it's been some time since the last major update. Here's some work in progress info about the upcoming, free update. Screenshots not final!

Let me go over the things you can definitely expect:

New map: Junkyard

New map: Plagued Hospital

• Slight improvements to the visual fidelity, thanks to more advanced shaders, normal-mapping and specular highlighting. This was done to address the criticisms that we didn't push the tech we had far enough. You can turn any of these effects off as you please, though.
• Gone over and made improvements to the level design. Vats of Goo for example has some drastic layout changes that improve the flow a lot. Some are cosmetic improvements, polish.
• Tweaked feel, balance and more of the gun-play/weapons.
• You can now change your weapon load-out mid-game by using ammo boxes.
• Added a new item that will replace the explosives slot: Armor.
• Added a new special weapon: The Flamethrower.

Something definitely happened to the vats full of goo while we were all gone!

...luckily. Someone closed the doors some places for layout improvements! And to avoid further spillage.

Although this one has taken the longest to work on thus far, because we had been trying to tackle the #1 concern people have with a multiplayer game like this: The lack of a steady playerbase.

A lot of multiplayer games are struggling with this, and smaller productions like these have it even harder. That's why we had implemented bots in the very first release.

It definitely entertains some players for some time, but others want more of a challenge and more of a goal to aim towards. So we experimented with different Singleplayer ideas.

A lot of them, frankly, just didn't work out in the game we had created. It was basically going to be a whole different production entirely - it just could not work out in time.

So we opted for some Player vs Enemy (PvE) elements instead.

The new INVASION mode has you fighting off a horde of pumped up Loonies. Those crazies have injected a whole lot of freaky stuff into their veins and explode quite easily. Some stab you with whatever they can find, some others throw explosives at you. They can't seem to hold a gun steady so they don't even try. However, they're absolute lunatics. Fend them off ALONE or with your buddies and see if you can survive!

We're still working on this update. There are loads and loads of other small improvements across the board. Lots of under-the-hood type stuff.

Subtle improvements to the popular map tw_dune, such as structural wires poking out of the debris, updated texture blending and texture updates are visible here. Just ignore those black buildings in the background - they'll get fixed.

We generally keep quiet until we're certain about how we go forward.

About half a year ago, it all looked quite different. You always come up with ideas, try them... tweak them and they just aren't any good.

There's even more coming in 1.3 that's not even announced yet. You'll hear more about it very soon.

The Wastes 1.3 will be out soon.