Hello everyone, it has been a while since you’ve heard from me or the team so I’m hoping to bring everyone up to speed on what is happening with Northminster.

Before we discuss Northminster though, in light of recent messaging I feel it pertinent to make clear the Royal Family have no association with the Northminster project and they are not in a position to disclose expected release timeframes or any other details pertaining to the groups main development team. This seems to have been a mistake (at best) on their end and this is not endorsed by management or the development team. We (the development team) have had no input on whether or not the Antarctica project should continue. This decision was made by the project’s own developers based on their own judgement.

Now let’s quickly review where the project is at now.

What’s Happened Since We Last Spoke?

Since the March update we’ve been working on finishing off more core game features to give you a feature-rich and engaging experience.

Since you last heard from us our team of developers have managed to implement:

• A fully managed avatar customisation system, paired with clothing and accessory shops to make you stand out in-game
• A PNC that links to both players and individual vehicles, with the ability to add markers, notes and flags to both
• Both vehicle mounted and static ANPR to help the police crack down on severe crime
• Ranged weapons, with a new weapons system we’ve built from the ground up to really complement the feel of the game
• Civilian delivery and transport jobs to keep you earning and on the right side of the law
• An array of new features for both TfL Buses & Taxis, giving the public transport sector a new lease on life
• Even more cars, buses, lorries, trucks, vans, and even a helicopter!

We’re still actively working to get these features that we may have previously mentioned release ready:

• Melee weapons
• A much more in-depth medical system
• A custom inventory and storage solution, letting you save your gear in vehicles, properties, and more
• Automated callouts for emergency services (we’ve already made a lot more progress on systems for LFB pertaining to this!)
• Crime.Net and associated mission based crime, allowing you to become a true criminal mastermind
• And a few more things to really top it all off

As you can see, while we’ve been silent in the community’s eyes we are getting ever closer to releasing this long awaited game to you all. We’re nearing the final stretch now and we can’t wait to get this one across the finish line.

As always, make sure you’ve got your NM Updates Role to keep up to date with more news like this. I wish you all the best and I’m sure you’ll hear from me again soon.

Northminster has been in development for years now, and hopefully in this post I can clear up where we’re at, what’s currently being done to get the game out, and what we have in mind for the future.

Before I can say more about the project’s current status it’s important you understand the NM Rewrite.

The Rewrite

On October 19^th, 2024 both project managers left, and our programming team had dwindled. At this point I became responsible for the Northminster project and it was up to me to get an overview of where we were at and come up with a plan to get the game out.

I found that the codebase was overcomplicated, unreadable, buggy and in some places completely unuseable. Our team were demotivated and didn’t want to continue working on the game in the state it was in. The decision was made to “rewrite” the foundation of Northminster, removing the overly complex tools that dictated a very convoluted development process.

Since then we’ve spent time either refactoring and transferring existing game code, as well as writing completely new and more efficient code to get us back to where we were.

Where We Are Now

Since beginning the rewrite we’ve made quick and consistent progress. The whole programming team are now comfortably able to deliver the features we need. After recently taking on new testers, there is a constant loop of creating, testing, polishing and then moving onto the next feature.

At the moment we’ve got all of the following working how we want them (bar a few bugs here and there):

• Vehicle purchasing, spawning and customisation – we’ve also completely overhauled the vehicle chassis and the cars handle in a much more fun and realistic manner
• Property purchasing, with interiors integrated into the map instead of being made under the map or far away
• Core UI elements like the phone (with apps like SMS messaging and a web browser), location indicators, world interactions and more
• The most immersive and realistic lighting the UK has seen so far

We’re also close to having these features release-ready:

• A new avatar system and wardrobe
• Emergency services tablet, with full PNC functions for the police and callout/incident details for all services to get all the details they need
• Police arrest, custody and detention flows which are feature rich and smooth
• A new radio – hopefully this one is self-explanatory
• Overhauled weapons, both ranged and melee
• Civilian jobs like package/parcel/food delivery, utility companies and others
• And loads more little bits that contribute to the overall user-experience

You might notice there are some big things missing from the points above. That’s because we’ve still got a lot of work to do. Progress is faster than it’s been in a long time, and right now these are our key priorities before letting you all play Northminster:

• A custom inventory and storage system, with the ability to store items in vehicles and properties
• Automated callouts for the police, fire and ambulance services
• More in-depth medical simulation for the ambulance service, other medical responders and civilians
• Simulated water, hose, hydrant and pump mechanics for the fire service
• More complex crime, with the ability to create your own organisations and earn both a name and money for yourself through detailed missions, or quick robberies around the map
• Specific implementation for major companies in the private sector
• Added functionality for TfL, with fleshed out user experience around buses and trains
• ANPR, CCTV, speed cameras and red light cameras around the map in key areas

The release of Northminster is in sight, and we’re really excited to bring this game to the community. We’ll update you as much as we can on what’s happening and how things are progressing.

For now, make sure to get your NM Updates Role to get alerts when we post the latest information on the project, and keep an eye out for our second round of tester applications which will open when most features are implemented and need rigorous testing.

I just want to close this with a note to say that the features listed above are not an exhaustive list of what the game will include on release. It’s also worth noting that there are a load more features planned for after release.

Hi! Welcome to our blog about everything Northminster. The development team have created this resource as an effort to improve transparency and communication with the community about what’s actually going on with the game you’ve been waiting so long for.

We’ll try and update the community regularly, with posts covering updates on game progress, discussions around features that will enrich your experience, and anything else that we think you need to know about.

If you’re new here it might be worth checking out our pages about The Project and The Team.

We hope this is a helpful resource for the wider community, and we’re really excited to bring Northminster to you all as soon as it’s ready.

– Rohan