PUBG 2018 roadmap: new maps, vehicles, weapons, experimental test server, and more

PUBG players have plenty to look forward to in 2018, including a experimental test server.

The 2018 roadmap for PUBG was posted today by Brendan Greene.

In it, Greene outlined how the team wants PUBG to evolve in 2018 alongside continued polish, bug smashing, and providing a "stable, smooth and secure environment" for players.

To help aid development of future content and changes,it was also announced an experimental test server for PUBG would be launched.

"This year we’re committing to a major content delivery cycle every two months, the first of which is planned for this month," said Greene. "Each of these major updates will bring changes to specific systems and/or introduce new content. Smaller updates between the major ones will also continue throughout the year.

"This year we want to involve our players in the ongoing development of PUBG even more than before, and to aid with this we plan to open an Experimental Test Server so we can get your valuable feedback on our feature/content development cycle sooner and for you to have a real impact on how our game changes and develops going forward."

Green said everything listed on the roadmap was "very much a work in progress," and still subject to change.

Keep that in mind when looking over the PUBG 2018 roadmap highlights below.

PUBG 2018 Roadmap

• A new 4x4km island map on the Experimental Test Server will come next month. It’s a small map which will provide an "intense and faster paced Battle Royale experience," with higher player density and shorter matches.
• Another new map 8x8km in size. As with the smaller map, it too will be coming to the Experimental Test Servers.
• Emote system coming to the Test Servers very soon.
• New and interesting Game Modes, which are still in the early days - not in a place where specifics can be shared.
• New vehicles coming in the first half of the year.
• Continued weapon set expansion and new weapon attachments this year. A look at one of the new weapons coming soon is posted below.
• Achievements, in-game friends list and squad voice chat in the main menu is ready for testing.
• Further character customization and both parachute and weapon skins will be added in the future.
• Limb and vehicle bullet penetration testing will be on the test servers later. This will add "new depth" to the ballistic system, and increase the realism of gameplay.
• The team is looking to overhauling the entire TPP and FPP animation systems to make them smoother and more reactive to the environment. This will include everything from getting inside vehicles and changing seats to how the character moves.
• An overhaul for the parachuting system is also part of the roadmap. The goal is to make it "more responsive and polish the overall look of the animations."
• Improvements to armed and unarmed melee combat systems are also in the works.
• Continuing daily work to combat cheaters, improve server stability and further optimize servers and clients.
• In the first half of 2018 there are plans to increase the detail of vehicle sounds. This includes introducing suspension sounds and more skidding sounds.
• The plan is to work with surfaces that would reflect different weather conditions and add rain sounds to vehicle surfaces.
• Also in the first half of the year, the team plans to make gun sounds more distinctly different depending on POV.
• The sounds the player produces while moving so that it corresponds to the equipment they are carrying is planned for the second half of the year.
• Different breathing sounds when the player is running, aiming down sight or holding breath are also in the planning stages.

And here's more:

• esports: plans to further improve the live spectator tool; integrate a replay system for spectators to use during live matches; work on improving MMR and the overall ranking system.
• Custom Game System: this will be further expanded to allow more fine grain control and quality of life features like saving presets. Plans are in the worked to distribute access to a wider audience of players to provide more custom games available to join at any given time.
• PUBG Developer Portal: introduce the PUBG Developer API, a development blog, and technical notes regarding game updates. The API Service will support developers in the community by providing player and match data around gameplay performance. It will also provide match-level, season-level, and lifetime-level data for developers to create compelling resources for players. It will provide players a way to create custom games and enable esports groups to effectively manage games while minimizing ongoing technical work on the part of PUBG Corp.

Greene closed his post out by saying the new features and systems listed in the 2018 roadmap was not "exhaustive" as far as 2018 was concerned, as there are other features in the plan. These will be discusses when the team is ready.

You can go over the finer details regarding PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in 2018 thorough Greene's developer post at the link.