When you update Trailmakers today a new realm of water based possibilities will open up for you! This is just the maiden voyage for our water updates, and we have a titanic amount of things planned to further improve the Trailmakers experience on water!

• New Nautical Blocks - We’ve added three different sized Pontoons which will provide buoyancy to your creations! Alongside a new Underwater Propeller you’ll be exploring the high seas like never before!
  
• Improved Water Graphics - We’ve made our first improvements to how watery the water looks, both from above and below the depths… and buoy is it pretty!
  
• Even More Aerodynamic Blocks and Accessories - We’ve added a few more aerodynamic blocks to give you even more options when creating your vehicles. There might also be some new Accessories to find in the Expedition...

• The time for the player to be thrown from their seat when submerged in water has been tweaked to be more forgiving. Underwater exploration is still but a dream, for now…
  
• Updated lighthouse model.
  
• Being underwater now looks like you’re underwater!

• The Boat blocks have washed ashore on one of the many islands around the Expedition world!
  
• We added the Flat Connector blocks to Expedition!
  
• There’s five new accessory blocks to be found around the Expedition Islands!

• The leaderboards have received a visual overhaul.

• NEW: Small Pontoon - A block that provides buoyancy in water. You can find it in the “Frame” category for now.
  
• NEW: Medium Pontoon - A block that provides buoyancy in water.
  
• NEW: Large Pontoon - A block that provides buoyancy in water.
  
  
• NEW: Underwater Propeller - Provides propulsion in water. Works when submerged!
  
• NEW: Small Wedge 1x2 - Aerodynamic block.
  
• NEW: Small Wedge 2x2 - Aerodynamic block.
  
• NEW: Round Block 2x1 - Aerodynamic block.
  
• NEW: Shield 2x1 - Armor for your vehicle.
  
• NEW: 80s Exhaust
  
• NEW: Black Antlers
  
• NEW: Hood Pipes
  
• NEW: Metal Barrel Hood
  
• NEW: Wrench Bumper
  
• A number of blocks have received a visual overhaul including, but not limited to: Small Cannon, Large Cannon, Hover Block, Monster Truck Wheel, Trailer Hinge, and Boombox.

• Fixed some issues related to Steam Workshop.
  
• Fixed an issue with scrap not being removed correctly in Dethrone.
  
• Fixed an issue when attempting to send a leaderboard score whilst having network issues.
  
• Fixed really old Blueprints not having a game version associated with them.
  
• Fixed an issue where other players in Race Island would hear other players countdown timers.
  
• Fixed an infinite Challenge leave countdown tick tick tick.
  
• Fixed the Go-Kart Wheel being flipped 180 when dragging out from Inventory.
  
• Fixed the missing Hover Block visual effect.
  
• Fixed the repeated hint pop up when breaking crates which contained a reward the player had already collected.

Hi Trailmakers!

Today I want to talk to you about a very cool fan-made initiative called the Trailmakers Suggestions Trello - a place where you can let us know which features you would most like to see in Trailmakers.



Some enterprising players on our official Discord server (please like and subscribe) have taken it upon themselves to create and curate a very large list of feature suggestions for future Trailmakers updates. As developers, this is by no means a checklist that we feel we have to complete before 1.0, but it is a great source of reference for when we discuss updates internally.

When considering a new feature, we have to weigh a lot of factors first. Do we (the developers) want it in the game? Do the players want it in the game? Is it good for new players? And for old players? Is it time consuming to develop? The Trello list is one of the places we refer to when we ask ourselves “what do the players want?”. Some of the features on the list will be added, some will be solved by adding other features, and some of them will probably never make it to the game.

Since launch we’ve implemented these highly requested player suggestions:



If you want to vote for any of the suggestions on the list, all you need is to make a Trello account. If you want a feature added to the board, go to our Discord and post it in the #feature-suggestions room - a helpful moderator will either add it, or let you know if it already exists.

You can find the Trello here: https://trello.com/b/aSShFsXY/trailmakers-suggestion-list
And our Discord server here: http://discord.gg/Trailmakers

Let’s talk about some of the things that we are working on!

We are a fairly small team working on Trailmakers, but we have big ambitions for the game. This week, I’d like to let you in on some of the things we are working on or have planned for the future of Trailmakers! Some are coming soon, some are coming later, and some are coming sooner or later.

SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE: Some of these features are more speculative than others. Some are being implemented now, others are on the drawing board, and some might be scrapped if they end up not being fun.

Coming soon!

One of the core elements in Trailmakers is exploration. We’ve been working on something tentatively called Treasure Hunt that will lead you on a small mission for some new blocks! It’s an experiment to see if these mini-expeditions can be fun to add as recurring content. A Treasure Hunt is most fun if it’s shrouded in secrecy, so I wont say too much about it except I think the treasure will blow you off your… seat.



Coming later!

From the very launch of Trailmakers, one of the most requested features has been improved water physics, graphics, and vehicle parts to go along with it. In coming updates, we are going to get our hands wet, and give the area an overhaul.

When we launched the Alpha Demo, you could already make something that acted like a boat, due to the wheels having a bit of upward buoyancy. Stack wheels all around a vehicle, and you had a “boat”. It was a fun one-off, but not satisfying to play with at length because the water wasn’t very realistic, and the vehicles looked like floating cars.

The Ocean Update will be not be one update, but several. The first one will overhaul the graphics of the water so it looks better from above, and even when you stick your head under. This update will also add a few blocks that supports building water vehicles.

In the second update we will change the way water behaves when you interact with it. This will hopefully enable fun creations like hydrofoils, and make sure your speedboat actually skims the water.

The third update will make the water “come alive”. We want to make sure there are waves, currents, splashes and foam trails from the boats. When it comes to making water physics over network, it can have scary implications on overall performance, so the scope of the third update is very much up in the air.



Coming sooner or later!

We’ve mentioned the Challenge Editor before, and it’s still in our plans for the future. The Challenge Editor will be a way for players to make their own courses in the game by placing props like checkpoints, ramps, loops etc., and even making rules and restrictions for their challenge. The Challenge Editor will NOT be a level editor in the original sense, but a way to modify the existing terrain to make your own race courses, expeditions or engineering challenges, and then play them with friends. This feature is still on the drawing board, but we’re really excited about it.

As an addition to the Challenge Editor. We have noticed one of the ways people play the Trailmakers sandbox is by making their own mini-games. Who can float the longest without propulsion? Who can do the longest wheelie? Who can climb this mountain without using the roads? We are considering making a group of blocks that can deposit props in the world. The props wouldn’t despawn the same way that blocks normally do when they fall off your vehicle, so you can use them to make persistent objects in the world like cones or traffic lights.

How do I put this… The world in Trailmakers is very orange. We’d love to add more maps in the game with different biomes. One of the biomes that we alluded to at the end of the Expedition is an alpine tundra. It would add some much needed diversity to the environments in the game of course, but it’s also a fun way to challenge the game design. This would also be a great opportunity to introduce skis and tank treads.

As we get closer to the release of each of these updates, I’ll post a more in-depth description. Not mentioned above are all of requested features by the community. I will post about that next week, so stay tuned!

When you update Trailmakers today, you will be able to play a brand new Trailmakers update. We call it the Quality Update because we have gone to great lengths to improve the performance of the game across the board. Input latency, stutters, long frames, RAM usage, and network have all seen great improvements.

If a huge update full of performance improvements does not sound like music to your ears (it should), we have also added a lot of cool features to the game including a race event where you can win a 3D print of your vehicle. Read more below, and have fun in Trailmakers!

General

• Performance improvements!
  
  • Reduced input latency.
    
  • Removed many frequent stutters.
    
  • Removed the long frame when loading your vehicle.
    
  • Reduced RAM usage over longer play sessions.
    
  • Rewrote a chunk of the network framework - should give fewer connection issues.

Race Island

• Race Event: Compete to win a 3D print of your vehicle. The first Trailmakers Race Event will run from April 12-19. The fastest time on the new Speed Circuit in the Formula Class will win a 3D print of their winning vehicle.
  
• New Race Track: We have heard you loud and clear! The Speed Circuit - a new tarmac-only race track has been added to Race Island.
  
• Racing Leagues: Every race now has 7 different leagues. They are Power Core limitations, and each have their own leaderboard. Compete in:
  
  • Bionic League (0 Power Cores)
    
  • Go-kart League (1 Power Core)
    
  • Muscle League (2-5 Power Cores)
    
  • Formula League (6-10 Power Cores)
    
  • Jet League (11-15 Power Cores)
    
  • Super Sonic League (16-30 Power Cores)
    
  • Space League (Unlimited Power Cores)

King’s Island

• When creating a Sandbox server, King’s Island can once again be selected as the map!

Sandbox Island

• The half pipes structures have had a slight redesign.

Blocks

• NEW: Flat Connectors 1x2 - The flat connectors are lightweight blocks that can connect two surfaces with only minor visual protrusion
  
• NEW: Flat Connectors 1x3
  
• NEW: Flat Connectors 1x4
  
  
• CHANGED: Wheel - The standard wheel has a new look!
  
• CHANGED: Bulldawg Engine - The little engine that could now takes on your primary colour for a more distinct look.
  
• Destroyed blocks now keep their colour when turning to scrap. Pretty!
  
• All blocks in the propulsion category now have a Power Core cost.

Builder

• Controller Support for the builder is now live. We are about 75% done with controller support, so don’t expect it to be completely bug free.
  
• Nudge Move - You can now nudge move a block by selecting it and pressing the arrow keys.
  
• Fixed input mapping - Your keybindings will no longer reset if you remove the seat from a vehicle, if you remove the part with binding from the vehicle, or if you repair the vehicle.
  
• Parts that are not connected to your vehicle now have a blinking exclamation mark to indicate they are unattached.

UI

• The builder has new UI for vehicle info and hotkeys.
  
  
• Error messages are now more descriptive.
  
• Implemented TextMesh Pro for improved text at various resolutions.
  
• The vehicle blueprints have a new stylish look!
  
• Added a shortcut to hide the UI - Ctrl and U!

Performance

• Made numerous improvements to garbage collection which will cause much fewer noticeable spikes.
  
• LODs tweaked throughout the game.
  
• Calculation optimisations when repairing.
  
• A bunch of optimisations when using the builder! Spawning in larger Blueprints and leaving/entering the builder should be much snappier!

Bug Fixes

• Monster Truck Wheels have brakes again!
  
• Fixed tear down flow issues.
  
• Fixed not being able to copy the VIP Seat referral link.
  
• Fixed the infinite scroll in the Steam Workshop UI.
  
• Fixed the issue with not being able to enter text in text fields.
  
• Fixed some render textures leaking upon switching islands.
  
• Fixed the close button not appearing when browsing the Steam Workshop in game.
  
• Fixed an issue with pressing Escape whilst the Quit Game pop up was displayed.
  
• Fixed block transitions in builder taking too long.
  
• Fixed an issue with RAM not being released correctly over extended play sessions.
  
• Fixed an issue when switching character whilst in game.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Escape menu being a little unresponsive.
  
• Fixed an issue with the FPS counter sometimes getting stuck when alt-tabbing.
  
• Fixed an issue with alt-tabbing affecting performance.
  
• Fixed an issue with the game failing to connect on the first attempt in a play session.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Transform menu if you deleted a Blueprint which was assigned to a Transform slot.
  
• Fixed the spooky ghost Blocks appearing.
  
• Fixed inconsistent lift from Helicoptor Servos.
  
• Fixed structures which have multiple seats placed after keybindings are set not functioning correctly.

After a week in the upcoming branch, we are happy to announce that the beta of Steam Workshop is now available for everyone. It is however still highly experimental, missing polish and most likely full of bugs.

Introducing the feature now should give everyone a head start to upload all their creations to the workshop before our soon to be released massive update!

After a week in the upcoming branch, we are happy to announce that the beta of Steam Workshop is now available for everyone. It is however still highly experimental, missing polish and most likely full of bugs.

Introducing the feature now should give everyone a head start to upload all their creations to the workshop before our soon to be released massive update!

Hey Trailmakers!

If you’ve been playing the game you’ve probably been eagerly watching the next update timer countdown for your next installment of Trailmakers content. Here at Flashbulb we’ve made the really tough decision to push the release of this update back and rather than give you two smaller updates in a month, we’ll roll it in to one larger update which will contain a mix of both new content, highly requested features and, most importantly - a whole host of bug fixes and performance improvements.

But why? 😢

This is not a decision we take lightly, but we simply want our players to have the best possible experience when playing Trailmakers. Whether that be in single player Expedition, or having a four player drag race with friends. This delay will allow us to deliver a much more optimal experience both for existing players and also new players joining the world of Trailmakers.

For the curious amongst you, here are some of the features from our next update!

• We’ve heard your complaints in regards to performance and we've gone to great lengths with the coming update to provide players with a much better experience.
  
• Made several improvements to multiplayer performance.
  
• Made more optimisations in regards to input lag.
  
• A whole host of quality of life changes to the builder - including being able to nudge a block by one space.
  
• Made our error messages much more informative and useful.
  
• Steam Workshop support for Blueprints!
  
• We’ve added controller support for build mode and generally improved the game experience when using a controller.
  
• Completely reworked keybinding set up.
  
• A new asphalt only Race Track on Race Island.
  
• We now have multiple leaderboards for each Race depending on the amount of Power Cores used.
  
• Improved the way Blueprints are displayed.
  
• More bug fixes than you can shake a rusty wrench at!

Once we get closer to releasing this update we’ll provide a full list of patch notes so you can see everything that’s changed. We really can’t wait to give you all this update as it will provide players with a greatly improved experience whilst also giving us a great foundation to work from and add the exciting stuff we have planned for the future!

But what if I can’t wait?

For those of you who want to be at the forefront of Trailmakers, we’re putting a new build on our Upcoming Branch which only includes the Steam Workshop part of the update! Please keep in mind this is very much an in development version and you will almost certainly have weird things happen. But we’d love for you to create some awesome vehicles and share them with everyone and let us know on our Discord when things go wrong!

Hey Trailmakers!

If you’ve been playing the game you’ve probably been eagerly watching the next update timer countdown for your next installment of Trailmakers content. Here at Flashbulb we’ve made the really tough decision to push the release of this update back and rather than give you two smaller updates in a month, we’ll roll it in to one larger update which will contain a mix of both new content, highly requested features and, most importantly - a whole host of bug fixes and performance improvements.

But why? 😢

This is not a decision we take lightly, but we simply want our players to have the best possible experience when playing Trailmakers. Whether that be in single player Expedition, or having a four player drag race with friends. This delay will allow us to deliver a much more optimal experience both for existing players and also new players joining the world of Trailmakers.

For the curious amongst you, here are some of the features from our next update!

• We’ve heard your complaints in regards to performance and we've gone to great lengths with the coming update to provide players with a much better experience.
  
• Made several improvements to multiplayer performance.
  
• Made more optimisations in regards to input lag.
  
• A whole host of quality of life changes to the builder - including being able to nudge a block by one space.
  
• Made our error messages much more informative and useful.
  
• Steam Workshop support for Blueprints!
  
• We’ve added controller support for build mode and generally improved the game experience when using a controller.
  
• Completely reworked keybinding set up.
  
• A new asphalt only Race Track on Race Island.
  
• We now have multiple leaderboards for each Race depending on the amount of Power Cores used.
  
• Improved the way Blueprints are displayed.
  
• More bug fixes than you can shake a rusty wrench at!

Once we get closer to releasing this update we’ll provide a full list of patch notes so you can see everything that’s changed. We really can’t wait to give you all this update as it will provide players with a greatly improved experience whilst also giving us a great foundation to work from and add the exciting stuff we have planned for the future!

But what if I can’t wait?

For those of you who want to be at the forefront of Trailmakers, we’re putting a new build on our Upcoming Branch which only includes the Steam Workshop part of the update! Please keep in mind this is very much an in development version and you will almost certainly have weird things happen. But we’d love for you to create some awesome vehicles and share them with everyone and let us know on our Discord when things go wrong!

When we started developing Trailmakers the social aspect was always a core feature for us - not just being able to play with others, but also the ability to build something you were proud of and then share that easily with the world.

Trailmakers Gallery is our central hub for people to share their creations with the world and find a vehicle for every occasion. Once you’re signed in with your Steam account you can upvote creations, easily share them with others and of course upload your own!




We’re also bringing Trailmakers to Game Preview on Xbox One later this year and our goal is to allow people, regardless of the platform they’re playing on, to take a cool looking creation and bring it into their game. The Trailmakers Gallery allows us to do just that!

Whilst sharing blueprints on social media works it can also be quite easy for them to be lost or drowned out by newer content, but on the gallery they can be easily found again and with the included gif of the vehicle in action, you get a good idea of what the vehicle is like before you import it into your game!




Have a vehicle you want to upload to the gallery? Awesome! There’s a couple of things you need to do! First you need to save that vehicle, if you haven’t already! Next you need to capture a spritesheet of it in action. Got a cool off road buggy? Go zooming over some hills and then press F7 to save the previous six seconds of action! Now you have both things you need the next step is to head to the gallery, sign in with your Steam Account and press the Upload button!



You’ll see the above window. You need to give your creation a name, upload the two files you created earlier, include any specific instructions such as keybindings for special functions and then press Upload!

Now your creation is on the gallery for all to see! If you want to share it further you can easily do so by clicking the Share Icon and picking how you want to share it!


That’s cool, we respect that. You’re of course welcome to share your creations however you want, and there’s a bunch of ways to do this!

• Posting them on our Discord. Our Discord community is very active and you can find a wide variety of blueprints there and people love giving feedback and in some cases, people even refine what others have created. We’ve even seen members working collaboratively on more complex creations!
  
• Sharing them on Social Media. Since your vehicle is saved as a .PNG sharing your creations on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit. Imgur etc is quick and easy.
  
• On the Steam Community Hub.

Hmm, kinda feels like there’s an obvious method of sharing through Steam missing here, right? Then read on!


We understand that not everybody is going to want to use the gallery, they just want easy, quick, in game access to cool stuff people have made. Steam Workshop support has been heavily requested by our community, and I’m happy to announce today that Steam Workshop support for sharing blueprints is coming very soon.

In the meantime, if you have a cool creation, why not upload it to the Trailmakers Gallery? :)