Hey folks!

First, I want to thank you for all your comments and feedback on the Rally Update. We read every word you send us (though we might not answer all of them), and they influence the future updates of Trailmakers. We love to hear from you on Steam, Discord, Twitter or wherever else you throw words at us.

Since the Rally update came out, we have released a couple of hotfixes. Due to some balance changes and fixes to exploits, we have also reset the leaderboards. This will not be the last time we reset them. The plan is to reset them when changes we make will impact the times you can get in races.

Hotfix 1&2 change list:

- Fixed players getting ejected from the builder when involuntarily leaving the race area.
- Fixed resetting of hinges when repairing.
- Fixed Power Core limit on servers.
- Fixed the Boat tutorial on Race Island
- Fixed various memory leaks.
-Fixed the blueprint browser for updating existing workshop items. It previously only displayed two blueprints to choose from.
- We squashed the issue that was causing some users to see lag and rubberbanding in extended play sessions.
- The old style FPS counter should not appear and remain on the screen anymore, displaying an incorrect FPS.
- Uploads made to the Steam Workshop in this update should now be downloaded correctly and visible in your Blueprint Inventory once again.
- Fixed Alternative Rendering requiring to be enabled on GPUs that shouldn't need to use it.
- Fixed Toggled Hinges not resetting correctly on repairs.
- Blueprints that previously had locked parts will now correctly lose the ! when you own the blocks.
- Fixed an issue with an unbound Logic Block set up not accepting input anymore.
- Reimplemented the Builder Camera focus on block selected.
- Fixed the Blueprint Inventory reloading every time you entered it.
- Fixed the Blueprint Inventory not remember your last position.
- Snowball Dispenser is back again.
- Fixed the worse than intended Aerodynamics on the VIP Seat. It's now the same as the Standard Seat.
- Fixed Sandbox being listed as Unknown Game Mode in the Server List.
- Fixed Sensor Blocks being turned off when pressing ESC in a multiplayer game.
- Fixed the Boombox sounds breaking after crashing/repairing. Again.
- Fixed the missing tool tips inside the configurator.
- Fixed Hover Engine sounds cutting out after crashes/repair/respawns.
- Fixed the Blueprint context menu appearing behind the tooltip when right clicking a blueprint.

It’s been a long time underway, but the Rally Update is finally here. There are a ton of changes to Trailmakers - adding a new game mode, removing another game mode, rebalancing a lot of blocks, and much more. We’re very proud of how the update turned out, and we can’t wait to hear what you think. Read the full update notes right here.

Today also marks our Xbox One Game Preview launch! It has been a big undertaking for us to get Trailmakers ready for Xbox One, but we are super happy with the results. If you have friends who have been dying to play Trailmakers on their console, do us a favor and let them know that Trailmakers is out on Xbox!

The Xbox version has all the features of the PC version… almost. We are not launching with multiplayer as that would require dedicated servers, but we plan to add it in an update. The Steam Workshop is replaced with a Trailmakers Gallery that we are hosting ourselves. It has the same functionality as the workshop, but not the same Blueprints.

The price of Trailmakers on Steam will soon be increasing to $24.99/£19.99/€24.99. Since we launched Trailmakers at its current price point, we have released 12 content updates that improved the game and added tons of content. What you get when you purchase Trailmakers today is significantly more than it was a year ago. To keep the momentum going, and help fuel the development we are confident in increasing the price a little.

This will obviously have no impact on current players, but if you have a friend who is looking to get Trailmakers now is a great time. We plan to increase the price in the very beginning of April.

Hey Trailmakers

Some of you have gotten in touch to ask us why we are replacing Expedition instead of just leaving it in and adding the new game mode. We know it might be counterintuitive to remove content from the game, so here are the reasons that went into this decision.

What we think the Expedition did well was to give an introduction to the builder and the physics of Trailmakers. You would learn how to make your first car, how to upgrade it, make it aerodynamic etc. There was a nice sense of progression in the Expedition, and it was nice to have an obvious next goal - something you did not get in Sandbox.

There were also a lot of things that the Expedition did not do so well. We think that it was a weird mix of being open world, but still very linear. We never managed to make it feel like you had true freedom in how to solve the challenges. It felt more like a puzzle game where the developers had a specific solution in mind for the environmental challenges, and you had to figure out how we intended them to be solved. We think that goes against the idea of creative building.

However, the biggest problem with the Expedition was how it limited the rest of the game. In order to make environmental puzzles in the Expedition, we had to tweak certain blocks so that you could just barely overcome the challenge by using them. For example, the traction of the wheels was balanced so that you could just barely make it up the first hills. The same goes for the aerodynamic blocks which were balanced around the windy sections of the Expedition. Since then, whenever we have wanted to change the wheels or aerodynamic blocks to be more realistic and consistent or work for other game modes like Racing, we have had to take the Expedition into consideration. Changing one little parameter on a block could make the Expedition impossible to complete.This has on many occasions meant that we have chosen not to “fix” obvious flaws in the game.

All these issues also mean that we cannot “leave it in there” as many have requested. That would mean that we would have to live with weird settings on blocks while also having to maintain all the systems related to the expedition.

So the expedition is dead. Long live the new campaign, which is … a secret for now. But it will be a game mode that is much easier for us to expand upon, and way more aligned with what makes Trailmakers stand out. It will also serve as a way to introduce the builder, the basic blocks and game mechanics to new players while giving a sense of progression.

I hope this clarifies why we are replacing the game mode. Keeping it in means continuing to support it, and that would stunt the growth of the game in other areas. When all that is said, we would very much like to know what you will miss about the Expedition. It will give us a better chance to make the kind of content that you want to see in the future! Let us know in the comments :)

Hi Trailmakers!

It’s been a while since we’ve updated Trailmakers. Apart from a nice Christmas holiday, the reason for the lack of updates is because we are working on a larger project.

The project is two-fold. First of all, we are revamping the main “campaign” of Trailmakers. The Expedition didn’t really hit the mark for a lot of players (or for us for that matter) so in the spirit of Early Access we are going to remove it and replace it with something we think fits the DNA of the game a lot better. We can’t wait to show you more about it when it’s ready. We think this update is important in order to make Trailmakers ready for 1.0 release later this year.

In regards to the accessory blocks that are spread out in the current Expedition, there will be a new way to obtain them in the new Campaign mode. If you’ve already unlocked them all you will get to keep them of course. The update will also have a ton of other features, making it the biggest Trailmakers update yet. We expect to launch it on Steam in February.

Secondly, we are also finishing up Trailmakers for Xbox. We decided long ago to do the Xbox version ourselves instead of outsourcing it to make sure the quality was satisfactory. We are launching in the Xbox Game Preview program, so the new campaign and the Xbox launch are not to be confused with a transition into 1.0 and exiting Early Access. That will come later this year. We plan on releasing Trailmakers on Xbox at some point between February and April, depending on how many last minute obstacles we run into. When we finally commit to a release date, we will put out a date reveal trailer.

Thank you for your patience!

P.S. There's always something to do in Trailmakers. Head over to our Discord to participate in weekly building competitions, or try some of the awesome new inventions made by the community.

The holiday season is upon us. It’s time to cozy up with a blanket, some hot cocoa, and maybe the new Trailmakers update? It’s a smaller update than last time, but it has some new features we hope you’ll enjoy. If you need something else to do during the holidays, make sure you check out our Trailermakers competition where you can win a Blue Yeti (how thematic).

• Ho Ho Hoooold up... is that snow falling in the Danger Zone?!
  Take a walk in the winter wonderland, and perhaps you’ll find some presents from Santa. Don’t worry - they are for you ❤️

• NEW: Helicopter Engine v2 - The engineers have finally managed to put nubs on top of a helicopter engine. Truly a groundbreaking innovation.
  
• NEW: 2 *Secret* Blocks - The first present is quite heavy, and it has the same shape as something you already own. The second present is small and shaped like a T. Log in between December 1 and December 9 to find these blocks in the Danger Zone.
  
• NEW: 3 *Secret* Blocks - Three almost identical presents rattle with a metallic clang when you shake them. Perhaps they are part of a set? Log in between December 10 and December 16 to find three new blocks in the Danger Zone.
  
• NEW: 3 *Secret* Blocks - The first two small presents rattle when you shake them. The third present is warm to the touch! Log in between December 17 and December 31 to find three new blocks in the Danger Zone.

• Fixed an issue where detached seats would become immune to damage.
  
• Fixed a goal scored in the Carball Arena rewarding two points.
  
• Fixed spawn rotation and mirroring on several blocks.
  
• Removed the underwater cactus in Race Island.
  
• Smoothed out the Danger Zone roads.
  
• Made an invisible ramp in Expedition appear again.
  
• Fixed some blocks returning to default profile colours when becoming scrap.
  
• Fixed an issue with pooled blocks becoming too large.
  
• Fixed a stuck in build mode bug related to repairing and respawning at the same time.
  
• Fixed an issue with structures that had too many weld points.
  
• Fixed a crash when respawning in big structures.
  
• Fixed some collision on the Danger Zone carrier.
  
• Numerous fixes to our new Multiplayer framework.
  
• Fixed occasional server side crash occurring when a client disconnects
  
• Fixed rare serverside crash while starting up a new server
  
• Fixed server side crash when respawning while sitting inside a large structure
  
• Fixed server side physics crash when trying to enter build mode on very compact structures
  
• Fixed server side crash when loading and deleting a lot of structures in the same build session
  
• Fixed a "Stuck in build mode" when simultaneously repairing, respawning and entering build on the same structure
  
• Fixed an infinite loading screen when network times out while joining a remote server
  
• Improved client side load time so that network timeouts occur less frequently when joining remote servers
  
• Fixed the ramp.

In early 2019, we will be announcing the release date for Trailmakers on Xbox, and we want to celebrate the announcement with a short trailer. With the amount of creativity we have seen from the Trailmakers community, we thought it would be fun to let you make the trailer. Show those Xbox players what they can look forward to!

One lucky winner will receive an epic Trailmakers Goodie Bag!

Read more

What an update we have in store for you today! Two huge new features have made it into this version of Trailmakers: A new multiplayer framework, and a new Sandbox map. Let us know what you think in the comments.

• New Sandbox Map - The Danger Zone!
  
  • This brand new map is packed with all sorts of new inventions to throw your vehicles at. It is available for both Single Player and Multiplayer games.
    
  • The map includes Catapults, Cannons, Blenders, a Hydraulic Press, a Silodrome, an Aircraft Carrier, a Football Field, Basketball Hoops, a Battlebot Arena, tracks in the sky and much more!
    
  • Here’s a challenge for you: See if you can transport a container from the Aircraft Carrier’s hangar to the container storage on the dock.
• We have removed the Dethrone map “King’s Island” as an optional map for the Sandbox game mode.

• New Multiplayer Framework
  For many months our programmers have been working on upgrading our multiplayer framework. All that hard work is finally ready to be shared. The performance improvements are far reaching, and not just limited to multiplayer games. Here is an example of the impact of the new framework:

We loaded up a 4-player Sandbox game with the old framework, and each player spawned this Bugatti Cheyron from the Workshop. The Bugatti is very heavy on performance because it has many moving parts, and it is close to the complexity limit.


Here is what the performance looked like with 4 players in 4 Bugattis on the old framework:

As you can see, the Server Performance dropped down to 30 FPS which has a significant impact for every player on the server, and causes a lot of lag.

This is what happened when we did the same thing on the new Multiplayer Framework:

The Server Performance stays at 60 FPS.

Of course, not every server is running on an expensive gaming computer. You will definitely still be able to bring a server to its knees if you load in a lot of large vehicles, but this new framework is a huge upgrade.

• Improved Rendering
  In Trailmakers, the rendering of our cliffs, trees, rocks etc is by default drawn indirectly by making your graphics card do all the work instead of a combination of the CPU & GPU (which can be turned on by enabling "Alternative rendering" in the settings).
  We've significantly reduced the work done by the GPU, improved our frustum & occlusion culling, decreased memory and increased occupancy resulting in a much improved performance.

• Overlapping blocks by using glitches turned out to cause strange performance and crash issues. Using glitches to place blocks inside other blocks will now be detected by the builder. We have added a system that blocks you from leaving the builder if blocks are overlapping in this way.

• NEW: Tube Sloped - We have added two new sloped tubes for the Modular Tube System. A short one and a long one.
  
• NEW: Jack-o’-Lantern - Okay we might be a little late to the Halloween party, but we made this and now it’s in the game. Or perhaps we’re just SUPER early for Halloween 2019?!
  
• Fixed the aerodynamics of some inverted aerodynamic blocks.

• Fixed the broken “Bump into X” daily challenges in Expedition mode.
  
• Fixed the profile level not progressing beyond level 10.
  
• Fixed a bug in block overkill damage distribution.
  
• Fixed a crash that users on older CPUs were experiencing when leaving build mode. To use this fix, you have to toggle the “Disable Burst Compiler” setting in the Preferences menu.

It’s the spookiest time of the year so let’s take a look at some of the grim creations made by the Trailmakers community.





Many of the blueprints for these vehicles can be found on the Trailmakers Workshop or in the #blueprints channel on the Official Trailmakers Discord server.

In case you didn’t know, there’s a lot of cool events in and around Trailmakers. Every week we have a Weekly Challenge where we post a specific theme (like HALLOWEEN!), and you guys can submit vehicle blueprints. We look at the vehicles on our Friday Developer Stream and award a special in-game Trophy Block to the one we like the most. You can find the weekly theme on our Discord or on PlayTrailmakers

Some fans of Trailmakers have taken it upon themselves to create their own competitions and tournaments. For example you can join the wheelie challenge, the pokemon battle or the battlebots arena. You can learn more about these events in the #tournament channels on Discord.

If you want to be the first to try new Trailmakers blocks, maps, and other features, you should join the test squad. When we need testers for a new update, we post about it in the #help-the-devs channel on our Discord. We expect you to submit any bugs and issues you find. The most helpful bug-hunters get a special Golden Scarab block as a thank you.

We have a great new update coming out within the next few weeks - it’s something we’ve been working on for a long while. See you soon ːsteamhappyː

Today we're launching a brand new and very awesome update for Trailmakers. As the name might subtly hint at, this update is a big batch of new blocks - 38 of them to be exact. New sensor blocks, aerodynamic blocks, a modular tube system and much more. It's not all blocks though! With the new multithreaded wheel, aerodynamic, and buoyancy logic, multiplayer performance should be better than ever. There's also plenty of quality-of-life changes and bug fixes in this update. Read the full release notes below.

• Added more Daily Challenges! The Daily Challenge system is still in an early state, but we have added some more challenges so it takes longer before you run out.
  
• If you start a Daily Challenge with the Play button, you will get an arrow pointing to the goal of the challenge.
  
• The Block Hunts are now repeatable, but only gives you a reward once.
  
• There are new rewards for the Block Hunts - and the old seat rewards are now available by default.
  
• The workshop has been updated with a new look and the ability to tag and edit your creations.

• Multithreaded Wheels, Aerodynamics, and Buoyancy
  We have overhauled the wheel, aerodynamics, and buoyancy logic to make them multithreaded. Overall, this will give better server side performance, especially when using larger vehicles.

• When you switch camera angle in the builder, the nubs that are available for connection will light up briefly.
  
• The builder is getting smarter. Some blocks are now rotated when dragged out, in an angle the builder predicts you will use it. The angle depends on your camera position.
  
• Improved the way blocks are visualized and rotated in the inventory.
  
• Made it more consistent which way blocks are rotated when dragged out of the inventory.

• NEW: Speed Sensor Block - A block that can be connected to another block, and trigger at a certain speed. Configure it by selecting the block, and clicking the cogwheel.
  
• NEW: Altitude Sensor Block - A block that can be connected to another block, and trigger at a certain altitude. Configure it by selecting the block, and clicking the cogwheel.
  
• NEW: Modular Tube System - A series of pipes and 1x1 connector pieces for them.
  
  • Tube 1x1
    
  • Tube 1x3
    
  • Tube 1x4
    
  • Tube 1x8
    
  • Tube Elbow
    
  • Tube Double Elbow
    
  • Tube Tee
    
  • Tube Double Tee
    
  • Tube Cross
    
  • Tube Double Cross
    
  • Tube Tee Cross
  
  
• NEW: Aerodynamic Blocks
  
  • Cylinder 1x1x2
    
  • Rounded 2x4x2
    
  • Rounded Corner Inverted 1x2
    
  • Rounded Inverted 1x2
    
  • Wedge 3x1
    
  • Wedge 2x1x2
    
  • Wedge 2x4x2
    
  • Wedge 2x4
    
  • Wedge 3x4
    
  • Wedge 4x4
    
  • Cone 2x2x1
    
  • Cone 2x2x2
• NEW: 1x3 Block
  
• NEW: 2x2x2 Block
  
• NEW: Tank Cannon - A new “cannon” piece that is suitable for building custom weapons.
  
• NEW: Small Porthole
  
• NEW: Fang
  
• NEW: Small Tooth
  
• NEW: Large Tooth
  
• NEW: Flat Eye
  
• NEW: Eyeball
  
• NEW: Side View Mirror
  
• NEW: Round Side View Mirror
  
• NEW: Large Side View Mirror
  
  
• NEW: Golden Scarab - Sometimes awarded for finding and reporting a bug to the developers (we prefer reports on http://discord.gg/Trailmakers).
  
• CHANGED: Shield Plates have updated graphics.
  
• CHANGED: Many aerodynamic blocks have updated graphics.
  
• CHANGED: Armoured Seat, Go-kart Seat, Cockpit, and Operator Seat are no longer locked behind Block Hunts.
  
• Many old blocks have been renamed for greater consistency.
  
• Removed the empty “Antennas” category and replaced it with a “Facial Features” category in the accessories tab.

• Fixed a bug where rotating and undoing two blocks could make them clip into other blocks.
  
• Fixed a bug where undoing while not having anything selected would do nothing.
  
• Fixed the welding bug, hopefully for the last time. This bug sometimes caused vehicles to invert hinge rotation after spawning, and other weird stuff.
  
• Fixed the chickens so they are no longer cannon-resistant.

If you update Trailmakers today, you can try a brand new version with some great features. The major feature of this update is the series of logic blocks and a sensor block. These blocks will make some advanced vehicles possible, but they can be tricky to use if you have not worked with logic gates before. Experiment with them, and check out what other players have built with them on Steam Workshop and our Discord.

• Added Daily Challenges! This is the first version of the Daily Challenge system. In future updates we will add more awesome challenges, and expand the system with more rewards.
  
  
• Removed the side cameras and the top-down camera.
  
• Added a new Sticky Orbit camera that orbits the vehicle but follows the vehicles rotation.
  
• Made seats configurable. You can now select which parts of a vehicle are controlled from a given seat. That means you can make passenger seats or a seat for a turret controller.

• Made scroll-to-zoom and panning with the arrow keys less aggressive when the camera is close to your vehicle.
  
• The camera no longer shifts back and forth while deleting blocks.
  
• Added a button to the configuration menu of blocks that removes the keybinding.

• NEW: Logic Blocks - Connect these blocks with other configurable blocks by selecting the logic block and clicking the cogwheel. You can use the check marks to select which blocks the logic gate is connected to.
  AND - Output if ALL input is NOT zero.
  OR - Output if ANY input is NOT zero.
  XOR - Output if ONLY ONE input is NOT zero.
  
• NEW: Distance Sensor Block - The Distance Sensor can be connected to other blocks by clicking the cogwheel and then the checkmark on other blocks. The connected blocks will activate when the Sensor triggers. You can configure the distance of the sensor and trigger it when it detects environment, blocks, or players.
  
  
• NEW: Spiked Wheel
  
• NEW: Rounded Corner Block
  
• NEW: Small Rounded Corner Block
  
• NEW: Porthole
  
• NEW: Paddle
  
• NEW: Straight Suspension
  
• Spinning Servo: New graphics
  
• Shield Plate 2x1: Fixed a bug where you couldn’t color the nubs with secondary colorpicker
  
• Headlamps and Taillights - These blocks are now configurable. You can bind a key to turn on the lights.

• Fixed the weird levitation of the rear end of some vehicles caused by wheels rubbing together.
  
• Removed lag spikes that would occur when loading in new gameplay areas.
  
• Fixed the ramp.
  
• Made the wheels not collide with their own structure. This might break some vehicles with “alternative types of propulsion”.