[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34329775/14b3f6f5e8792c9ea40d0cb3c0d20f05d8f2df27.png[/img] Howdy everyone! Welcome to the first "dev update" post. I decided to post an announcement even though I am not releasing a new stable version today (but I did release a preview version so please keep reading), because if you are not active on the [url=https://discord.gg/ZjebkfR]Colt Canyon Discord Server[/url], you might miss some interesting news, and also because the patch frequency is not as high as it used to be. So I assumed, with Colt Canyon not being an Early Access title, some of you might be thinking that Colt Canyon is all done and will never get touched again. But thats not what I want you to think, because the opposite it true. I am still actively working on Colt Canyon and its getting better and better with every patch. The last couple of months I spent on updating Colt Canyon's game engine to a new and more advanced up-to-date version. This was quite some work but is important to keep supporting the game in the future. The previous engine version was quite outdated and therefore, especially on console, some bugs were simply unfixable and a lot of SDKs and back-end tech about to become unsupported. Thankfully this is all done now and we are good to keep working on Colt Canyon and possibly even get some new content in at some point. And the new features that we unlocked with this engine update will also come in handy in the future. But now to some more hands-on news: Colt Canyon is getting savegame support! Yep, you read it right. With the upcoming patch 1.2 we are not only switching to a new engine version (which you probably won't even notice) but we are also introducing a "Save and Continue" mechanic to the canyon. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/34329775/c27a89db1f2529c7d45e6f7d88cd56941dc04988.gif[/img] This will allow you to quit playing the game while in a run, even during a fight (not recommended), and then come back later and continue where you left off. Simple as that. Obviously, up until now we've already saved all the progress you did outside of runs, like character and loadout unlocks, your run settings, game settings, achievements, stats etc.. All that is already saved and you could describe this as a savegame too. But the new savegame system will work next to that and save individual runs and the state of the levels that are part of the run. To save a run you simply quit through the pause menu and then later either choose to continue your active run or start a new run, which will override the existing run's save. This way the game will still keep its rogue-like focus and not become a savegame management game and you no longer have to keep your pc turned on when you are deep into a run but have some urgent real-life duties to tackle. The new savegame system will be deeply integrated into the main game and will from now on also power the persistent level mechanic. This will save quite some memory on the player's end (the game never used a lot of memory anyway but still) and maybe even speed up some of the level transitions. But more importantly it prevents you from losing progress. Every time you enter a new level the system is doing its thing and auto-saving, and therefore if the game or your pc crashes you will not lose the entire run. You can simply restart the game and load the most recent save. Which will hopefully allow you to continue your adventure. (Yes, this will also allow some players to cheese their way through the game. But thats a price I am willing to pay.) However, as mentioned the save system is still work in progress and we will see how it turns out once its all done and working on all platforms. You can test the new savegame system yourself right now. You simply have to switch from the stable branch to the unstable beta branch. To do so simply right-click Colt Canyon in your steam library and navigate to Properties... > Betas and then switch from "None" to "unstable". You can find the changelog of the version as it is right now on the [url=https://coltcanyon.fandom.com/wiki/Changelog#Version_1.2]Colt Canyon Wiki[/url]. If you encounter any bugs or issues please join the [url=https://discord.gg/ZjebkfR]discord server[/url] and let me know. The savegame mechanic will be the main feature of patch 1.2, which is expected to go stable next month (no promises). Of course there will also be a lot of balancing tweaks, QoL improvements and bug fixes, but not a lot of new content. Patch 1.3, which will come much later than 1.2, will then focus on new content again. So much about Colt Canyon and its future. I hope you are as excited as I am and I hope to see you in the canyon again. - Jonathan