It’s been [0] months since the last State of the Apex post
Greetings, Apex Hunters community!
Let’s talk about the upcoming beta branch of Apex Hunters. As was mentioned in June’s State of the Apex, our release window for the branch is July 17th—August 17th. That hasn’t changed.
Before you get too excited, it isn’t coming out today. But what fun is a release window? “We want a release date,” I hear you cry. “And we want better graphics.”
The Apex Hunters Beta Branch (v0.5.0.0) will be released July 31st—August 1st. Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves. Leaves some wiggle room for time zones, or major last minute issues… take your pick. As for the graphics, our hope is to make a game so fun that you don’t really notice the graphics, except when they return to haunt your nightmares. That’s where we’re committing our resources, anyway.
Progress has been steady. You can follow the tip of the iceberg over at the Hubris framework’s GitHub page, if you’re so inclined, or if you’re interested in making games yourself. Reap the benefit of our mistakes and lessons learned!
So what should you expect with the beta branch? Our goal is feature parity with the current public build of Apex Hunters (single-player only) plus improvements, but there will be a few new features to test and play with.
Good news, we already have an early version of the sound mechanic implemented. Implementing field-of-view and line-of-sight checks required us to fast track additional logic to make the dinos aware of threats outside their view, so here we are. Anything that makes noise can now pique the interest of roaming dinosaurs, giving them something to investigate or alerting them to a potential threat. This makes sneaking up on dinos a possibility, and raising a ruckus might net you more than you bargained for.
What fun is a sound mechanic without the ability to trick or lure dinos with purpose-built tools? Don’t worry, that’s on the board, but be advised it most likely won’t be available with the initial beta branch launch.
Something else that will be launching with the beta branch is massively improved dino AI. In certain situations, if they can’t move to your current location they’ll now run away to fight another day instead of staring in bewilderment. No more camping on the tent in Outpost Kilo or otherwise out of reach. It’s a work in progress, but we’re happy with the initial results.
Of course, there’s more improvements we’d like to talk about, but perhaps it’s better to keep a few surprises.
Percentage to Completion list for July 17th:
Beta branch (July 31st-August 1st):
Improvements to the Player Character motor – Complete!
Field-of-View/Line-of-Sight for AI – Complete!
Improvements to AI pathfinding – Complete!
Sound mechanic: Dinos react to sound – Partial implementation
Near-term (Q3/Q4 2019):
Improved weapons handling: Save partially used magazines, throwables like flashbangs and diversions, choose your own loadouts – 80% complete
New Objectives: Destroy dinosaur nests, location scouting/defense, and asset retrieval – 60% complete
Mid-term (Q4 2019/Q1 2020):
New weapons
New dinosaurs
Intro/Outro, win conditions
New maps, improved and additional weather conditions
Long-term (2020):
Full offline LAN support
Story mode
Please be advised that the Percentage to Completion is not necessarily a guarantee of the order in which future updates will arrive, or whether they will even arrive at all. Upcoming content is subject to change without warning. As is the case with Early Access, the best laid plans may not come to fruition.
As always, you can leave your thoughts in a comment on this post, or discuss the latest State of the Apex in the dedicated SotA discussion thread.
Good hunting, Field Agents.
Team CPRC
State of the Apex - June 17th, 2019
Hello again, Field Agents. It’s been a while.
No doubt the first question is “Where have you been?” Let’s roll the clock back to August 2018 and catch up.
On August 2nd of 2018, Unity announced that they would be depreciating UNet, their proprietary networking package: Evolving multiplayer games beyond UNet
Much of the NPC and Player code for Apex Hunters was tightly coupled with UNet, which meant that the multiplayer aspect of Apex Hunters would only last as long as the UNet matchmaking service and relays continued to function. Shortly after this discovery was made, the programmer responsible was sacked.
While the plan was always to migrate to other networking solutions, this expedited things. We want to build a game that people can enjoy for years to come—or at least until a new Windows edition renders it unplayable. Naturally we would have to consider other options.
We then rehired the programmer that had been sacked, as all the other options required code.
There were a number of other concerns weighing down Apex Hunters as well. There were some unfortunate limitations around player movement and collision detection on sloped surfaces, the NPC AI wasn’t where it needed to be (It’s a lot easier to Survive when perched atop the tent at Outpost Kilo), and the workflow for adding content to the game could be drastically improved. The needed changes were broad in scope and touched on nearly every aspect of Apex Hunters. Piecemeal rewrites of existing systems simply wouldn’t be enough, so the decision was made to create a framework which could address all of the outstanding issues and more.
In January 2019, development on Hubris began:
Hubris — A Flexible, Multi-genre Unity Framework (If you’re interested in making your own games, Hubris is open-source, in active development, and available for use in part or in whole for your projects. It will be battle tested across all present and future Theine Dreams games)
Hubris brings with it all of the lessons learned on early versions of Apex Hunters, and is being developed with multiple genres in mind for flexible use with future projects. It has a player controller built from scratch to move and feel like a modern FPS, an input manager and command-driven keymapping all accessible from an in-game console, improved NPC AI, and much more.
Implementing Hubris into Apex Hunters wouldn't be as simple as a drag-and-drop, however, so once the core functionality was up and running it was time to create a new Apex Hunters branch. Which brings us to today.
A fresh, Hubris-powered playable build of Apex Hunters lies on the horizon. With so much of the backend completely reworked, it would be hubris for us to roll it out all at once, so first we’ll open up a new beta branch of Apex Hunters so that you can see what we’ve been up to. It will be single-player only at first, with the multiplayer component rolling out shortly thereafter, followed by merging the beta branch with the main branch when it's ready.
The new, single-player only beta branch of Apex Hunters (version 0.5) will go live on Steam between July 17th and August 17th of this year, with the multiplayer component going live between August 17th and September 17th.
If all goes well, the beta branch will be merged with the main branch soon after that.
As mentioned above, we’ve checked off a few of our desired features in the process of building Hubris:
Improvements to the Player Character motor – Complete!
Improvements to AI pathfinding – Complete!
We're also in the process of overhauling the branding. No more Ape Hunters!
The beta branch will initially offer feature parity with the current build of Apex Hunters plus the above improvements. But part of building Hubris was enabling rapid deployment of additional content. So here’s an updated near-term Percentage to Completion list for you to see what’s coming next, along with a broader vision of things still in the works:
Percentage to Completion list for June 17th:
Near-term (Q3/Q4 2019):
Improved weapons handling: Save partially used magazines, throwables like flashbangs and diversions, choose your own loadouts – 75% complete
New Objectives: Destroy dinosaur nests, location scouting/defense, and asset retrieval – 60% complete
Sound mechanic: Dinos react to sound – 50% complete
Mid-term (Q4 2019/Q1 2020):
New weapons
New dinosaurs
Intro/Outro, win conditions
New maps, improved and additional weather conditions
Long-term (2020):
Full offline LAN support
Story mode
Please be advised that the Percentage to Completion is not necessarily a guarantee of the order in which future updates will arrive, or whether they will even arrive at all. Upcoming content is subject to change without warning. As is the case with Early Access, the best laid plans may not come to fruition.
Our initial estimation of moving out of early access by Q3 2019 is obviously no more. We’re updating the end date of early access to a vague 2020 for now, with a more concrete date to come later.
The drought of updates is fast approaching its end. Thanks for sticking with us. As always, you can leave your thoughts in a comment on this post, or discuss the latest State of the Apex in the dedicated SotA discussion thread.
Good hunting, Field Agents.
Team CPRC
We're in the business of keeping promises
It's been a while, but the wait is almost over. Keep an eye out on June 17th for a full status report on where we've been and what we've been doing, along with a date in the not-too-distant future you can try the latest and greatest for yourself.
The Summer of Apex Hunters is nigh, Agents. Your patience will be rewarded.
State of the Apex - August 17th, 2018
To the Apex Hunters,
The 17th of each month shall henceforth be known as State of the Apex day. Except in situations where the 17th is inconvenient, or perhaps when the date lands on state/federal holidays, or the post is simply forgotten...
But today we remember, and look to the future.
The first month was filled with much scrambling, refactoring of code, and marveling that certain features and mechanics worked at all. Yes, it's true what they say: "No code withstands the first public scrutiny."
Despite the very real struggle, we pushed live such features as Locational Damage for those ever-so-satisfying headshots, the Lobby Browser to help bring players together, and an Always Run toggle which was suggested by some early Field Agents who moonlight as MMORPG aficionados. (Thanks to Dorkasauras @ twitch.tv/dorkasauras and his crew for the feedback and support!)
So what do the upcoming weeks and beyond hold? Let's take a look at the handy-dandy, deliberately vague Percentage to Completion list!
Percentage to Completion list for August 17th:
Additional resupply locations around Cascade - 70% complete
New weapon (Revolver) - 60% complete
Spawner Pools/Randomization for Survive waves - 50% complete
New mission type (Asset Retrieval) - 40% complete
Intro/Outro, win conditions - 35% complete
Death cam (orbiting camera to spectate living teammates) - 20% complete
Sound mechanic (Dinos react to sound) - 20% complete
New dinosaur (Pterodactyl) - 10% complete
Throwable Items - 10% complete
Please be advised that the Percentage to Completion is not necessarily a guarantee of the order in which future updates will arrive, or whether they will even arrive at all. Upcoming content is subject to change without warning. As is the case with Early Access, the best laid plans may not come to fruition.
Long-term considerations haven't seen much progress while we’ve been crushing bugs:
Improvements to the Player Character motor (No more bounding up sheer cliffs to touch the sky's rim) - Exploring options, nothing concrete
Improvements to AI pathfinding - Exploring options, nothing concrete
Full offline LAN support - Will still require Steam in offline mode, using non-Steam lobby functionality
Story mode - Focused single-player experience. Learn more about the CPRC, and what happened at the Iridium hot lab. This is a long ways off, much closer to the full game release.
Leave a comment on this post with your thoughts on the State of the Apex, or make your way over to the dedicated SotA discussion thread to open up a dialogue. This is a team effort, and we're thankful for your feedback and support. We hope you enjoy your time with Apex Hunters as much as we enjoy putting it together.
Good hunting, Field Agents.
Team CPRC
Hotfix v0.3.3.2
Field Agents,
It's been a hot week for hotfixes. Bullet points below:
New - Steam Cloud: Enabled Steam Cloud synchronization for player configuration data
Bugfix: New mission details now consistently update for clients
Bugfix: Fixed a situation where it was possible to join a lobby without the matchmaker initialized
Bugfix: Fixed improper animation reset for Tranquilizer Rifle
Improvements to how save data is handled and item interactions
Good hunting,
TeamCPRC
Hotfix v0.3.3.1
Field Agents,
A fresh hotfix is live:
Bugfix: Fixed a situation where dinosaurs would spawn immediately in solo Survive and would not move
Bugfix: Fixed a situation where leaving one solo match and starting another would cause a "campfire scene" as it tried to host via matchmaking
No, that doesn't mean that there's friendly fire (yet), but it does mean that the Lobby Browser's here! Create public lobbies and search for others to form Field Teams with just about anybody. The hunting party doesn't have to disband when friends head offline; take up arms with strangers and continue your merry campaign of dino conquest.
In the wise words of my old gaffer: "Online interactions are at the player's discretion, and Team CPRC is not responsible for the content or outcome of such interactions."
Patch notes:
New - Lobby Browser: Create and join public lobbies
Bugfix: In Survive, after dinos lose their target they will move toward the rally point again
Bugfix: Fixed one major vector for a "gameMode LobbyData Key is invalid" bug on creating or joining a lobby
Change: Lobbies can now be set public (default is friends only)
Change: Added feedback sounds to main menu actions
Change: Modified footstep sounds for TRex and Spinosaurus
Change: Using an Ammobox while holding the Shotgun or Tranq Rifle now fully replenishes ammo
Change: Lowered Tranq Rifle reload speed from 1.2 to 1 (seconds)
Change: Increased range of M416 from 600 to 1000 (units), Tranq Rifle from 200 to 400 (units)
Significant improvements and changes to backend Lobby code, the Game-Menu-Game loop, and other sundry things
Good hunting,
TeamCPRC
Update v0.3.2.0
Field Agents,
Apex Hunters v0.3.2.0 is now live. Check out the changes below:
New - Locational Damage: Headshots do more damage and have a unique effect, limb shots do less damage, leg shots slow more
Bugfix: Pressing ESC with the in-game Options menu open will return the menu to the Master state
Bugfix: Fixed Spawner code which could have rendered valid Spawners inactive in some situations
Bugfix: Added timeout to client-side screen shake effect to prevent eternal shaking
Bugfix: Shotgun now has 5 shells instead of 4 after respawning
Bugfix: Weapons now properly reset after returning to menu and starting a new game
Bugfix: Blood sprays are no longer offset from their origin
Change: Adjusted all weapon damage values lower to rebalance for Locational Damage
Change: Increased range of Fists: From 3 units to 4 units
Change: Increased volume of effects and global ambient sounds
Apex Hunters v0.3.1.0 is now live. Here's what's different:
New - Always Run toggle: Choose between Walk and Run for default movement
New - Difficulty levels: Easy (Easier missions in Hunt - throttled back waves in Survive), Standard, and Undaunted (Harder missions - intensified waves)
Bugfix: All dinosaurs now react to being hit with a tranq dart
Bugfix: Sleeping dinosaurs can now be killed
Bugfix: Fixed bug that substituted the end-of-wave "# remaining" message with the first wave message in Survive
Bugfix: Pack dinos in Survive will no longer become stuck trying to verify their target with other pack members
Change: Players now have three (3) seconds of invulnerability after respawning
Change: Large and X-Large dino slow on damage values have been buffed: Large now slows to 70% down from 75%, X-Large 80% down from 90%
Change: In-game menu now exits to the main menu instead of quitting to desktop
Change: Remixed in-game audio levels
Various behind-the-scenes improvements and foundational work for future updates
Welcome to the first State of the Apex post, an open forum for us to provide you with status reports on development, discuss priorities and upcoming content, and gather your feedback on the state of things.
Being an Early Access title, while Apex Hunters is playable as is, we strive for constant improvement. We already have our eyes set on the next update (no release dates though, allow us to explain...) and future updates to come.
Upcoming bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements you can expect with the very next update:
Tranquilized dinosaurs can now receive damage and be killed. No more getting stuck in Survive mode because of a sleeping dino.
All dinosaurs will now react to being hit with a tranquilizer dart, instead of shrugging it off and ignoring you.
Missions will scale to the number of players in-game. No more Spinosaurus missions when you're hunting solo.
And more... keep an eye out for the full patch notes
As mentioned, there will be no specific release dates for updates. Every future update will be released "when it's done." But we understand that it's no fun to sit and wond3r when new content will see the light of day. So instead we have decided to offer the community a rough, approximate roadmap listing the "Percentage to Completion" for updates on the horizon.
Percentage to Completion list for July 17th:
Bug fixes and QOL improvements mentioned above - 90% complete
Lobby Browser, Public lobbies - 75% complete
New weapon (Revolver) - 50% complete
Additional resupply locations around Cascade - 50% complete
Intro/Outro, win conditions - 35% complete
Death cam (orbiting camera to spectate living teammates) - 20% complete
New dinosaur (Pterodactyl) - 10% complete
Be advised that the Percentage to Completion is not necessarily a guarantee of the order in which future updates will arrive, or whether they will even arrive at all. Upcoming content is subject to change without warning. As is the case with Early Access, the best laid plans may not come to fruition.
Additionally, we are evaluating the following long-term updates:
Improvements to the Player Character motor (No more bounding up sheer cliffs to touch the sky's rim) - Exploring options, nothing concrete
Improvements to AI pathfinding - Exploring options, nothing concrete
Full offline LAN support - Will still require Steam in offline mode, using non-Steam lobby functionality
Story mode - Focused single-player experience. Learn more about the CPRC, and what happened at the Iridium hot lab. This is a long ways off, much closer to the full game release.
With all that out of the way, now it's your turn. Leave a comment on this post with your thoughts on the State of the Apex, or make your way over to the dedicated SotA discussion thread. Got a suggestion for a future update? Let us know. We want to make the best co-op dinosaur hunting game possible, and the only way we'll achieve that is together.
