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Resource and Animal Management

Still fighting off turkey hangovers, and the colds you always get at group events, we dug back in this week where we left off before the holiday. A lot of material and lighting work was done on the landscape as the team builds out the areas between the game’s main hubs, as well as along the coast. We made a number of day/night improvements and added ruined buildings and neighborhoods to allow players something to explore or set up an ambush between social hubs. We plan on taking another pass to add story elements, unique play features, and specific buildings to explore and loot, once we have theses areas connected.

We reworked the indoor lighting of the Armory, Communication Tower, and the Thorcon Power Plant after it had been disabled due to a truSKY issue. Players shouldn’t need to light an extra torch inside anymore to read their favorite book. Last week we found a huge part of the Thorcon reactor that we had somehow misplaced in a folder somewhere along the way. We’ve made a pass over it to match the rest of the interior, and will hopefully get it installed before the inspectors arrive. Meeting all codes and having the correct paperwork after the fracture is serious business. We’re also taking another pass at the look of the player bank, making it fit better with the game’s aesthetic.

Our hero buildings weren’t the only thing that got a revamp. For a while now we’ve discussed the damage balance issues we’ve had with weapons. The game’s craftable bow and hatchet were among the most powerful weapons for a while, but that’s about to change. We did a full pass on weapon damage and made quite a few changes to more realistically represent the ballistic damage of your typical firearm round. We also adjusted a number of gun stats including firing speed and fixed a melee weapon distance bug. Daggers will no longer have the same reach as spears, and you’ll need to get a little bit closer to a enemy to put your hatchet in their head now.

Speaking of bugs, the team fixed a few already this week. We boosted the interval between loot drops to 30 mins to avoid overlaps in delivery quests. Nobody is a fan of two of aunt Ruth’s jello salads at the Luau, one is more than enough. We fixed an issue with first person animations being used when using a weapon in third person. Also, we corrected a problem with damage highlights showing up on players when they weren’t healable. Medical co-pays are expensive enough, without phantom injuries showing up on characters.

The team made some harvesting adjustments and took a thorough look at the crafting cycle as it currently stands. We’ve made resources much more available and the amount a player can harvest per attempt has been greatly increased for some things. We looked at a few other games to see how they handle resource availability and the speed of their crafting cycle to help figure out that sweet spot, where the best craftable gear is attainable through diligent work, but not too easy. We also want players to be able to create useful gear throughout the crafting process, and not feel like the crafting grind is just a time waster. It’s a tricky balancing act, but we have a game plan in place, and know that we’ll end up making many more passes until we iron out all the bumps.

Lastly, we spent a little time on one of the most important parts of the environment and player survival, our animals. There are many things players have to battle or overcome in the game. In addition to the mutants, and blood thirsty players who just want to get as many kills as possible before their lunch break ends, the environment and animals play a huge role. Wolves and bears are a physical danger to players, while other animals can provide much needed food or leather, and some exist simply to make the landscape look and feel as authentic as possible. We have more about our animals on this imgur post with a few short clips of them in action. Below you’ll find a screenshot of a pack of wolves taking down a deer that is worthy of hanging in any bunkhouse or lodge, a shot of a bear making its morning rounds, looking for a player foolish enough to sleep in the open, and a few other shots of animals in the game.
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