Since our first type of mutant, the Trophy Hunters, are prowling the forests looking for parts to add to their collections, we decided to give them a little individuality. They already have a couple different types with special abilities, such as one who has ranged attacks, but until now all basic types look the same. While giving them each name tags may have been an easy solution, we decided to go down a different road. We’re working on a number of different variances to make them look more like individuals transformed into creatures, and less like they’ve escaped from a clone factory. We’re adding things like: subtle shading differences, different garb, scarring, tattoos and body markings to let each pack member be their own best mutant.
The team is adding a number of AI improvements including fixing the distance you can be from a creature before it notices you, and attacks. Currently, there are a few things that you can almost bump into before they are stirred to action. We’re adding some new animations to improve the look of some actions, and adding some better audio fx to monsters. Since the first pass at the Trophy Hunters is almost done, we looked at a few new types of jungle horrors for players to contend with. We talked a bit about what parts of the map these new dangers would lurk, and some basic tactics and abilities.
With all the new mutants in the pipeline, players are going to need friends/party members to help keep them alive. The web team circled back to the friends system and is working on ways to make it easier to find and invite people to watch your back. Jesse showed off wireframes highlighting some onboarding improvements. We talked at some length about the referral system, and the best way to explain that you earn premium currency (kula) when a friend uses your link to join, and cash when that friend makes a purchase.
The team discussed the upcoming Communication Tower quest. We’ve worked out the basic story line and the goals for players to complete. The art team is busy adding a few new items to the area, and are finishing up last minute details to the buildings around the tower. We’re adding new audio cues, and talked about sounds for future quests. In addition, we’re including a new visual indicator for areas of interest in quests, and using the same marker for our loot drop scenarios.
We fixed a few bugs keeping our campfires from being all they could be, and are including a few more styles of boxes/containers/crates to hold loot. Right now when you find a pile of stuff, it is almost certainly in a military style container. However, It wasn’t the look of the loot boxes that was troubling Chris, it was the inability to smash them once emptied that was the problem. He always asks if we can shoot/smash/break and recycle it when we look at something new, and boxes are no different. The team is working on a way to accommodate this need to break things down into their core components, including containers, so Chris can get back to dismantling his box of fidget spinners.
One of the 3d artists is busy finishing roofs to a number of buildings before moving on to the mammoth task of fixing some of the visual issues, and collision problems we’ve run into with the Municipal Veil Station. We’ve discovered a few door problems with the Thorcon Power Plant too. Doors inside would somehow allow players to clip through walls and go outside, and some would open vertically like a reverse drawbridge. Even the large main doors had some trouble, and refused to open. We’re looking into it now, and hope to have the issues fixed soon.
Of course we continue to make improvements to the weather and wind, as well as the foliage and landscape as we fill in the map. In this shot below you can see deer who is feeding on our amazing looking ground cover with the mountains in the background.
That’s it for now. We’ll be back next week with the latest updates and screenshots.
