Jaws of Extinction 0.2.10.0 is out a week early! The update is available right now on Steam. We decided to release our patch earlier this week in order to give us just enough time to round off some fancy new mechanics but also address a couple of issues from last week’s patch sooner.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE FOCUS FOR THIS PATCH?
This patch focuses on implementing various new content features. Get your hands on the new Bow and Arrow weapon and check out the new character visuals. Furthermore, there have been several important bug fixes and improvements regarding temperature and ADS mechanics.
NEW CHARACTER MODEL After some amazing feedback from the community, it there seemed to be a consensus that the character visuals were not in line with the quality of the environment. This is likely a combination of issues including animations causing strange limb positions, materials looking plastic and the character model being rather plain.
This week we set about redesigning the character to set a standard for all other characters to come into the game at a later date. Fine turning the skin materials, using subsurface techniques, with the right balance of specular contrast and adding more character to the model.
As well as giving the character model overhaul, we have done the same with clothing for the characters, improving materials and textures as well as the quality and efficiency of the meshes.
BOW AND ARROW Teach a man to fish, feed him for a day. Give a man a bow and arrow, and he’ll shoot fish, Wanderers, other survivors, you name it. Now you can get a bow too! The Composite bow can be made in the Crafting Tab along with Steel Arrows.
The bow and arrow is an effective and quiet tool. The trade off is the rate of fire, which is limited to your draw speed. The bow makes a capable weapon in a post-apocalyptic environment, especially against wanderers if you are able to land a headshot.
A great long-term advantage of the bow you can craft your own ammunition from resources in the environment. Look for bird’s nests to gather feathers required to make arrows.
NEXT PATCH
In the next couple of weeks ahead of our next patch we’ll be cracking on with the updated AI system with the intention of bringing the older AIV2 Wanderers up to date on to the AIV3 system with an improved complement of functionality.
Furthermore, we are going to start on bringing the new protagonists in to the fold. You’ll soon be able to choose which character you would like to play, each with a different set of skills of offer.
Finally, we will be building on the four-player cooperative elements of the game in the background, making the game multiplayer ready for future patches.
WHAT’S COMING UP SOON
For more details on what's to come you can always visit our websites road map. But for a quick overview, here is what our focus will be over the next few months:
Continued work on AI Version 3.0 (Wanderers).
Implementing additional protagonist characters.
Start implementing first stages of cooperative play (pooling system, world compersition).
Additional quests and story and updating tutorial quest.
UI Updates and additional elements.
Performance improvements.
Continued work on Building interiors.
Continued work on player world map.
THINGS TO REMEMBER BEFORE PURCHASING JOE
As we have stated from day one of our unlisted launch on Steam, JoE is heaverly in development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We know it is very performance demanding and many bugs coming out of the woodwork, please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before your purchase, as always all your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Version 0.2.10.0a patch notes: https://steamcommunity.com/games/617850/announcements/detail/1609391999613092717
v.0.2.10.0a Patch Notes
Player
Added new Amy v4.0 model with updated hair effects.
Replaced old prison outfit with new version and textures for player models.
Added new bow and arrow weapon.
Added craftable Composite Bow to Crafting tab.
Added craftable Basic Steel Tipped Arrows to Crafting tab.
Reworked firearm system to now accommodate bows & crossbows (UI additions will be made in the future to accommodate new weapon types on Character tab).
Fixed bug causing player’s temperature to be uncontrollably high after extinguishing a campfire.
Fixed ammo counter not updating when picking up ammo.
Fixed ammo counter only showing the first stack of ammo in the inventory.
Fixed player vaulting and aiming simultaneously.
Fixed third-person aiming animation being frozen after exiting ADS using [Space].
Fixed various errors caused by switching view modes in ADS.
Fixed vicinity ‘Take All’ making weapons sometimes disappear or get replaced, even though there is a different weapon in the weapon slot.
Fixed issues associated with picking up a weapon with the vicinity search causing the grabbed weapon to appear on the player’s back when the character should be holding their current weapon in their hands.
Dragging weapons from the vicinity in to the inventory no longer tries to auto-equip.
Various fixes and improvements ‘weapon block’ which happens when there is not enough room for the weapon in front of the character. Character will lower their gun if there is insufficient space to hold their weapon up. If in over-shoulder view, character will now raise weapon again if Right-mouse Button [RMB] is still held down if the player moves to a position with enough space.
Fixed various errors occurring from weapon block check running when not aiming with a weapon.
Amended the camera movement when moving the weapon in ADS.
Reduced optical attachments shaking when aiming.
General improvements towards smoothness of ADS.
Fixed character playing turning animations while using freelook.
Fixed using melee tools to harvest not working (e.g. trees and rocks).
Improved axe harvesting swing animation.
Fixed circumstance where you could fire a weapon while in the inventory screen.
Updated KBAG (Key Bindings at a Glance) display to reflect new weapons and functionality.
NPCs
Improved optimisation on background AI development tools affecting in-game performance.
Game
Updated game credits with new partners and team members.
Enviroment
Added first version of physical map of the Hanouten area (see near public toilets in Hanouten). The physical map is how you will update your ST-RV map later as it is developed.
Fixed gap down the far side of the main river from Garnet Lake.
Fixed hole in la--ndscape around some roadworks.
Fixed missing roof parts on some houses in Hanouten.
Added bus stops scattered around Hanouten area.
Added fallen birds nests (gives feathers and stick when harvested).
Added use for tree saplings (gives sapling branch when harvested).
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Jaws of Extinction 0.2.9.0 is now available on both staging and main branch! MOre big changes and new features at the same time as our usual optimisation pass over everything in the world, this includes new grass meshes, removal of birds and the new fish, that unfortunately did not make it to the main branch this time around, but nevertheless when we have them on our new AI Version 3.0 system, there will be more fish and birds we know what to do with.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE FOCUS FOR THIS PATCH?
NPC SAFEZONE GUARDS There are some new faces in town. Head on over to Hanouten Safezone and you’ll find guards now occupying the towers armed with firearms. If any Wanderers get too close to the gates, the guards will react quickly to stop the threat.
The addition of firearms to NPCs opens the gate for further NPC types who can use weapons. The weapon system for NPCs is closely related to the player’s weapon system, meaning that any NPC has the potential to use any firearm.
AUTOSAVE & MULTI-SAVE FILES A feature regularly requested by the community, we are pleased to announce that players will now be able to have save and load multiple save files.
Additionally, the game will autosave every 15 minutes. Up to five auto-saves will be saved every 15 minutes. The oldest file will be overwritten when a new autosave is made.
The game can also be saved manually though the pause menu [ESC], when placing a sleeping bag down, or when the player exits the game.
When in the main menu, selecting ‘Load Game’ will open a menu displaying all previous saves and a collection of header data about that save file (date, version number, etc). Loading from the in-game pause menu will always load the most recent save file.
The new additional data saved to each save file allows us to determine what version of the game you are running and will notify you if the file is out of date. This does not stop you using the save but will make you aware of issues using the save file may cause.
MELEE WEAPONS AND OPTICS Not normally something that go together in a sentence, but we have done some additional work on melee weapons, by adding new sound effects when swinging and caving heads in, we also added two new craftable baseball bats, that you can also find laying around the world if you are lucky. The melee weapons now use an experimental way of detecting when it has hit something, but we will be continuing work on this for the next patch.
Additionally updates have been made to optics when aiming down sight as well as a bunch of fixes and improvements to the ADS system itself, we still have that world offset shack on the attachments, but the overall visual look to them looks 100x better. You can now also ADS when in third-person by holding aim (Right mouse button) and tapping spacebar to toggle between ADS and shoulder.
STAGING BRANCH During the last patch we trialled an exciting new way for testers to experiment with upcoming updates sooner and an opportunity for us to get prompt feedback on new content. The staging branch is a preview version of the game for the next patch which gives us some freedom to have systems tested ahead of release in to the main patch without risking breaking the main game. If you would like to try out the Staging Branch please follow these steps. Also, please be sure to give us your feedback and help us iron out any issues ahead of the next patch!
See link below for instructions on how to move your version to the staging branch.
PLAYER TEMPERATURE We reworked and implemented an updated version of the temperature system in the Staging Branch last week. The initial response suggests that many of the issues the temperature system have been much improved (although we are aware that some changes are going to be necessary down the line as well). The updates made on the Staging Branch have now been integrated in to the current update. For full details on the changes made to temperature and how we’ve brought the system closer to a real-life model of human body temperature, check out the info released earlier in the week:
Next week we will be continuing work on the melee system and further build upon the remaining UI elements such as the ‘Skills’ tab in the inventory.
Additionally, over the coming weeks we will be continuing to expand the AIV3 system to update the Wanderers from AIV2. This change will see a number of optimisations in addition to various new functionalities such as allowing Wanderers to vault over obstacles and the first sightings of Special Infected.
WHAT’S COMING UP SOON
For more details on what's to come you can always visit our websites road map. But for a quick overview, here is what our focus will be over the next few months:
Performance
AI Version 3.0
Additional protagonists
4 player coop
Exclusive DLC Apparel redemption
THINGS TO REMEMBER BEFORE PURCHASING JOE
As we have stated from day one of our unlisted launch on Steam, JoE is heaverly in development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We know it is very performance demanding and many bugs coming out of the woodwork, please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before your purchase, as always all your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Version 0.2.9.0a patch notes: https://steamcommunity.com/games/617850/announcements/detail/1608265467538537603
v.0.2.9.0a Patch Notes
Player
Implementation of revised temperature management which simulates temperature closer to a real-life heat system.
For more information on this change please see: https://steamcommunity.com/games/617850/announcements/detail/1608264109175353051
Various related temperature management bug fixes.
Added new foliage cover system. Standing in tall grasses and reeds will affect how visible the player is. The system does not affect NPC perception… yet!
Tall grass can now act as natural cover and camouflage.
Bushes now act as light natural cover when crouched inside.
River reeds now act as medium natural cover/camouflage while crouching in them.
Added Cover/Camouflage tier indication icons on the HUD warning panel.
Changed method of entering ADS while in third-person. Hold [RMB] to aim over shoulder, then tap [Space] to switch to first-person ADS. Prevents accidentally entering ADS.
Added new Aim Down Sight (ADS) key binding defaulted to [Space]. Warning: custom bound keys will need to be deleted and revalidate on Steam.
Fixed issue causing axe not make impact with anything.
Added new melee animations.
Added new melee sound FX.
Added visual and audible effects to melee weapons on impact and when swung.
Added two different types of craftable melee weapon, basic baseball bat and spiked baseball bat.
Improved ADS optics visuals.
Adjusted weapon movement lean in ADS mode.
Fixed an issue where when in ADS accuracy not being calculated accurately in first person.
Fixed an issue where jumping while reloading would cause ADS to bug out.
Character will now lower firearm if aiming is blocked.
Melee weapons can now damage objects in the world ie. glass.
Fixed issue where players may be unable to move on game start due to Freelook being stuck on.
NPCs
Improved animation neck angles of survivors when looking at the player.
Survivors no longer look at your forever. They will turning away after a short time.
Implementation of firearm system for NPCs. NPCs can now use and aim weaponry (more varieties of armed NPCs are to be added in the future using the firearm system).
Added new safezone guards with firearms. Guards are located in the safezone towers and will shoot down any incoming Wanderers.
Fixed Wanderer loot bags spawning in the air in some circumstances.
Slightly increased Wanderer collision radius.
Fixed issue where dead Wanderers capsule collision may still affect some mechanics even though the Wanderer is dead.
Fixed circumstance where firing bullets could theoretically have an affect on AI navigation.
Items
Baseball bats added to loot spawns across world.
Added Military Grade2 65Kg backpack.
Added Survival Grade 90Kg backpack.
Game
Added new ‘Autosave’ system, the game will automatically save every 15 minutes, with a maximum of five saves before replacing the oldest one (this will be manageable from the game settings at a later date).
Added new ‘Multi-save Slot’ system. Manually saving, placing sleeping bags and exiting the game will each create their own save file.
Added new save game loading menu to the character selection screen in the main menu. Allows you to choose a game save to load, edit or delete (editing game saves is disabled while we test the new system).
Game saves now generate new header information. This allows the game to give you brief data about the save file and what game version it was created in.
Added game version number to in-game pause menu
Environment
Fixed fuzzy artifacts around clouds.
Added new custom distance system to transparent particle FX such as smoke, mist, water foam to prevent popping in and out at distances when being culled.
Added new seaweed, rocks and ocean foliage to ocean floor.
Placed additional burning barrels around Hanouten and surrounding area.
Added new river bed visuals around the Hanouten area.
Replaced river and streams with new performance friendly spline system around Hanouten.
Performance
Temporarily removed birds and fish due to performance concerns. Will be introduced within AIV3 updates with improved optimisation.
Improved optimisation of skydome shader complexity.
Improved some unnecessary complex shaders on assets around the world.
Optimised grass assets and added new types of grass.
Fixed issue where bullets which do not hit anything (e.g. shooting at the sky) could have an affect on the performance of future bullets spawned.
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
We have continued development on the player temperature system by expanding our research into how ambient temperature affects the human body and how core body temperature fluctuates during the course of the day. The system at present isn’t exactly working as you might intuitively expect based how we feel in real life when in different temperature environments.
As you can see from the graph below, the human body’s core temperature goes up and down over the course of 24 hours. We are now using this data to dictate the character’s core body temperature in Jaws of Extinction.
The human body is comfortable between an ambient temperature of 22.7°C to 24.4°C (73°F to 76°F). The body will go about it’s normal fluctuation routine in this temperature range. We call this range the ‘comfort zone’.
To make sure ambient temperature changes do not affect the player so dramatically, we have added a buffer to extend the comfort zone. If the ambient temperature is within the buffer, the character’s core temperature will attempt to regulate back in to the comfort zone. If the ambient temperature is too far outside of the buffer, the character’s core body temperature will start to be affected. This change should make the temperature system more robust due to being affected less by reasonsible short-term ambient temperature changes.
Depending on how far outside of the comfort zone the character’s core temperature is will also determine the speed at which temperature is able to correct itself back to normal. You may still need to manage your temperature by warming up by a heat source or cooling down in a river or shower if particularly hot or cold.
This fix is now available on our public staging branch. To download Version 0.2.8.9a, follow the instructions below, to select a BETA in Steam.
Public Staging Branch
The intention of the Public Staging Branch is to be a pre-release of our normal patch content so that we don’t risk making changes which can have unexpected issues in the main game so often. From now on, all updates will be available on the “Public Staging” branch before being released to the main branch on Steam. Updates on the staging branch will appear more regularly than the normal fortnightly patches and are added as required by the developers. We advise that the Public Staging Branch should only be used by players interested in testing fixes and updates.
How to enable the public staging branch Right-click on Jaws of Extinction in your Steam library and select “BETAS” from the pop-up window. From the dropdown selection (shown below) select “Staging”.
Click close on the pop-up window and you will find the game being updated to the staging version on the public staging branch.
*HOTFIX* v.0.2.8.7a
Jaws of Extinction – Public Alpha v0.2.8.7a
Thank you for your patience waiting for this hotfix to be released. We were aiming to organise a small patch specifically targeting the temperature issues yesterday, although have taken a bit longer after identifying and addressing several other significant issues. As always, we look forward to hearing your feedback! Cheers ~JoE dev team.
Fixed variety of issues making temperature practically impossible uncontrollable.
Added new PostProcess visuals when too hot or cold.
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Tentative fix regarding temperature issues (please see message below patch notes for further details).
Fixed issue where the campfire was not being set as a heat source modifier.
Braziers now act as a heat source.
Fixed issue not being able to harvest one type of pine tree.
NPCs
First implementation of AI-controlled safezone survivors. Head over to the Hanouten safe zone to see them in action.
Added ten new survivors to Hanoten safezone, each with their own unique appearance. Characters vary in size and shape, including children and elderly people. Each character has their own job and schedule in the safezone.
At lunch and dinner time, survivors will go take a break at the safezone ‘eatery’.
At the end of a long day, survivors will gather around the campfire or eatery before eventually heading to bed in the house.
Survivors can sit, stand about or grab a coffee from a coffee machine in the ‘eatery’.
Survivors can loiter around the paddock in the safezone or take a seat outside the house.
Survivors can clean the house and barn by sweeping the floor or cleaning the windows.
Survivors can cut up wood outside the barn.
Survivors can tend to the farm outside the house by picking plants or raking the ground.
Survivors may also pick crops from field area around the back of the house.
Survivors each have their own ST-RV watch.
Wanderers will no longer chase players in to the safe zone. This functionality will be updated further when guards are introduced.
Children are scheduled to go to bed earlier than adults.
Survivors will look at you as you get close to them.
Implemented facial expressions for blinking when awake.
Various general error fixes for AI.
Building
Fixed issue causing building parts to not be saved.
Added visual effect when destroying building parts.
Game
Upgraded project engine up to Unreal Engine 4.22. Includes various performance improvements.
Fixed an issue where the main menu would not work correctly when exiting the game back to the main menu.
Added new UI visual effect to the main menu.
Fixed issue with VSync setting being reversed.
Fixed issue with VSync UI button text being overlapping itself.
Added new experimental mode in graphic settings.
Added experimental shadow control for "Dynamic Shadow Distance Cascades".
Added new game loading screens.
Added new world loading screen.
Environment
Added new Main Menu scene.
Added additional lighting around Hanouten Safe Zone.
Fixed hole in ground near fence in Hanouten Safe Zone.
Added new Eatery area to Hanouten Safe Zone.
Added interior for engineering building in Hanouten Safezone.
Added interiour to manor house garage storage in Hanouten Safezone.
Added wheat and corn farming area behind manor house in Hanouten Safezone.
Added two decorated bedrooms to manor house in Hanouten Safezone.
Added brooke & water source to Hanouten Safezone.
Added interior to horse barn in Hanouten Safezone.
Added woodwork zone outside horse barn in Hanouten Safezone.
Added hidden third entrance into Hanouten Safezone.
Implemented additional LODs added to manor house in Hanouten Safezone.
Performance
Improved performance relating to Wanderer AI navigation.
Improved optimisation on programmatically generated house roofing.
Improved optimisation of NPC-owned campfire lighting.
Audio
Added new safezone ambient music titled “Official Jaws of Extinction - Call It Home” (YouTube/Twitch safe).
Added new score to main menu "Official Jaws of Extinction - Welcome to Eden-Nadir" (YouTube/Twitch safe).
Fixed footstep sounds sometimes sounding like they are behind you.
Updated clothing foley sound effects.
Added new wading through water sound when walking in deep water.
Added sound effects on jump and landing.
Updated grass sound effects with random twig snapping.
Updated forest floor sound effects with random twig snapping.
Footstep volume can now be adjusted by the effects audio slider in the options.
Reduced overly loud audio on NPC campfires.
Reduced audio attenuation on burning braziers.
Added underwater sound mixing that will muffle all other sounds when submerged.
**Temperature issues:** We have implemented various tentative fixes relating to issues causing the player’s temperature to become uncontrollable. However, we have since identified further factors likely to be at the core of the issue. We are going to be focusing on getting the remaining temperature issues fixed from Monday. Please expect a hotfix from the start of next week once we resolve any further issues.
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always all your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Jaws of Extinction 0.2.7.10 is now here! Some massive changes made to boost performance, focusing on an improved visual look as well as improving overall performance of Eden-Nadir.
The new home for our developers digest will be here on our Steam community news. Originally on our website, we feel that the place you will all want to read it is on the platform you are playing it. So while our website gets an overhaul, the Jaws of Extinction Developers Digest will be available here for the foreseeable future.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE FOCUS FOR THIS PATCH?
0.2.7.10 main focus was to improve the performance of the game. While our lead developer was moving house, the other half of the programming team spent some serious time doing some R&D into how to optimise the game, what was causing the most drag on performance and what we could do to improve and fix it.
Many aspects have to be considered when developing a very visual game, the quality of your assets, the resolution of all your textures, lighting, shadows and the list goes on.
The first thing we attacked head on, was foliage. Eden-nadir is made up of more foliage than anything, if this was not optimised correctly, it could cause major issues.
We optimised all foliage LODs, textures and culing distance when adding all the new "SpeedTree" assets into the game months ago, but more needed to be done! So with tweaking the textures, improving LODs (level of Detail) and removing unnecessarily high-poligon assets, we started a foliage clean up that will go on over the next few patches to be released.
As well as optimising foliage with a fine-tooth comb, we also looked at the grass, how dense it needed to be for a good balance between optimised and looking good.
Next on the list was how complex our landscape material shader was and what we could do to reduce complexity at the same time as fixing a bunch of issues we have had with material surface recognition since we first released the alpha (used to calculate wat sound FX and decals to spawn for footsteps).
The only option was to completly start again, due to the numerous attemps to correct this on the original landscape material, never to get anywhere with fixing it. So that is what we did, completly starting again, optimising as we went, with new textures and logic that can be used once performance was not an issue any more (tessellation).
While we started to optimise buildings even further, we decided we needed to continue to develope the world, with new locations and also prepare for what was to come in the near future (water vehicles & wreck-diving).
So using our new found knowledge of improvements we have made to materials, textures and LODs, we added a new lighthouse location, that will get an interiour and additional work to it very soon. We also added rocks in the ocean arounf the shores and wrecked ships that you will be able to explore at depths and climb abourd for some great loot.
The last main object on the improvement list was the ocean and lakes, our original water shader was overly complex, just like our landscape shader and need to be improved. So using new logic to captur reflections and moving away from using Screen Space Reflections, we started another long journey into improving the overall look as well as performance of all things water. With a new underwater look as new interaction effects, we feel the new watch has made a drastic improvement to JoE.
NEXT PATCH
The official date for the next main patch version 0.2.8.0a is due on Friday 28th June 2019, BUT! We have decided, going forward we will be releasing a number of small patches (Hotfixes) between each main patch, to bring you all fixes soon, so you don't have to wait 2 weeks to fix broken elements of the game.
The first mini patch will be going out Monday 17th June 2019
We are also opening up our STAGING branch (unstable) to the public, this will alow you to test new parts of the game currently available of the main branch (Stable).
WHATS COMING UP SOON
For more details on whats to come you can always visit our websites road map. But for a quick overview, here is what our focus will be over the next few months:
Performance
AI Version 3.0
Additional protagonists
4 player coop
Exclusive DLC Apparel redemption
THINGS TO REMEMBER BEFORE PURCHASING JOE
As we have stated from day one of our unlisted launch on Steam, JoE is heaverly in development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We know it is very performance demanding and many bugs coming out of the woodwork, please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before your purchase, as always all your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
Fixed bug involving Amy’s head sometimes disappearing after aiming.
Fixed circumstance causing weapon to not be raised when holding to aim [RMB] often happening in close quarters combat.
Fixed player from not dying correctly and/or flying into the air after dying while crouched.
Fixed non-headshot weapon damage becoming nearly zero after receiving a weapon level up.
Reworked camera movement to no longer move with the player’s animations which caused control difficulties (and possible motion sickness).
Updated overall camera position.
Improved item pickup distance and accuracy.
Slightly reduced focal blur when aiming over shoulder.
Slight adjustments to camera position when leaning.
Slight adjustment to camera position when inventory is open.
Fixed vaulting from allowing players to climb though geometry above them such as in the back of vans or Sheriff Sen’s house.
Reduced default player temperature on respawn to 98F.
Added new weight indicator to on screen warning icons. Icon becomes lit up when carrying too much. Icon starts pulsing with a caution sign if seriously overburdened.
Added player wading animation when walking through water above the knees.
Water depth now affects the ambient temperature for the player. Swimming in deeper water causes ambient temperature to gradually become colder.
Fixed issue with footprints not spawning or spawning incorrect decals.
Fixed issue where player would suddenly heat up and die under normal temperature conditions.
Fixed issue where campfire would increase temperature resulting in player core body temperature not returning to normal.
Reworked the world temperature and how it affects core body temperature. System is now much more robust.
Building
Fixed issues preventing buildable campfire being placed on foundations.
Fixed limitation causing players to no longer be able to place building parts during large constructions.
Fixed campfire upgrades only costing one of each required resource.
Fixed climbing on invisible collisions above campfire.
Game
Fixed initialisation loading screen from occasionally disappearing too early, allowing player to see the map assets still loading.
Updated vehicle battery weight to 1.54KG.
Player built Campfire now saves and loads properly.
Player built Shelving now saves and loads properly.
Re-enabled nighttime multiplier in settings allows configuration of shorter nighttimes.
AI
Tentative fix for general AI navigation issues preventing Wanderers from moving unless aggravated.
Wanderers will no longer appear engulfed in flames affecting some players.
Added experimental AI performance boost system to birds.
Environment
Added foliage interaction FX. Passing through bushes will cause noise and spawn leaves (this will affect AI perception in AI Version 3.0 currently in development).
Rebuilt landscape shader, using less texture layers and new textures. Improved appearance and performance.
Repainted world landscape using new shader around Hanouten and surrounding area). The rest of the world may temporarily appear black.
General revaluation for foliage including reduced densities where necessary for performance improvement.
Redesigned Hanouten beach and shoreline.
Improved quality of billboard textures for foliage.
Improved underwater visuals with fog and lighting.
Added ‘Procedural World FX Manager’. Depending on your environment, you will now see the following effects as you travel around: airborne dandelions, butterflies, flies around trash piles, wind SFX on beaches, bird SFX, falling leaves on oak trees, rustling trees and pine needles falling from pine trees, airborne flowers and glowbugs.
Added new walkway location on cliff face in Hanouten.
Added new ocean rocks.
Added ocean coral life and water foliage.
Added starfish along seashore.
Added new lighthouse location to Hanouten.
Added example shipwrecks along Hanouten shoreline.
Added derelict lootable ship to Hanouten shoreline (climb aboard from the stern/rear).
Added new driveway meshes to houses with a garage/driveway.
Added new riverbed foliage and water surface foliage.
Added new piers along Hanouten shoreline.
Added new drainage pipe and stream to the ocean on Hanouten beach.
Replaced old fallen trees with new “SpeedTree 8” meshes, these can now be vaulted over and will not cause the player to get stuck any more.
Re-enabled seasons affecting the position of the sun.
Adjusted some landscape sculpting to work with player movement.
Adjusted bloom and lighting from the sun and moon.
Made nighttime lighter with addition of moonshine on the world.
Adjusted the way lighting affects foliage at distance by shining through branches and leaves.
Performance
Fixed various errors caused by AI spawners.
Fixed various errors caused by time of day changes.
Disabled unused AI systems from loading on Main Menu to improve launch time.
Fixed performance issues caused by house fridges and TVs not initialising properly.
Fixed initialisation screen sometimes taking longer than necessary before being removed causing unnecessary time to be spent in the loading screen.
Reduced overall density of grass and the amount of meshes used.
Replaced all elderberry bushes for performance, until they have a use later.
Reduced draw distance of grass by half.
Created new LODs for houses, reducing polygon count at distance.
Created highly optimised LODs for lighthouse and ocean rocks. This reduces draw calls on assets player is further away.
Replaced ocean with new water system and shader.
Replaced lakes with new water system and shader.
Optimised all river splines, with LODs and reduced shader complexity at distance.
Fixed several problematic textures causing long loading times.
Reduced the number of Dynamic Shadow Cascades.
Reduced the Dynamic Shadow Distance.
Adjusted texture compression on all foliage.
Adjusted world object Culling Distances.
Disabled Volumetric Shadows and Fog cast by the sun and moon’s lighting.
Audio
Added impact audio on Respawn button.
Added weapon foley SFX.
Adjusted foley system to work better with equipment being used. Sounds are more accurate depending on what the player is wearing and has equipped.
Fixed issue with footsteps being the same for all surfaces. A collection of different sounds are used for different surfaces.
We are aware that the game is currently very demanding on performance and bugs can cause problems during gameplay. JoE is in constant development by two developers and a single 3D artists. We are keen to resolve issues as promptly as possible, although please understand that they are to be expected as the game continues into development.Please make sure to read the following statement from our Steam store page before considering your purchase, as always all your support is appreciated.
BEFORE YOU PURCHASE: AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE DEV TEAM
In the spirit of our ethos of transparency and integrity we want you to know that our game is at ALPHA stage in EARLY ACCESS and will therefore contain many bugs and have performance issues on low to mid-end machines. We’re really proud of how it plays so far (it’s a lot of fun!) but if your rig DOES NOT meet the RECOMMENDED spec then the game may not perform well and as much as we appreciate your support we would suggest that you wait until later in development before you invest your money. We don’t want you buying something that’s going to disappoint you.
Please also be aware that multiplayer is not yet implemented. This is under development and planned for Q4 2019.
