I tested this myself with a Quest 3 using Air Link and it worked great! (Previously I was developing on a Rift S and Vive Pro)
Very smooth experience on medium settings on my i9 9900 & 2080ti.
➕New NPC Behaviors➕
Alien now appears from the air in Alien Drop Pod
Alien has projectile fireball attack with VFX
Alien has teleportation defence with VFX
Alien has shield defence ability with VFX
Soldiers now have voices and talk
Soldiers communicate with each other
Soldiers alert each other of nearby enemies
Soldiers throw grenades
Soldiers take cover
Soldier can crouch
Soldiers have improved rifle animations
Wolves eyes glow bright red
Wolves have new fur material
Wolves have new sound fx
Zombies have new melee attack animations and behaviors
Zombies have new sound fx
📈Other New Features📈
Nvidia DLSS now works in VR!
New map locations
New damage materials for crashed helicopter
New music tracks
New sound fx
"No Ammo" indicator when gripping ammo from backpack
AutoStore hint icon appears over items on the ground
🔧Fixes🔧
Fixed multiplayer client removing mags from inventory when grabbed from behind back
BETA TESTING UPDATE 22 NOW - Alien Dawn - 6/26/2024
If you're here from the Steam Summer Sale, I'm the developer of Alien Dawn and I'm currently beta testing a new version of the game.
If you're interested in the game and would like to play this new version, switch to "update-22-preview" in the Steam Betas tab.
Things I'm currently working on:
New NPC A.I. & Behaviors
New NPC Audio
New NPC Animations
New Sound FX
New Music
Updated & Improved Graphics
Difficulty Modes and Balance
If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out to me here or on Discord, thanks!
Xtian
Alien Dawn Update 21
If the last update was about porting the game to Unreal 5, this one is about refining the core experience.
That means improved performance, better motion controls, and a more fluid gameplay loop. Big thank you to everyone on Discord that helped me play-test this version and gave me their valuable feedback (theloneranger, livid, valor_fall, Thayden, WavformVR, ThaAnimalOne, droneattack, Samuri, bootleg, chaunteuse, Nick, and TROJENxxMCDANK).
Big performance improvements (especially in later game segments with many NPC enemies)
New vehicle motion controls
New reload mechanic
New map locations
Added more realistic red dot, holographic, and reflex optics
Added many interactive physics objects
Added visual notifications for full inventory slots
Improved gripping and locomotion
Revised Item Wheel
As always, I love to hear from people playing the game, so please reach out if you want to talk about your thoughts about it.
I hope everyone enjoys the improvements in this new update!
Xtian
Alien Dawn 1.21 Preview - Looking for Play Testers
Hey yall, Xtian here.
I'm close to releasing the next version of Alien Dawn (1.21), which is the first update since releasing the Unreal Engine 5 version, and a lot more has been smoothed out since then.
This update is primarily focused on quality-of-life game play & performance improvements.
The biggest hurdle I've overcome in this update are the multiple solutions I had to find that ensure smooth gameplay throughout each playthrough, in particular on harder difficulties with hundreds of NPCs in the world. I plan to do an in-depth video going over this journey, but for now I want to get this update released.
I've never seen the game play better, but I want to get some more feedback before I release this update.
If you have some time to do this, I would love to hear from you and have your help, just DM on Discord.
X
Alien Dawn | Unreal Engine 5 Update | Out Now
I thought this port from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 was going to take 3 months, maybe 6 tops. It's been exactly a year since I started on this version I'm releasing today.
Why switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5?
There is of course the obvious, better graphics.
But the biggest reason I decided to make the move is because all future updates to the PCVR platform are going to be happening in Unreal 5, and the further I developed down the road of Unreal 4 the more I would have had to backtrack to eventually stay up to date with the latest PCVR features and hardware.
What to expect from this new version?
My original goal was to make a 1:1 port of the latest Unreal 4 version of Alien Dawn (v1.9) to Unreal 5 and then upgrade the game in subsequent updates from there. Because of many of my original design decisions much of the game needed to be revisited to even get working properly, which made upgrading multiple parts of the game a necessity. So, in addition to improved graphics there are a few subtle improvements to the gameplay, specifically in VR.
Aside from the port itself as described above, the secondary goal was to give first time players a better experience through more indicators of what each button and interaction does.
As another part of that choice, I made the opening first Escape Mode mission the same every time to ensure they get a solid experience on their first run. With the game's primary locations being procedurally generated, it was certainly possible that someone's first experience might not have been an optimal one for a new player.
What is next?
I want to keep this simple. My plan is to continue getting feedback from the community to prioritize certain features and make this original Escape Mode as mistake free and exciting as possible before moving onto what is next. Maybe that's 1 or 2 more updates before adding a new mode and major features, or maybe it's more.
Where are we meeting up?
I'm going to do my best to keep the official server online and streaming on my Discord while I'm at my computer.
How to support this project?
If you want to help and support this PCVR project, feel free to reach out to me personally on Discord.
On that note, there's been a lot of people both new and old to this project that have been a huge help already with their support in many ways, so thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.
Xtian
Alien Dawn Unreal Engine 5 | Open Alpha
🗣️ Calling all Escapees!
It's the dawn of a new era.
Alien Dawn is now open for playtesting in Unreal Engine 5!
This is a very early build and there will be bugs and issues to expect, however your help is critical to our goal of successfully bringing the game in to this new era.
PLAYTEST INFO:
TO PARTICIPATE in the developer feedback UE5 playtest, sign into our Discord and please react to this same message in the "news-and-updates" forum using the 👽 emoji.
You'll get access to a channel where we'll notify you when the latest playtest version is released.
We'll be using the "alpha-testing-reports" forum on the Discord for reporting bugs, issues and posting screenshots/captures.
For now, we're only focusing on the desktop version in this initial test phase, tho VR is available and optional.
<3 Thanks in advance to anyone who participates! <3
This is a critical next step for the future of Alien Dawn and its development.
If you have any questions or are having trouble with the playtest, please let us know in "alpha-testing-reports" on our Discord.
As it is the 6th and still less than a week into 2023 I can still say, Happy New Year!
In some exciting news, IndieVR has added Alien Dawn to it's "TOP 20 INDIE VR GAMES OF 2023" list and highlight video. (Alien Dawn is the first up in the video at 1:24)
It's always been one of the goals to have Alien Dawns on lists like this, so I can't say how much I appreciate them for believing in what we are creating. This channel is doing a great thing for VR indie devs by choosing to focus on these handcrafted titles. Please support the channel by taking a look!
I'll also be on the IndieVR podcast in the next week telling an in-depth story about how VoyagerVR and Alien Dawn got started. I'll be posting the link when it comes out.
Unreal 5.1
In terms of game development, it's been decided that the correct move forward was to prepare the game to be ported to Unreal 5.1 and that process has begun.
With the major improvements to the engine and the refactoring of the games code, this will be the correct foundation the game has needed and I can't wait to have it done.
Hope you all are well and please check out the IndieVR YouTube Channel!
Xtian
Alien Dawn | UPDATE 19
Hi All!
bHaptics Support
The most unique aspect of UPDATE 19 is the addition of native bHaptics support. bHaptics is a haptics feedback system that really adds to a high end VR experience, with 40 individual motors in the vest that give the player detailed feedback as to what is happening to their character.
An obvious example is if you're getting shot in the back, only the back potion of the vest will vibrate, giving you better situational awareness of the battle.
What has been really cool for me was incorporating the 40 individual motors into the inventory system. Each inventory item slot on your vest and backpack react to an item being stored with exact motor location on the haptic vest, creating a really unique experience. It's almost like this vest was made to be used with this inventory system.
I plan on doing a video update describing this more in detail soon.
A big thanks goes out to Jen and the team at bHaptics for sending me the dev kit, and djstelo for recommending I contact them.
It's worth mentioning that aside from the free dev kit, I am not being paid to add support for or talk about this device.
Graphical Improvements
I've made some lighting and color changes to Map 1 to address some of the graphics quality issues.
Game Mode Modifiers
Finally there is the addition of Game Mode Modifiers that will allow you to alter various aspects of how Alien Dawn functions. Some of these will be slight game play tweaks to fit your personal preferences, and some will just be goofy fun.
The first of these 3 Modifiers are what I'm calling Arcade Mode. This gives a more action oriented experience for new players so the initial play though isn't as overwhelming, which is still one of the biggest areas of the game I'm trying to improve dramatically.
It's also just fun to run around guns blazing too :)
If you have any ideas for Modifiers let me know, I'm sure we can come up with some fun ones.
Xtian
12/12/2022 (Early Access) v1.19
+ Added Modifiers + Mod + Unlimited Ammo + Mod + Show Location Markers In game + Mod + Gun Slides Cosmetic Only
+ Added bHaptics Vest and Tactosy for Arms Native support + Added 60+ unique bHaptic In Game Events (Some listed below) + Player Stores Item in Inventory (40 Unique Motor Events on Front and Back of Vest) + Player Attaches and Removes Vest and Backpack + Player Shot / Player Slashed / Player Fires Weapon / Player Uses Melee or Punches + Player Hungry (Stomach Rumbles) + Player takes Fall Damage + Player is low on Health (Heart beats) + Player Rumbles when Mothership arrives + Player takes Damage from Mothership attacks + Player gets Revived / Player Uses Health Pack + Player Searches through Backback
+ Added Armor to Players Vest + Added Armor Plate Pickups
+ Added Low Health Event with new FX and SoundFX + Added Fall Damage Event with new FX and SoundFX
+ Revised HUD Player Icons + Revised Scene Color and Lighting on Map 1 for Day and Night
+ Reduced Player Head Shot Damage + Revised Mag Grip Slot size on Guns to help with accidentally Ejecting Mags + Improved reliability of Grabbing Mag out of Backpack with Index Controllers + Increased AutoStore trace size to make storing Items more reliable
+ Increased chance of same type of Mag spawning multiple times + Weapon spawns now spawn compatible Mags instead of duplicate Weapon + Tripled Melee Uses before Broken + Increased Speed necessary for Melee Swing
+ Fixed Swapping Hands with Weapon and Weapon disappearing bug + Fixed bug where storing Weapon while Gripping Stock disabled Gripping Hand + Fixed losing Inventory Slot bug + Fixed Vehicle continuing to drive after broken + Fixed Index and Touch Controller bug where Gripping with Grip could grab Mag out too easy + Fixed Index and Touch Controller bug where Gripping with Grip drop Item after Gripping
