Realms Deep Update: Paradox Vector's latest trailer will be premiering at the upcoming Realm's Deep 2020 event hosted by 3D Realms on September 5th-6th. I hope you will all be able to attend! Here again is the promo for that event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S71Gib5Hdo
Many fixes and improvements have been included in this update.
Better Frame Rate in the Outside Regions
I was able to pull a few tricks out of my sleeve and managed to get around 10 extra frames per second in the outside regions. By reducing the grass and plant draw distance slightly, and optimizing the way they are drawn, this went surprisingly quickly. Outdoor regions should have roughly the same frame rate as inside dungeons now.
Jumping Enemies
The spiders and urchins seemed to have a problem when trying to climb slopes. They received a few tweaks and now they can climb.
Crawlers Getting Stuck
Those big monsters that arrive later in the game, around dungeon 8, were getting stuck on some of the level geometry in the caves. They should have no problems chasing you now :)
Blind Jellyfish
Some of the Jellyfish creatures were having trouble seeing the player. Now they should find you much faster.
Gun Clipping
I reduced the size and adjusted the placement of the player's weapons, to prevent them from getting clipped by level geometry.
Enemy Reactions
Enemies will now spot the player immediately if they take any damage.
Major Crash Fixed
Some of the robot guards were having a crash event with the latest script that has them react to the player's position. It looks like they are working properly now!
Small Update 0.9.9.7
This is a small update that fixes a few minor issues.
Before describing them, check out this
Weapon Swap Bug
Previously it was possible to swap weapons too quickly, and the game would show one weapon, but it would behave like another. One player demonstrated a time-bomb that shot bullets like a machine gun. This should not longer be possible.
Window Hitboxes
The previous update had a fix that prevented players from shooting through the game's "windows," those lattice work panels that you can see through. While that solved one problem, it created another, and the enlarged hit-boxes would cause problems in other parts of the game where they behaved as invisible barriers.
Now I have resolved this by improving the way he game determines bullet direction, and the window hit-boxes have been reduced to the correct size.
Flybot Paths
The flying robots that show up in some of the game's later levels were having issues in a small number of locations. They were passing through the walls and floors in certain rooms, but I believe all of these situations should be fixed now.
Game Updated to Version 0.9.9.6
Realms Deep Update: Paradox Vector's latest trailer will be premiering at the upcoming Realm's Deep 2020 event hosted by 3D Realms on September 5th-6th. I hope you will all be able to attend! Here is the promo for that event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S71Gib5Hdo
There are a lot of new features here. These include features from both the 0.9.9.5 and the 0.9.9.6 updates which went into testing but are only now coming to the default version.
New A.I.
The robot guards have new A.I. that makes them react to the player's position. They will now hide behind walls and emerge to shoot as needed.
In this gif you can see two of the new features. Right at the beginning you can see the red damage circle when the player gets hit. Then, watch the behavior of the guard as it peeks out and takes a shot at our protagonist before retreating behind the wall...
Aim Issue
The crosshair for weapons was a bit off in previous versions. Actually, it was the trajectory of the projectiles that was off, but these have been addressed and should now aim straight for the center of the screen where the crosshair resides.
Damage Effect
The protagonist, when taking damage, will now show a growing red circle that starts from the direction in which the damage was taken. This should help identify the source of harm. Also, she will express her discomfort by saying "ouch."
Antialias Mode
Antialias mode has been added. Don't get too excited! You will find this option in the preferences menu, and you'll need to restart the game for it to take effect. It does indeed smooth out all the vector lines, but unfortunately, it also prevents my shaders from working properly. The result is that it is not as bright as the standard game.
Still, it has a nice, crisp look, and it improves the detail and clarity with which you can see objects. Here's a sneak preview:
As you can see it's pretty dark, however, when viewed in the full game window, it is still quite playable. Also, someone who was getting a bit of motion sickness from the game has said that this mode makes it much more playable than the brighter, default mode.
Improved Vents
I was able to address a few issues with the crawling vents. There were a couple places where you could get stuck in a vent entrance, and occasionally you could see "outside" of the level geometry from certain areas in the vents. This has been addressed, and should no longer cause issues.
Barrier Step
I added a small invisible ramp to those purple/green barriers, so when you step through them, the camera should not jump up and down abruptly.
Urchins
The outdoor "urchin" creatures can climb a bit better now, and have an improved attack sound effect.
Outdoor Performance
The frame-rate in the outdoor areas has been improved since the last default version.
Health and Ammo Drops
Previously, health and ammo that an enemy dropped had a good chance of falling through a floor or wall, making it unreachable. Now they should bounce off of the walls and should not pass through floors. With these drops, they are given out randomly, not every enemy will drop something, and it will not always be the same type or amount.
Testing Branch Updated to Version 0.9.9.6
There are a lot of new features that are getting tested here. Here are some of the bigger ones...
New A.I.
The robot guards have new A.I. that makes them react to the player's position. They will now hide behind walls and emerge to shoot as needed.
In this gif you can see two of the new features. Right at the beginning you can see the red damage circle when the player gets hit. Then, watch the behavior of the guard as it peeks out and takes a shot at our protagonist before retreating behind the wall...
Aim Issue
The crosshair for weapons was a bit off in previous versions. Actually, it was the trajectory of the projectiles that was off, but these have been addressed and should now aim straight for the center of the screen where the crosshair resides.
Damage Effect
The protagonist, when taking damage, will now show a growing red circle that starts from the direction in which the damage was taken. This should help identify the source of harm. Also, she will express her discomfort by saying "ouch."
Urchins
The outdoor "urchin" creatures can climb a bit better now, and have an improved attack sound effect.
Outdoor Performance
The frame-rate in the outdoor areas has been improved since the last default version.
Health and Ammo Drops
Previously, health and ammo that an enemy dropped had a good chance of falling through a floor or wall, making it unreachable. Now they should bounce off of the walls and should not pass through floors. With these drops, they are given out randomly, not every enemy will drop something, and it will not always be the same type or amount.
Testing Branch Updated to Version 0.9.9.5
I was hoping to have a full update ready, but I encountered a game crashing bug after making the changes, and I could not test this version as thoroughly as I'd have liked to. I believe the bug is fixed, so that's the good news. I will test over the weekend and update the full game before Monday.
Antialias Mode
Antialias mode has been added. Don't get too excited! You will find this option in the preferences menu, and you'll need to restart the game for it to take effect. It does indeed smooth out all the vector lines, but unfortunately, it also prevents my shaders from working properly. The result is that it is not as bright as the standard game.
Still, it has a nice, crisp look, and it improves the detail and clarity with which you can see objects. Here's a sneak preview:
As you can see it's pretty dark, however, when viewed in the full game window, it is still quite playable. Also, someone who was getting a bit of motion sickness from the game has said that this mode makes it much more playable than the brighter, default mode.
Improved Vents
I was able to address a few issues with the crawling vents. There were a couple places where you could get stuck in a vent entrance, and occasionally you could see "outside" of the level geometry from certain areas in the vents. This has been addressed, and should no longer cause issues.
Barrier Step
I added a small invisible ramp to those purple/green barriers, so when you step through them, the camera should not jump up and down abruptly.
Testing
As I mentioned, I will be testing this update over the weekend. However, if you want to try these new features, go to "Paradox Vector > Properties > Betas" and select "testing" from the drop down.
Paradox Vector Updated to Version 0.9.9.4
A new version of Paradox Vector is up. It's a small update with some optimizations and at least one important gameplay related issue...
What's New?
We have improved performance in some levels, so you may notice a boost in frame rate.
Players can no longer shoot through windows. They will now stop all bullets, lasers ad bombs from passing through, regardless of how close the player is.
Bomb blasts may still effect enemies on the opposite side of a window.
Paradox Vector Updated to Version 0.9.9.3
A new version of Paradox Vector is up. Most of the new content is not gameplay related, rather levels are being updated and made to look more distinctive.
Fixes:
Inactive weapons: Some weapons would appear black, and would not allow the player to pick them up. This should be working now.
Stuck Jellyfish: In two areas the jellyfish rise up through a shaft. They were getting stuck at the top, and also along some of the edges. Now they should no longer get stuck.
New Features:
Vines: Some areas of the game now have missing roofs, where vines have crept in from outside.
More scaffolding and pipes in the factory buildings
Columns now adorn some of the temples of the citadel.
Not exactly a feature, but the score has been removed from the main HUD, and a new background has been added as shown in the image above. Scroll up to see how the previous HUD appeared in-game.
Score is still being recorded for now, but it is not seen at this time. If we can find a way to make it relevant to the game, or activate some kind of leaderboard, we will display your score. Otherwise, we may drop this from the game.
Originally, score was going to be used to reward players for not dying, when there were limited checkpoints in the game. Now that the save and load feature has been improved, it no longer makes sense for this system.
Version 0.9.9.2
Paradox Vector has been updated to version 0.9.9.2. We are inching ever closer to the full release version 1.0!
Distinctive Levels
All the outdoor levels have been updated. This does not change the gameplay, but offers a more organic look to the environment, and a little more in terms of exploration. We hope you enjoy it! The Factory has also been updated, but we are still planning to add more in terms of unique assets to each level.
Shooting Bombs
Something we felt was missing is the ability to shoot at time bombs. Rather than waiting around for your time bomb to explode, you can now practice your aim, and set it off early.
New Content in the Works...
Now that the bulk of gameplay in Paradox Vector is complete, we are beginning to add more level specific content to the game.
Distinctive Levels
Each level in the game already has a unique look and feel, but we want to emphasize this more, so players can get a better sense of where they are. So far we have been updating the outdoor regions, as well as the factory level, which occurs later in the game.
It's a Jungle Out There
The outdoor regions are getting a more organic overhaul. Different trees, boulders and craggy cliffs now dominate some of these areas. More will be added, but here's a sneak preview of what's to come...
The Factory
The factory level looked a lot like all the previous levels, despite having new enemies and traps. Now it is getting a new look, with pipes, scaffolding and smokestacks to give it that industrial look...
More to Come
While refining and further improving the gameplay, we hope to continue adding more interesting places and features to this game prior to the full release. Since it is still in Early Access, your feedback is always welcome and critical to the game's success. Thanks for all the love!
Update 0.9.8.6
A number of balance related issues have been addressed:
Flybot Generator Delay
The flying robots that appear in some of the later levels of the game will now take a bit longer to respawn. Previously, a new flying robot would be respawned immediately after one was destroyed. Now there is a bit of a grace period, to give players more room to maneuver before getting attacked again.
Weapon Respawn
If a weapon appears on a particular level, and you use that weapon, and deplete all of its ammunition, the weapon will now respawn. This was always true for the default gun and timebombs, but it is now true for all weapons. This will help especially with later levels where enemies can take more hits, and some enemies respawn, like the flybots mentioned above.
Weapon Ammunition Increase
Some weapons will now start with more ammuntion. The default gun, machine gun, laser rifle and rocket launcher will now start with about twice as much ammunition loaded. However, if you are playing in hard mode, the original amounts remain.
Passable Spikes
The spike traps were passable objects that one could not shoot and that enemies and other objects could pass right through. This did not seriously effect gameplay, or so we thought, until it turned out that enemies could see through these spikes and also shoot at the player.
Spikes are now "solid" objects again, and this should no longer happen.
Alarm Volume
It was pointed out that the alarm that goes off when the player gets a Paradox Triangle could not be silenced by adjusting the game volume. This has been addressed, and it should no longer cause anyone any trouble.
