The March update for Chaos on Wheels is here.
As you might know, we released a demo last month, so we will outline all the significant changes we made for it.

Let’s start with maps.


We redesigned all our maps. We started the level design with the principle that the map should be just one big open area. We thought since it’s a driving game, you don’t want to focus too much on avoiding stuff on the map. But we were wrong. ❌ It’s actually way better to do maps with more style and real-world design. It just feels natural. 🌳


Uhh, this one is great 🔥 We implemented a full singleplayer career game system.

What is Chaos Career, you might wonder?

Chaos Career is a game system, where players manage their own garage with 5 car slots. You, as a player, can buy and sell cars, guns, armor, ammo, and gadgets, you can customize cars, upgrade them, and upgrade equipment. After you have the car of your dream, select your driver, and engage in combat of total mayhem. Earn, cash, experience, and Chaos points to level up, unlock new equipment, and make even more chaos. Don’t forget to complete challenges, and achievements. Climb on the leaderboard of Chaos, and become King of Chaos.

Let us show you in this video what Chaos Garage gameplay looks like 👇




We also made destructible our priority in level design. Simply, more stuff to destroy, more fun to enjoy. 💥💥💥




🧪 Our beloved driver scientist got a new 3D model. With his toxic ammo as an ability, Dr. John Sick is now indeed sick, if you ask us. ☠

“A Scientist is the world leading expert in bioweapons, and as every team needs a doctor, the Chaos team invited Dr. Sick to join them. John loves good food, fine weapons, and anything that can be seen under a microscope.”



We made a lot of minor improvements but there is nothing much to say so we will only name a few of them.

• Map Optimization
  
• Car optimization
  
• Equipment optimization
  
• Driver optimization
  
• Main Gun Shooting adjusted
  
• General SFX improvements
  
• Balancing
  
• Fixed Spectator camera on the Game end
  
• Fixed Garage background music
  
• Fixed AI stuck in a wounded state
  
• …and more

Let us know what you think about our new update on Discord and don’t forget to sign up for Beta 👇



Check the whole history of development updates right here 👈

The Hanumatan Level 6 Guardian Raid and Brelshaza Hard Mode bring Ancient quality gear and accessories to Lost Ark next week in the April 12 Spring Update!

The Solar Guardian Hanumatan is hallowed in Anikka. The martial artists of Anikka followed Hanumatan's movements to develop a martial art. A powerful force of destruction in the Chain War 500 years ago, Hanumatan has sensed chaos looming in Arkesia and has woken from a long slumber.



After spectating the state of the world with dispassionate eyes, he has come to a conclusion: Humans are the enemies endangering Arkesia. Hanumatan must be stopped, before his cold and furious wrath destroys every life form on Arkesia. Challenging Hanumatan in a Guardian Raid will require Item Level 1540, and like Brelshaza Hard Mode, Ancient accessories can be earned by successful parties.



Interested in learning about ongoing progression events to catch up? Check out the Preparing for Brelshaza Hard Mode article.

Brelshaza Hard Mode and Hanumatan aren’t the only content set to arrive on April 12— stay tuned to PlayLostArk.com and our social media channels for the full list of new content, cosmetics, and quality of life updates in next week's Release Notes. Until then, we'll see you in Arkesia!

-The entity in level 4 can no longer kill you from distance.
-Several multiplayer fixes.

This update brings some bug fixes, may they stay squished forever!

Hey everyone, I thought it would be a good idea to give you all a small development update.



Firstly though, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has bought the game so far! I'm delighted with how it's been going thus far and I'm excited about the future.



Now, onto the development update - the work on Episode 4 has been going really well so far. Currently, the update is about 25% ready. I'm planning to have it released either at the end of May or at the beginning of June. This will be the first update containing 2 in-game days, so there should be plenty of content for fans of every girl :)



My idea is to post the development updates onto Steam once per month, so I'm going to see you all at the start of May with more news.

Thanks so much for reading and playing,
RobertDeadth

Hello! First fixes are here. More of them are coming soon.
Changes in this patch:

• now you can shoot and kill enemy soldiers and of course loot them, you can find ammo in their pockets,
  
• we increased the number of soldiers in the world,
  
• planes now are not flying that often and we decreased volume of sfx for them,
  
• doors in buildings are fixed and now you can enter them,
  
• bugs with the wife are fixed,
  
• you can't save the game when you or your wife died - it was a bug that causes 0 interaction with your wife in later gameplay,
  
• the weapon that the player shouldn't pick up now doesn't have an outline,
  
• dog icon on the map now is bigger - so now you will find him with no problem if he will go somewhere,
  
• now the amount of food in winter shouldn't be a problem - we add more food - most of them you can find in chests while exploring abandoned houses and the world,
  
• we increase the amount of food that you can find in the game to feed your animals.

We are still working on fixes so please be patient. 🙏

- Farmer’s Father Team

Hello!

Over the past few weeks Garden Galaxy has seen lots of new and returning players enjoying the game and the update - thank you so much <3

This is an update to fix a few things that may have caused some problems. Thank you all for the continued support and bug reports, we really appreciate it!

• Air block tiles can now be placed onto the water and waterfall tiles.
  
• All fruit items can float on water.

• Fixed items that couldn't be sold or used because a delivery crate was stuck on them.
  
• Fixed visitors being covered up by delivery crates on stations.
  
• Fixed air block tiles sometimes not aligning vertically when placed onto raised pond or soil bed tiles.
  
• Fixed the red invalid placement effect not appearing when moving items for the first time.
  
• Fixed food orders being displayed twice.

We're thrilled to share with you the official early access date for our upcoming title! We can't wait for you to get your hands on the game and share your feedback with us during the early access phase.

In the meantime, we'll be providing you with a demo of the game soon, so stay tuned for that!

We're excited to announce that the early access date for the game will be May 5th. Yes, that's right - it's the day after May the 4th! We couldn't resist the opportunity to make a pun, so we'll just say:

"May the 5th be with you."

We're dedicated to making this game the best it can be, and we're looking forward to your input during the early access phase. Thank you for your continued support, and we can't wait to see you in the game!

With the launch of Meet Your Maker, the Behaviour family of games just got a lot bigger.

To celebrate, we’re offering up some amazing free rewards for players of both Dead by Daylight and Meet Your Maker, and they couldn’t be easier to come by.

Any player who has purchased both Dead by Daylight and Meet Your Maker on the same platform will automatically be granted exclusive rewards to enjoy in each game.

For any Dead by Daylight fan not in the know, Meet Your Maker is Behaviour’s latest unique take on multiplayer action; a first-person building-and-raiding game set in a dark post-apocalyptic world. Every level you see in the game has been built by another player.

Gameplay revolves around the creation and infiltration of trap-filled stand-alone levels called Outposts, as players seek to protect or steal the world’s most precious remaining resource from each other.



Here are the rewards you’ll receive in each game:


There’s no better way to bring your time with Meet Your Maker into The Fog than with these post-apocalyptic cosmetics. A mix of items for both Killers and Survivors, these rewards can be enjoyed by players in either role.

The Meet Your Maker Collection includes:

• Meg Thomas – Pentekath’s Suit – Very Rare
  A highly developed technological suit with unknown components from her favorite game.
  
  
• The Huntress – Toothed Axe – Very Rare
  An axe with a serrated blade for maximum damage.
  
  
• The Trapper – Crunching Blade – Very Rare
  A weapon made from unfamiliar scrap that inflicts severe flesh injuries.
  
  
• The Wraith – Biomechanical Spine – Very Rare
  This bizarre sub-clone results from an unknown technology combined with organic material.

Deco Packs are some of the most fun, creative content for Builders in Meet Your Maker. They offer uniquely themed blocks, props, and decals that let you bring a completely different feel to your Outposts.

The Dead by Daylight Deco Pack is the perfect way to bring a taste of The Entity’s Realm to the wasteland. Crumbling brick walls, boarded up windows with eerie light seeping through, and blood trail decals are just a few of the horror hallmarks at your disposal. Build the deadliest haunted house you can and watch the Raider skulls pile up.

The Dead by Daylight Deco Pack includes:

• 2 Blocks (each available in 3 shapes): DbD Brick, DbD Metal
  
• 2 Props: Roped Pallet, Boarded Window
  
• 1 Animated Prop: Generator
  
• 8 Decals

All these rewards will be yours to keep and enjoy for as long as you own both games.

See you in The Fog,

The Dead by Daylight Team

A quick summary for those who don’t want to go through the whole article. There are more details on all these points within the Roadmap.

• Three new additions to the Roadmap
  The much-anticipated Class 700/0, Just Trains’ first Train Sim World route and A new UK route!
  
• Updates on Midland Main Line and Peak Forest
  Find out where we are in development and embrace new screenshots!
  
• Four releases in March
  Including West Cornwall Local Steam Railtour, Linke Rheinstrecke, Loco Add-on Bundle 2, and Niddertalbahn
  
• Patches for Edinburgh-Glasgow
  Passenger improvements, US content, and PS4 Add-ons Manager are now live
  
• Train Sim World 3 Core Improvements and Content Patches
  With updates on HST Livery Designer Compatibility, TSW2 updates, Peninsula Corridor and Oakville Subdivision
  
• Inside development: Choosing a Route!
  A development deep dive on how we select our routes
  
• TramSim on Console launches on April 25th
  for PlayStation and Xbox – pre-order is available now on PlayStation!

Whew! And breathe. After a busy March schedule, April is here – and with it comes fooling, frolics, and fun. And trains, obviously.

We have three new items for you in this month’s Roadmap: in the worst-kept secret since, well, TSW3 (sorry JD), the Class 700/0 has made its way into proceedings. Whilst it’s a little while off releasing at this point, we have your first opportunity to some screenshots of what we know is a highly-anticipated EMU addition to TSW3.

We’ve also added Just Trains’ first Train Sim World route to the Roadmap as a UK Route – again, this is a while off launching at this point, but the team are making good progress, and we have a short update for you in the ‘Partner Programme’ section.

We’re also working on a new UK route, of which there will be more information in future Roadmaps.
In case you missed it last week, we announced Midland Main Line, developed by Skyhook Games, will now be releasing in April – you can check out the latest news, with some new screenshots, in our ‘Upcoming Content’ section.

And in more UK railfan news, we’ve also got some more details on our next Steam route, Peak Forest - again in our ‘Upcoming Content’ section.

Combine that with a Patch Notes update, as well as a cheeky feature on how we select our routes within TSW3 – a question we get asked all the time – and the news that TramSim Console, developed by our friends at ViewApp, is now available to pre-order on PlayStation before release on April 25th (Xbox Series S and Series X pre-order will be available a little later down the line), it’s another busy month in the world of TSW.



For those who celebrate them, Happy Easter, Ramadan Mubarak, chag Pesach sameach, and happy reading!

Note: due to staff holidays, we will not be doing a live stream with today’s Roadmap, but have opened up an April Roadmap Q&A forum thread for you to ask question. Read on, and fire away!


Coming later this April, Midland Main Line is something we know loads of you are excited for. By way of introduction, we asked Jane Whittaker, CTO of Skyhook Games (and avid railfan), for their view of the route. If you haven’t already, check out last month’s Roadmap (https://live.dovetailgames.com/live/train-sim-world/articles/article/tsw-roadmap-march-2023) for some more details on how Skyhook have developed the route.

"Very shortly after we started work on Midland Mainline, we realised that we were creating something special. This was not just “another” route for Train Sim World 3. In our hands were a responsibility to deliver an iconic route dear to the heart of many rail fans, taking in Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. Add to that the equally iconic Class 158 DMU and the VP185 powered HST.



"One thing we did not wish to do was rush this awesome opportunity but to create a route and locomotives that will, we hope, become a firm favourite with fans. With that in mind and with the full support of our friends at Dovetail, we have gone the extra mile with quality and prototypical realism.

"Thousands of man hours have been spent by our talented art team to create the route and surrounding environments in a way that we hope that does justice to its real-world counterpart, within the limitations of home simulation. Utilising new optimisation techniques, we have striven hard to create a sense of immersion and familiarity to those of us who have regularly travelled this route. We want you to be there, with hundreds of hand crafted buildings, landmarks and interesting things to spot in the landscape!

"Supporting this, we know there has been huge interest in the 158 DMU. We share the excitement of the community, so this DMU has been built from the ground up, in terms of visual model, systems and performance. Great effort has been made, in consultation with real Class 158 drivers and engineering technicians to have the 158 drive as close as possible to the real thing. Yes, we spent weeks ensuring braking was accurate to a “well worn” Class 158. Acceleration and a range of parameters are as prototypical as we can get them. Not forgetting a unique sound set which brings this 158 to life. Thank you to all our resident experts and beta crew for your depth of support.



"Last but not least, we are introducing a new version of the equally iconic HST. The VP185 version which has never before been seen in Train Sim World! We wanted to do this justice not only with an accurate sound set recorded from the VP185 but also taking in to account the differences that enthusiasts appreciate. There are cab layout differences to the previous HST variants. There are performance differences with the VP185 powerplant. We have worked long and hard to make this version of the HST unique.



"If that were not enough, we have added scenarios which I was keen to see added into the mix, as a keen rail enthusiast myself. Layering with other route locomotives allows you to drive a Class 45 “Peak” on a railtour, other specials and even freight services. Let’s not also forget the Rail Head Treatment Train (RHTT), to name but a few of the “specials”. In short, we have really brought this route to life. I felt a tingle down my spine, at the helm of a Peak and a rake of MKII coaches pulling out of Derby!

"I want, on behalf of myself and the team to thank you for your support and keen interest in Midland Mainline. Your comments and enthusiasm across the Dovetail forums and social media has inspired us. We hope that translates into enjoyment for all of you, on each and every mile you drive."

Jane Whittaker, CTO of Skyhook Games

Timetable
Thanks, Jane! Whilst we’ll talk more about the timetable at a later date, we wanted to share some top-level details with you.

The Skyhook team have accurately simulated the 158 and HST playable timetable for this route, equating to:

• 72 playable BR Class 158 services
  
• 59 playable HST services

And, if you like variety, there’s a lot to be found with content layering onto the route:

• 2 playable Class 45 railtour services (1 each way, requires Northern Trans-Pennine)
  
• 2 playable Class 66 railtour services (1 each way, requires Southeastern High Speed and Northern Trans-Pennine)
  
• 5 playable Railhead Treatment Train services (requires Railhead Treatment Train)
  
• 5 playable ROG Class 37 services (requires Rail Operations Group BR Class 37/7, and mixes with Northern Trans-Pennine, Southeastern High Speed, and London Commuter)
  
• There is one freight service, featuring Southeastern High Speed’s Class 66

The HST will appear as AI at St Pancras on Southeastern High Speed, too.



A Process of Collaboration

Midland Main Line has been a thoroughly collaborative project. Just as we at Dovetail have sought help from the likes of TSG and our beta community for the BR103 on Linke Rheinstrecke, we’ve been able to help and support Skyhook in Midland Main Line.

So, in practical terms – Skyhook have built the groundwork for the 158 and HST by building the models, artwork, and animations, and we’ve been able to support on the implementation of Armstrong Powerhouse sounds, as well as physics set-up and loco set-up. The 158 will also have the same internal destination system (GSM/R) as Birmingham Cross-City’s BR 323, so players can expect a consistent experience.

The Class 43 will also have new AP-sourced, Dovetail-implemented sounds as well.



We’re looking forward to you seeing it in action in the preview stream planned for later this month – there’ll be a 158 and HST walkaround video later this week, and if you keep an eye out on Skyhook’s socials (available at the bottom of their website here: https://skyhookgames.com/), they’ll be sharing lots of screenshots and gameplay as the month continues.




Our second Steam route is now deep in development, and it’s a very different prospect to Liverpool-Crewe. Set in 1963, in the latter stages of the dieselisation of the British Railways, the Peak Forest route will provide a more challenging Steam experience, whilst offering incredible scenery into the bargain.



Incorporating banking operation in service mode to navigate steep inclines, and a scenario featuring double-heading, it aims to bring new dynamics to steam under the breathtaking backdrop of the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.



You can see the route in action in screenshots, and we’ll talk more about the content in the coming weeks, but we wanted to include some answers to questions we know you’ve been asking.

Why terminate at Ambergate?

When we look at the extents of any route project, we look at more than just where trains naturally start and end, consider what we want to focus on, and what the key elements of a project are. In this case, the journey from Ambergate to Chinley across the Peak Forest and the Wye Valley, as well as really capturing the incredible beauty of this area of railway line were our primary goals.

We want to provide immersive player experiences, and we felt like this was the best option. Hopefully during the preview streams you’ll see what we mean!



Will there be banking operations?
Yes – within scenarios, and as part of timetable mode.

What will the timetable look like?
It is based on the 1963 timetable. There have been some tweaks to make it all work (a lack of sources for the freight timetable at the time has meant we’ve taken a ‘best guess’ approach based on photographs we’ve sourced from the time), but we’ve kept as close as possible to that timetable.

Will there be any diesel locomotives in the pack?
Not with this release. We wanted to focus on the Steam experience with this Add-on primarily.
Will Steam physics be improved?

The team are working hard to improve the physics of firing and general operation for this release for the LMS Fowler 4F.

We also plan to add these improvements to existing routes that use them in the TSW back-catalogue (Spirit of Steam, West Cornwall Local Steam Railtour). These might come after release though.






TSW3’s worst-kept secret is out. The Class 700/0 is coming to Train Sim World!



And, it’s coming this summer. As you can see from the screenshot above, the skeleton has been built, and the next step is making it operable, and working with the Southeastern High Speed timetable. We’re a way off from talking features, audio, and set-up at the moment, but when we have more we’ll share it with you!




Who’s ready for an egg-siting treat? (get used to the egg puns, there’s going to be lots of them).

From tomorrow (Wednesday, 5th April), you can take part in an Easter Egg Hunt in the Training Center, as part of a Mastery event, for some egg-cedingly good rewards.

Complete Tier 1 by completing any tutorial, scenario, or timetable in the game, and activate the Easter Egg Hunt overlay in the Mastery menu (the same place the Christmas decorations overlay is – if you want to go fully festive, you can have them both live at the same time). Then, hop in and get searching!



Find 15 eggs for the giant Easter Bunny in the Reception area, and pick up some Easter-themed decals for using in Livery Designer. There’s a special surprise if you collect all 15. Egg-straordinary!


A progress summary on the core improvements the teams are working on. This month, we have (everyone’s favourite) Add-ons Manager, a follow up on pathing/red lights improvements, and a quick note on upcoming patches.

Add-ons Manager
We’ve added Add-ons Manager functionality to PS4, which, as well as helping players who had reached a limit on Add-ons access to their full collection, has brought on a reduction of loading time and general performance improvements. Next on our list is Xbox, before we bring it to PC platforms afterwards.

Spirit of Steam AI SPAD and physics improvements
The team are aiming for Peak Forest’s release to bring you improvements to AI SPADs on the Liverpool-Crewe route, as well as some physics tweaks (that we plan to bring to both Liverpool-Crewe and West Cornwall Local Steam).

HST Livery Designer Compatibility
We are hoping, all being well, to bring this to you with Midland Main Line’s release in April.

Peninsula Corridor and Oakville Corridor Baby Bullet services
We’re now bundling these two pieces of content together, as they are caused by the same UI issue. Whilst we’ve not made progress since the last Roadmap on this one, it’s something the team will be investigating as soon as we’re able.

TSW2 Preservation Crew releases
This has been a particularly tricky project to schedule into our calendars, and we apologise for the delay in bringing this to you. We are committed to bringing the improvements to you, and are hopeful they will be released in the next couple of months.

For context, this was the largest patch update we’ve made within TSW (when it released for TSW3 in September), so requires a lot of space to prepare and put into builds. Thanks for bearing with us.

Updates from some of our Partner Programme developers. This month, we have an update from the team at Just Trains, after their first TSW3 route has been added to the Roadmap.

Just Trains
The Just Trains team are working hard bringing our first product to Train Sim World. We've completed over 40 miles of track laying and signalling, and the team are now in the process of detailing the world to the level that our customers have come to expect from Just Trains.
A fully featured seasonal timetable is in the course of development and we are looking forward to be able to show people what is being achieved in the coming months. Along with this, an exciting new train will join the Train Sim World line-up as part of our product!

TSG
The team are working on post-release Niddertalbahn improvements, which will come in a later patch. As well as performance improvements, the headliner of which is allowing consoles to activate PZB as intended.


It’s one of the questions we get asked all the time: How do we select the routes we develop within our games?

Well, it’s a pretty intricate process, and we’ve instilled Steve, one of our Senior Producers (and owner of the LAMP process – more on this below!), to provide the details.

Choosing a route is a particularly complex process and generally begins with an outline proposal, either from an internal (staff member) or external (community) source. It is particularly important for us to understand what it is we’re trying to achieve and that anything we proceed with is of value not just to us but to our players too. Understanding where a route fits in with the entire catalogue of content, whilst providing value and entertainment for players is critical. When we evaluate a proposal, we look at four major areas, what we refer to as the LAMP process: Licensing, Anticipation, Mix and Prominence.

L - Licensing

Licensing covers our legal obligations and answers questions such as do we have licenses or agreements in place to ensure we can represent the route appropriately with the trains that are seen on the route in the real world, for the time period proposed? Are there any additional licenses we need to bring in to develop the route? This then informs our Licensing and Contracts Team on where they need to focus their resources.

A - Anticipation

Anticipation is about how our players perceive the route, and the included content. This probably is the most subjective area of the evaluation as we’re essentially evaluating how well players will receive the route in its proposed form. We spend a great deal of time looking at the reviews and comments from similarly based routes that we released previously as well as any thoughts and concerns raised on any proposals that have been submitted by players. Are players going to find the content boring or just a duplication of a previously released route? If there is strong support for a route, where is it in the hierarchy?

M - Mix

Mix looks at the gameplay element in greater detail. Is there enough gameplay provided in the route to keep players occupied and engaged? Does the value of the included content and gameplay align with the intended pricing? Does the gameplay volume align with previously released content? Are there any unique elements in the gameplay that we can leverage to improve the gameplay offering (new industry elements or interactive components that can enhance the experience)?

P - Prominence

Prominence looks at the global commercial appeal of the route – are the locations represented known globally or is the route known only to locals? Are there prominent landmarks which are required to properly represent the route? Do the included locos have appropriate appeal to the players? Is there any prominence to the locos (are they famous)? Routes that have greater global appeal and have strong landmark features, with trains that are likely to engage the players are more likely to move forward to approval.

Once all the above areas are evaluated, we then use traffic lights to score each segment: Red – No Go. Yellow – Concerns. Green – Go. Recommendations are then made for any areas marked Red or Yellow and placed in a fifth section called Recommendations/Opportunities. Recommendations are those which highlight where the proposal can be modified to improve the overall score. Opportunities are those areas which enable us to “push the envelope” or raise the bar by adding additional content or including key elements not factored in the proposal such as a yard which could add switching/shunting opportunities or a key landmark which will help to improve global appeal.

As an example, on reviewing the proposal submitted for the Boston – Providence route, it was identified that a key aspect was required to maximise the route’s potential in terms of gameplay and prominence – this was of course Amtrak’s Acela®. We highlighted that it is more likely that Amtrak’s Acela® was perhaps known internationally due to tourism in New York, as well as nationally and locally, due to its prominence as America’s only High-Speed Train service. This was also cross-compared with proposals submitted by players who also confirmed to us it was a highly demanded train and we recommended it should be prioritised for development.