Sometimes we must admit if something goes awry. In our last content update we tried to do a lot of new things and we may have bit off more than we could chew at once. Our aim was always to provide content as polished as humanly (or rather Indie-ly) possible, but as many of you may know, A-tech is slowly 2 years old. When we’ve started developing, many of today's templates and standards didn’t really exist. At that time smooth locomotion wasn’t really a thing, and we just started with some very basic behavior and went with it.
Ah the good old days of swarm mode
Later “revolutionary” features like moving on angled surfaces and on multiple levels of navigation mesh was implemented. Let me explain the later for you. Navigation mesh basically defines the area where you can move around. It’s not really that simple but let’s stay with this.
The green stuff you see is the NavMesh
What you can move over however is a really different topic. Here is when the collision of the objects come into play. Collision is defined by the shape of the objects and a lot of other parameters.
The collision view of the same level
A lot of the problems attributed to this could be solved by very high resolution shapes. However everything you can step on and shoot has to be calculated by the engine’s physics so higher definition surfaces => more calculations => less FPS.
You could reply “Come on, other games have solved this problem!” Sure they did. We should do too, on that we agree. The problem as I mentioned before, is that we’ve started from very very far away, and we never had time to properly upgrade our navigation system to today’s standards. And since this is the first case we actually came across this problem it takes some time to fix it. We basically have to rewrite our whole locomotion system, and for a small indie studio that is a nightmare scenario. The new system is probably going to break a ton of things, which will need to be tested and fixed and tested again. We are working on it, but for now we must ask for your patience.
A thousand thanks for your support,
Norbert (Makrangoncias) Game and Level designer
UPDATE - v0.12.0
Hey VR Lovers,
So... in our last update there were a bit more bugs than we've intended, we've fixed the worst ones for now and working on the others. Sorry for that!
Full Patchnote
Fixed chapter 02 end hangar fight checkpoint
Expanded chapter 03 experience
Due to the above changes, we sadly had to make old saves invalid. Sorry for the inconvenience =( .
Here is our discord channel http://steamcommunity.com/games/578210/announcements/detail/1670142401205352462
If you have a good idea or any suggestions please don't hesitate to send us a
message. Your feedback is very welcome and by giving your input you also
become a part of the development process! :)
Thanks for all your feedback!
See you soon,
Xreal Team
Chapter 3 - Update v0.11.1
Hey VR Lovers,
It's finally happening! A brand-new environment, two fresh enemies and a lot of cool puzzles and the next chapter of the story mode has been arrived!
Meanwhile Watch Our new Trailer video on our Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/OfKdIjL27Vg
Full Patchnote:
CHAPTER 03 !!!
<*>First iteration with
<*>New enemy types (dog and polip)
<*>New puzzles - it’s surprise ;)
<*>New player HUD design
<*>AI improvements
<*>Reworked projectiles (much spectacularrrr, very fireworks, wow)
Here is our last Dev diary: http://steamcommunity.com/games/578210/announcements/detail/1591325606968787970
Here is our Discord Channel! http://steamcommunity.com/games/578210/announcements/detail/1670142401205352462
If you have a good idea or any suggestion please don't hesitate to send us a
message. Your feedback is very welcome and by giving your input you also
become a part of the development process! :)
Thanks for all your feedback!
See you soon,
Xreal Team
UPDATE - v0.10.0
Hey VR Lovers,
TLDR:
CONTROLLER ORIENTED LOCOMOTION
Smooth turning
NEW MENU
Narration rework
Audio improvements
New enemies
Better gunplay
Watch Our new Trailer video on our Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/OfKdIjL27Vg
Okay, so the game has changed A LOT. Details below.
Menu
If you liked the previous one you’ll be stunned from the new one. (Actually if you liked the previous one, something might be wrong with you). Completely new stunning visuals, more obvious level selector, completely overhauled user experience.
Gameplay
Gameplay elements now highlighted for better visibility
Lighting setups changed to make the game more understandable
Some parts of the levels were slightly change to make for a more streamlined experience
Player/controls
CONTROLLER ORIENTED LOCOMOTION added as an option
Smooth turning can be used on Oculus Rift (instead of snap turning)
On Oculus snap and smooth turning factor can be changed
Grenades can be stored on body from now on
Footsteps became material-dependent
Audio and sounds
FINALLY the sounds got some love. We know that a lot of you had problems with guns not sounding badass enough some noises were just out of place. There’s still a lot to do, but we are working on it
Narration got blended in the atmosphere more and we also eliminated the shouting parts. Also your companion is no longer a complete asshole.
Also narration can be completely turned off for our lone-horror fans.
Game framework
Added automatic quality setter at first start for newcomers
Enemies
The AI has been improved somewhat (still working on it)
New fast enemy (a female :o you can bash virtual cyber-undead ladies now)
Body-headshot damage rebalance, difficulties now more accurate (hard is not nightmarish, easy is a lot easier than normal)
Here is the full dev Diary: http://steamcommunity.com/games/578210/announcements/detail/1591325606968787970
Weapons
Machine gun was nerfed damage, ammo capacity and accuracy (just waving it around and killing everything is not our definition of fun).
Shotgun is more accurate (maybe it can be a tuned a little bit more, we’ll see)
Also, improved particles and projectiles! In the next update you’ll get all the new projectiles, in this one we could only include the pistol bullet as an example.
Please note that unfortunately we had to drop backwards compatibility (game saves cleared) but we hope that the improved, smoother experiences of chapter 1 and 2 will compensate for this.
And We made our Discord Channel! http://steamcommunity.com/games/578210/announcements/detail/1670142401205352462
If you have a good idea or any suggestion please don't hesitate to send us a
message. Your feedback is very welcome and by giving your input you also
become a part of the development process! :)
Thanks for all your feedback!
See you soon,
Xreal Team
Join us on Discord!
After the unexpected success of the trial, we've decided to fully open up our Discord channel to all of our players! If you're interested in chatting with the developers and others who like A-Tech, just join the channel. You can ask us any questions regarding the Demo, Early Access and generally about A-Tech. (although you might want to check out our Q&A first you'll find answers to most of the usual questions there.
Follow this link to join the community: A-Tech Discord Invite Feel free to share it and invite your friends!
(PS: The GIF is a preview of the Embracer's dynamic hair! We're really proud of it!)
Dev Diary Part 2. - The Submachine Gun
Just like the last episode of our Dev Diary, in which we showed off our upcoming monster the Embracer, this episode will also showcase something fast and deadly: our work-in-progress weapon based on the legendary Uzi. We started searching for a starting point to a sci-fi-but-grounded-in-reality submachine gun, and after the first round of concept art we were pretty confident that this little death-machine is what captures our imagination.
At this point we were merely searching for a solid base, that our visual team can then unleash their creativity upon. The weapon attachments you can see are all cosmetic and temporary, as we already plan to implement a kind of universal attachment-feature, that you can use to pimp those guns to your personal liking. Before this is fully working we try to avoid any additions to our guns that could seem interactive to our players. While you’re enthralled by the miracle of VR you have this urge to touch, fiddle and generally interact with everything that seem fiddle-worthy. Therefore gadgets like levers, buttons, and parts of your weapon that seem interactive but aren’t, may cause disappointment.
After a quick round with our game designers we also ruled out any kind of protruding shoulder stock, on account of it poking out your virtual eye and thus producing considerable discomfort. On the second round of concepts we’ve decided that the bulkier, more beefy-looking weapons are much more to our liking than those other feeble things. And then, like a lightning bolt from the realm of awesome ideas, two words flashed up in our concept artist’s brain: BLADED GUNS.
After gushing over the gameplay possibilities this can offer (like a double headshot-decapitation and other awesome moves), we were sure that this HAS to happen in one way or another, maybe as a unique attachment. Of course a few minutes later the sobering effect of reality has set in, when we started to figure out the amount of changes and work that needs to be done before this can be fully implemented. Because most of this material is strictly work-in-progress, we couldn’t set any deadline yet. But the Gunblade (name also work-in-progress) is now definitely on our to-do list.
Due to this little detour, our design for the gun has irreversibly changed. Now sporting a much more futuristic look, what started out as an Uzi is taking shape as a gun that was born for proper mutant-killing. There are still a lot of work ahead of us before you can put your hands on this tiny beast, but we’re very excited about your feelings about the new direction this concept has taken, so don’t hesitate and write a comment below, send us a message or join our Discord channel (you can ask for an invite in the aforementioned places).
Q&A
This is the time to find answers to all of your questions!
We've started a brand new Q&A thread in the discussions, complete with a long-awaited FAQ! There you can find answers to essential questions like:
When do you plan to exit Early Access and fully launch your game?
How many chapters will you make for the Campaign mode?
Are babies really delivered by storks?
And much more! If you can't find the question you're looking for, just post your own and we will answer it as soon as we can! Just follow the link!
As a sidenote: We've launched our own Discord channel, and you're more than welcome to join it! Just write us a message and we'll reply with your invite.
Update v0.9.0
Hey VR Lovers,
First of all we updated the engine to Unreal 4.18.2 which took some time but made possible the following:
Full screen support! If you want to stream, here’s your chance.
Graphical and performance improvements
Reworked the lightings here and there
Oculus users got a slightly better UX (pausing game when HMD taken off etc.)
Game design:
Further polished chapter 1 (and demo) experience.
Enemy behaviour improvements (hit reaction, head turns to player).
Enemy balance changes.
Weapon balance and weight adjustments.
Chapter 2 end fight nerfed. It’s easier now.
A lot more weapons and ammo can be found on the map.
A lot of quality of life improvements.
Game framework
Pause menu now actually pauses game not just slows down which eliminates physics glitches
Last but not least a hell lot of bug fixes.
Thanks for all your feedback!
If you have a good idea or any suggestion please don't hesitate to send us a
message. Your feedback is very welcome and by giving your input you also
become a part of the development process! :)
See you soon
Xreal Team
Dev Diary Part 1. - The Embracer
Greetings VR lovers,
Today, we present you the first episode of our award-winning* Developer Diary. In it, we’ll cover a bit more of our development process. There will be sneak peeks of upcoming features, maps and enemies. Most of it will actually make it into the game, but there could be some that end up on the chopping block. Don’t hesitate and write us your opinions, so we can know which of the new content resonates with you guys!
And now, let us introduce you to your next enemy: the Embracer. Fast and deadly, she will challenge your reflexes as well as the durability of your shotgun. Her motivations are as yet unclear, but she definitely wants more than just a hug.
In the beginning, we had three solid attributes to start from: She's female, ferocious, and haven't slept for a while. Her hair was one of the big question marks surrounding the concept, as if we want to keep our level of polish and optimisation, a resource hogging lush hairdo is not the best idea.
We brought her into this virtual world only to find out that she's way too dateable to be scary, and so the process of uglification began: First, we gave her a generous set of sharp teeth, which completely solved the dateable problem, but it was far from enough.
Then, we added the facial expression of a girlfriend after you've tried to cancel romantic date-night again. The research for this feature was one of our most trying projects but hey, nobody said game development was going to be easy.
All that was missing was a touch of purple skin and there: Perfection. This is going to be our first female character, so the team discovered a heap of fresh challenges. We’ll have to make brand new, feminine animations and also find a real life walking and talking woman to do the voice acting.
At one point we've experimented with giving her a mask, but we kind of missed her smile, so in the end decided against it.
She still has a long way to go before she’s able to rip your virtual head off though, right now we are working on her animations and then we’ll have to test and balance her out with the other baddies. What do you think of your newest enemy so far? As always, we really appreciate your thoughts and feedback!
Cheers,
Xreal Team
*Unfortunately we cannot disclose the actual titles of the awards for, erm… legal reasons, but we can assure you: the quality is award-winning! ;)
WINTER SALE - LAST CHANCE
Hey!
Freezing? Keep yourself warm with the bodies of your slain enemies! Buy A-Tech 20% off until January 4. Get it today and never be cold again!*
Now we are working on:
Chapter3
Chapter4
New Locomotion system
Achievments
Sound Design
Even more languages
New menu
New Enemys
New Weapons
Co-op
and more and more and more :)
Thanks for all your feedback! In this period we get many positive reviews. Thank you for the support! :)
If you have a good idea or any suggestion please don’t hesitate to send us a message.Your feedback is very welcome and by giving your input you also become part of the development process! :)
Well, what are you waiting for?;)
Happy New Year!
Xreal Team
* Terms and conditions apply, no method is 100% effective against low temperatures ;)
