[2020] Hopoo Games Development Thoughts #14: Road to 1.0

: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page [url=https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/632360/announcements/detail/2197139657029528799]here[/url].

Hey!

As we all know, the next update is 1.0, the last update until we leave Early Access. Earlier this month, I ran a quick tweet to get some feedback on what RoR2 1.0 may look like to you.



From that tweet, we not only learned that there’s quite a few areas of improvement we could work on, but also that you guys are passionate about what RoR2 1.0 could be - with many fantastic suggestions and ideas of things that weren’t in the original roadmap.

=== Updated Roadmap ===



We don’t take 1.0 lightly - we know a lot of players have been waiting for the full release to play the game, or have joined us early on in EA and are now holding off for the full release.

What we wanted to make sure was that RoR2 1.0 was truly a complete game experience, and that means not only completing and fleshing out content, but improving and iterating on old features and content that’s been left behind. In order to meet goals of what a 1.0 version of RoR2 can be, we want to let everyone know we will be releasing 1.0 in August 2020.

To be explicit: the timing has not been altered because of COVID-19 - we’re incredibly lucky in that our business was mostly unaffected. The timing has changed because we’re expanding the scope of the 1.0 Update. We almost completed the entirety of Early Access without any date changes! That said, we are pushing forward and can’t wait for everyone to experience the changes we’re bringing with the 1.0 Update.

=== Server Browser ===



The first of new expanded features and QOL updates that we are now going to address with 1.0 is the online experience - and struggles with quickplay.

Feedback we hear a lot is that Quickplay is a bit of a mess - especially after the addition of Artifacts. People leave, you get random ping, and now you may get game settings you don’t even want to play in.

Quickplay served an important function at launch, especially because we didn’t know how popular the game may become - but the QP featureset is barebones. Not only that, but the game has evolved past needing to just find a match - you need to find the right match. We think a built-in Server Browser (and hosting) will still allow you to connect and find other players easily while providing a lot of the features and choices you want to make before connecting to a game.

Alongside the browser, the goal is that you can also now host public games (either via the Dedicated Server Tool or through the game itself as peer-to-peer) that are displayed in the browser. Then (hopefully!) people who want to play with the same settings and with similar ping will join your lobby.

While we still don’t have host migration, the hope is that if everyone is playing in a lobby with settings they like, people won’t be quitting for ping, difficulty, or any other fixable reasons. We’re also hoping that a built-in server browser can breathe some life into community-hosted Dedicated Servers.

=== Console Update===



For console players, the June update will still be arriving as promised and won’t be impacted. As expected, however, it will push the timeline of the 1.0 version for consoles as well.

=== Going Forward ===

Our hope is to be doing more frequent Dev Thoughts leading up to 1.0, highlighting any interesting features or additions we are adding that can really make 1.0 feel like a full release version of Risk of Rain 2. We truly do feel like this is the right choice for the game - and I hope you all agree when 1.0 rolls around.


-Hopoo Games Team