Updates and changes

Staff applications have been flowing in, and Devious is already working on the selection. Unfortunately university courses have already started for me, so part of my time will be spent on that (and traveling). I've made quite a bit of progress during the last couple of weeks though, so a launch isn't that far off. Keep watching twitter / facebook / TMN / blog for more info!

In the rest of this blog post I will describe some of the changes made, and some of the features added. Of course a lot more was changed, but to keep it (at least a little) short, here's a summary:

Layout changes
You may have read somewhere that the layout will change a lot since last round, this is correct, but not entirely… Although everything was re-created, the layout appears very similar to what it used to be (check out the screenshots). On a technical level, however, everything changed. The changes made allow for a better experience from any device (cell phones and tablets included), and will also enable us to provide you with a choice of layouts and some additional feedback during the gameplay. Although we will most probably kick off with one or two layouts, we may in the future launch a safe-for-work version, or a version specifically meant for mobile devices.

Page changes
All pages have been re-created, and many pages have also been merged. This allows for quick navigation between the pages, and will also result in a smaller menu. Besides that, instead of the ±110 pages we used to have, we now have roughly 35 doing the exact same thing! To share some details:

• Everything a player can own (except for casinos and Bullet Factories) can now be managed from one page. This includes money, credits, bullets, businesses, cars, weapons, explosives and protections.
• Phones and phone plans now break and expire. This way the phone provider owners will earn a little more money. Additionally, you can repair your current phone or extend your current phone plan with a discount.
• Everything network-related can now be found on one page with 4 sub-pages that can be opened on request. It will be easier to find certain options (“network information” and “network manage” were way to generic!).
• An addition to ‘regular’ killing has been made: You can now prepare your kills; select whether or not you wish to reset your shooting timer (with credits), select the amount and type of bullets, select your gun, and when ready, all you have to do is pull the trigger!

The feature that will have even more impact on the game, will be the Name Buyback option. This (credits-only) option allows you to keep your old name after getting killed. If you don't care about players knowing who you are, and like your name, this is the option for you! Also the process of registering a new account after your death is a lot faster than before.

Some more features and changes will be revealed during the beta-test, and I am sure you’ll find some more changes after the launch. I hope to see you then!

Marc