The game is coming along nicely and we keep improving, fixing, enhancing the software and adding new cool things!
While designers continue building the final levels of the game on the road to full release 1.0 (actually 4 out of 7 levels are roughly ready and being tested internally!) we added several things. Some are new ideas and some are improvements that you suggested.
Perception now highlights climbing holds
Many have highlighted a difficulty, in some sections, in identifying the right hooks to hold on to.
Much of the criticisms that parkour received were also given by the difficulty of figuring out exactly what to hold, especially during climbing. Now just press "Alt" in the game and you will have no doubt which way to attempt.
New Weapon: Batons
If you manage to eliminate a soldier now you can loot the baton from them!
It is a powerful and durable weapon that will help you survive the island!
Improved Daphne Animations
We improved Daphne's animations and mesh, especially in the bottom.
AI improvement and bugfixes
We changed the position of some enemies, improved their behavior especially when attacking the player. We decreased the amount of fauna that was excessive in some zones and for some species as many of you noticed.
We fixed an annoying bug for ranged soldiers and fixed a major bug preventing "The Campers" quest from being completed.
Overall graphic improvements
Last but not least we keep raising the graphic quality, doing our best ;-)
We keep pushing for releasing 1.0 this winter, hopefully i can give you a release date in the next weeks!
Best!
0.7.5 is out! Melee combat system, new enemies, pinewood remastering and much more!
Hi everyone!
it's been over two months since last update, but during this timeframe we werent sleeping! ;-)
Whil half of the team continued to work on the new areas which will end the story for 1.0 release, the other half finalized the last remaining software modules that so far were just little drafts.
The first one is a more convincing and mature combat system, on pair with similar action games we like.
The new combat system allows you to make a series of fast attacks and a loaded attack, slower, but more powerful.
it also adds the ability to parry.
The amount of damage saved depends on the weapon / object that you hold. For example, without any object / weapon, the player absorbs 15% of damage; while if you parry while holding a Crowbar then 50% of the damage is absorbed.
Also keep in mind that damage absorbed by the weapon affects its durability. Striking the shots consumes Stamina in direct proportion to the force (damage) of the attack immediately.
We also added a "new" enemy, the melee fighters. It is not totally new because is the same soldier of Brother no. 1 militia's, we used to know before, but without a ranged weapon.
But his behavior, and AI implementation are pretty much different. We reworked all ai routines during this month, refactoring parts of the code so to have a common base for dogs, rats and other beasts and humans.
We fixed many errors in human characters, niot only in the ai itself but also in their animation state machine.
The last major thing you will notice in 0.7.5 is the total refactoring of pinewood section. Not just from a graphical perspective, but changing slightly the level design to make the zone more convincing.
It's early morning when i write those lines, i am sitting at the table of a gas station on my way to Rome, truck fully loaded, after an amazing gamescom week where we managed to show Die Young and all other projects Indiegala is working on for 2018/2019. But after days and nights without sleep i see the game slowly becoming the kind of experience we always wanted to craft and this gives me extra motivation for hitting the road to 1.0 at the end of the year.
Hello everyone!
Please zoom in ;-) to see The "woods" before and after
Finally the long-awaited update 0.7 has arrived!
We apologize for the long delay but you'll soon realize why it took so long!
As mentioned in the last announcement, this update doesn't bring any new playable zones since it focuses mainly on improving performance, calibrating the parkour module, and graphics.
However, we are convinced that, even for those who have already started/completed Die Young, restarting a new game with this update will be a completely new and very stimulating experience.
We are very satisfied with the work done so far. We're convinced that with this update, the gaming experience is finally very close to what we always wanted to transmit from the beginning.
But here is what we've done in the last month and a half!
Massive Graphic overhaul
Few additional examples ( play to see more! ) :
- The Watchtower
before and after
Those are just a few examples of the immense amount of work we've put into making this massive graphics overhaul.
As I said before... I was NOT not satisfied with the previous global artistic result, but now I feel that the game world truly resembles an island not far from a Greek or Turkish coast.
Not only were the graphics scaled up, but everything was finally done in the proper way, instead of being hummed (more details in a blog article coming this week). This gave us a massive gain in performances too. And this lends to our second topic of this update...
Performance!
Remember that horrendous sputtering and the game unexpectedly stopping for two seconds? Well if you still experience that, I offer you a beer from "gino lo zozzone"! ;-)))
Seriously, the team worked away the "young" in them to optimize the game code. Even many incorrectly used assets and graphic effects have been deleted or corrected.
So now I feel confident to say that the game runs very smoothly on cards and high-end processors at highest graphics settings. But also mid-end hardware can run the game pretty well on mid and high settings. As always, please report any feedback in the community hub.
Parkour system improvements
This is the second most important topic of this update.
During these 11 months of EA, we've seen lots of complaints because the parkour system apparently "doesn't always work". There was the feeling that in some seemingly harmless occasions -- even on a perfectly landed jump -- your character could just die.
We knew the reasons for this bad feeling and understood that it was not due to bugs but due to incorrect calibrations.
Most of the problems were caused by a damage curve that was too light on minor falls and too punitive on falls from high elevation. We studied many ways to improve this and compared our system with other games using a similar approach. After intense testing and trial and error, we believe we've found a good blend. Now it's no longer possible to die from just a few meters and the overall parkour experience is much more forgiving.
New Mobs
Finally, we introduce a few new junkie friends (good luck finding them all!) and a new species of cute puppets, the boars!
Good luck hanging out with them!
...& ... tons of minor improvements & fixes...
- New Music tracks by Simon.
- Optimized AI sight
- New Ancent Idol added (Easter Egg in Apricot Valley zone ;-) )
- Bats colliders optimized
- New Collector voice ( and slightly dialogue variations )
- New enemy balance.
- dozens of bugfixes and minor gameplay fixes.
In the meantime the work on the new zones and the new features proceed as established. Our goal is to release new content from 0.8 ( next update ),
and proceed from there quickly to 0.9 and 1.0 ( final release.
Our goal continues to be the same: release version 1.0 (which will contain the END of Daphne's adventure) within the year.
We continue as usual to do our work with passion but without compromise.
Best!
Huge graphic and performance improvement is coming!
The watchtower in the current build:
The watchtower in the internal build we plan to release this month:
Hello everyone!
While half the team (6 people at full speed) continues to work on new levels that will complete Daphne's adventure on the island, and on everything related to them (new quests, AI, new combat system, etc.) ) the other half of us are dealing with these things:
1- General improvement of graphics
2- Performance optimization and stabilization
3- fix bugs on spawned objects.
4- improvement / strengthening of the parkour system.
The second and third point points required an update of the project to unreal version 4.19. Reason why you have to wait a couple more weeks (we are confident of being able to release a build based on 4.19 soon).
About the fourth point I will speak in another article.
The first point it is a complex but very satisfying beast.
Since the beginning of the project i had very precise graphic references in mind. The island where Daphne's story takes place is a Mediterranean island near the Turkish coast.
I was NOT not satisfied with the global artistic result reached so far.
For a series of reasons ( that would be boring to list ) the game world represented on screen never seemed like those beautiful images of Greek or Turkish islands that I had wanted to use as a reference in the last two years. In addition, the general quality of some assets and textures, especially in the initial part, was not in my opinion on pair to the graphic standard that a project like Die Young wants to be.
So, at the beginning of March, I had a meeting about the subject with fellow team members Paolo and Claudio, two extremely talented guys who have taken over the artistic direction of Die Young since January.
Speaking with them i have understood how and where we could intervene.
I can say that I feel very satisfied with the results achieved and I can not wait to show you the world of Die young completely revisited.
It will be a new experience for all of you, and some of you who already grabbed the walkie talkie will probably find exciting to play the game again from the beginning ;-)
In the meantime, as mentioned the work on the new zones and the new features proceed as established.
This lends us to the crucial question that many of you have asked, "When will Die Young come out?". ;-)))
Our goal continues to be the same: release version 1.0 (which will contain the END of Daphne's adventure) within the year
That said, we will continue to do our work with passion but without compromise , trying to make DY a product crafted to the best of our ability.
If this should lead to delays, be assured that they will be only for good ;-) Until we will be really satisfied with the result.
Best!
Hotfix 0.6.743.18
Hi all,
this is a small hotfix that addresses few issues with a severe bug in saved data. We hope now most problems like not working elevators or performance degrading in saved games are solved.
There is also improved global lighting and you should now see more details on world materials.
Best!
Update 0.6 - Happy Easter & Break A Leg
Easter's around the corner on Die Young's island and we've got much more than chocolate rabbits for you!
Here's a mega list of some the hot new stuff in our latest update.
AI
We've completely rewritten the entire codebase for Die Young's AI. Enemy NPCs now have more varied behavior and attack patterns. At the moment we've been concentrating on dogs, wolves and a little on the Executioner too. As you know, this is all work in progress but we're putting a lot of focus into making the game feel much more intelligent.
New Enemies: Junkies
If you've been following our posts on Facebook, you may have already seen these guys in action. Junkies are going to become familiar figures in the new zones we're currently developing. They roam the island lost and confused. Our advice is to steer clear!
Enhanced Performance
We've tinkered with the game's performance in a bid to maintain a more stable frame rate. These optimizations allow for a smoother experience on hardware that meets our minimum requirements.
Missing Items
The missing items glitch should now be a resolved issue for those starting a new game. Anyone who has saved games with missing objects can find them directly within their Inventory or in any Storage Box. Unfortunately, it's possible that items that should have been obtained later in the game will also be accidentally delivered (e.g. the walkie-talkie on the High Tower).
Falling Damage
We've revisited falling damage again. Now, only really perilous falls can cause instadeath. In limited cases, your health will fall to 5 HP.
Sprint
Acceleration is now almost immediate, allowing you to pump up for a jump from shorter distances.
Climbing Gloves
Climbing Gloves now help you consume a lot less stamina as compared to before. Get ready to treat those heights like you're Spiderman (...uhh, Spiderwoman? ːsteamhappyː).
Hydration
We've also reworked hydration in quite a few ways:
Reduced base consumption
Reduced consumption during physical activity
Canteen now fully replenishes hydration (to 100%)
Berries help replenish more hydration
Rebalancing of all hydration repletion items
New Water Sources added
Fauna
We've added rabbits (it's almost Easter after all!), foxes (in case the rabbit population explodes ːsteamhappyː), and goats.
Food
We've reduced the availability of canned food reasonably. Players can obtain food by hunting fauna. In order for raw meat to be consumed it must be cooked at the Campfire or from the crafting menu.
Gamepad Configurations
In the Options menu we've added two new configurations.
The default configuration now has SPRINT on the Left Thumbstick and THROW on the Left Button.
The second configuration has SPRINT on the Left Button and THROW on the Left Thumbstick. It's possible to activate/deactive the Sprint Toggle in the "General" menu.
Furthermore, using the compass has been moved to the Y key (where you will visualize also the ongoing quest).
The Right Thumbstick activates Perception.
Perception
Pressing the ALT key (or the RIght Thumbstick on a gamepad) activates Perception. Perception allows Daphne to focus on NPCs that are nearby. Perception can only be used while Daphne is motionless.
Soma
Soma is a new recipe available from the Collector. This item increases the potency of Perception (it increases its range and makes it usable while in motion).
Ancient Idols
We've added new Ancient Idols in the first part of the game (Mountain Pass and House on the Beach).
Music 🎶
Now you can play out Daphne's adventure in rhythm with new background music during exploration and combat. The new tunes are courtesy of Simon Chylinski, the ex-sound designer of Subnautica. Simon washed up on the island's shores about a month ago (after a bad Subnautica playthrough) and he's our official sound man now.
Extras
Dead Romance quest bug fixed
Level Design fixes & improvements
Document fixes & editing
WE ARE STILL WORKING ON COMBAT SYSTEM
Unfortunately we could not make it for this update but we're actively working on parry and multiple combat animations. Hopefully we'll introduce a full combat module as well as many combat/ai improvements in the next couple of weeks!
As usual, we look forward to your feedback! Happy Easter and we hope you enjoy these updates!
What we are working on now.
Hi everyone!
It's been over a month since the last update and we know how eager you are to get your hands on new content and play the end of the adventure helping Daphne to finally escape from the island ( or not ? ;-) ).
Unfortunately production times, as sometimes happens in game development, have expanded a bit.
We realized that In the past, sometimes when we released gameplay modules and levels that were not completely finished, this had a negative impact on some users and we do not want this to happen again.
Take combat system for example. Current implementation, as many of you know, is only a draft that does not represent our current vision of this aspect of the game.
What we have in mind ( and what we are building right now ) is something deep, supported by an engaging artificial intelligence.
Releasing such a complex software module that affects so many aspects of the game (main character, animations, AI, energy etc ...) one piece at a time, would not make sense.
As we have seen with the current basic draft now in game, releasing basic iterations of a module only gives users a wrong message about our final vision and would not completely convey the vision we have of this aspect of the game.
It's the same for the fauna, for the new enemies and especially for the new levels.
For this reason, we will only release this content when it is ready.
By 'ready' we don't mean 'battletested', there may be bugs, rough edges, and room for improvements ( isn't it the purpouse of EA after all? ;-) ) of course... but the main core of key features must be present and fully functional.
That said, this does not mean that you have to wait for the summer (when we expect to complete the story and get the game out of the early access) for the next update, ;-)) Not at all.
Here is what we are working on and that we expect to release in the SHORT period (5 - 10 days from now):
Rich and Complex fauna
As already widely anticipated in the last announcements, we are working on a complex and rich system of fauna. One of the aspects of the game we ( and also many of you ;-) ) felt the game had to improve was about feeling the emptiness exploring the great outdoors of the island. Our vision has always been to recreate a vibrant world with many things to do and Npcs to interact with. We will shortly introduce an abundant fauna including:
- foxes
- rabbits
- wild goats
- wild boar
- sheeps
- various species of birds
Each NPC will have different characteristics (an angry boar will pose a threat to Daphne, a helpless rabbit can become a precious resource with the loot of the corpse etc ...) and will generate a different loot if killed.
Later on in the new areas we will add additional species, mostly domestic animals.
New recipes and senses
New receipes will be added and also new senses.
For example, Daphne will be able to amplify her senses and sharpen the perception of enemies and animals.
Improved AI Patterns
We never liked AI pursuing you indefinitely or attacking you continuously (even looking a little stupid ;-)). Animal predators and human enemies now will adopt attack patterns that involve a shrewd approach. They go around and if they are attacked they retreat, they fight back or they are stunned. Soldiers now will act properly and will have both ranged and melee weapons.
Parry and new melee moves
in line with the evolution of the AI, the complexity of Daphne's movements will also increase.
Parrying hits ( both with weapons or bare hands ) will now be possible and various combinations of heavy and light attacks will be introduced.
New Enemies
We will introduce a new category of human enemy: THE JUNKIES. they will have also an important role in the main story but we don't want to spoil anything now ;-)
Parkour system improvements
Being the movement module a big part of our game, this is an area where development never stops. We are working on an auto-aim feature for climbing, so to make the climbing part less stressful and also the fall damage has been revised again.
Here is what, instead, we are working on but is expected to release approx. in 2 - 3 months:
Fire Weapons and fire dynamics
Do you like Molotov bottles? Do you like firebombs? We like it as well!
The integration of fire dynamics ( which include burning foliage ) proceeds quickly. We are very satisfied with the results and hope to meet our schedule!
New playable zones
last but not least, we are building the areas that will be the scene of the conclusion of Daphne's story. They are, as mentioned, large areas, rich in life and gameplay and in which all the modules on which we are working now are integrated.
At the moment we can not confirm any date in which we will release the new levels (after missing the February deadline we prefer not to make any prediction) but we assure you only that something very nice is coming out.
Die Young is a journey that, if will meet release date scheduled for this summer, lasted four years.
For this reason we ask you to trust us and wait a little longer. We can sometimes make mistakes but we have a plan ;-)
Thanks to everyone for your support, help, and ideas!
0.5.0.340.18 Improved rendering, loot & more!
Hi everyone!
Die Young reached 0.5 with brand new rendering settings and many graphics improvements, among other things. All you folks out there with a decent card will enjoy taking some screenshot at max settings now! ( Try 200% rendering ;-) )
Improved Global illumination and lighting
Lighting settings have been completely reviewed, we cleaned up some mess, optimized stuff and tweaked values for a bright summer day.
Improved Ambient Occlusion
We figured out a more effective way to use AO and we improved outdoor rendering a lot. For indoor scenes, we adopted the same technique in Manor Farm. Other indoor areas will upgrade in next builds.
Fixed Anti Aliasing blur
Do you remember that horrendous blur that made things on screen as if they were gone through an artistic photoshop filter? What do you say? You didn't like it? We neither! We have improved AA settings and now scene details are well preserved.
Loot added
It is now possible to loot corpses of vipers, rats, wolfs, dogs .... and even the fat boy has a nice surprise if you kill him! ( it is an easy task... isn't it? ;-) )
We are moving forward towards the release of the new areas (they are big!), It will take a few more weeks, but trust me, it will be a lot of fun!
0.5.0.340.18 changelog:
Improved Global illumination, AO, AA
Loot added for vipers, rats, wolfs, dogs and executioner.
New crafting recipes: Backpack upgrade, utility belt upgrade.
Thanks to everyone for your support, help, and ideas!
0.4.5.310 - Dynamic foliage and more!
Hi everyone!
Die Young build 0.4.5.310 brings you New dynamic foliage. You can use it to hide from enemies.
Graminaceous sun-baked plants, lemon verbena bushes, sunflowers ... everything can be used to protect Daphne from enemies and predators. And soon you will set it on fire too... ( coming in 5.0 build... )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AGXgmTJoQE&feature=youtu.be
0.4.5.310 changelog:
Added Dynamic Foliage. Daphne can use it hiding from enemies
Parrying hits ( both with weapons or bare hands ) will now be possible and various combinations of heavy and light attacks will be introduced.
