Greetings, Wastelander...
We're happy to say that The Wastes v1.3 is now available to the public! It has been a tough 3 years but we've finally managed to get the update out there.
We'll like to go over all that has been done to expand and improve upon the game at hand.
Singleplayer Content
While it may not be in our scope to bring a full fledged singleplayer campaign/story to the game, we at least wanted to provide a singleplayer solution. We've added a few features to give players something to do when no one is duking it out online.
Skirmish
Skirmish is a Singleplayer version of Multiplayer. No more need to start up a server in MP and fill the entire server with nothing but bots.
We've also added a Quick Play button for those who don't want to pick out what rules they want to skirmish to.
Bounties
Bounties are official missions that tie together to paint a general narrative. Choose your own path and alliance.
We wish to expand on bounties in later updates, so expect more to come in the future!
User Missions
Build your own scenarios to battle it out in.
Want to do a beer run in Recotta? You got it!
Want to steal wheels from Junkyard? Nothing is stopping you!
Want to nab that pesky radio in Plague? More power to you!
Want to start an all out nuclear war in Snowbound? Hey man, I don't make the rules!
Multiplayer Content
We've have a few new changes to Multiplayer at hand. Some may be permanent changes, some may change in future updates.
New Gamemode: Team Anarchy
You guys asked, we listened. We heard your request for a classic Team DM gamemode and here it is. No strings attached. Two teams, one goal; beat the other into oblivion.
New Gamemode: Invasion
The Loonies are flooding into the Wasteland and its you and your team's goal to make sure they do not over take your land.
New Gamemode: Cooperative Missions
Remember those custom missions we mentioned back in the Singleplayer section? Yeah, you can play them with your friends cooperatively online. Perhaps your squad can be the last survivors in your nuclear holocaust!
New Feature: Peer-to-Peer Servers powered by ICE
Look, we get it! Opening ports to host a server is way too much hassle for people who want to setup a quick game. But now with the latest update, you are no longer required to do that!
With ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) you can just set up a server and get people in. It is as simple as that. We handle what's needed to get your server seen to others.
But don't worry, you can still fall back onto port forwarding!
New Maps!
And most importantly, new maps! You'll get to play with 6 additional maps!
Junkyard


Junkyard is based upon the map done by Edward 'aufo' Fuller back in the final RC release for the original mod version of The Wastes. That version of the map was based upon the map "Junk" by Stuart 'Mr. Bunwah' Maine that released with Wasteland HL all of the way back in the Beta 1 release.
Edward's Junkyard changed a bit of the layout of Stuart's Junkyard; and we've changed the layout a lot compared to the both of them. Made the map have less tight hallways and removed a chunk of the map to streamline the layout.
Plague


Plague is based upon the map done Ted 'Postman' Anderson back in the first RC release of the mod version of The Wastes.
Unlike the original map by Ted, our Plague takes place in a nuclear tundra!
Oil Rig


Unlike many maps seen in The Wastes, this map is actually made entirely in-house.
This map puts you onto an abandoned Oil Rig out in the middle of the ocean. Duke it out to claim it as your own.
The Pit


The Pit is based upon Stuart 'Mr. Bunwah' Maine's "The Rad Pits" from Wasteland HL beta 1.
We've done away with the toxic wastes and fine tuned the layout to keep the combat concentrated in the center of the map.
Fun Fact: Stuart would later use the map as a base for a singleplayer HL mod known as "Aftermath."
Silo


SIlo is based upon the map done by Edward 'aufo' Fuller back in the first RC release of the mod version of The Wastes.
As stated in earlier announcements, we remove a lot of the loops that were in the original map to make it a lot more straight forward to navigate through the Silo.
Fun Fact: Silo has a missing music track done by Sam 'Potshot' Allen for the unreleased The Wastes RC2.0 version of the mod. If you know the whereabouts of this track, get it touch with us!
Mahlstrom


Mahlstrom is based upon the community map by Martin 'MGPalmer' Tepper for the original Wasteland HL mod.
The map is a pretty straight forward arena to duke it out in.
Fun Fact: Mahlstrom was one of the maps being made for the canceled The Wastes: Source! It is unknown who was the author of the recreation of the map. We take more inspiration from the original version by Martin.
Sale! Sale! Sale!
Yes! The Wastes will be put on sale to coincide with both the Summer Sale and our v1.3 update!
It is 75% off of asking price!
We were avoiding previous sales due to the poor state that v1.2 was in. But now that v1.3 is now officially out, expect the game to actually go on sale more consistently.
Shareware Demo
The Wastes v1.3 will also ship with a shareware demo!
It is a completed version of TWTest. The same maps and content that was available in TWTest but with the final code and assets of v1.3. We also will be updating the shareware demo alongside the full game.
The shareware demo can only play with other shareware demo users and can't play anything beyond what is provided in the demo.
Beyond v1.3
With the massive rewrite that v1.3 went through, we now benefit from any patch that our project "Nuclide" receives. Meaning there will be many mini-patches down the line that will fix bugs in TW v1.3!
As for a major content update, we'll have to wait and see. There's a lot we still want to do with The Wastes but we need to plan out how we want to handle it. There's a bit of stuff that was left on the cutting room floor for this update just to make sure we could finally get it out without constantly ballooning the scope. We do plan on revisiting that content, but that's all in do time.
Closing Thoughts
Thanks to everyone in the community that helped us playtest this massive update. It's essentially been reworked from the ground up to enable smoother network play and easier integration of future quality of life updates.
This article doesn't even manage to mention everything that we've added into v1.3, like the new vehicles or even the new player model by Alex 'Kruddman' Yao! There's a lot new here, you should load up the game and check it out for yourself!
We look forward to what the future entails! Hopefully it won't take 3 years this time. ;)
We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then...
Keep on fragging!
~
Vera Visions &
Cobalt-57[ 2022-06-23 17:06:57 CET ] [ Original post ]