Sprint 40 comes to an end this week and the team is wrapping up new systems, adding some polish, and nabbing bugs as they arise. Much of our time has focused on AI improvements. Future Maui’s monsters now move better in a group and keep pace with leaders in our effort to “Leave No Mutant Behind.” We created a new passive AI module that allows AI to make random sounds while idle. Now, all the mutants gurgle, growl, sigh, and rumble when they aren’t hunting players, making it easier to know when they’re around in the bush.
That proved to be very useful this week when we ran into a bug rendering all AI invisible. Players found themselves being ripped apart by unseen assailants anytime they ventured out into the world. While navigating around the island only by sound did add another layer of difficulty, we fixed the bug because we’re not interested in making a sequel to The Bird Box.
The team fixed the interior audio state for the top of the Comm Tower, made improvements to audio in the main room of the Thorcon Power Plant, and implemented a “crafting completed” UI sound so players will know when they’re weapons are done cooking. Speaking of kitchens, we fixed a strange bug that would sometimes create kitchens with no doors in our procedurally generated buildings. We might have a quest at some point where players have to find their way into a forbidden kitchen, but that time is not today.
Lastly, we continued our push to complete the player construction system. We added FX support for placing construction pieces, fixed a crashing issue when trying to place triangle foundation pieces, and added UI sounds to the construction radial menu. You can see the fruits of our labor in these interior shots of our thatch building design below.
