Announcing - Offline Client Roadmap

Hey everyone!

It's been a minute since I've provided an update as to what's going on behind the scenes. We're refreshed from our break and have been back in full swing for the last few weeks working on the next Expansion as well as other technical things.

Today I bring some long-awaited news - An official offline client is on the way! It's a long-requested feature that will allow you to play Melvor Idle without an internet connection on all platforms (finally).

We've seen what can happen if our server catches fire for some reason, much like during the recent Epic Games free promotion (whoops).

Roadmap

The Offline Client will be released in three stages, slowly implementing full offline functionality as we progress.

Due to official mod support, we needed to find a solution that would ensure all mods continue to run without issue. Simply "web packing" the game would unfortunately break all mods and our integration.

This solution also needed to allow us to release quick and easy hotfixes where required, and allow major updates to go live on every platform at the same time.

Stage 1

Platforms: Desktop Only (Steam & Epic).

Stage 1 bundles all static assets like images and icons with the client itself. You will no longer need to load the assets from an external server.

In the event a static asset is not found locally, it will fallback to our CDN and load it from there.

We have already released the required Client updates on Steam for Windows/Mac/Linux/Steam Deck, with Epic Games soon to follow.

Stage 1 requires an in-game update to activate, which is due next week (along with many bug fixes). Look out for the Game Update announcement.

Stage 2

Platforms: Desktop Only (Steam & Epic).

Stage 2 will implement what's called a "Service Worker", which will basically store a local copy of Melvor Idle. After the initial load, you will no longer require an internet connection to play*.

Development on Stage 2 is well underway and is making good progress. We hope to have this stage out to everyone in the coming weeks.

*Melvor Cloud / PlayFab will still require an internet connection. Epic Games will also still require an internet connection to verify the purchase via the Web API

Stage 3

Platforms: Steam, Epic, iOS, Android, and the Web.

Stage 3 will implement everything from Stage 1 & 2 to mobile, allowing it to function offline.

Mobile requires a bit of custom development to enable the implementation, but we hope to have this out shortly after Stage 2.

Upcoming Game Update

As mentioned in Stage 1, we have an upcoming game update scheduled for next week which activates the local asset loading, as well as including many fixes and adjustments reported by the Community.

We'll have more exciting news for you some time after the Game Update!