This is the last full week of sprint 21, and much of the team’s work is focused on rooting out bugs, and adding some finishing touches to what we’ve been working on. One of the biggest goals this sprint was to get a team system up and running for group play. All of the backend work is done, and we’re just working on the ui now. Voip and team member map markers are ready to go. We’ve added the ability to teleport to a character using their name, and an ability to revive a downed team member so nobody has to be left behind when your situation turns dire.
We’ve added a few new recipes to the crafting list and some new gun parts. Just about everything you can find is craftable now. We fixed some of the harvesting bugs involving large trees and rocks holding onto their wood and minerals, and revised the weights of some harvestable items. Players no longer have to worry about breaking their backs if they’re carrying more than three feet of twine.
The web team continued working on the Veil News Network (VNN) news feed, videos, and live streams. We ran into a bug that was freezing the live stream in some cases, and Jared is digging into it. Jesse continues working on the video layout and frame. We continued our discussions about where to display the video feed, and expanding an area on the website for VNN news. The team is putting together some cinemagraphs to fill in spots between videos, and some stingers to play between stories to make the service seem more real. “You won’t believe what common, everyday object is killing players along Front Street!”
To shoot the news you need, San has been busy working on robot camera drone automation, and hopes to have the command plumbing done in a few days. In the near future, we’ll have some rough camera controls to set position, queue up splines, set paths, adjust views, and other useful commands. It won’t be long before the VNN drones are capturing all the latest action live in Lahaina.
Terry finished the trueSky rebuild so many of our strange weather issues will hopefully be resolved. He did a lot of server maintenance, and is fixing some automerge issues too. Our animal AI is fixed, so all of mother nature’s creatures should act naturally now. We’ve had some issues with animals charging straight into the sea when they detect movement, and some of the predators rolling over like they’re asking for a belly rub before trying to maul you. We’re working on making the monsters smarter currently too.
Lastly, we’re adding a bunch of audio support across all areas of the map, finishing up some performance improvements, and working on some lighting upgrades. As you can see from the shots below, things are looking great morning, noon, and night.
We’ll be back later in the week with more screenshots and updates.
