Evolvation
Upcoming play event!
A bot is coming, but till then player versus player is required. In order to play with other early access participants, we scheduled an event! View the event with the following link:
http://steamcommunity.com/games/Evolvation/events/582476480911811696
See you there pilot!
Happy flying and kind regards,
Eric Ruts
On behalf of the HyperReuts team
Development blog is open: Bot and new game mode coming!
As stated in the release notes, a lot is still coming! http://steamcommunity.com/games/Evolvation/announcements/detail/597111833080108294
To keep you up to date and involve you in the process a development blog is opened! This blog aims to supply you with information about the current state and the possibility for you to be involved!
http://steamcommunity.com/app/510840/discussions/3/
The lead programmer of Evolvation opened his blog about the AI development (bots) for Evolvation. You have the amazing opportunity to be actively involved with the lead developer and give suggestions about how you think it should be implemented! You are able to join the discussion here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/510840/discussions/3/352792037326637868/
In the development blog section a new topic has just been created with the announcement that a new game mode is coming! View and/or join the discussion about that matter here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/510840/discussions/3/343785574516470543/
We will keep you up to date! And a lot more is coming! For instance, we are planning public events to have some play sessions! In a couple of hours one of those play sessions is planned! http://steamcommunity.com/games/Evolvation/events/582476480908781686
Kind regards and happy flying!
Eric Ruts
On behalf of the HyperReuts team
Evolvation Early Access released!
Evolvation early access has just been launched. To help you with a good start, we have created some early access tutorials.
Evolvation: Early access beginner tutorial - First login
Evolvation: Early access beginner tutorial - Join/Host game and movement
Evolvation: Early access beginner tutorial - Primary and secondary weapon
Evolvation: Early access beginner tutorial - Flares
Please keep in mind that this is an early access release. Check out the release notes to check out the current state of Evolvation. Also, it is probable that there are not many players online. We suggest to play with friends to explore the early access of Evolvation!
Feel free to join the discussion!
Kind regards,
Eric Ruts
On behalf of the HyperReuts team
Evolvation 1.0.1 release notes
Feel free to join the discussion, report bugs and suggest improvements.
Current state
Since this is our first public release we are not going to state the “new features” but explain the current state of the game. We will do this by stating the key features of the game in the current state.
Key features
• Upgrading system
• Levelling system
• In-game currency system
• Locking system
• Flares
• Movement system
• Spaceships classes
• Pick-ups
• Multiplayer
• Game Modes
• Low and high end system support
• Camera options
• Input support
• Level bounds
• Environmental damage
• Chat system
Upgrading system
The player has the option to buy new spaceships, weapons, engines, computers and much more! You are able to configure your very own spaceship to your liking. Thousands of configurations are possible, so you can make your spaceship unique. But be aware, in order to buy an upgrade, you are required to have sufficient in-game currency. This currency can be acquired with several in game methods.
Levelling system
Each player gains experience points while playing Evolvation. With these experience points, you can level up. If a player levels up, they can unlock spaceships, weapons, computers and/or other perks. A player can gain experience points with:
• Kill points: For each enemy kill you receive XP
• Assist points: : If you inflicted a certain amount of damage and someone else finishes. You will receive assist points.
• Game points: For game related activities such as: capturing a flag, defending a control point, destroying an enemy base etc.
• Completing achievements: Evolvation contains a lot of achievements which rewards the player for achieving them.
• Winning a game: For winning a game, a player gains experience
• Finishing a game: Players get a small reward for finishing a game
In-game currency system:
In the late future, the currency that we now take as granted, is no more. The evolving need of data in the future has become so important that is has become a currency. Gain data in Evolvation and buy and upgrade your spaceship with your collected data!
After taking the enemy out, a pick-up is dropped at the location of the enemy player which contains a certain amount of data. You are able to pick up this data. The data is in bytes. The data is divided into three categories: Terabytes, petabytes and exabytes. If you have collected 1000 terabytes, you will have 1 petabyte. If you have collected 1000 petabytes, you have one exabyte.
Locking system
The player is able to equip their spaceship with a primary and a secondary weapon. Most of the secondary weapons are equipped with a locking device. This locking system uses a homing missile projectile. The targeting process is as follows:
1. The distance between your spaceship and the target should be no more than a certain maximum
2. The locking indicator has to be in a certain radius of the target
3. The indicator moves to the target
4. When the locking indicator reaches the target, the target is locked
5. The warning indicator of the target shows: ”locked”
6. You are now able to fire a projectile as a “homing missile”
7. The homing missile will follow the target.
8. The target will receive a warning indicator: “Missile inbound”
9. Unless the target evades the missile properly, the homing missile will be a direct hit!
Flares
In order to evade a homing missile, some special manoeuvres can be executed. But the player has another option: Flares, sometimes known as “chaff”. Flares are an option to redirect an incoming homing projectile to another target. The new target will be the flare. If a homing projectile is in range of a flare, the missile prioritizes the flare above the original target.
Movement system
All of the spaceships are equipped with our amazing flying control set. This control set gives the player the possibility to move in any direction. It is possible to make looping’s, roll over, rotating while still moving in the original direction etc. During our playtests we already saw some very interesting moves and we are really curious how the community will use our movement system to its fullest!
It sounds like a lot of options, and might seem very complex to learn. But all of our test cases resulted in one conclusion: The controls are very intuitive and easy to learn. For basic movement, it is not necessary to use all the degrees of movement, but it is nice to know that you can always fly more advanced!
Spaceship classes
Everybody is unique and everybody wants to do something else. With our classes, you are able to choose what you want to do and what you want to be. Each class has its own special ability.
• Highspeed
The ships in this class are extra small, very fast but extra vulnerable. The class ability is a special temporary boost in speed.
• Fighter
The fighter is for the soldiers on the front-line. It can afflict high damage, has a proper hull for the defence and has a good speed. An overall good spaceship with balanced properties. The fighter has a temporary attack bonus.
• Stealth
The stealth ships are fast, hard to see and are very flexible in manoeuvrability. This class ability gives the player the power to have a temporary camouflage.
• Support
Support ships have average stats. A bit more armour but are perfect for supporting your team. This class has more cargo space for supplies like: rockets, energy capsules, and health packs. Support ships have the ability to drop support packages for their team mates. If a team member picks one up, the supplier of the package receives XP.
• Tank
A tank is much slower, has less manoeuvrability but has an amazing hull which gives the ship a good defence system. This class has the ability to spawn a temporary powershield around the ship, it increases the defence.
Pick-Ups
At the start of a game, each player starts with their default stats. During the game you can lose some of the stats such as ammo, health etc.. In the map, pick-ups are placed to regenerate these stats. The pick-ups are:
• Health Points pick-up
This pick-up regenerates the health points of a player for certain amount.
• Energy Pick-ups
This pick-up regenerates the energy points of a player for certain amount.
• Primary ammo Pick-up
This pick-up fills up the ammunition of your primary weapon.
• Secondary Ammo Pick-up
This pick-up fills up the ammunition of your secondary weapon.
• Data Pick-up
A small amount of data will be added to the total data of the player.
• Support package
This is the package dropped by a support ship. It refills the health points, energy, ammunition, and even a bit of data.
Multiplayer
An arena-like multiplayer space flying shooter which never stops to have action! It is a game which does not require extensive game hours in order to keep up with your friends. But still some amazing perks can be acquired by gaining experience points! Evolvation is an arena based multiplayer game like Unreal tournament, call of duty (multiplayer), Quake, etc. This means that a continuous player to player interaction is inevitable. Other players are the central game elements.
Game Modes
Evolvation contains two game modes at the moment, we are aware that this is not much but we have quite some gamemodes planned for the final release. Please refer to the What’s next section to view our future plans:
• Free for All
A gamemode wherein everybody is on their own.
• Team Deathmatch
Team up! Work together to gain victory.
Low and High-end system support
We aim to support low and high-end systems. We do not aim to compete with a space-simulator. Our goal is to let as much people as possible enjoy a fun and excellent graphical game. We do not want to rule a large group out by requiring very high system specs. When you have installed the game via Steam and press play, you can choose between 4 options:
• Play direct X 11: This is a built for high-end devices. Your graphics card should support direct X 11. Heavier post processing effects such as bloom are applied in this build.
• Play direct X 11 low-end: This is a built for devices which support direct X 11. Heavier post processing effects such as bloom are disabled. If you have a high-end system but the game does not respond well at the option above e.g. long loading times, joining lobby problems etc. Than this is the build for you!
• Play direct X 10: This is a built for devices which support direct X 10 and not higher. Heavier post processing effects such as bloom are allowed in this build. Direct X 10 does not directly support some features such as refraction but your computer may be able to process it otherwise!
• Play direct X 10 low-end: This is a built for low-end devices which support direct X 10 and not higher. Heavier post processing effects such as bloom are disabled. At start up your settings are set on low quality. Low settings on a low-end device will result in loss of graphics quality. Such as lighting problems in the My Hangar environment, textures are not loaded etc. These low settings are of really low graphics quality but it does not affect the gameplay, only the graphics.
Camera options
The player has several camera options. Some of the options are very different to play. The player can switch through:
• Cockpit mode (First Person)
• The camera is positioned within the cockpit of the spaceship.
• Front-Cam
• The camera is in the same position as it is in the cockpit mode but the cockpit is made invisible for a better overview.
• Third Person cam
• The camera follows the player with a spring arm.
• Chase front camera
• The camera is positioned up-front and is looking backwards. This gives the player the ability to view behind the spaceship. This is a good option if you want to check if a player is chasing you.
• Fly-by camera
• The camera chooses a point and focuses on you, which gives a cool “fly-by” effect. This fly-by camera is not a very good option to play well. But it gives a beautiful result!
Input support
We think it is very important that you can change the controls as you like it. That is why we have supplied this game with fully configurable controls. We support the use of mouse and keyboard, PlayStation controller (Mapped to Xbox controller) and Xbox controller. Please refer to the what’s next sections for our plans for joystick support!
Level bounds
On the edges of the map, level bounds are present. These are only visible if you are near the level bounds. These level bounds are present for deserters of the game. If you exceed these levels bounds, the player will receive a warning to return to the battlefield. If they do not return within ten seconds, they will be shot for deserting the battle.
Environment damage
Some of the maps contain high-energy or very hot areas. Be aware for this because they will inflict environmental damage.
Maps
In Evolvation version1.0.1 are 7 maps available. The maps:
• Mothership: The mothership is under attack! A map where some bevels of the mothership can be a good evasive option.
• Dying star: The massive fireball is the central game element in this map. A lot of evasive manoeuvres are possible. But be aware of the heat damage!
• Spaceship graveyard: This massive spaceship was abandoned long ago. A lot of waste is flying around, it also seems that this graveyard is becoming a space garbage disposal. So watch out for the impact damage! In this map it is even possible to fly through the broken abandoned spaceship.
• Satellite: This map is close to a planet. The complex build and several antennas of the satellite give the player a lot of manoeuvring ability between the structures.
• Energy Station: the energy station is the central game element of this map. The energy station is draining all the energy of a planet. Be aware of the energy core, your shield cannot handle that much power!
• Drainage: Four energy stations are draining a huge planet! This map gives the player the option to travel between the stations while hiding behind asteroids. But beware if you get off track, you will become a living decoy.
• Pillars: A lot of space debris! A map where the vision is limited if you are going deeper in the gas. Debris chunks have formed beautiful pillars on the edge of the gas. A map where dog fighting is testing the abilities of the pilot. The pilot has the ability to manoeuvre through some holes in several pillars.
Spaceships
A total of 10 spaceships are present in this build. 2 for each class, 5 spaceships for below level 50 and 5 spaceships for level 50 and higher.
My hangar environment
An environment is present where you are able to buy and upgrade spaceships. This environment is called my hangar. You are also able to create, edit and delete a configuration of your spaceship. For instance, if you have bought multiple weapons for your spaceship, you can change the weapons here.
Achievements
You are able to gain achievements in Evolvation 1.0.1! If you have reached an achievement you gain experience points and data. The achievements are not yet integrated with steam achievements. These achievements can be viewed in the my hangar environment.
Join/Host
Evolvation is a multiplayer game. Currently there are no dedicated servers available, only for the database. So this means that you have to join a session which is hosted by another player. You are also able to host your own game by simply clicking on the host button.
It is possible to join games which are not started (In the lobby phase) or join games which are already running!
Because the game is running on steam you are able to right mouse click on a friend and invite them to play in your game! If a friend of is already in a game, you can right mouse click on your friend in the friends list and press join game!
Settings
You are able to change settings op the game in the options menu. Controls, Graphics and sounds. Controls are completely configurable, graphics can be set from low to high end and the sounds are divided into several groups.
Graphics settings are configurable in overall settings and custom settings.
Kill cam
When you are eliminated by the enemy, the camera goes to an overview mode of the location where you got eliminated and then points to the player which has eliminated you. The camera will follow this player until you got respawned.
Chat and voice system
You are able to chat in game with other player. The colour of the chat messages are defined by the player or team. You are also able to voice chat!
Bug fixes
• Quite some! But these fixes are from closed testing only
Known bugs
• Loading screen sometimes display the wrong map name
• It is hard to understand the first steps of the game without a tutorial
• Crosshair is not the specific aim point for forward thrust.
• Mouse controls do not work as required
• At respawn, the game freezes sometimes on particular systems
• Start-up can take a couple of minutes with black screen. Mostly the first few times.
• In the hangar, some weapons go through the ground.
• Kill achievements do not work properly
• Focus issues improvement e.g. start-up pop up
• If a second screen is connected, resolution bugs can occur. This can result in no control of your spaceship. Workaround: Change resolution in game and apply settings.
• In the server list, the friends, history and favourite tabs are not working
• In the server list the filter buttons do not work
• If all sounds are disables, the engine sound is still present.
• Switching teams in lobby is unclear and can result into bugs such as the same player present in both teams
• If chatting in the lobby, focus issues might appear.
• All servers in the server list have a ping of 9999
• The HUD displays Shield down and heat damage, they do not work and are not applicable
• You are able to join a game without a configuration
• The engine of the stealth ships are still in stealth mode after the stealth is finished.
• Class abilities stats are not present
• If an achievement is reached and the game is over, the achievement is shown behind the end-game screen.
• Collision problems, such being able to flying through certain objects.
• Sometimes after being eliminated, the locking indicator is still active
• Class ability of the Highspeed does not increase the max speed
• Killing streaks are calculated throughout levels
What’s next
• Clan support such as clan names
o You should be able to distinguish yourself as a member of a clan. Join games together, and enter tournaments. Add new members to your clan in a convenient clan hangar, and hang out together. It is more fun to play with friends!
• Joystick support
o Everyone should be able to use the controller of their choice. A joystick will provide alternative controls, perfect for another gaming experience of Evolvation.
• Maps
o More maps allow everyone to show out their skills and will challenge the player to adopt to the diverse environments.
• Spaceships
o We aim to develop more ship to let everyone pick one of their choice. It is undefined to which class the ships will belong.
• Gamemodes
o More gamemodes need to be created particularly to enhance multiplayer gameplay. The gamemodes should let all the maps and space ship abilities come together to make a challenging game.
• Matchmaking
o More control in the host screen will let you set up a match which has restrictions for the players that can join.
• Quickmatch
o Features such as automatic pooling should be implemented in the quickmatch, to let players land in games which are both challenging and enjoyable.
• Fairness indicator
o Games in the serverlist should have an indication how experienced the players are to enable you to decide which game you want to join.
• Steam achievements
o Steam achievement incorporation will allow you and other players to keep track of your achievements.
• Dedicated servers
• HUD improvements
o There are some obsolete items such as the heat damage.
• Match summary screen
o The summary screen should be a clear and informative overview
• Control presets
o We want to enable players to quickly switch between keyboard (and other controllers) pre-sets to find the setup that matches their needs. These can still be further tweaked in the customize control screen.
• Kick player from game
o Inactive players or those who are ruining the gameplay of Evolvation can be voted for to get kicked out of the match. Use and abuse of this function will be tracked to ensure the best gameplay possible.
• Voting system next map
o Players should have the freedom to skip a map.
• Linux build
o Extended support of more platforms will allow more people to play Evolvation.
• Mouse control improvements
o Currently Evolvation supports but is not optimized for mouse control. Improvements will make the mouse feel like a familiar and conventional addition to the game controls.
• Steam controller support
o The steam controller is not yet supported but we aim to provide this option.
• Customizable spaceships e.g. colour selection, decal placement.
o Features such as customizable colours of your ship will make it distinguishable and to your liking.
• Extra weapons
o A range of weapons will allow you to pick a weapon that suits your playing style.
• Level bounds improvement
o The level bounds should be both distinguishable and unobtrusive
• Stability improvements
o Incremental stability improvements
• Achievements overview improvement
o The overview should be clear and structured
• Map orientation indicator for when out of level bounds
o It should be clear how to return to the map when out of level bounds
• Class abilities improvement
o It may be difficult to understand and use the class abilities to their maximum.
• Stat balance improvement such as damage, health, bonuses from upgrades etc.
• Tutorial
o A clear tutorial is needed to introduce players to the game. Guiding players through the process of buying and configuring their first spaceship to let them started to get the most out of Evolvation.
• Resolution improvements, some items are not aligned properly in the UI.
o Improve the structure of the complete GUI and HUD
• AI bot
o An AI bot enables to train or playing single player.
• Small single player mode
• Private team message
o Implement a private chat to discuss everything you don’t want to share with your enemy.
• Magnetic pick-ups’
o Make it easier to gain a pickup
• Ability to select default configuration
o In the lobby or when joining in game the default configuration should be selected to provide a faster start of the game.
• Lobby redesign
o Improve the lobby design to be more intuitive and provide more settings such as switching teams.
• Server list redesign
o Improve the server list to include filters and make the list sortable
• Host screen redesign
• Improve menu background (Flying spaceships)
o The background should be more interesting and have a more personalised feeling
• In game stats menu improvements
o You should be able to quickly look up your statistics in a clear and concise overview
• Particle effect optimization, better explosions!
o We are constantly pushing to improve graphics such as explosions.
We will keep you up-to-date with our news flashes on our webpage, via our social media (Google+, Facebook, Twitter, linked in and if we release a video YouTube) and/or via our forum of Evolvation.
Feel free to join the discussion!
Kind regards,
The HyperReuts Team
Evolvation early access release tomorrow
Please read the early access section carefully and view the release notes for more information about the current state of Evolvation.
Feel free to leave comments, feedback, start a discussion and/or leave other thoughts! Also, join the discussion on our forum!
Kind regards,
Eric Ruts
On Behalf of the HyperReuts Team