This update introduces the first steps towards our hugely ambitious goal of totally immersing you in Interstellar Marines.
Major new HUD updates, a new damage system which includes component damage, and the first version of our stamina system draw you into the game and set the stage for future plans. Update 7 also includes many changes to the audio, our first jump prototype and adjustments to the weapon aiming model.
ADDED: New Stamina Model that affects exhaustion level, breathing, fog in helmet, weapon bobbing and recoil
ADDED: New Suit System that controls the HUD, rebreather and audio occlusion/enhancements
ADDED: Component-based damage model on the Marines that affect the Suit System
ADDED: Breath System
ADDED: Projectile force impacts to ragdolls
ADDED: Jump prototype (hold to time your jump)
ADDED: Dynamic weapon bobbing
ADDED: Wind-in-ear sound at high velocities
ADDED: HUD notifications on confirmed kills, team kills and domination zones
ADDED: Red Dot Scope mark II
ADDED: Emissive strips on teammates when helmet is open
ADDED: Different muzzle flash effects in 1p/3p
ADDED: Support for password-protected servers
Improvements
UPDATED: Weapon accuracy and recoil model
UPDATED: Marine running speeds
UPDATED: Helmet to turn off HUD when opened
UPDATED: GUI to toggle on/off when HUD enabled/disabled
UPDATED: Helmet dirt texture
UPDATED: Difference between 1p and 3p SMG sounds
UPDATED: 1p/3p death sounds
UPDATED: 1p/3p impact sounds
UPDATED: All movement sounds
UPDATED: Sandbox with new physical materials (water, snow) and marines
UPDATED: Dawn environmental sounds (got rid of the birds!)
UPDATED: Water now reflects Marines
UPDATED: Team Domination start team tickets to 750
UPDATED: Playground mode to spawn real Marines
UPDATED: Respawning so players are added/removed to spawn queue on key input
UPDATED: Depth-of-Field settings to match new FOV/helmet clipping
Fixes
FIXED: Pingtimes to servers now display correctly
FIXED: So you can spawn instantly in Playground mode
FIXED: Weapon inaccuracy is the same in Playground as online
FIXED: Weapons stay after marine is destroyed in Playground
Known Issues
View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)
Keep the great feedback coming!
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME, Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 6: Initiating Team Domination
The brand new Team Domination game mode and the first multiplayer version of Martin Jonsson's unique multi-levelled map are the headlines in this feature-packed Interstellar Marines update.
The Team Domination game mode, along with a reduction in run speed and an increase in spawn time, all combine to make the gameplay more tactical and cooperative. With the new scoring system not only do you gain points for kill shots, you also gain points for capturing - helping your team and denying the enemy!
If you want to purchase Interstellar Marines for a friend, or have not purchased the game yourself, why not take advantage of this weekend's Steam sale? Click on the link below to find out more.
ADDED: New "Team Domination" capture game mode:
- The team that has most presence in a Domination zone takes tickets away from the enemy
- Tickets are distributed evenly between the dominating players in the zone
- The team that ends on 0 tickets OR has the fewest tickets left when the time runs out loses
- Only one Domination zone is active at a time
ADDED: Domination zones to all existing maps.
ADDED: Global team score that's always visible.
ADDED: Support for in-world UI overlays (currently used to outline the Domination zones).
ADDED: 1st iteration of queued SARA announcements to local player.
ADDED: Network capability to dynamic platforms.
ADDED: Taser light to marine's impact effect.
ADDED: Ville-Valtteri Kinnunen's combat suit concept art to the Spearhead content folder
Improvements
UPDATED: Elevation map with improved bunkers, markers, reverb zones etc.
UPDATED: Alternate routes to Arch and Rupture to support new Team Domination game mode.
UPDATED: Dynamic platforms now performs better and works with physics (ragdolls).
UPDATED: Marine run speed and weapon bobbing to be a bit slower.
UPDATED: Team colors are now always the same for friends (blue) and enemies (red).
UPDATED: Player names over friends now positions correctly with distance.
UPDATED: There's now a small wait period after dying before respawn is possible.
UPDATED: Marine spawning now takes enemy vicinity and respawn point occupation into account.
UPDATED: Spawning is now always "grounded".
UPDATED: It's now possible to switch team during countdown regardless of team sizes.
UPDATED: Initial countdown increased from 10 to 20 seconds.
UPDATED: Tracking color and label markers on all maps.
UPDATED: Impact effects now spawn more persistently and accurately on client-side.
UPDATED: All image effects to the latest from Unity 4.2.
Fixes
FIXED: "Tapped keys stay on after dying/loading level".
FIXED: "Camera shaking becomes unstable with low FPS".
FIXED: "Cannot switch team".
FIXED: "Join game friend info is not cleared on disconnect".
REMOVED: Corrupted shader that made flashlight cones pink (possibly fixes black screen bug for systems with Intel HD graphics cards).
Known Issues
FIXED: Player scores does not always sort correctly.
FIXED: Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect).
Keep the great feedback coming!
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME, Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 5
In this update we have many great new features, with top of the list being the first iteration of Martin Jonsson's stunning competition-winning map. Martin's map is in the playground area, so please take a few minutes to check it out.
Other new items include a major update to the popular Evacuation map, tap/hold key functionality for running, aiming, flashlights and targeting lasers, separate sensitivity sliders for zoom and hip fire as well as work-in-progress concept images from Louie Ishii for our Spearhead members.
It's been incredibly hectic here at ZPS as we complete building up the team and continue development of Interstellar Marines. There will be many more updates from now on and we can’t wait to share the incredible new stuff with you that is on the way. Thank you, our awesome community, for all your support!
ADDED:: New playground map "Elevation" - this is the first iteration of Martin Jonsson's winner entry in the community map making contest. Modes: Power online, emergency power, fire alarm, power offline and shut down.
ADDED:: First iteration of dynamic platforms for the new Elevation map
ADDED:: Support for "join game" on Steam friends
ADDED:: Louie Ishii's work-in-progress concept models to the Spearhead content folder
ADDED:: Tap/Hold key functionality to Run, Aim, Flashlight and Laser
ADDED:: Camera shakes on weapon firing
ADDED:: Basic bobbing animation to the weapon
ADDED:: Separate mouse sensitivity for zoom and hip
ADDED:: Ability to sort servers by name, map, players or ping
ADDED:: Ability to set the speaker setup (Stereo, 5.1, 7.1 etc.)
ADDED:: Basic HUD concept
Improvements
UPDATED:: The Evacuation map with new "capture" areas (tower and platform area)
UPDATED:: Muzzle flash particle fx and lighting to be a bit less obscuring in aim and added shadow casting
UPDATED:: Network system with improvements in CPU usage and data throughput
Fixes
FIXED: "network smoothing isn't saved when quitting"
Known Issues
FIXED: Camera shaking becomes unstable with low FPS.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software
Warning: Sharks Ahead!
Many community members have asked for an update on what we're planning for Interstellar Marines moving forward. So we've released a brand new video which explains our plans for the next 12-18 months.
If you're interested in knowing when you'll be playing Bullseye using Oculus Rift, fighting with your friends in co-op or facing off against genetically engineered shark creatures; then please watch the video below:
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME, Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 4: New Map and Spearhead goodies
This update includes a brand new map called “Evacuation” which is the largest map we’ve created so far, as well as the first Spearhead bonus content and scoreboard profile icons.
It’s no secret that we’re in the process of ramping up the team (last week we welcomed back Nicolai and Jess) and we’re still looking for more exceptional people (Game Programmer and 3D Environment Artist).
We have a few days of intense project planning ahead of us which might push the next update, but do not worry, everything is about getting more unique features, dynamic simulation and addictive gameplay into the hands of you awesome people.
What's New
ADDED: New map "Evacuation" - a full size combat range with a staged crash site evacuation zone situated in a wet and moist swamp
ADDED: Spearhead avatar icons to scoreboards and names
ADDED: Support for installing Spearhead content such as soundtracks, art books and secret bonuses
ADDED: The original "Interstellar Marines: The Beginning" soundtrack to the Spearhead folder
ADDED: Profile section to the menu
ADDED: Added support for layer-based reflections (advanced user options coming in the future)
ADDED: Added water movement sounds (impact effects are still placeholders from "concrete")
Fixes
FIXED: "object flicker bug when light is close to pitch black" (Unity 4.2 bug). This currently prevents us from having complete pitch black lighting.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 3
It’s time to bring out the “M” in maintenance update (sorry, we just had to)!
This time we’ve updated the game to the latest version of Unity (version 4.2) which have solved a few of our outstanding crash bugs and given us a slight performance increase on all platforms. But the big “maintenance” news is that due to the huge support we’ve received on Steam we’ve added a few more people to the team which will help us get more beefy updates out the door sooon!
Update #4 is planned for Friday next week (if everything goes according to our plans) and in this update we hope to bring you a new large outdoor map staged to simulate an atmospheric evacuation zone right at the heart of a moist swamp environment. We’ll also be working on an initial profile implementation for your combat training stats and maybe we’ll even throw in a small surprise from your subconscious...
Improvements
UPDATED: game engine to Unity 4.2 (overall better performance)
UPDATED: team with 2 new members (Reese and Necrosonic) and increased office map size
UPDATED: game to default to fullscreen native resolution on first startup (possibly fixes "black screen on startup" bug?)
UPDATED: OpenGL shadow filtering so shadows on OSX are just as pretty as Windows
UPDATED: better shadow casting performance
Fixes
FIXED: GetThreadContext crash occurring on some Windows PCs
REMOVED: temporary "game crashes on quit" hotfix
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 2
It’s time to bring out the “T” in tactical combat!
This update we’re introducing the first iteration of one of our central tactical movement mechanics; namely the ability to boost your movement stance at the expense of noise (volume/range) and weapon accuracy.
To increase the immersion and dynamics of the combat we’ve added casings and smoke to the SMG as well as impact light to metal sparks. We’ve also added a few additional options to the settings menu such as v-sync, audio options and post-process effects.
Finally we’ve fixed another nice little batch of bugs, errors and inconsistencies based on all your invaluable feedback.
New Features
ADDED: walk/run movement (affects sounds and weapon accuracy)
UPDATED: weapon gun model is affected by hip aiming, zooming and movement speeds (multiplayer)
ADDED: casing and ejection smoke effects to weapon
ADDED: post-processing effects to settings
ADDED: "v-sync" toggle option to settings
ADDED: audio volume and mute option to settings
ADDED: light flashes on metal impact effects
ADDED: subconscious impulse
Improvements
UPDATED: short wait period (0.5s) after spawn before you can shoot
UPDATED: mouse sensitivity in settings to a broader selectable range
UPDATED: so only the tonemapping and bloom post-process effects are on by default (performance)
UPDATED: the red dot to be slightly smaller
UPDATED: the IM logo in menu to include the Early Access update number
UPDATED: level camera so it respects the post-processing effects from settings
UPDATED: level camera to change positions in half the time
Fixes
FIXED: "game crashes when using FRAPS and starting game"
FIXED: Steam exception thrown on quit
FIXED: "ODD warning doesn't show in OSX"
FIXED: "cannot bind Shift and other modifier keys"
FIXED: so bindings are not overwritten if already bound during load
FIXED: "bindings are reset to default when not bound"
FIXED: "sometimes weapon fires a bunch of bullets on spawn"
FIXED: "if firing while going to a menu, the weapon doesn't stop firing"
FIXED: "if holding fire while reloading the weapon doesn't start firing when reloading ends"
FIXED: "settings button still selected when going from intro to menu"
DISABLED: the buggy helmet occlusion prototype
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software
Game Update 1
Wow. Just wow. The last couple of days have been absolutely fantastic and we couldn't be more happy with the reception you all have given us. And now the waiting is over: we’re on Steam and we can finally focus all our time on actual game development!
We’re currently working on an update for next week, but we simply had to address the key binding issue that have prevented some of you from enjoying the game.
So today (a few hours past our bedtime) we’ve rolled out a minor update introducing custom key bindings and on request we’ve also spawned two brand new servers for stress testing intense 8vs8 combat training.
New Features
ADDED: support for custom key/mouse bindings in menu
ADDED: support for multiplayer games with up to 16 players
ADDED: support for toggling rain in environmental states
UPDATED: so 5:4 and 4:3 screen resolutions are available in the video settings
ADDED: sprinkler prototype to Sandbox
Improvements
UPDATED: all input help to reflect the key/mouse bindings
UPDATED: the master server listing to refresh more often
UPDATED: the rain-detection on the marine (helmet + sounds) to be much more accurate
UPDATED: Arch, Rupture and Mainline with rain
UPDATED: rain FX on helmet with smaller droplets to make it more realistic
UPDATED: rain environment sounds on Rupture (thunder and foggy/grey environment states)
UPDATED: the Quit button so it's slightly more visible
Fixes
FIXED: "you can aim/suicide/toggle helmet while in menu"
Keep the great feedback coming!
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software
Join Us For The Interstellar Marines Launch Events
We will be holding two live-stream launch events this Saturday evening to celebrate Interstellar Marines going live on Steam Early Access this week. Come join us, hang out with friends, shoot Bozar and perhaps even win some goodies.
The times for the two events are:
First event European prime time:
9pm CET (8pm UK time, 3pm EST) live on http://www.twitch.tv/zeropointsoftware
Second event US prime time:
9pm EST (2am UK time, 3am CET) live on http://www.twitch.tv/zeropointsoftware
Bozar will be streaming for at least 2 hours during each event, longer if we can keep the coffee flowing, and will be joined by several people in the stream as well as answering questions from the channel chat. We’re also hoping Kim will be able to take part in the first event, so if you’ve ever wanted to ask a dev a question, now is your chance!
We look forward to seeing you there.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Zero Point Software
Welcome to Interstellar Marines on Early Access
We went live on Steam Early Access on Tuesday evening, and we’re thrilled and delighted at the overwhelmingly positive response Interstellar Marines has received from the community. Thank you so much! We would especially like to thank each and every person who voted for us on Greenlight. You guys are awesome.
At ZPS we’ve spent several months preparing for the Steam launch. Every second of that time has been worth it to be able to show you Interstellar Marines and to share with you our vision for the game. We are now concentrating on creating updates and content for Interstellar Marines based both on our vision and your feedback. We’re pleased to announce our first post-Steam update will be next week. Stay tuned for more information!
We can’t wait to complete Interstellar Marines, and to be able to share the sheer scope of the game with you. Thank you one and all for sharing this incredible journey with us.
