Hey there Robocrafters,
It is with great excitement to reveal that on October 11th, we’ll be releasing an early, first-draft version of the new Campaigns mode for you play. It’s incredibly important to us that we make Campaigns mode the best it can be for you and for that we will need your constructive feedback on the new mode. So, instead of spending valuable development time second-guessing what we think you’d like, we’re going to release it early.

This version will be feature incomplete, will probably have a few bugs and is in no way representative of the final version, but we wanted to get it out to you early in order for you to give us your feedback and input on the development direction of Campaigns. With your constructive feedback on the new mode, we’ll be able to ensure that the Campaign development team’s focus is on the things that matter to you in Campaigns.

The first draft version will only have two or three campaigns available to you and the AI in those campaigns won’t be as intelligent as the final version; so do bear that in mind when decimating the waves of Robots intent on your destruction on the battlefield. Also, please be aware that there may be some placeholder artwork; which we will update throughout development. Basically, anything and everything could change; again, it’s entirely down to your feedback.

Leading up to release on the 11th, we’ll be revealing more about Campaigns on our social channels so please ensure you’re following us on Twitter and Facebook if you want the news as we announce it.

To finish, here’s a first-look at where Campaigns mode will sit within the play menu.

Here at Freejam we specialize in creating positive gaming experiences through user-generated content (UGC). We’ve been doing that with Robocraft since 2013 and in just over a week’s time we’ll be releasing our next UGC game on Steam built entirely around cardboard - CardLife.

To celebrate this milestone event and to thank those of you that choose to support us through the purchase of our games, we’ve collaborated with the CardLife team to bring some of their cardboard aesthetics to Robocraft.

What is CardLife?
Created by a dedicated and incredibly talented team here at Freejam Games, CardLife is an online science fantasy survival game made entirely of cardboard. Play by yourself or with others as you explore a fully editable cardboard world. Mine for resources, fight fantastical creatures and bring your imagination to life as you draw everything you craft. It’s coming to Steam Early Access on October 9th. If you haven’t already done so, you can add it to your wishlist over on Steam.

Check out the trailer for the game below.

https://youtu.be/4UOXMTcD9u4
How to claim your free cosmetics:
These new cosmetic parts are super-exclusive and can only be obtained by purchasing CardLife on Steam. When you purchase CardLife, the cosmetic parts will automatically appear in your Robocraft account when you next login through Steam. If you have multiple Robocraft accounts, please ensure that you login to your main Steam-linked account as the parts will be bound to the first account that it logs and parts are non-transferable.

As these parts are cosmetic variants of existing Robocraft parts, you must have those parts unlocked first, or you won’t be able to use them on your robots; they’ll remain locked until you unlock the vanilla part on the Tech Tree.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• 10,000 cardboard Medium Cubes
  
• 10,000 cardboard Medium Edge Cubes
  
• 2x cardboard Wheel Geoterrain
  
• 2x cardboard Steering Wheel Geoterrain
  
• 1x cardboard Ion Distorter

You can then forge as many of the cosmetic parts as you wish; these will cost the same amount of Robits as the regular vanilla parts. They can be recycled; you’ll receive the same amount of Robits as the regular non-cardboard parts.

Finally, it’s worth noting that if you’re a CardLife founder, you’ll be able to transfer your ownership of the game across to Steam as soon as it launches. The CardLife team will go through the process on how to do this via email, so be sure to keep an eye on your inboxes.

CardLife is launched on Steam Early Access on October 9th

Hey there Robocrafters, As you know, last week’s new login system update didn’t go as well as we’d originally planned and hoped. Your incredibly valuable feedback on the update was key to us improving the player experience and reverting some of the changes we made.

Last week we rolled out a hotfix that removed the automatic login for Steam users and reintroduced the login dialogue box, allowing Steam players to login manually. There was still some additional work to be done in the display name department, and today’s update fixed the remaining issues players had with the update.

Here’s what we fixed:

• The #suffix has been removed from player names and so player names are unique once more
  
• Signing in with Steam will no longer dynamically change your display name in-game
  
• All players whose original Robocraft display name was dynamically changed to their Steam name or SteamUserXX, their original Robocraft display name has returned*
  
• Players that registered after the new login system update but before this hotfix went live will be asked to choose a display name when logging in for the first time
  
• All new Steam players will see a dialog box asking them to pick a display name when logging in for the first time.

*Please note that this does not apply to those players that contacted support to request their display name be different from their original Robocraft username; those players will see their new name sans-suffix.

Known issue: If a player has ticked “remember me” at login since the introduction of the new login system, they will see an error upon logging in and so will need to re-enter their username without the #suffix or registered email address.

Thanks as always for your continued patience and support while we fixed those issues.

Hey there Robocrafters, Please note that we’ll be taking the game offline from 09:00 AM (UTC+1) on Thursday 27th September so we can fix the remaining issues with player display names in Robocraft.

Please note that maintenance is expected to take up to three hours but could go on longer if we hit any issues when deploying the build.

The update will address/fix the following issues:

- The #suffix has been removed from player names and so player names will become unique once more

- Signing in with Steam will no longer dynamically change your display name in-game

- All players whose original Robocraft display name was dynamically changed to their Steam name or SteamUserXX name will have their display name reverted back to their display name. Please note that this does not apply to those that contacted support to request their display name be different from their original Robocraft username; those players will see their new name sans-suffix

- Players that registered after the new login system update but before this hotfix goes live will be asked to choose a display name when logging in after the hotfix is live

After this hotfix is live, all new Steam players will see a dialog box asking them to pick a display name when logging in for the first time.

Known issue: If a player has ticked “remember me” at login since the introduction of the new login system, they will see an error upon logging in and so will need to re-enter their username without the #suffix or registered email address.

Dear Robocraft Community,
Here’s another Dev Jam to keep you up to date on everything that the Robocraft team is working on at the moment and to give you some exciting news about a new work-in-progress feature we hope to release on Steam in the next few weeks.

Firstly I want to take the chance to let you know that we haven’t stopped working on all the things we said we’d do before, namely:

• The Big Robocraft Infinity upgrade - This is well on it’s way with several of the programmers working hard to do all the work necessary to make the upgrade possible
  
• Tiers - This is already complete and live in the China version of Robocraft Infinity currently in Closed Beta via Tencent’s WeGame platform, so as soon as we complete the Infinity Upgrade, Tiers will be included with it when it is launched
  
• Login and Display Names - We’re working hard to allow all users to have the Display name they had prior to the launch of the new login system and removing the four digit suffix from names displayed in-game

So, now to discuss something new...


We've prototyped a Single Player Campaign system to see if it was fun. We kept it simple so we could get something together quickly so it works a bit like this:

• You have 5 ‘lives’
  
• You start the campaign and a ‘wave’ of enemies spawns in
  
• There are anything from 1 to 20 Robots in a wave
  
• All the Robots in a wave are the same design and we built that Robot for our tests
  
• AI controls the enemies (a bit like the AI in Single Player TDM at the moment)
  
• Once you kill all the enemies in a wave you get a new wave of different enemy Robots
  
• When you kill 4 waves the 5th wave is a boss megabot
  
• There are 5 difficulty levels, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and Protonium
  
• You don't need to complete a lower level before attempting to beat a higher one - you can jump straight into Protonium if you so wish.
  
• In Gold you get just 3 lives, in Diamond you get 2 and in Protonium you get just 1 life
  
• The different difficulty levels apply different Health Boost and Damage Boost values to the waves as well, so in Protonium enemy Robots are super buffed (like the buff that’s applied to you when everyone on your team has left the battle in BA and you’ve got to win against 5 solo), whereas in Bronze it’s like vanilla Robocraft balance
  
• Each Campaign can have ‘restrictions’ a bit like BRAWL, so perhaps you have to build a Robot with less than 750 CPU to Campaign A and build a Robot with only Thrusters and Lasers to enter Campaign B, and a Tier 1 Robot in Campaign C etc.
  
• The HUD shows how many enemies are left in the wave and how many lives you have left
  
• You get XP and Robit rewards for playing this game mode
  
• You also get to see the highest ‘wave’ you’ve reached in each difficulty level as the Campaign screen shows this
  
• Beating Bronze is easy if you have played a lot of Robocraft but we’d like to balance Protonium so even vets have a tough time getting it complete

When we played it though ourselves we thought it was pretty fun and that you might like to play it, so we have cleaned up the code a bit and added some UI and we’re hoping to release it on Steam in the next few weeks. It’s very early days so I hope you forgive it being a bit basic but thought you’d like to get your hands on it anyway. Especially we wanted to see if it’s something you would enjoy and wanted to get your feedback on how it could be improved.

Here’s a work in progress screenshot of the Campaign Selection Screen:



Here’s a work in progress screenshot of the Campaign Briefing Screen:



Beyond the initial release we’re already working on a few quick improvements. Supporting a few different styles of Campaign like ‘Survival’ and ‘Timed Elimination’ and supporting multiple Robot types in a single wave and more weapons supported by the AI. We’re even adding a ‘Wave intro animation’ which allows you to see the enemies that will appear in the wave and will allow them to have some dialogue too so we can make the campaign have a bit of ‘flavour’ making them funny and light hearted.

Here’s a work in progress GIF of the ‘wave intro’ animation:




We’ve been thinking that if when released you seem to like it and want us to keep working on it more, we could look at upgrading the whole system to allow you, our fabulous Robocrafters, to make and share their own campaigns.

We’d love you to be able to create sets of Robots, upload them, configure the campaigns, balance them, name them, set the dialogue for the Robots that appear in the weave intro screen, and share them in a CRF style store where other users can play them, rate them, etc etc.

If you really like the campaigns we can keep adding to it, supporting more functionality and co-op campaigns etc.

Anyway, please let us know your thoughts on the idea.

Happy gaming!

Team Freejam

Hey there Robocrafters,
If you've been active in the game recently, you'll no doubt be aware that yesterday (September 17th), we rolled out a new website, forums and login system for Robocraft. While the launch of the new website and forums went without a hitch, the same couldn't be said for the new Robocraft login system. Unfortunately, the update was beset with issues relating to the new way we displayed player names and the automatic login of players loading the game via Steam.

We sincerely apologise for the obvious inconvenience and annoyance this caused many of our players who found themselves with unwelcome numbers after their usernames, incorrect usernames and the inability to choose which account to login to via Steam.

So, what are we going to do? We've listened to your feedback and wanted to let you know that we will revert some of the changes made yesterday. These will be rolled out in steps in the coming days to ensure a smooth and hopefully issue-free delivery.

• Remove the #hashcode from the end of player names in-game
  
• Bring back the old login system, allowing Steam users to choose which account they want to login to
  
• New players logging in via Steam will now get to choose a unique username at the point of playing for the first time
  
• Make usernames unique once more (no more multiple ToastyMike accounts)
  
• Any usernames that are currently incorrect will be reverted to their original name. Any players whose display name can't be reverted can request a change by contacting support
  
• Fix the current issue with usernames displaying incorrectly in both Friends and Clan lists
  
• Fix a bug which is causing the number 2 to appear at the end of player names

The team are currently hard at work coding up the changes as it isn't possible to just revert everything back to pre-update status. We expect the changes to start coming out in the next few days.

Once again, we're really sorry for the issues caused by the latest update; rest assured we will be putting processes in place to ensure this doesn't happen in the future.

Thanks for your continued support and patience while we resolve these issues.

Team Freejam.

Hey there Robocrafters,
We've been busy bees here, working on updating Robocraft with a new login system, website and forums. All the hard work has now been completed and you can once again login to the game, visit the lovely new website to manage your game account online and post on the forums.

What's changed? We've updated our systems and you can now login to Robocraft using your in-game username, registered email address, or automatically through Steam. It's also possible for us to change player display names. So if you've found yourself locked out of your account due to an inappropriate username (remember Robocraft is a 10+ game), then you can request a new display name via support. Player names in-game will now display a unique identifier in the form of a four character hashcode (eg. ToastyMike#2341). This does mean that usernames will no longer be unique, but the hashcode assigned to the username will be.

Alongside the new login system, you'll find a new Robocraft website and a feature-rich vBulletin website for you to use.

Please note that while we migrate users to the new system, some players may experience longer-than-usual loading times while connecting to the game's servers. Also, players logging in via Steam may notice an additional number after their username and before the #XXXX; this is a temporary character and will be automatically removed once migration has been completed and they login once more.

Important information for Steam users:

When we announced the changes last month, we did state that Mac and Linux users would only be able to login automatically their Steam ID as the Robocraft launcher is Windows OS only. This, it turns out, caused a few unforeseen issues with some Mac, Linux and PC players wishing to login into an un-linked Robocraft account. So, in order to accommodate those players, we've got a little work-around so you can bypass the auto-login through Steam and input your account username/password instead.

By default the Robocraft client launched through Steam will automatically log that player in to their Steam account regardless of operating system. If you want to access your old standalone Robocraft account then you will have to do the following:

• Download the "LauncherLogin" file from here: http://patch.robocraftgame.com/LauncherLogin
  
• If the file downloaded is named `LauncherLogin.dms` , rename it to `LauncherLogin`
  
• In the Steam Client, right-click on the Robocraft game name in your library list and select "Properties"
  
• Click on the "Local Files" tab and select "Browse Local Files"
  
• Move the "LauncherLogin" file into this folder

If you wish to login automatically through Steam, simply delete or rename the "LauncherLogin" file. Repeat the above steps if you wish to disable auto-login once more.

Also, as part of the update, the following changes were made to the game:

• The Score to XP ratio in Play vs AI Mode has been updated to match all Multiplayer modes

It's time to don your favorite overalls and open the toolbox as building Robots in Robocraft has just got a lot more advanced. Today's update solely focuses on giving you more parts to build with; unlocking the potential to fine-tune your creations for maximum impact on the battlefield. With 24 new Cubes as well as the introduction of six new Rods, there never has been a better time to build the Robot of your dreams and take control of the battle!

All the new parts are now live and can be unlocked via the Tech Tree in-game.

Click here to read the patch notes

• 12x Light Cube:
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 3 Tech Points per Cube type
  • Rarity: Epic
  • CPU Load: 1 pFLOP
  • Base Health: 675
  • Health Boost: 0.06%
  • Mass: 0.3kg
• 12x Heavy Cube:
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points per Cube type
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 1pFLOP
  • Base Health: 1620
  • Health Boost: 0.06%
  • Mass: 100kg

6x New Rods:

• Rod Short
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 2 pFlops
  • Base Health: 2700
  • Mass: 2.0kg
• Rod Arc Short
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 2 pFlops
  • Base Health: 2700
  • Mass: 2.0kg
• Rod Diagonal 2D Short
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 2 pFlops
  • Base Health: 2700
  • Mass: 2.0kg
• Rod Plus
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 5 pFlops
  • Base Health: 6750
  • Mass: 5.0kg
• Rod Cross
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 5 pFlops
  • Base Health: 6750
  • Mass: 5.0kg
• Rod Frame
  
  • Tech Point unlock cost: 2 Tech Points
  • Rarity: Rare
  • CPU Load: 8 pFlops
  • Base Health: 10800
  • Mass: 8.0kg

• Tech Tree adjustments to accommodate new Rods and Cubes:
• All Health Cubes have been renamed to Medium Cubes
• All Light Cubes have been renamed to Compact Cubes
• Compact Cube Tech Point cost increased from 1Tech Point to 5 Tech Points per cube
• Compact Cube forge cost increased from 120 Robits to 500 Robits
• Compact Cube recycle cost increased from 24 Robits to 125 Robits (Premium players will receive 3x this amount)
• Compact Cube rarity increased from Uncommon to Legendary
• Updated the Tech Point cost on some parts that had incorrect Tech Point values:
  
  • Tank Track Elephant now cost 2 Tech Points
  • Tank Track Mammoth now cost 3 Tech Points
  • Electroshield D (Both) now cost 1 Tech Point
  • Electroshield G (Both) now cost 1 Tech Point
• Rod Short renamed to Rod
• Strut Short renamed to Strut

Hey there Robocrafters!

Producer Phil here with another Dev Jam to talk about the upcoming additions to Robocraft. In our next update we’ll be releasing new rods for you guys to craft with and new classes of cubes to further hone your robots towards the style of play you most enjoy.

We originally planned for cubes and rods to launch alongside the tiers update but as the work is almost done we wanted to get it to you early! Don’t worry, we’re still hard at work to bring you all the improvements we promised in the previous Infinitisation Dev Jam as well as a new single-player mode (we'll reveal more on that soon™), but as you can imagine, overhauling the game while we integrate new features is no small task so please be patient as our expert team of jammers continue to improve Robocraft.


As discussed in a previous Dev Jam we want to add a new cube system to allow more strategic building of robots. We already have a Light cube and a normal (Health) cube which each serve a different purpose but form a duality rather than a spectrum of approaches when designing and building a competitive fighting machine.

Our new cube system will be more intuitive, as well as a powerful addition for those of you who love to get the most out of your robots; the cube system will have 4 types:

• Light Cubes
• Medium Cubes - existing Health Cubes will be renamed to Medium Cubes
• Heavy Cubes
• Compact Cubes - existing Light Cubes will be renamed to Compact Cubes

Light Cubes: The new version of Light Cubes are designed for flying attack craft and aerial dogfighters. They will be the same CPU as Medium Cubes but will be lighter and with less health. Builders will be able to build featherweight flyers and nimble duelists but the trade-off will be that they need to make themselves smaller targets and/or nimble pilots to mitigate the increased likelihood of structural damage in battle.

Medium Cubes: Health Cubes will be renamed to Medium Cubes and have the same stats. They are middle-of-the-road cubes likely to be seen on starter bots (as they come automatically unlocked on the tech tree), art bots (due to their untextured nature lending themselves to clean pixel art) and jack-of-all-trades robots that need to balance speed with damage resistance in battle.

Heavy Cubes: Heavy Cubes are a brand new addition to the Tech Tree. They will be the counterpoint to the Light Cubes and are designed for heavy tanks, point contesters, gunbeds, assault mechs, and megabots. They will be the same CPU as the Light and Medium Cubes but have higher higher health with the tradeoff of increased weight. The more direct builders amongst you that want an unsubtle robot that thrives in the heat of battle will want to upgrade your existing robots to Heavy Cubes.

Compact Cubes: As already detailed, existing Light Cubes will be renamed to Compact Cubes.


In addition to the new Cubes system we’ve also created a set of Rods to open up even more building options. The more astute builders amongst you will spot some downsized versions of existing favourites, the 1x5 now has a 1x2 version, the 3x3 curve now has a 2x2 curve variant, and so on. We didn’t just make mini versions of existing Rods though; we're also introducing a new crossbar Rod too. Please note, the current Rod Short will be renamed to Rod to make sizing easier.



In the very near future we’ll also be bringing you Strut variants to further bolster your expanding roster of building parts.

How do you get the new parts?
When we release the new parts, they'll be added to the Tech Tree and you'll need to unlock some of them with Tech Points.

• Medium Cubes will remain as the default cube that's unlocked for everyone.
• Heavy Cubes will be added to the Tech Tree and cost 2 Tech Points each to unlock.
• Light Cubes will be moved further down the unlock path and unless you already have them unlocked require heavy cubes to be unlocked first. They will cost 3 Tech Points each to unlock.
• The Rods will cost 1 Tech Point for each variant.

How do you get Tech Points?
You will receive one Tech Point each time you level up in Robocraft. If you currently have everything unlocked on the Tech Tree, you won't receive any additional Tech Points for levelling up UNTIL the new parts have been added to the game.