Version 0.500 is now live on Steam! This is the biggest update yet, and the last major one before version 1.0. Part of the reason it's such a significant update: For the last 4 weeks, and until the game is done, Alan Lawrance (lead developer of PolyBridge 3, lead designer of Red Faction, and overall amazing programmer) has joined the "team" at Radiangames. Alan is awesome, and we hope to keep working together far beyond Instruments of Destruction. On to version 0.500: I have not been keeping a full list of the changes, but here are the major elements of this update: [list] [*] New Campaign missions and challenges and vehicles [*] New Build & Destroy missions and challenges [*] Sticky Bomb part, build mode tweaks/fixes, and other part improvements [*] Destruction improvements and optimizations [*] Improved mouse controls [*] Visual changes (smoke particles, UI rendering) [*] New environments (and new main menu music) [*] Initial pass of story elements [/list] There are now 11 near-final missions, challenges, and associated vehicles in the main campaign. Two of those missions are essentially the same as previous ones, with 9 new missions joining them to form the first 2 regions of the game. The other 6 missions are still available, but most of those will undergo some significant changes or get removed from version 1.0. On the Build & Destroy campaign side of things, there are 5 new missions/tutorials and challenges. These new ones are less-directed tutorials for the most part. The almost 2-year missions from previous versions are mostly still available, but they are going to be significantly updated or removed for version 1.0. Rather than go on more about the rest of the new features, I want to also want to go over what's to come, both in the short-term and the long-term. [b]THE SHORT-TERM[/b] In this case, short-term means the next week or two. There will be some follow-up improvements that Alan and I will make, with a focus on more performance optimizations and a number of UI updates. A new options menu is the biggest new UI thing coming soon, though the campaign map and vehicle save/load stuff will also get some big changes. The new smoke particles will also receive some performance optimizations and other changes so they don't impact the framerate so much at higher resolutions. After these smaller updates in the next couple weeks, the game will not receive any further updates prior to version 1.0. We'll still be looking for mission feedback and any bug reports as we approach 1.0, so please keep letting us know what you guys think. [b]THE LONG-TERM[/b] Here's the plan for the rest of the game prior to version 1.0: [list] [*] A lot more (30+) Main Campaign missions, challenges, and vehicles [*] A lot more (15+) Build & Destroy missions and challenges [*] Localization for all the text (not voice) [*] Removing/revising some old missions/islands [*] More varied Sandbox-only islands [*] More mission types and objectives (esp. combat-oriented missions) [*] Real voice acting for Jenkins and Sharpe [*] More optimization [*] Simple intro and ending animations for both campaigns [*] More special events/weather (meteor shower, for instance) [*] More ways to customize vehicle appearance [*] Lots of bug fixes [*] Replacing or updating a lot of the bonus vehicles [/list] [i]NOTE: Campaign progress will be RESET with version 1.0.[/i] Basically there's a lot of missions left to do, which is actually not that scary, and a wide variety of smaller tasks that are needed to finish up the game. Nothing is especially risky/difficult, and it's far more fun to work on the game now than it was 4 months ago (hello build mode UI redo). The scary part is that this is the "real" first part of the game, essentially, and I hope people like it. There will be some nice complementary elements that get improved, like the UI, and the writing/voice acting, and maybe some other things. And I haven't really playtested anything recently, but in terms of gameplay/missions/tutorials/etc, the first part of the game is "ready". After 4 years of development, the game is almost done. There will be some updates after 1.0, but unlike Early Access, I know what I want the game to be, and this is it. So when will version 1.0 be out? I'm not sure yet, but there will a release date trailer posted here when that's all figured out. That trailer should be out by the end of the month if all goes well, and for the release date, [i]April feels like a safe bet, but you never know.[/i]