Development Update #31

Development Progress/Highlights:

• Network - Core functionality completed.

• Entity Component System (ECS) - Performance considerations and new pooling systems.

• Save and Load System - Core functionality completed and across several systems.

• Allegiance System - Ability to create custom player Allegiances and the generation of 50+ preset Allegiances with unique naming and emblems.

• Securities Exchange System - Core functionality and trading for the securities exchange market.

• Medical System and Injury - Functional and visual tracking of player injury status.

• Terminals - Core application functionality and physical UI and terminal models.

• Physics based Clothing and Hair

• Cover System Enhancements - Networking, Enhancements, and new animations

• Destruction System - New system in progress to provide destruction at a scale.

• Control Mapping and Rebinding

• New UI Design (Main/Pause Menu)

• DevCon Enhancements (Developer Console Improvements to help with debugging)

• OST Tracks

• and more!

Important note - A new visual of the development roadmap has been in progress which lists all major features and their completion status. Although it is not yet public (still in development), the roadmap will be posted onto the main homepage when ready.

Overview

Devlog #31 is a more technical focused devlog as the much of the recent development work has been spent on the network, save/load systems, and other core systems.

Network Core

• Core Existing functionality:

  • Ability to Host a server

  • Ability to Join a player hosted server.

  • Ability to play in single player/standalone mode.

  • Player connecting / disconnecting

  • Server Lobby Search (LAN / Multiplayer). Work still needs to be done to sync this with Steam and other third party platforms.

  • Save/Load game data (More details explained further in the devlog).

  • Overall, having multiple in-depth systems is very complex and taxing on performance, even when not networked! The greatest challenge is to continuously ensure the game's systems are in-sync over the network and that the data is properly saving/loading. There are a plethora of different angles and situations to account for when players load and join a networked game.
    

• Provided below are a several functional areas (Not all) that have been successfully migrated over the network:

  • Player Locomotion , sliding , leaning, blinking, dynamic speed, resting, weapon Holster / Lower Mode, weapon lowering against walls, and other animation functions. The system has been setup to easily replicate animation sequences over the network (such as emotes / one shot animations) Things dont require much state machine logic.

  • Cover System (Animations and state machines)

  • Player Inventory data

  • Player Stats data

  • System - Securities Exchange Data

  • System - Weather System / Day and Night, Universal Time

  • Every developed system needs to be designed as network compatible. Fortunately, several systems and functions are migrational efforts from the previous legacy build, while others have been re-designed, net new.

Save/Load System Enhancements

Provided below is important information on how Player Save data works:

• Character Save Data.

  • For standalone/single player games - you are allowed a single character that consists of its own save data.

  • For multiplayer/networked games - you are allowed a single character that consists of it's own saved data (however this is a different character apart from singleplayer play).

  • In total, you may technically have two total saved characters, but each is unique to either single-player or multiplayer play.

    • Singleplayer - One character save data.

    • Multiplayer - One character save data.

• Save/Load Data completed thus far:

  • Player Stats

  • Player Inventory

  • Player Visual Inventory appearance

  • Core Game Data (Weather, Time, etc).

  • Securities Exchange market data.

  • Next Major systems - (ECS Component Save/Load/Sync), destruction system data.

ECS (Entity Component System) - Additions / Tweaks

• Entity Pooling

  • Through continuous performance testing, entity pools have been created to better handle thousands of Entities in the game world. This helps with memory allocation in contrast to constantly creating and destroying objects - especially over the network.

• Entity UI Highlight Pooling

  • Having UI elements in the game world can be expensive, even if disabled. A pool of preset Highlights now exists and will be reused to help with performance.

• Entity Outline/Highlights

  • The entity outline highlight now dynamically fits the size of the entity/object. Previously a static highlight box would overlay entities in order to pickup. Now the highlight will dynamically adjust to the entities size on screen. This is important as it is one of the most common UI elements appearing on the screen.

• Pouches

  • Certain entities are treated as combinable objects, which means when they are picked up they are combined in a single pouch. For example, picking up a single Biocell will be added to a pouch. Any new Biocells that will be picked up are added to the same pouch. It is designed this way due to the visual based inventory system, where a limited amount of equipment slots are present on the player's body. It wouldn't be practical to pick up several single biocells, and have each one occupy a different visual slot on the player's body.

• Entity UID

  • All entities are now assigned a unique serial number / UID. This will also be used for gameplay elements.

• The majority of meshes/objects are being migrated into the ECS along with the creation of new entities (Barriers, shelves, poles, etc). When objects are a part of the ECS, it allows them to be crafted, destroyed, packaged, or deployed within the game world.

• Although much of the work is migrational, every single Entity from the legacy build has been remodeled and retextured for the sake of improvement. New models and ECS entities are created nearly every day.

Main Menu / Pause Menu Re-design

• The Complete redesign of the main menu/pause menu.

• There is likely to be one more final revision of the main menu UI, keeping more of what feels good from the previous version. The redesigns are in no way backwards steps, this is the lifecycle of improvement/progress.

Control Mapping

• The last Devlog covered how a new input mapping system had been in the works. Due to the new system, the controls menu now includes the option to rebind/re-map keys.

  

Triptych UI Design

The triptych is a visual element that displays the player's relationship between the three primary Allegiances (Divisions, Conglomerates, Syndicates)

• A radial chart UI elements accessible via NLNK is used to display this data.

Terminals

The terminal systems have been in progress for some time with a lot of rework here and there as I improve my own skills to better understand the capabilities of Unreal's UI designer. Things are starting to narrow down into scalable functionality, so it's becoming exciting.

• Terminals are the crux to have, any interaction really, with the ECS system.

• Within beta decay, there is a heavy emphasis on in-game/world UI elements. To not have the traditional flat/2d menu appear and block the screen as I believe this immediately removes immersion takes you away from the game world.

• This does not mean there is no UI at all. There are UI elements everywhere within the game - they are simply presented within the game world itself. Terminal UI's are a prime example of this.

• Early versions of the game will feature core terminals for

  • Core barebones terminal

  • Allegiance Formation

  • Securities Exchange Trading

  • Banking

  • Cloning Terminal

Exchange System

• More than 50+ Publicly tradable Companies have been created with their own unique name (Shouldn't exist in real life :P) and their own logo designs.

• The companies exist in various industry sectors (Medical, Manufacturing, Services, etc)

• These companies are part of the Allegiance System

• Trading Terminals have been created to execute buy and sell orders on the exchange. More details on the features of the trading terminals will be communicated in later devlogs. Ex: Company below:

Allegiances

• Terminal has been created that allows the creation of new Allegiances.

• Ability to select from pre-made custom emblems and choose the color.

• Functioning with the Save/Load System.

• In the future, more details will be shared on how Allegiances make income, control territory, and what the process is for recruitment of new citizens.

Allegiance Logos and Badges

• Each Allegiances has their own unique logo and members of the allegiance can be recognized by the 'badge' they wear.

Medical System / Injury Visualizer

• Similar to the Visual based inventory system, each player's limb also accrues its own damage.

• With proper equipment, injury statistics can be displayed.

• In future updates, more details will be provided on how to heal body parts.

Player Flat/Detailed Body Types

• Depending on the player outfit, the model will either have a flat or detailed model type

  • Flat: For outfits such as base skin, business suit, t-shirts.

  • Detailed: For outfits such as tactical/military clothing, puff jackets.

New Character Face Textures

• This is listed as a main feature as the character faces are significantly different. To look less cartoony and more gritty/darker/grungier.

Destruction System

• Previously, within the game world, certain wall types were able to be destructed and break apart when shot at. When an MCV walked over certain objects, they would also destroy. Although this worked nicely, and looked great, the system was quite unstable and not very performant at a larger scale. The goal is to have larger/more wide spread destruction (Thinking of MCVs and artillery) Time has been dedicated working towards a more performant solution for destructible environments. Currently, the new system is early stages, and progress will be communicated in a later devlog.

• In conjunction with this effort, all of the environmental meshes for ruined walls, floors, buildings, and rubble have been improved.

Cargo Containers

Since inventory and cargo are main components within the game, it is important to ensure the cargo is satisfying to look at and handle. Therefore just as the player model, it is very important to not overlook the models of other common objects such as cargo.

• All physical, liquid, and gas containers have been remodeled and textured.

• Due to difference in size and weight, certain containers can be carried by hand while others require the assistance of other equipment (To be showcased in future updates).

Physics/Cloth Based Outfits

• Physics/Cloth based outfits have been introduced for a specific outfits.

• It has been a challenge to get cloth physics to work correctly with the player body parts, based on how the player is constructed. Therefore, this development piece was a huge internal success :)

• Each major Allegiance has it's own designated cloth overwear.

Cover System Additions and adjustments

• Cover mode is functioning over the network.

• Entire system has been reworked, with less logic executing OnUpdate/main thread which helps out performance.

• Ensured crouch mode within cover mode is working.

• Bugfixes around exiting cover on different look angles.

• Player will now only emerge/aim from cover when aiming if holding a weapon.

• New Aim and Return to Aim Animations.

• You can now enter cover regardless of the player direction. You will enter cover in the direction of where the camera is facing. This alleviates struggle when getting into cover.

• New cover animations when entering cover and switching sides.

• Players can no longer toggle ready mode in cover.

Improved Foliage

• Remodeled Grass, trees, and bushes to work better with wind and halved poly counts for performance.

Improved Player Equipment, Clothing, and Animation

• In previous dev logs it was mentioned that the player and many of the models have been reworked. Essentially it has been a matter of picking the best entities that stood out from the old builds and remastering them. There have also been several new pieces of equipment added along the way. For example:

  • Construction Hard Hats

  • Hazmat Hoods

  • NVG Goggles

  • New harnesses and body armor

  • Ammo Magazines (+ 5.7x28mm for the P90)

  • All new grenade redesigns

  • New LSA Kit and variants.

  • And many more.

• New jogging/run animations.

• Improved foot placement/sync for crouching/sneak cycle animation.

• In leu of improved new models and texturing, player equipment, outfits have also been revamped along with new/more accurate UV Maps (Previously you could spot where the textures didn't align, such as on the legs).

New Explosion Effects

New explosion effects have been made from scratch, taking the style and elements from the original and designing them to be more performant and fit the aesthetic a bit better. (Less smoke particles and more sprite based animation).

DevCon

For development purposes - The development console has been expanded to allow toggle-able categories that present all Player stats, Equipment, Injury status, and Atmospheric status, Entity spawning. All of the improvements for this function are to aid with development and troubleshooting.

• New UI

• Added toggleable functions to test and view major systems such as:

  • Player Stats

  • Player medical/injury/Infection

  • Atmospherics

  • Exchange

  • Entity Spawner

• Ease of use to generate displayable log entries from code.

• Added display for Universal Time.

OST

Yet again, several new OST tracks have been created. This is something I really enjoy working on. However, not all tracks will make it to the draft/final OST releases.

• Ambient tracks, DnB tracks, Cinematic tracks, Jungle, Breakcore, Acid tracks etc.

• All tracks are being reworked/reorganized into a more releasable format for an actual OST.

• Early Access of the game will include a surprise utilizing the music tracks :)

Final Notes / Next Steps

I'm sure there are plenty of development items not listed here, I'll keep putting forth what time I can to track development details as they occur, but there definitely is a lot, and it takes time to record each change. It's a tricky balance as the more time spent tracking = less time for development and other overhead. Therefore, it's a decision making process towards which information is worthwhile to communicate with the time I have allocated for devlog updates.

• Reiterating once more that a new visual roadmap of development is in progress which lists all major features and their progress. The roadmap will be posted onto the main homepage when ready.

• This devlog is a bit more of a read then a visual display, but the content and work done so far is extremely important and required to enable the vision/experience of beta decay. Overall, I hope you enjoyed it!

Changelog/Additions/Tweaks/Bugfixes

• Changelog - Added camera smoothing for dynamic speed multiplier. Depending on movement speed, the camera will smoothly zoom in and out instead of static increments.

• Changelog - Tapping lean left/right now only switches camera shoulder. Leaning will only occur after the lean button is held for a duration of time. This prevents weird quick leaning animation spikes when trying to change the shoulder camera.

• Changelog - Added default camera sway/movement at all times

• Changelog - New Vending Machine Models

• Changelog - New Vending Machine for Food

• Changelog - New entities for food (Snacks to go along with the vending machine).

• Changelog - Reworked Cable/Line/Cloth material to allow to be affected by weather systems.

• Changelog - Poly cleanup and removal on willow tree mesh

• Changelog - Additional New willow tree texture and mesh.

• Changelog - Improvements to the Shoulder Lamp Model

• Changelog - Decreased the amount of carry-able RPG shells to 5.

• Changelog - Modeled/Textured new XL Vertical Gas Container.

• Changelog - Reduced player slide speed and distance.

• Holster / Lower Weapon Networked - On Stop Sprint Fix

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where entity highlight overlay would always appear on Entities loaded onto the player at start.

• Changelog - Player will no longer have wall arm rotation occur when in holstered mode (Standing nearby walls lowers weapon)

• Changelog - Player Animation System Overhead Reduction (Combine State Machines/Poses / Reduced Amount of Animation Blends)

• Updated Software cursor for in-game inventory system and other UI elements

• Bugfix - Stopping sprint while in inventory mode caused the camera to move into an offset position.

• Bugfix - Added logic to help prevent the camera from clipping into walls when climbing and crouching into objects. This one is pretty huge.

• Changelog - Player now restricted to climb only on specific layers and entities.

• Changelog - Player now restricted to use cover mode on specific layers and entities.

• Changelog - Animation to match Dynamic Speed. Previously when the player moved very slowly, they would have short/choppy steps. The player will now maintain a full length stride even when moving very slow. This makes the player movement look more natural. I find this very important when slowly moving through ruined buildings/checking corners etc. To look more cool!

• Changelog - Camera smoothing for zooming in and out with mouse scroll.

• Changelog - Camera smoothing whenever it is reparented to a different target point of the player. This prevents camera snapping.

• Changelog - Adventure Cam Replaced by distant cinematic camera view.

• Changelog - Tessellated Environments (I dont want to give too much away here. Expect more, especially visuals in future updates).

• Changelog - Trace Radius Dynamic Size for FPS and TPS Modes