2023-2024 development year plan
This folder is our current plan for the 7th anniversary update for Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop in 2024. Everything in here is subject to change, and the contents of this folder may be out of date. Let Ben know if anything seems wrong.
(Note: Many of these plans have been delayed due to their complexity; we're just doing a UI revamp and loadout sharing for the anniversary, and additional content is coming in a later update.)
The Big Picture: Headline Features
The 6th anniversary was heavily geared towards giving mission and challenge authors more tools. We're also adding a lot of stuff for authors in the 7th anniversary update, but our main focus this year is features that players can use right now, not having to wait for someone else to make new content. And maybe some lore. Some of these features also help to pave the foundation for Versus mode, which is not part of this year's update.
Milestone 0: Pre-Planning
- [x] Rough plan/description of features for update
- [x] Rough plan for remaining milestones
Milestone 1: Planning
- [ ] Basic description of each contract campaign
- [ ] Rough layout for each UI screen
- [x] List weapons to be added in the update
Milestone 2: Core
- [ ] Name for each weapon
- [ ] Lore description for each weapon
- [ ] Determine missions for contract campaigns
- [ ] Design UI screens
Milestone 3: Pre-Balance
- [ ] Determine preliminary stats for weapons
- [ ] Determine preliminary recipe costs
Milestone 4: Art
- [ ] Weapon icons
- [ ] Weapon models
- [ ] Weapon particles
- [ ] Weapon sounds
- [ ] Strange device attachments
- [ ] Contract campaign text
- [ ] Contract campaign art
- [ ] Implement UI changes
Milestone 5: Balance
- [ ] Playtest new weapons
- [ ] Playtest drop system
- [ ] Playtest crafting system
- [ ] Playtest contract system
Milestone 6: Finalization
- [ ] Finalize patch notes
- [ ] Translations finished
- [ ] Remove free access to new weapons from beta, allow contract campaign progression in beta