Developer diaries #7 - Roadmap 2025

Almost two months have passed since the separation of Danny and Leo. Of course, we haven’t been idle during that time. New features are being developed, work on the maps continues, and marketing is running better than ever before. The only thing we’re currently lacking is video editing expertise—but more on that later. Since the last developer diary was over 2.5 years ago, we’re excited to finally give you insight into the development of the mod and everything surrounding it again.

RoadMap 2025

As we’ve hinted at several times, we plan to release updates at shorter intervals in the future. As of today, we have three more updates planned for the rest of 2025: in August, October, and December—most likely toward the end of each month. In the months in between (September and November), we plan to publish a developer diary to provide further insights and prepare you for upcoming features.

August

It's been frequently pointed out that playing as the police can get boring quickly. We want to change that. The August update will introduce Burglar Alarm Systems —the police counterpart to fire alarms. Officers will need to inspect buildings, reset the alarm system, and possibly apprehend fleeing suspects. These alerts will also appear in the dispatch center.

Additionally, the dispatch center will get the ability to control civil defense sirens.

October

In October, it’s finally happening: the first missions using the Open House System. Initial garages will be equipped with this system, allowing for new scenarios within them, including various furniture catching fire.

For the dispatch center, the next "big thing" is coming: the Call-Taker system. This is something we’ll continue to expand over time. At first, it will be simple: when a mission comes in, dispatchers will have the option to ask follow-up questions. Want to know if anyone is injured or how many? Just ask the caller.

December

The final update of 2025 will arrive just in time for the holiday season. While we already have a few things on our agenda, it wouldn’t be Christmas if you couldn’t make a wish. This is where you come in: submit your suggestions and ideas, and maybe your idea will make it into the Christmas update. (Many ideas are great, but please stick to one per topic. 😉)

2026?

We hope not to be idle in 2026 either. We plan to continue releasing updates, but not every two months like in late 2025. We’re planning 3 to 4 updates for the upcoming year. As always, you’ll be actively involved in development.

A little teaser: as many of you have noticed, we’re working on a new map. It certainly won’t be finished in 2026—but who knows, maybe the first parts will already be playable.

Multi-Session

One feature you can already look forward to this year—no, this month—is the new Multi-Session feature for the dispatch center.

Some of you have already wondered about the multi-code when creating a dispatch session. This is used to connect multiple game sessions to the same dispatch center.

How does it work?

It’s pretty simple:

• You need two game sessions, for example, one playing Lüdenscheid and the other Linzing.
• Both hosts enter the same multi-code and password when creating the dispatch center.
• Both sessions can then load into the same dispatch center.

A session can also join later. If one game session already set a multi-code and a second decides to join later, the host can share the password and multi-code, and the second session will join the active dispatch center. Vehicles, fire alarms, etc., will load in afterward. Only the status monitor needs manual adjustment—there’s a reset button for that.

What happens if a session drops out?

If a session quits or crashes (as is typical in Emergency), it won’t affect the other lobby. Vehicles from the dropped session will be set to Status 6 (out of service), and open calls will be closed. Vehicles from the still-active session that were on the dropped map will be set to Status 2 (available).

The Multi-Session doesn't end here—in fact, the second lobby can rejoin at any time. Vehicles change status back, and the two-session game continues.

Communication

Two lobbies, 9–10 players, one Discord channel? Not with us!

On our Discord, both sessions can open their own voice channels. The dispatch center has a menu button to switch between the two rooms. With voice requests, the dispatcher is automatically moved to the correct channel if desired. No extra Discord interaction needed—both teams can focus on their missions.

Discord

In addition to development on the mod and dispatch center, we’ve also been working on expanding our new Discord server. We’ve added more English-language channels (since we were already the ones handling English users 😉).

Since the @everyone tag was used quite often in the early days of the new server, we’ve decided to limit its usage. From now on, only major news (like updates) will be announced with @everyone. For things like this developer diary, only specific groups will be mentioned. In the “Channels & Roles” menu, you can now select which notifications you want to receive. Currently, you can opt into notifications for the Developer diary and Social Media updates. (Yes, this dev diary was tagged with @everyone on purpose.)

You may have already seen some of the new channels. These show how many followers/members our social media accounts have. There's also a channel showing the current number of players in the mod. It updates approximately every 5 minutes.

We’re also revamping our Discord bot from the ground up. All features will be multilingual, following your Discord language settings (or overridden per command). The player search shows participants, and you can create a mission room and have players moved into it. We’re currently working on a shuffle function, supporting standard setups (fire, rescue, police, dispatch) and mixed setups from our wiki.

Our goal: 9–10 people in a waiting room press shuffle, and the bot splits them into two lobbies and moves them into the correct rooms. Perfect for a Multi-Session!

Want to support us?

As mentioned at the beginning, we’re still lacking some know-how. If you’re interested in helping, feel free to contact DarkSilent.

We’re currently looking for help in the areas of:

• Mapping
• Graphics (skins, artwork)
• Video editing (intros, trailers, shorts)

For video editing, a basic level of experience is required, but everything else can be learned.