FROM THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Wulfram Is Back: Rebuilding Wulfram II and What Comes Next
If you remember skimming over the terrain in a hovertank, calling for supplies and trying to keep your team's base alive, this is for you. We're bringing Wulfram back.
Wulfram Lives is our effort to revive the online game many of us knew as Wulfram II. We've been rebuilding its server code and getting the original client talking to it again. There is a working multiplayer game behind this project, and there is still plenty to fix. Both things are worth saying up front.
Why bring Wulfram II back?
Because there still isn't much quite like it. Wulfram puts you in the fight, but the match is bigger than your tank. Bases need supplies. Teammates need repairs. Cargo has to get where it is useful. A good decision at an Uplink can matter as much as a good shot.
The part we want to preserve is that dependence on each other. Some players push forward, others keep the team supplied, and someone notices the problem at home before it costs everyone the match. Communication, base building and specialized roles give the fighting a purpose.
This revival starts with the original game's character. We want Wulfram to feel like Wulfram, while making it easier to run, join and keep playing.
What we've rebuilt so far
A large part of the work has been rebuilding the multiplayer server in Rust and checking how the original client expects it to behave. Getting players connected is the beginning; getting everyone to agree about what happened in a fight is the harder part.
- Multiplayer foundations: player identity, team joins, movement, chat and world-object updates.
- Combat and vehicle systems: ongoing work on weapons, damage, repair, fuel, cargo and their interactions with the battlefield.
- Team logistics: Uplinks, Supply Ship deliveries and the ordering and synchronization that make supply controls useful during a match.
- Community tools: a launcher, player accounts, clan tags, kudos and military ranks, with a website for getting started and following development.
That list isn't a claim that every system is finished. Rebuilding a multiplayer game means testing the combinations, not just checking that each feature works once.
Recent progress: the small fixes that matter during a match
Some of the most useful recent changes aren't glamorous. We've worked on keeping the Uplink supply list synchronized so players aren't acting on an out-of-date queue.
Destroyed team Uplinks now enter the existing replacement process whether or not they were captured first. Replacement still follows the game's timing and delivery rules; it isn't an instant respawn.
We've also fixed carried cargo disappearing when a player disconnects. It now drops back into the world through the normal cargo physics path. These are the sorts of details that make a match more consistent, especially when things get busy.
We are adding regression tests alongside these fixes so later changes are less likely to bring the same problems back.
Better graphics, without losing the original look
On the client side, we're experimenting with our own Direct3D 11 translation work. The aim is a clearer picture on modern displays: better texture filtering, higher actual rendering resolution and distance fog that affects the world without washing out the HUD.
This is development work, not a finished graphics upgrade. We have seen promising improvements, but radar and map rendering have also exposed missing or black areas. Those need to be correct before we can call the new path ready for normal play. Clear text, reliable input and a complete frame matter more than another visual effect.
What's next for Wulfram Lives?
Our next priorities are straightforward: more reliable matches, more testing with real players and a smoother route from downloading the launcher to joining a team.
We'll keep working through combat and synchronization issues, test loading and longer sessions, and continue the experimental graphics work. We also want playtest announcements and development updates to be easier to find, so returning players know when to join in.
We aren't attaching a release date to unfinished work. We'll share what has changed, what still needs attention and where player feedback would help most.
Remember Wulfram? Come see where we are
If you played Wulfram II years ago, we'd love to have you back. If you've never played it, start with the Wulfram setup and game guide and the keyboard controls. You don't need to know every system before your first match.
Use the Play Wulfram page to get started, and check News and playtest announcements for updates. When something goes wrong, tell us what you were doing and what you expected to happen. A clear report from a real match helps us enormously.
We're back at it. There's a lot left to do, but seeing players on the battlefield again is why we're doing it.