Buck
Still Alive
We've prepared a brief summary of why we went silent:
https://youtu.be/f6iP_AuvR9k
Here's to a productive 2019 and have a Happy New Year!
Yours,
Wave Interactive.
Coming Soon - Revised Dialogue Editor, Mac & Linux Support and More.
It's been an incredibly challenging two months for us since our last update and we wanted to keep you up to date on the latest developments in our little studio.
Upcoming Content and Challenges
As promised on our store page, the following features will be added in the next content and systems update:
- Revised Dialogue System that changes other character behaviors.
- Balancing Difficulty.
- Light Camera Movements for Dialogues.
- Mac and Linux support.
Besides adjusting enemy health pools and adding lots of new items to levels that are severely lacking like The Junkyard and Gutless, most of these new features required us to do something incredibly challenging, mainly upgrading our Unity client to the latest version.
Since ALL of our 55,000 lines of code were written by a single programmer, Unity has always been used as more of a deployment method than anything else.
Our camera, dialogue editor, combat, animation integration with Spriter2D and essentially anything you see in the game was written from scratch.
We don't believe in flipping assets and just buying other game mechanics from the asset store.
We believe that the end result creates a much more unique gaming experience for anyone who players BUCK.
Since we plan to begin porting BUCK to both the PS4 and Xbox One we had to upgrade our underlying Unity framework to the latest version.
This, of course, broke the game. While Amir is working on getting all the systems back to working order, Gal will continue to expand the game world; adding levels, missions and NPC's.
Revising our dialogue system means revising the entire game experience. Since dialogues control the game's progress, any change to that system will inherently change the entire game.
Not to mention that all dialogues will have to be re-animated, positioned and structured.
This is by far the biggest system change we ever had to implement.
The new dialogue editor will be added alongside a complete overhaul to all the current missions and level structure of the game. These are huge changes to the core game experience.
Another major change we want to make is to the way Save Files are handled. Currently, any update we push erases all in-game progress. We want to make sure this will no longer be an issue after the next update so that any update we push in the future will keep all of your progress.
The next update will have to the last to erase all in-game progress because the entire mission structure is going to be re-worked.
Meaning that the first mission you undertake will feature Gutless Gulch and finding Nibbler the Salvager. The reason for that is to unlock the store after one mission, so that you'll have a reason to visit the store and Buck's home before every new mission to stock up on healing items, ammo and even upgrade a weapon or two.
We can't give a solid ETA for the patch at this moment but you can always see us work on the game on our streams or ask us anything whenever you feel like it, we love hearing from you guys ♥
We'll post an update the second we know when the patch is ready for deployment.
While the game is being fixed on Amir's client Gal and Adi are hard at work on adding new levels, characters and cinematics:
Make sure to follow us on any of these so you won't miss a single stream:
This patch will change a lot in the game's code and structure, meaning that any patch after it will be deployed quicker and easier than ever before. We hope you'll hang in there with us and play BUCK when the patch goes live and tell us how all the changes feel.
BUCK has been updated! Introducing Melee 2.0!
Our first Early Access patch is a big one in terms of underlying system design and code. BUCK's entire melee system has been re-made from scratch to support a new way to use weapons, slow motion effects, particle effects and more! Before we continue to add story content, we decided to focus on the core gameplay of BUCK. We strongly believe that the new system will feel much better to use and will look absolutely killer when you dispatch enemies with new and badass moves!
Here is the full list of changes this patch brings to the game:
INTRODUCING MELEE 2.0!
- You will no longer need to switch between your equipped weapons. Use default input W,D on keyboard and Y,B on Xbox Controller to use your top and bottom weapon slots, respectively.
- Buck can now Shoot with his Pistols in both directions.(See tips and combos for more information about Melee and Weapon attacks).
- Reverse fire with the Shotgun.
- Juggle enemies in the air with Melee or Ranged Weapons.
- Dodge mid-combo to reach far enemies and continue fighting.
- Use Melee attacks with ranged weapons without consuming ammo.
- New Guzzler move-set and attack types.Buck will now be able to switch sides during any combo to better attack enemies from two fronts.
- Buck will now be able to switch sides during any combo to better attack enemies from two fronts.
- Swing the Guzzler mid-air.
- Added a new screen shake effect to all of buck's weapon and melee attacks.
- Added the same screen shake effect to all enemy attacks.
- Added impact effects for enemies to better indicate when they are hit and by what. (Ligh flashes for melee, small impacts for pistols and larger ones for the shotgun).
- Added new Muzzle Flashes to Buck's Pistols and Shotgun attacks.
Additional Changes:
- Fixed Keybindings issues.
- Added a new resolution selection panel in the options menu.
- Fixed an issue with Fast-Travel map functionality
- Guzzler has been added to the weapon locker.
- Weapon locker has received some visual updates.
- The pages in Buck's journal have been changed to light-brown color to improve clarity.
- If Buck dies and is pushed into a scene transition, he should no longer re-spawn with 0 HP.
- Buck's angled head texture has been updated (visible when opening inventory, jumping and sliding).
- Buck will now face towards the background more when talking to characters who aren't in his direct line of sight. (Dialogues with Ace and Zack).
- Buck's HUD now displays the current input for both the top and bottom weapon slots.
- Each weapon slot now has it's own rebindable reload key.
- Looting and interacting default key on controller has been changed to "Left Analogue Stick Down".
- Fixed an animation issue that occurred when Buck jumps up instead of forward.
- Buck has received a "nose job" to shorten his muzzle a bit.
- Mouse support has been added to all UI elements.
- Combos Screen has been updated with more information about Shotgun,
- Guzzler and Pistols combos.
- Some Visual tips have been updated for new controller scheme.
- Guns with ammunition and additional healing items have been added to various locations.
- Steam Trading cards, wallpapers and badges have been added to the game. :buckyface: :salvager: :Hyenalol:
As you can see, this patch packs quite a punch! If something broke or if you run into any issues, let us know right here on our Steam forums or on any of the following:
Please keep giving us your awesome feedback and watch yourself out in the Wasteland!
P.S
This is the first time we're patching our game client on Steam so it's possible that in some cases your previous save could be lost. Please let us know if this happens to you on the forums!
Game Dev & Design - Combat Visual Scripting for Melee 2.0 (part 1)
A new Melee Combat Editor
Another episode has gone up and this time Gal covers the initial process of re-making Buck's Melee and Ranged attack from scratch using our brand new Melee 2.0 editor.
As we discussed on a previous update, our goal with the new Melee system is to allow Buck to perform additional combat maneuvers while attempting to remove any inconsistencies some of you faced with damage collisions.
Buck's New Actions
- Shoot both ways with Pistols
- Reverse fire with the Shotgun
- Juggle enemies in the air with Melee or Ranged Weapons
- Dodge mid-combo to reach far enemies and continue fighting
- Use Melee attacks with ranged weapons without consuming ammo
- New Guzzler move-set and attack types
- Fire the shotgun mid-air
- Swing the Guzzler mid-air
- Switching sides to better attack enemies from two fronts
These new moves are only part of what's to come. New weapons will introduce different combat behaviors and we hope that adding enemy types, further down the line, will help us enrich BUCK's core gameplay even more.
Watch the Melee 2.0 Editor at work!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoADj754_A8
P.S
We decided to dedicated the first patch to bug fixes and implementing the Melee 2.0 editor. The upcoming patch will deploy the new system while the next patch will focus on dialogue revamps and additional story content.
Let us know what kind of content you'd like to see covered in future episodes right here or on any of these:
Implementing Your Feedback and Development Progression Videos!
Tune in to GDD
In an effort to try and show you guys how development on BUCK is progressing, we decided to start a video series called "GDD" - Game Dev & Design .
The goal of this series is to convey to you, our backers and customers, how BUCK is being improved and expanded by showing you how we actually go about doing it!
In every video you'll get to see behind-the-scenes footage where BUCK's designer (Gal) takes you through his work while also sharing whatever knowledge he acquired after developing a game for a little over 4 years.
Check out the first episode!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whw-JNatuY0
Let us know what kind of content you'd like to see covered in future episodes right here or on any of these:
Community Feedback Required: Alternative Dialogue System
We've been struggling with this issue internally for some time now.
Before we implement the latest iteration of our dialogue editor in a future patch, we stopped and took a hard look on our current dialogues and narrative flow.
We've been playing around with the idea that Grit the Vulture should narrate all the elements of the story - including dialogues.
Check out this test dialogue video where Grit narrates the encounter replacing the voices of both Buck and Zoe.
We feel that this change can better flesh out the noir roots of the narrative. Giving the whole story a different feel and structure while also giving Buck's character a more mysterious and perhaps even relatable appeal.
If we decide to go for this style, we'll add slight camera movements and additional greyscale effects to make the encounter more cinematic.
We want to hear your thoughts on this issue since this change can permanently alter the current narrative of the game.
p.s
We're hard at work on releasing the new patch and introduce the melee 2.0 system! We're aiming to deploy it next week. Please keep leaving us your awesome feedback so we can continue to improve our title!
Community Feedback Required: Help us name this weapon!
Name: Unknown.
Magazine Size: 7.
Ammunition: 7.62×54mm rimmed rifle cartridge.
Description:
“Like most weapons in the wasteland, this custom-built, versatile sniper rifle serves the particular purpose of it's creator.
Upon closer inspection, it's apparent that a unique mixture of metallic alloys make up the majority of the weapons' build - making it surprisingly light for a higher caliber rifle.
This is the only sniper rifle known to remain viable at close quarters due to a very different approach to it's chambering mechanism - The stock of the weapon is what propels used casings out of the chamber and inserts a new bullet from the magazine. The stock requires a decent amount of force to operate, which is why it's preferable to use your enemies as the counter force.
While it's effective to simply fire the weapon to hit long range targets, reloading it without using an enemy as a counter-force will take considerably longer."
Combat Role:
One rarely hears of a sniper-rifle that's most effective at melee range. That is why this particular weapon can serve a unique role in Buck's arsenal, should you choose to take it with you on your travels in Venganza.
The weapon fires an incredibly strong projectile, penetrating and knocking back the first enemy hit while damaging all enemies that are behind the target for reduced damage.
Using Buck's basic melee combos with this rifle equipped will allow you to hit enemies with the stock of the rifle - which will in-turn place a new bullet in its firing chamber, giving you the option to fire the weapon again.
This rifle should provide you with more control over the battlefield rather than outright damage. It can interrupt long-range enemies while severely damaging those in close range.
It's a new and unique mindset to those who prefer long-rage sniper rifles; to know that the closer enemies get, the deadlier you will become.
We've already received some suggestions from our Discord and Twitter followers, we'd love to hear your ideas as well.
The name we choose will be announced further down the line alongside a credit to all those who participated!
Community Name Ideas:
The Ironsight
The Widowmaker
The Jackalope
The Tombstone
The Beheader
The Headscrewer
The multi-purpose death stick
The Firebarker
The Thundermaker
The Corkscrew
The Sniperpunch
The Shotrifle
You can either choose which ones you like or suggest a new name entirely! All will be taken into consideration.
Please help us grow our community by joining us on your preferred platform:
BUCK on Early Access | Upcoming Content for April - May
We're doing our best to respond to bugs and issues you've encountered on our release build and we'll do the best we can to implement your feedback on our first patch.
So what now?
We thought we'd give you a taste of what's in store for BUCK's Early Access future development schedule. We'll try to provide an in-depth breakdown of our upcoming assignments so you can get a better understanding of what's to come and when you can expect to play it.
What we cover on this update:
- Bug Fixes
- Revising our Melee System - Melee 2.0
- Revising our Dialogue System
- New Enemy Types
- New Story Content
Upcoming Content
BUG FIXES
Bugs are our top priority in any patch we release. They take the blame for any unexpected delays in our development release schedule. That is why we'll do our best to deliver as much content as we can while keeping the game stable and polished.
We're aiming to deploy a patch once every two weeks with varying degrees of changes and content. Some patches might include more narrative content and some might focus on system improvements - what we can assure is that both will have bug fixes and balance changes.
Here are the known issues that we'll attempt to fix over the course of a couple of patches:
- Buck can sometimes drop through floor colliders.
- Attacks made by enemies and Buck do not connect 100% of the time.
- Several tips re-appear where they shouldn't.
- Being pushed by an enemy into a scene transition collider with 0 HP causes Buck to re-spawn with no health.
- Opening the map from Buck's inventory causes the UI to function in unintended ways.
- Cinematics tend to stutter or cause other performance issues.
- The Zipline in Oldtown causes some unintended issues with level transitioning.
- Some monitors and multiple display settings cause the game to not appear properly on screen.
- Ladders need to be easier to grab.
- Fix any additional typos.
- Some users reported an issue with re-binding keys in the options menu.
- Additional Controller Input schemes.
- Storage Box for Buck's Home.
We'd like to give a shout-out and a big thanks to all the following users for helping us improve our game by taking the time to give us their much needed feedback and bug reports:
Judy Hopps
Ctoastmaster
UnderCoverOP
Shadowspeare1
bu11et
mithras
TheNumber_T
Scythe M.D.
Ravemaster99
B. Mash the warrior
Colonel
loladas
Thrai
ksyh05
Ruinous
TyHunter
Archtek_Apoclypse
You guys rock!
REVISED MELEE SYSTEM
BUCK's current melee system is something we've been meaning to change for a while now. Since the melee system affects nearly every major system that's related to direct gameplay (weapon slots, basic game input, combo moves, unlock-able weapons, weapon combinations and UI elements), we need to make sure it runs properly before we can deploy it in an upcoming patch.
Here's a quick breakdown of what we call "Melee 2.0" and what it will change in BUCK:
The first major change is how Buck's weapon slots actually function. Currently, you need to equip a weapon to a designated slot and then, mid-combat, choose what weapon you'd like to fire and press the "fire" key. This causes more micro-management in a game that's already pretty difficult.
The new system changes this entirely, see image below.
The weapon slots themselves will now be bound to pre-determined keys (rebindable on Keyboard and with alternate Input schemes for controllers).
This means that after you're done equipping your desired weapon over at Buck's home - you can press the key that represents their slots to use the weapon in combat.
The second major change that Melee 2.0 will bring is that it should resolve the inconsistency issues that some of how have been experiencing in BUCK's combat. This is due to a complete overhaul of how we treat both the enemies' and Buck's damage output.
Currently we use a system that is tied to the animations of the characters and It looks something like this:
See the green squares on Buck's hands and feet? These are our current damage indicators. The bigger ones are what we use for ranged weapons like the shotgun and revolvers.
Enemies use the exact same system.
Initially, this system allowed us to create units with a wide variety of attack options. In the long-run, it's reliance on animations yielded inconsistent results.
To understand what Melee 2.0 will change, take a loot at the enemy everyone loves to hate ;) the Hyena:
Note the tall squares in-front of him. These colliders serve as "detectors" to tell the AI when Buck is in-range to activate an attack. Based on his distance, the AI changes his attacks from "shoot" to "bite".
We want to utilize this position based principle to Buck's melee and ranged attacks, thereby completely removing the dependency on his animations and focusing on "damage zones" that can be modified even further by weapon attachments (range, number of enemies hit per attack, damage type and more).
This should completely remove any inconsistency caused by the current system and make Buck's damage output feel a lot more structured and precise.
Lastly, the third major change will be to how we display combos in the Tips & Help menu. The new system will cause all combos to take your equipped weapons into account instead of input.
As you can see, this is by no means a small system. It affects many other aspects of the game and so we want to make sure it's working as intended before releasing it.
REVISED DIALOGUE SYSTEM
This is the biggest thorn in our side right now because the current dialogue system severely hampers our narrative expansion progress.
We want to add more variety to dialogues and increase the impact of choices you make in dialogues and the old system is extremely uncomfortable to work with.
Currently, any dialogue is saved in one master file. That means that any change we want to add into the game (like talk to X to get Y and change the following Z objects to something completely else) they are saved on the same file. Having one file per character makes it really difficult to keep track of changes and make any adjustment without breaking the rest of the dialogues that are found on the master file.
This is how Mug's dialogue currently looks:
These are the kind of things that happen when your game becomes a lot bigger than what you initially plan. Having one programmer to code all this takes time, but the game is stable enough for us to make changes to existing systems instead of coding from scratch.
Adding improved UI for Gal to use in the editor is just the first part of optimizing this system. The second part is to separate all dialogues to separate files, which means that if a particular dialogue breaks anything - it will only affect the current dialogue file instead of breaking all of the character's dialogues.
The third and final part of optimization is that Gal would have to re-make all the current dialogues in the game.
That's why we plan to hold a poll and ask you guys a critical question about our narrative delivery. We'll expand on this further down the line as this article is pretty lengthy as it is.
NEW ENEMY TYPES
Melee 2.0 will allow us to add new enemy types!
Surveyors
"They scout the dunes, ever hungry and hidden. Surveying the enemy's weaknesses to fire a single, perfect and fatal shot."
The Surveyors role is usually filled by Lynxes and Coyotes. Hungry for blood, they will soon be joining the Vulture ranks as a new enemy type!
These guys will have a different set of rules for their AI. They will attempt to distance themselves as far as they can from Buck to find safe location to fire from afar.
They have two attack options:
"Fire Crossbow!" - Reload and Fire a Crossbow arrow in a straight line towards Buck's location.
"Coward's Feint." - Quickly stab Buck and roll away for medium distance.
We're pretty certain they will overtake the Hyena's place of honor as our "most-hated enemy". They are quick, evasive and they can deal a lot of damage if left unattended for long.
Firecrackers
"You can hear them laugh in the distance. Once those little bastards get on high-ground, they'll start raining down fire and destruction; making sure everything stays burnt."
The Firecrackers may come in different shapes but they all have one thing in common: size. These little guys will function similarly to the Surveyors AI. They will attempt to distance themselves from Buck and land on higher ground, if they can find any. They throw sticks of dynamite that explode after a short delay, damaging any unit in it's area-of-effect. (enemies included).
They have two attack options:
"Fire, fire fire!!" - Ignite a stick of dynamite and throw it towards Buck's current location. Dynamite explode after 1.5 seconds.
"Jump!." - Quickly jump to a distant location for re-positioning.
We're pretty certain they will overtake the Surveyors place of honor as our "most-hated enemy". :B1:
STORY & CONTENT
Two of our "Coming Soon" locations will be unlocked. One combat mission and a new hub area with brand new NPC's and a Merchant!
The Eastern Dunes and the Hidden Camp
We're still trying to figure out the best methods for adding story content into the game. Since we have a major revamp to our Dialogue System coming up, we do not want to expand on the narrative too much at this point.
The main reason for this is that the dialogues actually move the story forward, which means that any changes that occur in the game are tied to the dialogues.
Once we finalize the new dialogue system, we'll continue to add new levels and story content.
That about wraps it up! We hope you'll join us on this crazy journey and help us polish and refine BUCK to be the best game it can be. You've already done above and beyond by purchasing, playing and giving us your feedback but we hope you'll continue doing so in the months to come.
Watch yourself in the Wasteland!
Early Access Launch Build 1.1.506 Patch Notes
Below is the sum total of what was added into this build during our last two months of development:
<*> Item Crafting - Buck can now craft items from Schematics and Blueprints he finds in the Wasteland.
<*> Weapon Modifications - Buck can now craft and install weapon mods to improve their combat behavior.
<*> Buck can now use Ziplines, which is nice.
<*> Buck's Fast-Travel map has received a visual update.
<*> Buck can now drop items to clear inventory space. Drag items to the bottom slot of his inventory to drop any item.
<*> Fixed an issue with audio colliders not working as intended.
<*> Game Over screen has been removed and is now replaced with a short narration from Grit and a quick respawn.
<*> Added a greyscale shader effect to Grit's narrations.
<*> Updated all tool tips in include visual images as well.
<*> Buck's Journal UI has received a visual update and now has a Schematics and Blueprints sections.
<*> Hideout Location has been added to Buck's Map
<*> Buck's movements play additional equipment sounds
<*> Crafting Tables have been added to all levels to allow crafting during missions.
<*> All mission levels have increased in length by at least 60% and now have branching paths.
<*> All levels have received additional visual effects such as mist and foreground objects.
<*> Added additional Tips for both the Weapon Locker and Crafting Stations.
<*> Added a new cinematic.
<*> All healing items now stack to up to 4 before requiring a new inventory slot
<*> Enemies now drop loot that is based on drop-rate chances.
<*> All enemy spawns now draw from a pool of pre-determined enemies and skins. This should create a more organic feel to combat encounters.
Get ready to see a lot of bug fixes on the next update. Let us know what broke on the Steam forums and on our Discord Server
BUCK - A Year in Review
June 23rd - July 23rd 2016 | BUCK returns to Kickstarter!
After a long and arduous journey to keep BUCK alive after our first Kickstarter attempt in 2014, we managed to hold it all together and re-launch our Kickstarter campaign with a playable demo! The demo launched with the level of Oldtown and absolutely no melee combat. We've managed to add the first iteration of the melee combat system during the actual Kickstarter, which was quite challenging, to say the least. And thanks to all of you guys, we made it this time! ♥
July 23rd - August 23rd | BUCK debut appearance in gaming conventions
Taking a short break after an intense month on Kickstarter, we found ourselves being invited to local gaming industry events. We've met a lot of new fans, players and other indie developers who've heard of the Kickstarter and were eager to give BUCK a shot. The experience of hosting a booth in gaming conventions was very important for us since we've got some big and popular conventions to attend in 2017 (More on that in our next update).
August 23rd - September 26th | Kickstarter Early Access Build goes live!
All of the backers who chose to receive the Early Access build for BUCK got their game keys! Your feedback on our forums was and still is fantastic. We try to improve the game in every update we deploy and we couldn't have possibly done it without you!
This build added two completely new areas (Junkyard and Gutless Gulch) with a new mission to set out and find the illusive Nibbler the savager.
We've tested the combat items feature alongside a new UI for the Fast-Travel system. All the new additions can be seen in our short video overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR6xV7gw74A
September 26th - October 24th | Even more game updates and conventions
As development continued we've started adding some of your pets into the game! Making these is perhaps one of the most rewarding things we got to do as designers. Taking you pets personality and trying to adapt it into a single character is extremely challenging, but it's also really fun.
Alongside backer pets making the way into the game we've also added Elevators and Switches to our existing levels, a feature we plan to rely on much more in newer levels.
We've also participated in Microsoft's own local gaming conference called "GameIN" Where thousand of players came to play the latest games and experience a multitude of Indie titles, with BUCK garnering lots of attention and positive feedback.
We've also started working on the new Town Hub level called Deadwood.
October 24th - November 30th | Early Access updates, backer pets and pre-orders
We deployed the second major update to the Kickstarter Early Access build and added a ton of new UI features, game balance tweaks and even more backer pets.
All in-game interactions used a text UI that was completely replaced with icons:
We've also added the initiate test of the Weapon Locker System hat will allow the player to manage his weapon slots when additional weapons are introduced in 2017:
November 30th - December 31 | Shop functionality
Due to some delays that arose from our previous build, adding the shop into the game took longer than expected. The good news is that we'll have it in-game by the end of this week.
We're also working on a new trailer and additional cinematics to release with our Steam Early Access launch:
2017 is going to be a big year for BUCK. We plan to reach Steam Early Access near the end of February. By then we're hoping to have the weapon customization and crafting systems up and running. We'll roll out one last Kickstarter Early Access update with these systems to get your feedback on them before BUCK is finally made playable for everybody on Steam.
2016 was one heck of a ride and 2017 is shaping up to be one amazing year for us. We couldn't have done it without you! Thank you for supporting our dream and for helping BUCK make it so far into it's development.
Sincerely,
Gal, Amir, Adi and Bucky.