Hey Robocrafters,
If you've been following the Robocraft news you'll know that earlier this week we outlined our plans for Phases 2 and 3 of the "No More Crates" series of updates which will see us completely remove crates from Robocraft, introduce the Tech Tree (Phase 2) and Tiers (Phase 3) into the game along with lots more awesome features and content.

As developers we want to be able to deliver more cool content and fabulous features to you faster, but as we're currently split between three very different versions of Robocraft (RC Steam/Launcher, RC Infinity on Xbox One and the F2P Robocraft Infinity in China (co-developed with Tencent)) it's incredibly difficult to deliver on that. So, we're proposing some big upgrades to the Steam version of Robocraft, making it more like the F2P Robocraft Infinity in China. Doing this will allow us to deliver more new features, improvements, bug fixes and content faster as we won’t be developing different things on different versions of Robocraft.

Here's a summary of the planned improvements and how they'll be great for Robocraft Steam. Please note that these improvements will also apply to the Robocraft Launcher version.

• Infinity progression system integration - when you unlock a part on the tech tree you can place it an infinite number of times on as many Robots as you like
• More colors to paint with - 8 for free players and 32 for those with Premium
• Infinity CRF - Robots can be downloaded for free as long as you have unlocked all the parts required to build each Robot
• With the infinity progression system, you'll need something to spend your Robits on and so we want to make changes to the Item Shop which will allow you to buy many cosmetics with Robits or Cosmetic Credits. Some cosmetics will remain CC exclusives but a majority of them will be forgeable with Robits
• A new Main Menu with split screen showing your selected Robot on the right hand side
• Dynamic User-Interface (UI) - visual improvements to the UI and it will handle higher resolutions much better
• Hover-over tooltips
• Improved crosshairs in battle
• Improved lighting in environments
• Controls can be changed via the Pause Menu - switch from keyboard to cam controls in battle!
• Game checks you have functional parts on your Robot before you enter battle - No more accidentally going into battle without a weapon or movement part
• Building shortcut hints for new users (can be disabled in Settings for vets)
• Robot Voting system after battle, vote on who had best Robot (this feature needs improvement and we’d be happy to hear your suggestions on how we could do this)
• Upgrade the game to a newer version of the Unity game engine
• Network communication technology improvements

Please note that we will not be introducing everything that's different in the Robocraft Infinity China version into the Steam/Launcher version as we don't want to break player Robots and so the following will apply to the Steam version:

• CPU costs of parts will remain the same with max 2000 CPU
• Parts will remain the same as on Steam
• Nominal counts of weapons will remain the same
• Hit boxes of Hover and Thrusters etc. will remain the same

Thanks for reading and as always, please leave us your feedback. Nothing is set in stone and everything can be influenced by your feedback.

The community-hosted competitive Robocraft competition the "Robocraft World Cup" has returned for a second season and its bigger and better than before. If you're a competitive player and want to represent your country to win some cool in-game items, sign-up today!

Like the regular soccer/football World Cup, teams of players represent their country in Robocraft battles against teams of players from other countries to determine who is the best. If you'd like to represent your country then head on over to the official Discord channel where you can find out more and register your interest in participating.


Please note that this is NOT a Freejam hosted competition; we are merely offering our support with some awesome prizes.. Speaking of which. We'll be awarding some prizes to the top three teams in the competition

Prizes:
So what can you win? If you're on the winning team, you'll receive a unique golden Laser Leviathan Weapon that you can use in-battle along with a sparkly gold flag to adorn your robot. Come second, you'll get a silver flag and those on the team that comes third will each receive a bronze flag.

https://sketchfab.com/models/c025f1bdd2c94bb09635474d58b33e37


(robot not included)

For full details and information on the competition, head on over to the Official Discord Server.

A shout-out must go to Thomas for creating the awesome trailer for the event which you can watch below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvP83t51H5c

Hey Robocrafters,
We just wanted to give you an update on Robocraft, outlining our immediate plans for the game which will see us completely removing crates and introducing some fan-favourite features and new cool stuff into Robocraft. Read on for the full lowdown.

TL:DR We ARE 100% removing crates in our next Phase 2 update where we will also add the Tech Tree. Tiers will arrive in the later Phase 3 update along with some other great features.

To recap quickly; our previous Phase 1 update on May 17th removed purchasable crates. From that day onwards there was no longer a way of spending money to buy crates or any Robot parts directly. Our next update, Phase 2, will see the 100% removal of all Loot Crates/Boxes from Robocraft for good and the re-introduction of the Tech Tree. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect:

• 100% Loot Box/Crate removal
• Tech Tree re-introduced with a new layout and some other enhancements
• Tech Points re-introduced - when you Level Up you get a Tech Point with cool Special Effects for this
• Robit battle rewards based on performance

The Phase 2 Update should™ take around 3 weeks to deliver to you. If the development Gods are looking kindly on us, we'll have Phase 2 released before the end of June. To whet your appetite, for Phase 2, here's a sneaky peek at the Tech Tree. Please note that this image is not final and may be subject to change.



In Phase 3 we will re-introduce Tiers to Robocraft along with other great features; some of them new, and some of them old. Here’s a list of what we have planned for Phase 3 so far:

• 5 different Tiers - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary
• Robot Ranking returns - each part has Robot Rank and the combination of parts on your Robot will define its Tier
• Higher rarity parts will typically have higher Robot Rank values
• We'll remove Boosts from the game
• 8 vs 8 Elimination returns as a permanent game mode as part of the mode roster
• Game Mode selected at random when battle launches, with users able to ‘opt-out’ of modes they don't wish to play
• A tiered reward system with higher Tiers giving greater XP and Robits
• Ranking available in all Tiers, can you get to Protonium 5 star in all Tiers (it’ll be hardest in Legendary Tier)
• Ranking system improvements so you can play for fun without losing your rank when you want to, and play hard to rank up when you want to

This may change as you give us feedback on this blog post so stay posted to the blog and we’ll update you if things change.

To finish, here's a Tech Point animated GIF courtesy of our incredibly talented art team.

• Fixed a bug which caused some Daily Quests to display incorrectly
• Fixed a bug which caused some player's Daily Quests screen to be corrupted and so could not be completed
• Fixed a bug which failed to record the Battle Medic Daily Quest properly
• Fixed a bug which failed to record Mortar kills in the Explosive Attack Daily Quest
• Fixed a bug which caused some players to get stuck on a 'contacting the server' screen when logging in
• The BRAWL Daily Quest is no longer in the quest rotation. If you have a BRAWL Daily Quest, please re-roll if you don't want to wait for the next BRAWL

• Fixed a bug which sometimes caused a server error when constructing robots from the CRF that contained cosmetic parts

• The Steam email verification prompt no longer awards players with 5 crates

If you've been following our social media and website updates, you'll be well aware that we're removing all forms of loot crates from Robocraft. We've always been clear that removing them from the game would be a massive undertaking and that it would take time; it isn't simply a case of just turning them off. In order to get the changes to you quicker, we said that we would be removing them in stages (or as we're calling them, phases).

Today we released Phase One, which saw the removal of purchasable crate bundles from the in-game store and daily login rewards. Alongside this we introduced Daily Quests, an exciting way to earn XP and Robits as well as a new Cosmetic Credits (CC) currency. Please note that end of battle reward crates and level up crates will remain until the introduction of Tiers.

The full patch notes are below:
 
Cosmetic Credits - Cosmetic Credits can be used in the Forge to create cosmetic parts to make your Robots stand out from the crowd. Bundles of cosmetic credits can be purchased from the in-game shop or earned by recycling unwanted cosmetic items.

Cosmetic Credits are available to purchase from the in-game shop in bundles priced at:

• 100 Credits - £1.19 / $1.49 / €1.49*
• 500 Credits - £3.99 / $4.99 / €4.99*
• 1,000 Credits - £7.99 / $8.99 / €8.99*
• 2,000 Credits - £11.99 / $14.99 / €14.99*

*Your local currency will be displayed in the in-game shop

Forgeable Cosmetics - With the introduction of Cosmetic Credits, we have once again made it possible for players to forge their favourite cosmetic parts in Robocraft. Players use purchasable Cosmetic Credits to forge cosmetic items or a combination of Cosmetic Credits and Robits to forge Cosmetic weapon or movement part skins such as the Carbon 6 variant parts.

Daily Quests - Players can earn XP and Robits for completing daily quests.



With the removal of daily login crates, we have introduced a new way to earn XP and Robits in Robocraft with Daily Quests. Simply login daily to receive a new random quest; complete it to earn XP and Robits. You can have a maximum of 3 Quests active at anyone time and once per day you can reroll a quest you don't want. If you're a premium player, you'll earn 2x XP and 2x Robits from completing quests.

Please note that Daily Quest rewards can not be earned through playing Custom Games or Play vs AI mode.

Improved in-game menu navigation - We have updated the top navigation bar in Robocraft, giving it a cleaner look. As well as a cleaner menu, the top navigation screen now displays both your Robits and Cosmetic Credits balance as well as your player level and Premium time remaining.

• Removal of purchasable Salvage Crate bundles from the in-store shop - With this update it is no longer be possible to purchase Salvage Crate bundles from the in-game shop. Players who have unopened crates in their account will still be able to open them when logging in.
• Removal of crate reward for tutorial completion
• Removal of Daily Login crates
• Cosmetic items will no longer drop in any Salvage Reward Crates
• Robots built with cosmetics that have been uploaded to the CRF can be downloaded and constructed using Robits and Cosmetic Credits if the player does not own the necessary parts to construct the robot
• Cosmetic Part Rarity Changes - We have changed the rarity of some parts to match cosmetic versions to the correct non-cosmetic versions:
  
  • Blade Insect Leg rarity change to Rare, was Epic
  • Bat Wings rarity changed to Rare, was Epic
  • Bat Rudders rarity changed to Rare, Was Epic
  • Spike Needle rarity changed to Rare, was Uncommon
  • Spike Pin rarity changed to Rare, was Uncommon
  • Eagle Mask rarity changed to Epic, was Uncommon
  • Single Vapor Trail rarity changed to Uncommon, was Rare
• EAC SDK Updated
• Texture optimisation to Headlamp part

• Fixed a bug which caused Tank Track audio not to play
• Fixed a bug which prevented some players from uploading a robot to the CRF if they had previously reported one
• Fixed a bug which caused the UI to be temporarily out of sync if a player pressed the ESC key while capturing a point in Battle Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which caused the UI to be temporarily out of sync if a player reconnected to Battle Arena or League Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which caused inconsistencies with the Core Capture/Defend icon animation in Battle Arena modes
• Fixed a bug which prevented players from blinking through their own Disc Shield Module
• Various translations corrections
• Fixed a bug where a player reconnecting to a Custom Game would not have the set values for the game
• Fixed a bug which caused the Steam Verification email not to send

Check out the Developer Vlog for this update below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDajrAB-0jk

We're revisiting a fan favourite with our latest BRAWL. It's time to power-up your best battle-ready Robot and head into the warzone with the Elimination Battlegrounds BRAWL. We've upped the ante with larger 8 v 8 teamsizes and removed auto-heal - it's going to be brutal out there. As a reward for winning, the first win bonus is triple XP and triple crates!

The BRAWL will remain in play until Tuesday, May 8th at 11:00 (BST).

• Game Mode: Elimination
• Map: All six maps
• Number of Players: 8 v 8
• Max CPU: 2,000
• Permitted Weapons: All weapons and movement parts permitted
• Special Rules: No auto-heal
• First Win BRAWL Rewards: 3x XP + 3x Crates

Dear Robocraft Community,
In our last blog post on Boosts we proposed a few things that we planned to do as part of our overall ‘Loot Crate Removal’ work. A quick recap:

• Keep Boosts in at first, allowing us to focus on crate removal as a priority
• Add in 3 Tiers
• Circle back on Boosts after the crates had been removed, removing them and replacing them with a better system

We’ve had loads of player feedback on this, which has led to Tiers proving to be a bit of a minefield. So based on your feedback, we’ve had to rethink them a bit to improve the concept.

Here’s what we’re currently planning; as always, let us know what you think:

• We will remove Boosts
• We will add 5 Tiers (up from our original plan of 3 Tiers)
• Tiers will be named based on Rarity i.e. Epic Tier, Legendary Tier, etc. (i.e. 5 rarities, 5 tiers)
• We will bring back Robot Ranking (RR)
• Each part will have a Robot Rank (RR), higher rarity parts will have a higher RR and weapons will tend to have higher RR than other parts
• Your Robot's total Robot Rank will determine what Tier it is, e.g. you might have an ‘Epic Robot’
• You can use a diverse range of parts in each Tier, for example you may combine a Legendary Weapon with a bunch of Rare Movement parts to get an Epic Robot

Basically everything described above is similar to how the old popular Tier system worked in previous versions of Robocraft which also featured the Tech Tree, but updated to work with the 5 rarity scheme we have now.

• We plan to introduce the concept of Light, Medium and Heavy (LMH) cubes to Robocraft.
• Heavy cubes will be Common rarity
• Medium Cubes will be Rare
• Light Cubes will be Epic

At lower Tiers you will see mostly Heavy cubes (akin to our current Health cubes), making it a great point of entry for new players. Whereas in Epic and Legendary Tiers, more complex engineering will be prevalent showing the full range of Light Medium and Heavy cubes.

• BA, TDM and League will be merged into just one ‘Battle’ button
• When you push that button you will join the queue and will launch into a random game mode, i.e. Battle Arena, Elimination, or Team Deathmatch, this will allow us to keep all game modes and keep queue times down whilst supporting 5 Tiers
• You will have options that allow you to ‘opt-out’ of game modes you do not like to play
• The game will focus on matchmaking Robots of the same Tier above all else, so each Tier will feel quite distinct; with different metas and different builds appearing in each Tier
• Your Garage Bays will show you what Tier each Robot is (the UI will be colored to show the rarity colors, i.e. yellow for Legendary)
• All players in a Party will need to have same Tier Robots, this is to prevent frustration of unfairness for having a range of Tiers in a party
• The Legendary Tier will matchmake by MMR as well and will always be ranked, so you will get your protonium 5 star badge by ranking up in Legendary Tier

We’re not planning to do CPU ‘bands’ for Tiers at this point; preferring instead to rely on Robot Ranking alone to define Tiers as they should provide tons of depth as it did in earlier versions of Robocraft.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read and we look forward to your feedback. Remember, nothing is set in stone and your feedback will directly impact the direction and changes we make to the game.

Mark, CEO, Freejam

Dear Robocraft Community,

So we seem to have made some good progress on our plans to remove crates by discussing the plans with the community and getting consensus on a number of changes.

Here is a quick recap:

• 100% removal of all crates
• Replace with a Tech Tree and Tech Points to unlock parts
• Add Robits earned at the end of battle based on performance to Forge parts
• Add Daily Quests for XP in place of Daily Crates
• Add in 3 Tiers, each with a different CPU cap (and add more later if the community grows after the changes)
• Add in a random game mode system to keep all games modes active, but also add an ‘opt-out’ options menu so users don’t have to play game modes they don’t like
• Add a Cosmetic Credits currency so users can buy cosmetics directly with real money (for fair prices)
• Keep x2 progress speed rewards and other benefits for Premium users (Premium will get x2 XP and Robits)
• Give Cosmetic Credits for levelling up instead of Tech Points when user has already unlocked everything on the Tech Tree, also allow Cosmetic Credits to be Forged from a lot of Robits, grinding for CC is OK as long as they are not locked behind a 100% paywall
• Skills might work in future, but needs a lot more thought, so we’re not doing them for now so we can focus on delivering the crate removal, tech tree and tiers as a priority

Finally we discussed the idea of removing Boosts with the community and various issues related to them at present in game. After considering this we found that removing Boosts would at the very least require us to do a lot of re-balancing work, or require us to bring in other game mechanics to solve problems that removing Boosts could create.

After listening to the community and reading a lot of comments on this subject what we’re ‘hearing’ is that the community in general doesn’t like mechanics like Boosts and Overclocking at all really because they are ‘abstract’ or ‘arbitrary’ game mechanics. What players want is for the game to focus on physics and engineering so building is more like the real world and matters as it does in the real world. The community feels that mass and weight should play a pivotal role in maneuverability and acceleration and should compete against concepts like redundancy and tankiness and fire-power to create engineering depth.

If we’re hearing this right, then this is a direction we are happy to consider moving towards as a general ‘direction of travel’, but as you can imagine this could take a lot of time and iteration to achieve. For now we want to focus on the quick removal of loot crates and introduction of the Tech Tree and if those changes are things players like and the community begins to grow we can plough on and begin to focus on core engineering and physics in this way.

So, with that in mind, and to allow us to focus 100% on removal or crates we will be leaving Boosts as they are in the short term (this is the least amount of work for us).

That said, many have mentioned that they feel Boosts should be capped at 100% for now to solve a few issues in game, and since that’s a quick change for us we’re going to do that.

Also a few have highlighted that in Tier 1, where the CPU cap will be 1000 CPU the Damage Boost will mean that Robots will have too much damage and not enough health and Tier 1 won’t work very well.

A member of the community Jendar suggested a simple solution which we think we can implement quickly which is this:

• Tier 1 - 1000 CPU max, only Speed Boost enabled (capped at 100%)
• Tier 2 - 1500 CPU max, Speed Boost and Health Boost enabled (capped at 100%)
• Tier 3 - max CPU, All Boosts enabled (capped at 100%)

So, by doing this we can focus on the crate removal and bringing back the Tech Tree and then when that is done, and if it goes well, we can begin to work with you on a solid way to remove Boosts and focus more on good solid engineering and physics simulation as opposed to funny mechanics like ‘Boosts’.

We hope you approve of the overall plan.

Mark, CEO, Freejam