This update won't bring big features yet, but they are under all the code waiting to be added.
Dialog, text system
Because I'm adding a story mode and NPCs I needed a dialog system where you can speak and listen other characters from the world.
As I said, story mode is under development but not yet available, but I've made a little introduction with text where one of the three main characters (Ricardo) tells you a very little about him before starting the story, like an introduction.
I'll let this little introduction activated so you can test the dialogs and see if anything goes wrong to report me. After a little talk, nothing will happen, you'll need to wait a bit more until I finish the first chapter of the story mode.
Remember
The next update is coming in the next days, bringing an offline system that will allow you to play without internet. You'll still need to run Steam, but it will work even with Steam in offline mode.
Because of this, you may be losing your maps and your characters. A download system from the Bloodwolf Studio website will be implemented so you can download your character data in a future and import it into the game.
Sadly, maps wont be compatible since a new infinite map system is coming soon or later (hopefully very soon).
[Progress] Warning! Upcoming update changes
Hi!
As I said updates are coming back this month filled with changes. The biggest changes will come step by step, adding first a new main menu look for the new upcoming story mode and the almost whole new sandbox mode.
In the very next future, multiplayer will be built inside the sandbox mode and working through Steam.
Story mode
This is something that is in my list from the beginning of the development, but I didn't know how exactly make it, cause doing it inside the sandbox mode breaks immersion and limits my choices a lot.
So to start, you will be able to choose one of the three main characters (you've seen them in the trailer) and they will tell you about their story and how they ended like this, learning about the world and their goals.
I'll be releasing chapters for each of these characters when they are ready.
To understand how it will work don't expect a sandbox mode inside this story, you will be playing with these characters, each with different scenarios and stories!
Main character rework
Changing to multiplayer through Steam made me change a lot of things too, so this is the time to make that work for the main character (your character) we've always desired.
Working in two different modes, third person and first person mode, animations will be much more alive and cool, letting me adding new types of weapons without any problems (bow, grappling hook, etc...), emotions for multiplayer and actions like sit, sleep, rest, etc...
At first you'll see this character 2.0 in the character selection menu, but when you enter the game you will be still playing with the same character system we used before until 2.0 is fully finished.
What do you think? Do you like how it looks so far? Expect much more!
Oh! I almost forget about it.
WARNING:
With the upcoming offline system your character data and map data might get wiped since it won't connect to the database anymore. I'll try to make a system that will allow you to download your character data and a tutorial to configure the folders to make it work.
[Progress] O.L.D is getting updates this month again
Hi everyone!
As I said, september is here and updates are back too.
My research about multiplayer, infite map and a lot of new things is almost done and I decided to start adding them to OLD right now.
Sadly, my time will be more limited than before for personal reasons, but don't worry, updates are coming one way or another!
What is coming first?
First, one thing that you will like, you won't need anymore internet connection in order to play. You data will be stored directly on your computer.
This is good and bad in some ways. Bad things? security for example, since data is on your PC, is easy to modify it and "hack" the game.
So OLD won't be a competitive game, just a sandbox, we don't need this security wall anymore, so lets make the game fun to play, and if you want to cheat, well, that's up to you!
There's not a date yet for this little addition to the game, but it will be soon.
[Progress] About multiplayer and new mini project
Hi!
How is this summer going so far?
Sorry for not bringing you news in a month, I've been out! But I'm back to tell you about what I promised, the new mini project and how it will improve OLD.
Procedural, multiplayer, P2P
The hard thing about making a game multiplayer is the procedural content, you need to sync. all these generated content on all the clients, and in a P2P system there aren't a "server", everyone share everything.
This was the main problem to make the game work with Steam multiplayer but is solved now in this new small project and the code is being implemented into the "new" OLD project right now!
This means that finally you will be able to invite your friends directly through Steam, no server making, no port forwarding, yay!
The new small project
It's very unfinished and early, but it's small and it can be finished in a few weeks. It consists in a 2D terrain procedurally generated (like OLD) and in a matchmaking multiplayer game style.
These matchs will be game style like deathmatch, capture the flag, hold the fort, and so on, but with mages!
You make your own little pixelated mage and set up your build of spells, find a multiplayer room and spread the death against your enemies.
I can't show much of this project since I'm working right now on some graphics, however it won't be very impressive, after all its meant to be a very small project.
It uses an infinite terrain generation system but it can load a premade scenary like forts, also the size of the map generator can be fixed.
Because of this I'm wondering if it's worth to add a survival / sandbox / exploration mode, I will let you all decide this.
Hopefully this summer will end soon (sorry, I don't like summer and it's very time consuming for me!) and we can get all of us finally the very desired OLD multiplayer w/ infinite map update.
Enjoy holidays (if you have some!)
[Progress] Research: multiplayer through Steam
Hi everyone!
I'm here with fresh news about hmm, lets call it, the 2.0 version of OLD (or 1.0 really ːsteamfacepalmː ).
As you know, right now the only way to play multiplayer is by port forwading and hosting your own game.
OLD is not prepared to work under Steam matchmaking and its p2p system, so I'm basically doing the game from scratch, how crazy is that?
How the research is being done
Working over a big project (not graphically amazing, but huge in code) like OLD is very hard, and when you have everything working over a whole system, trying to implement another one all over it's even harder.
So to avoid this, I started a new, small project to do all these researchs with Steam SDK deeply.
I can't speak right now about this new small project but it might end in Greenlight if after testing if it's funny and enjoyable to play, and if accepted it will be sold without Early Access for a fair, little, small price to support OLD.
Keep an eye on new updates about OLD progress and maybe some news about this small project (should be... OLD supporter project, yeh', it sounds good).
[Progress] System working on 3D already
A very short one to keep you up to date!
Infinite map system is finally working on a 3D environment, yet very basic and under heavy development, but hey, it's working!
The terrain loads gradually around the player (this case the camera) and just like in 2D system, the terrain is being generated on the fly randomly.
If you modify a single block it will be considered as "player modified terrain" and will be saved. Natural generations won't be saved meaning than no useless files will be created on your disk.
Make it faster Right now it loads quite good, the first few seconds you will have to leave it load, but the game will still run at 20-30 FPS. After that, terrain's chunk should be loading in a stable 60fps rate if you are under the system requirements.
However, in some situations the terrain is loading quite slow, you won't see any fps drop, but the terrain won't show up until is fully loaded and right now this is my first task, make it faster!
Now I gotta go back to my anvil and hammer to keep the forge burning!
[Progress] Saving, textures, merging...
Hi again!
I'm here to tell you a bit more about this new map system. I'm still working on that 2D system, improving it, so after it's fully finished (or almost) it's just to add a "Z" axis to be generated and it's 3D.
Colored textures
As you may know, on OLD the textures were rendered as they are, meaning that if they are red, it remains red.
With this new system I added the possibility to color the textures by code, meaning that a piece of grass can be green or brown, depending on a number of factors. Also this means that in a near future players might be able to color their own blocks using paint, not really important but still cool, isn't it?
Texture merging
What about merging some textures into one? For example minerals, worms, or stuff like that. As you know, OLD doesn't have this stuff yet, but now is possible!
Saving
If you play OLD right now you'll see that the whole map is being saved, and this is done also every few seconds.
With the new system only those pieces of terrain that were modified by the hand of the player (or events) will be saved, and only those that were saved will be loaded, this means a loading screen a lot faster and less space required for saving, unless that you modify a lot of pieces.
Under research
Lighting by color
This is something under research, but maybe I can add a illumination system able to dark areas that are under terrain (caves, buried buildings...).
Dynamic water
This is my nemesis, really hard to code, but with this new system this might be really easier than before. Now that every chunk and block have properties this is possible, but still hard to process for any system, no matter how powerful your computer is, so the main task will be to separate these threads (processing threads) from everything else in a queue.
As you see this new map system will bring a lot of new possibilities and features to the game, so it's very important to make it stable from the beggining!
News about the progression
Hi everyone!
Long time without an update, right? It's time to tell you what happened and what's next.
Coming back
Don't worry, the game is NOT abandoned, however I had some problems, those that are big and ugly and require my whole attention and I don't want to make you dive into a sea of boredom.
All of these problems should be gone by 29th May, yay! This means more updates to the game like before, but also a new project may come soon too.
What about the infinite map?
It was done, but (I know, I hate "but"s too) it was working really bad, I didn't like it at all. It was supposed to work even better than before, and it was, however not as good as I want. So, what is the solution?
First, lets make a 2D infinite map system, "Terraria" like map to be clear. So I started from scratch with this system, a custom one again, and after a lot of tweaks and doing it like it should be done, it's working like a charm.
I know, I know! It looks so freaking ugly! My whole time were spent on code, not art, so you can't see much on a single image, but trust me! It works amazingly good.
Explaining the way it works compared to OLD system (old OLD system :D ) is way long to explain, so let's say that this time the pieces of terrain (chunks) will be loaded in separated threads, and once they are loaded, bam, you'll see them. And of course, only those chunks on a radius will be loaded.
Before the chunk were loaded on a thread too, but by columns, meaning that a whole column of chunks were loaded, and until they weren't, the game may freeze, but not now.
Time to get this system to OLD maybe?
Yes and no, changing the map system means changing the whole game, and that means a lot of work, but don't worry, it's really worth.
So, step by step, I will be moving pieces of OLD to a new project, from scratch.
Why not to move the system to the OLD project? Simple, as I said, changing the map system changes the whole game itself, it's easier and more correct to build the building from the foundations again.
Support
Also, I'll be very very busy from now, so if you need fast support, please write directly to my email, and I'll reply you back as soon as possible.
To avoid massive spam, I tell you that you can find my email directly from my website.
http://bloodwolfstudio.com
Thank you!
UPCOMING - A new world
As you may know, we are working right now on a big feature of the game, the infinite map system.
This new system, infinite map
Finally you can go anywhere without any limits. At first you will miss some vehicles, but don't worry, they are coming!
Starting with the basic terrain, it will look pretty much like now, spreaded buildings with natural resources, but this will be only to start.
After we have everything working, we're adding safe zones and towns / cities, putting buildings together. Don't expect huge detailed cities at first. There will be some small buildings around yet, but smaller.
Load times almost gone!
This map is generated "on the fly", so almost no load times, you will see terrain being loaded and generated at the same time with no lag. Also, only those pieces of terrain that were changed (destroyed, built) will be saved, instead of the full map like now.
Infinite map, infinite possibilities
With this new system you will see coming a lot of new additions to the game, adding a lot of new gameplay and things to do, not only running on the map without a reason.
There will be a main goal, procedural tasks or missions, raider camps, and one of the best features we want to add is to build your own safe zones and get people in (NPC).
This is a lot of work, but totally worth it.
Everything seems amazing, anything bad coming with this?
Sadly, yes.
First, no more building editor for a while since it's not compatible with this new system.
Second, main menu scenary must be changed since it's using the old map system.
And finally, multiplayer will be deactivated just for a while, don't worry, it will be back and working with the infinite map system again!
Do not take the risk
To implement this new features we will be splitting the version of O.L.D in different beta branches that you will be able to select from Steam.
"Default" branch is going to get the update once it's tested and working, stable version.
"Stable" branch is going to stay with the current vesion of the game, no further changes, since it's quite stable and working.
"Beta" branch is getting the last update sooner to be tested for everyone who is willing to deal with bugs and report them.
And the best question is... when?
As I said there is a lot of work to do. Right now the system is working inside the game, an infinite terrain is loading and saving and you can run and kill things like now, but we have to add some buildings and more stuff yet, once it's working, we're adding the new branches.
Keep an eye, I'll be doing announcements with further info. Also if you have anything to say about this new system or any suggestion, do it!
#UPDATE 0.24a - More stuff!
Hi everyone! How are you doing?
Here we come with another update, this time, adding a bit of new content to the game, let's check it out, shall we?
New enemy, a static spitter!
Adding new enemies to the game is one of our main task to get exploration exciting and dangerous. This time is the turn of the ceiling creature, a spitter.
It's spawning inside buildings and caves, on the ceiling. It cannot move or see, but they can smell you and hear you, so if you get close enough, they will spit acid to the ground. This acid is a bit different, it will set you on fire (green flames!) if it touches you, so be careful.
It's very weak and not very common, but still a danger in your exploration journey.
A little one, but funny, head kick!
It was quite easy escape zombies by riding them, right? You wont be able to do this anymore, but instead you'll kick them in the head, causing damage and triggering another little jump.
Jump on their heads like that famous plumber!
Improved animal AI, better hunting
As you know we improved the enemy AI allowing you to sneak behind them and not being detected unless you make some noise or they see you.
Now this is possible with any wild life! Also, like enemies do, they will be facing their new direction while turning softly, so their movement looks way smoother.
More stuff!
With the new cooking system we're adding more recipes on almost every update to get it growing, this time is...carrot soup! Yumm
cooked carrots + water bowl + seeds...
Also, improving more the interface, we've added some scrollbars to make navigation trough lists easier.
You can click and drag these scrollbars to scroll down or up.
And one last thing, some users complaint about torches and campfires insta-exploding under acid rain, so we changed this. As instead, it will make a fire crack (damaging a bit this item and if you are near too), lighting it off.
Acid with fire is still dangerous in some cases, be careful!
And what else? We've tweaked, fixed and added some minor things, check the update notes with the most important additions! - Added a draggable scrollbar to the news panel, crafting recipe list, object option list panel and the store
- "Tip" text (while loading) adapted for every resolution
- "Posing" marker (blue / red) is now always visible, not affected by lighting
- You can now drag and drop items within the crafting menu without getting them dropped
- Item icon text name changed to hide partially the icon and show the name
- The text with the item's name from the shop's item element has been centered
- Some UI elements adjusted for lower resolutions
- Added "head kick" when jumping on a zombie's head, triggering another jump and hitting them (weak damage)
- Head kick won't damage helmet wearing enemies
- New enemy added: ceiling creature, a static spitter!
- Ceiling creature cannot move, and cannot see, just hear and smell
- Ceiling creature will spit processed acid, that will spread "green" fire around the crash zone
- Ceiling creature will die if it can't be attached to any ceiling
- Bug fix, recipes should be now loading correctly
- New recipe added: carrot soup (cooked carrots + water bowl + seeds)
- By adding a stack of the same ingredient / fuel to the campfire while there's another one of the same type will stack them now
- Boars will now hit you if you are on their way while they are running
- Pheasants are now weaker
- Boars are now weaker
- Boars will now drop the correct meat
- Wild life will now turn softly to face their new direction like enemies do
- Hunting is now easier and funnier! You can now sneak from animals like how you do with enemies, they can see and hear
- Acid rain wont insta-explode campfires and torches anymore, instead they will make fire cracks before it lights off
As always, we are uploading this update right now and it will be availabe on next hour!
