots to hide between the ship's different wall layers.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Minor translation improvements in main menu
- Made the Carbon 6 branding on the Sprinter Leg a brighter shade, so it is easier to see when players change the component's color.
- More EXP sticker placement optimized for multiple languages.
We will be taking the servers down at 10:00 (UTC+1) for server infrastructure improvements.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Since we released the original Sprinter Legs back at the end of September last year, we've often been asked for a carbon 6 variant. Well, our talented art team have been hard at work on something rather special and we're super-excited to tell you that the new Carbon 6 Sprinter Legs are now in Robocraft!
These new super-stylish movement parts have the same specifications as the existing Sprinter Hermes legs but with a slightly higher forge cost (the same as all C-6 parts).
To examine these new legs more closely, feel free to zoom around the model via the Sketchfab display below.
https://sketchfab.com/models/cc1ab76bac1945fe951f1b5d693625be/
Special thanks to Sketchfab for their incredibly nifty 3D model plug-in tech.
Click here for the full patch notes
NEW:
- Sprinter Hermes Carbon 6 movement part*
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Ion Destabilizer and Ion Distorter accuracy decreased - this equates to about 30% less damage at mid-range distance, but no change at close-range
- Hover Blade Hurricane health decreased from 147,000 to 117,600 - now they are less efficient as a lightweight damage soak.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Changes to disconnection penalty - Players who suffer from occasional disconnections in Robocraft will now have their penalty time reduced:
- 1st disconnection - 0 seconds
- 2nd disconnection - 30 seconds
- 3rd disconnection - 60 seconds
- 4th disconnection - 120 seconds
- 5th disconnection - 300 seconds
- 6th disconnection and above - 600 seconds
- MMR settings were tweaked to help more players getting into Protonium League.
- Updated Xsolla store in-game:
- Items are now in a list, rather than a grid
- The 'Learn More' buttons now display the extra info right under the button, rather than a popup
- Improved the video quality of the intro trailer
- Updated in-game advert for Premium to highlight 3x recycle rate
- Updated the BRAWL image to display 'First Win Bonus' as a rosette
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which made it possible for a clan to have no leader
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robocraft client to close when recycling more than 5,000 cubes
- Fixed an issue that caused Robots with multiple 'layers' of hovers not to adjust their hover height when lower hovers were shot off
- Fixed a spacing issue on 'new cubes awarded' section of the Promo Code screen
- Fixed a bug in Play vs AI mode where you always respawned in the same location
- Fixed translation issues with the 4 Year Holoflag
- Improved the readability of the 'more info' text on the Xsolla store in Chinese and Japanese languages
- Fixed a bug which caused Tesla explosions to sometimes appear on the wrong Tesla Robot in matches
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC+1).
The purpose of the maintenance is so that we can add the Carbon 6 Sprinter Legs Update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
Run Rabbit, Run!
Join our Community Manager Martin along with special guest Hannah, our award nominated 3D Artist for this special Easter-themed Robostream. Join them on Twitch or Facebook from 16:00 (UTC+1) on Thursday April 13th for some 'eggsciting' games of Robocraft, where they'll be showing off the new Carbon 6 Sprinter Legs as well as looking at some of the community-created content too.
You can join the stream over on Twitch or Facebook
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Since we released the original Sprinter Legs back at the end of September last year, we've often been asked for a carbon 6 variant. Well, our talented art team have been hard at work on something rather special and tomorrow (April, 13th) we'll be adding the new Carbon 6 Sprinter Legs to Robocraft. You'll be able to forge them as well as uncover them in crates after the update goes live tomorrow.
Along with the new legs, we've made a few changes and fixed some bugs. As usual, you'll find all the new additions to the game as well as changes and bug fixes below.
NEW:
- Sprinter Hermes Carbon 6 movement part*
OTHER CHANGES:
- Changes to disconnection penalty - Players who suffer from occasional disconnections in Robocraft will now have their penalty time reduced:
- 1st disconnection - 0 seconds
- 2nd disconnection - 30 seconds
- 3rd disconnection - 60 seconds
- 4th disconnection - 120 seconds
- 5th disconnection - 300 seconds
- 6th disconnection and above - 600 seconds
- MMR settings were tweaked to help more players getting into Protonium League.
- Updated Xsolla store in-game:
- Items are now in a list, rather than a grid
- The 'Learn More' buttons now display the extra info right under the button, rather than a popup
- Improved the video quality of the intro trailer
- Updated in-game advert for Premium to highlight 3x recycle rate
- Updated the BRAWL image to display 'First Win Bonus' as a rosette
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which made it possible for a clan to have no leader
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robocraft client to close when recycling more than 5,000 cubes
- Fixed an issue that caused Robots with multiple 'layers' of hovers not to adjust their hover height when lower hovers were shot off
- Fixed a spacing issue on 'new cubes awarded' section of the Promo Code screen
- Fixed a bug in Play vs AI mode where you always respawned in the same location
- Fixed translation issues with the 4 Year Holoflag
- Improved the readability of the 'more info' text on the Xsolla store in Chinese and Japanese languages
- Fixed a bug which caused Tesla explosions to sometimes appear on the wrong Tesla Robot in matches
NEW:
- Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL added to the game
- Score has been rebalanced to determine the best performing player more accurately. As part of this rebalance, objective score is now more generous overall
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Map: All six maps
- Number of Players: 5 v 5*
- Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
- Special Rules: None
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused the 'assign loadout' menu to not update correctly when placing and removing weapons on a Robot in Edit Mode
- Fixed a bug which caused an error when a player purchased a Robot from the CRF intended to reside in their 100th (final) garage bay
- Updated the error dialogue box when a player attempted to exceed their 100 garage bay cap
- Fixed a bug that showed a no star increase when a player jumped to their next League rank whilst having less than 5 stars
- Fixed a bug which prevented the 1-minute remaining siren from activating in Team Deathmatch
- Fixed a bug which caused the cutscene voiceover to overlap with the in-game voiceover in Battle Arena
- Updated the hover-over BRAWL description text
- Updated the images used for the game modes on the PLAY screen
- Corrected the text on the League Battle Results Screen
- Fixed the color theme on the file browser pop-up
- Updated the PLAY menu text into multiple languages
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from linking their existing Robocraft account to their Steam account
- Fixed a bug which caused players who only captured points not to receive a reward
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC+1).
The purpose of the maintenance is so that we can add the Elimination Battlegrounds Update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Get your battle Robots prepped, primed and ready for action as tomorrow (April 6th, 2017) we'll be unleashing a new BRAWL - Elimination Battlegrounds! This new BRAWL will see the return of the Elimination game mode with battles taking place across all six of the new maps! So grab your best bot and get ready to unleash hell free of both build and weapon restrictions.
Alongside the new Elimination BRAWL, we've fixed a load of bugs too; you'll find these below.
NEW:
- Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL added to the game
- Score has been rebalanced to determine the best performing player more accurately. As part of this rebalance, objective score is now more generous overall
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Map: All six maps
- Number of Players: 5 v 5*
- Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
- Special Rules: None
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused the 'assign loadout' menu to not update correctly when placing and removing weapons on a Robot in Edit Mode
- Fixed a bug which caused an error when a player purchased a Robot from the CRF intended to reside in their 100th (final) garage bay
- Updated the error dialogue box when a player attempted to exceed their 100 garage bay cap
- Fixed a bug that showed a no star increase when a player jumped to their next League rank whilst having less than 5 stars
- Fixed a bug which prevented the 1-minute remaining siren from activating in Team Deathmatch
- Fixed a bug which caused the cutscene voiceover to overlap with the in-game voiceover in Battle Arena
- Updated the hover-over BRAWL description text
- Updated the images used for the game modes on the PLAY screen
- Corrected the text on the League Battle Results Screen
- Fixed the color theme on the file browser pop-up
- Updated the PLAY menu text into multiple languages
- Fixed a bug which prevented players from linking their existing Robocraft account to their Steam account
- Fixed a bug which caused players who only captured points not to receive a reward
Please note that we are aware of an issue with players not being able to join any multiplayer games. We are working hard to fix this issue ASAP. Please note that Play vs AI Mode and Edit Mode are not affected by this issue.
We’ve rolled back the Robocraft clocks and putting some much community-requested features back into the game. If you follow our game director Mark Simmons on Twitter, you’ll already know that he recently alluded to some game mode changes in Robocraft. Well, we’re super-excited to announce that we’ve added a new ‘Play Screen’ to the game and with it unranked Battle Arena!
Click here to view the full patch notes
NEW:
- Unranked Battle Arena added to the game*
- New play screen
- Basic Mode has been renamed to Team Deathmatch
- Normal Mode has been renamed to League Arena
- Custom Games placeholder added (yes it really is coming soon)
- In League Arena, all players on the winning team will each receive a Protonium Crate and all players on the losing team will each receive a Gold Crate
- All League Arena players will now earn double XP
- All new players will now receive more starter blocks when they create their account so they can start building Robots straight away. In addition to the blocks on their starter Robots, new players to the game will also receive 2,000 solid square chassis cubes and 1,000 of each other common type chassis cube in their inventory
OTHER CHANGES:
- New keyboard shortcuts (this affects new players only). Any player wishing to change their keyboard shortcuts can do so via the controls screen (accessed by pressing the escape key in the garage view)
- Team Deathmatch - H
- Battle Arena - B
- League Arena - L
- BRAWL - J
- The name of the game mode being played is now displayed on the pause menu
- Removed the game lobby for players levels 1-5 to decrease queue times for all players
- Disabled the dust particle on low quality graphic settings on the following maps:
- Ophiuchus Valley
- Spitzer Dam
- Tihonium Canyon
- Tharsis Rift
- New loading screen for Tihonium Canyon
- New loading screen for Spitzer Dam
- Minimap for Spitzer Dam has been updated
- Minimap for Ophiuchus Valley has been updated
- Removed the functionality to change the color of a player’s Robot name
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented players with older accounts progressing through the tutorial
- Fixed a bug which caused players to enter edit mode and not the main garage screen when skipping or completing the tutorial
- Updated the inventory icons for Vampire wings and rudders
- Fixed the Clan Seasons Reward screen Robits image
- Fixed a bug which displayed the Party Invite dialogue in Italian incorrectly
- Fixed a bug which caused the pulsing animation for base progress to stop if a team destroyed a large number of crystals on the opposing team’s base
- Fixed a bug which caused high-scoring players to receive less objective score than expected
- Fixed an audio bug which caused the wrong voiceover to play for both teams in the event of a win/loss
- Fixed a sync issue with the voiceover and game end explosion in Battle Arena modes
- Tweaked the AI bot pathfinding algorithm to improve their ability to maneuver around the new maps
- Updated the crate purchasing screen to correctly display the ‘guaranteed legendary’ messaging in English
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC+1) to add the Return of Unranked Update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
Tomorrow, March 30th, we’ll be rolling back the Robocraft clocks and putting some much community-requested features back into the game. If you follow our game director Mark Simmons on Twitter, you’ll already know that he recently alluded to some game mode changes in Robocraft. Well, we’re super-excited to announce that tomorrow we’ll be introducing a new ‘Play Screen’ and with it will come unranked ‘Battle Arena’ mode with the current ranked ‘Normal Mode’ becoming ‘League Arena’. The new League Arena mode will also include some additional rewards for players participating in this mode.
Continue reading below for the full breakdown of what’s coming in tomorrow’s update. Please note that we will release the full bug fix list after the update has been rolled out tomorrow.
NEW:
- Unranked Battle Arena added to the game*
- New play screen
- Basic Mode has been renamed to Team Deathmatch
- Normal Mode has been renamed to League Arena
- Custom Games placeholder added (yes it really is coming soon)
- In League Arena, all players on the winning team will each receive a Protonium Crate and all players on the losing team will each receive a gold crate
- All League Arena players will now earn double XP
- All new players will now receive more starter blocks when they create their account so they can start building Robots straight away. In addition to the blocks on their starter Robots, new players to the game will also receive 2,000 solid square chassis cubes and 1,000 of each other common type chassis cube in their inventory
OTHER CHANGES:
- New keyboard shortcuts (this affects new players only). Any player wishing to change their keyboard shortcuts can do so via the controls screen (accessed by pressing the escape key in the garage view)
- Team Deathmatch - H
- Battle Arena - B
- League Arena - L
- BRAWL - J
- The name of the game mode being played is now displayed on the pause menu
- Removed the game lobby for players levels 1-5 to decrease queue times for all players
- Disabled the dust particle on low quality graphic settings on the following maps:
- Ophiuchus Valley
- Spitzer Dam
- Tihonium Canyon
- Tharsis Rift
It’s casual Friday – come play with the Devs Livestream
Join community manager LeftofNever and Dan SupportJammer this Friday from 16:00 (UTC) for a few games of Basic Mode and much merriment.
They’ll be showing off the new maps, dishing out a well-deserved community shout-out as well as announcing the winners of the recent ‘Movie Monster’ Artbot Competition.
Joining them at the beginning of the stream will be a special guest co-host.
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- New ‘Dominant’ game mechanic added. When one team controls three capture points for 60 seconds in Normal Mode, they will become ‘Dominant’ whereby the protonium charge rate is greatly increased while they maintain the three capture points.
- In Normal Mode, when the battle is at 95% a siren sound will now trigger
- Sudden Death in Basic mode will now play a siren sound
- In Normal Mode, a siren sound will trigger when there is one minute remaining
- In Basic Mode, when any team requires one kill to win, a siren sound will now play
- In Normal Mode a ‘Draw’ voiceover will play in the event of a draw
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented a player’s MMR from displaying correctly in the friends tab if a clan had a long name. Only the first nine characters will now be displayed followed by ”...”
- Replaced missing language translations for the current BRAWL
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to Blink through the Protonite Core
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the trail effect of weapons to be stopped by the low power shield on a base
- Fixed a bug which prevented the “first team to reach the target total" voiceover from playing in Basic Mode
- Fixed a bug which caused the Team Victory/defeat voiceover to play twice
- Fixed a bug which caused the new structure on Spitzer Dam to have no collision detection.
- Fixed a missing asset visual bug on Ophiuchus Valley Map
- Fixed a floating barrier visual bug on Ophiuchus Valley Map
- Fixed a bug which caused garage thumbnails not to update correctly if a player enters Test Mode straight from Edit Mode, before returning to the Mothership
- Fixed a bug that prevented the new user buff from being removed on a small number of accounts that were created during the recent A/B test which ended on 15th March. This test is detailed here.
- Added line breaks for Japanese BRAWL text to improve readability
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The purpose of the maintenance is so that we can add the latest incremental build to the game. The full patch notes for this update will be released once we leave maintenance.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
NEW:
- In an effort to make new players feel more welcome, we’ve replaced two of the old starter Robots with exciting new ones. These Robots will be added to new accounts that were created after the release of today’s hotfix
1,039 CPU Starter Mech
1,766 CPU Starter Hover
OTHER CHANGES:
- Matchmaking level banding introduced:
- Player levels 1 – 5 matchmade together
- Player levels 6 and above matchmade together
- Balanced hover physics to improve user experience:
- Increased general acceleration to improve responsiveness and reducing drift
- Reduced general velocity to maintain current speeds
- Increased dampening so bot comes to stop sooner after releasing key
- Increased velocity cap to maintain current speed with thrusters added
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a visual bug where a capture point on the Spitzer Dam map was appearing below ground level in Normal Mode
- Fixed a visual bug on the Spitzer Dam map where the Protonite Core was appearing above the ground in Normal Mode
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC) to apply a hotfix to yesterday’s New Maps Update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
After the pain caused by last week’s planned update, today we’ve finally been able to add the six new maps back into Basic and Play vs AI Modes. Huzzah!
The six new maps are:
- Earth – Birmingham Power Station (2017 version)
- Earth – Vanguard’s End
- GJ 1214b – Spitzer Dam
- GJ 1214b – Ophiuchus Valley
- Mars – Tihonium Canyon
- Mars – Tharsis Rift
- New ‘Dominant’ game mechanic. When one team controls three capture points for 60 seconds in Normal Mode, they will become ‘Dominant’ whereby the protonium charge rate is greatly increased while they maintain the three capture points.
- New sound effects and voiceover
- Balance changes to Hovers
- Matchmaking level banding:
- Player levels 1 – 5 matchmade together
- Player levels 6 and above matchmade together
Click here to find out how to redeem codes in Robocraft
The code can only be used once per player account and is valid until 12:00 UTC on Monday, March 27th.
With the release of the new Kong movie in cinemas recently, it felt like the perfect opportunity to host another of our popular Artbot Competitions.
For our most recent Artbot competition we wanted to see your fearsome movie monsters in Robot form. We wanted to see Robots that were based on movie monsters; either live action or animated. We were looking for aliens, monsters in closets, dinosaurs and dragons. I have to say, you didn’t disappoint - there were some cracking entries.
We split the competition into five different categories to make it easier for you (and us).
- Three legs or less (humanoid monsters, snakes and Graboids)
- Motorized monsters (monster trucks, cars from hell, flaming motorcycles)
- From the ocean deep (giant squid, massive sharks, Kraken)
- Four or more limbs (giant spiders and killer rabbits)
- Flying monsters (Mothra, Dragons, Flying Monkeys)
- DB12 Rancor - AwEsOm_O_3000
- DB12 Critters - Andry42
- DB12 -IndominusRex- - Technoninja101
- DB12 Frozen Ice Golem - qwertyse2
- DB12 Anaconda - mondou0621
- DB12 Tyrannosaurus - pentagon1994
- DB12 Alien - StuA.Pendous
- DB12 - Graboid V5.0 - antoscienza
- DB12 WTWTA - Vasdef
- DB12 GODZILLA(2016) - gohten
- DB12 Dr.Loveless - Manicminer6
- DB12 Ghost Rider - Vasdef
- DB12 Christine - CACATb
- DB12 FLAMMABLE - moss972
- DB12 Jigsaw - Zaubervirus
- DB12 Ghost Rider - CursedLawdog
- DB12 BORG CUBE - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB12 Christine - djieff
- DB12 Bumblebee - pentagon1994
- DB12 EXTERMINATOR - foltywiren
- DB12 Sharktopus - Farbklecks
- DB12 Sharknado - Juub
- DB12 ANGLER FISH - brotato.chip737
- DB12 Mosasaurus - helenlucymitchell
- DB12 Jaws Shark - tim.nicol
- DB12 Deep Shock eel - He_Who_Ate_Tacos
- DB12 MOBY DICK - djieff
- DB12 Kraken - OopsieBuolder134
- DB12 Sharktopus - hydra0818
- DB12 Jaws - pentagon1994
- DB12 Triceratops - Fun_Account
- DB12 Black Widow MKI - Arkbringer
- DB12 - The Head - SwitchCase
- DB12 Shelob - Bguy33
- DB12 Harvester Queen - fawazthani9165
- DB12 Arachnid Bug [ST] - Lornar
- DB12 Killer Bee - GuardianAllin
- DB12 The Thing - Goodtimes_c
- DB12 Scorponok - jamesburberry110
- DB12 Xenomorph - Rahkshi
- DB12 (The Night Owl) - silbiuionut76
- DB12 Pterry - derpytarbosaurus
- DB12 Saphira - GrayVulpes
- DB12 Smaug - VelociRaider
- DB12 Haku - langedrako
- DB12 Tracker Jacker - Prometheus_Robotics
- DB12 Dragon - Aluna_jp
- DB12 Matrix Sentinel - Sheep_wielder
- DB12 Deadly Mantis - verrueckterhund
- DB12 Mothra - HeavenWolfHD
NEW:
- Replaced old Birmingham Power Station Map in Basic and Play vs AI Modes with new updated maps:
- Earth – Birmingham Power Station (2017 version)
- Earth – Vanguard’s End
- GJ 1214b – Spitzer Dam
- GJ 1214b – Ophiuchus Valley
- Mars – Tihonium Canyon
- Mars – Tharsis Rift
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC) to add new maps to BASIC and Play vs AI Modes.
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Hey all,
While the team are hard at work fixing the update that was planned to go live yesterday, I wanted to let you know that we’ll be giving you all a one-day premium code early next week.
We’ll release the code once we’re happy that the New Maps Update is working as intended and has been deployed.
Thanks for your continued patience and support.
Hi all, Unfortunately we have some bad news. Due to irrevocable server issues which prevented players from loading into matches correctly, we have had to revert the Robocraft client back its previous state before we deployed the BASIC MODE MAP UPDATE – 0.13.2065. This means that all the features we talk about for today's update have been reverted to the state of Robocraft at 10am this morning.All the new maps for Basic Mode (a.k.a Team Deathmatch) and AI Mode, along with all the other changes associated with the update, will be redeployed soon, most likely next week. Obviously we'll tell you this information as soon as we have it. We’d like to apologize to everyone for the downtime and any inconvenience caused.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 16:30 (UTC) to address issues with players connecting to battles in-game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 90 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
UPDATE: We are currently investigating an issue with some players having difficulties queuing up for battle in Basic & Normal Modes.
NEW:
- Replaced old Birmingham Power Station Map in Basic and Play vs AI Modes with new updated maps:
- Earth – Birmingham Power Station (2017 version)
- Earth – Vanguard’s End
- GJ 1214b – Spitzer Dam
- GJ 1214b – Ophiuchus Valley
- Mars – Tihonium Canyon
- Mars – Tharsis Rift
- New ‘Dominant’ game mechanic added. When one team controls three capture points for 60 seconds in Normal Mode, they will become ‘Dominant’ whereby the protonium charge rate is greatly increased while they maintain the three capture points.
- Matchmaking level banding introduced:
- Player levels 1 - 5 matchmade together
- Player levels 6 and above matchmade together
- In Normal Mode, when the battle is at 95% a siren sound will now trigger
- In Normal Mode, a siren sound will trigger when there is one minute remaining
- In Basic Mode, when any team requires one kill to win, a siren sound will now play
OTHER CHANGES:
- Improved Anti-Hacking Measures: Easy Anti Cheat has been updated to address a recently diagnosed exploit with the Linux client. This vulnerability has now been fixed and we'll continue to monitor and ban players permanently for hacking.
- Added more scenery to Spitzer Dam to provide more cover and improved symmetry on terrain [late addition]
- Removed all-player kickback when a player fails to load into battle
- Balanced hover physics to improve user experience:
- Increased general acceleration to improve responsiveness and reducing drift
- Reduced general velocity to maintain current speeds
- Increased dampening so bot comes to stop sooner after releasing key
- Increased velocity cap to maintain current speed with thrusters added
- ‘Draw’ voiceover added to Normal Mode
BUG FIXES:
- All Basic/Normal Mode based BRAWLs will now punish early-leavers with a five-minute penalty
- Fixed a bug which prevented a player’s MMR from displaying correctly in the friends tab if a clan had a long name. Now clan names longer than nine characters will display as [clan name]...
- Replaced missing language translations for the current BRAWL
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to Blink through the Protonite Core
- Fixed a bug which caused the user-interface animation for base progress to get stuck if a player destroyed a large number of crystals on an enemy base
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the trail effect of weapons to be stopped by the low power shield on a base
- Fixed a bug which caused the 4th Birthday Holoflag name to display incorrectly in non-English languages
- Fixed a visual bug which caused a player’s league rank to show no increase if they jumped to the next rank when having less than five stars on their current rank badge
- Fixed an issue where the lobby connection symbol could be seen behind the 'connecting to server' symbol
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong voiceovers to play when a team won/lost in Normal Mode
- Updated the Play vs AI Mode battle loading screen to display the correct game mode
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC) to add the latest update to the game.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
If you’ve logged in to Robocraft recently, you’ll have no doubt seen some of the changes we made to the game as we entered BETA. There was a new Normal Mode, gameplay mechanics and improvements to matchmaking. But what about Basic Mode? Well, in tomorrow’s update we’ll be giving Basic Mode a fresh lick of paint with the introduction of the recently re-worked maps that were added to both Normal and Play vs AI Modes.
All the details on what’s coming in tomorrow’s update can be found below - new additions, changes and bug fixes.
NEW:
- Replaced old Birmingham Power Station Map in Basic and Play vs AI Modes with new updated maps:
- Earth – Birmingham Power Station (2017 version)
- Earth – Vanguard’s End
- GJ 1214b – Spitzer Dam
- GJ 1214b – Ophiuchus Valley
- Mars – Tihonium Canyon
- Mars – Tharsis Rift
- New ‘Dominant’ game mechanic added. When one team controls three capture points for 60 seconds in Normal Mode, they will become ‘Dominant’ whereby the protonium charge rate is greatly increased while they maintain the three capture points.
- Matchmaking level banding introduced:
- Player levels 1 - 5 matchmade together
- Player levels 6 and above matchmade together
- In Normal Mode, when the battle is at 95% a siren sound will now trigger
- In Normal Mode, a siren sound will trigger when there is one minute remaining
- In Basic Mode, when any team requires one kill to win, a siren sound will now play
OTHER CHANGES:
- Improved Anti-Hacking Measures: Easy Anti Cheat has been updated to address a recently diagnosed exploit with the Linux client. This vulnerability has now been fixed and we'll continue to monitor and ban players permanently for hacking.
- Removed all-player kickback when a player fails to load into battle
- Balanced hover physics to improve user experience:
- Increased general acceleration to improve responsiveness and reducing drift
- Reduced general velocity to maintain current speeds
- Increased dampening so bot comes to stop sooner after releasing key
- Increased velocity cap to maintain current speed with thrusters added
- ‘Draw’ voiceover added to Normal Mode
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused Robot thumbnails not to update in garage bays
- All Basic/Normal Mode based BRAWLs will now punish early-leavers with a five-minute penalty
- Fixed a bug which prevented a player’s MMR from displaying correctly in the friends tab if a clan had a long name. Now clan names longer than nine characters will display as [clan name]...
- Replaced missing language translations for the current BRAWL
- Fixed a bug which made it possible to Blink through the Protonite Core
- Fixed a bug which caused the user-interface animation for base progress to get stuck if a player destroyed a large number of crystals on an enemy base
- Fixed a visual bug that caused the trail effect of weapons to be stopped by the low power shield on a base
- Fixed a bug which caused the 4th Birthday Holoflag name to display incorrectly in non-English languages
- Fixed a visual bug which caused a player’s league rank to show no increase if they jumped to the next rank when having less than five stars on their current rank badge
- Fixed an issue where the lobby connection symbol could be seen behind the 'connecting to server' symbol
- Fixed a bug which caused the wrong voiceovers to play when a team won/lost in Normal Mode
- Updated the Play vs AI Mode battle loading screen to display the correct game mode
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC) for server infrastructure improvements.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Da-da-daaa-daaa-da
It’s always fun coming up with new themes for the Artbot competitions and given there is a new Kong movie that’s currently smashing up the US box office, I thought it would make a great theme for a competition. Those of you old enough to remember Steven Spielberg's 1993 classic Jurassic Park, will no doubt have spotted our homage to the dino monster marvel in our 4th Birthday image last week. Not only was it a great image; it tied in nicely to this week’s Artbot contest on the theme of Movie Monsters.
The Brief:
So, for this Artbot competition we want to see your fearsome movie monsters in Robot form. Your submissions can be any monster that has been committed to film; either live action or animated. Please note that shorts or TV series aren’t allowed; full-length movies only. The movie monsters can be anything from Abominable Snowmen and T-Rex through to Sharks and Vampires - so get your creative hats on and get building. Remember, you’re building a robot that must fit into one of the following five categories: [olist]
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (which will be awarded if the winner has lifetime premium). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday 13th March 2017 - 23:59 (UTC) Sunday 19th March 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme (the brief) during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB12 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- The submission category MUST be included in the Robot description
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that prevented players from acknowledging warnings and suspensions if they were transitioning between game modes
- Increased the size of the ‘Contesting’ text in-game
- Fixed a bug which caused the clan sizes numbers to be displayed incorrectly in some instances
- Game hints in AI Mode are now displayed
- Fixed a bug which caused the Protonite Core explosion animation to end before the ‘beam’ disappeared
- Fixed a bug which prevented parties of two from being matched against single players
OTHER CHANGES:
- Remove level-lock on game modes - all players, regardless of level can now play all game modes
- Minimum MMR gained for a battle victory is now 1
- Reduced all Rail scope zoom by 25%
- The average MMR loss in Bronze and Silver Leagues will be 50 taking it inline with Gold League. While MMR gains in Bronze and Silver Leagues will still be higher than in Gold League
- The character limit for usernames on the login screen has been increased to 32
- Additional voiceovers added
KNOWN ISSUES:
- 4th Birthday Holoflag description has not currently been translated into non-English languages
Last week was a very important milestone in Robocraft’s development - we hit BETA. With this massive achievement came a complete re-work of Normal Mode along with new maps, balance changes and bug fixes. During the past week we’ve been collating your feedback; believe me, there was a lot of it so thank you for taking the time to tell us your thoughts. We’ll be digesting this over the next few days and will make any changes we feel are necessary to improve the overall gaming experience for you guys.
If you’ve been paying attention to the image above, you’ll have spotted that not only does it contain some top community-inspired artbots*, it also features a new Holoflag; but why the number 4? Well, those of you that have been with us for sometime will know that this week Robocraft turned 4 - On March 7th 2013 Robocraft was born.
Today we’re celebrating our fourth birthday with a gift for you all; an exclusive and strictly time-limited 4th Birthday Holoflag. Yes, we know our official birthday is March 7th, but what’s two days between friends?
The Holoflag is only available via the code below and cannot be forged or uploaded to the CRF. You can if you wish, recycle it, but once it has left your account, that’s it; there’s no getting it back. In addition to the rather lovely Holoflag, the code will give players one day of free Premium time.
The code can only be used once per player account and is valid until 23:59 UTC on Wednesday, March 15th.
If you’re into building artbots, then the main image will give you a hint as to next week’s competition.
In addition to the birthday Holoflag and premium time, we’re making some gameplay changes and going all T-rex on some bugs - the ones we’re taking out of action are listed below.
*Thanks to REDGO123 (T-rex) and Medus (JEEP) for the Robot designs that were used as inspiration for the Robots in the main image at the top.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply the 'Birthday Update' to the game.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Big Bangs and Birthday Cake
Robocraft has just turned four years old and we’re celebrating the occasion with a birthday party. Guess what? You’re all invited! Join us on Twitch from 16:00 (UTC) on Thursday, March 9th for some food, fun, frolics and freebies. We may even play some Robocraft (we will). We’ll be handing out some exclusive codes for free premium time and Salvage Crates bundles. So tune in or you’ll miss out! The mayhem starts at 16:00
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused a team not to receive the correct amount of crystals when stripping a base
- Fixed a bug which caused the game to end too early in some instances
- Fixed a bug which caused the UI to get stuck if your team lost all of their crystals in a Normal Mode match
- Fixed a bug which caused clan sizes to appear incorrect on some occasions
- Fixed a bug which caused the Reactor base color to be incorrect when the Victory/Defeat banner appeared at the end of a battle
- When spectating in Normal Mode the rectify VFX will now show correctly
- Fixed a bug which caused the Protonite Core VFX to display the wrong colors in some instances
- Fixed the equaliser energy beam color to correctly match the explosion color
- Fixed the alignment of the supernova explosion to the reactor
OTHER CHANGES:
- Increased the Protonite Core health by 25%
- Matchmaking improvements to reduce the MMR difference between two teams
- Increased the character input limit for usernames on the game login screen to 32
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 11:00 (UTC). The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications. The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix to the recent BETA Update.
Big savings on our most popular bundles and Premium plans
If you’ve been following our recent flurry of activity across social media or browsing the Robocraftgame.com website, you’ll know that we have officially left ALPHA and entered BETA. To celebrate the milestone in Robocraft’s development, we’ve knocked 20% off the price of our most popular crate packs, Premium plans and Steam bundles. From now until Thursday March 9th at 10:00 (UTC) you can save 20% on selected Premium packages and Salvage Crate bundles from the Robocraft in-game store! In addition to that, we’ve also discounted all of our Steam bundles by 20% too. That includes the tasty Premium for Life pack! What’s really great about the Steam bundles is that you can gift ‘em. That’s right! Know someone who has a birthday coming up that’s also a fan of Robocraft? Give them the perfect gift! What do these discounts look like? Please note that the prices below are shown in GBP/USD/Euro; please check your Xsolla or Steam Store for the correct pricing in your country.
Steam Bundles:
- Speed Bundle: WAS: £8.99 / $11.99 / €11.99 - NOW: £7.19 / $9.59 / €9.59
- High Flyers Bundle: WAS: £26.99 / $34.99 / €31.99 - NOW: £21.59 / $27.99 / €25.59
- Spooky Bundle: WAS: £14.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 - NOW: £11.99 / $15.99 / €15.99
- Premium For Life: WAS: £39.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 NOW: £31.99 / $39.99 / €35.99
Premium Membership:
- 7 Days of Premium: WAS: £5.39 / $5.99 / €5.99 - NOW: £4.32 / $4.80 / €4.80
- 30 Days of Premium: WAS: £9.99 / $10.99 / €9.99 - NOW: £8.00/ $8.80 / €8.00
- 90 Days of Premium: WAS: £25.99 / $28.99 / €26.99 - NOW: £20.80 / $23.20 / €21.60
- Premium for Life: WAS: £39.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 NOW: £32.00 / $40.00 / €36.00
Salvage Crate Bundles:
- 25 Protonium Crates: WAS: £7.99 / $9.99 / €9.99 - NOW: £6.40 / $8.00 / €8.00
- 65 Protonium Crates: WAS: £18.99 / $24.99 / €22.99 - NOW: £15.20 / $20.00 / €18.40
- 140 Protonium Crates + 2x Dev Supporter Holoflags: WAS: £37.99 / $49.99 / €46.99 - NOW: £30.40 / $40.00 / €37.60
- 300 Protonium Crates + 2x Dev Supporter Holoflags: WAS: £76.99 / $99.99 / €92.99 - NOW: £61.60 / $80.00 / €74.40
Robocraft – It’s Better in BETA
We did it! After three years in Alpha and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears, Robocraft has left Alpha and is now officially in BETA! Today’s BETA update is a massive beast, one of our biggest in fact, with lots of great stuff including a completely reworked Normal Mode, new map designs, matchmaking improvements, balance changes and bug fixes. With Robocraft in BETA it means we have laid down the foundations of Robocraft’s core game modes and features. For a more in-depth look at some of the changes, have a look at the following blog posts from earlier this week: Day 4 countdown – Normal Mode Is Changing Day 3 countdown – New Maps Day 2 countdown – The Protonite Core We want to thank each and everyone of you that has travelled with us on the road to BETA – it’s been one hell of a journey and a bumpy one at times! We look forward to adding lots more exciting content to Robocraft and as always, we welcome your feedback. So, what’s in the update? Check out the patch notes here.
NEW:
- Normal Mode now 5v5
- Towers removed from Normal Mode and replaced with Mining Points
- The team objective in Normal Mode’ changed to ‘The Annihilator’
- Changes to the Protonium Reactors in Normal Mode - crystals now form on the tower as they are mined from Mining Points (essentially capture points).
- Introduction of Protonite Core game mechanic to Normal Mode
- Game maps re-worked:
- Earth - Birmingham Power station - totally new map for Normal Mode
- Earth - Vanguard’s End - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Spitzer Dam - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Ophiuchus Valley - totally reworked map
- Mars - Tihonium Canyon - major changes
- Mars - Tharsis Rift - totally reworked map
- New Adaptive Music System. Now the music which plays during matches will evolve based on events taking place, for instance when the Protonite Core appears the pace of the music is increased.
- New sound effects and voice overs
- All maps, including Test Mode have new skyboxes
- The Battle Loading screen now shows hints on how to play the chosen game mode effectively
OTHER CHANGES:
- No more Overclocker. All weapons, movement types, etc. have been balanced to Overclocker level 5 (in line with Basic Mode)
- ‘Respawn Escalator’ removed - respawn times are always 15 seconds long in Normal Mode
- Players will auto-respawn in Normal Mode
- ‘Protonivity Escalator’ removed
- At the start of a battle both team’s Fusion Shields are active
- A team’s Fusion Shield will deactivate when the opposing team owns all three Mining Points
- Fusion Shield healing is still active for allies when their base shield is down
- Players can’t move through an enemy shield to enter the base when it is active
- Players can’t shoot through an enemy shield when it is active
- If a player is in an enemy base and the enemy's shield becomes active, the player will take damage and lose the ability to fire their weapons but they can still use modules and move out of the base (through the shield)
- Matchmaking improvements to reduce the MMR difference between two teams
- Updated end of battle scoreboard now includes an ‘objective score’ which is gained by capturing points, destroying the Protonite Core and reactor crystals
- In Normal Mode, members of the same clan can now play on opposing teams in the same battle
- Increased the speed at which players level up
- Epic Carbon 6 Plasma forge costs increased
- Removed Ophiuchus Valley, Spitzer Dam and Tihonium Canyon maps from current BRAWL
- Reduced AFK (away from keyboard) detection time to 3 minutes.
- Added the word ‘cancer’ to the profanity filter
- Improved translations based on community feedback from German and French audiences. We have more improvements planned for these languages and others in future updates.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Sprinter Legs have had their Carry Mass and Health reduced
- All Mech Legs have had their speed increased by 10 MPH
- All Hovers have had their weight and carrying capacity balanced
- All Tesla damage and energy per shot reduced
- Nano RMB functionality removed - Nano now requires manual aiming. Clicking the right-mouse button when using a Nano will now zoom in, the same as other weapons
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that caused the weapon loadout icons to flash red for a few seconds upon entering a game
- Fixed a bug that caused a cube to be placed in the wrong position when attempting to place a large cube on the bottom of a robot in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused the yellow leader visual effect to play for everyone who spawned in even if they are not the leader in Pit mode BRAWL (does not apply to the current BRAWL)
- Fixed a bug that produced an error message when placing cubes too fast in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused a server error when accepting an invite to a clan which makes you the 50th member
- Fixed an issue that made it possible for players to receive the exact same crate twice through a bad internet connection
- The 'load more' button in the clan search tab is now easier to click
- Fixed the splash loading screen text appearing incorrectly when playing at a high resolution
- Cleaned up a very messy looking hill on the Vanguard’s End map
- Sharpened the adverts in the lobby screen when playing at low quality
- Re-aligned the text on the XSOLLA in-game shop page when choosing your payment type
- Translated the ‘Disconnected Cubes’ dialog box into multiple languages
- Fixed a bug that allowed a player to remove the GUI (Game User Interface) from the crate opening screen which then prevented the player from collecting their final crate
- Translated the "User Does Not Exist" text for friend invites and whispers into multiple languages
- Translated "Clan Details" into multiple languages
- Translated "You have to Upload an Avatar to Create a Clan" into multiple languages
- Translated "Invite Already Sent" when adding a friend into multiple languages
- Translated the dialog box that appears when a player attempts to use a promo code that was previously used on their account into multiple languages
- Fixed a visual bug that occurred around the edges of test mode on higher quality settings
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the huge BETA Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft?
Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
Countdown to BETA - 1 Day To Go!
The finish line is in sight; we’re almost there! Tomorrow, March 2nd, we’re finally leaving Alpha and entering the next phase in Robocraft’s development - BETA. With Robocraft entering BETA it means we lay down the final foundations of Robocraft’s core game modes and features. Tomorrow is Robocraft Day! Tomorrow’s BETA update is a massive beast, one of our biggest in fact, with lots of great stuff including a completely reworked Normal Mode, new map designs, matchmaking improvements, balance changes and bug fixes. For a more in-depth look at some of the changes have a look at the following blog posts from earlier this week:
- Day 4 countdown - Normal Mode Is Changing
- Day 3 countdown - New Maps
- Day 2 countdown - The Protonite Core
NEW:
- Normal Mode now 5v5
- Towers removed from Normal Mode and replaced with Mining Points
- The team objective in Normal Mode’ changed to ‘The Annihilator’
- Changes to the Protonium Reactors in Normal Mode - crystals now form on the tower as they are mined from Mining Points (essentially capture points).
- Introduction of Protonite Core game mechanic to Normal Mode
- Game maps re-worked:
- Earth - Birmingham Power station - totally new map for Normal Mode
- Earth - Vanguard’s End - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Spitzer Dam - minor changes
- GJ 1214b - Ophiuchus Valley - totally reworked map
- Mars - Tihonium Canyon - major changes
- Mars - Tharsis Rift - totally reworked map
- New Adaptive Music System. Now the music which plays during matches will evolve based on events taking place, for instance when the Protonite Core appears the pace of the music is increased.
- New sound effects and voice overs
- All maps, including Test Mode have new skyboxes
- The Battle Loading screen now shows hints on how to play the chosen game mode effectively
OTHER CHANGES:
- No more Overclocker. All weapons, movement types, etc. have been balanced to Overclocker level 5 (in line with Basic Mode)
- ‘Respawn Escalator’ removed - respawn times are always 15 seconds long in Normal Mode
- Players will auto-respawn in Normal Mode
- ‘Protonivity Escalator’ removed
- At the start of a battle both team’s Fusion Shields are active
- A team’s Fusion Shield will deactivate when the opposing team owns all three Mining Points
- Fusion Shield healing is still active for allies when their base shield is down
- Players can’t move through an enemy shield to enter the base when it is active
- Players can’t shoot through an enemy shield when it is active
- If a player is in an enemy base and the enemy's shield becomes active, the player will take damage and lose the ability to fire their weapons but they can still use modules and move out of the base (through the shield)
- Matchmaking improvements to reduce the MMR difference between two teams
- Updated end of battle scoreboard now includes an ‘objective score’ which is gained by capturing points, destroying the Protonite Core and reactor crystals
- In Normal Mode, members of the same clan can now play on opposing teams in the same battle
- Increased the speed at which players level up
- Epic Carbon 6 Plasma forge costs increased
- Removed Ophiuchus Valley, Spitzer Dam and Tihonium Canyon maps from current BRAWL
- Reduced AFK (away from keyboard) detection time to 3 minutes.
- Added the word ‘cancer’ to the profanity filter
- Improved translations based on community feedback from German and French audiences. We have more improvements planned for these languages and others in future updates.
BALANCE CHANGES:
- All Sprinter Legs have had their Carry Mass and Health reduced
- All Mech Legs have had their speed increased by 10 MPH
- All Hovers have had their weight and carrying capacity balanced
- All Tesla damage and energy per shot reduced
- Nano RMB functionality removed - Nano now requires manual aiming. Clicking the right-mouse button when using a Nano will now zoom in, the same as other weapons
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that caused the weapon loadout icons to flash red for a few seconds upon entering a game
- Fixed a bug that caused a cube to be placed in the wrong position when attempting to place a large cube on the bottom of a robot in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused the yellow leader visual effect to play for everyone who spawned in even if they are not the leader in Pit mode BRAWL (does not apply to the current BRAWL)
- Fixed a bug that produced an error message when placing cubes too fast in mirror mode
- Fixed a bug that caused a server error when accepting an invite to a clan which makes you the 50th member
- Fixed an issue that made it possible for players to receive the exact same crate twice through a bad internet connection
- The 'load more' button in the clan search tab is now easier to click
- Fixed the splash loading screen text appearing incorrectly when playing at a high resolution
- Cleaned up a very messy looking hill on the Vanguard’s End map
- Sharpened the adverts in the lobby screen when playing at low quality
- Re-aligned the text on the XSOLLA in-game shop page when choosing your payment type
- Translated the ‘Disconnected Cubes’ dialog box into multiple languages
- Fixed a bug that allowed a player to remove the GUI (Game User Interface) from the crate opening screen which then prevented the player from collecting their final crate
- Translated the "User Does Not Exist" text for friend invites and whispers into multiple languages
- Translated "Clan Details" into multiple languages
- Translated "You have to Upload an Avatar to Create a Clan" into multiple languages
- Translated "Invite Already Sent" when adding a friend into multiple languages
- Translated the dialog box that appears when a player attempts to use a promo code that was previously used on their account into multiple languages
- Fixed a visual bug that occurred around the edges of test mode on higher quality settings
As one month ends, another begins and with it comes a new Clan Season in Robocraft. If you’re a new Robocraft player or not currently in a clan, you’re missing out on free Robits!
That’s right, any player in a clan can get free Robits at the end of each Clan Season. A season lasts a calendar month and the amount of Robits a player can receive depends on every clan member’s performance in battle during the course of the season. The more XP a clan accumulates during the season, the more Robits all the clan members receive at the end of each season.
For more information on Clan Season, read our Deep Dive.
With the start of a new Clan Season, we must celebrate the clans that performed the best last Season. The following, in descending order, are the top ten clans that out-battled every other clan in February.
10: Robocraft_Spain – XP total: 57,401,440 9: Mockingbird – XP total: 57,910,006 8: -RJPW- – XP total: 58,362,324 7: AtIasCore – XP total: 59,195,777 6: THERENKNIGHTS – XP total: 63,536,242 5: WhatTheFrench – XP total: 64,633,970 4: Vikings – XP total: 75,124,307 3: Blissful – XP total: 82,184,882 2: RussianUSSR – XP total: 83,578,204 1: HYBRIDS – XP total: 96,128,619
A big congratulations to HYBRIDS for storming into the top ten and stopping at the top spot – well played guys! Will they still be there at the end of the season, only time will tell – so get fighting and get earning that XP.
Earlier in the week, we teased you with the below image. Today we’re going to reveal what the mystical crystal in the middle of Birmingham Power Station is all about.
The ‘Protonite Core’ is a new game mechanic designed to shake things up and shift the focus of the battle at key points in the middle of a Normal Mode match. It is also designed to give the team that is behind a chance to ‘catch up’ and get back into the battle ensuring that there is always a reason to fight to the end.
Internally the ‘Protonite Core’ is affectionately known as ‘The Equaliser’ and when you understand the game mechanics you’ll understand why.
THE LORE:
“E14 and CF are mining two different isotopes (blue and red) of raw Protonium from the ground which is gathered via Mining Stations (Capture Points) and refined at a Protonium Reactor (Base). When enough Protonium has been refined the energy can be sent to the orbital mothership and the Annihilator weapon can be fired (thus obliterating the enemy faction and gaining victory). When one isotope has been mined significantly more than the other (i.e. when the red team is winning) an imbalance is caused in the mantle of the planet surface and a Protonite eruption can occur.”
HOW IT WORKS:
At 5 and 10 minutes into a battle, a large ‘Protonite eruption’ will occur at a strategic, central position on the map. This eruption will cause a large crystal, the Protonite Core, to appear; the colour of which is the same as the team currently in the lead. The amount of energy stored in the Protonite Core is equal to the difference between the winning and the losing Protonium stored by each team’s Reactor, thus releasing this Protonium will ‘equalise’ the Protonium harvested by the two teams at that point in the match. In order for the losing team to harvest the Protonium stored in the Protonite Core, they must destroy it within 90 seconds of it appearing. As with all Protonium crystals, you can only destroy those owned by the opposing team color, thus only the team that is behind has the chance to ‘destroy the core’. If the Protonite Core is destroyed, its Protonium is released and the losing team ‘equalizes’, gaining equal Protonium on its reactor to the enemy team and ‘balance is restored’. If the Protonite Core is not destroyed within the time limit, it retracts back into the mantle. This means that the Protonium is lost, and the core has been successfully ‘defended’.
[artist’s impression of an actual battle] It is therefore imperative that the team which is ahead must ‘defend the core’ in order to maintain an advantage. This is certainly possible with reasonable coordination and by paying attention to the eruptions, but it also provides a distraction which can be used as a diversion for the losing team to capture a point. There are various interesting strategies which can be deployed by both teams during an eruption. So that’s the Protonite Core! For tomorrow’s countdown post, we’ll release the full patch notes curated by our Community Manager LeftofNever before the BETA update is released this Thursday. I cannot wait to see what you all make of it! Catch you on the battlefield! Mark, Freejam CEO and Robocraft Game Director
COUNTDOWN TO BETA – 3 DAYS TO GO
PIZZA:
Let’s talk about pizza! This is undoubtedly one of my fav topics… Recently I have begun creating my own pizzas at home and miraculously I have discovered making pizza is a lot like level design; good quality ingredients are obviously key to the success of the perfect pizza, but how you knead the dough, the amount of each ingredient and the distribution of these ingredients is important to the clarity of the taste. Slinging in many towers, tons of players, loads of objectives and complicated landscapes might sound indulgent, but that pizza is going to taste like my Gran’s trampled broccoli fritters.
LEVEL DESIGN INGREDIENTS:
So cast your minds back to my last DevJam where I described the process we used to create the NEW Vanguard map: We used a symmetrical design format based on a triangular formation of fastest routes to the key objectives; then we overlaid a simple wider structure of secondary routes to allow for more sneaky maneuvers. I think I speak for everyone and their Gran when I say this was a total unmitigated success and a proper tasty pizza
NORMAL MODE IS ROBOCRAFT AND IT IS ALL CHANGING!
Normal Mode (formerly known as Battle Arena) has always been the game mode that Freejam regards as representative of ‘proper full rules Robocraft’. For weeks we have been working on polishing it, upgrading it and overhauling it; the result is just 4 days away now and we could not be more excited about its release. It’s a massive change, and whilst many elements will still feel familiar to you, the whole experience should feel tighter, cleaner, more strategic, more team-driven, more exciting, more competitive, and more fun.
BIG CHANGE #1: 5 vs. 5
The team sizes in Normal Mode will become 5 vs. 5 along with a whole suite of changes to maps and game mechanics to ensure that this improves the overall gameplay and makes it more engaging than the current 8 vs 8. Changing to 5 vs 5 facilitates a number of great things to happen:
- It allows us to match-make games better with players and teams having closer MMR scores for tighter more fair games
- It allows us to reduce the queue times for Normal Mode battles
- It allows for players to create full Normal Mode teams of 5 for the first time
- Allows for the ultimate full team strategic plays and team comp combos
- Clan vs. Clan can be 5 vs. 5, full teams, no randoms, no other Parties in battle, just Clan vs Clan for the ultimate test of who is best
- One of the final foundations for Clan Leagues which will mark our exit out of Early Access later this year
BIG CHANGE #2: ALL MAPS COMPLETELY REWORKED
We didn’t just scale the maps; we decided to go all out and overhaul them completely to work perfectly with 5 vs 5 and improve them tenfold using all the stuff we’ve learned since we launched Robocraft. I won’t go into details as our art director Ric’s post tomorrow will give you all the details you need with pictures and everything so make sure you read it.
BIG CHANGE #3: TOWERS BECOME CAPTURE POINTS
The Crystal Towers are changing to Capture Points. This change is fundamental and after prototyping it and playing it as a company for many hours we felt passionately that it was so much more fun and competitive that we wanted to make the change. A few key features of the new Capture Points:
- They are on the ground, circular in shape, with a radius similar to the cap points in Elimination
- They have hemispherical capture areas, so can be capped from the air a small height above the point, this shape is indicated by glowing curved rays that emanate from the base
- They are colored to show which team currently owns the point and are purple at the beginning of the game
- Sitting on a Capture Point owned by the enemy team begins the capture, which takes a total of 20 seconds if you are soloing the point. Having more allies on the Capture Point together speeds up the Capture progress
- If an enemy is on the Capture Point when you are trying to capture it the Point is ‘Contested’ and the capturing is paused
- The Capture Points have three ‘segments’. If you capture one segment and are then killed, you do not lose that segment (as with the 4 segments in Elimination)
- Unlike in Elimination, taking damage on the Capture Point does not pause the capture
- Each Capture Point has its own HUD hovering above the point that can be seen no matter where you are in the environment (i.e. through walls) so you can always see the state and location of each Capture Point
- Additionally a larger progress bar HUD appears when you are capturing or defending a Capture Point so that you get greater feedback for the status of the point
- The new Capture Points are named ‘Near’, ‘Far’ and ‘Middle’ based on their position relative to your base. This will also make more sense when you see the map redesigns in Ric’s post tomorrow. We’ve also added new voice over dialogue reflect these new references
- The Capture Points represent mining stations in the lore that are gathering Protonium for the main reactors at each base
Click on the image to take a closer look...
BIG CHANGE #4: THE ANNIHILATOR
The aim of the game has changed. Your aim as a team is to gather enough energy to power a massive weapon on your orbiting Mothership (think The Vanguard) known as The Annihilator. The charge for this weapon is reflected in the new HUD (show below) and also reflected in new Voice Over. When one team's Annihilator is fully charged the end of the battle is triggered and the enemy base is obliterated in an almighty final cutscene and one team is award Victory, the other Defeat.
Click the image to take a closer look... Since capturing and owning the Capture Points charges the Annihilator then the end of the game will always come within 15 minutes. This new mechanic ensures a better overall control of the battle length which prevents ‘XP farming of enemies teams’ or ‘forced surrender’ and other exploits like this from being possible.
BIG CHANGE #5: THE PROTONIUM REACTOR
The Protonium Reactor remains as before, except it starts off with zero Crystals on it. As the battle progresses, Protonium Crystals form on the Reactor central pillar showing the amount of ‘refined Protonium’ you have gathered by owning the Capture Points during the battle. The Fusion Shield has changed too. Enemies can no longer fire when inside an active Fusion Shield and they will take damage over time (equal to the heal effects of allies) while inside. Capturing all three Capture Points will still bring down the enemy Fusion Shield and this presents a chance to ‘Steal’. ‘Stealing’ Protonium is when you access the enemy Reactor and destroy the crystals on the central pillar which then removes them from the enemy’s Reactor and adds them to your own. This can quickly tip the balance by removing charge from your opponent’s Annihilator and charging up your own can bring about the end of the game.
BIG CHANGE #6: NEW MECHANIC - THE PROTONITE CORE
This is a completely new feature existing in every Normal Mode map. This is a huge new Normal Mode game mechanic and has been designed to provide losing teams a means of getting back into the battle. It is affectionately known in Freejam as ‘The Equaliser’ and I’ll explain it in detail when we get to 2 Days To Go portion of the Countdown to Beta (Tuesday).
BIG CHANGE #7: MORE IMPROVEMENTS
- No more Overclocker. All Weapons, movement types, etc. have been balanced to Overclocker level 5 as with Basic Mode
- No more ‘Respawn Escalator’. Your respawn times are always 15 seconds long and you auto-respawn so no need to click to spawn
- No more ‘Protonivity Escalator’. With the new Capture Points we were able to set Protonivity at a perfect balance level for the new ‘Stealing’ gameplay
- Fusion Shield healing is still active for allies even when their base shield is down, this is shown by a ‘low level’ shield effect visible even when it’s down
- Many improvements to feedback offered to the player about the state of the Capture Points, Protonium Reactors, and end game, with new music, sound effects, new HUD elements and animations. All of these new sound and visual elements are designed to make it clearer what is going on in battle so you can react more quickly and play more strategically
Big changes are coming… Exciting things are ahead… Get ready for a new dawn in Robocraft...
On 2nd March, Robocraft will officially leave ALPHA and enter the next phase in its development - BETA.
To launch us into this new and exciting phase in Robocraft’s evolution we will be making some significant changes to Normal Mode (formerly known as Battle Arena) - the core game mode in Robocraft. What are those changes you ask? Well, every day, right up until we enter BETA on Thursday, we’ll be giving you all the info on what’s changing, and what’s being added. Believe me when I say this is real game changing stuff!
If you want to be ‘in the know’ on what these changes are, make sure you come back daily as we’ve some really cool things to show you. Here's a little sneak peak:
Click on the image above for a closer look.
We'll have more content for you tomorrow in a truly EPIC post from Game Director, Mark. Until next time...
Big changes are coming… Exciting things are ahead… Get ready for a new dawn in Robocraft...
On 2nd March, Robocraft will officially leave ALPHA and enter the next phase in its development - BETA.
To launch us into this new and exciting phase in Robocraft’s evolution we will be making some significant changes to Normal Mode (formerly known as Battle Arena) - the core game mode in Robocraft. What are those changes you ask? Well, every day, right up until we enter BETA on Thursday, we’ll be giving you all the info on what’s changing, and what’s being added. Believe me when I say this is real game changing stuff!
If you want to be ‘in the know’ on what these changes are, make sure you come back daily as we’ve some really cool things to show you. Here's a little sneak peak:
Click on the image above for a closer look.
We'll have more content for you tomorrow in a truly EPIC post from Game Director, Mark. Until next time...
NEW:
- Community BRAWL III - Micro Bots by Luam_the_elf.
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination - Map: All Elimination maps in rotation - Number of Players: 10 v 10 - Permitted Weapons: Laser Wasp, Plasma Pulser, Rail Piercer, Nano Binder and Tesla Slicer - Special Rules: All robots must be 500 CPU or below - Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to avoid losing MMR by pressing Alt-F4 before the end of the battle. Players not finishing the battle will always be treated as if they had lost and will thus lose MMR. Those that are far away from our servers or who have poor connectivity to our servers don’t worry, we’re actively working on Reconnect now - Players disconnecting during the loading phase of a battle will lose MMR as if they had played the battle and had lost, thus losing MMR - Fixed a bug which caused the mouse to unlock from the client which resulted in the player ‘tabbing out’ of the game - Fixed a bug which caused the respawn counter to appear if you died during the end-game ‘supernova’ - Fixed a bug in edit mode that caused the loadout UI to appear while pressing "z" in chat - Fixed a bug which caused all the names of members within a Clan to highlight blue - Fixed a bug which caused a player to see "Error: Unexpected Error" if they tried to create a Clan with a "." at the start or end of its name - Fixed a bug that prevented a player’s score from doubling in Basic Mode if they caused damage to another player after the battle had been won by their team - Fixed an intermittent bug that displayed the scrollbars in the forge, recycler and inventory in the wrong place
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to update the game with the Micro Bots Community BRAWL.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Bee aware, big things come in small packages
Tomorrow, February 23rd, we’re shrinking things down for ‘Micro Bots’, our third community-created BRAWL. The Elimination mode BRAWL comes from the mind of community member Luam_the_elf and is a 500 CPU or below BRAWL with only small weapons permitted - you’ll find no Chain Shredders or Proto-Seekers here! Alongside the new BRAWL, we’re squashing a few bugs too; all of which are listed below.
NEW:
- Community BRAWL III - Micro Bots by Luam_the_elf
BRAWL RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Map: All Elimination maps in rotation
- Number of Players: 10 v 10
- Permitted Weapons: Laser Wasp, Plasma Pulser, Rail Piercer, Nano Binder and Tesla Slicer
- Special Rules: All robots must be 500 CPU or below
- Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to avoid losing MMR by pressing Alt-F4 before the end of the battle. Players not finishing the battle will always be treated as if they had lost and will thus lose MMR. Those that are far away from our servers or who have poor connectivity to our servers don’t worry, we’re actively working on Reconnect now
- Players disconnecting during the loading phase of a battle will lose MMR as if they had played the battle and had lost, thus losing MMR
- Fixed a bug which caused the mouse to unlock from the client which resulted in the player ‘tabbing out’ of the game
- Fixed a bug which caused the respawn counter to appear if you died during the end-game ‘supernova’
- Fixed a bug in edit mode that caused the loadout UI to appear while pressing "z" in chat
- Fixed a bug which caused all the names of members within a Clan to highlight blue
- Fixed a bug which caused a player to see "Error: Unexpected Error" if they tried to create a Clan with a "." at the start or end of its name
- Fixed a bug that prevented a player’s score from doubling in Basic Mode if they caused damage to another player after the battle had been won by their team
- Fixed an intermittent bug that displayed the scrollbars in the forge, recycler and inventory in the wrong place
Here's a 'little' tease for this week's BRAWL.
#NOTTHEBEES
Na-na na-na na-na na-na Artbot!
For our most recent Artbot competition, we sent out the proverbial ‘Bat Signal’ to call upon you, our incredibly creative Robocrafters, to design some Superhero (and Supervillain) Robocraft Artbots. We were inundated with all (Wayne) manner (see what I did there) of Robots from the pages of DC and Marvel comics alongside other heroes and villains from popular culture as well as some very creative ones dug up from the depths of your imaginations. To make things easier for you, we split the competition into five categories:
- Comic book superheroes or their vehicles
- Comic book supervillains or their vehicles
- Superheroes or their vehicles based on your original idea
- Supervillains or their vehicles based on your original idea
- All 2D artbots
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused players to get stuck connecting to the server if they were kicked from a clan and then searched for another one - Fixed a bug which prevented the ‘LOAD MORE Clans’ feature from working after the 11th click - Fixed a bug which caused players to get kicked from a game due to an ‘inactivity’ error - The border around MMR on the play menu has been fixed - Corrected the roll-over description for Normal Mode
KNOWN ISSUES:
- We are still seeing issues with the Robocraft Launcher which prevents players from updating their game automatically. We are currently working on a fix for this; however, simply repairing the files by clicking on the dialogue box (see image below) will allow you to update the game and proceed as normal.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 11:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix to the recent Matchmaking Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Today, Robocraft took one step closer to leaving Alpha and entering BETA. With our latest Matchmaking Update, Robocraft now has a completely reworked matchmaking engine based on the well-known ELO system for ensuring that players are matched fairly in battle based on their skill.
Introduction of ELO:
With this update this we launched a new matchmaking system using the standard ELO system. In Robocraft, your ELO rating will be referred to as your MMR (MatchMaking Rating). Your MMR rating will change based on your performance in battle and is used to matchmake players more fairly. So, new players learning the game will be playing against others of similar skill, and experienced players who are pros at Robocraft will be playing with similarly high skilled players. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone will be enjoying the game more overall.
All players will have two account-level MMR values:
– All Mode MMR
– Normal MMR
The ‘Normal MMR’ will update when you play the main Robocraft game mode; ‘Normal Mode’ (formally Battle Arena) and will be visible to you, your friends and your fellow clan mates. While the ‘All-Mode MMR’ will update when you play any multiplayer mode and is not visible to players. Both MMRs have been designed to ensure that players are matchmade fairly to make an enjoyable game for everyone.
For more more information on the implementation of new ELO/MMR system, read our recent Dev Jam.
Player Base ELO / MMR score:
When players first launch Robocraft after the ELO update, their Normal MMR value will be based on their League rank (prior to the update) divided by 3. We chose to divide the League rank number as we felt that keeping max ranked League players at the top, would mean their MMR would only go down (or remain the same). Having an initial lower number allows high-ranked players to work towards achieving the highest ‘Normal MMR’ possible. This was also done to ensure reasonably good matchmaking from the start of ELO.
Players who had previously been the top of League will still have the best ‘Normal MMR’ at the start of the new update. It’s also worth mentioning that any forged League badges will remain on your account, you won’t lose them.
Those players who have not participated in League previously will have a ‘Normal MMR’ of zero.
In this update, the ‘All-Mode MMR’ for all players starts at zero.
Please note: that in the early days post-release the ELO system is still gathering data based on player performance and so matchmaking may not be perfect; especially for those players with an MMR of zero. However as you play more games, more data will be obtained and matchmaking will improve.
Player Ranking:
With the new update, we are retaining the old League Badges and players will be ranked according to their ‘Normal MMR’ scores. The table below shows the MMR required to achieve each rank.
K-Factor:
The amount of MMR a player receives and loses is different in different Leagues. In Bronze the amount is maximal to ensure those who are too strong for Bronze to leave it fast. In Diamond and Protonium it’s minimal to ensure that one unlucky game won’t affect MMR too much. Speaking in ELO terms, we have different K-factor in different Leagues.
For more information on K-factors, click here.
OTHER CHANGES:
New Game Mode Select Screen: With this update we’re making a few subtle changes to the Game Mode Select Screen (see image below). Alongside the introduction of ELO, we will be renaming the following game modes.
- Deathmatch will become Basic Mode - this is classic 5v5 Team Deathmatch
- Battle Arena will become Normal Mode - this is the competitive conquest mode combining the League and Battle Arena modes
- AI Bots will become Play Vs AI - Test your mettle alongside AI-controlled robots in a game of Team Deathmatch
- BRAWL (no name change) - A regularly updated game mode with fun changes to rules and permitted block types
Changes to keyboard shortcuts: With the changes to the game mode select screen and the mode names, we’ll be updating the associated keyboard shortcuts too. These keyboard shortcuts are usable on the Garage and Game Mode select screens. For new players, playing Robocraft for the first time, the default menu keyboard shortcuts will be:
- Edit – E
- Test – T
- Basic – B
- Normal - N
- Brawl – L
- Edit – E
- Test – T
- Basic - J
- Normal - L
- Brawl - H
- Visual optimization changes to Test Mode
BUG FIXES:
- Players leaving a battle early will no longer receive XP
KNOWN ISSUES:
- We are currently investigating an issue with the Robocraft Launcher which prevents players from updating the game. If you install a fresh version of the launcher (available to download here: http://robocraftgame.com/download.php) into a new folder, you will be able to play Robocraft as normal. Please note that this does not affect those who are launching Robocraft through the Steam Client. If you don’t want to re-install the launcher for whatever reason, please be patient and we’ll deploy a fix later today.
- The tooltip (rollover) for Normal Mode incorrectly states it is a 5v5 game mode; this is incorrect and will be corrected with a hotfix.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Matchmaking Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, February 16th 2017, Robocraft we will be taking one step closer to leaving Alpha and entering BETA. The Matchmaking Update will bring with it a completely reworked matchmaking engine based on the well-known ELO system for ensuring that players are matched fairly in battle based on their skill.
Alongside the addition of the ELO system, we’ll be making some other improvements to the game and fixing a few bugs too – all of which can be found below.
NEW:
Introduction of ELO system for matchmaking: With this update this we will launch a new matchmaking system using the standard ELO system. In Robocraft, your ELO rating will be referred to as your MMR (MatchMaking Rating). Your MMR rating will change based on your performance in battle and is used to matchmake players more fairly. So, new players learning the game will be playing against others of similar skill, and experienced players who are pros at Robocraft will be playing with similarly high skilled players. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone will be enjoying the game more overall. All players will have two account-level MMR values: – All-Mode MMR – Normal MMR The ‘Normal MMR’ will update when you play the main Robocraft game mode ‘Normal Mode’ (formally Battle Arena) and will be visible to you, your friends and fellow clan mates. While the ‘All-Mode MMR’ will update when you play any multiplayer mode and is not visible to players. Both MMRs have been designed to ensure that players are matchmade fairly to make an enjoyable game for everyone. For more more information on the implementation of new ELO/MMR system, read our recent Dev Jam. Player Base ELO / MMR score: For this update, when players first launch Robocraft after the ELO update, their Normal MMR value will be based on their League rank (prior to the update) divided by 3. We chose to divide the League rank number as we felt that keeping max ranked League players at the top, would only mean their MMR would only go down (or remain the same). Having an initial lower number allows high-ranked players to work towards achieving the highest ‘Normal MMR’ possible. This was also done to ensure reasonably good matchmaking from the start of ELO. Players who had previously been the top of League will still have the best ‘Normal MMR’ at the start of the new update. It’s also worth mentioning that any forged League badges will remain on your account; you won’t lose them. Those players who have not participated in League previously will have a ‘Normal MMR’ of zero. In this update, the ‘All-Mode MMR’ for all players will start at zero. Please note that in the early days post-release, the ELO system is still gathering data based on player performance and so matchmaking may not be perfect (especially for those players with an MMR of zero). However as you play more games, more data will be obtained and matchmaking will improve.
OTHER CHANGES:
- New Game Mode Select Screen: With this update we’re making a few subtle changes to the Game Mode Select Screen (see image below). Alongside the introduction of ELO, we will be renaming the following game modes. – Deathmatch will become Basic Mode – this is classic 5v5 Team Deathmatch – Battle Arena will become Normal Mode – this is the new competitive conquest mode combining the League and Battle Arena modes – AI Bots will become Play Vs AI – Test your mettle alongside AI-controlled robots in a game of Team Deathmatch – BRAWL (no name change) – A regularly updated game mode with fun changes to rules and permitted block types
- Changes to keyboard shortcuts: With the changes to the game mode select screen and the mode names, we’ll be updating the associated keyboard shortcuts too. For new players, playing Robocraft for the first time, the default menu keyboard shortcuts will be: – Edit – E – Test – T – Basic – B – Normal – N – Brawl – L For existing players, the keyboard shortcuts will remain: – Edit – E – Test – T – Basic – J – Normal – L – Brawl – H If a player goes to the controls settings from the pause menu and clicks “Reset Defaults” they will have the new hot keys. - Visual optimization changes to Test Mode
BUG FIXES:
– Players leaving a battle early will no longer receive XP – Fixed a bug which allowed a player to queue up for two different game modes when using certain keyboard shortcuts
Na-na na-na na-na na-na Artbot!
It’s no great surprise that we’re fans of a very popular Danish brick building product here at Freejam. It’s also no surprise that we’re fans of superheroes too. And so when two of our favourite things recently collided on the big-screen, we thought it was only right that we celebrated this with an artbot contest. Before we kick off the competition, we must give a big shout-out to both Rabbid_Fox and Foxer360 for their butt-kicking robots that we used in the header image. So, let’s not dilly-dally anymore; let’s get straight down to business - here’s this week’s competition brief: The Brief: For this Artbot competition, the brief is very straightforward; we want to see your Robots based on fictional superheroes; it doesn’t matter if they’re from the DC or Marvel universes, Japanese Manga, a well-thumbed copy of 2000AD or your own imagination we want to see them! Not a fan of Superheroes; then upload a Supervillain instead. Remember, you’re building a robot that must fit into one of the following five categories:
- Comic book superheroes or their vehicles
- Comic book supervillains or their vehicles
- Superheroes or their vehicles based on your original idea
- Supervillains or their vehicles based on your original idea
- All 2D artbots
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday 13th February 2017 - 23:59 (UTC) Sunday 19th February 2017
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme (the brief) during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB11 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- The submission category MUST be included in the Robot description
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
TDM IS STAYING
In the last Dev Jam we talked about our ideas to have 5 final core game modes for Robocraft by having unranked Battle Arena, Ranked Battle Arena, Custom Games, BRAWL and AI Bots mode. This left out Team Deathmatch (TDM); which led to lots of you reaching out to us asking that we kept it in-game. After much deliberation, taking a detailed look at our internal metrics for just how popular TDM is (yes it’s very popular!) and plenty of feedback from the Robocraft community we have decided to keep Team Deathmatch as a permanent game mode option going forward. Team Deathmatch is staying for good, and we’ll be adding more maps to it very soon as well. The final game mode roster will be as follows: – PLAY VS. AI – BASIC MODE (meaning TDM) – NORMAL MODE (meaning BA) – BRAWL – CUSTOM PLAY Why rename TDM and BA to ‘BASIC’ and ‘NORMAL’ you ask? The reason is that we are focusing on finally coming out of ALPHA and entering BETA in a few weeks time with the release of a totally reworked and upgraded main Battle Arena game mode. The new BA has been designed to deliver the de facto full deep Robocraft game experience with the other game modes offering fun variety around that ‘Normal’ core; with Team Deathmatch offering a more basic rule set focused around just kills it seemed apt that we call TDM ‘Basic Mode’ with new BA being called ‘Normal Mode’ with BRAWL, Play Vs. AI and Custom Games being self-explanatory.
All these changes, apart from adding Custom Play will be made in the ELO update coming later this week if internal testing continues to go well. We know lots of you want Custom Play and it is in active development; we just don’t know when it’ll be ready for release yet.
ELO = MMR
This we will launch the new matchmaking system. The matchmaking will use a standard ELO system with your ELO rating being refered as your MMR within the game (standing for ‘Match-making rating). All players will have two account-level MMR values: – All Mode MMR – Normal MMR The ‘All Mode MMR’ will update whenever you play any multiplayer game modes including Basic, Normal, BRAWL, etc. and will be used to matchmake players by skill. From this week’s launch onwards, new players learning the game will be playing against others of similar skill, and likewise those experienced players who are pros at Robocraft will be playing with similarly high skilled players. Hopefully this will ensure that everyone will be enjoying the game more overall. The ‘Normal MMR’ will only update when you play the main Robocraft game mode ‘Normal Mode’ (aka BA, soon to be BA2.0). This means that Battle Arena and League are being merged with this launch as their matchmaking is upgraded. By merging the two, we ensure that the maximum number of players are in the queue at the same time allowing for the best possible quality of match-making; when using ELO this is important. In Normal Mode (BA) the MMRs are displayed on the match loading screen and the team’s total MMR is also shown, so you can see that you are being fairly match-made. In your Friends and Clan screens you will see the Normal MMR of your Friends and your Clan members. NB: The ‘All Mode MMR’ is not visible to players and is updated when any mode is played; however it is not used for matchmaking in ‘Normal Mode’ (as the ‘Normal MMR’ is used in this mode only).
MMR GAINS/LOSSES
Your MMR will rise if your team wins, and will fall if your team loses. The amount that your MMR will rise or fall will depend on the difference between the average MMR of the two teams. If you beat a team with a higher MMR than your team’s, your MMR will grow faster. If you beat a team which has a lower MMR than yours then you will gain less MMR, but you will still gain rating. The amount you gain or lose is based on a well known ELO formula invented by Arpad Elo, a Hungarian born american physics professor – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system
LEAGUE AND SEASONS
The League Badges available for you to Forge and the League screen will be changed to reflect your current Normal MMR. Ratings above 2500 will correspond to 1 star Protonium, MMRs at 2,900+ corresponds to 5 star Protonium. This means you will see your MMR moving up and down with each Victory and Loss, but you will not necessarily gain or lose a star. At the end of each Season all players who have greater than 2,500 MMR will be reset to 2,500, so reaching 5 star Protonium will become much more difficult. This is all part of laying the foundations of ‘Clan Seasons’ which will operate around the Normal Mode MMR scheme and the Seasons and will show the top competitive Clan each season in an overall Clan leaderboard when it finally launches later this year. We’re really excited to be releasing these changes as we build up to our BETA release and finally the release of BA 2.0 which will be coming very soon. We’ll share more details on these changes in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading! Mark Simmons, Game Director and CEO, Freejam
Hi all, We are seeing lots of reports of players struggling to sign-in with Steam today. This is due to an issue with Steam's Authorization API which is affecting lots of other games and this is currently being investigated. Please note this only affects users who sign into Robocraft using Steam credentials. If you use your Robocraft account details you will be unaffected by this issue. If you have given your email to us in the past (either by registering or inputting your email in the in-game Verify your Email Prompt) you can sidestep these current Steam-only sign-in issues by inputting your email in the password reset prompt here: http://robocraftgame.com/recover-account-details.php Follow all the steps, then proceed to sign in with your Robocraft account details and you will be able to get in game. Apologies for this error all. When we have an update, we'll pop it in this thread.
BRAWLIN’ Like It’s 1999
Join Martin the Community Manager and Dan Support Jammer as they take on all-comers in the latest Community-created BRAWL - Bullet Time.
They’ll be dodging bullets and plasma fire from upon high, while eating biscuits and chatting about all sorts of random stuff. They’ll also be announcing the theme of the next Artbot Competition too.
Join them from 16:00 (UTC) on Friday 10/02/2017
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE EXACTLY HOW LONG UNTIL THE STREAM STARTS!
NEW: – Community BRAWL II – Bullet Time designed by Khoakuma BRAWL RULES: – Game Mode: TDM. – Map: Birmingham Power Station – Number of Players: 5 v 5 – Excluded Weapons: LoML, PSK, Nanos, Ions and Tesla Weapons* – Special Rules: Auto-heal timer set to 15 seconds, all projectile speeds are reduced by 60% – Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate BUG FIXES: – Fixed a bug which caused the game to freeze and lock-up if a player disconnected whilst being shot in battle – Fixed a bug which prevented the Launcher app from being closed manually – Fixed a bug which prevented the Launcher app from showing the latest Robocraft news
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy our latest Community BRAWL – Bullet Time.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Ohhhhh Matrix
Last week we released our first ever community-created BRAWL, Old but Gold. It was a great success and you guys loved it. So, how do you fancy another? Tomorrow, February 9th, we’re going to follow the white rabbit and enter the Matrix with the 2nd most voted for BRAWL designed by the players. Tomorrow it’s time for community member Khoakuma’s Bullet Time to enter the arena. The Team Deathmatch BRAWL is all about slow projectiles so expect to go all ‘Neo’ on your opponents with lots of bullet dodging. The full BRAWL rules are below along with any bug fixes we’ve squeezed in. BRAWL RULES: – Game Mode: TDM. – Map: Birmingham Power Station – Number of Players: 5 v 5 – Excluded Weapons: LoML, PSK, Nanos, Ions and Tesla Weapons* – Special Rules: Auto-heal timer set to 15 seconds, all projectile speeds are reduced by 60% – Bonus: 2x XP + additional crate BUG FIXES: – Fixed a bug which caused the game to freeze and lock-up if a player disconnected whilst being shot in battle – Fixed a bug which prevented the Launcher app from being closed manually – Fixed a bug which prevented the Launcher app from showing the latest Robocraft news *To ensure that the BRAWL didn’t become a Tesla-fest (as Tesla weapons would not be affected by the projectile speed reduction, we opted to remove these from the BRAWL).
BUG FIXES: - Fixed a bug which caused all players queuing for a League game to get stuck until the server forcefully disconnected them if one of them disconnected Battle Loading Screen - Fixed a bug which caused the game to break if a player disconnected during a BA/League while waiting to respawn and any player on that team captured a tower - Crosshairs in single player games now animate - The BRAWL title “Old But Gold” and description text has been translated into multiple languages
We will be taking the servers down for a short period of maintenance at 15:30 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to 30 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is address recent server issues.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
NEW:
- Community BRAWL I - Old But Gold (created by community member Orih)
BRAWL RULES:
- Gamemode: Elimination - Number of Players: 10 v 10 - Maps: All Elimination maps - Excluded Weapons: Aeroflak, Lock-on Missile Launcher, Ion Weapons, Proto-Seeker and Chain Shredder - Excluded Movement Parts: All Sprinter Legs, Mech Legs and Propellers - Special Rules: No auto-healing and no modules - Rewards: x2 XP and additional crate for first BRAWL win
IMPROVED LOAD-IN PROCESS:
- In an effort to greatly reduce instances of games starting with mismatched team sizes, games will now abort if any players disconnect during Battle Loading Screen.
BUG FIXES:
- The gap above the Player Lists on the Battle Loading Screen has been reduced. - Incorrect sounds no longer play on the Battle Loading Screen. - Players quitting the game on Battle Loading Screen will now incur a battle leaving penalty.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:
- Players can now scroll the player lists on the Battle Loading Screen with the mouse scroll-wheel or with the scroll-bar on the right-hand side of the screen.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is add the Community BRAWL I Update to the game.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Recently we gave you the opportunity to suggest a future BRAWL in what we cunningly called the Community BRAWL. We sifted through hundreds of suggestions for BRAWLs and whittled them down to our favourite six. We then opened up the voting poll so you could pick your favourite and the results are below:
Thousands of you casted your votes the over the past days and we can exclusively reveal that the first Community BRAWL is…Old But Gold, created by Orih.
This exciting BRAWL, a throwback to Robocraft’s origins, will enter the game tomorrow, February 2nd, and will remain in-play for a week when we will introduce a new BRAWL.
Alongside the new BRAWL, we’re fixing a few bugs too; you’ll find them at the bottom.
NEW:
- Community BRAWL I - Old But Gold (created by community member Orih)
BRAWL RULES:
- Gamemode: Elimination - Number of Players: 10 v 10 - Maps: All Elimination maps - Excluded Weapons: Aeroflak, Lock-on Missile Launcher, Ion Weapons, Proto-Seeker and Chain Shredder - Excluded Movement Parts: All Sprinter Legs, Mech Legs and Propellers - Special Rules: No auto-healing and no modules - Rewards: x2 XP and additional crate for first BRAWL win
IMPROVED LOAD-IN PROCESS:
- In an effort to greatly reduce instances of games starting with mismatched team sizes, games will now abort if any players disconnect during Battle Loading Screen.
BUG FIXES:
- The gap above the Player Lists on the Battle Loading Screen has been reduced. - Incorrect sounds no longer play on the Battle Loading Screen. - Players quitting the game on Battle Loading Screen will now incur a battle leaving penalty.
OTHER IMPROVEMENTS:
- Players can now scroll the player lists on the Battle Loading Screen with the mouse scroll-wheel or with the scroll-bar on the right-hand side of the screen.
With February upon us and Clan Season 4 beginning, it’s time to announce the top ten best performing clans for Season 3 (in reverse order).
If you’re new to Robocraft and not aware of Clan Seasons; here’s a brief introduction.
Clan Seasons is our way of giving regular, monthly rewards of additional robits for all members of a clan. As each member participates in battles, it increases the robits reward; so the more active a clan, the more robits everyone within receives. To receive the Robits, you must be in a clan, the more you play and the more members you have in a clan, the more Robits you will receive at the end of each season.
For more information on Clan Seasons, read our Deep Dive.
So, onto the top ten for Clan Season 3. As you’ll see from the list below, there are some new clans entering the top ten along with some familiar faces.
10: Robocraft_Spain - XP total: 80,627,374
9: Farrners - XP total: 81,632,356
8: OverPowdered - XP total: 83,288,230
7: FRATRIAS - XP total: 84,513,246
6: Mockingbird - XP total: 85,539,495
5: Gottseidank - XP total: 89,099,774
4: Vikings - XP total: 93,395,530
3: -RJPW- - XP total: 102,138,806
2: Chainsdeath_alphas - XP total: 103,768,581
1: Blissful - XP total: 126,442,914
Congratulations to Blissful clan for grabbing the top-spot from last month’s best performing clan ‘chainsdeath’. Will your clan take the crown in Season 4? There’s only one way to find out, get battling in Robocraft!
Over the past week, we’ve been inviting you, our community of awesome players, to suggest our next BRAWL via the forums and the shortlist of winners is in!
One of the things we said when we first launched BRAWL was that we’d let you come up with scenarios for future BRAWLs - and this week we opened the floodgates. We had over 200 BRAWL suggestions and now we’ve whittled all the suggestions down to 6 for everyone vote on via the form lower down this page.
Before you vote, please take a look at the finalists below:
1) OLD BUT GOLD by Orih
– BRAWL Description: Old but Gold, bring back the old Robos and let them battle in Elimination
– Game Mode: Elimination
– Map: All Maps
– Number of Players: 10v10
– Permitted/Excluded Weapons: Excluded: Aeroflak, LomL, Ion, PSK, Chain Shredder
– Permitted/Excluded Movement Parts: Exclude: Sprinter Leg, Mech Leg, Propellers
– Special Rules: no auto healing, no modules
2) BOOMSTICK LAND created by Strongestgimp
– BRAWL Description: StrongestBrawl’s Boomstick Land
– Map: any
– Number of Players: 10 vs 10
– Permitted/Excluded Weapons: both shotguns permitted only
– Permitted/Excluded Movement Parts: Sprinter Legs permitted all other movement excluded
3) BABY BOTS by Luam_the_elf
– BRAWL Description: Baby Bots
– Game Mode: Elimination
– Map: Standard Elimination map rotation
– Number of Players: 10 vs 10
– Permitted/Excluded Weapons: Only small parts of weapons for example (laser wasp, or Plasma Pulse) no LOML, PSK, Flak, Chain Shredder, or Ion
– Permitted/Excluded Movement Parts: all permitted
– Special Rules: bots allowed: 500 cpu and down only
4) HEAVYWEIGHT MELEE by Goldfish911
– BRAWL Description: Heavyweight Melee
– Game Mode: TDM
– Map: Birmingham Power Station
– Number of Players: 5v5
– Permitted Weapons: Teslas
– Permitted Movement Parts: Tank Tracks, Mech Legs
– Special Rules: 1000 CPU minimum – it’s heavyweight, not lightweight!
5) LOTS OF DODGING created by Khoakuma
– BRAWL Description: All projectiles are much slower. Lots of dodging.
– Game Mode: TDM.
– Map: Birmingham Station
– Number of Players: 5v5
– Excluded Weapons: LOML, PSK, Nano Constructor, Ions (homing or hitscan weapons).
– Permitted Excluded Movement Parts: All.
– Special Rules:
– Auto-heal timer set to 15 seconds
– All projectile speed are reduced by 60%
6) SPRINTING AND MARAUDING by InsaneLiving
– BRAWL Description: Watch your back, Keep your ears open, And prepare your blades…
– Game Mode: The Pit
– Map: Any
– Number of Players: 8 (All vs All)
– Permitted/Excluded Weapons: Tesla ONLY
– Permitted/Excluded Movement Parts: Sprinter Legs ONLY
– Special Rules: Modules recharge time reduced by 30%
To cast your vote please head to www.robocraftgame.com/communitybrawl1/
Join Martin the Community Manager as he announces the winners of our recent Propeller Artbot Competition.
We’ll also be announcing the final five Community BRAWL I suggestions and tallying up the money raised in our ‘Play For Kaleigh’ fundraising initiative.
Joining Martin on the stream will be Producer Phil who’ll be playing a few games too.
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Last week we tasked the Robocraft community with our simplest fundraising initiative yet; play Robocraft as much as possible between Thursday 19th January - 26th January and for every match completed Freejam would donate 5p to help friend of the studio Kaleigh in her fight against DIPG brain tumours (more info here).
Needless to say, you all didn’t disappoint with your support! We were blown away with the response to the event with Kaleigh’s story and DIPG being discussed on forums, Reddit, Twitter and even in the games media (thanks Kotaku!) - not to mention all the matches being played.
Originally we set a goal of 250,000 matches and you guys smashed through that target!
We’re pleased to announce that over the past week over 258,367 matches have been played in-game which equates to £12,918.35. When we combine that with the £138 raised during the last Friday’s stream that equals £13,056.35 towards Kaleigh's treatment fund!
Thank you for helping us to raise funds for this noble cause! If you want to continue to track Kaleigh’s treatment, learn more about DIPG and perhaps donate yourself, please visit the official fundraising page here.
Oh and one more thing, if you want to encourage the UK government to divert more funds towards DIPG brain tumour research you can also sign a petition linked here.
Again, thank you all for your support and for helping games to make the world a better place.
YOU ROCK!
NEW:
- Loading Flow - All players are pre-loaded before battles commence. Battles do not start until all players have loaded; thus reducing player desyncs. - Battle Loadout Screen - New improved loading screen shows the loading progress of all other players and their respective loadouts. - Battle Commence Countdown set to 5 seconds - Once all players are pre-loaded into the battle arena, the countdown timer will start from 5 seconds. - All players visible at the start of the Battle Commence Countdown timer - For more information on today’s update, please refer to our recent Dev Jam. NB: Our intention for today’s update was to include a feature that reduced missing players from the beginning of battles by moving players that failed to get matchmade to the back of the matchmaking queue. Unfortunately this behavior isn’t live in today’s build but it is our intention to add it in over the coming months. This feature will be delivered once we have added the Reconnect feature.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy our latest build which includes a new 'loading flow' and 'Battle loading screen'.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft? Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
QUICK RECAP
We’ve done a few Dev Jams now and we’ve delivered a number of the things we promised. All these are steps on a road to leave Alpha, then BETA, and finally exit Early Access as soon as possible in 2017. With that all in mind I thought it would be good to recap some of the plans and where we are.
ELO MATCHMAKING
We’re close on ELO now. We moved Elimination and The Pit into a new Brawl mode which has proven popular, with more games played in BRAWL now than The Pit and Elimination added together previously. We allowed all Robots to be matchmade together with a new Energy vs. CPU system. These changes allowed us to matchmake Parties properly, so you no longer see 5 man Parties vs. 5 x randoms in a match. Finally all these changes have paved the way for a proper ELO matchmaking system. The work for ELO is well underway and only a few weeks away from launching. For the first time in Robocraft history all game modes will be match-made by a proper ELO system so only player skill will determine matchmaking. ELO is also one of the major foundations required for us to be able to release Clan Seasons, which is something we’d like to have in place before exiting Early Access.
BATTLE ARENA 2.0
Also releasing in February will be Battle Arena 2.0. This is a huge overhaul of Battle Arena; improving it and making it work awesomely with teams of 5 vs. 5 (which will also work sweetly with the new ELO matchmaking system). We’ll give all the detail on the new BA and how it’ll be improved closer to the time. I can tell you that as part of this work all the maps currently featured in BA are getting a massive rework taking lessons from our best maps in game so far; so exciting times are ahead for sure. When BA 2.0 is live and stable we’ll announce being ‘out of Alpha’ and ‘in BETA’. Robocraft won’t stay in BETA long, we’ll just have a few major things left prior to a final exit of ‘Early Access’ on Steam.
5 FINAL CORE GAME MODES
The aim is to have 5 core game modes: 1) AI Bots - Upgraded AI to allow new users to practice the core game mode BA 2.0 before going online 2) Quick Play - Battle Arena 2.0 3) Ranked - BA Leagues, improved and with proper ELO and Clan Seasons 4) BRAWL - New crazy game rules, new maps, custom game mode features, constant variety 5) Custom Games - Allowing you to play all classic game modes, all old and new maps, and set the rules and invite who you like to play
THIS WEEK = NEW LOADING FLOW
Yes, even this week we’ll be launching an update that moves us towards a better overall Arena Game experience. Up until now players with fast loading times got into battle before those with slow loading times. Those with the slower loading times sometimes even started so late that some destruction between Robots had occurred before they had loaded in. This would mean that their client and the server got out of sync which lead to all sorts of bugs occurring such as invisible Robots still able to fire, etc; a new loading flow will fix these issues. Most high quality Arena Games focus on fairness as a core principle. Fair matchmaking and nobody getting an advantage over the other from loading times for example. With that in mind it’s important that all players start the battle at the same time and have the same amount of time to prepare and decide their battle strategy.
With this weeks update we’ll be improving this loading flow as follows: - Battles do not start until all players have loaded - New improved loading screen shows the loading progress of all other players - New loading screen also shows the loadout selections for everyone in the battle - If someone fails to load in, players are moved back to the queue and match-made again, this ensures battles do not begin with players missing - Countdowns are just 5 seconds long and all Robots are always visible right from the start so everyone gets the same view and the same time to prepare (i.e. fair for everyone) When this work is complete we’ll start work on Reconnect, which we know is something many of you feel is really important to sort out as part of improving Robocraft as an Arena Game experience.
BUGS
We’ve started a program of bug fixing too. We’re trying to rotate our development efforts between four main phases of work: - Arena Game focus and polish - New Features and Content (particularly new Robot parts) - Improvements and polish to existing features and content (like overhauling Wheel physics) - Bugs, bugs, bugs A huge thank you to everyone for being patient and staying with us all these years and keeping Robocraft going strong as it is today. Freejam and all the devs in it are working our hearts out to make you happy. Thanks for reading! Mark Simmons, Game Director and CEO, Freejam
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to carry out server infrastructure improvements.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
When we launched BRAWL in December last year, our aim was to create a game mode which was regularly updated with new rules and restrictions; bringing with it crazy new ways to enjoy Robocraft. To date, we’ve done four BRAWLs and it’s been a lot fun coming up with the different rules.
One of the things we stated at the time of release was that we were going to give you guys, our community, a say in how future BRAWLs should play. We’ve read your comments and feedback on the first four BRAWLs and feel it’s time to give you a crack at the proverbial whip!
So, we want you to come up with the first Community BRAWL. This is your chance to decide on what our players experience when they play BRAWL.
All you need to do is come up with an original idea for a BRAWL and tell us; ensuring that you lay it out using the template format outlined below. What we’ll then do is pick our favourite five and then get you to pick the final winner based on your votes.
You have until 10am (UTC) on Friday, January 27th to get your BRAWL idea submitted.
PLEASE NOTE: You will need to make your suggestions on the official Robocraft forum; any BRAWL suggestions in the Steam comments below will not be considered.
We’ll then announce our favourite five on the Friday Robostream and conduct a community poll featuring the five Community BRAWL I candidates, via an online poll on the Robocraft website; allowing the whole community to vote on their favourite. The poll for Community BRAWL I will close at 10am (UTC) on Tuesday January 31st and the winner will announced on Wednesday, February 1st.
The first Community BRAWL will be added to the game on Thursday, February 2nd, so you need to get your ideas in pretty sharpish.
For your BRAWL, you must include the following information:
- Created By: (this is your name)
- BRAWL Description: (A short description of your BRAWL max: 50 characters inc. spaces)
- Game Mode: (choose from Elimination, TDM or The Pit)
- Map: (eg. Tharsis Rift, Vanguard’s End, Spitzer Dam)
- Number of Players: (from 3 v 3 to 10 v 10 - no X v Y (both sides need to be equal))
- Permitted/Excluded Weapons: (eg. Teslas only or no Plasmas or Lasers)
- Permitted/Excluded Movement Parts: (eg. wheels only or no Thrusters)
- Special Rules: (eg. no healing, no modules)*
- Rewards (for first victory): (eg. x2 XP + x2 Protonium Crates)
*Special rules can be restrictions or changes to force, friction, cube/weapon data changes, including, but not limited to, adding health to blocks, modifying the strength or health of any cube, weapon fire rates or changes to movement part max speed.
Important dates:
- Suggest a BRAWL before 10:00 (UTC) on January 27th
- Public voting on top 5 from January 27th - January 31st at 10:00 (UTC)
- Community BRAWL I Winner announced on February 1st
- Community BRAWL I goes live on February 2nd
Now, over to you lot!
You Play, We Pay
Join community manager LeftofNever and some of Robocraft’s developers as we host a very special extended ‘Play For Kaleigh’ Robostream. Kaleigh, she is a friend of Freejam and suffers from a highly aggressive and difficult to treat brain tumour condition known as Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG). This life-threatening form of brain cancer is predominantly found in children. DIPG is as hard to treat as it is rare; with around 40 children diagnosed in the UK every year. Sadly, 50% of cases diagnosed pass away within the first 9 months. Now, for every completed Robocraft match played until 10am (UTC) Thursday, 26th January, we will donate 4p to Kaleigh’s fund. So join us for some games of Robocraft, a chat about the game, life and pizza all while raising money and awareness of DIPG. We’ll be kicking this stream off earlier than usual; the actions starts at 15:00 (UTC)
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- New BRAWL - 12 Oâ
Chocks Awayyyyyy!!!
Set your sights on the sky with tomorrowâ
Play Robocraft, Raise Money for Kaleigh
Want to raise money for a good cause and have fun playing Robocraft at the same time? May we introduce the â
Since we launched the Propellers Update last week, weâ
Reach for the skies!
Join community manager LeftofNever as he talks to lead game designer Sergii about the recently released Propeller parts.
We’ll be playing some games, looking at your propeller-based designs in the CRF and answering your questions; so come join in the fun!
The stream will begin on Friday, January 13th at 16:00 (UTC)
We’ll be queue syncing; so anyone in the chat is welcome to queue into battles with us on the stream!
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- ADDED ‘Propeller Tomahawk’ and ‘Propeller Thunderbolt’ to Robocraft
Lead Designer, Sergii Says: “Propellers have been optimised to be used with heavy flyer builds which is different to our traditional thrusters, which are more suited to lighter Robot builds. They are also bi-directional in terms of force which should give flyers more strategic options than before.”
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused all Pit games to share the same chat
- Fixed a bug where the language table is cut off for players whose screen resolution is 800x600
- Fixed a bug for Chinese language Linux players which prevented some characters from appearing on inventory item names
- Glass Cube block translated into Japanese
- Fixed an issue that made the OK button disappear on the Battle Results screen if you or a player sends a friend request and you are already at the maximum amount of permitted friends
We’re super-excited to announce that tomorrow (Thursday, January 12th), we’ll be adding a new movement part to Robocraft with our cunningly-titled Propeller Update!
These two new Propellers are intended as an alternative to thrusters; allowing players to build a wider variety of robots than ever before!
In addition to the new Propellers, we’re squashing some bugs too; full details below.
NEW:
- ADDED ‘Propeller Tomahawk’ and ‘Propeller Thunderbolt’ to Robocraft
Lead Designer, Sergii Says: “Propellers have been optimised to be used with heavy flyer builds which is different to our traditional thrusters, which are more suited to lighter Robot builds. They are also bi-directional in terms of force which should give flyers more strategic options than before.”
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused all Pit games to share the same chat
- Fixed a bug where the language table is cut off for players whose screen resolution is 800x600
- Fixed a bug for Chinese language Linux players which prevented some characters from appearing on inventory item names
- Glass Cube block translated into Japanese
- Fixed an issue that made the OK button disappear on the Battle Results screen if you or a player sends a friend request and you are already at the maximum amount of permitted friends
Hello Robocrafters,
We wanted to let you that the server migration has now completed - albeit with considerable disruption to the Robocraft game due to unforeseen network-related issues. Regardless, we are now pleased to report that and servers are back online and operating as intended. Hooray!
As promised in our earlier status update, we are offering everyone a 1-Day Premium Code (below) as way of apology for yesterday's downtime.
The code is valid from now through to Thursday January 19th at 12:00 (UTC). For information on how to redeem a promo code, click here.
If you’re a player that has Premium For Life, please contact our support team via this linkto receive alternative compensation.
Again, we would like to apologise for the downtime and the obvious inconvenience this has been to your enjoyment of Robocraft.
Catch you all in-game!
We will be taking the servers down for essential maintenance at 11:00 (UTC) on Wednesday 11/01/2017
Downtime is expected to be 2 hours as we investigate and attempt to solve ongoing server stability issues related to yesterday’s migration.
We sincerely apologise for the continued disruption to your enjoyment of Robocraft. Rest assured, the team are working incredibly hard to ensure the game is back up and running at 100% as soon as possible.
Thank you for your continued patience and support during this time.
UPDATE: We have extended maintenance by a further two hours to allow us time to address ongoing server stability issues. We expect to be down until 15:00 (UTC). We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this downtime.
Hi all, A quick update on today’s planned server migration. Unfortunately the transfer process has taken longer than anticipated and on live there are a lot of network-related issues currently being reported by players. You may be experiencing issues including (but not exclusive to): problems signing in, extended loading periods, robots not loading, CRF-related issues, unable to connect to chat, errors trying to play a game and clan/social errors. We sincerely apologise for the problems being reported and our network team are working extremely hard to rectify them as soon as possible. We will update you more when we have ironed out all the issues. Rest assured we’ll be giving you a 1 Day Premium code when in-game service has resumed as usual. Again, we sincerely apologise for the problems and the impact this has had on your gaming today. We hope to have an update for you soon. Thank you for being patient.
We will be taking the servers down for essential maintenance at 09:00 (UTC) on Tuesday 10/01/2017
The maintenance is expected to take up to three hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to migrate the game's servers in order to improve server infrastructure stability and minimise unscheduled outages in the future.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Attention!
New transmission coming in from the frontline!
Want to get a sneak audio peak at a new component coming to Robocraft next week? Check out the latest audio transmission on our official soundcloud page.
#Wright4Flight
http://soundcloud.com/robocraftgame/incoming-transmission
Bring a coat, it’s cold out there!
It’s the first Robostream of 2017 and we’re arming ourselves with Carbon 6 Plasmas! Join community manager LeftofNever and special guest Ryan, the VFX guy as they take to the snow-covered battlefields for a few rounds of the latest BRAWL, Plasmaball Fight. We’ll be playing some games and chatting about the role of a VFX Artist (expect some chat about Ryan’s favourite hobby too - Airsoft). The stream will begin on Friday, January 6th at 16:00 (UTC) We’ll be queue syncing; so anyone in the chat is welcome to queue into battles with us on the stream! Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
NEW:
- Unlocking of Christmas Gifts - Carbon 6 Plasma Devastator and Carbon 6 Plasma Goliathon weapons
- New BRAWL - Plasmaball Fight
BRAWL III GAME RULES:
- Game Mode: Pit (re-spawn permitted, no timer, first to 20 kills)
- Map: Ophiuchus Valley, Spitzer Dam, Gliese Lake
- Number of Players: 8
- Permitted Weapon Types: Plasmas & Tesla only
- Permitted Movement Types: Mech legs only (sorry, no thrusters, hovers or helium)
- Bonuses Awarded: x5 XP and +3 crates for first victory
OTHER CHANGES:
- End of 20% Holiday Sale Promotion - all applicable crate bundles and premium plans reverted to their standard prices
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue with the pause menu sometimes appearing behind the on-screen tooltips which prevented players from exiting the tutorial
- Fixed a bug which prevented the Russian and Spanish language select options from being visible when video resolution was set to 800x600
There’s Snow Hiding from the Plasmas
We’re kicking 2017 off in Plasma-style with the unwrapping of the Christmas Gifts and the introduction of a new BRAWL. Tomorrow, January 5th, we’re ripping off the wrapping paper on your festive gifts. If you were lucky enough to receive them in a crate during the holiday period or you forged them in-game, you’ll be able to get your mitts on them tomorrow. The super-cool Carbon 6 Plasma Devastator and Goliathon weapons are a perfect fit for the first BRAWL of 2017 - Plasmaball Fight! The current BRAWL, Sleigh Slayer, will be removed and replaced with a new BRAWL designed to give you ample opportunity to try out your new toys. The new BRAWL is a Pit-based game where Plasmas and Teslas are the only permitted weapons and movement is restricted to Mech Legs - this is a drone-free zone. The full game rules are listed below along with other changes and bug fixes.
BRAWL III GAME RULES:
- Game Mode: Pit (re-spawn permitted, no timer, first to 20 kills)
- Map: Ophiuchus Valley, Spitzer Dam, Gliese Lake
- Number of Players: 8
- Permitted Weapon Types: Plasmas & Tesla only
- Permitted Movement Types: Mech legs only (sorry, no thrusters, hovers or helium)
- Bonuses Awarded: x5 XP and +3 crates for first victory
NEW:
- Unlocking of Christmas Gifts - Carbon 6 Plasma Devastator and Carbon 6 Plasma Goliathon weapons
OTHER CHANGES:
- End of 20% Holiday Sale Promotion - all applicable crate bundles and premium plans reverted to their standard prices
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue with the pause menu sometimes appearing behind the on-screen tooltips which prevented players from exiting the tutorial
- Fixed a bug which prevented the Russian and Spanish language select options from being visible when video resolution was set to 800x600
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Greetings Robocrafters! I hope you’re having fun while this festive period comes to a close. Since November we’ve been randomly sprinkling our in-game Salvage Crates with two different present varieties – one epic and one legendary. Today we’re happy to reveal what exactly is hidden in those expertly wrapped boxes! May we introduce the new Carbon 6 Plasma Devastator and Carbon 6 Plasma Goliathon! Click the box below to see these new gun variants in super high detail! https://sketchfab.com/models/5eb164539aff4d3881ca5430d4d3e67f These new Carbon 6 weapons will be unwrapped from all presents in-game on Thursday, 5th January. Before that time new presents will still drop and they remain forge-able. We’ll have more information about these new weapons and other Robocraft after the New Year. Thanks for supporting Robocraft and we’ll catch you all again in 2017!
Santa’s Rail-free Revenge
With the holiday season in full swing, what could be better than battling across the festive Hellion Crater with thruster-powered sleighs? Tomorrow, December 22nd we’re swapping out the current BRAWL mode for a Ski and Thruster only mode. Oh, and Rails are off the table too - Sleigh Slayer will be a Rails-free zone. This means that Nanos and autoheal will be making a welcome return to BRAWL.
GAME RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination (10v10 / no re-spawn upon death)
- Map: Christmas Hellion Crater
- Permitted movement types: Skis and Thrusters
- Excluded movement types: Wheels, Tracks, Mech Legs, Insect Legs, Sprinter Legs, Insect Legs, Hover, Rotors, Wings and Rudders
- Excluded weapon types: Rails
It’s the last Robostream of 2016 and we’re pulling out all the stops!
Join us for an hour of silly hats, mince pies and Robocraft-related shenanigans.
Come hang out with LeftOfNever and whoever is left in the office as they play some games of Robocraft’s latest game mode – BRAWL.
We’ll also be announcing the winners of our festive-themed Artbot Contest.
To find those robots yourself on the CRF, search “DB9”
The stream will begin on Friday, December 23rd at 16:00 (UTC)
We’ll be queue syncing so anyone in the chat is welcome to queue into battles with us on the stream!
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Introductory offer - Save 20%
Since we launched Premium for Life back in October, we’ve had many requests from players wishing to purchase Premium for Life through Steam; whether as a gift for a family member or friend or for themselves with a Steam Gift Card. Well, guess what? Now you can - Huzzah! We’re very pleased to announce that you can now purchase Premium for Life through the Steam Store. And as an introductory offer, you can save 20% when you purchase Premium for Life through the Steam Store until January 3rd 2017. WAS: £39.99 / $49.99 / €44.99 - NOW: £31.99 / $39.99 / €35.99 In other awesome Steam-related news, you can now ‘Gift’ any of the Robocraft Steam DLC including the Premium for Life package. What does Premium offer? Being a premium member bestows the following benefits:
- Double experience points (XP) which allows players to level up twice as fast in-game.
- Receive all items from a salvage crate, non-Premium players have access to 50%
- Gain access to the full palette of 16 colours instead of the standard 4; this will allow you to customise your robots even more.
- Triple recycle rates while Premium is active
- Upload your own personal profile picture
- Cosmetic upgrade to robot select and edit screens
BUG FIXES:
- Server-side infrastructure improvements
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue that prevented players with Brazilian or Portuguese OS (Operating System) language from purchasing crate bundles and premium
- Server-side improvements to in-game chat stability
WE’RE BRAWL’N LIKE IT’S ROBOCRAFT 2013
Come hang out with LeftofNever and DanSupportJammer as they play some games of Robocraft’s latest game mode - BRAWL.
To spice things up a bit, we’ll be attempting to play Robocraft wearing boxing gloves!
We’ll also squeeze in a look at some of the entries in the festive-themed Artbot Contest.
To find those robots yourself on the CRF, search "DB9"
The stream will begin on Friday, December 23rd at 16:00 (UTC)
We’ll be queue syncing so anyone in the chat is welcome to queue into battles with us on the stream!
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed punctuation errors in some of the game mode descriptions
- Fixed a bug that reset the profanity filter status upon loading into the game
- Fixed a bug which prevented the BRAWL description screen from closing when the player pressed the ESC key
- Fixed a visual bug with the Christmas presents on the BRAWL map that made the ribbons flicker when viewed through the Rail weapon scopes
- Fixed an issue which caused some players to fail to load the brawl image
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix to the recent BRAWL Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
December 14th, we introduced BRAWL, a new and exciting way to enjoy Robocraft. This new game mode aims to bring regular, fun twists to the game via changes to mechanics, maps, weapons, Robot requirements and restrictions - all of which will require you to build custom Robots in order to be the best. We’re also rewarding BRAWL players with extra bonuses for their first BRAWL victory.
To find out more about why we introduced this new BRAWL mode, read Mark’s latest Dev Jam.
NEW:
- Introduction of new BRAWL Game Mode
- Removal of Pit and Elimination as individual Game Modes (merged into BRAWL Game Mode and will be rotated in future Brawls)
- New Play screen with tooltips
- New BRAWL Game Mode details screen
- Christmas BRAWL started
- Hellion Crater Map updated for Christmas
- Festive music
CHRISTMAS BRAWL 2013 RULES:
- Game Mode: Elimination
- Map: Hellion Crater (Christmas Version)
- Auto-Healing: Disabled
- Min Robot CPU requirements: 100
- Max Robot CPU requirements: 2,000
- Cube Restrictions: Nano not permitted
- Bonuses Awarded: x3 XP and a bonus crate for first victory
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Add timeout to avoid waiting too long for custom avatars to load
BALANCE CHANGES:
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which prevented the avatar of a clan invitee from appearing on the pending Clan invitation screen
- Fixed an audio bug which prevented SFX from playing when someone joined your clan
- Updated the returned error message when attempting to login to the website with an unconfirmed email address
- Fixed a bug which enabled a player to send party invites or view their friends list while in a matchmaking queue. Doing so disabled the ESC key
- Fixed a visual bug that prevented the EMP module from appearing on the placement gun when in edit mode
- The quality settings text is now updated when a player changes their default language
- Fixed an issue with the CRF that displayed the last column of Robots incorrectly at some resolutions
- Fixed the ratio of the flags on the language select options to prevent them from appearing squished
- Fixed an issue that caused the Robocraft Client to sometimes crash when opening the final crate in a purchased pack
- Added a new glass texture to all the bridges in the game
- Multiple corrections to Italian language text in-game*
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the BRAWL Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft? Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
PARTY MM DONE, ELO & CLAN LEAGUES SOON
As discussed in Dev Jam #1, we’ve been making a series of changes to Robocraft that are designed to allow us to improve the matchmaking so that we can match-make Parties effectively and move towards matchmaking by ELO as most other Arena games do. We introduced the ‘CPU to Energy’ mechanic in ‘Fast and Formidable’ and were able to improve the matchmaking by ensuring that teams of randoms no longer have to fight whole teams of players in Parties. Now we want to introduce some more changes that we need to make in preparation for ELO matchmaking which will then follow with competitive Seasonal Clan Leagues.
LESS GAME MODES = MORE GAME OPTIONS
Our final aim for game modes is to have 4 options that will provide maximum flexibility and variety whilst ensuring best possible matchmaking. This next update is one step towards this as The Pit and Elimination will be moved into a new game mode called Brawl!. The final game mode options we’re aiming for are as follows:
- Unranked Battle Arena - we will improve Battle Arena to make it work with 5 vs. 5 teams (which will improve matchmaking also) and add in some fresh mechanics. Your rank will not be affected in this mode, but you will be match-made by ELO to ensure players of equal skill play against each other.
- Ranked Battle Arena - here you will gain and lose rank on a seasonal basis. The Clan League will focus on this game mode. It will be upgraded to fix some of the current issues in Ranked.
- BRAWL - This allows us to introduce fun twists on the game at regular intervals with increased rewards for your first victory in this game mode each time it changes.
- Custom Games - Allowing you to setup your own servers playing any game mode, with your own game options, inviting who you want to play with.
BRAWL
This week’s update will introduce this new game mode called BRAWL. In BRAWL you will get new mechanics, new maps, and crazy ways to play Robocraft that require you to build custom Robots to win on a regular basis.
Here’s a list of the things you might see in future Brawls:
- All game modes appearing in a random rotation with The Pit, Elimination, TDM, BA, and new game mode options too
- New maps, possibly even maps made by the community in competitions
- Restrictions on which parts are allowed in the mode, to challenge your ability to build Robots that can win under the new rules
- Changes to the balance of parts for this mode only: Thrusters with insane power or weapons that have been completed changed
- Shake ups to core game mechanics, like no-health-regen, overclocker, towers, scoring, etc.
- World physics changes, gravity, atmosphere, friction, ceiling
A new BRAWL Details screen will show the details of each new BRAWL when it’s live in-game. The details of our first ever BRAWL will be revealed in the patch notes coming this week. Thanks for reading! Mark Simmons, Game Director and CEO, Freejam
BUG FIXES:
- The profanity filter will no longer reset to ‘on’ when a player logs into the game
- The store will now display correctly when Chinese language is selected
OTHER CHANGES:
- German and Japanese text corrections based on community feedback*
It’s that most wonderful time of the year. That time where we get together with family and friends, eat far too much, get subjected to endless rounds of charades with slightly tipsy elderly relatives while hoping to steal a few minutes of free time to play a few games of Robocraft.
If the thought of spending quality time with your family doesn’t get you into the Christmas spirit, we’ve got an Artbot Contest that surely will.
For this very special festive-themed Artbot contest, we want to see your best Robots based on one of the five categories below (the brief). All you need to do is create a Robot that fits in one of the categories and upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF). We’ll then pick our favourite five (along with two runners-up for each category) and award some prizes. We’ll also pick an overall ‘best in show’ Robot too and make that a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF.
The winner’s will be announced in a ‘very special’ festive-themed Live Robostream on Friday 23rd December.
A special thanks to both Robocrafters maelou2587 and E__tech for the Robots used in the header art above.
The Brief:
Design a festive-themed robot based on one of the following five categories:
- Santa’s Sleigh - Must use Ski movement parts
- Snowman/Snowwoman/Snowchild etc...
- Santa Claus / Mrs Santa Claus
- Festive Vignette (a small scene)
- Festive Horror (as suggested by Drognin)
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (their choice). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory). As a special Xmas gift, both of the two runners-up in each of the five categories will receive a day of Premium too.
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You can submit as many Robots as you like, however will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday 12th December 2016 - 23:59 (UTC) Sunday 18th December 2016
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- The term DB9 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- The submission category must be included in the Robot description.
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
Robocraft gets into the festive spirit next week.
#RoboHoHoHoliday
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused a small number of players not to receive their daily login crate when expected.
- Fixed a bug which caused players with an out-of-date game client to crash when trying to login.
- Fixed a bug where pressing the ‘ESC’ key on the login screen would trigger an error message.
OTHER CHANGES:
- Country flags have been added to the language select drop-down lists.
NEW LANGUAGES:
- Added support for the following languages:
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Russian
- Spanish
- Game UI updated to support multi-language
- New splash page login box - language can selected prior to game loading
- Updated the ‘settings’ menu pop-up to include language select options. This menu can be found by pressing the escape key on the main Garage Bay select screen.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a visual bug where text saying "The scores of the winning team "HAVE BEEN doubled" was displayed during the game. This text has been removed and is now shown at the end of the battle.
- Fixed a bug which caused some CRF-purchased Robots to constantly display the "submit rating" dialogue at the end of each battle.
- Fixed a bug which saw players receive an error message when accepting a clan invite and they were the 50th member of the clan.
- Fixed a visual bug that said “invitation” instead of “invite” when a player received a friend invite request.
- Fixed a bug that corrupted a small number user accounts when they purchased crates.
- Fixed a bug that caused Robot thumbnails to overlap in the CRF and Garage Bay select screen.
- Fixed a bug which caused a player to get stuck connecting to the server when closing the Xsolla store after buying crates with anything other than the 'x' button.
- Players who were kicked from their games due to scheduled maintenance will no longer receive a five minute penalty when playing their next battle.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Localisation Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft?
Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
Tomorrow, December 8th, we will be releasing what we’re calling the ‘Localisation Update’ (ie. multi-language support). We know that you’ve been asking for a localised version of the game since first went live on Steam back in 2014 and it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time.
Let us tell you, translating a videogame into multiple languages is no easy or fast task. It isn’t a simple case of taking all the English words used in the code and replacing them with different language versions. We’ve needed to change words or phrases due to localised differences and context in another language. There were also a number of UI changes that needed to happen too (the CRF is a good example of this) as some words written in English required less screen ‘real estate’ than say the German equivalent. In total, we’ve translated around 11,000 words into ten different languages.
NEW LANGUAGES:
- Added support for the following languages:
- Chinese (Simplified)
- Chinese (Traditional)
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese (Brazilian)
- Russian
- Spanish
- Game UI updated to support multi-language
- New splash page login box - language can selected prior to game loading
- Updated the ‘settings’ menu pop-up to include language select options. This menu can be found by pressing the escape key on the main Garage Bay select screen.
In addition to the massive undertaking of localising the game into ten different languages, we’ve fixed a number of bugs too.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a visual bug where text saying "The scores of the winning team "HAVE BEEN doubled" was displayed during the game. This text has been removed and is now shown at the end of the battle.
- Fixed a bug which caused some CRF-purchased Robots to constantly display the "submit rating" dialogue at the end of each battle.
- Fixed a bug which saw players receive an error message when accepting a clan invite and they were the 50th member of the clan.
- Fixed a visual bug that said “invitation” instead of “invite” when a player received a friend invite request.
- Fixed a bug that corrupted a small number user accounts when they purchased crates.
- Fixed a bug that caused Robot thumbnails to overlap in the CRF and Garage Bay select screen.
- Fixed a bug which caused a player to get stuck connecting to the server when closing the Xsolla store after buying crates with anything other than the 'x' button.
As the team are working hard on putting the final flourishes to this week’s mahoosive Localisation Update, we thought we’d tell you about Indie DB’s Indie of the Year award and how you can get involved.
Now in it’s 7th year, the Indie of the Year Awards are a celebration of the year’s finest indie games chosen by you and the peeps over at IndieDB.com. We’re not strangers to the Indie DB awards, having nabbed the prestigious Player’s Choice Indie of the Year award back in 2014.
The question is, are we still your favorite Indie Game? We know the game has changed a lot these past two years, and for many of you, Robocraft isn’t the same game anymore. And you’re right! It isn’t; it’s grown, it’s changed, it’s bigger, better and more bad-ass than it ever was.
If Robocraft is still your favorite indie game and you’d like to show your appreciation for all the hard work and commitment from the team here at Freejam, then cast your vote below. If you don’t think we’re deserving of such an accolade, that’s fine too, we understand and we recommend that you don’t click on the link below.
If you’re a regular viewer of our Robostreams, you’ll know that we’ve an exciting road-map for 2017 full of content and features; we hope you’ll stick around as 2017 will be a ‘blast’!
If you want to vote, please click on the link below to jump to our IndieDB page and cast your vote.
2016 Indie of the Year Awards via Indie DB
Hot off the presses! A special edition Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
More than 1.1 billion Robits earned in November
Having kicked off our Clan Seasons initiative mid-October, November saw the first full month of Robocraft players racking up XP for both themselves (to level up) and for their clans in order to earn Robits at the end of the season. And with the recent Thanksgiving Double XP Event, you filled up the virtual XP Jar until it was overflowing with XP; all of which boosted the speed at which you levelled up and in turn, meant that you received level-up Protonium Reward Crates quicker and of course increased your end-of-season Robit earnings. As Clan Season 2 has now started, we thought you’d like to know how the very first full clan season went. So here are, in reverse order, the Top Ten XP earning Clans in Robocraft (putting on a radio DJ voice to count down from 10 to 1)
10 - Farmers - XP total: 67,084,427
9 - NYA-Clan - XP total: 73,075,479
8 - Vikings - XP total: 73,761,852
7 - The_Greys - XP total: 77,319,319
6 - -RJPW- - XP total: 77,496,049
5 - Legion-Brazilian - XP total: 84,154,215
4 - OverPowdered - XP total: 91,291,985
3 - Blissful - XP total: 92,700,362
2 - chainsdeath - XP total: 101,643,508
1 - AtlasCore - XP total: 150,422,352
A massive congratulations to AtlasCore for hitting some serious numbers this month; in both XP earned and Robits each member received. Will AtlasCore be number one next month? Only you can decide that… So, get your Clan team orders out there, party up and fight like there’s no tomorrow.. And remember, the more XP you earn during Clan Season, the more Robits you’ll get at the end.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Players in parties now considered when matchmaking (read more)
- Parties are marked with a “party icon” in loading and pre-battle screens
- Each party has a unique ‘party icon’ colour
- Party players are put before the solo players, on top of team lists
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Friction on all cubes reverted to pre-last friction increase. This means friction on all cube types is much lower, which means less ‘snagging’ and ‘flipping’ when scraping against the environment
- Increased the EMP cooldown time from 25 seconds to 50 seconds
- Decreased the EMP stun time from 5.5 seconds to 5.0 seconds
- Weapon Energy to CPU curve altered. Energy at 0 CPU changed to 20,000 and reduces by 1 for each CPU between 0-750 CPU range. 750+ has more energy available with 2000 CPU remaining at 10,000. Here is a comparison:
- Low and mid-range Lasers have been improved; accuracy, damage, but have slightly increased Energy consumption
- Low and mid-range Plasma have been improved; damage, DPS, and damage per Energy consumed have been increased
- Towers now have 4 ‘spines’ as opposed to 2
- Tower Crystal health has been reduced by 45%
- Neutral Tower Crystal health (i.e. at start of battle) is 50% of the Red and Blue crystals
- Tesla Ripper and Tesla Nova Energy costs have been increased
- Blink Energy cost increased from 5,400 to 6,000
- Cloak Energy cost increased from 900 per second to 1,000
- Defence Damage Bonus (awarded for damaging an enemy whilst near your base), Protection Assist Bonus (awarded for damaging an enemy that is attacking an Ally), Heal Assist Bonus (awarded for healing an Ally to 100% regardless of how much health they had lost), Scout and Spot bonuses have all been removed from the scoring / XP rewards.*
- Overall awards have been increased to compensate for the scores that have been removed, with the aim of giving you the same average XP rewards as before
- Scout, Spot, Protection, Defence also removed from the Overclocker, so Clock Cycles are only earned for things that you gain score from, mainly to keep score and Clock Cycles consistent
- The Tower Protonium Crystal destruction score has been reduced by 30%
- Rolled back the ‘percent of Robot remaining before death’ from 10% to 20%. This was 25% previously and recently changed to 10% but this caused too many undesired results. We will develop a more elegant solution to the problems surrounding this in a future update
- Adjusted top speed of Thrusters - with the smallest Thrusters delivering the same ‘maneuverability’ but a lot less ‘escape velocity’ (If you want to go fast, you need to use the larger Thrusters)
- Top Speed of the largest Thrusters has been increased
- Adjusted the health of the smaller Thrusters
- Adjustments to the health of Chassis Cubes; essentially making the health have a slightly closer relationship to the mass of the cube. This change affects the ‘Corner Slope’ the most, with other cubes only marginally affected
The changes to Thrusters and Cube health above have been designed to affect certain aerial builds that make use of many smaller thrusters as a ‘core escape’ and lattice networks of ‘corner slopes’ as a ‘cage’. We are very happy for builds like that to exist in the game and are not attempting to remove them from the game and we understand that the engineering of these complex builds is part of the fun of Robocraft. We are just doing some experiments to see if we can get them balanced as we feel that they are a little overpowered at the moment.
OTHER CHANGES:
- From tomorrow (1st December), the AbleGamers Bundle will no longer be available in Robocraft. For more details on this bundle and the incredible amount of money raised by the Robocraft community (that’s you lot!), please click here.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue that caused the mirror line to disappear
- Fixed a bug that prevented the intro video from playing on Mac and Linux OS
- Fixed a bug that triggered the party widget hover and click effects when in queue for battle
- Blocking a player whilst in battle no longer triggers an error
- Fixed an issue with the inventory scrollbar not working with a mouse scrollwheel
- Fixed a visual bug that made the party widget disappear if a player opens the loadout (Z) in edit mode
- Removed the level-up animation in battle - now shown on End Of Battle summary screen
- Fixed a bug which prevented Wings/Rudder from working with Mech/Sprinter Legs correctly
- Fixed a visual bug with the ‘LEVEL UP CRATE’ screen - the top bar now spans the width of the screen
- Fixed a bug which made the 'online status' of your friends in the friend list very tiny and almost unreadable
- Removed the ‘?’ from the top-left of the CRF as it served no purpose
- Fixed an issue which led to the 'online status tag' in a player’s friend list being coloured incorrectly when hovered over
- Made the hover status on the ‘Add Friend’ button more visible on the End Of Battle Screen
- Fixed a bug that made the ‘Add Friend button’ appear next to your own name on the End Of Battle screen
- Re-positioned the ‘X has invited you to join their party’ text on the Party Invite notification pop-up
- The ‘Any Cost’ option has been removed from the drop-down in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which rewarded a player with the same loot crate contents if they received multiple level-up crates in a single match
- Fixed the text colour on the wrong username error message pop-up
- Fixed a bug that made the camera point at the ground when entering ‘Edit’ mode for the first time in a session
Alongside today's Party Matchmaking Update, we fixed the following bugs:
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a crash bug which would occur due to the game client not responding to errors correctly
- Fixed an error which led the CRF to load incorrectly or not at all
- Fixed an issue with the ‘waiting for battle’ timer incorrectly showing 0:00
- Fixed a bug which displayed the End-of-Battle Robit reward incorrectly
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Party Matchmaking Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft?
Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
Tomorrow, December 1st, sees the release of our next update, cunningly titled Party Matchmaking which improves matchmaking in Robocraft further still. Robocraft Game Director Mark, recently outlined the plans for this update in a recent Dev Jam; you can read all about that here.
Alongside the improvements to matchmaking, we’ll be making a number of balance changes to Robocraft in this update and we’re fixing a host of different bugs too! The details for everything in this update are below:
As we’re still making some final adjustments and tweaks, the full patch notes (including detailed data tables) will be released after the update goes live tomorrow.
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Players in parties now considered when matchmaking (read more)
- Parties are marked with a “party icon” in loading and pre-battle screens
- Each party has a unique ‘party icon’ colour
- Party players are put before the solo players, on top of team lists
BALANCE CHANGES:
- Friction on all cubes reverted to pre-last friction increase. This means friction on all cube types is much lower, which means less ‘snagging’ and ‘flipping’ when scraping against the environment
- Increased the EMP cooldown time from 25 seconds to 50 seconds
- Decreased the EMP stun time from 5.5 seconds to 5.0 seconds
- Weapon Energy to CPU curve altered. Energy at 0 CPU changed to 20,000 and reduces by 1 for each CPU between 0-750 CPU range. 750+ has more energy available with 2000 CPU remaining at 10,000. Here is a comparison:
- Low and mid-range Lasers have been improved; accuracy, damage, but have slightly increased Energy consumption
- Low and mid-range Plasma have been improved; damage, DPS, and damage per Energy consumed have been increased
- Towers now have 4 ‘spines’ as opposed to 2
- Tower Crystal health has been reduced by 45%
- Neutral Tower Crystal health (i.e. at start of battle) is 50% of the Red and Blue crystals
- Tesla Ripper and Tesla Nova Energy costs have been increased
- Blink Energy cost increased from 5,400 to 6,000
- Cloak Energy cost increased from 900 per second to 1,000
- Defence Damage Bonus (awarded for damaging an enemy whilst near your base), Protection Assist Bonus (awarded for damaging an enemy that is attacking an Ally), Heal Assist Bonus (awarded for healing an Ally to 100% regardless of how much health they had lost), Scout and Spot bonuses have all been removed from the scoring / XP rewards.*
- Overall awards have been increased to compensate for the scores that have been removed, with the aim of giving you the same average XP rewards as before
- Scout, Spot, Protection, Defence also removed from the Overclocker, so Clock Cycles are only earned for things that you gain score from, mainly to keep score and Clock Cycles consistent
- The Tower Protonium Crystal destruction score has been reduced by 30%
- Rolled back the ‘percent of Robot remaining before death’ from 10% to 20%. This was 25% previously and recently changed to 10% but this caused too many undesired results. We will develop a more elegant solution to the problems surrounding this in a future update
- Adjusted top speed of Thrusters - with the smallest Thrusters delivering the same ‘maneuverability’ but a lot less ‘escape velocity’ (If you want to go fast, you need to use the larger Thrusters)
- Top Speed of the largest Thrusters has been increased
- Adjusted the health of the smaller Thrusters
- Adjustments to the health of Chassis Cubes; essentially making the health have a slightly closer relationship to the mass of the cube. This change affects the ‘Corner Slope’ the most, with other cubes only marginally affected
OTHER CHANGES:
- From tomorrow (1st December), the AbleGamers Bundle will no longer be available in Robocraft. For more details on this bundle and the incredible amount of money raised by the Robocraft community (that’s you lot!), please click here.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue that caused the mirror line to disappear
- Fixed a bug that prevented the intro video from playing on Mac and Linux OS
- Fixed a bug that triggered the party widget hover and click effects when in queue for battle
- Blocking a player whilst in battle no longer triggers an error
- Fixed an issue with the inventory scrollbar not working with a mouse scrollwheel
- Fixed a visual bug that made the party widget disappear if a player opens the loadout (Z) in edit mode
- Removed the level-up animation in battle - now shown on End Of Battle summary screen
- Fixed a bug which prevented Wings/Rudder from working with Mech/Sprinter Legs correctly
- Fixed a visual bug with the ‘LEVEL UP CRATE’ screen - the top bar now spans the width of the screen
- Fixed a bug which made the 'online status' of your friends in the friend list very tiny and almost unreadable
- Removed the ‘?’ from the top-left of the CRF as it served no purpose
- Fixed an issue which led to the 'online status tag' in a player’s friend list being coloured incorrectly when hovered over
- Made the hover status on the ‘Add Friend’ button more visible on the End Of Battle Screen
- Fixed a bug that made the ‘Add Friend button’ appear next to your own name on the End Of Battle screen
- Re-positioned the ‘X has invited you to join their party’ text on the Party Invite notification pop-up
- The ‘Any Cost’ option has been removed from the drop-down in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which rewarded a player with the same loot crate contents if they received multiple level-up crates in a single match
- Fixed the text colour on the wrong username error message pop-up
CHANGES:
- Reverted game to pre-Thanksgiving event status:
- Removed 2x XP
- Returned prices of Crate bundles and Premium Plans to pre-event values
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue that caused an error if a user obtained two level-up crates without an end-of-battle crate
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to revert the changes made for the Thanksgiving 2016 Event.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
FAST & FORMIDABLE UPDATE
The Fast and Formidable update has been live for a couple of weeks now and whilst we still have some balancing to do to maximise the range/diversity of viable Robots possible in the new meta, we’re happy with how the initial launch went. F&F was developed to lay the foundation for better matchmaking (as explained in the first Dev Jam here). Good matchmaking is the foundation of all good Arena games and Robocraft has frankly sucked in this area for a long time; so we’re focusing on getting our act together in preparation to be able to launch a solid competitive Clan League and exit Early Access in 2017. Although there is still more work to do on reducing subdivision by making improvements to Battle Arena and the other Game Mode options, we’re are not planning any more massive changes to the core building mechanics like F&F going forwards. So the improvements and balance changes made to the game going forwards will be less likely to render Robots in your Garage non-viable in future.
PARTY MATCHMAKING
Now we have all Robots available to be match-made together - as both low and high CPU Robots are more viable to be pit against each other in battle, we can now focus on matchmaking Parties properly, and once that’s done we can then focus on ELO. Our next update is currently scheduled for Thursday 1st December (this may change so stay tuned to the website for updates during this week) and will rework the way we match-make Parties.
REAL MATCHMAKING
I often say there are two sides to matchmaking, ‘Real matchmaking’ and ‘Perceived matchmaking’. ‘Real’ is when you actually effectively matchmake the players fairly. With Thursday's update ‘real’ matchmaking of Parties will be present in all team game modes. This is how it will work: “The total number of players in two opposing teams that are in a Party (not necessarily the same Party) will not differ by more than +/- 1” Example 1: Team 1 has 5 randoms, Team 2 has 3 randoms and 1 Party of 2 (randoms are considered as being a Party of 1). Example 2: Team 1 has a Party of 5, Team 2 has a Party of 4 plus 1 Random. Example 3: Team 1 has a Party of 5, Team 2 has a Party of 3 and a Party of 2. Now, this isn’t 100% perfect, as obviously it would be better to have the two teams exactly equal at all times, but this will ensure that the balance is a lot fairer whist not pushing queue times too high and still allowing us scope to match-make players and Parties by ELO in the next stage of development.
PERCEIVED MATCHMAKING
In our case this is all about being transparent about the matchmaking. So, we’re going to display the players that are in each Party in the loading and countdown screens at the start of battle so you can see it’s being fairly matched up. This is something we had to remove in the past due to simply not being able to match-make parties properly (due to too much subdivision) and is something we can put in now only because of the changes made in F&F.
MORE BALANCE CHANGES COMING
We’ve been listening and reading your feedback on the forums, Steam discussions, FB, Twitter, Reddit, and i’ve even been having some voice comm chats with some of the Clans (will do more of that too). The feedback has been great and is really helping us to improve the balance post-F&F. With that in mind we’ll be making some more changes for Thursdays launch. The main things we’re trying to address are:
- Reduce the friction and remove the frustrating ‘snagging’ that occurs when Robots ‘scrap’ along the side of parts of the environment
- Improve the Energy to CPU curve to try to ensure all CPUs are viable for maximum diversity
- Improve the effectiveness of mid-range Plasma and SMG so all weapons are viable for different purposes
- Increase the cooldown of the EMP Module
- We’ll be looking at Drones - having played this style a lot recently I feel a well-built Drone is overly dominant in BA at the moment and this needs to be addressed as it ultimately makes playing other styles of Robot less competitive
Time for a special Thanksgiving food themed Livestream
Come hang out with LeftofNever and Drognin along with some backup from DanSupportJammer as they battle the masses armed with nothing more than some seasonal vegetables. That's right! In the livestream we will have a world first look at seasonal vegetable support in Robocraft. Ever wanted to know what's it's like to control a tank with a tiny pumpkin, some potatoes and a leek? Tune in! We'll be showcasing some of the beautiful tanks submitted in our 'Tanksgiving' Artbot contest. To find those robots yourself on the CRF, search "DB8"! The stream will begin on Friday November 25th at 16:00 (UTC) We’ll be queue syncing so anyone in the chat is welcome to queue into battles with us on the stream! Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
For a full breakdown of the Thanksgiving event, please click here.
EVENT CHANGES:
- Double XP from Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Tuesday November 29th at 10:00 (UTC)
- 25% off all Protonium crate bundles from Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Monday November 28th at 10:00 (UTC)
- 25% off all Premium membership plans from Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Monday November 28th at 10:00 (UTC)
- Wrapped presents in salvage reward crates from Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Thursday January 5th at 10:00 (UTC)
BUG FIXES:
- An issue relating to the Robocraft client randomly displaying in the incorrect resolution on boot up has been fixed
- Fixed a bug in the CRF which displayed a 4 billion Robit cost
- Clan lists are now sorted correctly
- Using a Ghost module and Headlights while on NORMAL or lower quality settings now does not stop you from using your loadout
- Fixed an issue with Hotkeys not working for Mac and Linux users when logging in or returning to the Edit Mode from Test Mode
OTHER CHANGES:
- 20% energy cost increase to Blink Module
- 20% energy cost increase to Ghost Module
- From Thursday, all Crate Bundles of 25 and above are guaranteed to contain at least one legendary item
- Full forge cost option removed from the CRF
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Thanksgiving 2016 update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft?
Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
#RCThanksgiving2016
Tomorrow, our American chums celebrate Thanksgiving; a time for turkey dinners and giving thanks for the harvest.
For the rest of us it’s a time for frantically looking for a cut-price toaster that we don’t need in the annual Black Friday bargain hunt. While we can’t offer you a 4-slice toaster with re-heat function at a knockdown price, we CAN offer you DOUBLE XP, presents for everyone and 25% off Premium membership and Protonium crate bundles from the in-game store! We’ve got robo-bargains in abundance.
DOUBLE XP WEEKEND
We’re super-stoked to announce that from Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Tuesday November 29th at 10:00 (UTC) everyone playing Robocraft will receive double XP for their battle efforts! This means everyone will level up faster and receive level-up protonium crates quicker. This also means that Clans will receive even more Robits at the end of the current Clan Season. This weekend is an ideal opportunity to grab a stack of Robits at the end of the month – maybe it’s time to join a clan? If you’re a Premium player your double XP will be doubled again!! That’s a whole lotta XP coming your way.
BLACK FRIDAY TO CYBER MONDAY SALE
If you’re not a Premium player currently and you want to get the most from this weekend’s Double XP event, then we’ve got just the thing. From Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Monday November 28th at 10:00 (UTC) you can save 25% ON ALL Premium membership options and Salvage Crate bundles via the in-game store. We’ll also be including some Steam bundles in the promotion too (we’ll have more on this tomorrow along with a full breakdown of the savings).
PRESENTS FOR EVERYONE!
We love this time of year; nights in spent in front of a roaring fire (usually the result of taking out an opponent in Battle Arena), eating far too many mince pies and giving presents. As our way saying thanks, we’re going to shower you with presents in Robocraft. From Thursday November 24th at 12:00 (UTC) through to Thursday January 5th at 10:00 (UTC) everyone who plays Robocraft and opens a salvage reward crate has a chance of receiving one of two mystery presents.
The more crates you open, the better chance you have of finding a present and Protonium crates have the highest likelihood of containing them. Please note that the presents will remain wrapped until 12:00 (UTC) on Thursday January 5th. If really can’t wait until January to unwrap yours, you can recycle them for Robits before then.
In addition to the double XP, the presents and the digital deals going into this week’s update, we’ve squashed a few bugs and made some other changes too:
CRF CHANGES:
As part of our efforts to streamline the purchasing of robots on the CRF and to help us in preparation for our future multi-language localisation update, we will be introducing a single purchase option for all Robots in the CRF from tomorrow. With tomorrow’s Thanksgiving update the ‘full forge cost’ will no longer be an available option (see example layout below).
All Robots currently on sale in the CRF will remain so; and remember, 25% of any Robits spent when buying a Robot goes back to Robot builder.
BUG FIXES:
- An issue relating to the Robocraft client randomly displaying in the incorrect resolution on boot up has been fixed
- Fixed a bug in the CRF which displayed a 4 billion Robit cost Clan lists are now sorted correctly
- Using a Ghost module and Headlights while on NORMAL or lower quality settings now does not stop you from using your loadout
- Fixed an issue with Hotkeys not working for Mac and Linux users when logging in or returning to the Edit Mode from Test Mode
- 20% energy cost increase to Blink Module
- 20% energy cost increase to Ghost Module
- From Thursday, all Crate Bundles of 25 and above are guaranteed to contain at least one legendary item.
One of these has your name written on it. All will be revealed with this week’s update.
Some further balance changes in addition to those released earlier today. > All rails except the biggest one were buffed. >> The first buff was a reduction to the time between shots: [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/Rail-Time-1.png] >> In line with the fire rate increase, accuracy recovery was also increased: [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/Rail-Accuracy.png] >> They also received an energy cost decrease: [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/Rail-Energy.png] > Ion Distorter energy cost per shot reduced by 20% (this was applied incorrectly prior to this balance change) > Protonium damage scaling has been recalculated and balanced. >> Plasma protonium damage has been increased by 30% >> Rail protonium damage has been decreased by 25% >> Chain Shredder protonium damage has been increased by 100% (Note: Due to an earlier error, chain shredders were dealing far less damage than intended to protonium crystals) We are continuing to watch game balance very carefully. As expected, the massive changes in Robocraft from the Fast and Formidable update has caused weapon balance to change drastically but we will continue to make quick, effective improvements as the weeks continue.
On the fourth Thursday in November, our American cousins celebrate Thanksgiving; originally celebrated as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Nowadays it’s a time for getting together with family and friends, eating turkey (or vegetarian/vegan equivalent), pumpkin pie and playing copious amounts of Robocraft.
With Thanksgiving at the front of our minds, we thought long and hard about a suitable artbot contest.. What should it be? Thanksgiving food? Then we ran out of ideas and decided to play on the word Thanksgiving instead.
So for this week’s Artbot Design Contest we really want to see your ‘tanks’ (see what we did there?) From their origins in WWI to the super tanks of the future, we want you to create a tank and upload it to the Community Robot Factory (CRF). We are looking for ‘artbots’ and so don’t need to be ‘combat ready’. It can be historically accurate or way-out-there and wacky - as long as it’s a tank, we want to see it.
When designing your tanks, please ensure they have at least TWO tank tracks on them; designs with one or no tank track parts attached will not be accepted. Also, please ensure that your robot’s name starts with DB8 - this allows us to filter the submissions correctly. Again, any robot submissions whose name does not start with DB8 will be ignored and not considered.
Oh and before I forget… we have some other cool plans to celebrate Thanksgiving in Robocraft this week, so make sure you keep an eye out on Robocraftgame.com for details...
A special thanks to user Forged1212 for their awesome tank 'GDI Marv' that we used in the header image.
The Prizes:
Five winners will be chosen; each will receive either one week of premium membership or 25 protonium crates (their choice). In addition to this, an overall winner’s robot will become a ‘Featured Robot’ in the CRF (Community Robot Factory).
The Rules:
- Follow the brief
- Submissions must be your own work
- You will only be eligible to win one prize
- Competition period: Monday 21st November 2016 - 23:59 (UTC) Sunday 27th November 2016
- Entrants must design a Robot based on the given theme during the competition period
- The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into over why one Robot was picked over another
- Entrants must upload their robots to the CRF
- Your robots must include a minimum of two tank track parts.
- The term DB8 must be included at the beginning of the robot title when uploaded to the CRF
- By entering the competition you grant Freejam permission to use your design in future promotional activity.
- HAVE FUN! (this is the most important rule)
Today, we made the following balance changes to Robocraft based on player feedback: BALANCE CHANGES:
- All crystal health has been doubled.
- Owning each Tower now gives you +33% Protonivity*; this is reduced from 50%.
- Number of towers captured in BA/LA now have less effect over Protonivity escalator. 3 towers captured now double Protonivity instead of tripling it. 2 towers are x1.66 instead of x2, 1 tower is x1.33 instead of x1.Amount of Protonivity gained over time has been decreased 2.5 times
- Changes to Weapon Energy curve. The CPU/Energy curve is slightly steeper now, so 1k CPU bots have around 10% less Weapon Energy.
- Plasma maximum firerate reduced from 0.12 secs between shots to 0.2 secs between shots to reduce burst effectiveness. Please note that the damage and energy cost stay the same.
- EMP stun effect has been reduced from 7.5 secs to 5.5 secs (time to deploy EMP remains at 2 secs)
- Ion Distorter and Ion Destabiliser energy cost per shot reduced by 20%
- Power Module cool down is now 60 seconds, it was previously 120 seconds.
- Aeroflak stack now takes 1.5 seconds to accumulate, from 1.0 seconds before (damage, firerate etc stay the same
- Tesla Protonivity reduced by 25%
- Chain Shredder Protonivity reduced by 20%
- Robots now explode (essentially die) when 10% of their total CPU remains, previously this was 25%.
NEW:
- All players receive 1x Protonium crate when levelling up
- Two new starter bots in garage bays two and three (for new players only)
- New Weapon Energy meter in Edit mode
CHANGES & IMPROVEMENTS:
- Changes to player matchmaking - players will now be matchmade regardless of CPU
- Available Robot CPU increased to 2,000
- Players have all 2,000 CPU available to them regardless of player level
- Player maximum level increased from 150 to 10,000
- Re-branded the Power Booster to Weapon Energy Module (click here for additional info)
- Weapon Energy Module cooldown set to 2 minutes
- EMP trigger countdown reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds
- EMP stun duration increased from 5 seconds to 7.5 seconds
- Reduced the connection timeout duration in the waiting for battle lobby
- 10% reduction to all Nano heal rates
- Changed the rules which restrict players from recycling the starter robots. Previously cubes used on the three starter robots were "protected from recycling". Now only one, the smallest starter robot will be protected from recycling
- Increase to CPU cost and health for all Tank Tracks and Invader and Assault Rotors Blades
- Decrease Carry Mass per CPU on all Rotor Blades
- Rotors, Wings and Rudders now have their max speed affected by carrying capacity
- Tank Tracks, Mech Legs and Sprinter Legs now have limited carrying capacity (it was unlimited before)
- Wheels have had their carrying capacity increased. The numbers displayed on their thumbnails was incorrect; as a result they were decreased slightly while the actual carrying capacity was increased considerably for all the wheels
- The surface friction of all cubes has been increased a small amount, this slows ‘Rocket Sleds’ slightly whilst allowing Airplanes to take off etc. Ski’s are the lowest friction items in the game now
- The friction/grip of wheels has been increased by 20%
- Thrusters have had their max speed increased by around 30%
- Thruster maximum speed is affected by the total mass of the robot they are put on. The maximum robot mass before speed loss data shown on thruster thumbnail. If a robot’s mass is higher than the thumbnail data shown, the maximum speed will be lower. Essentially, the heavier the robot, the slower it will be
Old Data - New Data
Please note that the data changes outlined above are quite general in their summary; this is because the Fast and Formidable expansion is a very large update and we’re making final tweaks and changes to ensure the best balance possible. We will continue to make changes if necessary based on your feedback over the next few days. We will create a forum thread specifically for your feedback on this update and we’ll be opening this up for your comments on Friday.
BUGS:
- Fixed a bug that caused a player to turn invisible to everyone when another player used the Blink Module when they died
- Fixed a bug that allowed you to use the Blink Module after you died; this led to the player who killed you becoming invisible and invincible to you
- Fixed an issue with the Vanguard’s End mini-map being blurry on low resolution/quality settings
- Fixed a bug which stopped the energy bar from dynamically updating when placing a lot of blocks in quick succession
- Fixed a bug that made one of the new starter robots bounce when entering test mode for the first time
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 (UTC)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Fast and Formidable expansion.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Need something to do while we update Robocraft? Join us on our Twitch channel from 10 am (UTC) for a 'down for maintenance' live stream.
CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO THE STREAM!
CLICK HERE TO SEE WHEN THE STREAM STARTS
#FastnFormidable
Fast and Formidable Coming Tomorrow
Preview Patch notes
Tomorrow sees the launch of the Fast and Formidable expansion; our biggest expansion for Robocraft since Maximum Loadout. The Fast and Formidable expansion will feature a number of changes to the core gameplay which will improve matchmaking and add more freedom when building awesome robots. You can read more about the update in our recent Dev Jam.
Below you will find the new features, gameplay improvements and bug fixes that will be rolled out alongside the update.
NEW:
- All players receive 1x Protonium crate when levelling up
- Two new starter bots in garage bays two and three (for new players only)
- New Weapon Energy meter in Edit mode
- Changes to player matchmaking - players will now be matchmade regardless of CPU
- Available Robot CPU increased to 2,000
- Players have all 2,000 CPU available to them regardless of player level
- Player maximum level increased from 150 to 10,000
- Re-branded the Power Booster to Weapon Energy Module (click here for additional info)
- Weapon Energy Module cooldown set to 2 minutes
- EMP trigger countdown reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds
- EMP stun duration increased from 5 seconds to 7.5 seconds
- Reduced the connection timeout duration in the waiting for battle lobby 10% reduction to all Nano heal rates
- Changed the rules which restrict players from recycling the starter robots.
- Previously cubes used on the three starter robots were "protected from recycling". Now only one, the smallest starter robot will be protected from recycling
- Increase to CPU cost and health for all Tank Tracks and Invader and Assault Rotors Blades
- Decrease Carry Mass per CPU on all Rotor Blades Rotors, Wings and Rudders now have their max speed affected by carrying capacity
- Tank Tracks, Mech Legs and Sprinter Legs now have limited carrying capacity (it was unlimited before)
- Wheels have had their carrying capacity increased. The numbers displayed on their thumbnails was incorrect; as a result they were decreased slightly while the actual carrying capacity was increased considerably for all the wheels
- The surface friction of all cubes has been increased a small amount, this slows ‘Rocket Sleds’ slightly whilst allowing Airplanes to take off etc. Ski’s are the lowest friction items in the game now
- The friction/grip of wheels has been increased by 20%
- Thrusters have had their max speed increased by around 30%
- Thruster maximum speed is affected by the total mass of the robot they are put on. The maximum robot mass before speed loss data shown on thruster thumbnail. If a robot’s mass is higher than the thumbnail data shown, the maximum speed will be lower. Essentially, the heavier the robot, the slower it will be.
Please note that the data changes outlined above are quite general in their summary; this is because the Fast and Formidable expansion is a very large update and we’re making final tweaks and changes to ensure the best balance possible. We will continue to make changes if necessary based on your feedback over the next few days. We’ve created a forum thread specifically for your feedback on this update and we’ll be opening this up for your comments on Friday. BUGS:
- Fixed a bug that caused a player to turn invisible to everyone when another player used the Blink Module when they died
- Fixed a bug that allowed you to use the Blink Module after you died; this led to the player who killed you becoming invisible and invincible to you
- Fixed an issue with the Vanguard’s End mini-map being blurry on low resolution/quality settings
- Fixed a bug which stopped the energy bar from dynamically updating when placing a lot of blocks in quick succession
- Fixed a bug that made one of the new starter robots bounce when entering test mode for the first time
Activate!
With this week’s game-changing and very exciting ‘Fast and Formidable’ expansion, which you can read more about here, we will be re-branding the Power Booster from what it is currently into the ‘Weapon Energy Module’. With this post we want to give you a clear indication as to the changes coming this week. Currently, the Power Booster converts CPU into additional power giving the player a boosted 25% power regeneration rate. However, this wouldn’t work as efficiently with the new ‘CPU vs. Weapon Energy’ changes coming this week. So, we went back to the drawing board and opted to change the Power Booster from a passive (always-on) device into an active ‘Weapon Energy Module’ that is assigned a loadout slot and activated when needed.
So, how’s it going to work? Just like with any other module (Disc Shield, Blink and Ghost etc), the new ‘Weapon Energy Module’ occupies one loadout slot and once activated in battle, it delivers the user a fixed amount of weapon energy in an instant. The amount of energy given equates to 100% of the weapon energy bar on a 2,000 CPU robot and 50% of the weapon energy bar on a 500 CPU robot.
The ‘Weapon Energy Module’ stats/cost/rarity will remain the same, however it will now be subject to a 60 second cooldown. Depending on player and internal testing feedback, the cooldown rate may change.
It’s also worth noting that the ‘Weapon Energy Module’ cannot be activated if a player’s weapon energy bar is already at 100%. Additionally, the ‘Weapon Energy Module’ will not charge the weapon energy bar beyond 100% - there’s no over-clocking of the weapon energy bar here folks! We’ll wrap up all of the changes coming in the Fast and Formidable expansion in the preview patch notes coming later this week.
Hi everyone,
Mark Simmons here, Robocraft Game Director.
This week we will release our biggest Expansion for Robocraft since Maximum Loadout. It will be called ‘Fast and Formidable’ and will feature some great new changes to the core gameplay that’ll add a lot of new building freedom, new depth in building mechanics, improve matchmaking, and also address some key problems that we mentioned in Dev Jam #1. We’ll be covering some of these things in this Dev Jam, discussing the Expansion and answering questions live on our Twitch stream at 16:00 UTC today. For more info click here.
FEEDBACK ON DEV JAM #1
A huge thank you to everyone who gave feedback on the forums, Twitter, Reddit etc. on the first Dev Jam. Your feedback was awesome and shaped our next steps. For those that didn’t read the first Dev Jam, it‘s handily linked here. it's handily linked here. Many of you suggested solutions that we have adopted directly in this expansion, so I think this is an expansion that we, Freejam, and you guys, the community, have built together.
WEAPON ENERGY vs. CPU
The biggest change in this expansion is the addition of a new ‘Weapon Energy’ meter in the HUD when you are building your Robots. As you add and remove cubes and parts you will see this Weapon Energy meter going up and down. Weapon Energy is the new name for the blue bar that you see in the HUD when you are fighting (previously called ‘Power’).
The Weapon Energy starts full and represents the amount of spare energy you can commit to your weapons. Chassis, Wheels, Rotors, Thrusters, etc. all use Protonium energy in your Robot, so the more you spend on them, the less you have available for your Weapons.
We will give more detail on the numbers and the specifics of this in the full patch notes on Wednesday, but the basic idea here is:
- High CPU = Larger, tankier, more versatile (i.e. more modules and weapon types), higher DPS (if you have more weapons), more redundancy, slower top speed, less maneuverable
- Low CPU = Faster, more agile, more specialised, lower health, more Weapon Energy (more sustained damage)
Live Developer Q&A
Join Game Director Mark, Art Director Ric and Sergii our Senior Designer on Monday 14th November at 16:00 (UTC) for a live developer Q&A over on our Twitch channel. Come and join us for coffee, donuts and a round-table (actually it’s rectangle) chat about the forthcoming game-changing improvements alluded to in the recent edition of Robonews. We’ll also be playing a few rounds of Battle Arena too! If you’ve something you’d like to ask the team about the forthcoming update but aren’t available to make the stream, post your questions here and we’ll do our best to answer them. We’ll be collating all submitted questions on Monday morning so please ensure you get any questions submitted before then.
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see when the stream starts
#FastnFormidable
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
STORY:
- New Battle Arena Map - Vanguard’s End - New music for Vanguard’s End - Introduction of Map Weighting in Battle Arena, Elimination & The Pit game modes. Popular maps will now appear more frequently.
BUGS:
- Fixed a bug which caused the garage bay options to disappear after playing a game - Fixed an issue on higher screen resolutions where the end of season screen was not scaling correctly - Fixed a scaling issue with the early leaver warning at higher screen resolutions
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00 am (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the latest update Vanguard's End.
To find out more about the Vanguard's End update, click here.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Vanguard's End crash lands 11-10-2016
Tomorrow November 10th our most exciting map to date comes to Robocraft's Battle Arena mode - Vanguard's End. This large-scale map will drop players into the aftermath of an horrific spaceship crash where players must attack and defend key towers in order to secure valuable data on-board the ill-fated ESS Vanguard. Check out the preview trailer below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LpV7ZpC_6U Want to know more about the process of making maps for Robocraft? Check out our recent Dev Jam with Ric Turner, the game's Art Director. In addition to the new map, the following improvements and bug fixes will be rolled out with the update.
STORY:
- New Battle Arena Map - Vanguard’s End - New music for Vanguard’s End - Introduction of Map Weighting in Battle Arena, Elimination & The Pit game modes. Popular maps will now appear more frequently.
BUGS:
- Fixed a bug which caused the garage bay options to disappear after playing a game - Fixed an issue on higher screen resolutions where the end of season screen was not scaling correctly - Fixed a scaling issue with the early leaver warning at higher screen resolutions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LpV7ZpC_6U Introducing Robocraft’s Newest Map: Vanguard’s End After the fall of the galactic starship ‘ESS Vanguard’, a series of battles have broken out to secure the valuable data stored on-board! The new map will be released this Thursday on November 10th! Come back tomorrow for the full update patch notes! To learn more about the theory, process and creation of the Vanguard’s End map, check out this DevJam by Robocraft Art Director Rich Turner.
Hey everyone, Ric (Fat Digester) here!
I’m the Art Director here at Freejam and this is my Map Making Dev Jam. Yeah I make things sparkle, explode and shine, but I am also heavily involved in map design too; here’s my take on making a Robocraft Map.
Artists can’t design or Designers can’t make art?
Outdated stereotypes! This is a defunct view of level design in the games industry; especially on indie projects like Robocraft where the role of level art and level design is now blurred and rightly so. With over 17 years of making games I have grown to understand both roles intimately; working alongside expert designer Sergii and super-talented artist Dave, we make a strong combination that leads to a unique approach to map creation.
Why are some Robocraft maps Meh... ?
OK so lets firstly appreciate that most of the maps (apart from Earth TDM and Spitzer Damn) were all created in about 2-3 weeks from start to finish including final art; this is a ridiculously short period of time but necessary when the team is only 5-ish people strong. If we spent 2 months on level design at that stage, we would not have had a full gaming experience. When you make an indie game on a tiny budget you have to cover large ground fast and then gradually increase the level of quality once you actually have a game to play.
So how do we make better maps?
Now we have allocated 4 weeks to design and another 4 weeks to artwork, we can plan and structure our pipeline more efficiently; we can incorporate bespoke luxuries not previously allowed with smaller time-frames and we also have a lot more time to playtest and evolve a map.
The Four Key Stages of Map Design
Stage 01 - Set the stage, create a Narrative "Vanguard’s End"
I like having a brainstorm before any plan is written down to establish a thematic setting; key focal points and bespoke architecture are all important to the immersion of a level. Designer Sergii and I had toyed with the idea of creating a large integrated structure into a map for months and frequently discussed factories and facilities in Maps with the community. So the vision for the Vanguard Crash site began to emerge and we started sketching out some early concepts of the ship to help us evolve the map.
The new map is centered around a spaceship crash site, as you teleport down to the planet for the first time you will find yourself surrounded by debris from the crashed vessel: huge girders, control panels and parts of the ship's fuselage litter your spawn point. Glance to your right and you will see the nose of the ship rising out of the ground like a whale breaking the water to breath, glance to your left and you will see the mangled carcass of the aft section of the ship, huge ailerons pierce the sky and three huge thrusters dominate the view, the thrusters are extensively damaged and allow you access to the internal space within the ship, this is a very cool feeling as you drive through the thruster afterburner to access the middle Protonium tower. - Thematic excerpt from my Freejam AMA on Reddit. We wanted to cater for as many play styles as possible in this map so having a fully enclosed space wasn't an option for flyers; the idea of partially exploding the ship and allowing combat to move in, around and through its carcass seems like a fantastic concept. The smoldering wreckage would provide cover for ground units while the huge perforations in the ship's super-structure are perfect for flyers to swoop through. The beautiful thing about having a large structure in the game is that players instantly know their bearing and head straight for locations without having to navigate there.
Stage 02 - Paper Design (layout)
It's all about the maths at this stage; principally the new maps will be symmetrical to ensure a balanced experience for both teams. Symmetry is by no means a hard and fast rule for arena based map design but it does make things easier to balance. Initially there is always a choice of three primary directions from your base spawn position; we see direct routes to the two closest towers (red and blue lines) and a fast route to the enemy base (green line), the latter is essential for the end game as players must quickly traverse the entire map as quickly as possible.
The purple (Bermuda) triangle is where most of the action happens in the early game at least; players are generally moving around the map directly between towers trying to capture or defend them. Direct paths between towers are essential to allow players to react to a new situation with speed. The principle is to allow the blue base fast access to T1, medium access to the more contested tower at T2 and the longer route to capture the Furthest T3 tower. it ensures that your team must be better than the enemy to capture that more difficult 3rd tower.
Stage 03 - Grey Box
The initial realization of your design in 3D is always an exciting highlight for me; it is brilliant to see your ideas realized and hopefully a lot of the strategy we planned is carried right into the map.
Initially, we create simple representative untextured geometry in Maya (3D software) and export it into the game for the first playtest, we play the map and iterate it several times a day for about 3 whole weeks before we make any bespoke artwork for it. This type of cyclic testing is paramount in making a successful map. In the early stages we will play just 2-a-side and roleplay different strategies using a variety of play styles: I will become a flying Rail sniper and I would systematically explore all higher vantage points in the map trying to shoot Sergii and stay out of range/sight. Sergii will play ground (he’s crap in the air) and see how easy it is to find and take me down.
We will change play style and go through this process many many times over, each time we find a biased weakness in the map design we make alterations to the geometry to even out the balance. After each revision everyone involved in the playtest comes together and discusses their experiences. This is the stage key to honing the map and evolving it into a great experience for all player types.
Stage 04 - Art
Remember we have had an eye on the thematic setting from day one of this map development, so this stage is more about realizing that visual and also enhancing gameplay objectives. The Vanguard is obviously the starting point for this process and we created an concept of this ship early in the map development. The concept of the Vanguard helped us create a solid vision for the level and the superstructure of the ship is influenced by the requirements of the map design as much as the visuals. We modeled the entire Vanguard in 3D first, then fragmented it up to fit the design greybox, this process took a few weeks to finish but important not to break the design.
It's worth noting however that replacing greybox meshes with final art is dangerous; as soon as you highlight a route with smoke or maybe flickering strip-lights, you can easy emphasis key locations or break the flow of the map if you place them badly. As a result of this process, we think the Vanguard’s End map is a more immersive experience than any other Robocraft map. I think it's a great union between art and design; which is a testament to our new level design process. I could talk all day about this process and I am happy to answer any more in-depth questions you might have; I’ll be hanging out on the Robocraft forums here for the next few days. For now, I’ll leave you with a few more images from the new map. - Ric
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
STORY:
- Reverted game to pre-Hallowfest 3 event status - removal of the following:
- Halloween mothership
- Spooky in-game music during battles, in the mothership and during menus
- Pumpkin salvage crates
- Cackling skulls from Aeroflaks
- Spooky Aeroflak explosions
- Hallowfest 3 splash screen
- New mothership visuals for Premium players
- SXP cap for multiplayer games to prevent players abusing the game to get inflated high scores. Please note that the cap will not impact regular gameplay in any way
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Updated Tharsis Rift music
BUGS:
- Fixed a bug which caused the loading icon animation to move up and down
- Fixed a bug where players would get stuck on the loading screen upon playing through the tutorial two times in a row
- Fixed an issue where some players were not able to make payments on non-Steam clients
- Fixed a small text bug which showed ‘Battle Experience’ in multiple places on the end of battle screen
- Fixed an audio issue which caused the intro music to become desynced
- Fixed a bug that caused some players to receive multiple Clan Season rewards
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC).
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hous, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to revert the game back to its pre-event state. You can read the patch notes for this update here.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Tomorrow, November 3rd, our spooky Hallowfest 3 event will be leaving the Robocraft universe for another year. We hope you’ve enjoyed the eerie additions to the game during the past week and expect us to bring you more ghostly goodness in 2017.
With Hallowfest 3 ending tomorrow, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to slip in something our very talented art team have been working on. If you’re a Robocraft Premium player, you’ll notice something a bit different with your mothership - we’re giving it a bit of a make-over. Check out the comparison video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxPT_32mJfA
Along with the Premium Mothership being added tomorrow, we will also be making some other improvements and squishing a few bugs too; these are outlined in the patch notes below.
-----------PATCH NOTES-----------
STORY:
- Reverted game to pre-Hallowfest 3 event status - removal of the following:
- Halloween mothership
- Spooky in-game music during battles, in the mothership and during menus
- Pumpkin salvage crates
- Cackling skulls from Aeroflaks
- Spooky Aeroflak explosions
- New mothership visuals for Premium players
IMPROVEMENTS:
- Updated Tharis Rift music
BUGS:
- Fixed a bug which caused the loading icon animation to move up and down
- Fixed a bug where players would get stuck on the loading screen upon playing through the tutorial two times in a row
- Fixed an issue where some players were not able to make payments on non-Steam clients
- Fixed a small text bug which showed ‘Battle Experience’ in multiple places on the end of battle screen
- Fixed an audio issue which caused the intro music to become desynced
WHAT IS DEV JAM?
We wanted to use this blog segment we’re calling ‘Dev Jam’ to discuss any plans, thoughts, insights we have on Robocraft with you guys, the community; so you have a greater understanding of what drives us to makes the decisions that we do. We wanted to let you know what we’re up to and why, and to give you a chance to comment and give us feedback so we can sanity check that what we’re doing is stuff that will be good.
ROBOCRAFT IS AN ARENA GAME
Robocraft has evolved to become more of a very unique ‘Arena’ game than a ‘Sandbox’ game. When I say ‘Arena’ game, I really mean any game where the focus is two teams competing against each other, in a fixed size Arena, with well matchmade players, where one team will win and the other will lose (some games have draws too). Although Robocraft is pretty unique, it’s probably more like games like Battlefield, World of Tanks, Halo, Overwatch, Rocket League, even HOTS, LOL and DOTA2 than it is like Minecraft, Roblox, or Besieged.
GOOD MATCHMAKING
Good Arena games rely heavily on very good matchmaking to be fun. This would involve the following:
ELO
The mainstay of good matchmaking in Arena games is the ELO. ELO was invented by a guy (called ‘Arpad Elo’) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system. This system has been adopted by many Arena games to ensure that players of similar skill play together, to ensure elite players play against other elite players so they get challenging and fun gameplay, and ensure that new and less skilled players play together to protect them from getting constantly dominated by elite players (resulting in them leaving and playing another game). In some games ELO is displayed to the user in the form of a ‘Rank’ and in other games or in casual game modes it is hidden from the user but is often still used (under the hood) along with other parameters such as Player Level.
PARTY SIZE
Another thing games need to ensure is that Party sizes are matched fairly, since a Party of 5 will have a huge advantage over a team of 5 randoms. Ideally Parties would be perfectly matched, with equal size and exactly the same ELOs.
CHARACTER TYPE
A good Arena team often needs to be formed from a variety of character types that are designed to work well together, i.e. Tank, Healer, DPS is a classic. In order to have good team compositions some games do this by matchmaking Character Types to form good teams automatically, and other games pass the responsibility of forming good teams over to the players, i.e. via ‘Draft’ systems that allow players a period of time to select characters whilst seeing the selections of their team mates before the start of battles.
PLAYERS ONLINE (A PRECIOUS RESOURCE THAT MUST BE SPENT WISELY)
TYPICAL ARENA GAMES
All Arena games have a finite number of players online at any one point in time called CCU (Concurrent Users). Those players will be doing a variety of things, that subdivides the player base into ‘buckets’. Here is a little diagram showing a typical Arena game and how it subdivides its CCU:
The example above demonstrates all the online players for a typical Arena game (say HOTS or Overwatch) being subdivided as follows:
- Geo Located servers allow for low ping times for players in those regions = x3 subdivisions
- Game modes split online players between each game mode, in each Geo = 3x4 subdivisions
- Party sizes must be matched fairly, in each game mode, in each geo = 3x4x5 subdivisions
- Then ideally players wouldn’t be more than +/-100 ELO apart from each other, so with 3,400 ELO’s subdivided by 100, you get 3x4x5x34 subdivisions
- Finally, the team size dictates how many individual players you need that meet the above criteria to form a game, and in most Arena games it’s 5 vs. 5, so 3x4x5x34x10 subdivisions
ROBOCRAFT
Robocraft struggles to match-make players well as it subdivides its online audience significantly more than a typical Arena game:
We’re not happy with the way we matchmake in Robocraft at the moment. Too often Robot CPU, player skill, and Parties are not matchmade well enough. This leads to a poor game experience for everyone. The reasons for this are pretty clear when you look at the way we subdivide our audience:
- We do not have Geo Located servers, but if we did add them, players playing in USA, South America, Asia and Russia would get a better game experience, less disconnections, better ping times, less dropped packets, etc., but if we do add them right now we’d subdivide the audience even more x3
- Robocraft is unique in that it allows you to build your own Character (Robot in our case). Players spend on average around twice as much time building and testing Robots as they do in battle (mainly as building takes longer). This means that we have only 1/3rd of the audience available to battle, so we have 3x3 subdivisions
- We have 5 game modes, so 3x3x5 subdivisions
- We have CPU, and if we matchmake Robots by CPU with a difference no greater than +/-100 CPU we have 3x3x5x17 subdivisions
- We need to match Party size and ideally ELO too, so 3x3x5x17x5x34
- And we have larger team sizes also, i.e. in BA we have 8 vs. 8
- So, a grand total of 3x3x5x17x5x34x16
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Now, at this point it’s important to clarify, i’m not going to propose 7 chapters of overhauling Robocraft to fix this stuff. We’re only interested in making changes to the game that will improve it for you all and that you would in general want, but I think it's pretty clear that there isn’t much hope of good matchmaking if we don’t focus the game more and subdivide the audience in a more intelligent way than we do now.
THINGS THAT NEED TO STAY AND THINGS THAT WE COULD MAYBE CHANGE
- Geo Located servers - we don't’ have these yet, but if we are serious about making a good game we need to have them. If we want good network connectivity, low latency, less players disconnecting, low packet loss, etc. we need them
- Building, Testing and Battling with Robots - well, that is simply Robocraft. It’s our unique proposition and something you just don’t get in other Arena games, so that will never go
- ELO - If you want good matchmaking you need to match-make by ELO, it's the best way of getting players of the same skill playing together
- Parties - I think we need to ensure that Parties never have to fight against a Party more than +/-1 in size difference, otherwise the advantage/disadvantage will be too great
- CPU - Perhaps we can find a way of adding game mechanics where low CPU Robots can compete with high CPU Robots, i.e. add in some kind of mechanic where there is a reason to have both high CPU Tanks and low CPU DPS dealers in your Party or Pro team. Perhaps low CPU can mean agile, fast, high DPS, and high CPU can be slow, heavy, tanky and low DPS? Perhaps we could break the link between Player Level and CPU and give everyone max CPU and even increase the max CPU this way (since there would be pro’s and con’s to building big Robots). Any ideas you have would be great. If we can add this kind of mechanic we can almost completely remove x17 subdivisions which is like having 17x as many players online waiting in the queue
- Team Sizes - I don’t think current Battle Arena would be very good if we simply make the team's 5 vs. 5 and scaled the maps down. Typically Arena games have 3 objectives split between 5 players per team, creating a nice uneven dynamic between the two teams. BA currently has 5 objectives (3 towers and 2 bases) so too many for 5. Perhaps there is a way of sequencing the objectives or altering BA so that 5 vs 5 would be great? Maybe you have some ideas for ways to do this? I do believe that having team sizes in the game modes that match the max Party size (i.e. 5) could be a good thing, in particular in the most competitive games where two top Parties fight it out, it could be really cool, what do you think?
- Game Modes - I think having a ‘Quick Play’ mode, a ‘Ranked’ mode, a ‘Fun’ mode (like Brawl, which could contain fun variants on Elimination, The Pit, and more fun stuff in future), and a form of ‘Custom Games’ is the perfect mix. What do you think? Remember, more game modes equals worse matchmaking, so we need to be careful
- Draft - Perhaps we could add a ‘Draft pick’ or simple ‘team pick’ screen at the start of battles, so players can chose their Robot based on those in the team, so players have the responsibility to form good teams. ‘Draft pick’ would be where you could see the choices made by the other team also and could inspect their Robots perhaps? Just a thought.
Over 934 million given in Robit rewards
If you’re a regular Robocraft player and/or visitor to the Robocraftgame.com website, you’ll be aware that mid-last month we launched our latest in-game feature titled Clan Seasons. The purpose of Clans Seasons is to introduce regular, monthly rewards of additional Robits for all members of a clan. As each member participates in battles, it increases the Robits reward so the more active a clan, the more Robits everyone within receives. As Clan Seasons launched mid-month, we kicked things off with Season Zero, and as this was a short 11-day season we gave every participating player TRIPLE the Robit rewards when the season ended. This gave players the opportunity to really rack up those Robits! Please note that going forward all season payouts will be normalised and not tripled. Now, as today is November 1st, Season Zero has officially ended and Season One has started; so how much did players earn? Well, we have to admit, Seasons Zero was a phenomenal success; we paid out a total of 934,366,863 Robits to 11,549 active clans. That’s a staggering amount of Robits handed out to our players - just imagine the amount of Legendary Plasma Goliathons you could forge with that? Many players received hundreds of thousands of Robits for their hard work on the battlefields. For example all the members of the 50-strong AtlasCore Clan each received 426,813 Robits; that's enough Robits for three Legendary LOMLs.
While the members of the not-quite-full Programs_of_Argon Clan each received a very respectful 63,621 Robits.
To finish, it’s worth reiterating that in order to receive more Robits, you need to be in an active clan - so the more battles you play and the more successes in those battles, the more Robits you’ll receive at the end of the season.
CHANGES:
- Robocraft splash screen updated to correctly communicate the start of Clan Season 1
BUG FIXES:
- Robit balance immediately updated after collection of seasonal rewards
[img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2016_SketchFabWeaponDesignContestWinners_Large-1024x538.jpg] THE SKETCHFAB CONTEST HAS ENDED AND IT'S BEEN A FIESTA OF CREATIVITY! Which community is better suited to a creative competition than ours?! A community of artists. You're darn right there's none! And the Robocraft community has demonstrated just how open minded, creative and overall awesome they are with the submissions to the competition! Robocraft art director Richard Turner judged the entries himself and even offered up some kind words. "What a totally brilliant competition, the artists in the studio have been wowed by some of these designs!" We want to thank everyone who sent in their 3D designs for Halloween themed Robocraft components. We've been humbled by the inventive and spooky minds of each and every one of you! The following are the winners along with some honourable mentions! The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be contacted next week! -- 1ST PLACE -- NANO NECROMANCER BY LT_KETTCH https://sketchfab.com/models/6ee45f41bdc54139a6a62047653da871 ______________________________________________ -- 2ND PLACE -- CANDY STORM BY COVERMAN666 https://sketchfab.com/models/fa52d6c7946c4d0bbafff5a8bf9b6d27 ______________________________________________ -- 3RD PLACE -- 'GHOST' MODULE BY MRPYTHAGORAS https://sketchfab.com/models/0ae1a66e146047f3ba02013b1574a67a ______________________________________________ -- HONOURABLE MENTIONS-- Ric felt that not showing off these next four pieces would be a travesty! So behold the terror of our honourable mentions! https://sketchfab.com/models/3c9496251c0840ba90531f1cd4fc625f https://sketchfab.com/models/2ea823a751944938a700d5d8dc6299e8 https://sketchfab.com/models/9a774bda78824ec392e53656905d3050 https://sketchfab.com/models/a686893515d24a61ab944f4357bc7d81
UPDATE: This planned maintenance has been delayed until 11:00am (UTC+1). Robocraft servers are expected to be unavailable for 1 hour.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix to the recent Hallowfest 3 Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2643743,524901,5128481,1850147&h=2643743&date=2016-9-16&sln=10-11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRu55AY2K4E ———–HALLOWFEST———– Hallowfest has once again corrupted the Robocraft world! From October, Thursday 27th until November, Thursday 3rd the following changes will be in the game: > New mothership with eerie portraits, pumpkins, bats and more… are those eyes following me? > New music during battles, in the mothership and during menus. > New pumpkin salvage crates to get you in the mood! > The Aeroflak now shoots cackling skulls! > The Aeroflak explosions have… there’s something off about them… ———–FLAK REWORK———– Having collected a lot of player feedback, we found Flak had a number of issues surrounding how it worked functionally as well as it not being fun to use or play against. However simply changing numbers such as damage or power consumption wouldn’t resolve these issues. Here’s the changes: > Aeroflak fire rate has been increased and the damage has been reduced accordingly so there was no increase in damage per second (DPS). > Aeroflak weapons that hit enemies who are mid-air (whether flying or jumping) causes the flak’s user to gain a stack of a damage buff. Each stack causes the > Aeroflak to deal more damage. At zero stacks, the Aeroflak will be dealing only half as much DPS compared to pre-update, but at 10 stacks it will be dealing 3.5x more DPS than it was pre-update. > A player who fails to shoot any mid-air robots for one second will lose all of their damage buff stacks and will have to stack them again to get back to dealing a lot of damage. > The Aeroflak user’s damage buff stacks are visible as a graphic surrounding the targeting reticule. > The Aeroflak’s explosion visuals and audio become more intense as it goes from zero to 10 stacks. Dev Notes: Previously, if the Aeroflak damage was too high it was able to destroy any flyers with no room for counterplay, and if it was too low it could be ignored. With the stacking mechanic, a player has time to get out of line-of-sight of a flak because the first few shots will deal very little damage. However if a flyer remains in line-of-sight and continues to get shot by an Aeroflak, they will be destroyed. This combined with the stack drop-off makes Aeroflak a very strong and highly rewarding anti-air weapon but gives exceptional players trying to defeat an Aeroflak from the air an opportunity to out play them. In testing we also found that the difference between having one Aeroflak Guardian and two was huge because of the time it takes for a solo-flyer to disarm them. When backed by their team, a player utilizing twin Aeroflak Guardians can be the focal point for a battle against a high number of flyers, whether traditional helicopters, traditional planes or drones. ———–BUG FIXES———– > Fixed a bug where weapon placements that brought up the loadout screen would sometimes mirror incorrectly. > Fixed a bug which would cause thrusters to constantly make noise as though they were active, even when they weren’t. > Fixed a bug which could occasionally cause robots to lose the ability to move when one of their Tank Tracks were shot off. > Fixed a bug which would cause various issues when creating a new clan with a space in it’s name, or with a period at the start or end. > Fixed a bug which was causing the SXP earned by a player to apply to the total XP of a clan he was invited to, but had not yet joined. > Fixed a bug which was causing Protonivity bonuses in BA to be applied incorrectly.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1) today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Hallowfest 3 content! To learn more about this update, please see this link: http://robocraftgame.com/hallowfest-coming-tomorrow/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRu55AY2K4E Coming tomorrow in the Halloween update you can find a whole load of themed content and some new major changes! ———–HALLOWFEST———– Hallowfest has once again corrupted the Robocraft world! From October, Thursday 27th until November, Thursday 3rd the following changes will be in the game: > New mothership with eerie portraits, pumpkins, bats and more… are those eyes following me? > New music during battles, in the mothership and during menus. > New pumpkin salvage crates to get you in the mood! > The Aeroflak now shoots cackling skulls! > The Aeroflak explosions have… there’s something off about them… ———–FLAK REWORK———– Having collected a lot of player feedback, we found Flak had a number of issues surrounding how it worked functionally as well as it not being fun to use or play against. However simply changing numbers such as damage or power consumption wouldn’t resolve these issues. Here’s the changes: > Aeroflak fire rate has been increased and the damage has been reduced accordingly so there was no increase in damage per second (DPS). > Aeroflak weapons that hit enemies who are mid-air (whether flying or jumping) causes the flak’s user to gain a stack of a damage buff. Each stack causes the > Aeroflak to deal more damage. At zero stacks, the Aeroflak will be dealing only half as much DPS compared to pre-update, but at 10 stacks it will be dealing 3.5x more DPS than it was pre-update. > A player who fails to shoot any mid-air robots for one second will lose all of their damage buff stacks and will have to stack them again to get back to dealing a lot of damage. > The Aeroflak user’s damage buff stacks are visible as a graphic surrounding the targeting reticule. > The Aeroflak’s explosion visuals and audio become more intense as it goes from zero to 10 stacks. Dev Notes: Previously, if the Aeroflak damage was too high it was able to destroy any flyers with no room for counterplay, and if it was too low it could be ignored. With the stacking mechanic, a player has time to get out of line-of-sight of a flak because the first few shots will deal very little damage. However if a flyer remains in line-of-sight and continues to get shot by an Aeroflak, they will be destroyed. This combined with the stack drop-off makes Aeroflak a very strong and highly rewarding anti-air weapon but gives exceptional players trying to defeat an Aeroflak from the air an opportunity to out play them. In testing we also found that the difference between having one Aeroflak Guardian and two was huge because of the time it takes for a solo-flyer to disarm them. When backed by their team, a player utilizing twin Aeroflak Guardians can be the focal point for a battle against a high number of flyers, whether traditional helicopters, traditional planes or drones. ———–BUG FIXES———– > Fixed a bug where weapon placements that brought up the loadout screen would sometimes mirror incorrectly. > Fixed a bug which would cause thrusters to constantly make noise as though they were active, even when they weren’t. > Fixed a bug which could occasionally cause robots to lose the ability to move when one of their Tank Tracks were shot off. > Fixed a bug which would cause various issues when creating a new clan with a space in it’s name, or with a period at the start or end. > Fixed a bug which was causing the SXP earned by a player to apply to the total XP of a clan he was invited to, but had not yet joined. > Fixed a bug which was causing Protonivity bonuses in BA to be applied incorrectly.
Back on the press from Robonews, the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service! [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/Robonews_Halloween-768x1394.jpg]
Like a trick-or-treater emerging suddenly from the shadows, today we’ve sneakily launched the Robocraft Spooky Bundle on Steam! This gigantic pack includes 25 Protonium Crates, 30 Days Premium and lots of Halloween-themed cosmetics and is currently available for the introductory price of £8.99 / $14.99 (USD) / €11.99. That’s 40% off the regular price! http://store.steampowered.com/app/545090
Robocraft servers will be offline from 10am - 11am (UTC+1), while a small hotfix is deployed.
For more information, please visit http://www.Robocraftgame.com
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of ghosts and ghouls making their way to Robocraft in a special Halloween event later this week.
We’re not ready to reveal the details of this update liberally sprinkled with Pumpkin Spice quite yet, but we’re more than happy to share with you one of the awesome new tracks from our audio supremo, Simone Cicconi.
Feast your ears on a new audio track by visiting the official Robocraft website: http://robocraftgame.com/halloween-is-almost-upon-us/
The Robocraft servers have recovered from the earlier issues and are back up! Happy Gaming!
The Robocraft servers have recovered from the earlier issues and are back up! Happy Gaming!
Robocraft is currently having login issues due to what appears to be DDoS attacks against many major companies, including our server hosts. We are doing everything in our power to get the servers back up as soon as possible. However there's currently no ETA on when that might be. We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue that sometimes caused players to get stuck in a multiplayer game once the game ended.
- Fixed a visual bug on the Battle Experience screen that showed the party bonus as "up to +500" instead of "up to 50%"
- Fixed a visual bug on the Battle Experience screen that showed an already level 150 player, going past level 150 if they received no XP during a game.
- Fixed an intermittent issue where the Battle Experience screen did not appear at end of battles.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1).
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix to the recent Cash of Clans update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Cash of Clans update is now live!
-------------------- NEW --------------------
- New end of battle (EOB) summary screen added.
EOB screen displays the following:
- Your current personal XP for the season (SXP)
- Current player level (and XP requirement gauge for next level)
- Clan Total XP (TXP) - only displayed to those players in a clan
- Battle Experience earned
- Party Bonus XP earned for those players in a party
- Premium Bonus XP earned - Premium members receive 2x XP
- New Clan Widget:
- All clan members Personal SXP (Season XP) added to Clan Widget
- Clan TXP (Total XP) added to clan widget - This is the running total of all Clan members SXP during the current season.
- End of Season Reward summary screen added:
- Robits are added to clan member accounts at the end of each season. The amount of Clan Total XP (TXP) earned is converted into Robits
-------------------- BALANCE --------------------
- Laser, Plasma, Rail and Nano fire rate have been reduced at lower gun counts, but the maximum number of guns necessary for full attack speed hasn’t changed.
- E.g. Laser Distintegrator gains its maximum benefit at 4 guns. This is still the case but having only 1 gun now shoots considerably slower than before, but having 3 guns only shoots slightly slower than before. Having 4 guns shoots at exactly the same fire rate as before.
- Note: You can click the names of the weapons above to view charts showing the data for the biggest and smallest of each of their categories, and how the changes will impact them.
- Note: These changes only apply to laser/plasma/rail/nano of 30 CPU and below. So it doesn't impact the 'mega' versions of these weapons such as the Leviathan and Goliathon.
- Cause players to dedicate more CPU into laser, plasma, rail and nano in order to gain the same benefit.
- Increase the importance of shooting off weapons first as their fire rate will drop more rapidly than before as each one is shot off.
- Offer deeper decision making opportunities as building generalist robots will be weaker.
- Increase the effectiveness of using specalized and diversified robots when in platoons, rather than all playing generalist roles.
- Rotor Blade Recon and Rotor Blade Invader have had their flight height reduced to match the Rotor Blade Assault.
-------------------- CHANGES --------------------
- Changes to Premium prices and discounts in pound sterling.
- Character limit for clans and usernames changed to 32.
- Clan Tab updated to clearly display the changes made by the Clans Seasons Update.
-------------------- BUG FIXES --------------------
- Fixed a bug with the reload sound effect for Rocket launchers.
- Fixed a bug which caused game servers to stall for up to an hour if they fail to load game settings.
- Fixed a bug where "Remove robot from the CRF" dialogue box was empty.
- Fixed a visual bug relating to a clan disbandment while you have a pending invite from them.
- Fixed an issue where the top HUD menu disappeared after the appearance of certain screens.
- Fixed a bug where the 'enable vertical strafing' box was unticked after making edits to the bot and entering battle.
- Fixed an issue where Searching clans failed when trying to load more clans more than seven times.
- Fixed an issue where it was possible to lose the mouse cursor and not be able to get it back.
- Fixed an audio issue where if you received a party invite and returned from a game or from another scene, you heard the sound effect again.
- Fixed an issue when a friend request is accepted by both users in game (via the TAB screen) there is no "user has come online" message.
- Fixed an issue where tower crystals would sometimes not fully display when a fusion tower was captured.
- Fixed a visual bug where the 'earth geo orbit' loading screen gets garbled just before transitioning to the menu.
- Made the ‘invite only’ message in the clan widget consistent throughout.
- Fixed a bug where users could see messages from players they had blocked.
- Fixed a rare issue with inviting the 50th member to a clan.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the new Cash of Clans update. For more information on the update, click here.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/CashOfClansUpdate_20Oct_Large-1024x531.jpg] Our latest update, Cash of Clans comes to Robocraft tomorrow, bringing with it an exciting new way of rewarding you for your hard-fought battles. In this week’s update we will be implementing a new system which we’re calling ‘Clan Seasons’. The purpose of Clan Seasons is to introduce regular, monthly rewards of additional Robits for all members of a clan. As each member participates in battles, it increases the Robits reward so the more active a clan, the more Robits everyone within receives. For more info on how Clans Seasons will work, check out our deep dive. SEASON ZERO STARTS TOMORROW! Season Zero is a short 11 day Season ending on October 31st and will provide players with TRIPLE Robit rewards! Clan Seasons isn’t the only new thing being added to Robocraft this week; here’s what else you can expect to find. -------------------- NEW -------------------- > New end of battle (EOB) summary screen added. [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/Updated_SummaryBG-1-1024x574.png] EOB screen displays the following: > Your current personal XP for the season (SXP) > Current player level (and XP requirement gauge for next level) > Clan Total XP (TXP) - only displayed to those players in a clan > Battle Experience earned > Party Bonus XP earned for those players in a party > Premium Bonus XP earned - Premium members receive 2x XP > New Clan Widget: [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/TXP-1.jpg] > All clan members Personal SXP (Season XP) added to Clan Widget > Clan TXP (Total XP) added to clan widget - This is the running total of all Clan members SXP during the current season. > End of Season Reward summary screen added: [img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/OrcunScreenNew2-1024x565.png] > Robits are added to clan member accounts at the end of each season. The amount of Clan Total XP (TXP) earned is converted into Robits -------------------- BALANCE -------------------- > Laser, Plasma, Rail and Nano fire rate have been reduced at lower gun counts, but the maximum number of guns necessary for full attack speed hasn’t changed. E.g. Laser Distintegrator gains its maximum benefit at 4 guns. This is still the case but having only 1 gun now shoots considerably slower than before, but having 3 guns only shoots slightly slower than before. Having 4 guns shoots at exactly the same fire rate as before. Why? As some of our veterans may remember, there was a period where Robocraft battles were filled almost entirely with gunbeds. Gunbeds are robots which are little more than bricks covered in lasers or plasma. They aren’t particularly creative or pretty, but they were very strong so a lot of players used them which overall stunted building creativity and robot diversity. To resolve this, we reduced the number of guns of one type necessary to deal high damage, but this in combination with the introduction of Loadouts has allowed players to have ‘swiss army knife’ robots which can have a few lasers, plasma, rail and/or nano with a majority of the benefit without having to dedicate too much CPU into each. We expect these changes to improve the situation in the following areas: > Cause players to dedicate more CPU into laser, plasma, rail and nano in order to gain the same benefit. > Increase the importance of shooting off weapons first as their fire rate will drop more rapidly than before as each one is shot off. > Offer deeper decision making opportunities as building generalist robots will be weaker. > Increase the effectiveness of using specalized and diversified robots when in platoons, rather than all playing generalist roles. Although we don’t believe the above goals will be achieved perfectly, this is but one step towards improving the value of building in Robocraft, and the diversity of robots on the battlefield. We will continue to make changes in the future as part of these efforts. We will provide more exact data of the changes once the update goes live tomorrow. Other Balance: > Rotor Blade Recon and Rotor Blade Invader have had their flight height reduced to match the Rotor Blade Assault. -------------------- CHANGES -------------------- > Changes to Premium prices and discounts in pound sterling. > Character limit for clans and usernames changed to 32. > Clan Tab updated to clearly display the changes made by the Clans Seasons Update. -------------------- BUG FIXES -------------------- > Fixed a bug with the reload sound effect for Rocket launchers. > Fixed a bug which caused game servers to stall for up to an hour if they fail to load game settings. > Fixed a bug where "Remove robot from the CRF" dialogue box was empty. > Fixed a visual bug relating to a clan disbandment while you have a pending invite from them. > Fixed an issue where the top HUD menu disappeared after the appearance of certain screens. > Fixed a bug where the 'enable vertical strafing' box was unticked after making edits to the bot and entering battle. > Fixed an issue where Searching clans failed when trying to load more clans more than seven times. > Fixed an issue where it was possible to lose the mouse cursor and not be able to get it back. > Fixed an audio issue where if you received a party invite and returned from a game or from another scene, you heard the sound effect again. > Fixed an issue when a friend request is accepted by both users in game (via the TAB screen) there is no "user has come online" message. > Fixed an issue where tower crystals would sometimes not fully display when a fusion tower was captured. > Fixed a visual bug where the 'earth geo orbit' loading screen gets garbled just before transitioning to the menu. > Made the ‘invite only’ message in the clan widget consistent throughout. > Fixed a bug where users could see messages from players they had blocked. > Fixed a rare issue with inviting the 50th member to a clan.
Coming later this week, Clan Seasons!
As part of our efforts to reward players for banding together in clans, this week’s update will implement a new system which we’re calling ‘Clan Seasons’. The purpose of Clan Seasons is to introduce regular, monthly rewards of additional robits for all members of a clan. As each member participates in battles, it increases the robits reward so the more active a clan, the more robits everyone within receives. So how does this work? Just like for leveling, players in a clan accumulate a Season XP while participating in battles; typically by burning an enemy player to a cinder, healing up an ally, or taking objectives; this is referred to as SXP. At the end of each battle, any SXP earned is added to your Clan's XP total for the current season. This is referred to as TXP (it's your clans Total XP). At the end of the season this TXP determines how many robits each member of the clan receives. But how do seasons function?
Clan seasons will be one month in duration, starting on the 1st and ending on the last day of the same month. Once a season has ended, the next time a player logs in they will be taken to a special screen which shows all the stats for the last season such as total TXP earned and total robits earned. They will then receive their seasonal reward. As the Cash of Clans update is launching this week, in the middle of a month, we’ll be starting with Season 0. It will be a short season that only lasts until the end of October. However all TXP based robits rewards will be tripled for this period. Then, from November 1st onwards we will begin Season 1 and continue on a monthly cycle. But how many robits will you earn? Roughly speaking, if every player in a 50 person clan plays Robocraft for one hour a day, at the end of the season each of those players will earn enough robits to forge a legendary component. There are a few more important things to note about Clan Seasons as well. Firstly, players with premium earn twice as much XP as players without premium, which means they will contribute twice as much to the TXP of the clan, and thus provide more robits for themselves and their clan mates. Furthermore, players who have not contributed to the clan’s TXP in a given month won’t receive a share of the clan-wide robits reward. You reap what you sow and all that.
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
Welcome back to another community spotlight! This time we'll be interviewing the hilarious Gromek999!
Gromek's been a member of our community for some time and has been creating Robocraft videos for just over a year!
He soon became one of the community's favourite entertainers, with players shouting his name whenever they see him in battle!
But you've likely come here to listen to him, not me. So without further delay, here's Gromek999!
1. Who are you and what do you do?
I am Gromek999 and I do Robocraft Youtube videos. In real life I am 20 years old, soon to be 21 this November. I live in Denmark and I am currently studying Automation technologist (directly translated from Danish). I live with my girlfriend whom I have been with for 4 years now and so far, it is an awesome experience. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
2. What types of videos do you make?
I do short comedy based Robocraft videos, usually 1 or 2 a week. Occasionally I will do a video on a different game, but for the most part it is just Robocraft content. Usually I will do videos on new Robocraft updates, funny compilations or other crazy memes.
3. What playstyles do you enjoy in Robocraft?
I really enjoy mechs, and now that sprinter legs are out I have even more options to make leg based robots. It is especially fun to have a medic around to heal me while I use my shredder to tear robots apart. https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=nZpVOLJq_Xg Watch Gromek999's first encounters with the new sprinter legs!
4. Do you have a robot you made that you’re particularly proud of? Is it on the CRF?
I really like my “2 Fast 2 Quick” robot, it starred in one of my most popular videos and is really something else. It has had several different iterations and many… many spinoffs. Certainly one of the bots that has given me most fun in this game. If you don’t know what robot it is I recommend you watch my video I did along with Jac733 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-TPsnTaeaM Or you can get it straight off CRF as “2 Fast 2 Quick” by me Gromek999.
5. Did you have any inspiration before you started your channel that might have lent to your style of videos?
My channel has existed for a long time by now, way before I made videos (currently I am subscribed to 900+ people) and over the time it has existed I have adapted a certain type of humor I really enjoy watching and making. If I were to mention a few Youtubers who has really inspired me it would probably be Criken2, JonTronShow, Kitty0706, SovietWomble, Jerma985, Star_ and even Jac733 who has a similar style of videos to me and we’ve collaborated a few times. I highly encourage you to check these people out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM02c3SmVqU Gromek999 teaches Robocrafters how to be edgy
6. If you could have any one thing added to Robocraft, what would it be?
Danish flag or a bee reskin for the Protoseeker
7. Where can people follow you? Link your Twitter, Youtube and any other social media you use!
- You can find me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gromek888
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/gromek999
- Steam group where you can post or ask me anything: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Gromek999
8. Anything else you'd like to say?
I want to give a shoutout to Bobdabiscuit and Jac733 who was in an intense battle with me for the first to 10 teslakills. Lastly, thanks to anyone and everyone who has supported me and continues to do so. It means a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhLnKklaJVo The battle between Bobdabiscuit, Jac733 and Gromek. Warning: Although bleeped, Bobdabiscuit couldn't help but fill this video with profanity throughout.
Respected PC hardware manufacturer Alienware are celebrating 20 years of building kick-ass gaming machines and to honour this momentous occasion, we’ve created a very special Alienware-themed Robocraft bundle.
From now until December 10, 2016 (or until we run out of codes), you can claim a free promo code to grab an Alienware birthday bundle containing the following items:
- Alienware mask cosmetic with new glow effects and lasers
- Special commemorative Alienware 20 Years Holoflag
- Six Protonium Salvage Crates
Grabbing your personal promo code is easy; all you need to do is visit AlienwareArena.com, create an account or log-into an existing account, find the Robocraft bundle here and click ‘Get Key’. Please note that there are a limited number of keys available, and so act fast to avoid disappointment.
For instructions on how to redeem codes in-game, visit the Robocraft website: http://robocraftgame.com/how-to-activate-giveaway-codes/
If you’re unlucky and you don’t manage to grab a code, or you want more flags and masks, you can find both of the items in the Robocraft forge where you can use your Robits to create them.
So join us in wishing Alienware a very happy birthday; here’s to another glorious 20 years (raises virtual glass).
If you’re having problems registering for a key on Alienware’s giveaway page, please try again later in the day.
NEW:
- Added a new cosmetic flag to celebrate Alienware's 20th anniversary
- Added a new Alienware mask with new visual effects. This mask replaces the old Alienware mask and can be found in the forge. More information on this new cosmetic will be released later on Robocraftgame.com
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug that caused a blocked player to not be removed from your friends list
- Fixed a visual bug that didn't remove the premium 3x recycle rate when premium had expired
- Fixed a bug that caused the pause menu to appear while pressing ESC in the leave party/change avatar pop-up menu screen
- Whispering a player is no longer case sensitive
- Early leaver warning in Elimination has been removed
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to address some bugs and add a new promotional cosmetic to Robocraft.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Thanks to the kindness of Robocraft fans around the world, over $14,000 has been raised for the video game charity, The AbleGamers Foundation.
Your amazing generosity will help AbleGamers to continue their fantastic work in helping gamers with disabilities enjoy the hobby they love.
In medical facilities, care centers and rehabilitation units all around America, AbleGamers is installing assistive technologies from their Expansion Pack program. Through your purchase of the AbleGamers bundle on Steam, the money raised will help deliver an entire package of assistive gaming technologies to those with difficulties. Costing between $10,000 - $20,000, these gaming technologies include eye gaze technology, mouth controllers, voice operated games and custom-made setups for people with severe physical disabilities.
AbleGamers Expansion Packs are critical to the mission of equipping every gamer with limitations a specialized controller so they can play as efficiently as possible and your money allows them to ship out another Expansion Pack to more gamers in need.
If you haven’t purchased the AbleGamers bundle and you’d like to support this awesome charity, or you wish to purchase it as a gift for a friend, you can do so here. Alternatively, if you’d like to make a donation to AbleGamers, you can here.
We are incredibly proud of you for supporting such a worthwhile cause. Thank you! You officially ROCK!
For more information about AbleGamer’s programs, please visit www.ablegamers.com.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue where a player would see a garbled maintenance message while attempting to login via the launcher when the game is in Maintenance.
- Fixed an issue with the text being in the wrong position on the award screen.
- Fixed an issue with pending invites refreshing.
- Fixed an issue with 'pending' invitees to a clan appearing in the wrong tab.
- Fixed an issue with the last item in your inventory being cropped at the bottom.
- Fixed a server error issue when the leader of an established party tries to invite a player who is already in an established party.
- Improved the chat window; making it more readable to players.
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to access the old social screen through via a hotkey.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to allow us to hotfix yesterday's Clan Party Update.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
CLAN PARTY - 0.13.1806
NEW PARTY SYSTEM
- Fancy new party widget gives you all the info you need about your party!
- The party widget shows you when an invited player is yet to accept your invitation, has accepted it and joined, and when they’re queued up for a battle!
- Party events such as being invited or members joining will now appear in your chat panel!
- You can now invite players to a party by right clicking their name in your friends list or clan list
- The fourth and fifth party slots are no longer locked behind premium! Everyone and anyone can get into 5-person parties whenever they want!!!
PREMIUM CHANGES
- Recycle rates are increased by 3x while you have Premium
- The 6-month option for premium has been replaced with the Life Time option and is priced at $49.99 (USD) / £34.99 (GBP) / €44.99 (EUR). That's right! *TV Sales Voice* For the low low price of $49.99 you can have premium forever onward!
STEAM TRADING CARDS
- Don't know what Steam Trading Cards are? First click here to learn more about them!
- Robocraft's Steam Trading Cards system will include:
- 8 Trading Cards
- 6 Backgrounds
- 10 Emoticons
- 6 Badges
- As Robocraft is a F2P game, you will earn Trading Cards by spending money in-game (one badge per ~$9 according to Steam's official FAQ)
- Important note: This will only include money spent through the steam wallet. Any purchases made without the Steam wallet will not help you progress towards a Trading Card.
IMPROVEMENTS
- You can now right click on your own avatar to change it
- Several general party optimizations
- Polished and optimized the salvage crate drop screen
- Improved Mech Leg LoDs
- Many players were unaware that you can edit a clan’s description if you’re a high enough rank, so a visual element has been added to make it more apparent
- Improvements have been made to make chat more easily readable
- Tutorial arrows are now animated!
BUG FIXES
- You can now right click on your own avatar to change it
- Fixed a bug which obscured some salvage crates when using 800x600 resolution
- Fixed a bug which caused the chat panel at the end of a battle to become faded, forcing you to re-click it to send messages
- Fixed a bug which stopped players in the Pit from being removed from the scoreboard when they left the battle early
- Fixed a bug which would on rare occasions cause mech legs to… detach from themselves and fall apart
- Fixed a bug which caused the CRF button to remain white after purchasing a robot
- Fixed a bug which caused the error message “You have no bot” if you attempted to join a battle while viewing a robot in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which caused players to move through terrain as though it had no collision if they died while blinking
- Fixed the Chain Shredder’s connection points, as one of them wasn’t a ‘real’ connection point
- Fixed the Dwarf Spike Plate’s glow color
- Fixed a bug which caused the blinking chat cursor to appear within the channel name when joining or leaving a channel
- Fixed a bug which left the Clan chat channel available after leaving a clan
- Fixed a bug which failed to display the red ! when invited to a clan, if you were offline at the time of the invite
- Fixed a bug which caused Sprinter Legs to sink into the ground when used with Insect Legs… for whatever reason you might be doing that. You do you
- Fixed a bug which caused robots with both versions of the Sprinter Leg to lose their ability to forward-leap
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to two hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to allow us to deploy the new Robocraft expansion - Clan Party! For more information on the Clan Party expansion, click here.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
It's Party Time! Excellent!
Coming tomorrow is the new Clan Party update, along with some of the biggest quality of life improvements in Robocraft to date! All the frustrations you may have previously felt when partying up with friends have been addressed and the entire process has become a lot smoother! There's also some great extras in there too, like some major improvements to the Premium system and even our own set of Steam Trading Cards! So grab your buddies and get ready to party!
NEW PARTY SYSTEM
- Fancy new party widget gives you all the info you need about your party!
- The party widget shows you when an invited player is yet to accept your invitation, has accepted it and joined, and when they’re queued up for a battle!
- Party events such as being invited or members joining will now appear in your chat panel!
- You can now invite players to a party by right clicking their name in your friends list or clan list
- The fourth and fifth party slots are no longer locked behind premium! Everyone and anyone can get into 5-person parties when ever they want!!!
PREMIUM CHANGES
- Recycle rates are increased by 3x while you have Premium
- The 6-month option for premium has been replaced with the Life Time option and is priced at $49.99 (USD) / £34.99 (GBP) / €44.99 (EUR). That's right! *TV Sales Voice* For the low low price of $49.99 you can have premium forever onward!
STEAM TRADING CARDS
- Don't know what Steam Trading Cards are? First click here to learn more about them!
- Robocraft's Steam Trading Cards system will include:
- 8 Trading Cards
- 6 Backgrounds
- 10 Emoticons
- 6 Badges
- As Robocraft is a F2P game, you will earn Trading Cards by spending money in-game (one badge per ~$9 according to Steam's official FAQ)
- Important note: This will only include money spent through the steam wallet. Any purchases made without the Steam wallet will not help you progress towards a Trading Card.
IMPROVEMENTS
- You can now right click on your own avatar to change it
- Several general party optimizations
- Polished and optimized the salvage crate drop screen
- Improved Mech Leg LoDs
- Many players were unaware that you can edit a clan’s description if you’re a high enough rank, so a visual element has been added to make it more apparent
- Improvements have been made to make chat more easily readable
- Tutorial arrows are now animated!
BUG FIXES
- You can now right click on your own avatar to change it
- Fixed a bug which obscured some salvage crates when using 800x600 resolution
- Fixed a bug which caused the chat panel at the end of a battle to become faded, forcing you to re-click it to send messages
- Fixed a bug which stopped players in the Pit from being removed from the scoreboard when they left the battle early
- Fixed a bug which would on rare occasions cause mech legs to… detach from themselves and fall apart
- Fixed a bug which caused the CRF button to remain white after purchasing a robot
- Fixed a bug which caused the error message “You have no bot” if you attempted to join a battle while viewing a robot in the CRF
- Fixed a bug which caused players to move through terrain as though it had no collision if they died while blinking
- Fixed the Chain Shredder’s connection points, as one of them wasn’t a ‘real’ connection point
- Fixed the Dwarf Spike Plate’s glow color
- Fixed a bug which caused the blinking chat cursor to appear within the channel name when joining or leaving a channel
- Fixed a bug which left the Clan chat channel available after leaving a clan
- Fixed a bug which failed to display the red ! when invited to a clan, if you were offline at the time of the invite
- Fixed a bug which caused Sprinter Legs to sink into the ground when used with Insect Legs… for whatever reason you might be doing that. You do you
- Fixed a bug which caused robots with both versions of the Sprinter Leg to lose their ability to forward-leap
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
Hey everyone, Mark here!
For those who don’t know me, I’m the Game Director for Robocraft and CEO here at Freejam. I wanted to share with you news regarding some exciting changes to our Premium offering that will be coming later this week alongside our Clan Party update (we’ll reveal more about this in the coming days).
Currently, when you buy Premium you receive the following benefits:
- Double experience points (XP) which allows you to level up twice as fast in-game
- Receive all items from a salvage crate
- Gain access to the full palette of 16 colours instead of the standard four
- Two additional Platoon/Party slots.
- Upload your own personal profile picture
These are all great but we wanted to give you guys, the ones who continue to support Robocraft’s development through the purchase of Premium, something more. So, we thought long and hard about how we could make Premium more beneficial to our players - giving them the freedom to create totally bad-ass robots.
So, we’re really excited to announce that with the release of the Clan Party update later this week, we’ll be making the following changes to Premium:
- Triple recycle rates for Premium players
- Introduction of a Premium for life option for $49.99/ £34.99 / EUR 44.99
- Removal of six month Premium option
- All 5 Party Slots are now free for everyone!
Triple Recycle Rates - A common complaint we hear is the feeling that you’re not receiving due rewards for the recycling of parts in Robocraft. Your screams and shouts of ‘the recycle rates are too low’ and ‘stop with the grind to forge x’ is testament to that. We hear you loud and clear! We also hear a lot of chatter stating that our recycle rates are 10%; when in truth they vary between 10% and 40% dependent on the class of item you’re recycling.
So, this week we will introduce triple recycle rates across all premium packages. Regardless of whether you buy one-day, one-week or one-month - you’ll receive triple the base recycle rate whilst your Premium membership is active.
As a result of rewarding our premium players with triple recycle rates and to prevent systematic abuse of the in-game economy, we will be dropping the base recycle rate for ‘Epic’ items from 40% to 25%. this is inline with rare and legendary items. In order to compensate you for the drop in the ‘Epic’ item recycle rate, we will be increasing the drop rate - so the chances of obtaining more ‘Epic’ items will increase.
Lifetime Premium added - This is something that many of you have asked for; the ability to support the development of Robocraft in a single payment. After some initial A/B testing with our new players, we’re pleased to be able to offer this to all our players, both old and new.
The Lifetime Premium package is priced the same as the six month package ($49.99/ £34.99 / EUR 44.99) and so we’ll be removing the six month package with the Clan Party update this week. What does this mean for those that have recently purchased a six month Premium package? Well, we want to ensure that those players don’t feel ripped off and so if any player who has purchased a six month Premium package within the last month contacts us via Technical Support, we’ll appropriately compensate them with Lifetime Premium.
Two additional Party slots free for everyone! This means you can create your full platoon of five members without spending any money. We know this is something many of you guys have asked for and so we’re happy to be able to fulfil that request.
Thanks for reading and a big thank you for your continued support and dedication to Robocraft.
We’ll have more information about the Clan Party update later today...
- Mark
Sprinter Legs - 0.13.1793
New Movement Components:
- Sprinter Legs - A fast moving, lower-armored variant of the pre-existing Mech Legs. They offer far greater mobility, speed and additional jump functionality, but are ill-equipped to deal with massive sustained fire like their far thicker counterparts.
- Sprinter Leg Hermes:
- - Rarity | Epic- Health | 144060
- - Robot CPU Load | 98 pFlops
- - Mass | 2400.0kg
- - Max Speed | 174 mph
- - Jump Height | 120 metres
- - Forge Cost | 24,500 robits
- Sprinter Leg Perseus:
- - Rarity | Rare- Health | 73500
- - Robot CPU Load | 50 pFlops
- - Mass | 1900.0kg
- - Max Speed | 152 mph
- - Jump Height | 90 metres
- - Forge Cost | 5,000 robits
- Sprinter Leg Hermes:
Other Changes:
- The following UI elements / actions now have sound effects attached:
- Right clicking a player in the social panels
- Mousing over a player in the social panels
- Click on player-specific actions in the social panels
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to allow us to add the new Sprinter Legs to Robocraft. For more information on Sprinter Legs, click here.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Sprinter Legs - New Movement Component
Sprinter Legs are a fast moving, lower-armored variant of the pre-existing Mech Legs. They offer far greater mobility, speed and additional jump functionality, but are ill-equipped to deal with massive sustained fire like their far thicker counterparts.
Unlike Mech Legs, they have a unique forward-leap ability. When travelling above a certain speed, jumping will cause the legs to use their momentum to launch themselves forward at a shallow angle. Once the jump ends, the legs will take a moment to absorb the shock of the landing but will then otherwise continue onward.
Here are those all-important stats for the new movement parts:
Sprinter Leg Perseus:
- Health | 73500
- Robot CPU Load | 50 pFlops
- Mass | 1900.0kg
- Max Speed | 152 mph
- Jump Height | 90 metres
- Forge Cost | 12,500 robits
Sprinter Leg Hermes:
- Health | 144060
- Robot CPU Load | 98 pFlops
- Mass | 2400.0kg
- Max Speed | 174 mph
- Jump Height | 120 metres
- Forge Cost | 49,000 robits
OTHER CHANGES:
The following UI elements / actions now have sound effects attached:
- Right clicking a player in the social panels
- Mousing over a player in the social panels
- Click on player-specific actions in the social panels
WALLPAPER
Our thanks to tomas91375 for the use of his robot in the update art above. You can find his robot on the CRF by searching “DB4 Runner Ahhh!”
Click here to get the wallpaper version!
That’s right, our wonderful code and art teams banded together to create the component you all voted for!
Sprinter legs will offer a faster but lighter-armored alternative to the existing Mech legs, sure to offer new options for mobility-focused Robocrafters. Or alternatively just a fine pair of humanoid legs for those of you looking to make a more slender artistic creation!
https://sketchfab.com/models/9aeec76be3ef4264b177886df1f407d2#embed
Make sure to come back tomorrow when we’ll have more info on the Sprinter Legs!
END OF EVENT CHANGES:
- Reverted the cannon ball model for Plasma
- Reverted the cannon ball visual effects
- Reverted the cannon bal sound effects
- Reverted the stat changes of plasma back to their pre-event numbers
- Reverted the mothership pirate music
- Reverted the increased salvage crate quality
- Improvements that should reduce rubber banding networking issues
- Improvements that should reduce how often the "unable to join match making queue" error occurs
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to revert changes made for the recent Shiprekt! event.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Today we’re having a bit of a celebration in the Freejam office; the Community Robot Factory (CRF) turns one! So donuts all round!
In one short year, the CRF has grown beyond our expectations; with over 2,000,000 of your very creative robots being uploaded, shared and sold to the Robocraft community at large.
We’ve often been so impressed with your Robot design skills that your creations have adorned our in-game splash screen and promotional materials.
To celebrate this momentous milestone, we’ve created a rather swanky infographic highlighting some of the facts and figures you might be interested to know.
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Shiprekt_Large-1024x531.png] TAKE COVER! THOSE CANNONS AREN’T JUST A LIGHT SHOW!!! Fortunately our enemies aren’t the only ones with them! Come join Drognin for a chill out and queue syncing stream on Friday 23rd from 4pm UTC+1! Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts! (Thanks to TheSeeManX for use of his screenshot!)
BUG FIXES:
- Improved an issues where tank tracks would drift a lot at high Overclock.
- Fixed an issue with Thrusters which would prevent certain robots from being able to raise/lower themselves.
- Fixed a graphical issue with Thrusters which displayed all Thrusters as active.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy a hotfix for this weekend's 'Shiprekt!' event and to add the new Tank Track movement mechanics. Full patch notes will be published shortly after the hotfix goes live.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016_ShiprektEvent_Large-1-1024x537.jpg] Grab yourselves a cutlass in one hand and a bottle of politically correct non-alcoholic grog in the other, it’s time for the pirate themed Shiprekt event! To finish off our week of plunderful pirate themed activities, we’ve got an event that’ll blow the CPU right outta ya! All Plasma Cannon ammunition has been replaced with futuristic proto-cannon balls! They may move slower than typical Plasma ammo, but when they detonate it’s no small matter! As with all event changes, they will all be reverted at the end of the event! Furthermore, we’ve also added some new camera-controlled Tank Track controls. They’re out at the same time as the event, but are not a part of the event so they’re permanent! Check out the patch notes below! [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Shiprekt_Gif3.gif] SHIPREKT EVENT > Active from Thursday 22nd until Tuesday 27th > Plasma, damage increased by 100% > Plasma, explosion radius increased by 100% > Plasma, time between shots increased by: - Pulser – 100% - Disruptor – 230% - Bombarder – 280% - Ravager – 360% - Devastator – 540% - Goliathon – 900% > Plasma, projectile speed reduced to 33% > Plasma, new projectile model looks like a cannon ball > Plasma, new explosion effect looks like a shattering cannon ball > Plasma, new audio effects > New pirate themed music! > All salvage crates are two quality levels higher than they would normally be. For example, if you would normally receive a bronze crate, you will instead receive a gold crate. If you would normally receive a gold crate, you will instead receive a protonium crate. TANK TRACKS CAMERA CONTROLS > Tanks Tracks can now use “Camera controls steering” movement mode. This can be activated by clicking on the cog icon just above a robots photo in the mothership.
BUG FIXED:
- Fixed an infinite spawn issue which emerged when players had the new Pirate Holoflag equipped on their Robots.
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 11:30am. (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to patch a bug with the Pirate Holoflag which when present on a players robot, would cause them to experience a respawn glitch in most game modes.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Piratestream_Large.png] Yarr! Welcome me mateys! It’s me! Captain Kr *COUGH* *SPIT* .. anyway! On Monday we’ll be running a special two-hour long Robo Piratestream in celebration of Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day! We’ll be randomly grabbing Freejam devs into the stream to join us throughout the two hour period so come along and meet some of the devs you’ve never seen, and some familiar faces! Got a piratey-themed question? Submit it on the forum before Monday’s stream and we’ll do our best to answer as many as we can. Get your pirate ships ready for battle! Deck it out with the finest weaponry in the known universe and sail across the skies with us! The Robostream will start on Monday 19th at 4pm UTC+1 Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
Yarr! Welcome me mateys! It's me! Captain Kr *COUGH* *SPIT*
.. anyway!
On Monday we'll be running a special two-hour long Piratestream in celebration of Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day!
We'll be randomly grabbing Freejam devs into the stream to join us throughout the two hour period so come along and meet some of the devs you've never seen, and some familiar faces!
Got a piratey-themed question? Submit it on the forum before Monday’s stream and we’ll do our best to answer as many as we can.
Get your pirate ships ready for battle! Deck it out with the finest weaponry in the known universe and sail across the skies with us!
The Robostream will start on Monday 19th at 4pm UTC+1
Click here to go directly to the stream!
Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a GUI glitch that permitted players to enter in a match with a different map
- Fixed an issue that stopped players entering the League Arena for the first time
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:00am (UTC+1)
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to patch a bug where some players would enter a match with a different map and also address an error some new players would see when entering the League Arena for the first time.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016_CommunitySpotlight_RCGarage_Large-1024x537.jpg] Robocraft Garage, long time member of the Robocraft community has just released their own clan functionality So what better time to do a community spotlight on them and show off how awesome they are? Robocraftgarage’s creator has been kind enough to lend us his time and answer some questions about RCG and the functionality it provides. Check out the spotlight below! 1) Who are you? Hi Robocrafters! My name is Mattias and I am the founder and developer of the fan community website RobocraftGarage.com. I go by the nickname Nixell throughout the gaming world and have played Robocraft since 2+ years back. 2) What is Robocraft Garage.com? It is a place for Robocraft players to unite, share robot creations, create tutorials and much more! The fansite has been on internet’s surface since October 2014 and has grown stronger ever since. I can confidently say it currently is the largest available fansite and that is all thanks to the amazing Robocraft community. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/nowandthen.png] 3) Why did you create Robocraft Garage.com Web development has been my passion since many years back. It is my job, hobby and dream. I also love gaming, especially creative games and arena games, where Robocraft is both of those. Perfect, everything lines up! So, one night I tried to find a fansite where I could share my Robocraft experience, but the only ones I found lacked features and/or were basically dead already. Then I went “lets fix this” mode as a developer and from there on it all happened! Ultimately I want to improve Robocraft’s community experience for all players out there is some way. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/clanupdate.png] 4) What’s this we hear about new clan support on Robocraft Garage.com Yesterday RobocraftGarage.com was updated with one of the biggest additions so far; Clan Pages. Any user can set up a clan page in a matter of minutes with the help of an easy-to-use admin panel. Clans on Robocraft Garage are almost like their own website once set up. A clan page may consist of clan news, about page, members list, clan robot collection and application form. The admin panel also include some handy tools to manage member hierarchy, clan invitations and more. Pro tip: You can create secret hidden clans to secretly s hare top notch robots with your friends, just never hit that “Go Public” button in the admin panel. ;) [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/membermanagement.png] 5) Where can people learn more about your website? Any social media? Users say the website is very easy to use. Check out the website yourself to see how it all cogs. Robocraft Garage Website If you want to chat with the community and/or have more questions I strongly recommend Discord. RCG Discord Follow on twitter @RobocraftGarage to get website and event updates + daily robot highlights. RCG Twitter It’s soon Robocraft Garage’s birthday (7th October) as well, so really excited to celebrate that with the community. It will contain some history of Robocraft Garage if you are interested. Keep an eye out for that. Last but not least, check out this awesome video SpaceKryptonite made for the clan update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3DFdpB404Y
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016_SketchFabWeaponDesignContest_Large-1024x537.jpg] We’re happy to announce Robocraft’s first 3D asset development competition in collaboration with Sketchfab! For your chance to win one of three awesome prize bundles, create a textured 3D model of a Halloween skin for one of the existing Robocraft weapons! For an example of what a Halloween skin might look like, take a look at the Vampire Bat Aerofoil compared to a normal Aerofoil. Below you can find all the information you need for the competition, so good luck and happy crafting! TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY: Design and create a 3D model for a Halloween version of an existing Robocraft weapon, upload it to Sketchfab.com and make sure it’s tagged with “RC3D2016″. Here’s an example of a Robocraft weapon in Sketchfab to give you an idea of what your final submission might look like: https://sketchfab.com/models/550499c52a4547ef894ace82bdfe6493 PRIZES: 1st Place > $100 Amazon gift card > 1 year of premium in Robocraft > 1 year of Sketchfab Pro > Staff Pick on Sketchfab > Social publicity of the 3D model by Freejam’s social channels 2nd Place > $75 Amazon gift card > 6 months of premium in Robocraft > 6 months of Sketchfab Pro > Staff Pick on Sketchfab > Social publicity of the 3D model by Freejam’s social channels 3rd Place > $50 Amazon gift card > 3 months of premium in Robocraft > 3 months of Sketchfab Pro > Staff Pick on Sketchfab > Social publicity of the 3D model by Freejam’s social channels GUIDELINES: > The competition starts on 15/09/2016 and ends on 19/10/2016 at 10:59am (UTC+1) > Your submission must be uploaded to Sketchfab.com and made publicly visible > Your submission must have the tag “RC3D2016” to be entered into the competition > Common sense rules apply, so the submission, submission title, submission description or anything similar should be in no way offensive or obscene, and should be viewable by an audience of 10 years old and over > Freejam and Sketchfab reserve the right to disqualify or not select a submission for any reason they see fit. Correspondence regarding the competition winners will not be entered into > Please keep in mind that this isn’t a competition to create game-ready assets to put into Robocraft, so feel free to go crazy with your poly count, shader usage and texture quality. We may however take inspiration from competition entries so keep that in mind when sending in a submission. WINNERS: > Winners will be selected based on their submissions overall quality, design, creativity and relevance to the theme. > Winners will be selected by Freejam following the end of the competition > If you won, instructions to claim your prize will be sent to the email address tied to your Sketchfab account TIPS: > You don’t have to create a game-ready asset so feel free to create something really high-def! But keep in mind that it needs to work well in Sketchfab > You may want to include a short description explaining the thought process behind your design > Sketchfab has loads of awesome post-processing effects, try it out early on to see what you could use TERMS: > No purchase necessary. > By entering this competition, entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the conditions. > This is a contest for individuals, no teams. > No alternative prizes available. The prize draw is not open to Freejam employees or their families. > The promoters decision is final – in case of dispute, no correspondence will be entered into. > Winning entries will be documented and may be used for promotional purposes. > Contestants models must be uploaded to Sketchfab and tagged #RC3D2016 to be considered. > Winners retain all Intellectual Property as per Sketchfab standard Terms and Conditions. > Winners and winning entries may be required to take part in any publicity resulting from this competition. > The winners will be contacted by 31/10/2016.
BUG FIXES:
- Fixed an issue with stacked Nanos (Binder, Mender and Constructor) not all using power
- Fixed an issue with players seeing an error when joining the matchmaking queue
- Fixed several serious errors on the live server
- Addressed an issue with the server not restarting
- Fixed an issue with the Blink module that sometimes caused invisibility after a player de-sync
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to be permanently invisible after activating the Blink and Ghost Modules at the same time
We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 10:30am (UTC+1)
Originally this maintenance period was scheduled for 11:00 AM (UTC+1), but we’ve needed to pull it forward due to a newly emerging server issue. The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the maintenance is to patch a bug where some players would load into two maps at once. This hotfix will also address other issues that will be communicated shortly.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/ClanSpotlight_AtlasCore_Large-1024x537.jpg] Welcome to Robocraft’s first Clan Spotlight! With the advent of Roboclans, we wanted to start a series celebrating those clans which have survived long before they could form officially in-game, relying solely on external communication methods. Their dedication has proven them worthy of the praise and glory that their names conjure! So for our very first Clan Spotlight, we’re proud to introduce Atlas Core! 1. What’s your username, and what’s your position in Atlas Core. Hi, my name is Baerentoeter and I am the clan leader. 2. How old is Atlas Core? We were officially founded in April 2015 so we are almost one and a half years old. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/20160911184024_1-1024x576.jpg] Killer rabbit artbot from Monty Python by -AC- Ketmol 3. What was your goal when you and your fellow clan founder(s) founded Atlas Core. We had done an event and when talking about how it went, we decided that we want to do this more often. The clan was mainly founded to have fun together, with the stretch-goal of always having somebody to play with, no matter in which time zone. Making the Robocraft community a bit better by serving as good examples and teaching people has always been important to us. We still focus on our old principles, over time I developed a structure to support it. A group of 80+ people won’t run smoothly if there aren’t functioning rules and infrastructure. Things change over time, a clan needs to adapt to that while staying on course. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot_1184.png] A game filled with Air Doge, originally designed by -AC- defilingsoul 4. Does your clan specialize in any particular type of robot, or play more of one type of robot over another? Due to the constant major changes in the game and the shifting meta it is important to be able to use multiple bot-types well, from mechs over hovers to bombers. Many members prefer the freedom of being able to fly, currently mainly with copters or drones, maybe more strafe-drones after last update, who knows? The same goes for weapons, everybody is proficient in multiple setups so we can play what currently works best and bring what the party needs. We have many good builders that will always adapt to new situations and options. There are usually a few bots that are ahead of their time and work exceptionally well so we keep them clan only but many are available in the CRF for those who know what to do with them. A lot of Atlas Core builds found their way into official trailers, were feared by the majority of the community or featured in the CRF. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/20160911182719_1-1024x576.jpg] -AC- Radiun’s Chain Fury featured on the CRF 5. Would you describe your clan as being competitive focused or just generally casually playful, or both? As one of the older clans we have a lot of veteran players with comprehensive game knowledge. Our average skill level is very high and Atlas Core has some of the world’s best players. We are looking forward to clan battles where we will be able to show what we are capable of against the other strong clans. For those that want to become proficient in the high level competitive side of the game, Atlas Core is the right place to learn and grow. While it is a lot of fun to win, sometimes we just want to mess around a bit and do something unusual. With up to 45 participants in our events there is a lot we can do that would otherwise not be possible, like filling entire matches with themed artbots. For players with thousands of hours these events can be a nice change of pace. There are also people that mainly play casual or prefer to build beautiful bots.Everybody prefers different playstyles, for us it is most important that there is a great atmosphere in our clan and everybody is nice to have around. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/20160911191420_1-1024x576.jpg] The Laser/Plasma combo hover called Lime, by -AC- Yotta_ 6. Where can Robocrafters get more information on joining Atlas Core? We have a thread on our own forum ac.hollowproject.org that always contains the latest information about how to apply. We have been trying some different things and will continue to streamline our recruitment process. For example we now require a minimum age of 14 and level 100 but maturity and good attitude are most important. [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/CnBhq0RWEAAHMuB-1024x576.jpg] The great wall of Atlas Core from one of their many events 7. Do you guys have a website, Youtube account, Twitter or any other social media that players can follow? We do have a twitter page where we publish all updates - Twitter We recently started a community YouTube channel with a lot of great videos. The support and growth have been enormous so I’d like to invite everybody to check it out. Next to party gameplay, with or without discussions, we have some more edited videos and we are looking into expanding our repertory - Youtube Sometimes we also stream live - Twitch The best place to get involved is our Discord server. Don’t be afraid, I only bite when I am hungry :D - Discord [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/20160911182158_1-1024x576.jpg] The Slicer, a formidable Tesla build by Jac733
The servers are back up! Check out the patch notes here! Happy gaming! CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS: > The text which previously read “Vertical strafe” now reads “Camera relative tilt” > The directional arrow in the Edit Mode floor has been made more visible > The selection square which was recently evicted from the corner of the mothership, has now been invited back in and will now appear beneath components you’re trying to place BUG FIXES > Fixed an exploitable bug which allowed players to change the clan avatar of other clans > Fixed a bug which caused issues for insect legs when using keyboard-relative controls > Fixed a bug which would cause short freezes for players with long friends lists, when a friend of theirs logged on or off > Fixed a bug which caused robots on the CRF being reported by Admins to not be instantly removed > We believe there should be improvements to the stuttering/rubber banding networking issues as we’ve made changes that should positively impact them, and we have not been able to reproduce these networking issues in the office. However as with all networking issues, it’s a gradual improvement over time and it’s difficult to know what the outcome will be once released
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/profile_builder/avatars/userID_2266546_originalAvatar_NEWS_Upcoming_Maintenance_Smal.jpg] We will be taking the servers down for maintenance at 12pm UTC+1 The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix
Earlier this week we released our latest update Roboclans Alpha; bringing the first phase of the much-requested Clans functionality and improved social/chat system to Robocraft. We’re incredibly excited about Roboclans Alpha and it appears you are too. In the first 48 hours since release, we’ve seen:
- Over 4,500 Clans created
- Over 15,000 players in Clans
- Over 100 Clans with 40+ players
- Over 500 custom chat channels created
To use the code, boot-up Robocraft and login. Once you’re on the garage bays screen press the escape key and select ‘ENTER CODE’. Type the code above into the pop-up and press return. Hey Presto! 1 day of premium! You don’t have to use the code straight away, it’s good until 12:00 UTC+1 (pm) on Saturday 1st October so there's time to share it with friends and the like. Who knows maybe your grandma would like to play Robocraft? Tell her about the code just in case, you know... just so she's aware of her options. We hope you like the new Roboclans Alpha expansion; remember, this is Mk1. there’s more to come :) Happy gaming!
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Hannah2_Large.png] Join us on stream for an art preview of the upcoming Sprinter Legs! Friday’s guest will be Hannah the 3D artist and she’ll be bringing along the Sprinter Legs art for an early preview! Hannah joined Freejam shortly before her last appearance on stream back in February. Half a year on, let’s hear how it’s been for her and talk about the process of creating 3D assets for Robocraft! The Robostream will start on Friday 9th at 4pm UTC+1 Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
It’s time to send out the call for clan members. The Roboclans Alpha update is out now!
This exciting new update to Robocraft brings with it a whole raft of cool social features including, Clans Mk1, a customisable chat system and Friends Mk1. In addition to these features, there’s a whole stack of bug fixes, balance changes and more.
We’d also like to say sorry for the prolonged maintenance period today; it went on longer than anticipated due to an unforeseen bug. As way of apology, we will be releasing a one-day premium code to everyone later this week, once we’re confident everything is A-OK with the update. Please keep an eye on Robocraftgame.com and our social channels for further info over the coming days.
CHECK OUT THE FULL PATCH NOTES BY CLICKING HERE!
Now, get busy recruiting and get busy battling!
We will be entering maintenance at 10:30am BST
The purpose of the maintenance is to deploy the Roboclans Alpha update.
The maintenance is expected to take up to three hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Click here to read the update patch notes
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/NEWS_RoboClansAlpha_Tomorrow_Large.jpg] Finally! Coming tomorrow is the much awaited Robocraft clans ALPHA! Tomorrow’s update will introduce loads of great new social and clans functionality which will make the everyday life of each Robocrafter so much smoother, while giving clans an official social base from which to start spreading their name. It’s also an important update as it lays down the groundwork in the form of Chat Mk.1, Friends Mk.1 and Clans Mk.1 upon which future functionality can be built upon. We’re proud to be here after a long time coming, so we invite you to read the patch notes below and look forward to the future of clans with the Freejam team. CHAT MK.1 > Completely new chat and social system with all new functionality! > Custom chat channels focused on specific topics which others can join. Host your own chat channels filled with friends from different clans, other people with similar interests such as artbots or competitive play and anything else! > New ‘forward slash’ commands such as /create and /party (click for full list) let you organize all your social needs without needing a mouse! > Chat now has a scroll bar so you can see previously sent chat messages > Colour coded chats now make it much easier to differentiate between different conversations, social groups and private messages! > Select which chat channel to focus on, or have all chat channels in view at the same time! FRIENDS MK.1 > Completely new friends system with all new functionality! > New friends panel shows online/offline players, their names, their avatars, their clan’s name and their clan’s avatar! > Point-and-click interface allows you to right click a friend and either invite them to your party or remove them from your friend list! > Friends icon lets you see how many friends are online at a glance! CLANS MK.1 > Completely new clans system! > Create your very own clan with it’s own custom avatar, then invite others to fight for your cause! > All clans have a clan chat so there’s constant communication with your comrades! > A linear hierarchy, with Leaders being at the top, Officers beneath them and Members at the bottom allows you to organize the structure of your clan! > Clan avatars are show in loading screens and scoreboards, so players can identify a player as being from a particular clan > Clans icon lets you see how many clan members are online at a glance! Remember that all the above social functionality is still in its Mk.1 phase, and will be worked on more as we reach future updates. For an in-depth look at all the above functionality, check out the dev diary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z92OlGxW5DA CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS > A tickbox-option for “Vertical Strafing Enabled” has been added to the “Camera controls steering” movement setting > “Strafe Left” and “Strafe Right” keybinds have been added to the controls screen > Added a cut-scene to the start of the tutorial > Improved the error message provided by EAC related issues > The “TIGA Finalist” badge on the launcher has been updated to “TIGA Winner” > Audio has been added to the back button > The mothership has arrived at a new location… take a look through the window of edit mode… we’re home :’ ) > Players will now be shown a duration when they’re silenced by a mod > We have implemented additional data points so that we can gather more information on rubber-banding (a symptom of lag) so that we can continue to resolve such issues in the future BUG FIXES > Fixed a bug which caused weapons to shoot far slower than intended while turning > Fixed a bug which caused Nanos to use a far smaller amount of power than they were supposed to > Fixed a visual bug which would occasionally cause unusual behavior in plasma cannon trails > Fixed a bug which would return “Your bay is empty” when attempting to enter a battle from the CRF screen > Fixed a bug which caused the new starter robots to not be centered by default in edit mode > Fixed a bug which forced some players to use the FANTASTIC quality setting > Fixed various issues with the mothership scrollbar below the garage bays > Fixed a bug which could cause the in-battle ping widget to get stuck if used in a way that overlaps with the chat box > Fixed a bug which stopped players from creating their 100th garage bay > Fixed a bug which caused some audio effects to loop infinitely while the game is paused > Fixed a bug which could occasionally cause the game to crash when entering a battle > Fixed a bug which caused a robot’s weapons to vibrate while turning > Removed an animated selection square which was found living in the corner of the edit robot bay, rent free > Fixed a bug which caused the targeting laser of a rail cannon to not be visible, meaning the rail’s target was unaware they were being targeted > Fixed a bug which caused multiples of the same robot to spawn in AI TDM mode
We’re happy to announce that we have nailed down the release date of Roboclans Alpha to a block of wood to ensure that it won’t move again and so we can now reveal that Roboclans Alpha is coming Tuesday, September 6th, 2016. Yes, you read that right, it’s coming next week!
Last week we opened up the testing of Roboclans Alpha to you via our first Public Test Server (PTS) and the bugs you reported are currently being squished in order hit Tuesday’s deadline. Thank you to everyone that participated in the test and especially those that submitted bug reports during this PTS – it has helped us immensely.
So what can you expect to see in Roboclans Alpha next week? See below:
For more info on the Clans Mk1 and Social Mk1 features highlighted above, please read our recent deep dive articles. Additionally if you want to see Roboclans functionality in action, please tune into tomorrow’s Robostream.
More information here: http://robocraftgame.com/robostream-16-roboclans-alpha/
Time to clan up!
Come and get the lowdown on Roboclans Alpha with Drognin!
Join Drognin and special guests Atlas Core for an in-depth first look at the new Clans and social functions coming to Robocraft NEXT WEEK! There will also be the regular chit-chat mixed with some games of Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch. The stream will start at 4pm UTC+1 on Friday 2nd, September. Be there or be a four-sided cube-shaped thingy.
Click here to go to our streaming page on Twitch.tv!
Click here to see exactly how long before the event begins!
In the first of a regular feature on Robocraftgame.com, we sat down (albeit virtually) with talented Robocraft Artbot creator ‘goodtimes_c’ to chat about all things bot building. Want some insider info on how to make great looking artbots? Read on dear friends...
Tell us a bit about yourself
Hello, I live in the United States of America and I grew up in the 80s. As a kid, I was fortunate to grow up in the world of the local arcades and have enjoyed playing video games ever since. As a memento my early days, I built my own functional arcade cabinet and fitted it with my favorite old school games. Besides video games, I enjoy spending quality time with friends and family, playing soccer, running, and watching every sport imaginable. Especially American football and UFC!
How did you get into Artbot design?
This goes way back to when I was young. LEGOs was the culprit. Back then, we had no internet, no smartphones, no video games, so we had to create our own toys. I was fascinated with creating everything I could and was mostly inspired by Saturday morning and after school cartoon characters. Particularly shows like Inspector Gadget, Thundarr the Barbarian, Voltron, Transformers, Star Blazers, Thundercats – I could go on and on. I would make robots with secret compartments and weapons. Naturally, when I stumbled upon Robocraft, it brought me back to the good times I had as a youngster. Hence, Goodtimes_c. The c is actually from when I was playing another game, called Team Fortress Classic. There were many users with the same nickname, so I tried to differentiate myself by adding a © for copyright. lol
What inspires you?
I was actually inspiring to be a cartoon/comic artist. But I fell in love with technology and went in that direction. But I still do work on the side and in Robocraft to satisfy my artistic desires. Inspiration can come from anywhere - games, movies, television. For me, it is just a personal challenge to see if I can create something that I envision. Just like everyone else who is creating their bot, I will struggle and fail, but perseverance will bring success eventually.
What artbot are you most proud of?
When creating an artbot I am conscious about being a liability to my teammates if I bring it to battle. I see some artbots come into a match with no movement parts or no weapons which is not cool. So the artbots I’m most proud of are the ones that are contributing to the team. The pinnacle would be to create a artbot which excels on the team. I’ve had many fun adventures with an old bot called ‘ChickenPoxGT’. Some artbots are not to be underestimated. I’ve learned that the hard way and it is an embarrassing experience! But for strictly art, my favorites I built are ‘SaltyCruiseGT’, ‘RyuGT’, ‘RamboGT’, and particularly ‘TheFruitoftheDoomGT” since it won a category in the first Robocraft art competition.
What challenges do you face when creating a particular bot? How do you move beyond them?
Usually it is the details. The more cubes and CPU available, the more detailed your artbot may become. So when building, you always have to manage your CPU. For example, my humanoid artbots tend to have big heads so I can get more detail in and then they will have small bodies to save CPU such as ‘RyuGT’. They tend to look like funny caricatures in the end, but having fun is what artbots are all about. When creating a He-man bot, MasterofUniverseGT, I ran out of CPU. So I had to exchange the front legs of Battlecat to a lesser tech level and hollow out the inside of the bot get below the cap. It still wasn’t finished but I submitted it anyway to the second Robocraft competition and it somehow made it as a runner up. Another challenging artbot I created was ‘SnoopyGT’. I wanted it to fly, so it took some engineering and a lot of helium to make it happen. I guess the biggest challenge is satisfaction. There is always something to improve upon.
How long does it take to create a particular bot.
Creating an artbot can take hours depending on what you are trying to accomplish. First you have to have the right parts, then you have to think about what your subject is and role it will play. And of course, you have to manage the CPU. Then you have to visualize how your available cubes will form into your creation. When I created ‘TheFruitoftheDoomGT’, my original idea was a fruit basket. But then I thought about Fruit of the Loom underwear, and thought it would be a funny looking bot. I’ve never seen 3 bots in one so I gave it a shot. The Apple would be the leader with smgs, the long banana with rails, and the grapes would use plasma. It took a couple of days on and off to create that one.
What other artbots or artbot creators’ impress you?
There are some very nice manga/anime artbots out there. I once saw a giant 8-ball which had the ability to roll on the ground. But any artbot that helps the team and looks good will always gain my respect. It is a custom at the beginning of the match to acknowledge another artbot on your team. Bow and respect your fellow artbotter(is that a word?)!
Any tips for budding artbot creators?
Practice, study, and make screenshots of other artbots you see. Try to create them yourself and learn how they are put together. You shouldn't plagiarize, but you can can definitely get ideas to help you with your own creation. Run Robocraft in Windowed mode and have a screenshot window next to it like painters do with their subjects. Don’t be afraid of critique and don’t be angry if someone doesn’t like it. Everyone has their own opinion and taste. Critique yourself. I’ve made many bots I thought were nice, but I would come back later to it and realize it’s garbage and will start all over. Get ideas from similar looking builds outside Robocraft such as LEGOs and NANOBLOCKS (thank you leftofnever). Ask your friends what they think. Usually you will know in game if it is decent when your teammates comment or huddle around you. Lastly, get the premium colors. It does make a difference.
What do you love about Robocraft?
I tend to enjoy the ‘Build’ part of Robocraft more so than the competitive part. The building is my sandbox to play around and create something. It is a bonus to take it out and see how it does in a battle and discover its weaknesses and improve upon it. But I also enjoy the teamwork aspect of game. I also play Team Fortress 2, and I think Robocraft would excel even more if they follow their model. Especially its man vs machine, capture the flag, and attack/defend modes.
As an ‘artbot’ creator, what feature/s would you like to see in the game?
- Clone garages – the ability to clone a bot to another garage. This is useful to make changes but keep the original intact.
- Flip bot in edit mode - I spent a good amount of time creating a bot one time and later realized I made it backwards in the garage!! I overlooked the arrow on the floor and had to create the entire bot all over again. Having a feature to flip the bot 180 would be appreciated.
- Shortcut key views in edit mode – ie Ctrl+F (front view) Ctrl+B (back view) Ctrl+T (top view) Ctrl+S (side view)
- Paint surfaces instead of entire cube – will get better results if there was an option to paint just a side of a cube.
- More CPU – I miss the Megabots days. Having more CPU is having a bigger canvas to create your masterpiece.
- Cylinder cubes – think of a short cylinder the height of a regular cube. It looks like a pill and will have 2 connection points just like to aero rods. Will then have the ability to make nice piping designs. Add a half dome (one connection point) and right angle cylinders for even more fun.
- Add a artbot category/filter in CRF (Community Robot Factory)
- More color palettes (give more detail to artbots)
- More garage bays (one bay per level?)
- Submit more than 25 bots in CRF (50?100?)
- Zoom out more for garage view (not edit mode) – it is difficult/impossible to see the entire bot for tall bots in the garage CRF view
Hey everyone, Our first Public Test Server is now open; if you’d like to help test the new clans and social features, read on. Please note: the Public Test Server will be open until 5pm (UTC+1) on 26th August. ***PUBLIC TEST SERVER - LIVE*** The public test servers for social are now live!
MAKE SURE TO READ THIS POST BEFORE ENTERING THE PUBLIC TEST SERVER!!!
Accessing the Server: To access the server, you will need this code: aTmEtuGeqCU5 Click here to see how to use the code in order to access the test server. Unfortunately there is no way to access the public test server without Steam and Windows OS. General Info and Requirements: When you use the public testing client, you will not be able to use the username + password fields. You will need to click the “Login using Steam” button, which will create a fresh level 1 account for the purposes of testing the social/clan functionality. The server will be limited to 500 players and will work on a first-come first-serve basis. At 500 players, the server will no longer permit entry to anyone, even if people logout. So if you are not within the first 500 logins, you will get this message, which unfortunately means you’re too late and won’t be able to participate in today’s public testing. To participate in the public testing, you must be running the Steam Client – you cannot access the public test server through the regular Robocraft client software. If you successfully register for public testing, you’ll be required to download the test server client. Once that has downloaded and installed, you’ll need to login via the ‘sign in with Steam’ button. If you attempt to login with a regular Robocraft username/password, you’ll see an error. Again, you must have a valid Steam account to participate in this public testing program. Reporting Bugs: The purpose of the public testing is to find any bugs, major or minor, so that our team can work on fixing them before full release. We have a five man testing team in-house, but they can’t find what 500 people can :) To report a bug, click here to go to the customer support form and make sure to select B-Feedback in the “Request Type” drop down menu. Then send us information regarding the bug, preferably in the following format: Description of the bug and the impact it had on you Your PC’s specs (Operating System, Graphics Card, Processor etc..) Attach the most recent outputLog.txt file from the Robocraft install folder (found by right-mouse clicking on Robocraft In steam > properties > LOCAL FILES > BROWSE LOCAL FILES). What you were doing when the bug occurred How often does it occur. Is it something you can re-produce (intentionally cause the bug) Join the public test chat channel! When you get into the game, type (or copy/paste): /join betatest This will have you join the public test chat channel! Knowns Issues: As this is a public test and not a release, please be aware that there will be many bugs. Some subtle and some obvious. We will use this space to note any common and/or major bugs. There are two we already know about ahead of time: > When entering a battle, some players will get a black screen. We are aware of this, please don’t report it. Rubberbanding/lag while playing > When initially joining a clan using the search feature, you will get stuck on a loading screen. But you have joined the clan and can just restart the game. Note: Joining a clan via direct invite doesn’t cause this issue. > Clan members in the clan view will occasionally stack on top of each other (taking up the same space). Just close and open the clan window. To keep up to date on all things related to this Public BETA test, please visit the official Robocraft forums here: http://robocraftgame.com/forums/topic/public-test-server-live/
Hey there,
Here’s a quick update on the release of Roboclans Alpha. Earlier this month we released a code which not-so-subtly hinted (cough, CLANS25TH, cough) that clans functionality would be live in Robocraft today, unfortunately we’re going to miss that target launch date.
The scope of clans and social has grown since our original announcement and has proven more challenging to implement than originally anticipated; as a result we need a bit more time to get it all in-game and working as intended.
The new social and clans functionality is split into two different components, Mk1 and Mk2, and you can read all about exactly what we’ve planned in the two articles released earlier in the week:
Strut Your Stuff Hotfix #3 - 0.13.1720
- Fixed an issue with the game freezing when some players entered a battle.
- Fixed an issue with the graphics quality being set to Fantastic when a user changed any setting related to the game's graphics.
Public Testing This Week
Continuing on from yesterday’s Roboclans ALPHA, Social Deep Dive, where we explained that it’s part of an overall suite of changes that we’re putting into Robocraft to enhance the social experience of the game; today we’re going to look at the new Clan functionality. Please remember this is the first phase of Clans in Robocraft and we’ll be expanding and improving them as we move forward after the initial release. Now, you may have noticed the subtitle “PUBLIC TESTING THIS WEEK”. We decided, at the very last minute, that we wanted to do a public beta test with some of the community in order to iron out the kinks before we release it to the entire Robocraft player base. We’re setting up a full beta test environment with a view to doing that test later this week (if all goes to plan). Once we’re happy that the test has gone well enough, we’ll release it to the wider audience. So, what are our plans for Clans? Well, in this Deep Dive we will talk a bit more about Clans in Robocraft and how they’ll work.
What are Clans in Robocraft?
- A social group of players that are persistent (even when offline) in Robocraft
- Clans can be any size from 2-50 members
- Clans can have their own Clan Avatar which is displayed everywhere in game
- Clans have their own persistent Clan chat channel
- Clans members earn Robits together during a ‘season’*
- Compete in Clan Leagues together during a ‘season’*
Creating a Clan:
The Clan functionality is accessed via the ‘Clan’ button which is to the far-left of the ‘Chat Widget’. As you can see from the mock-up below, creating a Clan in Robocraft is very easy and any player can create one. NB: There are no Premium features in Clans. Anyone can create them and upload avatars etc.
- To create a Clan you click on the Clan button and select the ‘Create’ tab
- Choose a Clan name that is unique (max 16 characters) and uses the same rules as usernames to determine what characters are allowed
- Add a public description of your clan in the Clan info box
- Define whether the Clan is ‘open’ or ‘invite only’
- Upload a Clan avatar and click ‘Create Clan’
Searching for Clans:
Just like creating a Clan, searching for a Clan is super-easy. Simply click on the Clan button and then the ‘Search Tab’. Then use the text entry box to search for a Clan.
From the list of Clans you can click on a Clan and go inside it to see its members, who is online and see the Clan’s info. In Clans Mk2, we plan to add advanced search functionality which will allow you to search Clans by location, league ELO (the rating system used to determine your skill level), Season XP, by number of members etc. The advanced search option will be designed to help you to find Clans that suit you best depending on your preference. Another Clans Mk2 feature will be that The Clan list will show the League and ELO of each player and the current season XP (more on that below). Clan ELOs and Clan XP are also things that will not be present initially and will only come into play in releases that follow the Roboclans ALPHA release.
My Clan:
When you are in a Clan, the ‘Create’ tab becomes the ‘My Clan’ tab and allows you to interact with your Clan and its members.
The My Clan tab offers you a number of different features:
- View all of your Clan mates
- Sort by Clan Rank, ranks are Leader, Officer and Member
- Leaders can kick anyone and invite people to the Clan
- Officers can kick Members and invite people to the Clan
- The status column shows if Clan mates are Online, Offline or Invite Pending
Roboclans Mk2.
The initial Roboclans ALPHA release is designed to allow Clans to form and socialise together and display in-game which Clan they are in. Future releases of Clans will add the ability to ‘earn Robits’ during a ‘season’ as a Clan and compete in ‘Clan Leagues’ (see below)
Clan XP and Robits:
- All players in a Clan will earn XP each month
- The total XP earned by all Clan members will be used to determine an end-of-season Robits reward
- XP earned will be displayed more clearly in-game
- Seasons will last from the 1st of a month to the last day of a month
Clan Leagues:
Alongside Robit rewards for Clan members, we plan on adding Clan Leagues to Robocraft; a mock-up of which you can see below.
Here Clans will compete in seasonal League competitions to determine who is top dog! The Clan League will utilise a revamped version of the existing Leagues game mode in Robocraft. I think you’ll agree, This is pretty exciting stuff! But remember, these Mk2 features will not be present in the Roboclans ALPHA release but will follow soon after. We’re still fleshing out exactly how they will work which is why we’re not saying much about them in detail here. Now, get your Clan names ready!
We will be entering maintenance at 10:30am UTC+1
The purpose of the maintenance is to address issues relating to the CRF database.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 30 minutes, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
Hey guys, we wanted to let you know that we will soon launch a major update for Robocraft which includes a whole suite of new and improved social features. This release represents just a subset of the full social feature set planned so we’re calling it ‘ROBOCLANS ALPHA’.The social features coming involve massive reworks of Chat, Friends, Platoons (being renamed Parties) and the addition of Clans, along with a bunch of changes to the game that accompany these new features to help them fit neatly within the game overall.
I’m writing this article to delve a bit deeper into the social features planned; outlining what elements will be included with this update and framing them in context of how they will be expanded in future.
Since there is a lot to talk about, I’m going to focus this article on Chat and Friends with the Clans deep dive article arriving shortly afer.
The New Chat System
We’ve given the in-game chat system a complete overhaul; with a whole raft of new features and options that will be available to you when it launches soon. Remember, this is the first in a two-part update to the chat system and more features will be added at a later date.Here is a mock-up of the new chat system that will arrive with Roboclans ALPHA:
Chat Features:
- Create your own Custom Channels; as many as you like
- Password protect your custom channels, so only your buddies can join them
- Create, join, leave and listen to as many channels as you like
- Social events, system events, Platoon (party) chat, Clan chat and Whispers are all shown in the same chat display together, so you can listen to everything at the same time without needing to switch between channels
- The channels you are in and the ones you create remain persistent when you log out, so next time you log in, if you created a special channel for you and your buddies, you will be able to use it to chat to them whenever you are online
- Scrollbar, showing history of chat
- Expand and collapse the chat window with the button at the top-right corner
- Filter which channels you are listening to with the drop-down in the top-left corner
- Chat is color coded to help you read it, and to help you separate Whispers, from Clan chat, from Party chat, from social events, etc*
Commands:
- /list - Lists all the available global channels, custom channels are not listed
- /join [channelName] - Joins a channel
- /create [channelName] [optionalPasscode] - Creates a channel, name must be unique
- /leave [channelName]
- /help - Lists the most common commands
- /msg [userName] - Whisper to a specific user
- /w [userName] - Whisper to a specific user (i.e. alternate to above with same functionality)
- /r [message] - Reply to the person who last whispered to you
- /clan [message] - A way of sending a message to your clan when you’re not currently talking in that channel (i.e. faster than tabbing through channels)
- /platoon [message] - Types a message to your platoon
- /party [message] - Same as Platoon
- /block [userName] - Stop this users comments appearing in your chat ever again
- /unblock [userName] - Unblocks a blocked user
- /listBlocks - Lists all blocked users on your account
- /silence [userName] - MOD, ADM and DEV use, can silence a user in the chat for a fixed global period of time
- /warn [userName] - MOD, ADM and DEV use, can warn a user. 3 warns = suspension
- /suspend [userName] - ADM and DEV use, instantly suspends a user
- /invitetoplatoon [userName] - Invite someone to a party (this is an alternative method), NB: /invitetoparty will also work
Chat System MK2:
So, what can you expect to see in the future? Well, after this initial launch, we will continue to work on the chat system as we plan to include some more advanced features in the future. Here’s a mock-up of what we expect it to look like:
The new features that we are currently planning for Chat MK2 are as follows. Again, please note that these are not final and may change before release.
- Collapsible list of players in each channel that you are currently listening to on right-hand extended widget
- Right-click menus on each player so you can do common operations like ‘Invite to party/clan’, block, whisper, etc.
- Showing the status of the player, so you can see what they are currently doing in-game
- Right-click menu allows you to view a user's profile, see their account battle stats, league ranking, etc.
- Quicktype helper widget, so as you type, usernames and commands automatically fill in allowing for speedier interactions with the chat system
The New Friends Widget
Along with the much-needed chat overhaul, we’re giving the Friends Widget a lick of paint too. Here’s a mock-up of the new Friends widget which is also launching with Roboclans ALPHA:
Friends Widget Features:
As you can see from the mock-up above, in the update we’ll be moving Friends from the social screen to a more convenient button next to Chat. In addition to its relocation, Friends will include the following new features:
- Small number below the friends button shows how many friends are currently online
- Clicking the friends button next to the chat brings up the scrollable friends widget
- Friends are listed in groups, online, offline, requests, and invites, each group is collapsable
- Clan and Player Avatars are shown, as well as Clan name and online status
- Quick buttons for accepting invites, inviting to party, cancelling invites, etc. are presented in the widget
- Right-click menu allows you to remove friends
Friends MK2 Features:
Again, we’ll be listening to your feedback on the new Friends system and we’ll be taking things further with additional features including:
- The MK2 Friends system will extend the right-click menu to allow you to View Profile, Whisper, etc.
- We will also extend the information about the status showing what your friends are currently doing in game
- We also plan on adding a friend referral system in the future. For example, we'd like to reward players for inviting friends who install Robocraft and reach level 5
Clans!
Notice the [C] button next to the Friends widget button on the diagrams above? That is the window into all Clan functionality. And we’ll explain more about Clans MK1 and the future of Clans in the next ‘Deep Dive’ which will go live tomorrow.
Come hear about social and clans by our very own designers!
This will be a very special Robostream with Drognin interviewing two members of the Freejam team: Mark Simmons, the Game Director and original creator of Robocraft, founder and CEO of Freejam! Sergii Ievtushenko, Senior Designer of Robocraft and forum straight-talker! Come join us and learn more about the philosophy and approach to developing Robocraft. The Robostream will start on Tuesday 23rd at 4pm UTC+1 Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts! Please note: This Robostream replaces the previously advertised Robostream for today August 22nd.
The Temporal Rift has hit our galaxy! All Modules are now supercharged!
As the Temporal Rift washes through our galaxy, we’ve noticed a number of changes in the world around us. It seems to be impacting the way our surroundings interact with space and time itself! The main changes we can observe are as follows:
- The cooldown on Blink, Disc Shield, EMP, and Cloak Modules are reduced by 50%
- The power cost of all above mentioned modules are reduced by 50%
- The rarity of all above mentioned modules are now ‘Epic’, down from ‘Legendary’
- All pilots are awarded Salvage Crates of two quality levels higher than normal as rewards from battle (e.g. Rusted crates will become Silver, Gold will become Protonium etc..)
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service!
THE TEMPORAL RIFT IS DUE TO HIT TOMORROW! READ THE NEWS BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION!
To read the above in higher resolution and to find out more about Robocraft, please visit robocraftgame.com
Coming this weekend - The TEMPORAL RIFT event!
A strange rift tears through the galaxy causing temporal distortions that affect the physical world around us. More information on what this could all mean coming soon!
Hi all,
This week we’ve added multiple hotfixes to Robocraft to solve the network issues which many users have reported to us since the ‘Strut Your Stuff’ update went live. The two hotfixes deployed (0.13.1689 and 0.13.1691) have helped the situation and improved things, and we’ve identified another issue that we’re aiming to fix ASAP; so things should improve further still. These issues from earlier in the week sucked for pretty much everyone, us included, as obviously we want as many people playing Robocraft as possible and you guys don’t want connection errors.
We’ve decided to release a one day free Premium code (see below) to everyone to make up for the lost game time and we’d like to apologise to players who are continuing to have issues. Rest assured, our development priority above all else is to continue work on resolving the connection issues that some players are reporting.
PROMO CODE: CLANS25TH
The code will be valid until 23:59pm (UTC+1) on August 25th – so you don’t have to use it straight away. However, with our current ArtBot Competition in full-swing, you may want to add some colour to a Rio Olympic themed robot before the competition ends on Sunday evening. Hmm that’s an interesting code, I wonder what THAT means? ;) – Yep clans are coming. We told you they were coming way back in May’s State of the Game and we’ll be diving into the nitty-gritty of their introduction next week. Also we plan on holding another Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) event this coming Monday (August 15) from 3pm (UTC+1) to 6pm (UTC+1). So if you have any questions about Robocraft, be they be about clans, the new social features, crates, recycle rates, new content, bloom effects, soundtrack, how much time our Art Director spends on his hair every morning (it’s a lot), why LeftofNever is obsessed with outdoor bowling, feel free to hop on the subreddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/robocraft) to ask your question this Monday. Thanks all and happy gaming!
Strut Your Stuff Hotfix #1 - 0.13.1691
- Fixed an issue with the 'OK button' on a dialogue box which would pop-up when some players were disconnected from a game. This button now works correctly.
- Improved disconnect issue which a lot of players are reporting. Like with yesterday's hotfix this update won't fix the network issues entirely for all users, but we're continuing to work on solutions to this.
We will be entering maintenance at 11:30am UTC+1
The purpose of the maintenance is to further address recent connection and lag issues reported by some players.
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
In addition to today’s hotfix, we’re also pleased to share with you that a new bundle is now available on Steam – introducing the Speed Bundle!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/513430/
This bundle will be available for 40% off until Thursday, 18th August at 2:59pm (UTC+1), so if you want to snap up it we suggest you do it fast.
For more information about the bundle and to see a rather snazzy wallpaper of the featured Bullet bot, please visit Robocraftgame.com
Please note you will have to restart the Robocraft client in order to experience these changes. BALANCE:
- Rail Cannons have had their damage decreased by 10%
- Plasma Goliathon has had its damage reduced by 9%
- Chain Shredder damage has had its damage reduced by 5%
- Experience gained towards Player Level has been increased by 100% in all game modes, except in TDM where it has been increased by 150%
- Minimum time before surrender is now 3 minutes globally
- Cooldown time between a player being able to initiate another surrender attempt has been reduced to 3 minutes
- AI TDM lootcrates now give 2+2 slots instead of 1+1, but can no longer award crates above Gold quality
- A new system to reduce the number of players disconnecting when entering a game has been implemented. It has been tested internally but it's difficult to say how large an impact it will have when live so consider this experimental. We are aware of the continued issues that some users are reporting when it comes to connection drops in-game and we're continuing to investigate solutions.
- New accounts have a new set of starter robots
- Fixed a bug which would cause players to be rendered out of max shooting range. The rule should always be "If you can see it, you can shoot it"
- Fixed a bug which caused graphics quality settings to be detected incorrectly
- Fixed a bug which caused robot ratings in the CRF to not degrade over time
We will be entering maintenance at 14:30 (UTC+1)
The purpose of the maintenance is to address recent connection and lag issues reported by some players.
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2643743,524901,5128481,1850147&h=2643743&date=2016-8-11&sln=14.5-15.5
We will be entering maintenance at 11am UTC+1
The purpose of the maintenance is to make back-end Database optimizations.
The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications.
To see the start and end time of the maintenance in various timezones, click here.
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpFo2zhWAAARNKC.jpg:large] Chill out, play games and chat! Come hang out with Drognin and play some games for the next Robostream! We’ll be counting down before each battle so everyone can queue up at the same time and hopefully get into the same games! The stream will start at 4pm UTC+1 TODAY (5th of August). Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly how long until the stream starts!
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/NEWS_Strut_Your_Stuff_NOW_Large.jpg] Get to the mothership! The Strut Your Stuff update is out now! All kinds of new playthings have entered the mothership now thanks to the Strut Your Stuff update going live! You’ve got new armored Struts, Center of Mass indicators, Robot building stats and much more! CHECK OUT THE FULL PATCH NOTES BY CLICKING HERE! Otherwise get in-game and try out all the cool new content!
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/NEWS_Upcoming_Maintenance_Smal.jpg] We will be taking the servers down at 12pm UTC+1 The purpose of the maintenance is to apply Strut Your Stuff The maintenance is expected to take up to three hours, but could go on longer if we come across any complications
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Co8jkGiWgAAZIv3.jpg:large] Put on your walking legs and prepare to Strut Your Stuff! Coming tomorrow is Robocraft’s next expansion, Strut your Stuff! With it comes a whole load of new content, some taking the community by surprise, some specifically asked for by our players and some which has long since been desired! All of the content below will be available once the update goes live tomorrow, so until then, just enjoy the patch notes so you know exactly what’s coming! NEW STRUTS
- Special armor types which are shaped similarly to Aerorods but are bigger, heavier and more highly armored. They open up a whole new set of build options for creating reinforced locations on your robot, gun mounts and protective shielding. Alternatively, their unique shapes also offer whole new artistic options for the visual builders in our community!
- In total they come in eight shapes and sizes which should see to all and any uses you might have for them!
- They cost between 9 and 15 CPU each, are Epic quality, and have the same Armor-Per-CPU of full armor cubes!
- As voted for by over 14,000 members of the Robocraft community, Strut Your Stuff brings with it a Center of Mass indicator!
- Center of Mass shows the center point of your robot’s mass based on all your armor and components, and their location on your robot.
- This is great new functionality to help you balance your robots and figure out why they might be moving in wierd and wonderful ways!
- Press “O” to show Center of Mass or click the tick-box in the settings menu
- To aid both budding Robocrafters and veterans alike, we’ve introduced a number of important robot stats in Edit Mode!
- New stats show are: Total health, Total shield, Average health + shield per CPU, Total mass, Average mass per CPU.
- We expect this to help players better classify their robots and gain a better understanding of how their robots stand up to those of their friends!
- Press “I” to show these stats or click the tick-box in the settings menu
- Mech Legs have had their mass reduced across the board. Click here for exact numbers.
- Tank Tracks have had their mass reduced across the board. Click here for exact numbers.
- To go along with the Tank Tracks’ reduction in mass, various values that affect their handling have been tweaked to make them more stable.
- Rod Diagonal 2D mass has been increased to 4.0kg (up from 3.0kg).
- Rod Diagonal 3D mass has been increased to 5.0kg (up from 3.0kg).
- The mass of the two Rod Diagonal parts mentioned above were incorrect and were always intended to be their new mass.
- The “Anti-Gunbrella” effect has been removed, as have the Barrier Protection and Resistivity statistics for armor and components. More details on this can be found here.
- New visual and audio effect to clearly show a player has the benefit of faster health regeneration after spawning.
- All new Bloom and Lens-Flare effects have been introduced into Robocraft. They appear on various locations such as components, weapon fire effects and more. They’re very nice.
- Robocraft is upgrading its networking code from using Unity 4 to Unity 5.3.5. For more info, click here.
- The EMP visual effect has been increased in size to match the stun radius.
- The EMP visual effect has also been reworked to look more electric than ever.
- Renamed “Single Player” to “AI TDM” in the Controls menu.
- Fixed a bug which caused a robot’s name and the “BAY” text to overlap in the CRF.
- Fixed a bug which caused projectiles to spawn too far ahead of the muzzle flash.
- Fixed a number of locations in the tutorial where it wasn’t possible to exit.
- Fixed a bug which caused Teslas to deal damage from a greater range than intended.
- Fixed a bug which caused Insect Legs to appear upside down in the Crate Opening screen.
- Fixed a bug which caused attacks made through two Disc Shields to ignore both the shields.
- Fixed a bug which caused players to not receive the early-leaver penalty in TDM.
- Fixed a bug which occasionally caused new items in your inventory to not be flagged as ‘NEW’.
- Fixed the early leaver warning text as previously the full message wasn’t being shown.
- Fixed a bug which caused the Robocraft intro video to not scale properly on different resolutions.
- Fixed a bug which caused the locking of your camera instead of just your robot when stunned by an EMP module.
Quick announcement to show off the new bloom effects which will be hitting Robocraft in this Thursday's "Strut Your Stuff" update! Check it out below! [img=http://i.imgur.com/0kpG4w5.gif]
Damage Model Changes
With this Thursday’s ‘Strut Your Stuff’ update, there are some changes coming to how damage propagates from weapons and weight changes to certain movement parts in Robocraft. We wanted to take a moment to communicate these changes ahead of time to help make you guys more aware of them, without needing to read through all the patch notes to find them later on in the week.
Anti-Gunbrella Changes
Anti-gunbrella is a damage mechanic which has been a part of Robocraft since the introduction of plasma, the first area-of-effect (AoE) weapon (for more on anti-gunbrella, see barrier protection and resistivity via the Robocraft wiki here). In short, when shooting a component directly, it causes some of the damage to go straight through to the cubes attached to it, simulating the effect of an explosion by damaging an area beyond the component hit.
In the next major update, this mechanic is being removed, and AoE weapons such as plasma, flak and LOML are having their damage mechanic changed. These weapons are gaining a real AoE component and will now deal damage at multiple points on the robot they hit, within the range of the explosion.
Weight Changes
Historically Mech Legs and Tank Tracks have had an extremely high mass value. This was due to the possibility of exploiting the anti-gunbrella mechanic in tandem with the high armor values of Mech Legs and Tank Tracks, thus creating an abnormally difficult to kill flying robot.
However with the removal of the anti-gunbrella mechanic, Mech Legs and Tank Tracks can have their mass decreased to more reasonable levels. This means they will work with thrusters and as parts of flyers.
The weight changes can be found below. Click to enlarge the image.
For more information about this post and this Thursday's (4th August) Strut Your Stuff update, please visit robocraftgame.com
Special thanks to Archthunder and Killroy1975 for the use of their robots in the image for this post! Find them on the CRF store, just enter the names of their creators above.
Today Robocraft servers will enter maintenance at 10:00 (UTC+1).
This maintenance period is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the maintenance is to implement important server infrastructure changes. There is a chance this maintenance period will be extended if we come across any unforeseen issues, so please keep an eye on this page for updates.
For localised maintenance timings for multiple regions around the world, please click here: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=8,2643743,1850147,524901&h=8&date=2016-8-1&sln=2-3
STRUT – Noun
A rod or bar forming part of a framework and designed to resist compression.
“a supporting strut”
In Robocraft's last update, we introduced two new aerorods giving you even more freedom to create all-powerful and gorgeous looking robots. However, we don’t plan on stopping there…Not content with giving you guys two couple diagonal rods, we’ve created 7, yes, SEVEN, epic new cube connectors suited to weapon mounting which we call Struts and guess what? They’re coming next week!!
That’s right, with next Thursday’s (August 4th) ‘Strut Your Stuff’ update, you’ll be able to get your hands on the new set of ‘struts’ shown above that are stronger, heavier versions of their aerorod cousins and will give you more choice when kitting out your robots. In addition to five ‘struty’ versions of existing rods, we’ll be introducing two new strut types: Slice and Ramp.
Given the new struts are both stronger and heavier, it’s only natural that they would have a larger impact on your bots CPU and Mass – they have 3x the CPU load compared to their regular versions and 15x mass. They do come with health benefits though; they’re 3x stronger than good old regular rods.
All of these Struts will be classed as Epic and they drop in pairs at all times – just as normal rods do.
Also, the previously named ‘L Shaped’ rod will now renamed ‘Arc’ in next week’s update – this is to make the naming structure easier to comprehend and consistent.
So, retrofit your robots with some kick-ass parts next week and you’ll soon be strutting around Battle Arena like you own the place. And yes, the center of mass indicators revealed yesterday will launch with the ‘Strut Your Stuff’ update.
Robo-builders, we salute you!
Feel free to tell us your thoughts on Struts via the Robocraft forums linked here: http://robocraftgame.com/forums/topic/introducing-struts/
Center of Mass Indicators and more are coming soon to Robocraft. In our second Quality of Life poll you voted in your thousands and made it known to us that you wanted more information when building your robots, in particular adding a “robot center of mass, total mass and total health indicators in edit mode”. As with all the QoL polls, the winner gets priority over the other features and we got busy implementing the feature as soon as we could and we’re pleased to announce that very soon this functionality will make its way into Robocraft!
We’ll be releasing the new advanced build information as part of the next BIG game update and in short, will believe this new information will help both new and veteran builders create better robots, quicker and easier.
Once activated via the settings menu, you’ll have access to the following data which is updated in realtime as you build your robot:
- Total health
- Average health per CPU
- Total shields
- Average shields per CPU
- Total mass
- Average mass per CPU
Our lovely community manager Drognin has created a video showing how it all works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KEZgaJBchQ
Want to know a bit more? Here’s a quick deep-dive.
New Settings Options:
First off, to access these new data streams, and the CoM (Center of Mass) indicator, you’ll need to ensure they’re activated in the game settings menu (see below).
Center of Mass:
With the Center of Mass (COM) indicator activated, in edit mode you will see a visual indicator where the center of your robot is; invaluable for creating more balanced robots that aren’t going to fall over, be too top-heavy or uncontrollable on the battlefield.
Advanced Robot Build Information:
Once turned on in the settings menu, you’ll find the Advanced Robot Info indicator in the top-right hand corner of the screen in Edit Mode (see image below). The new information displayed will assist you in your bot building by displaying the following vital data:
- Total health
- Average health per CPU
- Total shields
- Average shields per CPU
- Total mass
- Average mass per CPU
Please note that shield data will only be displayed if you have shields present on your robot.
While we can’t give you a concrete release date for these new and exciting additions to Robocraft, we’re hoping (fingers and toes crossed here) that we’ll be able to announce the release date tomorrow. We will of course keep you in-the-loop on release dates and other important stuff.
Today Robocraft servers will enter maintenance at 10:00 (UTC+1).
This maintenance period is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply multiple backend fixes which should stabilise server performance related to the Community Robot Factory (CRF).
For localised maintenance timings for multiple regions around the world, please click here.
The community have spoken once again!
Thank you to everyone who offered up their time and filled out the voting form. It’s great to have such an awesome, active community!
But you’re here to see the winner, so let’s see it!
The winner of the poll is: Sprinter single-joint running legs
It seems the desire to go fast is strong within the Robocraft community as the sprinting legs run circles around new maps, propellers and even googly eyes! We will begin development of the third set of specialized legs, which will offer a new and more unique form of movement like the Mech legs and Insect legs did before it!
You’ll see the arrival of the QoL Vote #2‘s winner first, then the Running Legs will arrive shortly after.
Below are the full list of results for your viewing pleasure:
[url=http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/6281279/31773ad856f550fb49a5567762d1a90e304f79ae.png]
(click to enlarge)
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cn-aw6UWcAAqhb5.jpg:large] Drognin’s back in the Freejam studio so what better way to celebrate than having a last second impromptu stream! The stream will be taking place TODAY at 4pm UTC+1, which is exactly one hour from when this was posted! Today’s special guest is Phil, producer for Robocraft. Come hang out, shoot some robots, ask some production related questions and have a good time! Click here to go directly to the stream! Click here to see exactly when the stream starts!
Our 3rd community vote is now live; giving you the opportunity to decide on what gets added to Robocraft next!
The community vote this time is slightly different. Instead of focusing on quality of life, we're entrusting you, the community, with the decision on what new content to bring into Robocraft!
On the link below you'll find a sheet with 10 content features that aren't currently in Robocraft; all you need to do is tell us which ones you'd like in order of preference.
Voting ends on Monday 25th at 10:59am (UTC+1), after which we will share the vote distribution for everyone to see (on either the 25th or 26th). We will then prioritize the top voted feature for release at the soonest possible update.
As a side note, the feature voted for development in the last poll is still being actively worked on, with the winner of this poll being developed alongside it. So fear not, the “Robot centre of mass, total mass and total health indicators in edit mode” are still in development.
So go cast your vote!
http://robocraftgame.com/community-quality-of-life-vote-3/
We will be entering maintenance at 17:15 (UTC+1) today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix focused on fixing various issues.
Taking into account some of the feedback we’ve received overnight, we’ve made the following changes to weapons and the EMP module: Please note you will have to restart the Robocraft client in order to experience these changes. Proto-Seeker:
- Damage per shot increased from 2840 to 3692
- Power cost increased from 37.129 to 43.21
- Fire rate with one Seeker doubled (from 0.25 to 0.5 of the max fire rate). Also affects 2 and 3 Seekers, as fire rate grows linearly with weapon count (up to the max fire rate count)
- Damage per shot increased from 130263 to 148500
- Little bit stronger relative buff than for Distorter (14% as opposed to 10%), because we want to put Destabilizer bit closer to the big brother
- Damage per shot increased from 225000 to 247500
- Damage per shot increased from 11000 to 12500
- Power cost per second increased from 562.5 to 607.143
- Spin-up time decreased from 4.5 to 3 seconds
- Protonium damage scale decreased by 25%
- Fire rate with one Chain Shredder increased to 0.95 of the full fire rate (formerly was 0.8)
- Stun time duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds
- Fix iOS crash which was affecting Mac Users
- Fixed Linux Crash issue
NEW LEGENDARY WEAPON - CHAIN SHREDDER
- Spin up the rotating barrel as you hold the trigger for insane fire-rates
- Power is depleted the second you hold down the trigger
- The barrel takes 4.5 seconds to get up to full spin speed, and 0.5 seconds to decelerate back to a halt when the trigger is released
- Shots are fired from the barrel with a 4 degree spread (IND is 6 degrees)
- Shots deal 11,000 damage each
- Max fire-rate is 20 projectiles per second with 2 weapons, 16 projectiles per second with 1 weapon. Power cost is the same (per second) regardless of the number you have on board
- DMG per Power spent is very inefficient when the barrel is rotating slowly, but becomes extremely efficient when rotating at full spin speed
- This weapon becomes more powerful in higher CPU matches as Robots can keep the spin speed at maximum for longer with the extra Power provided by the Floppy Capacitor (released in the Aeroflak Sentinel & Power update on 23rd June)
- Robot CPU Load is 325, Mass is 2950 (i.e. same mass per CPU as IND)
NEW LEGENDARY MODULE - EMP (ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE)
- A huge column of Electromagnetic Pulse energy called in from your Mothership in geostationary orbit above your battlefield covering a cylindrical area from ground to max ceiling
- Target this like the DSM, i.e. target ground within range for the pulse location, range is limited to if cast in air it will appear at nearest location (as with DSM)
- When initiated, a three second countdown begins, and all enemies within it get a period of time to escape / avoid the blast; the radius has been balanced so that those paying attention have time to escape
- Enemies caught in the blast will effectively be stunned, with all powered equipment being disabled for three seconds
- Wheels, legs and caterpillar tracks lose power, hovers and rotors stop spinning and generating lift, aerofoils and rudder input gets corrupted so they twist in different directions causing uncontrolled spin, Power is drained to zero and regen is halted so weapons and modules cannot fire
- Since avoiding the EMP is easily achievable if you’re paying attention, the EMP is more of an ‘area denial’ weapon than a ‘stun’ weapon. Forcing your enemies to move or get stunned at a critical moment can help defend a tower or split a Platoon
- The EMP Module has a 30 second cooldown
- Power cost is 1800
- EMP blast radius is 100 cubes
- Robot CPU Load is 315, Mass is 135 (equal to Blink)
- The Fusion Shield does not block the EMP
NEW RARE DIAGONAL AERORODS
- Two awesome new Aerorods providing many new build options
- The ‘2D Diagonal Rod’ is 3x3 on the XY coordinates
- The ‘3D Diagonal Rod’ is 3x3x3 on the XYZ coordinates
NEW TUTORIAL
- New players are asked if they want to start with a Tutorial right after login
- The PLAY screen also has a new ‘Tutorial’ button added to it allowing all players to access it at any time
- NB: You don’t need to register a new account to check out the Tutorial, just hit the ‘Tutorial’ button in the PLAY menu
- This tutorial aims simply to help new players to learn the absolute basics, i.e. moving the character, placing blocks, using the inventory, testing their Robot, and destroying an enemy. We have avoided advanced concepts for now aiming to get new players into the action ASAP
- At the end of the tutorial the player is awarded a Salvage Crate with 4 items in, and this Crate is earned only on the first time the player completes the Tutorial
NEW SINGLE PLAYER GAME MODE - TDM WITH AI BOTS
- We’ve added a new single player game mode in the form of Team Deathmatch with AI bots
- This is the full 5 vs. 5 Team Deathmatch in the Battle for Birmingham Power Station map where you control one Robot on the blue team and all the other Robots are AI controlled
- You cannot enter this game mode in a Platoon at the moment, but it is something we will consider adding in future if this new game mode is popular
- Robots in this game mode are still taken from the CRF with filters that exclude certain builds as the AI is not yet good enough to handle fliers, modules and advanced weapons, but we plan to improve and iterate this mode in future if it’s successful
- AI bots will fire Laser, Rail and Plasma weapons
- The main aim of this new mode is to provide a gentle route for new players to get into the full Robocraft experience by first playing the Tutorial, then playing TDM with AI bots, then playing TDM and then venturing into the more advanced game modes
- Completing a game of AI Bots TDM will earn you a Salvage Crate with 1+1 item
- Experience is also gained in this mode so players can level up, but is much lower than in all other game modes
OTHER THINGS
- We’ve added a new intro movie to the game, which is skippable with any key press
- Both Resistivity and Barrier Protection of Plasma Goliathon and Laser Leviathan set to 1.0 to match all other high CPU weapons
- Vampire Wings and Rudders, Carbon 6 Thrusters and Carbon 6 Laser Disintegrator were all downgraded from Legendary to Epic, this was announced 7 days ago to ensure all users had plenty of time to recycle any unwanted prior to this downgrade
- We now have an official ESRB rating for Robocraft which is E10+ with an advisory for User Generated Content, this rating has been added to the login splash screen and will be updated in all other relevant locations soon after this expansion is live
- New players can still earn three days of free Premium by providing a valid email address after login, but this dialogue will only appear after the second login (since the first login now shows the Tutorial option dialogue)
- Improved the presentation of the PLAY menu which now scales with different resolutions
- Massively sped up loot animations in Salvage Crates, with Common and Uncommon items dropping insanely fast, and collect animations sped up significantly also
- Rotors and Thrusters no longer tilt forwards and backwards when using the ‘Camera Controls Steering’ option, allowing for easier Tower attacks and more predictable control of these movement types
- Smallest Tesla Power consumption set to 0.001 so it cannot be used when EMP is active (due to EMP depleting Power)
BUG FIXES
- Fixed a bug causing the crosshair for Rail showing when you cannot fire not showing correctly
- Fixed a bug causing headlights to still render when Ghosted
- Fixed a placement glitch when hitting the arrow key and placing cubes at the same time
- Fixed a graphical issue in the special effects of the IND
- Fixed a graphical issue on the clasps of Fusion Towers in Battle Arena
- Fixed a bug allowing users to clip the camera outside the Mothership
- Fixed a bug giving poor user feedback when players tried to enter a Robot name with invalid characters
- Fixed a prop that was intersecting the terrain on Earth
- Fixed some LOD’s not working correctly on some of the functional components
- Fixed a bug preventing some players from collecting their CRF earnings
- Fixed a bug where the damage radius of the Plasma was out of sync with the size of the special effects, the special effects now match the radius
- Fixed an issue with rail and Laser weapon fire rate which would occur when users played Robocraft for multiple hours in one sitting.
We will be entering a period of maintenance at 10:30 am (UTC+1) today.
The maintenance should last not longer than two hours, but could take longer if we come across any complications. During this time, the Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of this update is to deploy our latest expansion - ENTER THE SHREDZONE
click here to read the patch notes for this update
#ENTERTHESHREDZONE
1 Day To Go!
Hey everyone! Tomorrow sees the launch of our 10th, yes 10th expansion for Robocraft and we’re super excited about this one as we’re going to introduce a new weapon, module, rods, an in-game tutorial as well as an overhauled single-player mode. Normally, we would release the full patch notes for an expansion on the day of release; however, we can’t contain ourselves and so wanted to share all the information (and there’s a lot of it) with you in advance of the expansion’s release tomorrow (14th July). As always, we welcome your feedback and if you’ve any questions, leave a comment below. So prepare yourselves to... (cue dramatic music) ENTER THE SHREDZONE! Capture a group of enemies in your EMP Module’s stun zone and get your Platoon allies to shred them with their Chain Shredders; this aptly named major expansion brings not only two game-changing Legendary Hardware components but also introduces many other major elements as Freejam begins to round off the Robocraft experience and looks to make another step towards Beta.
NEW LEGENDARY WEAPON - CHAIN SHREDDER
- Spin up the rotating barrel as you hold the trigger for insane fire-rates
- Power is depleted the second you hold down the trigger
- The barrel takes 4.5 seconds to get up to full spin speed, and 0.5 seconds to decelerate back to a halt when the trigger is released
- Shots are fired from the barrel with a 4 degree spread (IND is 6 degrees)
- Shots deal 11,000 damage each
- Max fire-rate is 20 projectiles per second with 2 weapons, 16 projectiles per second with 1 weapon. Power cost is the same (per second) regardless of the number you have on board
- DMG per Power spent is very inefficient when the barrel is rotating slowly, but becomes extremely efficient when rotating at full spin speed
- This weapon becomes more powerful in higher CPU matches as Robots can keep the spin speed at maximum for longer with the extra Power provided by the Floppy Capacitor (released in the Aeroflak Sentinel & Power update on 23rd June)
- Robot CPU Load is 325, Mass is 2950 (i.e. same mass per CPU as IND)
NEW LEGENDARY MODULE - EMP (ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE)
- A huge column of Electromagnetic Pulse energy called in from your Mothership in geostationary orbit above your battlefield covering a cylindrical area from ground to max ceiling
- Target this like the DSM, i.e. target ground within range for the pulse location, range is limited to if cast in air it will appear at nearest location (as with DSM)
- When initiated, a three second countdown begins, and all enemies within it get a period of time to escape / avoid the blast; the radius has been balanced so that those paying attention have time to escape
- Enemies caught in the blast will effectively be stunned, with all powered equipment being disabled for three seconds
- Wheels, legs and caterpillar tracks lose power, hovers and rotors stop spinning and generating lift, aerofoils and rudder input gets corrupted so they twist in different directions causing uncontrolled spin, Power is drained to zero and regen is halted so weapons and modules cannot fire
- Since avoiding the EMP is easily achievable if you’re paying attention, the EMP is more of an ‘area denial’ weapon than a ‘stun’ weapon. Forcing your enemies to move or get stunned at a critical moment can help defend a tower or split a Platoon
- The EMP Module has a 30 second cooldown
- Power cost is 1800
- EMP blast radius is 100 cubes
- Robot CPU Load is 315, Mass is 135 (equal to Blink)
- The Fusion Shield does not block the EMP
NEW RARE DIAGONAL AERORODS
- Two awesome new Aerorods providing many new build options
- The ‘2D Diagonal Rod’ is 3x3 on the XY coordinates
- The ‘3D Diagonal Rod’ is 3x3x3 on the XYZ coordinates
NEW TUTORIAL
- New players are asked if they want to start with a Tutorial right after login
- The PLAY screen also has a new ‘Tutorial’ button added to it allowing all players to access it at any time
- NB: You don’t need to register a new account to check out the Tutorial, just hit the ‘Tutorial’ button in the PLAY menu
- This tutorial aims simply to help new players to learn the absolute basics, i.e. moving the character, placing blocks, using the inventory, testing their Robot, and destroying an enemy. We have avoided advanced concepts for now aiming to get new players into the action ASAP
- At the end of the tutorial the player is awarded a Salvage Crate with 4 items in, and this Crate is earned only on the first time the player completes the Tutorial
NEW SINGLE PLAYER GAME MODE - TDM WITH AI BOTS
- We’ve added a new single player game mode in the form of Team Deathmatch with AI bots
- This is the full 5 vs. 5 Team Deathmatch in the Battle for Birmingham Power Station map where you control one Robot on the blue team and all the other Robots are AI controlled
- You cannot enter this game mode in a Platoon at the moment, but it is something we will consider adding in future if this new game mode is popular
- Robots in this game mode are still taken from the CRF with filters that exclude certain builds as the AI is not yet good enough to handle fliers, modules and advanced weapons, but we plan to improve and iterate this mode in future if it’s successful
- AI bots will fire Laser, Rail and Plasma weapons
- The main aim of this new mode is to provide a gentle route for new players to get into the full Robocraft experience by first playing the Tutorial, then playing TDM with AI bots, then playing TDM and then venturing into the more advanced game modes
- Completing a game of AI Bots TDM will earn you a Salvage Crate with 1+1 item
- Experience is also gained in this mode so players can level up, but is much lower than in all other game modes
OTHER THINGS
- We’ve added a new intro movie to the game, which is skippable with any key press
- Both Resistivity and Barrier Protection of Plasma Goliathon and Laser Leviathan set to 1.0 to match all other high CPU weapons
- Vampire Wings and Rudders, Carbon 6 Thrusters and Carbon 6 Laser Disintegrator were all downgraded from Legendary to Epic, this was announced 7 days ago to ensure all users had plenty of time to recycle any unwanted prior to this downgrade
- We now have an official ESRB rating for Robocraft which is E10+ with an advisory for User Generated Content, this rating has been added to the login splash screen and will be updated in all other relevant locations soon after this expansion is live
- New players can still earn three days of free Premium by providing a valid email address after login, but this dialogue will only appear after the second login (since the first login now shows the Tutorial option dialogue)
- Improved the presentation of the PLAY menu which now scales with different resolutions
- Massively sped up loot animations in Salvage Crates, with Common and Uncommon items dropping insanely fast, and collect animations sped up significantly also
- Rotors and Thrusters no longer tilt forwards and backwards when using the ‘Camera Controls Steering’ option, allowing for easier Tower attacks and more predictable control of these movement types
- Smallest Tesla Power consumption set to 0.001 so it cannot be used when EMP is active (due to EMP depleting Power)
BUG FIXES
- Fixed a bug causing the crosshair for Rail showing when you cannot fire not showing correctly
- Fixed a bug causing headlights to still render when Ghosted
- Fixed a placement glitch when hitting the arrow key and placing cubes at the same time
- Fixed a graphical issue in the special effects of the IND
- Fixed a graphical issue on the clasps of Fusion Towers in Battle Arena
- Fixed a bug allowing users to clip the camera outside the Mothership
- Fixed a bug giving poor user feedback when players tried to enter a Robot name with invalid characters
- Fixed a prop that was intersecting the terrain on Earth
- Fixed some LOD’s not working correctly on some of the functional components
- Fixed a bug preventing some players from collecting their CRF earnings
- Fixed a bug where the damage radius of the Plasma was out of sync with the size of the special effects, the special effects now match the radius
#ENTERTHESHREDZONE
Hey Robocrafters,
As you can probably imagine, everyone at the studio is working hard on getting our next mega update, Enter The Shredzone, ready for this Thursday’s launch. While you patiently wait for the new update, we thought we’d give you another sneaky-peeky of what to expect when the expansion goes live!
Feast your eyes on the preview shot below (which also doubles as some kick-ass PC desktop Wallpaper) featuring the power-zapping EMP and the Chain Shredder in full flow…
(Click on the art above to see this shot in full 1920 x 1080 wallpaper glory!)
Be sure to check Robocraftgame.com tomorrow to read the full release notes.
#ENTERTHESHREDZONE
This coming Thursday (14th July) sees the launch of a massive new expansion ‘Enter the Shredzone’ which features one new module and a weapon, namely the EMP and the minigun-esque Chain Shredder. All this information you guys already know, but what we haven’t revealed thus far is that this update also includes two big new additions which we’ve been working on for a while - an easy-to-grasp tutorial and an overhauled single-player mode.
On the face of it, those two topics aren’t necessarily linked, but they both feed into each other to help ensure that a new player’s experience in Robocraft is as fun and welcoming as possible.
Learning the Basics
Now, we’ve all tried to get a friend into Robocraft but for whatever reason that person hasn’t decided to keep playing - it’s okay we don’t judge them. If we’re being completely honest with ourselves, we know we haven’t done a great job in introducing players to Robocraft in the past but the new tutorial will help improve that. In the past we have featured videos in-game to help introduce Robocraft, but too few people actually watched them, and our new tutorial is considerably more hands-on.
Upon log-in new players are asked if they want to start a tutorial via a pop-up which immediately transports them into the editor. From there they are directed to pick up the hallowed edit gun, and go through multiple steps to make an unfinished mech battle-ready by placing down a mech leg, taking cubes from their inventory, attaching them to a clearly defined space on the robot and then outfitting it with SMGs. Once complete, players then take their robot into Test mode, where they are prompted to move their robot into clearly marked areas, shoot targets and take down a dummy robot.
Now writing this all down, it might seem a bit simplistic, but the whole ethos behind the tutorial’s design is to help newcomers learn the absolute basics, and get them battle-ready as soon as possible.
At the end of the tutorial the player is awarded a Protonium Salvage Crate with four items in, and this Crate is earned only on the first time the player completes the tutorial.
The tutorial system will be available from the main menu for everyone to try as soon as the expansion is live and as ever we welcome feedback on how to make the tutorial better. We’ll have a thread ready on the official forums to capture all the feedback; just remember this tutorial isn’t for established players, it’s for the newbies and it is subject to change.
Combat 101
After the tutorial is complete, the new player is then prompted to enter our new take on Single Player; AI Bots Deathmatch. This is an upgraded and enhanced single-player option which replaces the existing Single Player game mode with gameplay which is like-for-like the same as traditional 5 versus 5 Team Deathmatch on the Battle for Birmingham map. Only rather than facing human players, you’re on the blue team flanked by 4 team AI versus 5 AI enemies on the other team.
Robots in this mode are also taken from the CRF and will be based on the same CPU bracket as the robot you take into battle.
Please note, this new mode replaces the existing wave-based Single Player mode, but we believe the new AI Bots mode gives a much more accurate and enjoyable representation of Robocraft and acts as a better introduction to playing against others online.
Undoubtedly this new iteration of AI is a step up from what is currently in Robocraft, however it doesn’t quite reach the levels of Skynet in terms of human-stomping goodness. For example, AI won’t be able to utilise flyers, they won’t be armed with modules and they will only reliably utilise Laser, Rail and Plasma weaponry.
Experience is still earned when fighting against AI bots, but this is at a much slower rate than playing against human-controlled robots. Additionally completing a match against AI Bots will earn you a Salvage Crate (class dependent on performance) with two items, one of which will be locked-off to non-Premium users.
Any questions?
The main aim of the new tutorial and AI bots mode is to provide a gentle route for new players to get into the full Robocraft experience by first playing the Tutorial, then playing TDM with AI bots, then playing TDM against humans proper, and then venturing into the more advanced game modes. For this reason, players will find item rewards for this mode specifically to be suboptimal compared to other modes.
Please note that this mode will not support platoon play; so you won't be able to buddy-up to battle the robots with your pals I'm afraid. If an AI vs Platoon mode is something you'd like, let us know and we can consider it for a future update. If we can get a sufficient number of ‘THIS! YES! OH PLEASE THIS!’ then we’ll put it in the next Quality of Life poll and let everyone decide.
We’ll have more details on the Enter the Shredzone expansion later this week, including details on forthcoming bug fixes, balance changes and more.
Thanks all!
What’s this another new model preview? Didn’t we just unveil the Chain Shredder earlier this week? Yep, that’s right and today we have something else to reveal!
Continuing our tradition of introducing exciting new modules and weapons, we’re happy to announce that with the #EnterTheShredzone expansion coming next Thursday (14th July) we will be adding an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) module to Robocraft.
How does it work?
The EMP module summons a targeting locator, which, after a few seconds delay triggers a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy that stuns all enemies (both aerial and ground based) within a localised blast radius.
When a player activates an EMP module, a blast radius SFX will be displayed (red for enemy placement, blue for friendly), marking out the danger zone. Players will then only have a few seconds to escape this zone before the EMP initialises.
The magnetic pulse will disable all user controls; teslas will fail, weapons won’t fire, modules won’t activate, planes immediately spiral out of control and rotors, hovers and drones fall. In addition to this, all affected robots will have their power and power regen levels set to zero for the duration of the pulse module being active.
The new module can only be described as the ultimate in evasive maneuvers and could turn the tide of battle in your team’s favour in an instant!
We’ll release footage of this new module in action next week, but in the meantime feel free to feast your eyes on the model below:
https://sketchfab.com/models/06c39263f4c9454eb9eb55f368c63a46
Special thanks to Sketchfab for their incredibly nifty 3D model plug-in tech.
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CluCuruXIAA3vb7.jpg:large] On Thursday, 14th July Robocraft receives its next big expansion and as part of this update a brand new weapon will be introduced – say hello to the Chain Shredder! As you can see from the model preview below, this weapon looks much like a regular chaingun and as you’d expect it does take a moment to spin-up before casting out projectiles. When the Chain Shredder reaches optimal fire-rate, it’ll decimate any enemies that wander into your crosshairs at close range. This weapon is also light enough to be viable for both air and ground-based robots; so all robocrafters have good reason to be excited. To examine this tool of war more closely, feel free to zoom around the model via the Sketchfab display below: https://sketchfab.com/models/550499c52a4547ef894ace82bdfe6493
We wanted to share with you some recently acquired audio of the currently top secret and highly classified new weaponry that was alluded to in our most recent Robonews.
Click here or on the image below to hear the audio on Soundcloud.
What do you think it could be? Discuss below.
Happy Independence Day folks! Enjoy 1 free day of Premium on us!
For more information and to find out the 1 Day Premium code to redeem in-game, check out the latest issue of Robonews Issue #20 handily shown below:
To read the above in higher resolution and to find out more about Robocraft, please visit robocraftgame.com
We’re super excited to announce that we have just launched the first wave of our new official Robocraft merch.
Currently, ‘WAVE ONE’ (catchy name huh!) contains seven exciting designs, all of which can be applied to a wide range of kit and clobber including t-shirts & hoodies, bags, laptop skins, notebooks, mugs and more. Future waves will feature more cool designs and products.
Now, what’s absolutely brilliant about our merch store is that just like the Robocraft game, the merch is completely customisable! Unlike most video game merchandise, you’re not limited to one color/style.
To see what items and customisations are available in WAVE ONE, please click here please click here.
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmNSwBHWAAAZf_c.jpg:large] Friday 1st of July, from 4pm UTC+1! An hour of jamming with the jammers as SimoneSoundJammer jams with MartinCommunityJammer while DrogninCommunityJammer plays Robocraft. Jam. That’s right, after a huge number of requests by the community to have Simone on the stream, it’s finally happening! Simone is the sound jammer and is the sole creator of all non-voice audio in the game! That’s music and sound effects! So come hang out, ask some audio based questions and watch some games! Click here to go to our twitch page! Click here to see exactly when the stream starts!
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmMXJPIWMAAgxrl.jpg:large] The new update is out now! Log in and try it out! The new Aeroflak Sentinel offers more options in defending against the skies! The new CPU-To-Power system brings balance and more consistent, enjoyable gameplay across all battles of any CPU! New movement options implemented for Rotors which can now be controlled with the mouse! And so many more balance changes, improvements and bug fixes! You can find the full patch notes below! Otherwise, get into Robocraft and try out the patch! NEW: > Aeroflak Sentinel >> A smaller, more versatile version of the larger Aeroflak Guardian which allows for more freedom of building without being restrained to a single large turret >> Has a mass of 1380, which is below half the weight of the Guardian Costs 150 CPU which is exactly half of the Guardian > CPU-To-Power >> Players now have access to more power with higher CPU robots, and less power with lower CPU robots >> Robots at 1125 CPU will not see a difference, but higher CPU robots will see an increase and lower CPU robots will see a decrease >> At the extreme ends of the spectrum, 1750 CPU robots will see an increase of 25% power and power regeneration and 500 CPU robots will see a decrease of 25% power and power regeneration >> One of the main benefits of this new mechanic is that low CPU games will be less dominated by larger burst weapons, leading to fewer instant deaths and an overall more enjoyable experience > Rotors are now supported by ‘Camera Steering’ controls >> You can turn your robot using your mouse and tilt it up and down >> This also means Rotors now strafe properly >> Camera relative controls can be activated on the garage bays in the robot select screen BALANCE: > Aeroflak explosion radius has been reduced by 15% > Increased the height a robot needs to be away from the ground before > Aeroflak triggers against it. Most hovers should find they don’t trigger flak anymore, though Megahovers may still do so at max height > Laser projectile speed has been increased by 100% > Laser camera shake has been reduced > Laser projectile spread has been reduced > [NEW] Lasers no longer suffer from inaccuracy while moving > Laser attack rate and DPS has been increased, but damage per shot has been decreased (a net buff) which should make the lasers more powerful while also making them feel more satisfying to use For exact values, see below:LaserChanges [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/LaserChanges1.png] Note that the “Out of Power In” numbers are relative to a 1125 CPU robot. A 1750 robot has 25% more power and power regeneration. For example, a 1750 robot with max Leviathan’s will run out of power in 5.68 seconds (6.68 with a power module). IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES: > Components no longer need to be destroyed to deal damage to a robot. So a 98 CPU mech leg that has lost half its armor will only be considered as having 49 CPU of ‘health’ remaining for your health bar. This means that defense stacking with high-cost components instead of armor will be less effective > Reduced the spread of the laser crosshair HUD element to better represent the weapon’s spread > All game modes are now unlocked at player level 5 > Front-facing lasers now have a turning arc of 180 degrees > The Power Module now increases power regeneration by 25% relative to existing power regeneration as per the CPU To Power changes. So regeneration will always be increased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds, but will represent more overall power at higher robot CPUs > Improved camera relative controls for hovers while they’re upside down to stop them from jittering wildly > Nominal counts are now referred to as “max” in in-game tooltips to better communicate the purpose of that value > Max weapon counts (previously nominal) no longer have a slight benefit for going beyond them. Once you have as many weapons of a particular type as it’s max states, any more is purely for redundancy (having some left over in case they get shot off) and won’t benefit their damage output > Added LOD meshes for several of the newer weapons and movement components to improve overall framerate > The Proto-Seeker is being politely moved to a more appropriate position in the inventory. Right next to the LOML :) > Modified text in various locations of the game to change “CPU” to “Robot CPU” FIXES: > Fixed a bug which caused movement components to be mirrored unevenly when placed directly onto the ground in edit mode > That strange line in the corner of the edit mode garage is no longer there. Rest well old friend > Fixed a bug with the rectifier which was causing tall robots to be thrown into the air when the rectifying ended > Fixed a few locations in some maps where robots could get stuck and were forced to respawn or die to escape > Identified and fixed a source of frame rate drops caused by the Ion Distorter > Removed the yellow lines from the Bat Rudder in the loot crate screen > Fixed a bug which didn’t get rid of the “Extra slot for premium” note in the platoon screen if the platoon screen was open when premium was purchased > Fixed a bug which caused the hotkey for loadouts (Z) to open the loadouts screen even when queuing for a battle > Fixed an issue with the shadow rendering on the Neptune 2 map > Corrected the texture of the Football Electroshield so that it has the correct hex design instead of the striped design > Fixed a bug which sometimes meant the lense flare on the Earth map wasn’t visible > [NEW] Fixed a bug which caused Thruster Cheetah Carbon 6 to go slightly slower than regular Thruster Cheetahs
Robocraft Servers will be entering maintenance at 10:30am (UTC+1) today.
The downtime is expected to take up to two hours but may last longer if unanticipated issues arise. During this time Robocraft servers will be unavailable.
The purpose of this maintenance is to apply the Aeroflak Sentinel & Power Update. To learn exactly what is in this update, please read the patch notes handily linked here.
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmIlTK-WkAAm_-H.jpg:large] Coming tomorrow are some great changes including new content and some great new mechanics! Check out the full patch notes below! NEW: > Aeroflak Sentinel >> A smaller, more versatile version of the larger Aeroflak Guardian which allows for more freedom of building without being restrained to a single large turret >> Has a mass of 1380, which is below half the weight of the Guardian Costs 150 CPU which is exactly half of the Guardian > CPU-To-Power >> Players now have access to more power with higher CPU robots, and less power with lower CPU robots >> Robots at 1125 CPU will not see a difference, but higher CPU robots will see an increase and lower CPU robots will see a decrease >> At the extreme ends of the spectrum, 1750 CPU robots will see an increase of 25% power and power regeneration and 500 CPU robots will see a decrease of 25% power and power regeneration >> One of the main benefits of this new mechanic is that low CPU games will be less dominated by larger burst weapons, leading to fewer instant deaths and an overall more enjoyable experience > Rotors are now supported by ‘Camera Steering’ controls >> You can turn your robot using your mouse and tilt it up and down >> This also means Rotors now strafe properly >> Camera relative controls can be activated on the garage bays in the robot select screen BALANCE: > Aeroflak explosion radius has been reduced by 15% > Increased the height a robot needs to be away from the ground before > Aeroflak triggers against it. Most hovers should find they don’t trigger flak anymore, though Megahovers may still do so at max height > Laser projectile speed has been increased by 100% > Laser camera shake has been reduced > Laser projectile spread has been reduced > Laser attack rate and DPS has been increased, but damage per shot has been decreased (a net buff) which should make the lasers more powerful while also making them feel more satisfying to use For exact values, see below:LaserChanges [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/LaserChanges.png] IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES: > Components no longer need to be destroyed to deal damage to a robot. So a 98 CPU mech leg that has lost half its armor will only be considered as having 49 CPU of ‘health’ remaining for your health bar. This means that defense stacking with high-cost components instead of armor will be less effective > Reduced the spread of the laser crosshair HUD element to better represent the weapon’s spread > All game modes are now unlocked at player level 5 > Front-facing lasers now have a turning arc of 180 degrees > The Power Module now increases power regeneration by 25% relative to existing power regeneration as per the CPU To Power changes. So regeneration will always be increased from 10 seconds to 8 seconds, but will represent more overall power at higher robot CPUs > Improved camera relative controls for hovers while they’re upside down to stop them from jittering wildly > Nominal counts are now referred to as “max” in in-game tooltips to better communicate the purpose of that value > Max weapon counts (previously nominal) no longer have a slight benefit for going beyond them. Once you have as many weapons of a particular type as it’s max states, any more is purely for redundancy (having some left over in case they get shot off) and won’t benefit their damage output > Added LOD meshes for several of the newer weapons and movement components to improve overall framerate > The Proto-Seeker is being politely moved to a more appropriate position in the inventory. Right next to the LOML :) > Modified text in various locations of the game to change “CPU” to “Robot CPU” FIXES: > Fixed a bug which caused movement components to be mirrored unevenly when placed directly onto the ground in edit mode > That strange line in the corner of the edit mode garage is no longer there. Rest well old friend > Fixed a bug with the rectifier which was causing tall robots to be thrown into the air when the rectifying ended > Fixed a few locations in some maps where robots could get stuck and were forced to respawn or die to escape > Identified and fixed a source of frame rate drops caused by the Ion Distorter > Removed the yellow lines from the Bat Rudder in the loot crate screen > Fixed a bug which didn’t get rid of the “Extra slot for premium” note in the platoon screen if the platoon screen was open when premium was purchased > Fixed a bug which caused the hotkey for loadouts (Z) to open the loadouts screen even when queuing for a battle > Fixed an issue with the shadow rendering on the Neptune 2 map > Corrected the texture of the Football Electroshield so that it has the correct hex design instead of the striped design > Fixed a bug which sometimes meant the lense flare on the Earth map wasn’t visible
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Power_to_CPU_Changes_INC_BAL_CPU_CHANGES.jpg] Hi all, An important change that is launching with this Thursday’s Aeroflak Sentinel update is the new link between ‘Power’ and ‘CPU’. Power is the blue bar that appears around the crosshair in battle and is the resource that Weapons and Modules need to fire. This bar depletes when you fire your weapon and recharges at a constant rate. The Power Bar currently recharges from empty to full in 10 seconds. This new feature links Power to CPU. Robots with high CPU will have more Power and a faster regen rate and Robots with low CPU will have less Power and a slower regen rate. Some examples: > At 500 CPU Robots will have 25% less maximum Power than before the update > At 1125 CPU Robots will have the same maximum Power as they did before this update > At 1750 CPU Robots will have 25% more maximum Power than before the update The Power bar will always take 10 seconds to recharge from empty to maximum, but since the maximum Power depends on CPU, this effectively means Power regenerates 25% faster at 1750 CPU and 25% slower at 500 CPU. The aim of this change is to help us balance weapon across the whole range of CPU from smallest to largest, and to help us prevent high Power consuming weapons from being overpowered in low CPU matches. We believe this is a big change and we will be monitoring how it affects Robocraft carefully once it launches. Please give us your feedback on this change once it’s live on Thursday, via this thread. Be sure to make clear what CPU you’re playing at when you give feedback. Other Balance Changes: We are making a number of smaller, but significant balance changes along with this update. > We have doubled the projectile velocity of Lasers (they were 4x slower than Rail, they are now 2x slower than Rail). > We have decreased the spread on Laser Wasps (making them more accurate) by around 2x, and decreased the spread on Laser Leviathan by 20% with a linear interpolation of the spread on Lasers in between. > We have reduced the Flak explosion radius against air by 15%, this radius is used for both the new ‘Sentinel’ and the Aeroflak Guardian (which is the new name for the Aeroflak Cannon). > We have renamed ‘nominal’ to ‘maximum’ for all weapons to simplify the understanding of how many weapons you need to place to get the maximum fire-rate. We have also removed the ‘tail’ after the maximum, so adding more beyond this number will not give you anything extra aside from redundancy. We have also reduced the maximum number of weapons required to reach max fire-rate on a number of weapons to the kinds of numbers you might expect, for example 4 for Laser Disintegrator with any more than 4 giving you redundancy only. NB: the ‘tail’ only gave an additional 10% if you added an insane number of extra weapons (like 20 Disintegrators) so we felt it unnecessary to keep it in favour of providing more clarity on this for Crafters who want to get maximum efficiency out of their builds. > We’re also exaggerating the difference between small and large Lasers. The larger Lasers are getting a significant damage boost but with a significant increase in their Power consumption, for example the Leviathan is getting a 100% damage boost (i.e. double) with a Power per shot increase taking time to run out of Power when trigger is held down from 20 seconds to 4 seconds (of course, if you’re using your Laser properly you’re probably not holding down the trigger 100% of the time, depending on range). There are also other smaller changes coming in this Thursday’s update, which we’ll detail in our patch notes tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and for all your support as always. Mark (Game Director and CEO, Freejam) (Thanks to MarcusMustang who’s robot features in the blog image at the top of this post!)
[img=http://i.imgur.com/VQ1bGGy.jpg] The second community vote has come to an end! Thousands upon thousands of you voted, and as promised we will do what you voted on! Next community voted mechanic to be implemented in Robocraft will be: Robot centre of mass, total mass and total health indicators in edit mode! Unsurprisingly, the winner of this poll came in second place last time! Players will be empowered to build better balanced, more effective robots with the inclusion of additional information in edit mode. No longer will players be forced to pull out a pen and paper to calculate the mass on each side of their creation, or build through trial and error! You can see the full results below. CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/QoL_Vote_2.png] (Note that not everyone polled finished the survey but votes per option were still counted which is why the total respondent numbers vary. So now that we have your top voted QoL feature, it will be prioritised for development. Keep in mind that it’s not a small undertaking so you won’t see it in the next update, but it will be released as soon as it’s ready. At that time, we’ll have another community vote to decide what should be worked on next! Now that we have a list of the most and least liked ideas, we have an even better idea of what the community wants. So for the next vote, we can remove some of the lowest voted options and replace them with ideas we hope will appeal more to players, including many of the great suggestions we received from the comments section of the survey. This way we can keep the list fresh and interesting!
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CluCuruXIAA3vb7.jpg:large] New Aeroflak Sentinel comes to Robocraft! Continuing the minification of massive weapons, we’re happy to introduce the Aeroflak Sentinel! This smaller version of the Aeroflak Guardian will be available as of the update on: Thursday 30th June Come check out the new hardware below, where it’s presented in full 3D! https://sketchfab.com/models/1937edf149bf47beaa1867413e8647e2
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service! [url=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Robonews_Flak.jpg] [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Robonews_Flak.jpg]
We will be entering maintenance at 10:30am UTC+1 today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix focused on fixing various issues.
We will be entering maintenance at 10:30am (UTC+1) today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to one hour and during this time the Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the maintenance is to apply a hotfix focused on fixing various issues.
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We are out of maintenance. Thanks for your patience. You can read the patch notes here: http://robocraftgame.com/sw-hotfix-2-0-13-1607/
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClaJ1s-WMAAD1-b.jpg:large] The second Robocraft Quality of Life player vote! Have your say! Come vote on what you want implemented next! Click here: http://robocraftgame.com/community-qol-vote-2/
Due to current widespread connection issues we have put our servers into maintenance mode.
Robocraft servers will be offline from 4:35pm (UTC+1) while we investigate the problems.
We'd like to apologise to everyone for these server issues, we're working as hard as we can to get everything up and running again.
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The issues have been investigated and we believe that we've solved them. Happy playing all, go vanquish some robots!
During this afternoon's maintenance period we deployed the following improvements: BUG FIXES:
- Fixed a bug which caused League ranks to display incorrectly. Our apologies go out to the Bronze-26 players…
- Fixed a bug which caused players entering single player without any parts on their robot to see only a black screen
- Fixed a bug with the cancel button in the controls menu, which was causing all controls to be defaulted instead of just your recent changes being reverted
- Fixed an issue which caused some robots with thrusters to oscillate.
- Fixed a bug that gave thrusters more power and speed in the camera steering control system versus the keyboard control system
- Fixed a bug which caused thrusters to go above their max speed when diagonally facing
We will be entering maintenance at 2:30pm UTC+1 today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the downtime is to deploy fixes related to yesterday’s Smart Weapons update.
Localised timing here: http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=8,2643743,100,2950159&h=8&date=2016-6-17&sln=6.5-7.5
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClJglPZWkAAVQKY.jpg:large] Friday 17th, from 4pm UTC+1! It’ll be an hour of gaming and talking with myself, Martin a.k.a. leftofnever (our new addition to the community team), and playing Robocraft will be Dan Support Jammer. Come hang out, ask some community based questions and watch some games! Click here to go to our twitch page! Click here to see exactly when the stream starts!
[img=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClEQjFNWIAA0ODy.jpg:large] Smart Weapons Smart Weapons were voted top by over 14,000 players in the community ‘Quality of Life’ poll, so we got right to work and added them for this update. > Only weapons that can see your target will fire > This will prevent you wasting power on weapons that shoot parts of your own Robot > This will also ensure that as long as one of your weapons can see the target, that will be the weapon that will fire > So, no more occasions where your Rail doesn’t fire at that critical moment, or your side mounted Ion Distorters fire from the left side when your enemy is on the right > If you have many weapons that cannot see the target you will get reduced fire-rate and therefore reduced DPS, so building Robots well still matters > If you have no weapons that can see the target, they will still fire, but you will miss your target (obviously) > If you want full details on how the system works (under the hood), please read the notes at the very end of these patch notes https://youtu.be/p3FCXzoCQgo New Weapon – Ion Destabilizer Ion Destabilizer is a mini version of the Ion Distorter > It is an Epic rarity weapon > It is mounted to a single full sized Cube like the Protoseeker, so has five connection points > Where the Ion Distorter fires 19 projectiles in a single shot, the Destabilizer fires 11 with the same spread > Its CPU cost is 145 (vs. the Distorter which is 245) Garage Changes > You can now have up to 100 free Garage Bays > We have changed the garage widget to incorporate naming your Robot and dismantling your Robot on the thumbnail widget itself which frees up a lot of screen space > We have added controls so that you can re-order your Garage bays > We have added a setting (cog icon) to each Garage bay which allows you to set the ‘control scheme’ per Robot, i.e. between ‘Camera controls steering’ and ‘Keyboard controls steering’ Strafing Hovers and Thrusters > ‘Camera controls steering’ now works with both Hover Blades and Thrusters > So your Hovers can strafe > It is also possible to create strafing Copters, Rocket Sleds and Drones if you know how > IMPORTANT NOTE: Because Thrusters can now be ‘steered’ with the camera in the ‘Camera controls steering’ scheme, some newer users (who joined after the last update) may notice Copters and Airplanes flying strangely, to fix this simply set that Garage bays control scheme to the old ‘Keyboard controls steering’ and it will work as it did before > Although it is possible to create Copters that strafe using the Thrusters to steer if you build it correctly, Copters do not yet fully support the ‘Camera controls steering’ control scheme. That development is starting straight away and we hope to launch it with a future update soon. > We will eventually support the ‘Camera controls steering’ scheme on all movement types. If you’re curious how it would work with Wheels, Tanks, or Airplanes then think Halo 5. Remember, this is always totally optional and down to your personal preference UX/UI Changes > We’ve made a few usability changes to the User Interface designed to help new users ‘learn’ Robocraft a little better and to improve the look and feel of Robocraft > Edit Robot now feels like a ‘game mode’, so the game feels more like a traditional game with a Main Menu where you have a mouse, and then a bunch of ‘Game Modes’ where you are in FPS controls > The Edit Robot, Play Game and ‘Select Robot’ buttons have been merged into one single button that simply says ‘PLAY’ > Clicking on ‘PLAY’ brings up a simple menu with options in the order of your typical game flow, i.e. Edit Robot, then Test Robot, then Single Player, then Team Deathmatch, then Battle Arena, etc, we’ve also improved this menu visually > You’ll now see a very short splash screen when you transition into and out of Edit Mode, making it consistent with all other game modes, and helping to emphasize the transition from ‘mouse cursor UI’ to ‘FPS controls’ Edit Mode Changes > Edit Mode looks and feels a little different now too > We’ve removed the mouse clickable buttons on the top of the Edit Mode, so no more ‘Hold CTRL to get mouse control’ > All shortcuts in Edit Mode still work as before, so you can still speedily get around the game if you are already adept at it > We’ve added two small hints for ‘Q’ and ‘T’ to help new users get into the game > Note, we have a full Tutorial in development, so these changes are in place of a Tutorial, they are just simple things we can do to help new users learn the game whilst we’re developing the full tutorial > We’ve added a new larger cooler looking CPU bar at the bottom of the screen > The new CPU bar shows you how much CPU you have used, and how much placing the next cube will use, showing it as red if the next cube will take you over max CPU > We have added build error feedback in the form of a small animated popup that informs you why you cannot place a block (i.e. if it’s overlapping, or if you’re over max CPU, or if the mirrored version is overlapping, etc.) New music has been added to the Main Menu (Select Robot) mode Other Changes > CTRL is now ‘Down’ as opposed to ‘SHIFT’, this is to mimic ‘Crouch’ in most FPS games where in most FPS games ‘SHIFT’ is ‘Run’, we’ll probably support ‘Run’ on ‘SHIFT’ in Edit Mode soon too > Tesla Blades damage reduced slightly as follows, Small Tesla – no changes (still 45000), Middle Tesla – by 7% (from 67500 to 63000), Big Tesla – by 15% (from 101250 to 88200) > Refined the boundaries of the Team Deathmatch Earth map to prevent players from climbing up to locations they weren’t supposed to reach > Respawn invulnerability duration (i.e. super heal after spawn) has been decreased in all game modes except Team Deathmatch. It’s 15 seconds in TDM and 3 seconds in The Pit and Battle Arena (inc. League Arena). Heal power was increased to help ensure invulnerability after respawn > We’ve added special effect and audio feedback to help you to see when a player is invulnerable after respawn, so you don’t waste power trying to kill them during this time > Reduced the delay when Rare items drop in crates, to speed up crate animations and help emphasize when Epic and Legendarys drop more. Note, we plan to allow you to speed up these animations and open Crates when you like in future, we just haven’t got that stuff done yet > We’ve added two new Holoflags for Turkey and Denmark > The new key for pings during a battle is E by default – This shouldn’t affect existing players > The new control for ‘go down’ is Ctrl instead of shift – This shouldn’t affect existing players > Players who previously selected “Keyboard controls steering” will have all their bays set to that, and can change to “Camera controls steering” from each individual garage bay, and vise versa. Smart Weapons: Under the Hood > Each weapon tests (using a raycast) if it can see the target based on its current facing direction > If there is a part of your own Robot in the way or if that weapon cannot reach the angle desired then it ‘fails’ the test, and it is skipped and the next weapon performs the same test > This all happens in a single frame in round Robin style until we find a weapon that passes the tests and that weapon then fires > In order to ensure that building still matters re. good weapon placement, each weapon that ‘fails the test’ and is ‘skipped’ applies a penalty to the cooldown of the next weapon that fires, and this penalty can accumulate over several shots > So, the result is that the overall fire-rate drops the more weapons you have that cannot see the target > In some cases compromising a little DPS (through lower fire-rate) for more build options will be OK, for example an Ion Distorter of Laser Leviathan mounted sideways on each side might be a more viable option now, and putting a couple of SMG’s on the underside of your Hover for extra redundancy won’t penalize your anti-air fire-rate too much, but putting 5 Laser Wasps on each side of a large cube shaped Robot would reduce the DPS too much to be viable or sensible > What you will notice with this system is that Top Mount Lasers placed directly on the front (as opposed to Front Mount Lasers) have a small fire-rate loss when you pass your aim from left to right as they cross the apex, as the Top Mount Lasers have to rotate a full 180 degrees to get from one side to the other, which takes time. Does this make the Front Mounts viable? > The reason we did it this way – as opposed to simply testing all weapons every frame, determining the number that could see the target, and applying an appropriate fire-rate – is to maintain a faster frame-rate for lower end PC’s, so we get the same overall effect but with less performance hit. Bug Fixes > Fixed the text in the controls menu so it says “Elimination” instead of “Sudden Death” (Sudden Death was the WIP name for Elimination) > A bug which caused the audio for a respawning/regenerating robot in Team Deathmatch to sound like they’re respawning behind you when they weren’t, was described as “2spookie” and subsequently fixed > Fixed a bug which caused an error reading “Invalid placement of cubes” to pop up when it shouldn’t > Fixed a bug which caused Spiked Electroplates to be mirrored incorrectly > Fixed some missing collisions on the Team Deathmatch Earth map > Fixed a bug which allowed you to spot an already spotted opponent > Fixed a bug which caused the camera to clip into objects and caused occlusion issues (the world disappearing) on the Team Deathmatch Earth map > Fixed a bug which caused nano healing to cost 0-power if projected through a DSM (Disc Shield Module) > Fixed a bug which caused Laser Wasps to hit themselves if traveling fast enough > Fixed a bug which caused The Pit to become inaccessible if a player declines a platoon invite then enters a battle > Fixed several component collision issues which displayed a part as ‘legal’ to place when it actually wasn’t. The parts affected are Track Bison, Track Mammoth, Halloween Mask, Mech Leg Colossus, Mech Leg Giant, Mech Leg Titan, Mech Leg Spartan, Mech Leg Centaur, Mech Leg Talos, Mega Wheel, Skies, Insect Leg Worker, Insect Leg Wolf > Fixed a bug which caused the in-game chat to fill with the /help system message > Fixed a bug which caused the Aerofoil Hawk’s yellow aerodynamic lines to show in its shadow > Fixed a bug which caused yellow spots to appear in certain locations of certain maps when using the FAST graphics setting. After consultation with a professional enviro-physician, the yellow spots have been mostly removed > Fixed a collision issue with the Wheel Stormer which allowed armor to clip into it
Want to find out what Smart Weapons are all about during maintenance?
Check out Smart Weapons: In 30 Seconds!
https://youtu.be/p3FCXzoCQgo
Robocraft servers will be entering maintenance at 10am - 12pm (UTC+1) today.
Maintenance is expected to take up to 2 hours and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The purpose of the downtime is to deploy the Smart Weapons update. This update adds a considerable number of features and improvements to Robocraft.
Full patch notes can be found here: http://robocraftgame.com/upcoming-maintenance-at-10am-utc-1/
We're happy that the High Flyers Bundle is now live and exclusively available via Steam.
This bundle is available at a 40% discount for a limited time and features the following items:
- 65 Protonium Salvage Crates full of weapons, cosmetics and cubes
- 30 Days Premium membership which unlocks all items in crates, more paint colours for use in the editor, double XP progression, and two additional platoon spots
- Speedometer to track the speed of a robot
- Altimeter to track the altitude of a robot
- Twin Vapor Trail which leaves a trail of behind a robot
- Complete Eagle Robot Mask cosmetic
[url=http://robocraftgame.com/smart-weapons-update-coming-tomorrow/][img=http://i.imgur.com/uWGtsjL.jpg] Smart Weapons update - Coming Tomorrow! Click here for for the patch notes
As mentioned in last week’s Robonews, the newest component to come to Robocraft is the Ion Destabilizer!
This little guy is the smaller brother of the Ion Distorter, releasing with the next quality of life update on Thursday 16th June!
More information on what else is featured in the update will be released this Wednesday, but in the meantime feel free to rotate, zoom in and zoom out of the IDE to your heart’s content.
https://sketchfab.com/models/f78ac92742d840678464db8c641b0eef
Over the past week Robocrafters from across the world have been submitting their art robot designs to us, using food as their inspiration.
Today we're able to share with everyone the 35 winners and some of the artistic talents on show are frankly bananas! :)
To see the complete line-up of winning robots, please visit:
http://robocraftgame.com/the-winners-are/
We will be entering maintenance at 11am UTC+1 today.
The maintenance is expected to take up to 1 hour and during this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
During this downtime we will deploy a fix to the scoreboard which led to some assists not registering properly in-game.
And servers are back up, thanks for the patience all!
Hot off the presses! The latest issue of Robonews – the galaxy’s number one robo-political information service! [img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/Robonews-destabilizer.jpg]
[img=http://robocraftgame.com/wp-content/uploads/News_CrateRewards_Large-1024x531.jpg] Today we’ve implemented an important change to Salvage Crate rewards for team game modes (Elimination, Battle Arena and Team Deathmatch) in Robocraft. To learn more about these changes, click here!
[img=http://d3tagfjj1pibwj.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/NEWS_Upcoming_Maintenance_Smal.jpg] We will be entering maintenance at 2pm UTC+1 The maintenance is expected to take up to an hour, but could go on longer if we come across any complications
CHANGES: > Respawn heal duration increased to 15 seconds (up from 10 seconds) > Respawn heal strength increased by 5 times > A disconnected player will no longer cause the voice-clip stating “A player has disconnected, your re-spawn time has been reduced” as there are no respawn times in TDM FIXES: > Fixed an issue which caused frame rate drops and mini-map freezes in TDM > Fixed a bug which caused players to be spammed with the audio clip for being spotted > Fixed a bug which stopped music from playing in Tihonium canyon > Fixed a bug which caused avatars to look blurred on the fastest quality setting > Mostly fixed occlusion issues with the TDM map which caused large chunks of the map to disappear when grinding your camera up against a wall
We will be entering a short maintenance period from 2pm (UTC+1) to 3pm (UTC+1) today. During this time Robocraft servers will be offline.
The maintenance shouldn't last any longer than an hour, but could take longer if we come across any complications.
The purpose of the downtime is to apply a hotfix related to a small number of issues which accompanied the launch of the Battle for Earth expansion yesterday.
For more information, please visit robocraftgame.com
Robocraft
Freejam
Freejam
2017-08-24
Action Indie RPG Simulation F2P MMO
Game News Posts 661
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Mostly Positive
(118402 reviews)
http://robocraftgame.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/301520 
The Game includes VR Support
Robocraft Depot LNX [1.15 G]
Robocraft - High Flyers Bundle
Robocraft - Speed Bundle
Robocraft - Spooky Bundle
Robocraft - Premium For Life Pack
BUILD - A futuristic robot battle vehicle from cubes, add wheels, thrusters, wings, legs, tank tracks, rail cannons and plasma launchers
DRIVE - Jump into the pilot seat of your robot and drive it into battle in jet cars, tanks, flying warships, helicopters, drones; anything your imagination desires.
FIGHT - Battle online in massively multiplayer mayhem against players from all over the world on dedicated servers.
- Over 200 cubes and components to collect and combine to make a million different Robot designs
- Be part of a constantly changing metagame with new weapons, components and functionality added every month
- Watch as your enemy's robot breaks apart cube by cube as you destroy them with powerful weaponry
- Invite friends and chat in-game
- Form Platoons and battle on the same team with your friends
- Save your robots in the garage to the cloud and share them with other players via the in-game Robot Factory.
- Free-to-win, everything required to get to the very top of the tree in Robocraft can be gained for free
- OS: Ubuntu 16.04
- Processor: Intel Dual Core or better with SSE2 support or equivalent AMD familyMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Shader Model 3.0 Compatible GPUNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 2 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: Min resolution 1024x768
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