We made a lot of development progress, in January through March, even if it wasn't the progress we would have intended at the beginning of the year.

For example, the prototype for the new "Persistent Event" mission-system architecture went awry at one point, and ended up briefly taking down all the tutorial missions. Not good. But, the improved prototype is now far more scalable and should be able to handle a lot more complex content.

We were expecting to need to improve the prototype, we just didn't plan on that in Q1.

The same happened with the new high-performance networking system for the client, which was shipped to help solve a problem some players were encountering, and then had to be reverted later as it created entirely new problems that have to be investigated.

These kinds of frustrations happen when you're working a lot on updating or expanding "fundamental" game architecture, in a live production game (effectively "building a plane while in flight"). Big changes can lead to big problems, which then result in delays. But, overall, we've been making good progress.

* Where are we going from here?

Big-picture, we're still focused on the "Game Development Direction" sticky thread at the top of the Suggestions Forum.

That being said, we're also doing a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to the way we develop, test and update the game. We're adding more automated testing to reduce the chances of future bugs, and generally modernizing a lot of our processes. Once completed, this can save us a *lot* of time, which can instead be spent on "forward" development.

* Content Updates

Assuming we don't encounter any major "fires" in the form of critical game instabilities, we expect to ship more player-facing content during Q2.

I don't know exactly what it will include. Probably new Persistent Events, at least, along with likely some other changes and improvements.

I have a "wish-list" of changes, but I'm not going to speculatively comment. These days, we don't announce features until they've shipped. Stay tuned!

Further notes on previous updates from the last month or two:

*** Vendetta 1.8.760
- Updates to Portuguese translations.
- Improved scalability for the Persistent Event system, each PE runs in its own process and the network traffic between PEs and the game has been reduced.
- Fixed use-after-free bugs and potential null pointer use detected by analysis tools.
- Fixed issues with lua being run in multiple threads simultaneously.
- Fixed minor memory leak.
- Fixed potential negative timer timeout that resulted in a very large timeout.
- Fixed uninitialized pointer bug in radar extender addons.

*** Vendetta 1.8.759-server update
- Fixed issue with Convoy NPCs warning of failing the mission when hit with repair weapons.
- Refactored internal bookkeeping of NPCs in Persistent Events to be more efficient.

*** Vendetta 1.8.759
- Fixed issue with the UI not responding to Quest controllers in the latest OS version 2.1.

Continued reporting of older updates from the last couple of months:

*** Vendetta 1.8.758
- Fixed issue with being unable to enter the universe after attempting to create a new character using a name that is already taken.
- Added text to Russian connection failure message explaining that we are aware of the issue and are continuing to monitor the situation.
- Added more logging of clients stuck entering the universe.

*** Vendetta 1.8.757.2
- The Linux version is forced into window mode on Wayland desktops due to lack of keyboard input in fullscreen mode.
- Fixed another problem stemming from multiple threads attempting to access Lua at the same time.

*** Vendetta 1.8.757.1
- Fixed issues with improperly displaying localized chat from NPCs during missions.

*** Vendetta 1.8.757
- Fixed problems stemming from multiple threads attempting to access Lua at the same time.
- Added more server-side connection-failure analytics to help track down sporadic login problems.

Catching up with changes from Q1 of this year:

*** Vendetta 1.8.756.2
- Removed separate client-side network threading system due to many issues.

*** Vendetta 1.8.756.1
- Fixed crashes related to the new multithreaded networking system.

*** Vendetta 1.8.756
- The separate network thread is now being used on all platforms.
- Added server-side analytics to detect network connectivity issues.

*** Vendetta 1.8.755.3
- Fixed crashes on Windows when logging onto the Test server.
- Fixed the /ping command on Windows.
- The Windows version should catch more crashes now.

*** Vendetta 1.8.755.1/2
- Fixed a crash on First-Run for Windows.
- Fixed network connection analytics.

*** Vendetta 1.8.755
- An experimental separate network thread has been added to the Windows version to improve responsiveness.
- Updated Italian localization.
- Added analytics to help track network connection issues.

Catching up with posting releases from the last few weeks:

*** Vendetta 1.8.754
- Added a sector load time client-side analytic to help detect long sector loads.

*** Vendetta 1.8.753
- Corporate Sector Run now has a level 3 combat requirement to play.
- Reduced the amount of mission information sent to players when they log in, speeding up login time.

*** Vendetta 1.8.752
- Updated the client mission cache to improve login behaviour on some latent connections.

*** Vendetta 1.8.751
- Fixed a Quest crash in cases where the game and the Launcher are started at the same time.
- Fixed Quest crash if the game is quit very early in the loading process.
- Mission-based NPCs no longer aggro if the ship they're defending is hit with a repair gun.
- Fixed issue with changing Capship Access rights not being applied to all of a player's capships if they are in the same sector.

(Note, we're still tracking and trying to fix some intermittent Quest problems that have been challenging to debug).

Catching up on posting a variety of older updates from the past year.

*** Vendetta 1.8.750
- Fixed crash on Quest in cases where the app gets backgrounded on startup. Clicking on the launch icon will bring the app to the foreground.
- Fixed crash on Quest in cases where the app starts up with a saved state instead of the Updater starting up.
- Removed NFZ in Pelatus D-11.

*** Vendetta 1.8.749
- Fixed issue with ship collision responses against the turrets of other ships.

*** Vendetta 1.8.748
- Updated Windows code signing signatures.

*** Vendetta 1.8.747
- Fixed issue with not being able to enter an email address when converting Google SignIn accounts.
- Fixed Android crash when attempting to display too many unicode characters.
- Fixed Android crash if errors.log file could not be opened.
- Fixed illegal instruction crash on certain Android devices.

*** Vendetta 1.8.746
- Updated/improved localizations for Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Italian, and German.
- Removed Voice Chat from the Android x86_64 version due to lack of 16k page alignment. All other versions continue to have voice chat available.
- Unaligned Pirates should no longer choose the Artemis swarm sector in Latos.
- Fixed issue with restored character missing capship access keys.

Catching up on posting a variety of older updates from the past year.

*** Vendetta 1.8.745
- Fixed 32bit Android HD crash due to misaligned pointer.
- Fixed missing planet textures in Asteroid tutorial on Android HD TVs.
- Fixed issue with Android HD vesion running out of memory on 32bit.

*** Vendetta 1.8.744
- Updated Android version using the latest NDK and Clang compiler.
- Android version now uses EASTL instead of the system STL library.
- Updated Discord Relay with additional debugging capabilities to help track down any future issues.

*** Vendetta 1.8.743
- Mission list filter setting is now saved per-character, and defaults to 'All' for new characters.
- Updated Russian translations, mainly tutorials, faction descriptions, and voice-overs.
- Fixed bug with item descriptions not being translated if the language is changed.
- Added missing localization support to a specific tutorial mission.
- Updated client-side mission cache.

*** Vendetta 1.8.742
- Fixed NPC behaviour issue for the "Brief negotiations" mission.
- MacOS updates including threaded shader loading, third-person improved fixes, other bug fixes already released on other platforms.
- Fixed issue with the MAcOS version crashing on ARM macs running in Vulkan fullscreen mode.

*** Vendetta 1.8.741.1/2
- Fix for random crashes and freezes on starup on Android.

*** Vendetta 1.8.741
- Vulkan and ES3 shaders are now compiled in another thread for Android/Windows/Linux.
- Updated Italian translations, and tweaks to other languages.

Catching up on posting a variety of older updates from the past year.

*** Vendetta 1.8.740
- Fix for Spanish UI issue, and tweaks to other languages.
- Updated Spanish and Italian translations.

*** Vendetta 1.8.739
- Improved analytics for Google Sign-In user experience.
- Updated app to satisfy new Play Store requirements.

*** Vendetta 1.8.738
- Fixed issue with Google SignIn failure causing a UI loop that prevents the user from logging in.
- Fixed issue with Google SignIn failing due to missing email address. Requires App Update, pending Google approval and release.

*** Vendetta 1.8.737
- Buddy location sharing is now off by default for new buddies.
- Buddy and Guild invites now expire after 30 days and cannot be re-sent for 7 days after expiration or rejection.
- Guild invites now continue to be available for acceptance for the entire 30 day period, persisting across player logoff.
- Buddy and Guild invites are only sent once while the invite is active for a given character.
- The Ignore feature now blocks Buddy and Guild invites from ignored characters.
- Added analytics to track the status of Buddy and Guild invites.

*** Vendetta 1.8.736
- Improvements for reducing Android ANR-stall issues on startup.

Catching up on posting a variety of older updates from the past year.

*** Vendetta 1.8.735
- Improved Android UX issue when aborting the initial offline training tutorials.
- Fixed a variety of potential bugs revealed by updated internal testing tools.
- Further expanded and improved the game translations, particularly Portuguese.

*** Vendetta 1.8.734.1
- Fixed RequestPostNotificationPermission lua error.

*** Vendetta 1.8.734
- Expanded and improved game translations, particularly Portuguese.

*** Vendetta 1.8.733
- Prototype notification system being experimentally rolled out on Android.

*** Vendetta 1.8.732
- Stability improvements to the Android version.
- Updated client-side cache files.
- Fixed incorrect AndroidTV analytics.

*** Vendetta 1.8.731.1
- Fixed crash in the Offline Rings Tutorial on Windows and Linux.

*** Vendetta 1.8.731
- Updated the client-side mission cache to reduce login times for players with higher ping times.
- Fixed Third-person Improved camera mode on Windows and Linux, Mac update is forthcoming.

Catching up on posting a variety of older updates from earlier this year..

*** Vendetta 1.8.730
- Fixed formatting issues with the gamepad menu on iOS.
- Fixed crash on HTC Vive Focus devices.
- Added analytics to track down login stalls.
- Fixes for Third Person Improved control model on iOS forthcoming in the next App Store update.
- Improvements for reducing Android ANR-stall issues forthcoming in the next Play Store update.

*** Vendetta 1.8.729
- Fixed crash on Quest devices when the headset is removed.

*** Vendetta 1.8.728
- Updated German, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian translations.
- 2D box selection around group members on the HUD is now yellow for easier visibility.
- Fixed issue with remote capship powercells becoming discharged when undocking from commanding the capship.
- Fixed issue with missing localized characters not rendering properly.
- Refactored shader loading code to reduce ANRs on Android.
- Fixed various Lua errors.

*** Vendetta 1.8.727 Server update
- Improved Persistent Events to support localization of private messages from NPCs.
- PCC missions now choose a sector that is already in use, if no empty sector can be found.

VO 1.8.727 includes:
- Two new Persistent Events have been launched, and will start on Saturday the 22nd in Ukari and Helios.
- Translated 50 early missions into 19 additional languages.
- Fixed issue with ActivateTurrets and triggered turrets not working after ReloadInterface() is called.
- Fixed crash on Android when the game is backgrounded and the system decides to terminate it.
- Updated German and Ukrainian translations.
- Input mode is automatically changed when switching between touch and gamepad on Android.
- Added resolution options for MacOS version when Retina support is not enabled.
- Added more font options for Cyrillic languages.
- The list of font options now only includes fonts that support the selected language.
- Fixed issues with certain characters not rendering properly in some languages.

A lot of work has gone into this, which may not be immediately obvious. For instance, we had to build a whole mass-translation tool for the missions, which has gone through a dozen or so rounds of improvements and fixes over the last few months.

Please post any issues you find to the Bugs forum, and have a great weekend!

VO 1.8.726 includes:

- Improvements to Persistent Event Missions and management of bots in non-running sectors.
- Reduced possibility of ANR stalls on Android during initialization of shaders.
- Added a message when disabling plugins that recommends to restart for the change to take full effect.
- Added debugging code to track down mismatched ship health numbers in different menus.
- Updates to some SDKs in mobile versions, coming in next App Store versions.
- Added debugging code to track down certain Android crashes.
- Started the process of translating a few more missions into all 19 languages. More next week.

Please post any problems on the Bugs forum; have a great weekend everyone!

VO 1.8.725 includes:
- Added '/beacon drop' command to allow players piloting capships to drop navbeacons.
- Updated Spanish translations.
- Fixed crash on exit after viewing Buddies list.
- Fixed issue with chat sometimes going to channel 0 while moving between sectors.
- Fixed issue with NPCs attacking other friendly NPCs that are on the same mission.
- Added more analytics to help track down client issues.

We're still trying to track down some other persistent bugs that have been eluding us, and we appreciate the reports and feedback we've been receiving on the Bugs Forum.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

VO 1.8.724 includes:

- Fixed crash on Android when exiting.
- Added more analytics to help track down client issues.

This may seem pretty like a pretty light update, but there have also been some non-game improvements over the past week:

- Fixed errors preventing people with browser translation from logging into the website. Other, related site improvements are still on-going.
- Substantially improved Newsletter deliverability and email infrastructure.

Sending email Newsletters has never been an easy thing to manage, and some players complained that our message from last month showed up in their Junk folder, so we've done some updates to potentially improve that throughput for the next one. We'll probably be sending out more Newsletters throughout the coming year.

Social media has become increasing bizarre over the last decade, to the point where reaching our own followers has become infeasibly expensive, and as a result, direct email is effectively the only way we can actually talk to our own players anymore (other than Discord). So, if the Newsletters are something you want to receive, be sure and add the "noreply@vendetta-online.com" address to your personal Address Book, that usually helps.

For anyone who missed last month's Newsletter, you can also find it online here:

https://www.vendetta-online.com/newsletter/12.2024/newsletter.12.2024.html

VO 1.8.723 includes:
- Dropping an 11th nav beacon now replaces the oldest beacon instead of preventing it from being created.
- Added a "/beacon clear" command to remove all of the beacons you created.
- Fixed issue with HUD chat text color not being applied when chosen from the color picker swatch.
- Added more analytics to help track down client issues.

This release includes a few small player-submitted improvements from the Suggestions and Bugs forums, along with a lot of under-the-hood fixes.

Beyond the topics list above, we're also fixing problems with our custom mission localization (translation) software, so we can hopefully expand our multi-language mission support to include more languages and advanced gameplay.

We do have new content in the works, but we've needed to dedicated an unexpected amount of time to fixing problems over the last few weeks. Some of these issues were practically invisible to existing players, but impacted thousands of new users every month.

So, while game-content changes are still in development, we also want to help these (many) new players have a better initial experience, and also understand the areas where they're struggling, which will also help guide our next-generation User Interface design.

Have a great weekend, everyone!