8 years on from the original Robocraft, Freejam is now working on Robocraft 2. Over the last 4 years, the studio has been developing new technology which will be an important part of Robocraft 2’s design.
Below is a list of features that we are currently planning in Robocraft 2. Not all of these will be part of our first playable build and there will be many other features that will be added to this list very soon! This is just the start and we look forward to taking this journey with you!
ADVANCED BUILDING SYSTEM
- More shapes are available to build than in RC1. - Each shape can be scaled in XYZ. - Physical materials can be painted onto Shapes and Functional Parts. - Materials have physical properties like density, friction, toughness, bounciness. - Colours can be painted onto all shapes and the majority of functional parts. - Advanced blocks for logic, mathematics, timers and memory storage allow for complex rigging of robots. - A wiring system that lets you connect seats, logic and sensors to a variety of functional parts. - An auto-wiring system will hook up many of the functional parts to the player seat without the player needing to wire each part individually. - Sensor blocks that can be added to your robot to trigger logic systems. - Tweakable stat system which allows you to edit the stats of functional parts including suspension, dampening, torque, fire rate etc. - Weapons are fixed and do not self-rotate, but they can be combined with aim servos so that you can rig up weapons manually. - Flip blocks with F for some blocks that have different left and right versions. - Select, cut, copy and paste and store copies in the Scratch Pad to use later. - Robots do not need to be just one object to enter a battle, you can make builds that contain separated elements such as a larger robot with a smaller drone that can be deployed. - Undo, redo and Mirror mode are planned but may not launch with the first playable build. - There is no automatic alignment rectifier, but you can build your own using the blocks and systems available if you feel you need it.
DESTRUCTION SYSTEM
The new destruction system focuses on the materials that you paint onto various parts of your Robot: - Tough materials can be very heavy and you’ll feel it when moving, but it will offer greater defence from enemy attacks. - Collision damage: Crashing into other robots or parts of the environment can damage your robot. - A structural integrity system: you will need to think about how you make robots that don't break apart easily when you collide with other things, especially when other robots drive into you. - Chunks of your robot that fall off will remain in the world. So if your robot is broken in two, both halves will remain in the world. - You can disable an enemy robot's functionality by attacking functional blocks and logic blocks. When these parts are removed from the robot, they will no longer work. - Environment destruction.
REALISTIC & SERVER-SIDE PHYSICS
All Physics is processed on the server, this allows for a number of key things to be possible - The server is 100% authoritative over the game state, which helps with things like making sure you cannot get shot through walls. - Robots can have physical interactions with each other. - Heavy Robots can push lighter Robots. - Robots can be constructed to pick up or flip other Robots. - Robots can be connected with realistic Powered Joints like Pistons, Servos and Rotating Platforms. - Collision damage between Robots that drive into each is possible. - Friction, Mass, and Bounciness are all accurately simulated. - Wheels are simulated using modern racing car sim physics models and differ from tyre to tyre on different surfaces. - Engines are included and have torque, gearing, RPM power curves etc. all simulated realistically. - Weapons and explosions can apply kickback and explosive forces to things when they hit. - We plan to have Aerodynamics that take drag and flight into account based on the shape of the blocks: - Aerodynamic Robots will be faster than non-aerodynamic Robots, depending on the density of the planet’s atmosphere. - You won’t need Wing parts to fly, you will be able to build wings from shapes. - Weight, Momentum and Inertia really matter and are really noticeable. - Make your Robot too heavy for the engine and you won’t move fast, but you will be tough and will be able to push around other lighter Robots. -Drive fast into another Robot and your momentum will be carried in the collision causing mayhem.
GAMEPLAY
Our main focus will be to make sure we have enough players for fast and fair matchmaking. So will focus on a single game core battle mode initially. -We may have limited windows or days when the battle servers are live initially so players are focused around those times to maximise the players in the queue during the development phase. - You will be in control of a player character which you can customize with cosmetics. - The androids Cray, Gene and Tianhe will be the first player character skins available. - You can control the player character independently of the Robot. - You can get into and out of your Pilot Seat to drive your Robot when you wish. - You can get into the seat of ally Robots, as a passenger or as a pilot if they allow it. - When your Robot is destroyed, your character is not dead, you are only dead when your character is killed. - The character will be required to perform character-only actions within the battle e.g. hop out of your Robot and into a powerful base turret to defend the base, or disable the power source to the main base shield. - Your character will be equipped with an assault rifle while they are on foot. This weapon will not be very powerful against robots, but effective against other player characters. - There may be areas that will be dificult for a robot to enter, so multiple players may explore an area on foot and engage in combat against other players who are not in their robot. - Your Robot will not self-heal, but when your character is out of a seat it can perform a “Recall” which respawns your character back at base in front of the “Switch Plate”. - The Switch Plate is a platform with a control panel where you can spawn\respawn your Robot. - It’s called the Switch Plate because you can choose to spawn different Robots mid-battle so you can change your strategy and counter the other teams' Robots as the battle develops. - The battle map will be randomly chosen when you’re in matchmaking and the ability to choose your Robot when you get into the map will allow you to choose the right Robot for the job. - Battle maps will be quite varied with some mechanics consistent across all maps and each map having something unique so different strategies and Robots are required e.g. a Payload style map with a drivable Payload. - We also plan to offer transient side game modes such as Robocraft Racing and other random fun stuff with custom rewards.
GAME INSTALLATION, LAUNCHER & ACCOUNTS
Initially, all users will need to download the installer for the launcher via the Robocraft 2 website. - We are creating a new launcher for Robocraft 2, different to the one used in both RC1 and Techblox, which will be linked to a powerful CDN. - When the game is launched on a major platform like Steam you will also be able to download it via Steam. - All users will create a Robocraft 2 account via the Freejam account system. This can be done using one of the following options: - Users will be able to create accounts using Email and Password. - Login with their Robocraft 1 email and password. - Create accounts by linking their Steam login with the Freejam account system to log in with Steam. - Create accounts by linking their Epic login with the Freejam account system to log in with Epic. - When the game is launched on a platform like Steam, users will be able to create accounts directly within Steam and will not need to go via the Freejam account system (although a Freejam account will be created for you in the background for access to our Robocloud2).