The 17th of July marks Codename CURE’s first year on steam (via early access). Although there is no official update currently ready for public release, I would like to post a progress update of the most notable events/milestones from first release to now, along with some information and media of what’s currently being worked on. In the year that CURE has been released on steam, it has accumulated over 1.2 million activations, and has gained over 80% positive user feedback, something I am extremely flattered by and grateful for, which has inspired me to continue to work on / support the game thus far. I would like to say a huge thanks to those members of steam community who have enjoyed their time playing so far and rated it up. Since the games original release it has had received several updates, to fix issues, balance gameplay, and add additional features, some of the more notable examples to date include the addition of:

• A new gamemode “Survival”, in which players need to survive infinitely increasing waves of zombies, gaining new weapons as they go along.
• A training mode to help introduce new players to the games mechanics.
• An in-game vote system, for kicking abusive players, or changing the difficulty / maps.
• Official maps e.g. trainstation/house/neighbourhood.
• New bots built from the ground up, to play the game more effectively, co-operating with players either playing solo or filling empty slots in servers.

The game also held a very successful beta / feedback program in both January and March, for the development of the new bot AI. This development was done as a part of my final year project / dissertation at university. For this work I received a First class result, and have consequently been selected to receive the “Microsoft Prize” later this month, both of which I am honoured with and very proud of. Over 300 members of the CURE player base participated in the feedback surveys, and I am extremely grateful to them for their feedback, suggestions and help in validating my work. Last but by no means least, I would like to mention Jackerino; who started working on the project with me officially in January, and has since made great strides with the games graphical fidelity. He is currently heading up cartography (mapping), player/weapon skins, animation, and generally anything cosmetic. Many of the graphical improvements you will see in the next update (release TBD) are as a result of his hard work, and I cannot thank him enough. As that wraps up everything so far, let us look to the future of the game. Currently we (myself and Jackerino) are working on a number of features / changes including:

• High quality remakes of all current official maps
• Cinematic vehicle escapes
• New weapons (a side grade for each class primary / secondary)
• Skins for weapons / players
• Weapon and skin selection system
• New zombie animations

Some of these items are near completion (see screenshots below), others we are still working on, however there will likely be some form of beta testing for these items (again release TBD) before moving onto our final set of goals. These will likely be:

• Weapon / skin unlock system (probably via some sort of XP/levelling)
• New original official maps for current gamemodes
• Additional cosmetic work including an updated trailer and capsule/logo images
• Workshop support (most likely for custom maps or cosmetic mods)

With the plan being the above additions will constitute a final release (i.e. coming out of early access), however all the items in this list are work in progress and potentially subject to change. If you would like to keep up to date with what we are working on, you can find mine and Jackerino’s progress lists here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/355180/discussions/0/361787186438772478/ and here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/355180/discussions/0/361787186434830809/ respectively. Screenshots showing revamped office, new assault/sniper weapons, weapon/skin selection, and cinematic ending:








And with everyone fully updated, happy birthday CURE!