Hello fighters!
It's been a while since we've last shared our plans for RUMBLE, and now that we've gotten our priorities sorted it's about time that we tell you what's happening!
Here's a quick overview of what you can expect to read about in this announcement:
- The Steam Spring Sale
- RUMBLE coming to standalone VR devices
- The next RUMBLE content update
- Community Content
Let's get to it!
1. RUMBLE is on SALE
The spring sale has come and RUMBLE is now available at a nice 25% discount! If you know of a friend who's been on the fence about joining in on the action, now would be a good time to try and convince them of the beauty of RUMBLE and its community.
Here's a link to RUMBLE's Steam page, for easy copy-pasting: https://store.steampowered.com/app/890550/RUMBLE/?utm_source=blog&utm_campaign=spring_sale&utm_medium=steam&utm_content=share_link
2. Shifting priority towards standalone VR development
Over the course of RUMBLE's development, one community request stands tall, and it's not even to add more elements to the game. For us to bring the game to standalone VR platforms like the Meta Quest is easily what we've been asked to do the most, and while we've always wanted to heed those calls, we've now shifted priorities around to do just that.
We are now actively working towards getting RUMBLE onto select standalone VR devices before the end of the year. At this point we can promise it will run on devices with hardware comparable to that of the Quest 3, more information about exactly which devices will be supported is coming later down the line.
This is a very labor-intensive process, and large new game features we had previously planned on building will have to be delayed until after the standalone VR release. These are some features we still want to build, but probably won't start being worked on until after the standalone VR launch.
- Team fights and group based matchmaking.
- Alternative matchmaking game modes with unique win conditions.
- Entirely new combat mechanics.
- Reworked Gym & Park environments
3. What's coming with RUMBLE version 0.4.2
We won't drop support for the live game, and will continue to release updates, albeit smaller ones, to try and keep things fresh. We've already begun production on a new game update, RUMBLE version 0.4.2! We've only just begun though, and unfortunately we can't confidently give you a release window yet.
But, we can share which features are planned to ship with said update, here you go:
The LIV Creator Kit
We're implementing the LIV Creator Kit, or LCK for short. The LCK is a tool that allows you to easily capture gameplay footage with an actual in-game camera you can physically interact with! Some of you may be familiar with this tool already through its integration in games such as Gorilla Tag, but here's a video showcasing what you can expect to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy6Dr5z86b4
Updated Pose Ghost and Move Selector
We're updating the Pose Ghost functionalities with the intention of making it easier to use and understand how perform moves, and what matters for successfully performing them. There's also a new pose helper system being put in place we've internally been referring to as: "Asura Arms". More info about this new system is coming later down the line.
And more!
- Updated character, structure, and dust shaders for a more coherent and dynamic visual style.
- A selection of popular community feedback points like returning the ungrounding effect on Parry.
- New cosmetic options available in the Gear Market, including a helmet!
We intend to release more updates such as this one before the standalone launch but the exact content of those updates is still up in the air, so be sure to let us know what you'd like to see while keeping in mind that some larger requests may simply be beyond the scope of theses content drops!
4. Community Content
We are very grateful for the amazing community that has been forming around the game since even before it had a name. The passion is real, and from passion comes creation! We've selected 2 massive community content projects to share with you today, they deserve the shoutout.
Honeycomb Havoc - Rumble Bee
Honeycomb Havoc is a YouTube video series hosted by Rumble Bee, where teams compete with one another in a host of unique games, all within RUMBLE! There are stakes too, because there's real prize money on the table, sponsored in part by us!
It's not available quite yet, but you can watch this video right now, which introduces all of the different teams that will be competing: https://youtu.be/PgWZVGyA60U?si=optBjFKAFWDSQMpk
An "Earth" Bending Movie - shoeless
YouTuber shoeless has been working on a proper RUMBLE film for 2 whole years now. He has shared many details with us ahead of time, and we're super excited to see it when it releases this weekend! Shoeless gave us this thumbnail to share with you:
You can learn more about this massive project, including when and where exactly it goes live through this event in his Discord server: https://discord.gg/kTnfyB6K?event=1349516467577684073
If you've never seen any of these YouTuber's content, we highly recommend checking them out! When RUMBLE-related content performs well, more people get to see and hopefully experience the game, and you know we could all use more players online...
That's all for today's development update, thanks for playing, and we hope you look forward to all of this content to come!