I Can’t Go Back, Please Let Me Stay!

To VeilCorp:

The last time Judy and I saw our daughter was two years ago. She was being wheeled away for yet another surgery. I’m not sure anything can make you feel more helpless as a parent than seeing your child sick. Her prognosis was not good and this procedure was for her short-term comfort, not a cure. She had gone through all of this too many times to count. It wasn’t her first time in the operating room, but it would be her last. Madison had been sick since birth but we still weren’t prepared when they asked to talk to us in a private room. I’m not sure you can ever be ready for something like the loss of a child.

Almost as bad as Madison’s passing, was the toll it took on my marriage. I knew it wasn’t my fault, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think I could have done more or gone to one more specialist. Judy blamed me too. Not with her words, but with the way she acted around me and the look in her eyes. I missed her smile and waking up with her head pressed against my chest in the morning. I missed her laugh. I missed our family. Our friends suggested we take a trip to kick-start our marriage and get Judy out of her funk. I booked a vacation with Veilcorp and hoped that some time in a beautiful place would help us heal our wounds. I wasn’t very hopeful, but I was wrong.

The first thing I saw when I came out of the gateway was Madison smiling at me, holding her mother’s hand. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I honestly thought we had died until I heard the local weather announcement. I froze when she ran up and gave me a hug. It took me a few seconds to loosen my grip when she complained that I was squeezing her too tight. I could feel the tears drip off my chin into her hair. Letting her out of my arms was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Judy cocked her head and asked if I was alright. I saw concern in her eyes instead of the usual despair, so I played along. It was like the horror of the past two years had never happened.

We spent the day talking and laughing like we used to. Madison giggled while talking about other trips we’d taken. I smiled right along even though I didn’t remember some of them. We walked around town for hours. We shopped and ate and even spent some time in a few tourist traps. Madison looked so strong and happy. I tried to not cry, or stare at her too long, but I couldn’t help it. I was afraid that if I said something I’d wake up from this dream and go back to the nightmare we had been living. “She’s just growing up so fast,” I said to Judy through the tears. She wrapped her arms around me and called me a wimp. It was wonderful.

After dinner we walked along the beach. I held Judy’s hand as we watched Madison run away from the waves as they rolled up the sand. She collected shells and I tried hard to burn each second into my brain in case all this went away in the morning. We all sang her favorite songs that night before bed, just like we used to. After she fell asleep, Judy caught me staring at her again and asked if I was alright. I told her that I wasn’t just alright, I was the happiest man on Earth. She teased me about being a softy, took my hand and pulled me to bed.

There was something on my face when I woke up and I panicked for a second before I figured out it was Judy’s hair. She stretched and began to groggily protest about being woken-up so abruptly when Madison jumped on our bed. “I thought you guys would never wake up! What are we doing today?” she asked. I knew then that I had been given the greatest gift possible. I had been given my family again.

I’m not sure what happened. I don’t care what it was. Some part of me is still scared that I’ve gone crazy. If I am, I don’t want to get better. You’ve given me my old life back and I can’t lose both of them again. I’ll do anything. I can’t go back to the world I’d been living in! Please let me stay here, wherever it is.

Dave Harris
Veil Code: 270401DHarris

Reality Machine wants to sell your products

You are receiving this message because your business has been identified as a potential partner for an exciting new promotion with Veilcorp’s most successful spin-off, Reality Machine.

You already know how groundbreaking our technology is. Reality Machine has long been the industry standard in remote commerce. Our proven track record and quality products speak for themselves. Voted one of the most important inventions in modern history, our RMII models took the world by storm. Our remote vending machines offer companies the ability to sell products in more locations, at a lower cost than ever before.

By now you’ve heard the buzz about the speed and capabilities of our new RMIII line. The rumors are true. It’s internal recycler is faster and larger. Its materials printer is capable of creating almost anything given the proper resources. This version has so many upgrades that it would take pages to list them all. What it doesn’t have is you. That’s why we asked for help from the team at Veilad. They have been recognized by numerous organizations as one of the most innovative and fastest growing in the industry.

That’s right! The minds that brought you two of the most successful ad campaigns in history are joining our team. Their corporate sponsored animal campaign was hailed as one of the most important conservation programs in history. Due to its amazing success, the wild cheetah was almost saved from extinction. Billions of people worldwide can still watch the Duracave herd of elephants in their natural habitat thanks to their sponsorship initiative, but that’s not all.

Never content to rest on their laurels, Veilad created a way to display ads while you’re traveling through the veil. Their gateway program remains the most successful ad campaign ever created, generating over $10 billion dollars in revenue and reaching over a billion people so far this year. If you think that’s good, just wait until you hear what they’re planning next.

Veilad wants to help you and Reality Machine come together by offering unique branding opportunities. Every thriving business knows how important branding is. Consumer studies have shown one thing consistently over the years, branding adds perceived value to products. When presented with two identical products people choose the branded product as the most valuable even when they are unfamiliar with the brand. It is that perceived value that we plan on capturing with your help.

By agreeing to add your brand to the generic items already produced by the Reality Machine line, you can expand your reach at no additional cost, and allow us to raise the value of our crafted products. Imagine coupling the reach, convenience, and prestige of the Reality Machine brand with the recognition of your already established products. Best of all, Reality Machine does all the work. Avoid the headache of manufacturing and distributing your wares by letting us take care of it for you. Our machines are more than capable of creating products that meet your high standards, and your name brand recognition would allow us to charge a premium price.

We are even offering a preferred partnership program with a select group of interested businesses. We will work with your design team to craft logos and create tailored marketing campaigns to launch exclusive lines of products. Our research shows that consumers would be happy to pay an additional 10% on any item they felt was made exclusively for our vending machines. Let’s put different labels on things, and leverage our perceived values together. Your bottom line will thank you! Just contact our sales and marketing department and we’ll start designing our future together.

If You Want Warm Cookies In the Jungle This VeilCorp Spin-Off Has Some Good News

Reality Machine, a daughter company to VeilCorp, plans on using gateway technology to help supply people in remote locations of the globe. Their prototype machine combines 3d-printing technology with a small internal gateway able to transport small items, about the size of a loaf of bread. Lead designer Bill Stewart says the machine still has a way to go before it’s a feasible alternative to going to the store, but may soon become the best way to provide supplies to far-flung corners of the world. “You’re not going to see one in your neighbor’s home anytime soon, but it does provide some interesting opportunities for relief organizations or groups working in distant areas.“

pocketcommander 1 hour ago
“First!”
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raisedright 1 hour ago
“At ease pocketcommander. Thank you for your service.”
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buffalophil 55 mins ago
“Typical Veilcorp bullshit. Trying to poison the world with extra-dimensional food.”
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BridgetT 53 mins ago
“Oeming really is shameless.”

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Howardthegoose 50 mins ago
“Yeah, fuck him for trying to figure out a way to get clean food and water to people after a natural disaster!”
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TerryH 49 mins ago
“It’s amazing that they can fit a power source powerful enough in something the size of a refrigerator. It has to put out a ton of heat though.”
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StewartB 49 mins ago
“Thanks Terry, we’re excited about it too. I work at RM/VC. I can’t get into specifics but we’ve come up with a way to diffuse virtually all of the heat from the power source. Your computer probably gets hotter. The linked article does a good job of diving down into the technology a bit, and you can see pictures of all of us eating cookies sent through the gateway.”
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Burgerthyme 46 mins ago
“Sounds good but I wonder how reliable the printer is. I have a mid-grade system and it breaks down at least once a year. I’m guessing Veilcorp can afford a better model than I have.”
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StewartB 45 mins ago
“I don’t know much about your finances but it’s probably safe to assume that Uncle Oeming has deeper pockets than you Burger :-). The printer was a big issue for us though. We tried a number of vendors but had a lot of trouble finding one that was tough enough for our purposes. In the end we just built our own. It’s great. I’ve actually been pushing to put it on the market, but I’m just the design guy.”
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Braddick 45 mins ago
“How does it feel to be a tool of the most evil organization this world or any other has ever seen?”
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Grabbage 41 mins ago
“This automatic poisoning machine brought to you by the US government and Veilcorp. Coming soon to an enemy of the state near you.”
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Brownbetty 41 mins ago
“Sounds good but I worked for the OCHA and we had a hard time getting basic medical supplies because of funding issues. Notice how the article doesn’t mention a price? I find the claims that this is being made for relief organizations highly suspect. If the UN can’t afford to send enough bandages to an area there’s no way they could pay for a portable gateway.”
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StewartB 40 mins ago
“There’s no doubt that this isn’t monetarily feasible yet. I said so in the interview. It’s still in the prototype stage, but I don’t think we’re as far away as you think. Once we work out all the kinks and find out what works… I have no doubt you’ll be seeing one of our machines in the field within 18 months. I can assure you nothing more nefarious than sending hot apple pie to research stations in the arctic is going on here.”
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Grabbage 40 mins ago
“So you’ve built a billion dollar pie machine?”
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Howardthegoose 38 mins ago
“VeilCorp doesn’t have the best public image lately, just look at some of the comments. I don’t have an opinion one way or the other but it is kind of interesting to me that the first spin-off is making a really expensive machine for use in an area that is probably full of really poor people or a place where everyone has just lost everything. Do you really plan on selling these or is the plan for this to be Oeming’s pet charity project.”
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StewartB 37 mins ago
“We absolutely plan on these machines being an effective tools in areas hit by disasters. As I’ve pointed out, the costs are going to way down once we get this working smoothly. Once that happens the price becomes reasonable for a larger organization or a government. We sell some more and the price goes down again and you start seeing them other places….on and on. That’s how developing and selling new technology works. As far as Oeming goes, he’s already given so much to society that it wouldn’t surprise me if he worked something out for people in need at some point but that’s a bit above my paygrade. I will say that I’ve been impressed with him every time we’ve met and he seems like he really just wants to make the world better.”
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Grabbage 36 mins ago
“It’s a good thing you’re typing this and not talking because I’m not sure we could understand you with Oeming’s dick in your mouth.”
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Braddick 36 mins ago
“I’m pretty sure there’s some people in Iowa who would disagree with you. I mean the ones who haven’t died of the cancer that he gave them.”
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pocketcommander 35 mins ago
“Cancer is for fags!”
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buffalophil 33 mins ago
“This is really a new low for this place. What Veilvertisement can we expect tomorrow?”
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raisedright 33 mins ago
“Are you kidding? This is exactly the type of thing we cover here, what part of it seems paid to you? I think it’s great that Stewart is actually here answering questions.”
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buffalophil 32 mins ago
“How close is your cubicle to Stewart’s?”
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Pieman 30 mins ago
“What other kinds of pie do you want to send through the gateway?”
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Brownbetty 29 mins ago
“Have you asked for input from any of these organizations? A lot of really smart people work in these areas even though it’s not that glamorous. Not everyone thinks money is the most important thing. I’m sure these people could help you figure out possible problems that you don’t even know about yet.”
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StewartB 28 mins ago
“We’ve been working closely with a number of different organizations and did quite a bit of research before we started building. In fact I have a number of engineers on my team who put time in with various relief groups after college. They’ve all been valuable so far.”
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HarryG 25 mins ago
“How did you get started? What’s a pitch to Oeming like?”
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pocketcommander 25 mins ago
“I think Oeming only catches”
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Prissypants 22 mins ago
“Just a matter of time before the Seattle plant starts capturing and transporting Sasquatch soldiers to the Congo. Lets see how bad they want to keep fighting when a bunch of wildmen commandos start popping out of boxes.”
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bigboned 20 mins ago
“Any plans on using these to replace fast food workers? I’m sure a machine could do a better job at not fucking up my order than the meth-heads working by me.”
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Knighttime 19 mins ago
“It’s been hinted at here already but I’ll come out and ask you directly. Are you telling us that no military applications have been discussed? Is any part of your funding coming from the government?”
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StewartB 18 mins ago
“We’re a publicly traded company so all of our financials are public. VeilCorp of course has many government contracts and is our parent company but that doesn’t have anything to do with us. I guarantee you that there isn’t a room full of generals sitting around here telling us what to do. The military already has a robust system for moving ammo and supplies so I’m not sure what military use our vending machine size project would have.”
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Braddick 18 mins ago
“So it’s beyond your ability to imagine how easy it would be send send a small nuclear bomb anywhere in the world with this?”
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StewartB 17 mins ago
“I don’t think the military would has any trouble sending a nuclear bomb of any size, anywhere in the world, right now. They don’t need our help. I think your tinfoil hat might be making your head too warm you might want to switch to aluminum or something.”
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Worktime 15 mins ago
“Have you tried it out on anything alive yet? I’ve always wanted a pig vending machine.”
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StewartB 14 mins ago
“No we haven’t, but I like the way you think.”
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Lawren27 10 mins ago
“Oh, wonderful time of the day to enjoy sexy time! Fancy given hand or two with! this issue? Try these pills!”
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Lancalittle 8 mins ago
“How inspired by the aliens would you say is your design process?”
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Turbocharged 7 mins ago
“Have you tried sending anything back in time?”
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Brando15 5 mins ago
“There’s been a lot of talk here about sending things back and forth to places that are hard to get to but I think we’re all missing the point. Humans don’t want to move. Sure it starts with big things like this but before you know it nobody is getting out of their chairs. Why get up and go to the bathroom to brush your teeth when you can get transported there. Why bother picking up your toothbrush when it can be gated into your mouth. We won’t even have legs in a hundred generations at this point.”

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pocketcommander 5 mins ago
“I liked Brando14 better.”
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Turk 4 mins ago
“It wasn’t mentioned in the article, but how long have you been working on this project. Do you keep the old models anywhere special? I heard Oeming has a collection of all the older Veilcorp projects as they’ve progressed.”
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StewartB 3 mins ago
“I’ve been here since the start. That was almost 2 years ago so we’re making really good progress. We’ve done most of the designs with computer models and the frame of the machine is the original. So there isn’t really a collection of old machines, just a pile of parts that didn’t work or failed somehow. I’m not sure how cool or educational it would be to look at a pile of old motherboards and burnt out motors. I’m pretty sure Oeming said as much in an older interview. If I’d had a hand in as much stuff he has I’d probably want to keep it in a collection as well. Having said that, I haven’t seen it but would jump at the opportunity.”
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StewartB 1 min ago
“Looks like things are slowing down a bit. Time to get some work done. Keep the questions coming. I’ll answer as many as I can later.”
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Task Force Report On Gaia Guard Activity

The following is an interagency task force report based on actionable intelligence of Gaia Guard activity in the Seattle area. The intent is to provide background into the group and protocol for law enforcement interactions. Due to an ongoing government investigation we urge officers to follow these guidelines and not discuss them with any outside party.

The Group
Gaia Guard is an eco and domestic terrorist organization founded by Robert Bennett in 2025. Bennett was a colleague of Dr. Eric Oeming at the University of Michigan where he was an assistant professor teaching biology and life sciences. The size of the group has fluctuated wildly since it’s inception but is thought to have less than 100 serious members, with at least 1,000 other part-time members and collaborators across the country. The group works like many others, through localized cells keeping it viable after large-scale arrests. While any company involved with animal testing or power production can be a target of Gaia Guard, Veilcorp has become the main target since the successful teleportation of a rat in 2027. Extreme violence is rare in Gaia Guard attacks but not unheard of. Most attacks focus on the destruction of equipment, the stealing of records, and the release of any animals held at a facility. Attacks are well organized and highly technical in nature. It is not unusual for security systems and surrounding cameras to be taken offline during Gaia Guard operations.

Known Gaia Guard Affiliations: The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), VeilWatch, Earth First!, and CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective (CWC)

Robert Bennett Aliases: Bob Ben, Bob Benny, Robert Bens, Robert Green, Rodger Green, Rodger Ben, Rodger Roberts

Procedures
The task force requests that any information obtained regarding Gaia Guard activity be immediately reported to our liaison or the Deputy Commissioner. We ask that you call in any criminal activity related to the group and not take direct action due to the ongoing investigation. If you are first to respond to an active Gaia Guard operation call the task force, secure the perimeter, and wait for further instructions. This request only applies to non-violent criminal activity.

Public Communications
Do not discuss this report with anyone outside of law enforcement and direct any public inquiry to our liaison. The task force suggests using the wording below when communicating the recent burglaries to the public.

SPD Business Alert
Commercial Burglary Update

About the Crime:

This update, based on these recently acquired video stills, reminds commercial and office building management operating in the K2 District (Downtown Central), of a group of unknown offenders who are forcibly entering office and commercial buildings through the main floor or underground parking areas. The offenders are forcing open revolving doors or windows with the intent to take laptop computers, cell phones, and other electronics as well as a number of test animals. The offenders have breached street level doors during the daytime, then returned hours later to complete the burglary. The phrase “Gaia Guard” has been painted at each site. Employee’s have also been contacted by VeilWatch before each burglary. These incidents have occurred in the general geographical location listed below:

7100 Block of S. Western Ave. on May 1, 2030 during the early morning hours

2400 Block of W. 71st St. on May 7, 2030 during the evening hours

What you can do:

  • Keep the perimeter of your property well lit.
  • Report suspicious activity immediately.
  • Keep doors and windows secured.
  • Immediately repair any broken windows, doors or locks.
  • If video surveillance is available, save and make a copy of the incident for investigating detectives.
  • If you are a victim do not touch anything, call police immediately.
  • If approached by a witness to the incident, request contact information.
  • If contacted by VeilWatch or Gaia Guard call police immediately.

DEV

September Dev Update – Improvements, Bug Fixes, and Play Shots

Aloha Thrivers!

We’re back with another update as it’s been super busy over here getting ready for our Kickstarter campaign on September 7. In addition to a bunch of updates and bug fixes, we thought we’d show off the big collection of screenshots that players have submitted to us. They built and defended dozens of bases, killed hundreds of mutants, and explored miles of Maui this week.

Updates and Improvements

Animations

  • Imported updated reload animations for the micro uzi

  • Added the ability for weapons to supply their own custom jump animations

  • Improved prone moving animation blending

  • Added custom top half animation overrides per item

  • Updated drop item animation speed and triggers

  • Added new 1911 animations

  • Added new skar animations

  • Added new melee animations

  • Improved first-person equip and unequip animations for the homemade bow

  • Improved homemade bow nocking, charging, and firing animations and feel

  • Third person zipline animations are now forced to the proper rotation

Item Updates

  • Players can now pick up clothing items and equip them if they are encumbered

  • Added recipes health pistol

  • Added health pistol weapon

AI

  • AI will now attempt to prevent their mesh from excessively clipping through walls

  • Further increased the Kasha’s aggro distance

  • Regenerated spawn points for all of the AI Spawner Volumes around Lahaina

  • AI Modules now have a generic function for hiding their owning character without conflicting with other actor hiding systems

  • AI will now remain hidden and inactive until they are able to detect any valid reachable destination.

  • Optimized the memory performance of the AI Distance Update loop

  • Improved the Melee AI attack and movement overlap distances

  • Adjusted our AI’s net update and tick rates

Construction

  • Added the ability to snap foundation pieces half grid height up or down

  • Added hologram arrow mesh when placing construction walls and door frames

  • Added improved slot opening and closing for construction

  • Restored auto upgrading construction pieces to the last selected upgrade type with the upgrade tool

Gameplay and Player Improvements

  • Improved attach location of the hands when ziplining

  • Improved a Decay Service hitch by having the system loop smaller actor lists

  • Restored old player movement and braking values

  • Reduced the volume of the siege starting sound

  • Setup scaled up meshes for female hair and clothing

  • Updated UI for new knockdown (incapacitated) processing, hooked up timer in UI

  • Changed corpse decay time from 15 mins to 45 mins

  • Added the ability to auto-start new quests once the previous one is completed

  • Added 6 starting quests

  • Hold ‘F’ to burn bodies will now only function if the body has no items in it

Fixes
  • Fixed various crashes in weapon code

  • Fixed totems forcing net updates too often

  • Fixed two AI crashes that were caused by the AI Controller assuming they always had a pawn

  • Fixed bug where the player’s hands would go invisible after placing or holding a placeable item

  • Fixed a bug where dead AI could block the player’s collision

  • Potentially fixed a bug where dead AI would remain in their idle animation

  • Fixed players getting stuck at the top of the zipline

  • Fixed micro uzi using new animations with the old mesh

  • Fixed weapon ammo counts showing wrong values

  • Fixed bug where an item could be recycled multiple times at once

  • Fixed server crash when hitting an actor without a valid component with a projectile

  • Fixed quests triggering NetMultiCast functions on the player controller which could cause other players to experience all types of random things

  • Fixed triangle and square foundations being able to place in the same spot

  • Potentially fixed a bug where AI Spawner Volumes were ticking outside of the editor

  • Fixed a persistent 1.5-4ms frame cost related to cloth simulation stat tracking

  • Fixed a server crash that could occur due to an invalid container inventory component

  • Fixed issue where AI wasn’t damaged by fire actors

  • Fixed bug with turn in quests not granting rewards

  • Fixed randomizable car doors opening rotations

  • Fixed house containers not filling with spawned items

  • Fixed issue where logging out controller/pawn can fail to swap active pawn for inactive

  • Fixed bug with item based quests giving double credit

  • Fixed bug with the turn in place animations canceling upper body animations

  • Fixed damage indicators not working

  • Fixed bug with foundation pieces breaking the instant they were placed

Watch Fractured Veil Gameplay Footage

If you missed the action live, watch us have some fun with these fine folks:
Fun with VideoGameDiva
Building bases with NerdParade
Our time with StandardDamage
Exploring with SteelRain27
Our stream with Rockzillah
Playing with Mammoth
A streamer party featuring wak4863,
Derbee02FireSpark81, and BlinkBlinkGames

Community Spotlight

From the early days, we’ve been driven by the community and your feedback is very important to us so keep it coming! If you’re interested in helping out, head over to our discord and let us know! We love hearing your ideas and talking about what’s coming up next. Here’s a look at just a few of the player-submitted shots we’ve received recently.

If you want to learn more about Fractured Veil head over to our Discord server.

DEV

Wood, Walls, and Weapons

We added lots of new player animations this week covering all the busy work you might find yourself doing after the collapse of civilization. Crafting, starting a fire, setting a broken arm, and even wrapping a sucking chest wound all have a unique look and action now. While we were making things look more realistic we spent some time smoothing out a few issues with the female character model. Right now one of her feet keeps busting out of her boot and she has the eyes of a tiger shark, which is fine for instilling fear in your enemies, but not the look we’re going for overall.

We cleaned up some of the weapon reloading predictions and removed the hack that temporarily fixed weapons getting stuck in an empty state when the auto-reload failed. We made some good progress on a crash reporter and should have it up and running after some testing over the next couple of days. The team also made some AI improvements to help mutants keep track of their targets during a siege, reduced the wolf and mutant population across the map, and fixed a bug where respawning players would hear coughing as they were brought back into the realm of the living

Most of the week, however, was focused on player construction and building material designs. We went over some possible wood designs, how the pieces might fit together, and some possible engraving/decoration options to make any apocalypse house look like a home. Below you can see that work as it progressed.

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DEV

Opening Doors and Shooting Buildings

Work continued this week on our player construction system. We cleaned up some collision issues so the panels of your dream apocalypse bungalow can go in smoothly, without any gaps that an industrious mutant could squeeze through. We also fixed a bug with repair prices not being correct for construction pieces. The team started adding interactable doors so players can go in or out of their constructions, arguably one of the most important parts of any shelter. We ran into a couple of issues with our construction materials this week when we discovered that axes and pickaxes suddenly became unusable after hitting a building surface and some of our materials were mixed up. Below you can see a GIF of what happens when your thatch material gets marked as metal by accident.

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Several bugs and play improvements were addressed this week as well. We fixed some issues with reviving other players so you can help your friends get up after they’ve been knocked or shot unconscious. We made mutants unlootable if they are on fire, fixed a bug with combat knife animations not working properly in first person, and worked out a bug with the drone not detecting any pawns or AI with its overlap checks. The team also fixed missing strike decals on trees and made it so bullets could no longer be blocked by bushes or foliage. Hiding behind a tree while someone shoots at you is still a valid way to avoid bullets, ducking behind a clump of tall grass isn’t.

We completed the last 3 grid areas on the map before we start another round of adding custom areas, buildings, and features. We’re going over the map now addressing any audio issues, bug fixes, and making sure our automated road, building, river, and beach systems are working properly. For example, here’s a look at that moment when you realize your shadow casting might be too detailed.

Click here to display content from gfycat.com

Lastly, we’re giving away two XFX AMD Radeon RX 570 RS’s to some lucky contestants. There’s 8 ways to enter including telling us about the craziest thing you’ve ever done with a group in an open world survival game. The contest ends next Sunday at midnight (EST).

DEV

Working on the Drone and Slicing the SSHAM

The first full week of Sprint 33 is wrapping up and we have a lot planned for the next 30 days. We’ll be focusing on: polishing up current systems and features, adding better player communication so you can coordinate with your group better, and getting things ready for our first set of players. We’ll also spend some time building out some more world spaces, creating a crash logging system, and improving drone performance.

We’ve done a lot of work making the drones better already. The team has added camera support to keep attacking and attacked actors in focus better, and rules to keep actors in a group in frame. The drones can zoom in better now when they notice a player is ADSing (aiming down sight) to try and see what they are looking at. They notice smoke and loot drop beams from farther away, and we made some improvements to the drone HUD to make it more readable and include info like server FPS data.

We also nabbed a few lingering bugs including: A mesh visibility bug when reloading while ADSing. A problem with item hotbar selections not working properly after a player dies. An issue with throwing multiple pieces of food in a row, and sadly, pressing the right and left mouse button together will no longer launch a player into Death Blossom mode with endless melee weapon attacks.

The team added a bunch of new animations. We included proper sprinting animations, and updated drawing and holstering your bow when prone. Players will no longer pull their bow through the Earth while trying to keep a low profile. In addition, we added new throwing animations for food and small items, injection animations for syringes, and updated eating and drinking animations.

Speaking of eating, players will be able to enjoy the spicy-salted flavor of SSHAM for meals now. Lahaina’s favorite processed meat product joins other iconic brands like Alohagistics and Manimal on the map to remind players of the thriving world that existed before The Great Fracture. We’re adding our own touch to other generic items too. Below you can see our treatment to a medkit and what a can of SSHAM looks like.
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DEV

Spears, Clubs, and Drones

Between parties, presents, and cups of cheer we’ve been working away at completing our sprint 30 goals, and have made some great improvements. The ingame drones in particular got a lot of love over the holidays. Our eyes in the sky have much better: pathing across the island, smoother rotations as they turn, better lighting, and a much clearer FOV. In addition, we’ve greatly improved their ability to avoid obstacles, and they are pretty good at following animals now. We’ve also added a thermal camera view so they can film targets better at night.

Big Bob, our favorite cannibal mutant overlord, got some improvements in his stocking too. We’ve added a few special attacks to his repertoire that allow him to throw his weight around in combat, and added a number of new animations to his list movements. The team also made a number of general AI improvements. We increased the overall AI aggro and alert distances for mutants and animals, as well as nabbed a few AI bugs. The horrors of the jungle should be a lot more vigilant and apt to attack now when you get too close.

Lastly, just before the holidays we went to imgur to discuss some of the weapons in the game. We took a deeper look at our weapon modeling process, and adding engravings, features, and details that tell a story about the world, and what that particular weapon had been through. Below you’ll find shots of a few of our more traditional Hawaiian weapons. You can see more 3D models on our sketchfab page, or check out our gallery on the media page.
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DEV

Drone Improvements and Weapon Upgrades

Sprint 29 is coming to an end this week, and we’re finishing up a number of improvements to our drones. Our goal is have a number of autonomous eyes in the sky that stream live footage of the island, broadcasting a number of things ranging from: beauty shots of the landscape, animals in the jungle, and players shooting up the place.

We’ve been working hard to make them as intelligent as possible. The team has added: nightvision, search patterns when they are flying long distances, the ability to change FOV based on what the drone is filming, volumetric shadows to their spotlight, different max view distances based on day vs. night and nightvision vs. spotlight vs. nothing, and panning movements. We’ve also smoothed out their camera work.

In addition to those improvements, we’ve fixed a few issues and bugs that popped up. We solved a problem that was preventing the drones from exiting one state and entering another. The drones will now avoid flying into the sides of buildings and structures, and they will no longer travel too far out to sea. There is still a little work to do on the drone HUD, but the cameras should be broadcasting the beautiful but deadly wilds of Lahaina soon.

Speaking of beautiful landscapes, a good way to appreciate how much work we’ve put into the environment is with a brand new AMD Radeon RX 570 RS 8GB, and we just happen to be giving one away. You still have time to get your entry in by the cutoff date of December 15. There’s multiple ways to enter, but time is running out for your chance win.

We’ve made some animation improvements this week too. A number of third person animations got upgraded so shooting your M1A or bashing someone’s head in with a club is much more pleasing to the eye. We made a pass over all the the weapons in the game to balance their statistics and make them more realistic. All the game’s firearms now have updated statistics for: recoil, range, rate of fire, and damage. We worked some more on thrown weapons, and played around with throwing tools as weapons. Here’s a shot showing just what one motivated individual and their pickaxe can do.
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We’ve completed our crafting system tier 3, adding some new recipes, and incorporating resources like leather and energy. 127, the element that made veil travel possible, will be one of the most important sources of energy for players, and we’re working on a 127 detector for them to use. Eventually this craftable device will ping the map with the general location of the element within a certain radius of the player.

Finally, we took to imgur last week to talk a little bit about animals in the game. More than just another enemy to watch out for or a source of food, the animals in Fractured Veil help make the island and the wild places come alive. We’ve put a lot of time into animal AI to make them feel like a natural part of the game, instead of just mounds of leather waiting to be harvested. Our wolves call for help when they discover prey, bears are attracted to the scent of blood, and our prey animals flee in random patterns when they’re being hunted. This week we made a couple much needed adjustments. The bears have been beefed up to make them much tougher and fitting of their place in the food chain, and we discovered that our squirrels needed nerfing. It turned out that the squirrels had more health than most things in the game, including some of the mutants. We decided to take some of that vigor away before they took over, and demanded a no cat policy on the island, and regular acorn tributes. Below you’ll find a couple screenshots of our animals in the wild.
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