Greetings, Commanders!
Since the launch of Men of War II a little over a week ago, we have already released three patches fixing various bugs, and giving modders more tools to work with - and we aim to continue working closely with you, our community, on further improvements and new features for the game. We would like to use this opportunity to outline the plans we have made based on your feedback so far, including estimated timing for some of the most important updates.
It is possible that the schedule and plans will change based on the feedback from you, our players. We want to keep you involved as much as possible, so please, keep commenting here, in the Steam Discussions, or come join the Men of War II Official Discord Server.
Immediate Plans (May 2024)
We are already working on an update to go live next week, before the end of May. It will include various bug fixes and improvements to server stability (we will provide a complete list as soon as the patch is finalized) - but most importantly, the update will start the process of making the game playable offline in single-player.
The offline mode is not a simple feature, as it affects many underlying processes in the game; rolling it out gradually allows us to give you many of its benefits early - for example, from the next week's update onward, you will not be kicked out from single-player games for inactivity ("being AFK") anymore.
Short-Term Goals (June 2024)
We aim to release several more updates within the next month or so. As a priority, we will be taking further steps towards completing the offline mode for single-player, bringing you at least two very noticeable changes:
- Fix of a bug that can sometimes prevent you from playing single-player ("Local server connection error")
- Fix of an issue preventing players from pausing in some single-player games
Not only that, but within the next month we also aim to:
- Make camera movement smoother (removing "camera stuttering")
- Introduce a feature to easily switch the overall game setting between Competitive and Realism, and allow players to create a Custom setting
- Implement Steam Achievements
- Allow key rebinding for the Pause function
- Implement additional UI scaling options
- Include the option to adjust or disable the 100 FPS cap
- Provide modders with a 3ds Max exporter, plugins, and sample files
- Further improve the stability of multi-player servers and fix various bugs reported by players
Mid-Term Strategy (more than a month)
We will keep publishing regular balancing and bug-fixing patches and there are many other features we will be working on that you will see gradually releasing and improving (see below); but there are several notable updates we are committed to implement in full as a priority, within the next several months. We will do our best for these to be finalized as soon as possible - we will share a more precise schedule as development progresses.
- Offline mode for single-player will be finalized as the highest priority
- UI for selecting mods for single-player/co-op games will be added; it will also become possible to choose mods in a custom lobby
- Difficulty for certain missions will be overhauled based on player feedback - please keep letting us know of any missions you find too difficult or too easy, and on which difficulty!
- Different game speed options for single-player will become available
- Modders will be able to create full dynamic campaigns in the editor, and will receive a new tool: an editor for material schemes
Ongoing & Long-Term Projects
There are many other features and improvements we want to bring to Men of War II, but it is too early for us to set an exact schedule for them; they are very complex to implement. We will also endeavor to roll them out gradually whenever feasible, so you can see their benefits as soon as possible. We will provide new details as time goes on, but in general, we will keep working on:
- Improved pathfinding for vehicles
- All game textures, as well as all grass and trees models adapted for PBR technology
- Improved infantry models and textures
- Improved rewards distribution in cooperative playthroughs
- New, more detailed damage system
- Improvements to atmosphere and immersion, such as additional sound effects (including soldier shouts and voices), the feeling of weight for tanks and other vehicles (and improved suspension mechanics), UI overhaul, and more
- Improvements to battle controls - including distribution of loot within infantry squads, changes to formations system and customization options for all keyboard shortcuts
- Various upgrades to the engine, such as support for multiple screens, HDR screen support, or permanent lobbies (lobbies will no longer disband after completing a match)
- Additional modding features and improvements, including but not limited to: Support for running popular mods on official (dedicated) servers, support for Blender, various improvements to the Editor based on modders' feedback and continuous expansion of documentation for the Editor
- Quality of life and balancing improvements for competitive gamers - for example support for clans, penalties for toxic player behavior, better match-making for 5-player teams and CP mechanics redesign
We cannot emphasize this enough: further development of the game is only possible thanks to your feedback; we want to make Men of War II the best possible RTS experience for you. Please keep giving us your suggestions - and if you already enjoy the game and want to support it, consider leaving Men of War II a review here on Steam.
We will see you on the battlefield soon, Commanders!
