Hello everyone!
I'd like to give you a quick view of what I've been working on this week since the last news post.
First things first:
Hands
Posted about this last week, but they're in and working now. Still have to work on weapon-specific animations, but for pistols they will grip the pistol, when unarmed you can make fists.
Guns
Weapon code has been COMPLETELY reworked. Weapon are now treated as independent objects. What does that mean? It means you can pick them up, throw them, juggle them, pretty much anything like that.
Want to feel awesome when you've run out of ammo in one hand? Throw a gun over your head from your other hand, catch it, and keep shooting. It's great. Right now to hold guns you have to keep the grip pressed. I will most likely add an option to change that to a toggle, but for now I'm leaving as-is it because it makes throwing them much easier.
Holsters
Holsters now work for hips, back, and behind head. Better yet, they no longer have that annoying problem of flipping around when you look down (for those who played Cogs and Cowboys during that phase). I just got this finished today, so I've got some more testing to do before I push the update.
Extras
Two-handed weapon holding works but it is very work in progress right now. There aren't animations for it yet and the hands don't quite look right, but I will be working on those.
Expect this update late next week. I'm going to be very busy with school the next few days because of what I put off to get all this done and won't be able to get back to work until Monday. I've been set on getting the update out but I have a few more things to finish setting up and testing still to do, so I'm going to wait until it's good and ready.
I hope you're excited as I am for these upcoming changes. See you soon :)
Nick
(Another) Overhual in Progress
Hello everyone,
My sincere apologies for not updating this game the last 2+ months, things have been busy. I am working on overhualing the game again, this time doing it all the way it should have been done the first time. I've spent time analyzing interactions and mechanics from other VR titles and am now working on redoing everything to feel more natural and more polished based off of what I have learned. VR development is difficult right now because there are no set ways to do things yet, even more so as a solo developer without the time or means to test different methods. But I've got it figured out now, and some big changes are on the horizon.
Hands
Okay so not really that important right now, but I am adding hands that will be animated for each weapon. They look great and games that used hands were much more immersive, so I'm working on doing it as well. With this I've added melee combat to the todo list, as squeezing the controller to make a fist and punching things is pretty fun.
Holsters
Holsters are coming back but they will work much better than they did originally. They will no longer flip out when you look down and the area you can grab the gun from them will be much larger so you don't have to look down to see where your holster moved, if your hand is down you can grab the gun even with your head turned. With this I will also be bringing back weapons attached to your back, I'm just not sure if I want to go full out 2 on lower back and 2 behind head yet, that's a lot of guns to carry at once, but we'll see.
Weapons treated as objects
This one is hard to explain, but the way I had the game set up, weapons weren't really treated as their own objects. Each hand had all the weapons set up and "picking up" weapons from the ground just told the game which ones to activate on the hand. This is how most non-VR games work, but with VR we can actually interact with objects in the game world so I am currently working on redoing weapons to be treated as any other object in the game world that you can pick up, use, and drop (or holster) with universal button presses instead of going through a menu to drop it (the current setup).
Story
I've taken a step back to look at how I'm going to do the story and it's changed a bit. I'm not going to say anything yet, but I've got plans now that are clearer than what I had before.
Co-Op
This may or may not happen. I'd like it to happen, but it won't be for a fairly long time if it does. I have the means to do it and have been planning the story mode mechanics around it, but I won't have the time to start on it for a while.
Thank you for your support in this development. I don't plan on giving up on this and I apologize if my absence made it appear so.
Nick
UPDATE 0.2.4
Weapons
Weapon animations implemented for idle, shoot, reload
Added lever action rifle
Weapon effects updated including more realistic muzzle flash and more blackpowder-esque smoke
Weapons can be picked up from the ground and dropped from inventory
Weapons have to be reloaded (click track pad)
Weapon switching menu changed to grip buttons (click once)
Ammo Inventory added for Pistol/Shotgun/Rifle
Weapon damages rebalanced
Weapons show damage, description, and name when hovering hand over before being picked up
UI
Radar redone and repositioned, now always stays angled correctly instead of following the controller
Blips not disappearing fixed for the final time
Health indicator resized and repositioned to be easier to look at
Loot shows up on radar
Loot
Enemies have a chance to drop loot (ammo, health)
Each item has its own chance of dropping, some items more rare than others
Ammo is picked up from ground similar weapons
Enemies
Steam Golem (large robot) shots now actually explode in 3D
Explosions cause damage based on distance
Enemies no longer instantly know where you are and can sometimes be hid from
Enemy health/weapons rebalanced
Please try out the beta and let me know what doesn't feel right and what needs fixing!
Next Steps
Redo weapon selection menu to be physical instead of UI buttons (changing it to have to grab the weapons instead of point at them, unless feedback says otherwise)
Add the remaining guns that were removed from the initial release version (Lever action, sniper, arc cannon)
Beta Update - 0.2.4b - Gameplay Overhaul
Hello and apologies for the delay, I had a bug with the weapons I couldn't figure out but it's fixed now!
Experience the following updates when you switch to the Beta branch (Right click game in Steam library>Properties>Betas>Select beta branch)
Weapons
Weapon animations implemented for idle, shoot, reload
Weapon effects updated including more realistic muzzle flash and more blackpowder-esque smoke
Weapons can be picked up from the ground and dropped from inventory
Weapons have to be reloaded (click track pad)
Weapon switching menu changed to grip buttons (click once)
Ammo Inventory added for Pistol/Shotgun/Rifle
Weapon damages rebalanced
Weapons show damage, description, and name when hovering hand over before being picked up
UI
Radar redone and repositioned, now always stays angled correctly instead of following the controller
Blips not disappearing fixed for the final time
Health indicator resized and repositioned to be easier to look at
Loot shows up on radar
Loot
Enemies have a chance to drop loot (ammo, health)
Each item has its own chance of dropping, some items more rare than others
Ammo is picked up from ground similar weapons
Enemies
Steam Golem (large robot) shots now actually explode in 3D
Explosions cause damage based on distance
Enemies no longer instantly know where you are and can sometimes be hid from
Enemy health/weapons rebalanced
Please try out the beta and let me know what doesn't feel right and what needs fixing!
Next Steps
Redo weapon selection menu to be physical instead of UI buttons (changing it to have to grab the weapons instead of point at them, unless feedback says otherwise)
Add the remaining guns that were removed from the initial release version (Lever action, sniper, arc cannon)
Progress Report - Weapons Overhaul Testing
Hello!
Since the last progress report I have added a lot more features and redid quite a bit as well. I will not be able to work the next 4 days, but I will resume testing and get it to you asap when I am back.
So, what's changed?
Loot/Ammo/Inventory
Yes, inventory is nearly done, again. You can hold up to three weapons per hand and choose between them on each hand with a quick menu that pops up when you click the grip buttons. You can also choose to drop the weapon.
Weapons display info (name, rounds in gun, total amount of rounds for it) next to them when equipped.
Weapons on the ground display their information in a little floating pop up when you go to pick them up, much like Borderlands.
Enemies have a chance of dropping Loot, and each item has it's own chance.
For now, you will find boxes of pistol ammo, shotgun ammo, and health dropped by enemies when they die.
Enemies
I've played with the enemy targeting parameters, you have a better chance of hiding from them now and them wandering looking for you. Just remember, they can communicate, one seeing you alerts the others near it.
The large steam enemy's shots were redone. The explosions are now 3D (were just 2D billboards before) and they do damage based on distance from them.
Effects
Added a new hurt/heal effect, when hit the screen quickly turns a slight red and then darkens a little before returning to normal, it's done in a way that makes you feel like you just got hit by something.
Receiving health makes the screen flash green and quickly fade to normal.
Radar/health
Redid the radar and health dial. They are on the sides of the controllers/guns underneath the ammo counts (radar left, health right). They are easier to see when in a gunfight now.
The radar always faces up, no matter how you rotate the controller (old one followed the controller), making for a cool effect. It now also shows Loot items around you.
Abilities
Abilities no longer work and will not be in the next update. They will be redone to be activated by holding the grip buttons to charge them up on each hand.
Progress Report - Big Changes Coming
Hello!
As Cogs and Cowboys transitions from a simple wave based shooter into a much larger game, some big changes will be happening. It's going to be a big change of how the game feels and plays but will also bring much more depth.
Weapons Changes
I have completely rewritten the weapon system to be very easy for me to set up new weapons, with it is coming some other changes:
Animations - weapons have shooting, idling, and reloading animations
Reloading - weapons will need to be reloaded. Currently the pistol can shoot endlessly, and before the last weapon system update the lever action, the smaller pistol, and the sniper could as well. With the new system, weapons will have to be reloaded after all the shots are fired. Reloading will just be an animation though, having a gun in both hands and running and gunning is still a large part of the game so you won't have to manually chamber each round or anything like that.
Updated Weapon Effects - I'm working on redoing the weapon effects to be slightly more realistic. The black powder weapons have a good bit more smoke and the smoke reacts to wind (such as the dust storm in the survival level), a small detail that makes the world just a little more believable.
Controls/Mechanics
Grabbing/Dropping and Reloading - I have been trying to find a way to allow weapons to be dropped so new weapons can be picked up as well as how to do reloading. There just aren't enough buttons, at least not when using the touch pad to walk and not being able to use it as 4 directional buttons. What it's coming down to is you will click the touchpad to bring up a small menu around the controller, press down to drop the gun, up to reload, etc, during this time you won't use the touchpad to walk. Since it's roomscale, if you need to move you can just walk yourself around/dodge things until you've selected an option.
Fixes
Flying up in the air - So far this seems to be fixed, I will update if the problem persists.
Update 0.2.1
In this update:
Fixed:
Minimap: Blips now delete when enemy is killed
Weapons not being able to be re-selected after game over
Explosions sending player flying across map
Updates:
New: Much better explosions
Minimap redone, looks much better/more detailed
Tutorial remade - image and better descriptions of how to play
Cogs and Cowboys updated to Unity 5.5
Better performance
Had to remove some shaders that don't yet support it - terrain changed to standard shader instead of parallax occlusion mapping for time being
Known issues:
Player sometimes flies up in the air, specific reason not yet known. May have to do with the colliders on the controllers messing with the player collider.
Progress Report
Hello all,
I haven't gotten much done the last couple of weeks due to school. But on the bright side, my semester is now over and I've got the next couple of weeks to focus on Cogs and Cowboys. I'm also taking less classes next semester so I have more time to work on this game.
So, down to business.
Here's what's currently fixed, I can't test it at the moment so I won't be releasing it until tomorrow so I have time to do so.
Radar blips now delete when the enemy is killed
Fixed bug that didn't let you grab the gun you were holding in your left hand when you died
Updated Tutorial with a picture and better descriptions of how everything works
Fixed explosions sending you flying around
The next couple of weeks I'll be working on the story mission. Since I won't be seeing the voice actors for a couple of weeks the focus of it will be much more on the game play than the story (probably a good thing anyways). I've got some ideas for things I think would be awesome in VR, so I'm eager to get back to work.
Bug Fixing & Event Feedback
I've only had one controller to test with for a little over a week, the other broke and the replacement had problems with shipping. But I've finally got two again and have been working on fixing bugs. I've also been rewriting a lot of the code as well to be more organized and easier for me to add to and bug fix.
I demoed the game at an event a few days ago (borrowed a friends controller) and got quite a bit of feedback on bugs and the tutorial, so those are what I'm working on right now. For most of the people Cogs and Cowboys was their first VR experience and they enjoyed it once they learned how to do everything, but the text tutorial was pretty much ignored as they would jump right in and just have me explain how to play while the play it. So with that I'm going to try to make the tutorial a little better.
The last thing I noticed was the weapon system is too touchy. One of the limitations of VR on the developer side is I can't accurately make the holsters follow the player because the only information I get is where the hands are and where the head is, nothing about where the body is (and when you look down too far rotations get really weird and everything flips around). I'm going to try to refine this system a bit. It might be just adjusting the position/scale of the holster areas a bit, making them follow the controller so you can reach them without looking, or going full on with an IK rig to estimate where the player's body is, whichever feels most intuitive.
OFFICIAL UPDATE 0.2
I have moved the beta branch to the main branch. Here's the full change list if you haven't been using the beta branch:
Weapon system completely redone (grab weapons off you instead of the clunky wheel system)
Trackpad movement added
Dash ability added
Added parallax occlusion mapping and dynamic sand to terrain
Added ambient occlusion
Added better/faster bloom
Added tonemapping
Level opened for movement
Level collisions boundaries added
Added radar to right hand
Weapons/abilities no longer tied to framerate
Added black powder pistol and normal double barrel
Updated revamped (electricity) double barrel
Updated small robot appearance
Updated world appearance (Added friendly ship overhead, etc.)
Reworked difficulty (enemy health, weapon damage)
Added enemy - Bandit
There are still some bugs, but I'm getting so little feedback from the beta branch I've decided to move it to the main (huge thanks to the few that do give feedback). The other reason is if you haven't been using the beta branch, this update completely changes the direction of the game and will take a little getting used to.
For the time being, you can switch to the stablerevert branch to get the previous version if for whatever reason this update makes the game unplayable for you (Steam Library>Right click Cogs and Cowboys>Properties>Betas>stablerevert)
So, what's next?
One of the reasons I kept all these changes on the beta branch was I've been building up the mechanics for how I wanted to do the story mode. With this update, all of the core features/systems are now usable and can just be added to. So, aside from fixing the bugs, the story mode is now the focus. I'll be working on a level this month to make use of everything I've added and get feedback on if it works together.
