Hello there! This last month has been a rollercoaster (annoying driver issues and Unity being as epic as always). Good news is this debacle has made me go for a new lightmapper solution that seems to work very nicely!
THE LIGHTMAPPER PROBLEM
Until now I've been using Unity's default GPU lightmapper to bake the game's lights. It's a pretty acceptable and fast solution, and while it had its quirks (you might have noticed some lighting artifacts here and there in the game) I was happy with it. Sadly, because of some driver shenanigans I am unable to use it any longer, so I had to find an alternative. The CPU lightmapper works but it takes too long (and the next phase in Mandrillia requires a lot of fast iterations), so I have decided to make the switch to Bakery. Some of you might be familiar with it, as it's a pretty popular lightmapping solution. I had my doubts, but after fiddling with it for a bit I can say I'm very happy with it!
All the main scenes have now been re-rendered using Bakery. At first glance you will not notice many differences: some shadows have higher definition, some emissive materials behave more realistically, and most lighting artifacts (especially regarding pipe joints) have disappeared. Performance might be marginally better, too.
NEXT IN LINE: NEW AREAS
Now that the lightmapping is secured, the long-awaited work on the map can finally start, as I mentioned on the last big update.
Since the beginning the plan has been to add fully fledged sections for the Warehouse, Waste Disposal, and Research areas. Those areas will be able to be toggled on/off from the Main Menu, with the following options for each: -A "default" version just like the current system; use a magenta keycard to open the big gate and get to the small checkpoint-like area behind to get a yellow keycard and resupply -A "full" version that will include the entire new section to explore, where you'll have to find the yellow keycard -An "off" version where the gate will stay locked and one of the regular magenta keycards will be replaced by a yellow keycard (this will also allow for super-fast paced gamemodes where you only have to find 3 yellow keycards and race to the exit)
Before adding these areas, there's some reworks coming to the Observation and Exit zones -there's a lot of dead space there that will be repurposed with some juicy stuff!
SWORD REWORK
By community request, the Sword has been reworked to include some of the features the Pipe already had. Instead of making a flat 1000 damage on slash and stabs, damage will be velocity-dependant and cause bleeding status effect. It will now be able to be overheated with the flamethrower (like the pipe) and electrified with the multitool. Overheating it will make it ignore armor (such as the AI Mandrillians') and cause extra damage, as well as burning status effect. Electrifying it will also do extra damage and apply shock status effect (one use before having to reapply it)
It also looks kinda cool.
SILLY STUFF
While monitoring if the AI Mandrillians were displaying any weirdness, I also implemented some easy community requested features.
Glowsticks now appear in multiple colors instead of just green.
The Super Mandrillian Ball has been added to the item spawner. Please, use responsibly.
Pictured: the Mandrillian ball NOT being used responsibly
Also, AI Mandrillians can now be gibbed just like their human-controlled counterparts. The RPG has finally found its true purpose!
Other changes include the tweaking of some "sensor" stuff for both the human players and AI enemies (for example, the minigun spin now counts as a noise source)
FULL CHANGELOG:
Main scenes have had their lightmaps re-baked using Bakery
SWORD REWORK:
Velocity-based damage from 1 to 500 instead of a flat 1000 damage
Heating the sword up will add extra damage, ignore armor, and apply burning status effect
Shocking the sword will add extra damage and apply shock status effect (one use before having to re-apply)
Minigun spin counts as a noise source for both the human players' minimap and the AI enemies
AI Mandrillians can now be gibbed
Tweaked some Main Menu screens to accomodate the future coop and map section settings
Glowsticks now will appear with random colors: red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow and white.
Super Mandrillian Ball is now on the item spawner.
Fixed dynamic spawn marker appearing below the minimap
Improved AI Mandrillian behavior
Fixed minimap UI being disabled for player 2 when doing the dynamic spawn
Fixed rare bug where one AI Mandrillian would not respawn if both mandrillians died within the same frame
MINOR REBALANCE, SMALL FIXES
-Fixed a bug where you'd get a victory after killing the second-to-last AI Mandrillian instead of the actual last one -Halved the HP for AI Mandrillian's damage reduction canisters: they're still hard to hit, but it should feel less frustrating and more rewarding to actually land shots on them -Updated the Item Spawner Sentry Turret to be equally targeted by the AI Mandrillians as the regular one -Fixed Robot's sprint footstep notifs appearing under the minimap
WMR BINDINGS HOTFIX
(Hopefully) Fixed the "menu" button not being assigned for non-Reverb WMR users. Thanks to BlockyAnubis feedback!
QUICK HOTFIX
Fixed an oversight that didn't trigger the VR player win condition after wiping out all the AI Mandrillians if there were no human players
NPC MANDRILLIANS HAVE ARRIVED
Hello there! I promised NPC monkeys by end of year -got a bit of a delay, but the first iteration of PC-controlled Mandrillians is finally here! While there's still ironing and fine-tuning left to do, these lil fellas are already a force to be reckoned with...
THE MANDRILLIAN TEST SUBJECTS
Nobody knows what the guys at Research were trying to accomplish with these Mandrillians. In any case, they're quite angry, full of performance-enhancing chemicals, and have half their bodies covered in bullet-proof implements.
They can be enabled in this screen at the Main Menu. Currently you can select the total number of AI Mandrillians you want to face in a match, and have either 1 or 2 simultaneously active at any given point.
When I started developing Escape from Mandrillia I thought I'd never be able to make satisfying enough counterparts for the human players, as a lot of the gameplay involves psychological misdirection that could be hard to recreate for an NPC (especially one made by an idiot such as myself).
At first I thought the only AI enemies I'd put in would be simple "swarmers" like the planned Insectoids, but after the Halloween experiment I decided to at least give it a try before giving up on a more complex enemy... and here we are.
These enemies have some "gamey" design features to offset the differences with human-controlled monkeys while still keeping the dynamics true to the core of the game (forcing you to sneak and to use your multitool, keep track of your ammo, and overall being a hit-and-run monster). They can work as both a single player experience, or as a way to spice up your local multiplayer matches!
Now that it's technically possible to actually play Escape from Mandrillia in singleplayer mode, setting the Mandrillian respawns to 0 on the Match Settings will automatically set you up for "Solo Mode", with the spectator camera automatically enabled, and monkey input disabled.
THEIR CURRENT STATE
When activated, Mandrillian Test Subjects will randomly patrol the facilities, starting in the vents. They will attack the Robot (and the Sentry Turret after being deployed) on sight, and will also react to noise sources like gunshots, explosions, keycard-operated gates or a sprinting Robot. They won't be able to sniff you out when cloaked so hiding from them should be easier -still, make sure you don't get too close and to have your flashlight off while cloaking, or you'll be in for a scare!
On top of wearing bullet-proof armor, they start off way tankier than a regular Mandrillian. Four canisters continuously pump them full of physically enhancing chemicals, and the only way to expose them is via electric shock. Every broken canister will take away a fraction of their damage resistance! But remember: even after breaking all of their canisters, their mechanical implements are still bulletproof. Unless you are packing armor piercing weaponry (like the HMG or minigun), failing to hit the fleshy bits will only make them angrier...
These AI monkeys have a stamina/fear system to ensure they won't just keep wailing at you. Besides getting tired from performing attacks, some actions will build up their fear, eventually driving them to flee to the vents. Getting damaged (especially if they can't locate the damage source), stuff exploding near them, being set on fire (until they start building up tolerance to it) and having their chemical canisters destroyed are some of the actions that will scare them off.
Many of their mechanics are shared with their player-controlled counterparts: match settings such as body/limb HP multipliers and respawn times will also affect them, and of course any vent they break will become an unlocked vent for a player to spawn in.
COMING SOON(tm)
AI MANDRILLIAN COMPLETION
There are still some systems yet to be implemented, like door smashing (they can currently damage the doors but won't really target them in normal circumstances), and more unique interactions with gas and tranquilizers. Still, progress seems to be going pretty well, and I hope to have them fully implemented (including different alternate presets and increased match setting compatibility) as soon as possible.
MAP EXPANSION
While I keep polishing the AI Mandirllian mechanics, I'm finally going to start working on the final areas: Warehouse, Waste Disposal, and Research and Development. This is something I've been looking forwards to a lot, and will take the game one hefty step closer to full release. Of course, those areas will have toggles on the Match Settings to cusomize your experience.
INSECTOIDS
To finish up the AI roster for the "normal" game, I will be adding the Insectoids after completing the AI Mandrillian features. As stated on the Progress Update post, these little fellas will be a simple "swarmer" enemy to make for more brainless, run-and-gun gameplay while still allowing for some flexibility. And, of course, they will be able to be thrown in alongside both the AI Monkeys and human players, which could end up in some very chaotic but hopefully fun scenarios.
(They're gonna be considerably smaller than this)
TRUE COOP MODE
The Halloween Challenge was a nice experiment to see how coop gameplay worked for the game. While acceptable, Mandrillians were not designed with coop in mind. After completing both the AI Mandrillians and Insectoid systems, I want to add an optional coop mode where the PC players control a more sensible character, which will probably be the good ol Drone I've been working on for a while
(They're gonna be considerably bigger than this)
I think there's potential for some interesting interactions between the VR and PC players with these lil guys, like using them as extra item storage, repairing them, marking objectives in the Multitool...
On an unrelated note, Escape from Mandrillia has been cleared to have Steam Trading Cards and all these item shop stuff the younglings seem to love. This is far from a priority, but there might be some surprises.
Finally, if you've made it this far down, consider leaving a review for the game! Any feedback I can get is extremely valuable (be it positive or negative) -it also helps Steam show the game to more users.
Welp, that's all for now. Have fun with your new Mandrillian friends!
FULL CHANGELOG:
Implemented first version of enemy NPCs: the Mandrillian Test Subject
Setting Mandrillian respawns to 0 in the Match Settings will start the match in "Solo Mode", with the spectator camera enabled for the PC view
Fixed ammo crates having a chance of spawning nothing when the last held longarm was either the crossbow or the plasma rifle
Fixed visual bug that made sound notifications on the minimap appear below the actual map
Reworked Map Stations: simplified the system, doubled scanner time, and halved scanner recharge time.
Tweaked Murderbot settings to make the Halloween Challenge less frustrating
Removed the Dart gun from the random sidearm pool -this one is getting a hefty rework soon, but you can still manually select it as your starter sidearm
PC view will go into third-person spectator mode instead of VR mirror when all PC Mandrillians are dead
Modified the FX for the gas-stunned Mandrillians (the old sparkles will return for the Dart gun rework)
Made the minigun spinning noises a bit quieter
Quick Hotfix
-FIxed oversight where I left a dev tool that allowed keyboard-using Mandrillian players to turn off all the screens in the Main Menu scene. -Tweaked gun tracers so they start in a consistent manner right as the bullet exits the barrel instead of waiting 1 frame
My original issues with adding NPC enemies was that the Mandrillian mechanics were fine-tuned for a human-controlled unit, with misdirection and mind games being a big part of it. Making it translate well to an NPC would mean behavior complexity way out of my skill. Making them mindless cannon fodder would go against the Mandrillian's concept as an enemy (and also that's what the insectoids will be for).
Enter the Mandrillian Test Subject.
The Mandrillian Test Subject will be both a way to get the "Escape from Mandrillia experience" in a single-player setting and a way to spice up matches with human players.
While it won't be affected 1:1 by the current match modifiers, many of its features will be controlled in one way or another by them.
I'm aiming for an end-of-year deadline to have this little fella fully implemented. In any case, if you're part of the 9% of players who are on the experimental beta branch, you're in for a ride. Don't be surprised if you get suddenly jumped at by a T-posing monkey at some point during the month.
Hello there! Been fighting off the plague these last weeks so I'm a bit behind schedule (still I hope to have the first advanced AI enemies implemented by Christmas). In any case, here's a LIV-centered update.
If you are not a content creator you probably don't give a flying crap about most of this update.
In any case, let's start with the little part that affects everyone, the first look at the Arcade Hub and the improved wrist menu.
ARCADE HUB
The previous "Virtual Training" hub scene was pretty confusing and unfocused. The new Arcade Hub streamlines all of it into a single in-game menu to get into all the upcoming "non standard" gamemodes, including an archive of all season events.
Gamemodes will be divided into three categories (ARENA, SEASON EVENTS, BONUS) and three sub-categories (SINGLE PLAYER, VS, COOP). Currently the only available gamemode is the Halloween Event, which is now separated in single player and coop modes.
WRIST MENU IMPROVEMENTS
Button placement has been improved, and I added two extra options: RESET SCENE (self-explanatory) and SELF-DESTROY (if you want to go out with a very big bang). The menu will also stay on after opening it until you press the menu button again (so no more annoying auto-closing when putting your hand away from your face).
The rest of the options tie with the next point:
LIV SUPPORT
LIV is now officially supported. On top of the basic LIV implementation, I've set up some extra stuff to make streaming/recording the game more fun. You tweak all these settings on the Main Menu, and two of them will always be accessible from your wrist menu.
KEEP GAME AVATARS: enables/disables the actual game characters in case you want to use MR footage of yourself or your anime furry avatar. I would kindly suggest to use the actual game characters.
BUILT-IN SPECTATOR: locks the LIV camera to the third person spectator cam I made for the single player modes. This way you can have a tailor-made third camera solution with all the bells and whistles (including wall detection, stabilization, and rotation when looking at your inventory) without having to set up anything else on LIV
SELF LIGHT: a simple toggle to make the LIV camera see the self-lighting I added for the VR player to see its own hands and inventory in dark scenes. In general it's better to leave it off, but could be toggled on for LIV's first person camera stabilization features.
DETACH CAM: experimental setting for advanced users that fully detaches the playspace from the LIV camera. Mainly to be used with the gamepad-controlled camera to get some nice angles. I will probably rework this in the future with an in-game controllable flying camera tho.
CHANGELOG:
Added LIV support
Added the Arcade Hub scene
Moved the Halloween Event to the Arcade Hub
Tweaked Wrist Menu buttons
Added options to Wrist Menu: Reset Scene, Self Destroy and LIV settings
When spawning on a scene, the game will take into account your playspace position and rotation so you always start facing a specific direction
Fixed third-person spectator cam jitter
0.0.12.6 UPDATE - WRIST MENU, SPECTATOR CAM
A little update before Scream Fest while I work on the big stuff
As the VR player, you now have a wrist menu available when you have your hands empty. Right now the only option after opening it is to exit a match, but it's better than having to off yourself every time you wanted to do that. I tried to make it as non-intrusive as possible to avoid accidental activations.
Because the Halloween Event is a weird "hybrid" mode where you can currently go either single or multiplayer, I added a handy spectator cam that gets disabled if a monkey joins. This camera will evolve for future singleplayer-only modes. I've also started to look into adding LIV support, as the game is currently quite a bit awkward to stream.
Here's the spectator camera in action:
The Halloween Event has been a fun experiment on coop modes. However, the Mandrillians are certainly designed to be smashing the VR player's head in. I'll add more apt PC-controlled characters for coop missions in the future, when there's a good variety of AI enemies to fight. Speaking of which...
I'm making good advances in enemy AI, which means there will be mobile enemies pretty soon. At first I didn't have much faith in the integration of game mechanics with AI, so I wasn't expecting to have NPCs much more complex than the insectoids, but that has changed. You might be having some AI monkeys added to the mix sooner than later.
After the Halloween Event ends, it will be available on the reworked Arcade Hub. Here's a glimpse of how it will look. It will be way more focused than the old "virtual training" area, with everything neatly packed in touch menus. The old hub was too confusing, and forcing the VR player to walk a couple meters to select different modules was in all honesty a stupid design decision.
Happy Halloween!
THE HALLOWEEN MURDERBOT EVENT
The facilities have been overrun by Murderbot Sentinels! They are hostile to both the Robot and the Mandrillians, so it's time to put your differences aside and cooperate if you want to escape!
THE HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE
To try the Halloween Challenge, press the HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE button on the Main Menu robot rig, and you will instantly jump into it. The objective is to escape the facility, and it can be done both solo or with friendly monkeys. But beware: if monkeys join, you'll have to make sure to keep at least one alive or the challenge will fail. Remember that you can revive (non-gibbed) dead monkeys using your Repair Kit! (I knew this dumb feature would come in handy at some point)
If you manage to complete the Halloween Challenge, you will be rewarded with an achievement and a horrible cosmetic for the Robot. After Halloween ends, you'll be able to access the challenge from the reworked Arcade Hub (I hate time-locked rewards)
This event is the result of my recent fiddling with enemy AI. I wanted to make a stationary, "target"-like enemy to focus on player detection and reaction to all the mechanics present in the game. This means the Sentinels will react "realistically" to both the VR and PC players actions (like making noise, cloaking, attacking nearby sentinels) as well as be affected differently by each type of damage inflicted on them. You might find some neat combos!
MURDERBOTS
The Halloween Challenge brings the debut of the Sentinel Murderbot, a stationary bot that will shoot at the nearest threat. They react to both visual and audio cues, and can alert each other when they get damaged, so being stealthy is a good strategy against them.
This variation of the Sentinels comes with head armor that is vaguely reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern to keep in line with the Halloween theme. Enough damage will destroy it, and armor-piercing weapons (like the HMG and minigun) will straight out ignore it. Still, it's better to aim at the big chest weakpoint.
Next step in enemy AI is proper pathfinding, and I'm happy to say that's going smoothly, with another Murderbot coming soon to test it...
COOPERATIVE AND SINGLE PLAYER TESTS
The Halloween Challenge is also a test for future modes where VR players can play by themselves or cooperate with the PC players. I've already planned coop-exclusive characters for the PC players (with more depth to the interactions with the Robot), but for this one it's the good ol Mandrillians.
To facilitate cooperation between the Robot and the Mandrillians, the Halloween Challenge disables the 30 second headstart for the monkeys. The sentry turret will ignore them, preventing friendly-fire accidents.
That's all for now! Happy Halloween!
CHANGELOG:
Added the Halloween Challenge, accesible from the Main Menu.
Implemented the first draft of the enemy AI system, with full interactions with the current mechanics.
Added "SMILING FIENDS" achievement for completing the Halloween Challenge.
Added "Pumpkin Helmet" cosmetic unlockable for completing the Halloween Challenge.
Fixed Multitool battery visual bug that sometimes triggered when depleting it.
Fixed some final screen scoring mistakes.
Tweaked Mandrillian anti-softlock.
Added a bit of extra smoke when attacking with the chainsaw.
