This update contains several things, for an update on how our Baby Arthur is doing, scroll to the end!
New wavemap While working on the single player I acquire new props and things all the time. The effort it takes to get the first SP map ready is quite massive for me as a lone developer and testing the whole ordeal also is quite a feat. I realise that it's just not fun to have big dry spells in between. As it will still take some time for me to add the first single player chapter to the game I thought I'd once in a while add a new wavemap using the new models/props I acquire. This is quite simple to do as the technology for wavemaps is just there, all I need to do is build a cool map and publish it.
New blood impacts Living Nazi's and undead Nazi's have new more realistic blood impacts. Before I was using some standard assets in unity to just have the idea of blood impacts. They never looked very nice and were not very visible. I've updated this to more realistic an cool looking blood splashes. They have the added benefit of being more random, so each hit should look sort-of unique. Let me know in the comments if you like these better then the old ones!
Improved holster mechanics The holsters used to have these misfires where the gun would drop. This was just very anoying so I rewrote all the code for holsters. Using Toggle as well as Grab mode (See the menu) you now will be able to always perfectly holster your weapon.
Bolting issue resolved It came to my attention that a nasty bug sometimes made bolting weapons annoying. If you'd pull a bolt really quickly it would sometimes stop just shy before actually bolting the bullet. You'd have to let go and try again..This is..cumbersome..to say the least when there are 20 mummies waiting in line to eat you..I fixed this problem. You should now always be able to bolt succesfully.
Camera effects I've added saturation and colour adjustment effects to the camera in specific maps. You can see it well in this example picture below. It allows me to make a scene look more "hot" for example when in the desert. This effect is a major addition also to single player maps as they will be much larger and can have open spaces as well as small rooms with massively different lighting and colour variations.
Not saturated lighting
Saturated lighting (Feels hotter)
Loading screen Lastly a small thing, I noticed that if you are looking in the wrong direction of the loading screen you might not know what is going on. So I added a small message telling you to turn around ;)
Arthur time! Super lastly, Arthur is doing great. He's groing super fast and is 7 months already. Look at the happy little dude!
Let me know what you think in the comments and if you run into anything tell me on discord:https://discord.gg/g5fK7Df
Kind regards, Raymond
Under a Desert Sun B0.60
Hi everyone,
Here again an update with small content improvements that actually come from my work on the SP. Once again there are several performance improvements which I hope you notice. Furthermore the following additions have been made:
Chambered bullets Guns now have a properly chambered bullet. I know it would be even more realistic if a bullet flies out if there already is a bullet chambered. However I've chosen to not do this for now for comfort reasons. I might change this in the final run as I have the code ready to also discard full bullets if users find that cool. Let me know on discord or the comments what your opinion is on this!
Living enemies update I've updated behaviour and animations on the living enemies (The bad dudes with guns ;)). Before they would angle in weird angles when you'd get to close. Now they have a more natural aiming angle in all cases. They also try to get distance between you and themselves by punching or kicking you and walking backwards. Lastly you can now shove them just like the undead enemies when they are close as you can see in the gif.
Blood cam update The blood on your face/camera effect I had before had a big hit on performance even on high end machines (About 10 fps). I found this unacceptable and changed to a more performance friendly option. These little decals have far less impact on the performance. Added bonus is that they give a more accurate feel on when you get hit as you really only see them if a hit or bullet damages you.
Dust death I noticed that undead enemies would not fade into dust when dead. I fixed this bug so all undead should become sand once again!
Starting lobby change I changed the starting lobby a bit. Main reason is performance but it also gives a more logical set if rooms to look around in.
Loading screen I've added a loading screen method. This way it's clearer that you are waiting for a map to load. Before the screen would just go dark. The loading screen now, shows temporary images that I plan to change with more relevant info. The technology is now there so this is mainly a tech update.
This update will be live in the next few hours, let me know what you think in the comments or on discord!
Kind regards, Raymond
Short update on sp!
Hi everyone!
Just a short update. Work on sp is still in the testing phase and I try and add to it and fix bugs every day. With the help of a few testers I try and do passes through the map in which I improve stuff every time. It really comes down to testing allot now and if you think you can help let me know! Maybe get a free key for it! Join the discord if you would like to participate!
Kind regards, Raymond
Under a Desert Sun B0.32 - Ammo and holster changes and various improvements and
I am releasing another update changing things a bit further to improve playability
* Addition * I've pushed a small extra update adding: - empty hand animations, the hand now bends fingers when you push buttons when your hand is empty - bolt improvement on all guns, you can now hold the bolt in a backward position by keeping it pulled back. Before the bolts would auto snap back. I found this annoying. * End of addition *
Changed Ammo and gun holsters Ammo will be on your back from now on (Similar to some other VR Games) making room for a gun holster on each hip. I did this for the single player especially allowing you to store at least 2 weapons and have your hands free if needed. Please check the tutorial before playing to get a feel for how this works
Further improvements on the new gun types The sawed-off and revolver should feel even smoother now.
Tutorial Update on the tutorial with added tutorials for the menu, revolver and sawed-offs as well as updated tutorials on how to grab ammo from your back.
Bugfixes
Flight map over-brightnes bug was reintroduced. Fixed it!
Updated enemy scripting. "living enemies would move even if they would stand still. you'd see this when they would stop running and start shooting (sliding feet). The animations aren't perfect yet but this reduced weird movement. I've actually tried to move towards one single script with several children types to make it easier to make new enemies and change general stuff for all enemies.
The knuckles improvement had a small bug. The left and would not be able to release mags on guns. This should be fixed now. *Would appreciate index users to leave a comment if they notice it works now just in case!! *
Under a Desert Sun - Weapon improvements and further development SP!
Hi everyone,
In this bigger update several items come together. As usual they are mostly results from the development on the single-player that I release early as they can be used in the wave-maps and test-maps of the current state of the game as well.
Controller update With help from a tester, thanks Greg, and some advice from a fellow dev, thx thomas!, I've been able to set a new profile specifically for knuckle controllers. As some of you know the knuckles would work less well with my game compared to other controllers. The new profile fixes this by setting some default settings to work better with knuckles. From now on the following should work better on Index/knuckles:
You squeeze less hard to grab things (I still recommend setting the grabbing options to "grab" instead of toggle in the menu for knuckle controllers) before you'd really have to hold on tight to keep things in your hand. Less handcramp yaay!
The "A" button releases the weapon magazine (This also works for Oculus and Microsoft headsets)
Less drift and accidental movement
New Weapons There are two new weapons that actually allow me to create a slew of new weapon types thanks too the technology behind it.
Sawed Off Shotgun
Revolver
TorchLight The newly introduced torchlight makes some dark places allot..cooler..and of course better lit!
There are also several improvements on animations and realism mag animation
Mag reduction of bullets
SP footage! The SP level is getting getting a big boost in lighting and set pieces. I am getting closer to a cinematic sp level as I intended it to be.
Kind regards, Ray
New Revolver and improved weapon mechanics
Hi everyone!
In this update I add a few functionalities mainly aimed towards improving and adding guns. These improvements were made during the development of the SP demo as usuall and as they can be used in any map I always try and release them early. The patch contains:
A new weapon type: the revolver:
What is interesting about this new type is that it actually contains a slew of new technology for me to create all sorts of new weapons like sawed off shotguns and alike.
Improved mag animations:
Mag's reduce per bullet if bullets are visible:
Lastly this patch also transitions the game to Unity version 2019.4.lts.
I will release these additions somewhere within the next few days and will make sure the revolver is in every wave map!
If you like what you see of have a suggestion for other weapons, leave a comment in the comments! Or even better, join the discord: https://discord.gg/g5fK7Df
As of now I am looking for beta testers so hey! Maybe you'll get lucky and get a free key!
Kind regards, Raymond
Under a Desert Sun - Cool updates and fixes due to SP development
Hi everyone,
Work on the singleplayer demo is going great. I've had the pleasure of being able to test the first draft of the first chapter with two testers who've been giving me valuable feedback. This helps me greatly in making a SP experience that works well and plays well. Ow and,,if you're here to ask..how's the little dude doing..just scroll to the end :P
During development I sometimes make fixes and this patch is just that. Fixes due to me going trough the SP or the testers going trough the sp and finding stuff we can fix not just for the SP but the game in general. The patch contains the following:
- Fixed snapturn - there is no more delay when wanting to snapturn. - improved Anti Aliasing, using a different method with far superior effect. Try it! - improved some movement behaviour - it should be slightly more smooth now - improved the loby and several other area's in terms of lighting - improved the indication of different level cubes in the lobby making it easier to understand what each cube does
In the meantime I will be working on the SP again. If any handy fixes arise I will also release them in the main branch here on steam.
And! Some pictures of SP to keep everyone exited: Bit further along in chapter 0, dogfights hoping to escape the nazi's!:
A few of the new flamethrower enemy in a test map:
Lastly! For those interested how Arthur is doing ;)!! He's rocking his belly excersises!
I've just released this so leave a comment in the comment if you see any visual glitched that were not there before! Thanks in advance!
Stay safe everyone and let me know what you think in the comments! Ray
Under a Desert Sun - Performance update
Hi everyone,
In the last few weeks I've focused on some emergency performance improvement. There seemed to be some problems with performance that I just didn't want to avoid until after the SP demo/sliver release.
I've done the following
- restructured lighting and reduced amount of realtime lights - added baked lighting - changed the render mode. This took a bit of work as allot of assets needed to be adjusted.
I've just released this so leave a comment in the comment if you see any visual glitched that were not there before! Thanks in advance!
Stay safe everyone and let me know what you think in the comments! Ray
Under a Desert Sun - Beta: SP Sliver progress
Hi everyone,
Turns out there is some time in between baby stuff that I was able to spend on the SP(single player) sliver. Just to recap, I am trying to make a small 10 to 15 minute SP sliver to release "quickly" so everyone will get a feel for how the single player will play. I still intend to make the entire SP a 6 to 8 hour experience.
For the SP sliver I try to work as follows
Make the entire map layout
Do a performance run/check (Make sure that the entire map sort-of runs ok before I go into the details)
Improve the layout per room/area
Do a second performance run/check
Add particles and environmental sound effects
Add dynamic events(Enemies rush in, something blows up etc)
Do a third performance run/check
Finalise the map
Add voice acting and other narrative elements
Lots of test runs and fixes
I am sure I missed a few steps but basically I try to go from broad strokes to fine details. As for my progress I am at the stage where I add particles and dynamic events. So the main map layout is finished and I did a first detail run per room/area. You can get a feel for the progress in the images below:
Areas:
An idea of action stuff:
I will keep everyone posted with progress updates.
Baby For those wondering how Arthur and his mom are doing, they are doing great! As you can see here, Arthur is doing his head-up training. I see this as the first signs of a great programmer, as you need to keep your head straight in front of a screen for houuuuurs at a time! :P
Stay safe everyone and let me know what you think in the comments! Ray
Under a Desert Sun: The Baby has arrived!
Hi everyone,
So the moment has finally arrived. Our baby is born. I would like to introduce you to Arthur!
For those interested the baby is doing great and my wife is recovering nicely.
I will take a small break now to take care of my wife and Arthur. This means I will be offline for a bit. Since this is our first I am going by assumption here, but it could be that there's no update for a month or two.
Rest assured this does not mean I will not continue the work. I will simply be..preoccupied with poop diaper and stuff for a short while.. Please don't see the project as "dead" in the meantime because it is very much alive!
For when I get back, order is still:
Single player(SP) sliver, making a small bit of the singleplayer so you know what it's going to feel like and can give feedback on it.
Adding small improvements if I make them in SP development. I noticed that while working on SP I continuously update and improve mechanics because you have to test so much. I add these in small patched since they do not have to wait until the SP is ready.
Diversifying and improving flight, this is actually also for the SP sliver but since it's a bit of a bigger improvement. Flight is being improved. You will notice that the flight wave map get's more complex and better and better with new mechanics and such. I am pretty close to adding more planes, Friendly AI etc.
Anyways, that will all come in a bit. I need to change a diaper again now ;) Cya soon everyone, and for what it's worth, I really appreciate how so many of you stuck with the project so far. Your feedback is insanely valuable to me. So thanks, really!
