This week marks the end of the old sprint, and the beginning of 22. The teams are busy finishing up some last minute work, fixing bugs, and setting goals. We’re adding a bit of polish to the group play system, but it’s ready to test. Players can make teams, use team VOIP, see members on the map, and revive teammates who ducked when they should have dodged. We plan on spending the next sprint squashing bugs, addressing problems as they arise, and running around, shooting the hell out of each other until we’ve worked out all the kinks. We don’t want to leave the creatures of the forest out of all the gratuitous violence though. We’ll be doing some AI work, to add another element of danger to groups venturing out into Lahaina.
We’re working on the loot economy/distribution system too. We’re making sure that the loot not only flows, but it flows in an appropriate way across the entire map. The goal is to avoid creating an area that gets too crowded because we’ve inadvertently created a looters paradise. We’re also making some improvements to our crafting and recycling system. We’re adding deterioration to items, and the recycling mechanic. Players will no longer have machetes that can hack through a thousand trees without suffering from some wear and tear, or becoming dull. We’re also making sure a brand new item provides more raw resources when recycled, than a piece of worn out junk.
The team is adding some audio support, and working on weapon and player movement animations to make characters look more natural, and add a level of authenticity to weapons. We’re also making a material upgrade to help performance, and make the props you’ll find around Lahaina look more realistic. The before and after shots below are a good example of how things are improving.
Of course our Veil News Network (VNN) work continues. The web team is working on video stream improvements currently, as well as stinger and bumper videos to fill in coverage gaps and transitions. Jesse is hard at work putting together a VNN lead-in video and working on a few overlap bugs.
Terry was busy digging into some merge issues we ran into, and we’re working on some streaming, destreaming, and performance improvements. Improving map and large building performance is a never ending task, and we’re focusing on three large buildings this sprint in particular: the Thorcon Power Plant, the Veil Station, and the lighting inside the Communication Tower. We’ll be doing some HUD updates and working on graphics on the settings menu as well. The team is adding animations to the respawn area and building out our cave system, in addition to few other spots of interest on the map. We’re also finishing up the texture, weather, and lighting work for the wild places around Lahaina. As you can see below it has really improved the quality of our beaches, but we still don’t recommend taking time to make a sand castle without a weapon handy.
We’ll be back later in the week with more updates and pictures.
