Compass April 2024 Development Update

Ahoy everyone!

It's been a couple of months since my last development update, and I know updates have been slower than in the past. All will be explained very soon!

I teased a few of these projects at the end of 2023; this phase of development that has been ongoing since December is called Phase 8 and contains a series of projects and updates all related to the backend management of Compass.

All of the projects I've been working on are fundamental to how Compass operates every day, ensuring that I can have new assets added as fast as I can. The only downside to this is when I need to perform updates to these projects development slows down quite a bit. Unfortunately, I chose these past few months to update every. single. one. of the processes that allow Compass to run. I took the loss now so that moving into Phase 9 this summer, I'll be more prepared than ever to provide the fastest turn-around of assets I've ever done.

With the work over the last few months nearing completion by the end of May, I'm more excited than I've ever been for the future of Compass.

We're nearing 4 years since Compass 1.0.0 was released in beta; we're a year and a half since the Discord became public; and almost a year since I launched the Compass YouTube channel. Your support has been instrumental for me to stay as passionate as ever for Compass.

What I have left is one of my biggest projects and with the new backend work that I have scheduled for May. This will finish out Phase 8 as I am confident in the several other projects I've completed over the last 5 months... but what have I been working on this month? It's something that wasn't originally planned for Phase 8, but I decided to go ahead with updating the Compass website, too!

I've been making iterations to the website over the last year, but I wasn't satisfied with how it was, and with more visitors than ever using the site, I knew I needed to make some big changes fast. That's why today I am launching v8 of the site that brings many, many improvements. However, this update was so large that I needed to split it into 2 parts.

The remaining part of the update includes the Asset Pack "interior" pages, the news pages, the featured page, and some new search page features, such as the return of tags. Below is a brief overview of everything that's changed. I hope you all enjoy the updates!

• A new layout overhaul of the home page with updated text and images
• A new get involved section, showing some lovely numbers over the last year
• A new nav layout with categories dropdown
• Completely redesigned About page with all content and a FAQ section
• The search page has been rebuilt from the ground up. This new page is faster, has a better layout, and provides more control over your searches.
• A new Get Involved page to explain exactly how you can help out Compass and request assets with its own FAQ section
• Updates to the Asset Pack pages that now feature a section to credit where the assets came from.
• & many, many behind-the-scenes changes that will make your experience smoother than ever before.

Expect to see the remainder of the site updated in late May.

Rounding at this development update, I wanted to tease a little about Phase 9. So where are we now? By the end of May Compass processes behind the scenes will be in great shape. I'll be able to update faster than ever and that means we'll be back to weekly updates--that means more additions to the soundtrack, sfx, voice lines, etc. That also means I'm going to be adding imagery, renders, and other assets to the site at a regular cadence. I'm also excited to expand to new creative areas that I can share once we're a bit closer to that time.

This means that I'm going to be slower than before adding Season 12's assets, which will happen in the second week of May. It's clear I have a LOT of updating to do. Season updates always come with a lot of work, but this one in particular, involving the Play Station launch among other things, was particularly large. Many more exciting updates very soon as always!

Thanks if you've made it to the end of this very long announcement. (This was meant to be a news post, but that part of the site is currently under development.) I promise to have concise announcements moving forward!