What's Next 0.11.0
First of all, before anything else, we must announce that we're shifting our development engine to Unreal Engine 5 for the next version. Now now, we must ask that you don't panic and assume the game is going into a development hell of reworking on each and every part of the game. That won't happen. We've tested it internally and it's something feasible and also what we've wanted to do for a while now.
So, let's talk about it technically. An engine shift sounds like something extremely large, and we do agree it's something of a huge hurdle to do so. However, the methods we've used to work on M.A.S.S. Builder made the whole project quite modular and we've always been updating our engines and plugins to their newest version. Shifting our project from UE4 to UE5 actually requires minimal effort. Minimal enough that we've tested working and playing the game successfully internally even before 0.10.0 was released, and it eventually became a reason why we released 0.10.0 in that state.
We are aware you might be worried about the specifications and downsides of using UE5 to develop M.A.S.S. Builder. Will the game now require the highest end of PCs to play? Absolutely not, because we aren't using those features of UE5 at all. We consider game engines as toolbox with various tools suited to developing a game, and even when changing hammers, screwdrivers, wooden planks, and any other thing, the house called M.A.S.S. Builder is still M.A.S.S. Builder, and we ask of you to trust us in this decision. We promise you here that we're not using any technology that requires a better hardware from the current version.
Then why are we using UE5? First, we wanted to upgrade the development Framework and Technology available to the latest version which allows us to work on the various features we wanted to implement for a while now as well as improving the game's quality as a whole. There are various features that have been on hold since forever, some of which we'll list below, which could be achieved through this upgrade. This will also allow us to improve our own efficacy and lessen the time required to develop the game. Updates won't be as stretched as 10 months like the last two updates in the future. The things required to develop the game would be streamlined through the engine itself after this shift without us requiring any third-party tools or us working on the editor/engine for weeks to be able to do certain things like before.
Again, we ask you trust us on this decision. Now let's look at what are the features and contents we're adding into 0.11.0 after this engine shift.
We thank you for your support up to this point, it's been years of development and you're still here, and we promise to deliver a better M.A.S.S. Builder in update 0.11.0. Again, if there are things, you'd like to discuss with us, suggest to us, or any concerns, feel free to talk with our developers in our discord. Stay tuned for more!
Discord: http://discord.gg/quS7E46
Feedback Hub: http://bit.ly/3wpWofe
So, let's talk about it technically. An engine shift sounds like something extremely large, and we do agree it's something of a huge hurdle to do so. However, the methods we've used to work on M.A.S.S. Builder made the whole project quite modular and we've always been updating our engines and plugins to their newest version. Shifting our project from UE4 to UE5 actually requires minimal effort. Minimal enough that we've tested working and playing the game successfully internally even before 0.10.0 was released, and it eventually became a reason why we released 0.10.0 in that state.
We are aware you might be worried about the specifications and downsides of using UE5 to develop M.A.S.S. Builder. Will the game now require the highest end of PCs to play? Absolutely not, because we aren't using those features of UE5 at all. We consider game engines as toolbox with various tools suited to developing a game, and even when changing hammers, screwdrivers, wooden planks, and any other thing, the house called M.A.S.S. Builder is still M.A.S.S. Builder, and we ask of you to trust us in this decision. We promise you here that we're not using any technology that requires a better hardware from the current version.
Then why are we using UE5? First, we wanted to upgrade the development Framework and Technology available to the latest version which allows us to work on the various features we wanted to implement for a while now as well as improving the game's quality as a whole. There are various features that have been on hold since forever, some of which we'll list below, which could be achieved through this upgrade. This will also allow us to improve our own efficacy and lessen the time required to develop the game. Updates won't be as stretched as 10 months like the last two updates in the future. The things required to develop the game would be streamlined through the engine itself after this shift without us requiring any third-party tools or us working on the editor/engine for weeks to be able to do certain things like before.
Again, we ask you trust us on this decision. Now let's look at what are the features and contents we're adding into 0.11.0 after this engine shift.
- Improvement to control settings and combat as a whole.
In 0.11.0, we will be adding controller schema updates, allowing players to bind key hold + button to perform an action. Old players might know that since forever ago, the reason so many things cannot happen in our game is due to us not having enough buttons on a controller to perform actions, and creating a system to support it takes a while to do so. In 0.11.0, this will be available and a lot of QoL as well as new things will be added on this new basis. - Shooters, improvements and additions.
One of the most awaited shooter improvements are charging shooters. We'll be going over the old shooters and see which one we can add a charging mechanic to it, and also look further to add new shooter types to the game. It's one of the things we have heard players wanted for a while and we're researching which ones we can add into the game to create a new, unique shooter type where players can use to fulfill their imagination of certain weapons of their design. - Melee combat improvement and stance additions.
Aside from new shooter types, we're also adding new melee weapon stances. There are a few weapon stances we wanted to add into the game. Data miners might have known a few since ages ago, but aside from those, there are also various requested melee stances we also wanted to add. Also, the melee combat improvement plan is still being worked on and update 0.11.0 with the engine shift allows us to adjust them to a point we wanted it to be. Things like sliding, missing attacks, and other unsatisfactory movements will be improved upon in the coming update. - New story missions.
We're adding 3 new story missions and will end our story there. We mentioned how we've the story with filler missions in the Afterwords and after deliberate discussion among ourselves, we've decided to stop having those and focus on completing the story missions up to the final piece of the game. This will allow us to fully work on more polishing, QoL improvements, customization contents, and multiplayer in full in 0.12.0 next year. This will also allow us to fully rescale our enemies to a better status line. - Tier 7 unlocked.
With the completion of the story, we'll unlock Tier 7 units and sub-units in 0.11.0. We've planned Tier 7 to be used in the last few missions but since we're ending our story in 0.11.0 as well as rescaling enemies, unlocking tier 7 units is a must. - More customization contents.
And as always, as we're the BUILD game, we'll add more customization content.
We thank you for your support up to this point, it's been years of development and you're still here, and we promise to deliver a better M.A.S.S. Builder in update 0.11.0. Again, if there are things, you'd like to discuss with us, suggest to us, or any concerns, feel free to talk with our developers in our discord. Stay tuned for more!
Discord: http://discord.gg/quS7E46
Feedback Hub: http://bit.ly/3wpWofe