The main purpose of this build is to get feedback on the new cat mechanics. I’ve purposefully left out the fate of DOG and Android 42 as well as the ending of Signals because I need to keep some suspense for the final release.
Update/Fixes
The Signals level has been significantly expanded. There’s some story centric pieces missing (Like dialog) but the general layout is in place.
The controls for the cat character have been completely rebuilt from scratch. They aren’t perfect but they’re ready for testing.
Community voice acting added for Androids 520, 220, 32, 34, 128, and 481
Camera sway on the main-main level is fixed. The menu is now a lot easier to interact with.
Audio adjustment throughout the whole game.
Added location and altitude to chapter overlay to help with the story.
Development
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
The fate of DOG and Android 42
Menu Redesign
Detail meshes added to Signals
Dialog added to Signals
Ending of Signals
Optimizations (always)
I should also have some VR footage very soon but I’ll post that in the VR thread when it is ready.
Community
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
I’ve added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
Support
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
Hot Fix 2.0.4 (3D Menu)
VR Plugins Disabled
Unfortunately in the last update I left the Oculus libraries and SteamVR API plugins enabled. I've been doing a lot of work with VR lately and forgot to disable them. Most users wouldn't have noticed but if you had Oculus Home or SteamVR installed it was most likely causing a headache so I wanted to patch it as quickly as possible.
Community Screenshot Challenge
This is also a good time to have an impromptu community event. I've been trying to update the store front's media (Trailers, screenshots, banners, etc...) and I thought it would be interesting to have a competition to try and get some unique screenshots.
Awards: Best screenshot gets an in-game achievement.
Top 5 screenshots will receive a free activation key.
Lol, I realize you already own the game if you're taking screenshots but it's one of the few things I have to offer.
Rules: No post processing added
No Photoshop
No taking screenshots of superior games and posting them here. I don't care how good Witcher 3 looks.
When you think you have a good one, post it to the community screenshots and comment here (preferably with a link). If you want to use a past screenshot that is fine too.
If you have an Nvidia card you'll have a leg up on the competition with Ansel. If you're using AMD there is similar spectator system you can use in-game by pressing 'O'. It's still a work in progress so you will have to use the console command "restart" to exit the mode.
I will NOT use your screenshot on the store page unless you give me permission (I count your comment here as permission). I'll decide the winners in the next update (~1 week). The updates are going to start coming a lot faster from now on.
As the player base you also reserve the right to rise up and declare your own winners but we'll deal with that when it happens :)
Update 2.0.0 (Achievements)
Update Notes:
Voice Acting - You now how the option to switch between voice acting and subtitles at the main menu. Thank you to all the community members who submitted voice acting for the game. If you don’t see your submission in the game yet I’m still processing the audio files and it will be in the next update.
Destructible meshes - The rock animations for opening up new cave sections was awful. They’ve all been replaced with destructible meshes that your grav lift can blast through. Really interested in feedback on how to make this even better.
Music - Rebuilt the music system to be more dynamic in terms of what song plays when. Should help a lot with ambience.
DOG’s Light - I’ve doubled its effective distance, thanks to optimizations in other areas, and added an IES profile to make it look a little better.
Rock collisions on The Surface are fixed. That’s right, everyone one of them is literally perfect. The collision for those meshes are now based on individual triangles. No matter how much the rock has been scaled up you should be able to climb in every nook and cranny without a problem.
Loading screen - Not very exciting but worth mentioning.
Ansel screen capture added (More on this at the bottom).
Dozens of smaller fixes, Dog’s HUD corrected, DOG’s sensor ability now tied into the flashlight, adjustments to level indicators, timing on speeches, audio volumes, trigger box adjustments, Android interactions, Surface lighting sharpness, landing particles, rock textures, push physics, flashlight added to player android, etc...
If you haven’t been keeping up with the beta branch the game is definitely worth another play-through from the beginning.
Achievements:
Achievements have been added!!! There is an achievement for each level but I also added a number of additional ones based on unique areas in the game to encourage exploration. There are also a few pertaining to easter eggs. I plan on adding a lot more so if you have any requests I’d love to hear them.
On this note I also plan on adding stats. This isn’t really the traditional type of game that stats would matter but right now I’m dependent of forum posts and playthroughs on YouTube to figure out where I messed up. So in the next update not only will your government and every social media site be collecting information on you, but I will too.
Environments:
Almost every environment has been revamped. From very slight changes, like the direction of the SkyLift (Thanks LigH), to massive expansions in The Caves. The Base has some optical illusions that should help convey its size and The Mine needed a little more atmosphere and light work.
Story:
I had to tweak the story a little to reconcile an issue I’ve had since the beginning. If your sensor detects bacteria or “life” it should light up for every single instance of bacteria on the walls of the cave. This turned out to be essentially impossible to do because of the number of draw calls. I think the new “mission” fits a little better but as always I’d love your feedback on it.
To-Do:
Cut scene at the end of The Caves (what happens to DOG and Android 42).
Signals - Control Mechanics. I’ve been watching all the playthroughs on YouTube and it’s painfully apparent I messed up the control mechanics here. When the cat jumps it gets an additional force based on the direction you’re looking. Looking up gives the cat the highest jump while looking horizontal gives the cat its furthest jump. I thought that by adding the crates at the beginning it would force the player to learn this but it didn’t work the way I thought it would. That is the main road block in finishing Signals.
3D Menu - This will rid the game of everything 2D. I should have something to show in the next week but, beyond fulfilling a lifelong dream of a 3D menu, this is essentially the last piece needed to implement VR.
Optimizations (always) - You probably don’t hear this much from Early Access titles but I’ve tried to be good about optimizations from the very beginning. I’ve made few changes to how some of the dynamic lights work so you should see improvements in frame rates throughout the entire game as well as the notorious frame drops inside the elevators. I’d still like to do one more purge of the system and combine/replace as many textures as I can. This won’t make as big of a difference as past purges but each one counts.
Ansel
Ansel screen capture allows you to take all kinds of screenshots (Super Resolution, Add Post Processing, and 360 Capture). It will eventually replace the spectator option but for now it is just experimental. I’m in the process of getting white-listed by Nvidia but until then you’ll need to go through a few extra steps to get it working. For more information go HERE. There hasn't been any negative reports in the beta but I have not personally tested this with and AMD card so if there is a problem just report it in the forums and I'll push a quick-fix.
VR
First off, thank you for your patience with this. There are two things I’ve been struggling with when implementing VR: How to handle the menu and implementing motion controllers.
The menu is going to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks. I honestly have no good excuse for hesitating on it this long. Similar to the subtitles, there are some obscure limitations inside UE4 when interacting with a 2D UI in 3D space and the idea of building a system from scratch seemed enormous. Those days are over and I’m very confident this new menu system will work.
The gameplay was another issue. Originally the game supported only Oculus with a gamepad because that’s literally all I had to develop with. Playing with motion controllers totally changed how I viewed VR and I really wanted to integrate that into the game but didn’t know how. The plan moving forward will be to stick with the original control scheme: sitting/standing VR with movement controlled by the keyboard or gamepad with one possible exception I’d really like your input on:
I want to change the last level for VR users from controlling a cat to controlling an android with the motion controllers. This would make an interesting dynamic in the community because VR users and normal users would have to share their experience to get the complete story. The VR DLC will be free so you can always go play Signals in 2D. This way you aren’t being denied content or being penalized for using VR and we have some wiggle room to design the last level specifically for VR users. At least that’s how I view it but I’d really like to know what you think. This could totally be an awful idea.
Community
Sorry, but we ran out of animals to DNA test for the community events. Instead, I contacted a shelter I worked for and we, the community, are sponsoring 5 dogs. For those of you who haven’t worked in a shelter, it is extremely difficult to get older dogs adopted (anything past puppy status is an older dog). To try to help with with that we’re paying the vet fees and adoption fees for some of the dogs that haven’t had much luck. For now I’ll just tell you their names, ages, and breeds:
BoJangles - 4 y/o Male Shepard Mix
Sis - 3 y/o Female Pitbull/Shepard Mix
Foggy Nelson - 4 y/o Male Terrier Mix
Slim Jim - 2 y/o Male Rat Terrier
Roxy - 2 y/o Female Doberman Mix
This will obviously be a recurring theme whenever I get updates. I’ll keep the community informed on their status and we should have some videos of them coming soon.
As always,
Thanks again for everything,
:ionizedgames:
Update 2.0.3 - 11 March 2017
Fixed a collision issue preventing the player from enabling subtitles at the start.
Fixed a bug with Android 42 not continuing through mine when using subtitles as well as interacting with drones (Thanks LigH).
Added 3D Menu!!! It isn't perfect but I thought it was better to get feedback on this as quick as possible. Please let me know if you run into any bugs or annoyances with this.
I realize this .gif sucks but it gives you the idea.
I'm going to try to start pushing updates every week.
To-Do
- Signals Details.
- Menu redesign
- Android 42's navigation around destructible meshes.
- Scaling first person camera movement (VR).
- Adding Community Voice Acting
Don’t be deceived by the title this is more of me trying to get your opinion than an update. I was hoping to get this out yesterday but Colorado has had some pretty crazy winds the last couple days (100+mph) and the internet has been in and out. I’ll go over the update notes, Community, and then a little bit about development. I’d love to get your input on any of it.
Update Notes:
Android 42’s textbox problem has been resolved using a priority type system. Thanks for all the community help on this. It’s also ready for voice acting to be added back in (see community section).
Linux brightness bug has been fixed by adjusting the auto-exposure. If you still encounter problems try setting the post processing quality to 0 in the menu.
Screen resolution can now be set above 100% to 120%.
‘E’ has been removed as a default menu button.
Debug Viewmodes have be enabled in the dev tab. This will help troubleshoot frame drops.
Fur material added to Cat character.
Box mission on the surface only has 1 box. This was never meant to be a time sink. Finding one box gets the message across about what your sensor can do.
Improved level transitions and adjusted DOG’s speed per level.
Android 42’s dialog has been slightly extended.
Signals is now available to play test. Mainly to test the optimization and control mechanics.
Android 42 now has IK foot placement so we’re now officially competing with Uncharted 4 for game of the year.
Community - Voice Acting Anyone?
All the dialog has been written and I’m ready to start adding the voice acting back in. I originally planned to do all the Android voice acting but a few people have offered their voices to make the Androids a little more unique. If anyone else is interested in helping out I’ve created a document with all the different dialogs here.
You can comment on the document with which Android you want to voice. You can also comment on changes to the dialog if you think something better would fit. It doesn’t matter as long as the core message doesn’t change. Also, feel free to add your own personality to them.
The only rules:
Allow a few seconds of silence before and after you talk so I can get a noise profile.
DON’T do any editing yourself. Don’t normalize it, don’t add effects to it, and don’t try to take the background noise out of it.
The only way this crazy experiment could possibly work is if I edit all the audio the same way. If you do want to help out please send your dialog in a .wav format to contact@ionizedgames.com
It doesn’t matter if you send it all as one file or if it’s stereo/mono. I can handle all that on my end. You can also send me multiple versions of a dialog or do multiple Androids if you want. The only android you can’t do is 42. Sorry.
The format of the google doc is:
*Android’s #*
*Statement 1*
*Statement 1*
*Statement 2*
Any time there is a line it indicates a new dialog box. A good way to get an idea of the spacing is by watching the first two androids talk.
Payment:
I cannot pay you money. Sorry, this is about as “indie” an operation as it gets. What I can do is give you keys, give you credit, and promote whatever you want (as long as it isn’t offensive (whatever that means (now we’re real deep in parenthesis))). The “credits” in this game will be an interactive level you can walk around. The reason for this is 2D scrolling text sucks and a lot of the credit of this game goes towards assets that were purchased on the Unreal Marketplace and I want to give the creators proper credit for that (run on sentence).
Here’s an example of what Luo’s cave section will look like. You obviously do not have to give me any information you don’t want to and I won’t post anything you don’t specifically give me permission to. If you don’t feel comfortable posting any information I could always just use a nickname a picture of one of your pets. It’s totally up to you.
Development
I can’t say whether I’m developing good or not but I hope that I’ve at least been honest and open about issues and progress. I’m trying to give you as much of an incomplete story as I can without ruining it at the end. It might seem weird now but I promise the Androids, the caves, the cat will all come together in the end. I know development is taking a lot longer than expected so thank you for sticking with me.
Just to give you some idea of where we are:
The layout of the cave is about 90% and you have access to the whole thing. All that remains as far as static environment is just touchups and detail meshes on the last cavern. The last major thing that’s needed is what I’ll call for now an “event”. The complexity of that event is about the same as the opening sequence but you can’t see it until it’s done. It’s taking longer than I thought because I’m trying to get some destructible meshes for Houdini (sigh...).
You now have access to Signals to test to movement mechanics of the cat and how well the level is optimized and lit. Signals is about 60% complete. What’s remains to be done is audio dialog (you won't interact with the characters like you do as DOG).
I’ll keep posting a major update ~once a month but I’ll post to the beta about everyweek. You can access the beta by right clicking CAT Interstellar in your steam library >> Properties >> BETAS tab >> Select beta1 in the drop down. I’ve removed the password so anyone can access it.
VR
I have mixed feeling about VR. Part of me wants to stick to the original plan of the VR origin being DOG (first person) and using a gamepad or mouse/keyboard for movement. The other part of me thinks we can do better. I’m not sure which will win out but I’d love to know what control types you like.
One of the things I’m concerned about in VR is the time it takes to beat the game. Personally I usually get burned out and a little nauseous after ~30 minutes. I know this is just my own experience so I’m really curious what it is like for the rest of you. Have any of you played Allumette or Obduction? What did you think?
P.S.
This might be a little cheesy but would you have a problem with cursing in this game? This isn’t supposed to be a kids game but it also isn’t some gory mess. Maybe it’s because I just discovered Rick and Morty but if a cave is literally collapsing around you it’s likely you would at least mumble “damnit” to yourself. This is just something I came across while writing the dialog and I’m interested in what you think.
Thanks again for everything,
:ionizedgames:
Linux Support (V1.9)
First
As Always, thank you for all your support through this project. I’ll give the details about the current update, an update on development, and another community key give away.
Update 1.9
Full Linux support* *until proven otherwise.
I’ve traced down every build error and shader issue. The game currently runs as well on Linux as it does on Windows.
All Linux testing was done on:
Ubuntu 16.10
Using Nvidia proprietary driver 367.57
Intel Core i5-3570k
With a Nvidia 750 gtx
If you are a linux user and you have the free time please go Here and let me know your system specs and whether the game is running properly.
Graphics/VFX:
Volumetric lighting
Vertex Painting
Particle effects for walking/running
Gameplay:
Camera rotation lag added – This will make movement even more fluid and provide a buffer when running into objects.
Elevator Transition worked on – It now actually raises or lowers based on where you’re heading.
Android 42 will follow you through all cave levels - Android 42’s navigation seems to be working good but if you find a problem please let me know.
Android 42 got a flashlight.
Menu:
Added Dev tools tab to options menu to help troubleshoot future bugs.
Level Design:
Re-worked the surface to make it more intuitive and encourage exploration.
Filled in dead zones with events and more environments. I’m deliberately not being specific about this.
Decals in the base make directions easier.
Placement of generators in the Mine level are placed “less arbitrarily” with more support around them.
Story:
I rewrote most of the dialog to make the story much easier to follow. You’re going down into un-explored caves with Android 42 to see if you find anything weird. All the back/side story is still inherently in the game but, it isn’t crammed into the core dialog sequences.
The Mine level has been flushed out with Android 42 walking you through to the generators.
Android 42 has been added to the Caves and there is even a testing area for his navigation.
Bug fixes:
Music not looping on Surface level.
Fixed the fullscreen bug.
Screen settings will stick from the intro level to DOG.
Assorted holes in the map
Development:
“Signals” is still not done. I’m hoping to at least open it up to the beta branch for testing by next week. I sincerely apologize for this taking so long. Lack of content is, without a doubt, the #1 complaint. I’ll give you more details on why exactly it’s taking so long when I release it to the beta branch.
I have also tried to stick to a bi-weekly update scheme without much luck. The situation that arose this time was Linux. Why release a build when you could fix a few shader issues and release to Linux at the same time? Now that Linux works it's two weeks later and you need you need another week of double time to stay on schedule. It's an organizational problem I'm trying to get better at.
I've already gotten feedback on a beta build I pushed last night so I'll aim to release a hot-fix of some minor issues by Friday of next week. I'm going to try to stick to bi-weekly updates until release. When's release? I think the best guesstimation for a release date is a month after "Signals" is released. The game really isn't that long. Space, Base, Surface, Caves, Earth, Space, Done.
Community:
Originally, I was going to do another “find the cat” giveaway since I moved her to a more appropriate place but it’s a little too obvious. Instead, I’m going to try to get your ideas on how to handle a problem with Android 42’s text boxes.
In order to get this update out I did what any good programmer would do and brute forced a solution. You can find all the details about it HERE.
To get a key go there, leave a comment, solution, inspiring quote, whatever you want.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO PROGRAM. The problem is a logical one. There’s literally dozens of ways to solve it I just thought it would be interesting to see what you all came up with.
Once we decide on a solution I’ll give everyone a key (Once Chazz shows up with the solution).
Once again, The post is HERE.
Also, let me know what you think of these community things. I don't know if they're cheesy or not. Do you want more?
TLDR;
Signals is not done but the game is worth another play through.
Edit:
Almost forgot about VR!!! The awesome people at Epic games sent me Vive and a Rift to develop on. I have to spend this month focusing on content but holy cow the Vive is incredible. I can't wait to get it working with CAT Interstellar. I'm racking my brain on how to implement the motion controllers. If you have any ideas or examples of games that did it right I'd love to hear about it.
Android’s Text Box Problem
First off
If you don’t know how to program you can still help. This can be thought of strictly as a logical problem.
There are dozens of ways to solve this problem. I just thought it would be really interesting to see what you all thought. Just leave a comment here or start a thread if you want to get crazy. I'll hand out keys to everyone when we decide on a solution.
The Problem
Android 42’s dialog text box is a little different than the other Androids. In the game I use overlapping volumes to update Android 42’s text. When he overlaps one of these cubes it sends a message containing what new lines to show (string array). His text box is then closed (destroyed) and rebuilt/resized based on the number of lines he receives and their length. When a text box is updated it is automatically opened. This is to ensure he says things at the right time.
The Delay
When the texbox is updated it is automatically assigned a delay. This is to ensure the player has time to read the text before it disappears. Currently it is set to 6 seconds (6s) per line. In other words, 6s for each element in the array. The length of each line doesn't matter***.
The two ways to update and open the text box are by overlapping one of these boxes or when the player interacts with him (left mouse click).
The problem occurs when you want to send him a new text box but the count down delay has already been activated from a previous box. If he is sent a message with one line (6s delay) and then 5s later he is sent another message with a 6s delay the box will close 1s after the text box for the second message opens. Effectively opening an updated text box for 1s (You might experience this bug in the current game).
This happens most often when the player interacts with Android 42 right before he is triggered by another box.
The Fix
Being the professional Programmer I am, I created a very simple (but temporary) fix for this.
Here's the original delay: When the Android is triggered you are given a delay time and regardless of what happens you will close your text box.
Now here's the (TEMPORARY) fix: Scenario 1 (perfect scenario):
A message arrives and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. When that delay is complete it checks to see if another message has arrived before it's done. If not (delay 2 is FALSE), it completes it's task and closes the text box.
Scenario 2 (OMG!!!):
A message is received and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. Before delay 1 is complete another message is received and is assigned the "delay 2" branch. When the first delay branch finishes It checks to see if a second delay was received. If so, it will also take that branch and activate the second delay before ultimately closing the text box. This effectively adds the delays.
Like I said, It isn't pretty but it works for the most part. One bad thing is that the delays are constantly counting down in the background. Eventually they will close the text box and it might not be the best time. You can also only handle 2 delays. You could put another branch or twenty but I'm curious what else you think of.
Rules:
You CANNOT reject or delay a message. When Android receives updates he MUST accept them and immediately display them.
Similarly, You CANNOT "save" messages to display later.
You CANNOT change, add, subtract, pause, or alter a delay in any way once it has been started (you CAN ignore it when its done though).
You CAN close a message early.
You CAN add as many branches as you want.
You CAN break delay times up (e.x. 10 delays of .2 seconds Vs. 1 delay of 2 seconds).
You CAN literally do anything and we can rewrite the code but if we keep these rules it will make it a lot easier to insert .wav (voice acting) later.
Sorry "Signals" isn't done yet.
***
The delay could be based off the number of total characters and you could even add additional time for each '_' to account for complete words. It's actually pretty interesting. That's not the problem though.
There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (Update 1.8.2)
Update 1.8.2
This is a smaller update dealing with the transition from the Mine to the Cave along with some generic bugs like the text box audio not being attenuated. If you’ve already played through the current build, there isn’t much new so I wouldn’t recommend playing through again until the next update.
I’m going to hold off on pushing the rest of the cave system until the next update. It’s really important to me and I want to have it at least to the same detail as the base and surface. Android 42s navigation is working really good. There’s a slight jolt when he switches from walk to run but otherwise coming along nicely. Lastly, we should have a linux version with the next patch (shaders are fixed!!!).
Level Design
Got rid of the red barrier before the elevator on the surface and replaced it with locked doors (it isn’t as cheesy).
Similarly, the door to the elevator in the base is now locked until you go to the lab to get briefed on the mission. This should help with the story a little bit.
The Mine level now requires you to activate 4 generators before the collapse. The start of the cave system now has sections of the SkyLift hanging down.
Community
If you should have received a key for any of the contests just email me at contact@ionizedgames.com
I tried to friend people and hand out keys that way but sometimes I couldn’t get a response.
I also want to thank everyone for hanging around this long and helping to troubleshoot the game. When I push the level “Signals” things are going to get a little darker. This isn’t a horror game but, they are trying to fundamentally alter a planet and there’s no such thing as a free lunch…
We copy your venting (Update 1.8.1)
Update 1.8.1
This isn't a huge update but I want to get back in the routine of pushing what we have roughly every other week. There's a lot of little things like grammatical errors and objects in weird places that we fixed but most of the dev time was spent on events, VR, and Android 42's movement.
Level Design
The Surface level now requires you to complete the SkyLift mission before continuing into the mine. In most playthroughs on youtube (because I literally watch them all) players go straight to the mine. We generally try not to force players to do stuff but seeing the SkyLift on the surface is almost mandatory to connect the opening scene with the one in the mine.
We also improved the transition between the mine and cave. This still has a lot more work to be done but it's better. In the next update you'll meet Android 42 in the mine. His pathfinding is coming along really well.
VR
I wanted to give you a quick update on how this is going. The DLC and branches (everything on the Steam side) is working good. The one problem we're dealing with is the auto resolution opening in full screen mode. Instead of wasting more time tracking this down I'm going to rip the whole thing out for the VR version and hardcode the resolutions in. We obviously won't be participating in the Steam VR sale until this is up and running.
Community
Last update we had a challenge to guess the genetic makeup of our dog Ziggy.
Here's the answer:
Thanks to everyone who played.
For this update I've got another one - Some of you might not know this but there is a cat in this game. Not a "CAT" but a real feline animal that lives in the base. If you can find her post a picture to the in the community screenshots (F12 while in-game) and I'll give you another key. Just comment here when you think you found her.
Hint: "She mainly stick to the air ducts where the O2 concentration is higher".
Okay, stand by, 13. We’re looking at it.
V1.8 Update
Thank you for sticking with us while we fixed a few things. Here are the update Notes:
Environments
Levels The Base and Mine environments have been expanded into their own levels. The environments are one of the stronger aspects of CAT Interstellar and the Base and Mine just weren’t up to snuff. We also hated the idea of confining the player to long corridors of dialog. Now the game if much more open and you can explore the world as you please. There are no mandatory quests and only about 30 seconds of mandatory dialog at the very beginning. After that you’re free to play the game and dig into the backstory as much as you like.
HUD IT WORKS!!! If you’ve been following this game since the start you know this is something we’ve wanted from the beginning and we have finally got it working (Dead Space clone here we come). You now have a 3D HUD for the temp, speed, and boosts left. The importance of the temp gauge will be explained later in the story.
Atmosphere We added close to a 100 times more dynamic lights and objects. This is something we wanted from the beginning and were finally able to do by breaking the levels up. We also changed the “grab” function to grab vertices and free the rotation. This makes interaction a little more fluid.
Menu:
Supports custom resolution.
Key rebinding!!!
AutoDetect resolution on start up.
Improved interface and responses.
Added a Dev Tab.
Game Size:
Decreased from ~7.5Gb to ~4.3Gb We made massive optimizations to the game in terms of file size. This was mainly due to reusing detail normal maps. Every model in the game has a normal map and most items had a detail normal map. Now we’re using the same detail normal for almost everything. We also atlased the textures we use most often. This won’t just effect download size but also decrease the number of draw calls and load times for levels. This should give an across the board boost to frame rates.
Androids
Animations The Androids now actually look like they’re talking. They also walk around the environments with various dialogs. This isn’t Elder Scrolls: Oblivion but it should be a little more immersive. The environments have also been flushed out with a lot more Androids. The new dialog system lets us place and edit Androids a lot faster than before.
Dialog The voice acting has been replaced by dialog boxes. This is a pretty big change to the original design and I really want to know what you think of it. There are a few reasons we switched to this:
Translations are now possible since we’re dealing with text files.
This works effectively as subtitles for VR - The default UE4 subtitles system does not (and probably will never) support VR.
Since the beginning we always had a little heart burn about the androids "talking" to DOG. We originally just hand-waved this and said DOG's pitch modulator wasn't working so they had to use audio channels. Not that the androids would be incapable of speaking English but they would most likely communicate over radio waves. This dialog system sort of emulates that. Give it a run through and let me know what you think.
VR
The original idea was to allow the player to swap between 2D and VR seamlessly in the game. What we didn’t expect was how poorly this would work with SteamVR. The solution for this is to separate the conventional build and the VR build using DLC. I know we said we wouldn’t have DLC but this is a little bit of a different situation and it will obviously be free. This should be coming this weekend or early next week.
DOG
Added DOG’s sensor back into the game.
Added animations for jumping and landing.
Added 3D HUD.
Improved interaction logic.
Added toggle sprint.
Development
The obvious elephant in the room is how long it took us to push an update. If you haven’t read our previous announcement about what went wrong, you can find it here. I understand that even with a single developer working on the game this is simply unacceptable. We’ve implemented source control and switched from Trello to a similar in-engine note system. These things wouldn’t have prevented the bug that shut us down but they will most certainly prevent delays in the future. With this new build I hope to be able to push updates as frequent as I have been on the beta branch (average 3.5 days since June 5th). The Dev tab will also make it easier to get more information about bugs in the future.
Community
Lastly, and at the risk of ending up on Reddit as the most unprofessional indie dev ever, I thought we could play a game. We obviously make a lot of cat and dog references and I just got the DNA test back for our dog Ziggy. Here’s the pie chart of the breeds that came together to make him.
If you can correctly guess atleast 3 of the 6 I’ll give you a free copy of the game. Just post a comment of what 3 breeds you think he has and I’ll message you with a key if you’re right. Here is a few more pictures to help you out.
Hint: He doesn't have a drop of German Shepard.
Houston, We Have A Problem
At this point it doesn’t look like we are going to get the update out in May or the full release in June. Instead of a vague delay notice I wanted to try to explain where we are in development and what problems we are facing.
There were 3 major upgrades decided and 2 major problems because of them:
Upgrade DOG animations and provide an informational 3D HUD – Complete.
Break up the levels and stream them – Complete but caused April’s update to be delayed.
Upgrade Androids animations and AI – Complete but has a bug straight out of hell.
Reason for the changes
The original idea was for these monitors to carry a lot of the backstory:
The problem with this is a lot of the concepts just can’t be explained on a 2D flipboard monitor. One of the big ones was the purpose of the skylift. It isn’t just an elevator but a generator. When it is night (farthest side from the sun) the skylift payload has the gravity from both the planet and the sun so it “falls”. When you swing back around the gravity from the sun pulls the weight back out into space. They are essentially harvesting energy from the rotation of the planet. They then use the energy from this skylift (and 1000s of others on Mars) in an attempt to reignite the planets core. This is why they are having all the earth quakes. Explaining how the stutter assembler collapses wave functions on a quantum level is another big one.
Because of this we decided it would be best to revamp the environments as well as the android animations With more freedom to edit the environments we were able to make that information a lot more optional. You won’t be confined to long hallways of dialog anymore but instead you’ll have the option to go check out the communications room or Laboratory and see what the androids are working on.
Environments:
The levels are now broken into much smaller chunks that are streamed as you play. This allows us to create much more complex scenes because it decreases the time it takes to build the lighting. To give you an idea the first level in the current build contains the base, surface, and mine. Building lighting for the map alone takes about 16 hours. Lighting has to build if any static mesh is moved or edited. The current version splits it into 3 levels with the base taking 6 minutes to build lighting, the surface taking 6 hours, and the mine taking 3 minutes. The load times to start the game are also drastically decreased.
Problem with Environments The original idea was to release an update each month regardless of how much or little progress was made. Splitting the levels completely broke this because they all needed to be stitched back together.
Animations
To do this we added almost 100 additional animations to the androids and completely redesigned the animation blueprint used. This allows for much more diverse actions and movements that are a lot more fluid. Whether working at a station or pointing out an area of interest the Androids should be a lot more immersive.
Problem with animations You’ll notice the android model is not that same. Mid-April we started consolidating these animations and producing a blueprint to handle all of them. Those assets were then migrated into the main project thus creating the saga of a very elusive bug.
We haven’t been able to nail down exactly what is causing it mainly because of the nature of these animations. They aren’t compiled so the debugger is useless. The “Android_C” (the character you know as Android) compiles without any errors, warnings, or indications. On top of that the errors don’t present themselves in the editor or in a stand-alone build of the game but only the published version. That’s why we didn’t catch it until recently.
Conclusion
Because of this we are going to push the release date into August. It is still possible we’ll be able to get this latest update out this month and I’ll update this post once we get the kinks worked out. I know that Steam Early Access games don’t have the best track record for completion. Because of that I wanted to try to explain exactly what the situation is both out of respect for your support but also because it’s very hard that we haven’t been able to share our progress with you. I believed in this project from day 1 and I still do. Rest assured that even if there are hiccups in development we are still 100% committed.
Lastly (and as always), we love to get your feedback in the comments regardless of whether it’s good or bad but if you want a response please start a thread in the forums. It gets very messy very quickly to try to respond inside the announcement.
Thank you again for the support and feedback,
:ionizedgames:
Update May 26:
The project has been successfully purged of all the contaminated assets. The Android has been completely rebuilt and is working perfectly. Next step is to carefully bring the animation assets back in and rebuild the animation blueprint.
Update June 1:
Rebuilding materials for Android so his face flashes when he talks. We've tried to "tie" it to the amplitude of the audio file so it's timed up correctly with his speech. Unfortunately we've yet to find a way to reference .wav files for amplitude. More to come.
