In this update we have added a new level from our future story line and addressed some of the concerns expressed in your feedback. AI behavior has been changed to a persistent A-life system, which we hope to continue expanding on, to replace random spawning of NPCs. Production of NPCs is now resource based and the user has the ability to impact it. We also introduced new shading for trees, plants generation and rendering. The update introduces fixes that reduce level loading time and memory footprint.
In upcoming updates we will continue work on additional story oriented levels enabling them for community testing and continue to work on addressing issues reported by you.
See a full list of changes below.
Added the new level "Harpoon Bunker" with new loot, enemies, and hacking puzzles for future story features.
Added persistent A-life system for all NPCs. Harvesters now dynamically collect and deposit materials for construction of other NPCs. Hunters and Detonators will no longer spawn unpredictably.
Added support for saving hacked NPCs.
Added harvester damage support, wear and degradation will require eventual replacement with new harvesters.
Added custom new vegetation shader.
Added custom new terrain shader for better blending of detail textures.
Added new vegetation ground cover models.
Added SSAO effect for max post-fx graphics preset.
Added new weapons and ammo types, including special EMP devices for temporarily disrupting NPCs.
Added new resources for crafting.
Fixed bug in multiplayer where players would continue to spawn in the same place after dying.
Fixed several path-finding bugs on NPCs.
Improved memory utilization and decreased usage.
Improved path-finding performance.
Improved performance for film grain and color correction post processing effects.
Improved performance for sampling radiation fields for NPCs and player.
Slightly increased ambient brightness when transitioning to night-time.
Tweaked sky box lighting effects.
Various bug fixes and other tweaks.
Best,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.43
Hello Everyone!
In this update we have addressed concerns expressed in your feedback to improve the construction algorithms. We have eliminated the sagging effect on building blocks, so new support blocks can be added to the structures once sagging become an issue. Please note that old constructions may need to be rebuilt in order for the effect to properly work.
We also reduced network traffic during destruction of large constructed buildings in multiplayer games that were causing random disconnects and frame rate drops. We improved level loading timing and reduced the level memory footprint to address rare out of memory issues. New ambient sounds and sky-box updates were made to support addition of future story-line elements.
In upcoming updates we will add additional story oriented levels enabling them for community testing and continue to work on addressing issues reported by you.
See a full list of changes for this patch below.
Added ambient sounds and noises to environment.
Added modified sky-box materials with landscape backdrops.
Added two new weapon frames.
Added weapon and item usage requirements.
Fixed issue in which constructions would sag due to physics and prevent user from placing blocks in certain places. (Note: May require reconstruction of old bases for appropriate effects.)
Fixed network congestion issue on building destruction.
Fixed bug which caused weapons to quickly flash on screen after pickup.
Reduced level loading times.
Reduced sky-box texture memory usage.
Increased blue pocket light spread and intensity.
Resolved several other minor bugs.
Thank you for your constructive feedback and continuing support.
Best,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.42
Hello Everyone!
We have uploaded the latest patch for The Fifth Day. Focused primarily on bug fixes and multiplayer performance improvements, the patch addresses some long standing issues that we have been meaning to get to for some time now.
See a full list of changes below:
Improved multiplayer performance and synchronization.
Improved performance of AI pathfinding.
Added new rendering method for drawing magnified optics on new scopes.
Added two new scopes of consumer and military grades.
Fixed network dropping players in matches.
Fixed various AI pathfinding issues.
Fixed issue which caused time of day to freeze at 23:00.
Fixed bug which caused partially empty turret magazine to require full magazine worth of ammo to reload.
Fixed bug which prevented reloading turret correctly from client.
Fixed bug which caused players to respawn in the same point in multiplayer.
Best,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.41
Hello Everyone,
This is just a quick patch to address a few known path-finding bugs.
See the list of changes below:
Fixed several known bugs in pathfinder code.
Fixed bug in NPC constructable navigation.
Fixed hunter radiation tracking on multistory buildings.
Improved NPC player detection and tracking.
Best,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.40
Hello Everybody,
This is the latest announcement and patch for The Fifth Day! After several months of hard work, we have finally been able to integrate the first iteration of the new pathfinder into the game. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience that has held through this difficult time with us and thank you for your support.
The reason the pathfinder took so long to implement is due to the Unity 4 physics engine. There are many cases that the engine seems to overlook which resulted in bugs on our end. The main hold up on development was to handle pathfinding on complex meshes, and because of these bugs in the engine, we had to implement several workarounds to handle tasks that would otherwise seem straightforward. At this time we believe that the pathfinder is more or less stable, but we do hope to make gradual improvements over the next few weeks in addition to implementing other fixes.
If any questions or concerns do arise, please feel free to contact us at thefifthdaydev@gmail.com. I am usually able to respond in a much more timely manner here than through other forms of communication.
See a full list of changes for this update below:
Completely rewrote the AI navigation and pathfinding module to reduce memory usage, improve performance, and fix standing bugs.
Redesigned and implemented new projectile firing system that responds to physical forces such as gravity and drag.
Added support for energy based weapons.
Added support for larger projectile based weaponry (rockets, launchers, etc.)
Added IK support for hunter animations to improve look of movement.
Added jumping support for hunters to allow for scaling of walls and other structures.
Added two new weapon magazines.
Added two new weapon barrels.
Added two new weapon frames.
Added new military grade trigger.
Added two new weapon blueprints.
Increased melee weapon damage and range.
Changed hunter death to rag-doll rather than explosion to reduce penalty for striking with melee weapons.
Changed and redesigned hunter animations for more appealing movement behavior.
Changed and optimized hunter model to save performance and reduce triangle count.
Fixed bug which caused NPC's to walk through solid surfaces.
Fixed bug which caused NPC's to teleport backwards after reaching target destination.
Fixed several logical issues in NPC behaviors.
Implemented various other minor fixes and tweaks.
Once again, we would like to thank everyone that has continued to follow the project's development and we greatly appreciate your support. Now that the core framework for the pathfinder is in place, it should be much smoother sailing in development as we hope to go back to smaller more frequent updates in the coming weeks.
Best,
-Touz
Progress Update 01/02/2016
Hello Everyone,
We hope you have all had a relaxing holiday season and a happy new year! Over the past few weeks we have made great progress on several exciting new features planned for future release in The Fifth Day. First and foremost, the core framework for the new AI pathfinder is virtually finished. With the ability to quickly find and navigate both aerial and ground paths we hope to add much more diverse NPC behavior in the future. A few more performance optimizations still need to be implemented before release, but overall the component is nearing conclusion.
Additionally, we have received many requests on adding new levels and implementing more variety in level design. To address such concerns, we have started work on a new physics based procedural world generator. Physics based effects such as erosion and water body formation, will allow for much more natural looking terrains than traditional noise based methods. This concept is still in its early stages, but you can begin to see some of these nice effects in the images below.
NOTE: These images are of early work in progress, and are not representative of the final product.
The first image shows some of these concepts in action on a traditional fractal noise based terrain with multiple material layers and two water point sources. After the physics simulation, the rivers are triangulated to produce an optimized water mesh to save performance and triangle count.
The second image was created by combining several rain-based erosion passes with variable vegetation growth.
We hope to continue expanding on this system to deliver new worlds for you to explore in the future.
Cheers,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.34
Hello Everyone,
Here is the latest patch for The Fifth Day. First off, we would like to thank everyone for their support and patience as we continue to work on updates and content for the game. While we strive to address the key issues and concerns voiced by the community, we do keep an eye out on the forums when working on introducing new features and content. Your feedback is greatly appreciated so do not hesitate to reach out to us at thefifthdaydev@gmail.com if any questions, concerns, or suggestions do arise.
See a full list of changes for this patch below:
Added icon generator for automatically creating icons for custom built weapons and tools.
Added logic to prevent spawning of blueprints already held by the player.
Added CNC Blueprints 019 with data on Marekov (Grizzly), Marekov (Ghost), and Red Hammer receivers.
Added logic to fix issue in which popup windows would expand off-screen.
Fixed a bug in which aiming down sights and firing would not accurately produce projectile spread around the focal point of the attached sight.
Fixed a bug which prevented dismantling of weapons that contained the character "/" in their name.
Fixed a minor bug which caused cross-hairs to be pushed off screen when firing certain weapons.
Fixed bug in improper compass orientation.
Increased Auto RG turret clip capacity from 60 to 120 rounds.
Increased Blue Pocket Light range.
Cheers,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.33
Hello Everyone,
Here is the latest patch for The Fifth Day. Over the past few weeks, we have made great progress on the new pathfinder and resolved most of the bugs that have been slowing its development. There are still a few more tests we need to conduct to make sure it is working properly, but we expect to have it finished soon.
On the other side of things, I have added a few new inventory items as well as rewrote the probability distribution model used for spawning items up until this point. The new model takes care of some mathematical inconsistencies and allows for easier tweaking of parameters for future releases.
See a full list of changes for this patch below:
Rewrote probability distribution model to better support a more accurate distribution of items based on rarity frequency.
Added two new handgun receivers with consumer, military, and experimental grade variants.
Added a new firearm handle with consumer and experimental grade variants.
Increased the probability of finding rare loot in consumer grade storage containers.
Increased probability of items dropping from destroyed enemies.
Re-scaled item grade rarity ranges.
Tweaked item spawning probabilities.
Tweaked various model textures to improve performance and reduce memory usage.
Cheers,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.32
Hello Everyone,
Here is the latest patch for The Fifth Day. Over the past few weeks, the primary focus of development has been on resolving several bugs in the graph node generator for the new AI navigation system. We are doing the best we can to get this component finished as soon as possible and greatly appreciate everyone's patience for the time being. That said, we hope you enjoy this latest patch as we continue to work on the next major update.
See a full list of changes for this patch below:
Added "Damage", "Falloff", "Range", and "Force" stats for frame components and constructed firearms.
Added "Rubber" crafting material.
Added "CNC Blueprints 018" with electrical components.
Added "Rubber Head" to "CNC Blueprints 002".
Added "S.I. GL8 Grip" to "CNC Blueprints 003".
Added "Forester Commando" and "Commando X" frames to "CNC Blueprints 014".
Added "Goliath Type IV" shotgun frame to "CNC Blueprints 017".
Fixed minor bug which caused semi-automatic firearms to display a zero rate of fire.
Tweaked various material requirements in CNC Blueprints.
Cheers,
-Touz
Update V0.0.6.31
Hello Everyone!
Here is a quick patch adding some new inventory, blueprints, and fixing a couple of minor bugs. The past couple of weeks have been primarily dedicated to working out bugs in the new pathfinder which will be released in V0.0.7 as planned. Overall the progress is looking good, but there are still a few pesky bugs in generating mesh graph nodes which we are working hard to fix. We greatly appreciate everyone's patience and understanding as we continue to work out these issues and, in the meantime, hope you enjoy the latest additions to The Fifth Day.
See a full list of changes for this patch below:
Added a new shotgun frame with consumer, military, and experimental grade design variants.
Added 00 Buckshot cartridges.
Added pack with 00 Buckshot cartridges.
Added military grade high-capacity drum magazine.
Added CNC Blueprints 017.
Added Goliath 820 D schematics to CNC Blueprints 010.
Increased rarity of CNC Blueprints 010.
Fixed a bug which caused loaded ammo to be lost upon dismantling a weapon.
Fixed a bug which caused loaded ammo to be lost upon saving and reloading a game.
