My apologies for the long radio silence on Wastehaven. To say my schedule has been busy is an understatement. As some are aware, I'm also the co-developer for The Brew Barons, which ate up most of my time for the past few years. Fortunately we're a month away from releasing that game, which should mean I can start devoting some time towards my solo projects once again and my earnings from The Brew Barons will directly fund them (if it sells well enough that is)

As part of this news update I wanted to include what I have planned for Wastehaven. I've had ample time to think about the project and identify which elements of the game work well and which don't. Areas that I'd like to expand upon and areas that I want to replace with something better. Here are a few of those thoughts for any who are interested.

- A negative point of the game, combat currently feels a bit lacking and shallow. Combat on foot uses an experimental twin stick shooter setup, except slower and no ability to kite your enemies. In the end, I don't think it was very fun. Plus the NPC buddies and enemies pathing and logic is pretty basic and would take a decent amount of work to polish and there's no guarantee it would make it more interesting. I'm thinking I might cut my loss with combat on foot and shift combat to primarily take place whist in your vehicle against other vehicles. I would still give the player the ability to step out of their car to search for items, swap cars, change tires, talk to locals etc.

- Some people have associated the feel of the game with Fallout, which was one of my inspirations. I was also thinking of incorporating some type of VATS mode into a car combat mode. IE: Stopping time and allowing the player to target between shooting enemy drivers, engines, tires, fuel tanks etc... I think I could make this look and feel better than the combat on foot.

-As a fan of MadMax, Twisted Metal and Crossout, I want Wastehaven to put a little more focus on the vehicles and driving said vehicles. Wastehaven vehicles have some fun suspension, body roll and torque behaviours, so naturally this seem like a good area to focus on. I plan on keeping the vehicle styling and I might look into adding a higher level of detail and damage models.

- I might look into local co-op mode where your friend could take control of one the NPC passengers and take on the road trip together. I can't guarantee this will make it, but I will assess if it's doable.

- The last bit of news, in the coming weeks I plan to move Wastehaven out from ownership under Lifetap Studios and move it under my own company (Developer Dob Games) that I recently launched. This move makes things more simple from a legal standpoint and won't effect the game in any negative way.

I thank all those that are understanding of the delays and supportive of Wastehaven. When I started developing this game I had a limited understanding of Unity. I still do, but my knowledge has expanded and I know some areas I can re-do better and quicker. I might explore a mini project between now and Wastehaven development just to further explore some areas (like local co-op), all in the name of making Wastehaven a better game with minimal compromises. (not to mention a better shot at launching on console).

Thanks!
Developer Dob (Rob)