NEW Update v0.0.05H1 - Hotfix + Adding Difficulty Settings
Intro:
First things first, thank you all for the interest in yosemite Forest Ranger, and most of all for all the Feedback I've been receiving! And because of that this is the first small update that honours some of that feedback! <3
Quick update: Fixed some small things, Added Difficulty Settings and Started new things.
Update v0.0.05H1:
New Features:
Added Difficulty Settings - Available in the GamePlay Settings. (These will only work while Playing, e.g. NOT in the Main Menu.)
Fixes:
Shrunk the Death bag Back pack.. xD
Fixed some of the POIs not showing their Proxy Meshes (Low Res Versions) from far away.
Extra Info:
Difficulty Settings:
The Difficulty Settings come in three settings. Relaxing, Default and Survival. For now the Difficulty Settings only have influence on the Stats; Food, Hydration and Stamina. So in the back end I work with multipliers the default is x1. Relaxing does a x0.5 and Survival does a x2. Making all the bars go either half as fast (of twice as slow) or twice as fast.
I'm not very good at explaining it. But I hope you guys get it! :P
Like it's set everywhere, Make sure you change the settings when in game. If you find your changes not working, try changing them again when in game! This is just the start of difficulty settings, I'm thinking and exploring of where else to apply them, so let me know if you have any ideas!
What is next?
I've been working on several different things, I've started overhauling the Farming System, or at least swapped some of the meshes. I already started this already, so you might find some bugs there.
I'm also looking into adding Predatory Animals in the next update, and ofcourse ways to deter them.
AND if that's not enough I'm also looking into the Horse Riding and Map expansion. But maybe I'll do that in the next update. And push this one out in between!
And as always feel free to drop your suggestions in the Discord or here on the Steam Forums, as well as questions and experiences!
As always happy gaming, I hope you'll enjoy the update! Thanks for your support and patience! <3
NEW Update v0.0.05 - Let there be Music! Radio Station Quest.
Intro:
First things first, I'm sorry this Update took so long.. (Jeez, I feel like I start these Update logs the same every time..) However this update will be great! At least I hope so!
In this Update you'll get to fix the Radio Tower and have the Radio broadcasting throughout the valley again. As you may remember from the intro video the Radio Tower got destroyed by a Lightning Strike.. DJ T. the host of the Yosemite Park Public Radio, whom you might remember from the into video, will ask you to help out by fixing the Radio Tower. You can find a letter on your windshield, which will get you started. By searching and acquiring a few items as well as than solving some puzzles you can repair the Radio Station. When you finished everything and the Radio is on again.. Be sure to check out your mailbox! ;)
I wanted these puzzles and Item searching to be a challenge, therefore you must really take your time to explore.
I purposefully want the searching and puzzles to be bit hard, so there will be virtually no hand holding.
However if you get stuck, don't be afraid to reach out! We'd love to help out and help you get on your way again!
Update v0.0.05:
New Features:
POI Radio Station is a completely new and explorable building.
Puzzles and new Items added for Radio Tower
A whole Radio Station has been created through some smart tech in the backend. Making the radio station feel like a live radio.
Interactable Radios can be found at several POIs and Public buildings will have a radio playing.
Car Radio - While in the car you can turn on the Radio
At the Hardware Store you can buy radios you can place inside your own buildings on your own Landplot.
Tons more...
Changes:
Added Early Access Disclaimer on begin screen.
Changed default movement to walking (instead of jogging).
Music slider in the Audio menu now works for the Radio as well.
A bunch, I don't even remember..
Fixes:
Fixed several Saving issues, like Trunk of car not saving, items in cupboards and such not saving.
Fixed some NPC cars not having lights.
Fixed raining inside one of the POIs.
Fixed FP and TP issues while driving in car.
Tried to fix interaction for butchering on rabbits.
Nerdy Dev Stuff:
Changed the interaction trace to start from Theo's head instead of the camera. Makes the interaction a bit more engaged.
Extra Info:
Music:
The Music from the Radio is 100% Copyright free! I used SunoAI and some other tech to make the music, as long as I'm doing this Solo and don't have any budget, this will have to do for now. Hopefully later down the line we will have the ability to get some artists on board!
As a content creator myself I understand the struggles and frustrations around Copyright issues on Youtube (or Twitch) and I made sure you guys shouldn't have any, if you do run into this please let me know ASAP!
Tips Advice:
- I'd recommend starting a new game. There might be some issues with the Save System - Again, if you get stuck with the quest, reach out to us, on Discord or Steam Forums, so we can guide you!
What is next?
Next up.. Hmm.. Good one, I was thinking of going for some map expansion? A Map expansion will allow for more POIs and more possibilities for other gameplay. We have a temporary hardware pop-up store, I want to add horse riding into the game at some point along with some Vehicle things, like Vehicle damage and a mechanic to fix your car or something. But to bring all that in we need more space. To me it feels weird to keep clearing out areas in the current playable area, and place POIs where they don't belong. Especially when just a few miles up the valley is an actual village. (I'm not yet saying the whole village will be there, but at least there is space.)
So Next up Map expansion and Horse Riding will have my focus.
And as always feel free to drop your suggestions in the Discord or here on the Steam Forums, as well as questions and experiences!
A special thanks to @mmontes for reporting a bunch of bugs! <3
As always happy gaming, I hope you'll enjoy the update! Thanks for your support and patience! <3
NEW Update v0.0.04 - Memory Bank, NPC Cars and Felling Axe
First things first, I'm sorry this Update took so long and has relatively little Content in it.. I wanted this update to include the Vendor/NPC Routines but after working on it for nearly a month and hitting a wall every other day I felt I should just put that aside for now. Therefore we have this update now which makes the world feel a little more alive as well.
Update v0.0.04:
New Features:
NPC/AI Vehicles Drive on main roads.
Memory Bank - Available in the Inventory Topbar.
Felling Axe and new Animations for Tree chopping.
Changes:
Lowered the Interaction length on items - You might need to scroll the camera in and out to find a sweet spot that works for you.
Changed Texture size on some boulders to be less pixelated.
Removed the Rusty Hatchet. - (If you had it and saved it should still work?)
Fixes:
Fixed Voice Line when fueling vehicle.
Fixed Car collision with trees and other vegetation.
Nerdy Dev Stuff:
Not much..
Extra Info:
NPC Vehicles
The NPCs will brake and stop for you and other vehicles. However if you just run into the road, right in front of a car, as in real life the driver might not break fast enough and it might lead to injury or even result in death. So be careful. At night their lights should automatically turn on. NPC vehicles will spawn at the start/end of the main roads and will disappear there as well. Also Vehicles may park in parking lots or spawn here. For now collisions and accidents with your Ranger vehicle and NPCs will not have any consequences, but it will in the future.
Memory Bank
The memory Bank is accessible in the In game menu in the top bar. Hear you can listen back to certain environment triggered voice lines, which may give clues about Theo's past or other clues... You can also read back letters you may have found during exploration.
What is next?
For the next update I will start working in an actual story element. In the intro video you can see how the Radio Tower is being taken out by a lightning strike. In the next update you will be able to repair the Radio Relay Station by doing some kind of puzzle-ish activity and by completing it will fix the Station.
Fixing the Radio Station will in turn allow you to turn on Radios found throughout the world (They will be added to POIs as well as the Ranger Vehicle) and listen to music while driving around or staying in cabins. Eventually you may even be able to buy a radio for your own, so you can place it in your own build cabins and such.
As a content creator myself I will make sure this music will NOT cause any Copyright issues on Youtube (or Twitch) for Streamers and Content Creators, if you do run into this please let me know ASAP!
As always happy gaming, I hope you'll enjoy the update! Thanks for your support and patience! <3
NEW Update v0.0.03
The Public Playtest Event, was somewhat successful, it was in a way cause we found some bugs. But the amount of participants was very little sadly. However I crunched down on the bugs and therefore here is the new update!
As usual if you have any issues or find any additional bugs, please let us know on Discord or the Steam Discussions! <3 Thanks for your patience and support! Enjoy!
Update v0.0.03:
New Features:
New Intro Trailer/Teaser Trailer
Voice Lines for numerous things.
Letters on some cabins (with spoken text/read out loud)
Keys and locks, Some Cabins are locked. Can you find the Keys?
New Keychain "subinventory" to keep all keys together.
Electricity, some POIs require electricity to turn on lights or use certain logic/items.
Some Generators are broken and require a specific tool to fix.
Several new POIs (Not all are marked on map, so explore!)
Lantern buildables for buildsystem.
Building now requires a hammer to be equipped
Most buildables need to be placed in a Landplot (Findable or buyable at certain POIs)
Smaller animals (Rabbits)
Added bridges to some trails
Changes:
Ranger SUV will deal damage when hitting animals (Certain speeds will instantly kill)
Lookout Towers now require Power to have lights
Retextured Most Trails so they look more natural now.
Retextured Riverbeds so they look more natural.
Thicker forests, more trees.
Big Logs on road to indicate Playable Area Boundary
Fixes:
Ranger SUV has better Controls
Farmables now grow through stages (Farm overhaul coming soon)
Nerdy Dev Stuff:
Put almost all POIs in SubLevels instead of merged Meshes better for rendering shadows.
Set manual Scalability settings for better balance.
Experimental Update v0.0.03-Experimental
New Features:
New Intro Trailer/Teaser Trailer
Voice Lines for numerous things.
Letters on some cabins (with spoken text/read out loud)
Keys and locks, Some Cabins are locked. Can you find the Keys?
New Keychain "subinventory" to keep all keys together.
Electricity, some POIs require electricity to turn on lights or use certain logic/items.
Some Generators are broken and require a specific tool to fix.
Several new POIs (Not all are marked on map, so explore!)
Lantern buildables for buildsystem.
Building now requires a hammer to be equipped
Most buildables need to be placed in a Landplot (Findable or buyable at certain POIs)
Smaller animals (Rabbits)
Added bridges to some trails
Changes:
Ranger SUV will deal damage when hitting animals (Certain speeds will instantly kill)
Lookout Towers now require Power to have lights
Retextured Most Trails so they look more natural now.
Retextured Riverbeds so they look more natural.
Thicker forests, more trees.
Big Logs on road to indicate Playable Area Boundary
Fixes:
Ranger SUV has better Controls
Farmables now grow through stages (Farm overhaul coming soon)
Nerdy Dev Stuff:
Put almost all POIs in SubLevels instead of merged Meshes better for rendering shadows.
Set manual Scalability settings for better balance.
Reminder: Public Playtest is SOON! Also GIVEAWAY in Discord now!
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Just as a Reminder: Sunday October 6th at 2PM CEST the Public Playtest will go down. We, the devs, will be in a Voice Chat in Discord. Available to you all for a chat, Q&A and you guys get the opportunity to play the NEW Update that's we've been working on!
There is also a GIVEAWAY going on in Discord! You can win a Steam Key to Yosemite Forest Ranger!
Click the Button below to join the Discord!
MEGA OPPORTUNITY for you: Help us PLAYTEST Yosemite Forest Ranger!
We will plan a LIVE Event where you can JOIN US in an Experimental Playtest.
You have the opportunity to hang and Play with us right it in the Discord or Chat. And Play this new build.
More Details will be discussed in the Stream below as well as the planning of the Event along with some new gameplay in the Update!
Fixed minor launch error
- Fixed a packaging error that prevented a clear launch of the game.
HOTFIX EA Reboot v0.0.02-H2 Update
Hotfix:
While working on the Project during the DevStream yesterday I found a tiny bug that needed squashing.
I recreated the Widget that shows when you interact with a couch or bed. This widget let's you set the amount of hours you want to sleep for. I recreated this to allow for Controller Support. However with setting this something went wrong for Keyboard and Mouse support.
- Fixed Mouse input and processing of Value of hours in "Amount of Hours to sleep Widget"
So if you have the most up to date and current version of the game in your Menu Screens you should see the version number on the right that shows: EA Reboot v0.0.02-H2
Next Content and current works:
Keys & KeyChain:
I also want to keep you up to date on what I'm working on, in means of content. I have made great progress on the "Key System" and the locked doors. It seems that it's working as I intended, it will require additional testing. But for now when you find a key you can add it to your Keyring/Keychain to keep it safe and at the same time declutter the inventory.
New POI:
At the same time I'm adding another POI, for players that played the Legacy version this Cabin might seem familiar.
"Electrical System":
In the meantime during the Devstream I started working on the "Electrical System". This is a system we also had in the Legacy version of the game in a way, and I am re-adding it and improving on it at the same time. This means some cabins, will require a power source to use all functionalities. Think of lights but also electric stoves. This in turn means that you might find a Generator somewhere near a POI that needs to be on. Before you can use the Electrical devices.
I'm very excited to get all this back in the game, in the Meantime I also have to start Scoping out what I do and what I do not want to include in the next Content Update. Cause I can keep on adding and building. But that's not efficient. I want to release new content so you guys have more to do and at the same time not take too long or go to big.
Check out DevStreams:
Stay tuned for more news. And remember that I sometimes do DevStreams on Youtube where you will see some behind the scenes of the Progress and process of GAme Development as well as ask questions about it.
HOTFIX EA Reboot v0.0.02-H1 Update
Hey Guys,
Hotfix:
As requested by the community I added this small Hotfix that allows the Controls for Vehicles to be remapped. It took a bit of figuring out but now you are able to remap the controls.
So if you have the most up to date and current version of the game in your Menu Screens you should see the version number on the right that shows: EA Reboot v0.0.02-H1
Patch Sizes...
Another thing I noticed and that I'm looking into is the Patch sizes... I believe this current update requires a 18GB download? That's insane and I'm looking into optimizing this, it's an issue of "communication" and "understanding" between Unreal Engine and Steam.
Next Content and current works:
Another thing I wanted to tell you guys is, in the meantime I have been working on the next Content update, this one will be focused on bringing back the Keys and Locked doors system.
It's taking me a bit because of how the Inventory works, I wanted to create a sort of "SubInventory" if you will, that kinda functions like a KeyChain, so you put all your keys in there, it will both clean up your Inventory and they will just be organized in 1 logical place! :)
As usual if you run into any issues or find any Bugs please report them in Either the Steam Forums, there is a Dedicated BugReports Channel or come into Discord to report them! <3
