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Version 1.0 Hotfix
Hello, today we are releasing a set of small fixes for released version 1.0. Enjoy!
fixed: long map names could corrupt game's filesystem
fixed: terrain reload in editor did not refresh ground clutter
coil bonus now has beam above as other big bonuses
death zones now deal damage over time instead of killing instantly
11th Dream Release
Hi! With today's game update, 11th Dream transitions to full release! We've added the last promised feature - support of Steam Workshop, place to share and download custom maps.
Let us share our journey from the early development up to this point.
Development
First Lines of Code, Triangles and Pixels
In summer 2017 we started experimenting with retro shooter game. By that time, pixelart retro was very popular (and in our opinion still is up to this day) but we wanted to create a game which resembles 90s 3D graphics limited by poor performance and also a one win.
For better or worse, we chose to build our own technology. 11th Dream ows it for its unique look and overall the creative process was quite refreshing. On the other hand, we spent lot of time developing core engine features which we take for granted in well-established engines. Seemingly simple import process and management of models, textures and animations robbed us of valuable development time and we still had to write file management, renderer, custom physics and many other subsystems.
First maps we created were skirmishes - intended for short single-player deathmatches against AI. We were designing a game which you could play while you render your video or wait for a meeting.
Game Developers Session 2018
In summer 2018 we founded a company to be able to distribute 11th Dream on Steam store.
We planned to show demo on Czech conference Game Developers Session, allowing us to meet players and get their feedback. We had to finish several things to have a presentable demo. Entire skirmish mode had to be finished and we also had to develop well-behaving artificial intelligence for skirmish bots (which we explained in earlier post).
Fortunately, we were able to prepare the demo on time. And it was definitely worth it - players and other developers at GDS feeded our enthusiasm and gave us good feedback. For example, we added light beams above pickable bonuses to make them easier to spot from distance or when they are obstructed.
Early Access
In the beginning of 2019 we started creating campaign maps, slowly incorporating story into the game. Unfortunately, progression was slowed down by missing technology - we had to add support for scripted missions. Even though we decided to use existing language (Lua) and its official library, we still had to create bindings between script and native code. On the other hand, we could focus on the map environment before the scripts were ready.
We realized that terrains felt empty and flat, so it was decided to add "shruberries" - as we have kept calling ground clutter like that ever since. Grass and small stones helped with perception of distance.
In June 2019, 11th Dream was released to public on Steam in early access.
Multiplayer
As we kept adding new skirmish maps, maintaining campaign maps, we were joking about implementing multiplayer in two weeks. The problem is that any joke can backfire and so 11th Dream ended up having multiplayer mode. It took six months instead of alleged two weeks but the development time was definitely worth it! Finally we could play with (and against) each other and drag our community on Discord to betatesting.
In the end, multiplayer enriched 11th Dream a lot. It was not just about technology - lag compensation, jitter compensation, full server authority, history snapshots - you name it, with 11th Dream's speed, we needed all. The impact was deeper, we had to change fundamental things in the game design. Let us share one example. The projectiles were quite slow which led to frustrating endless dodging during fights. Funnily enough, slow projectiles had worked nicely in single-player mode since player could have dodged and still predict motion of bots.
Workshop and Final Release
Finally we could come back to last promised feature - Steam Workshop. We had been already using our in-game editor to create all skirmish and campaign maps, but it had to be polished before offering it as an usable creation tool. You can read a tutorial about map creation on our blog.
Map creation was automated, creating a procedurally generated landscape with various effects. This was probably one of the most entertaining chapters in the entire development of 11th Dream. Actually, it is quite sad that "procgen" entered the development so lately, otherwise we can imagine the fun we would have with generated skirmish maps.
Steam Workshop itself was not hard to implement. If you are a game developer, we can recommend going for it, documentation from Valve is clear and implementation scope is small.
Well, here we are after four years of development! Building a game from scratch is quite an experience. These old screenshots from development bring to us nostalgic feeling. We know that it is impossible to reach perfection, there will always be something we could possibly improve, and that we have to call our work finished one day.
Today we are releasing version 1.0 and our 11th Dream comes true.
Development setbacks
To be frank, 11th Dream was done with a low budget, low time and only few people, which brought many setbacks. Hundreds of games were released the same day as 11th Dream, launch visibility dissipated in a blink of an eye. We have been dealing with lower number of players. We had to gradually improve steam page of the game and capsule image to attract them better.
We would like to share our experience with marketing, too. Press is flooded with hundreds of game announcements. Viral sharing on social media is long over. Advertisment requires huge investments to have measurable impact. We tried twitter ads without any significant success. On the other hand, youtube ads actually met our expectations and brought viewers to our trailer, some even followed to the store page.
Lastly, let us repeat that custom technology affected length of development. Every studio should reconsider if in‑house engine is worth the time investment.
Follow us on twitter or instagram and ask us anything on our discord server. We are also happy to invite you to join our mailing list, so you stop missing all those 11th updates!
https://11thdreamgame.bluepulsar.cz
Crash fix
We've just released a crash fix update!
Full changelog:
Fixed crash in multiplayer when number of players changes.
Voting system changed, absolute majority of votes is not required anymore to pass the vote.
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We are opening the map editor for everyone, so you can create your own levels and play them with your friends in multiplayer mode. We realized that creating first map is not straight-forward process, so we implemented a map generator. This article uncovers how the generator was implemented. You can find the full changelog at the end of the article.
Result of the new map generator without any further edits.
Terrain Representation
Let’s uncover first how the terrain is represented, so we can explain the generator later.
Terrain is grid of small quad polygons, shaped and shaded by several bitmaps – distance between adjacent pixels correspond to one meter in the game. In addition to bitmaps, terrain makes use of several JSON config files linking other resources (like textures).
Height map shapes the terrain. Lighter the pixels, higher the location.
Terrain map chooses between two terrain textures specified in terrain JSON config. Black selects the first texture, white the second one, any shade of gray mixes them together.
Color map affects terrain color. It can be used for darkening some terrain regions.
Doodads map affects placement of „clutter“ models – usually grass or rocks. Doodads bitmap allows using all three channels to place models from three groups of models described in doodads JSON configs.
See full release about code behind map generator with code snippets on our blog.
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We are releasing Verticality, new skirmish map which makes use of our previous update! Use walls to rapidly slide up and surprise your opponents! New weather effect was added - on some maps, Verticality included, it is snowing now - is the system freezing down?
We have added in-game settings to alter mouse sensitivity, sound volume or field of view without need to exit back to menu.
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Movement Limits Hotfix
Hi, time has come for a quick bugfix, before we are ready for another big update! We've introduced movement limits per playable character and thanks to this we save friendly bots in Taking Apart from falling to death.
Changelog:
Added: Movement limits per playable character.
Fixed: Friendly bots falling down in Taking Apart.
Fixed: Bots AI confused when attacked by multiple opponents.
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Vertical-Slide Update
Hi!
We've just released Vertical-Slide Update!
[previewyoutube="oOE8S_QLxhM;full"]
Being able to slide up when pushing against the obstacles, that is something we introduced by mistake. But it felt so good! Later we discovered that it was (of course) the support resolution which caused this funny mechanic. With today’s update, we reforged it from a bug to consistent behavior.
In you are interested how we designed and implemented the collision system, Michal describes the algorithms on our blog.
Full changelog:
Collision system reworked
Vertical sliding reworked
Added decal effects when sliding up
Fixed issues in AI navigation, preventing NPCs were getting stuck
Fixed: Timing of shooting sounds
Fixed: Late announcement of First Blood
Fixed: Resetting settings did not reset BW mode
Tweaked: Difficulty of Taking Apart decreased
Tweaked: Friendly bot behavior in Taking Apart
Tweaked: Projectile impulse zero in inverted gravity
Tweaked: Projectile speed affected by character evilness
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Sun Update
Hi!
We have just released Sun Update!
Lighting can be now customized per map, including the sun position, size and its color.
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Voiceover Update
Hi!
We've just released Voiceover Update!
Zoe, the only campaign character which is able to speak as a human, gets a full voiceover for her lines. We are also releasing two new skirmish maps inspired by in-game campaign: Rapture and Apart.
Full changelog:
Voiceover for Zoe in campaign
Voiceover for in-game announcements
New skirmish map: Rapture
New skirmish map: Apart
Difficulty tweaks in campaign
Fixed: In campaign, sniper rifle and flamethrower ammo are now carried from map to map.
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