I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a great New Year! Here’s to a great 2023! Here’s what we’ve been up to in December:
Increased Transparency
Following our 3 year anniversary announcement, we’ve taken many steps to increase our transparency with the general public and amongst ourselves. One of those steps was a roadmap that was agreed upon by the Founders Council and published to the Mesabrook website. That roadmap can be found here. This roadmap clearly outlines the work that must be done before we can go live with this project. Note that most of this work is for our companion software MesaSuite. It’s also important to note that this roadmap is fluid – it can change as priorities change and as things come up. Overall, though, it is a solid foundation for us to work off of.
Another step we took in an effort to be transparent was the start of this blog. While it is true that most communication occurs on Discord, this blog will help important topics in stories maintain a higher degree of visibility and permanence. It is also a great way to communicate information to the general public before a Discord server is available. As such, monthly updates (such as this one) will be posted to this blog, so keep an eye out!
Modpack Update replaces revoked artwork
During the 2022 year, some events had transpired that resulted in our team needing to remove and replace artwork previously created by a former team member. We finally made a very large step to making that happen this month. Immediately before the new year, our custom main menu and custom rolling stock textures were either completely recreated from scratch or removed.
All that remains to fully comply with these new requirements is to remove/replace artwork located in-game.
This modpack update also added some content and immersion to the game such as Locks and Lightweight Blood Mechanics. Also added were utility mods to help making use of such a large modpack easier.
Affordable Housing, Improvements in Sol Ward, Ravenholm City
Ravenholm City has seen new affordable housing being built behind Ravenholm Central Station. These houses will be great options for new players looking for a place to call home as they work up their wealth to buy or build more luxurious houses elsewhere in the country. Elsewhere, updates have been made to Ravenholm Central Station. These include new benches and vending machines as well as the removal of glass lining platform tracks.
Roadmap: Rail Fleet Tracking Progress
Lastly, certainly not least, steady progress has been being made on the roadmap item Rail Fleet Tracking. The goal was to finish this item before the new year, but unfortunately due to the complexity and lack of a defined goal for this system, this was not possible. The strong push that did exist to try to complete this item does make it possible for an early-to-mid January release.
Rail Fleet Tracking will be responsible for managing the business-to-business journey that any railcar or locomotive will take and will charge the appropriate parties each step of the way. Additionally, it will track locomotive fuel usage to help railroads make better pricing and business decisions. Equipment Leasing is also a feature in Rail Fleet Tracking as not every company will have the capability to own their own fleet of railcars or locomotives.
Looking forward
As you can see, December has brought us great and exciting progress. January 2023 is expected to be no different. In Ravenholm City, many existing small scale projects will have progress made upon them. As mentioned before, Rail Fleet Tracking is expected to release and therefore the country should see some freight being moved to test this system. Once testing has completed and Rail Fleet Tracking has it’s bugs worked out, the hope is to have the next roadmap item, Account Interest, begin by the end of the month.