This week kicked off the beginning of sprint 28. The team was busy finishing up final goals from the last sprint, and fixing any lingering bugs. The main focus of 28 will be: completing our UE 4.20.2 update, updating crafting, and tightening up the game’s resource loop. We also plan to: build out the areas surrounding the Thorcon Power Plant, improve the camera drone, build a Bank system, incorporate more of the fictional game companies, and make some AI improvements.
Terry and crew are close to finishing our move to UE 4.20.2 and are addressing bugs as they appear. Last sprint, we identified a number of issues with how buildings were being constructed by our procedural building system that were creating some performance issues. The team addressed most of them, but will finish fixing the rest this sprint. We’re working on collision and audio detection features for the game drone to keep it from phasing through objects, and ensure it catches any action going on in an area.
The team has worked out the issues we were having with the disappearing sky, and Lahaina has clouds, a sun, and plenty of blue above once again. However, we couldn’t help but take another couple screenshots showing how bleak everything looked for those couple days when Chicken Little’s fears turned out to be correct.
The web team continues to work on the achievement system. We’ve compiled a list of achievements with their accompanying rewards, and Jesse is busy designing badges for each. We’re finishing up work on the ingame friends system, so you can more easily find friends you want to run through the jungle with, and blocking tools to keep people off your radar and your message stream.
After some time shooting and stabbing each other, and everything else that moves, we’ve decided to make some adjustments to damage and health values. We found a few weapons to be lacking in stopping power, and a few creatures a little too tough for our liking. Finding that right mix of the joy of wanton slaughter, with a sense of accomplishment by bringing down a tough opponent is tricky, but we’re getting close.
We’re beginning to build out the second tier of our crafting system, with more complex items and a bunch of new recipes. To support this, we’re making some changes to the game’s resource loop. We’re spreading more resources around the map for players to harvest, rocks in particular. In addition, we’re adding a few new resources like charcoal and sulfur. Our goal is that in addition to weapons, armor, and gear, players will soon be able to craft their own ammo, to help supplement the cartridges you can find spread out across the map and hidden in loot caches.
With all the new resources you can gather and new stuff you can craft, there’s going to be a lot of full backpacks and encumbered players running around; so we’re building a banking system for items. Players will be able to place their charcoal collections or anything else messy or heavy in a “Bank” to be saved for later use, and give their backs a break.
Lastly, Jesse and the art team have finished branding work for a number of ingame companies. SSHAM– Lahaina’s favorite canned meat product, Manimal– the most intense solution to an extreme thirst, and Alohagistics– the shipping company that promises your package will “get there eventually,” are just a few of the companies with products players will be able to find around the map now.
That’s it for this week. I’ll be back later with the latest updates and screenshots.
