Hello All,

THE BIG 4-0 HAS ARRIVED!

Every fifth devlog marks a special "Anniversary Edition," and devlog #40 carries that tradition forward. I hope you find this months devlog to be packed with content and dev progress - including photos, videos, and plenty of behind-the-scenes insights.

The primary areas of focus are as follows:

MCVs

Economy

Manufacturing

World Building

Development Extra

But enough of me yappin' - Strap in and buckle up !

Audio Sample Track

There are a large number of videos to go through in this month's devlog. Unfortunately, this means the audio from the music track will stop each time you play a video. Because of that, I’ve moved the ambient track to the top if you’d like to listen during the high-level update read-through.

Here is a new ambient sample tune to kick-off the read !

beta decay - equivalent

The initial objective of the roadmap is to advance each beta (-) decay feature to a 'Ready for Testing' state. Once this happens, the game will be prepared for a formal, controlled testing phase and, upon completion, the game will be in a solid position to enter Early Access.

Provided below is a visual overview of the feature progression for the month of May that is categorized into four areas:

Features that have progressed to 'Ready for Testing'.

Features in 'Ready for Testing' that have had bugfixes or enhancements.

Features in 'Work in Progress' that have increased in percentage.

Development Extras

Metric Summary

There are 51 total features for beta (-) decay.

Progressed To Ready For Testing (4)

These features have progressed to their next State of 'Ready for Testing'.

Bugfixes and Enhancements (9)

These features have had bugfixes or enhancements.

Work in Progress (5)

These features have been worked on, and their percentages have increased.

Extras (1)

These features have been worked on as 'Extras'.

These are 'Beta (+) Decay' Features

As the features are progressing and wrapping up - The remaining 'work in progress' feature cards have been re-organized by prioritization.

Allegiances

Actionable Equipment

Visual Inventory

Combat Core

AI Core

World Locations

Roles and Contracts

Save / Load

The 4 TBA features are 'Wild Cards' remain unranked.

215 ▲ 254 Entries

+39 New Entries

New Database Categories

Three new categories have been created within the database:

Outfits

Exosuits and Overwear

Vehicles

Please keep in mind that not every new database entry is related to a net new item or feature. The current goal is to provide near daily content to populate the primary categories up with a baseline of content to keep building off of in the future.

🔥🔥🔥🔥 The discord has surpassed 32,950 members ! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Attention new Discord members !

Thank you and welcome ! Please read through the rules, information, and FAQ before posting. 👋👋👋 Happy to have you with us.

Emojis

Some new Emojis have been created for you to use on Discord !

There's some incredible users on discord - I would name drop - but you know who you are!

I do see your messages and support, and I try my best to throw out a reaction or two. - Just know that I, and hopefully others, very much value and appreciate the kind words you share.

Status Update

I will begin communicating the progress of the new upcoming trailer with a tracking list below:

Trailer Task List:

■ YouTube Premier Teaser Music

■ Trailer Primary Music

■ Core Audio Effects

□ Outline and Storyboard

□ Dialogue Script Writing

□ Game Footage

□ Cinematic Footage

□ Dialogue Recording

□ Editing

□ Post Processing

□ Trailer Premier Date Scheduled

□ YouTube Premier Published

The goal of the trailer is to infuse gameplay with moments of cinema while showcasing all major features.

During the trailer, whenever a feature is demonstrated on screen, a text description will appear identifying that feature. While watching, I imagine playing somewhat of a "Feature-Bingo" as the trailer will go through the feature list.If you're eager to see a Roadmap feature showcased in the devlogs but it hasn't appeared yet, don't worry — it's planned to be featured in the new trailer.

The trailer release date is TBA.

Game Jolt

Updates have been made to the 'Game Jolt' page for beta decay. All the previous content there was legacy and outdated. So it should be up to snuff - The content there appears similar to the Steam page.

This post will also be published on the following platforms such as:

Steam

Indie DB

X

A notice via Email

Expect this to take a day or two.

Usage of Asset Packs?

If you are interested to know if the game uses pre-made assets I recommend checking out the FAQ Post on the beta decay homepage below:

FAQ (Reminder)

For all the new members - Please be sure to check the game's Website and FAQ for source information about the game !

If the FAQ does not have the answer you are looking for then it most likely has not yet been communicated. Everything outside of the FAQ/Website information should be considered unknown and speculative. As before, I will keep updating the FAQ where appropriate.If there is a question you would like to see answered, feel free to post it into the Discord Topics channel. I do evaluate them regularly to determine if they are FAQ worthy. 🧐

Response Reminder

Thank you to everyone who has reached out and continues to stay in touch - whether by Email, Patreon, or Discord. I do my best to keep up, but definitely expect delays in responses. I attempt to set aside a day or two each month to catch up.So, thank you all once again. Your messages and support are greatly appreciated. The positivity and excitement I continue to see is what helps push the game forward ! 📬

- Time to jump into the juicy

game development content !

MCV's

74 % ▲ 75 %

[ Migrated to Ready for Testing ]

MCV Pilot - Full Body IKs

Full body inverse kinematics have been setup for mounting the cockpit of an MCV. This means that the hands, feet, and pelvis positions will stick like glue to their targets, which drive the motion - Such as the hand staying on the pilot's control stick or throttle levers.

During the IK movement - The character's overlay Idle animation will still play - giving it some realistic movement.

In my opinion, full-body IK is a must-have for any cockpit-style feature in a game - Seeing the pilot’s arms move naturally with the joystick adds a lot to the immersion. It's a small detail, but it helps bring the cockpit to life. Cool stuff.

MCV - Operational Hatches

Believe it or not, it took a fair amount of work to get rotational doors functioning properly over the network - especially when they're attached to a much larger moving component, such as the MCV.

Once the hatches change state (open or closed), that state needs to be saved and synchronized for any new players joining the game. The same data must also be retained when saving and loading a game. And all this data is part of the MCV data structure which sits on its own layer. The point is - while they may seem like simple doors, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye!

Turret Enter/Exit Hatch - And Engine Hatches

Rear Hatches

The MKIII torso features two operable rear hatches—one on the left and one on the right. The right-side hatch provides access to the Auto Loader (AUL).

MCV - Audio Effects Migration

All previous audio effects have been migrated from the legacy pre-alpha build. They were already pretty well edited/post processed, so there was minimal need for tweaks or modifications.

MCV - Mount Component Conversion

All MCV Mounted Components have now been converted to ECS Entities. This is a big deal - As it now means the Machine Guns, Missile Launchers, Cannons, and even Armor plates are now entities that can be manufactured and produced.

These components may be picked up and physically attached on the MCV.

Since they are ECS Entities contain all the same behaviors and properties.

MCV - Assembly and Cockpit Demonstration

MCV - Switches

You may have already seen demonstrations of switch interaction in legacy pre-alpha footage. For the current build, the code has been migrated along with a number of refinements. As a result, switch detection is a lot smoother and more responsive.

Switch - Save / Load Status

Switch on/off states are now stored as part of the game's save data. When a saved game is loaded, the status of each switch is restored and its associated functions are executed, allowing the MCV to return to its previous state.

Switch - Functionality

Additional switch functions are also implemented, ranging from interior lighting and auxiliary lights to countermeasure active status, as well as enabling and disabling weapon mount slots.

MCV - Power Flux

Previous devlogs briefly described the systems behind power checks:

"The power systems currently exist at a very basic level. Power is supplied from batteries that can be inserted into components. These components or structures perform power “flux” checks to determine whether sufficient power is available for operation. This all makes use of the power variables that exist within every entity."

This power system has been integrated into the MCVs. As shown above, up to four industrial batteries can be attached to specific mount points to activate the internal power systems. Power is required for turret rotation, gyro stabilizers, and all interior electrical systems controlled via switches.

MCV - Display Processing Computers / Mission Computers

The cockpit computer terminals function to display FCR, TADS, SMS, and other monitoring systems. The pilot seat consists of two terminals while the gunner has a single computer display.

MCV - Diagnostics (DIAG)

A status display that shows the primary MCV components and systems for an overall health check. This helps diagnose issues and identify which systems are online or offline. Currently, the system does not update automatically, meaning it must be manually refreshed via a button press to view the latest data.

MCV Development Challenge

There was challenge getting the screens to properly accept player inputs. Which consumed quite a bit of time to figure out. In the past, handling click events for in-world screens was fairly straightforward. However, because these screens are attached to the MCV and control is transferred when a character enters it, the internal input system for controllers changes. Eventually things got there, but it definitely consumed some time to figure out.

MCV - Fire Control Radar (FCR)

Physical hardware that fits into one of the four main MCV mount slots.

FCR - Fire Control Radar Display

Displays data transmitted from the FCR-mounted hardware. This includes scanned objects and targets relative to the MCV’s central location.

If a radar is destroyed, the information displayed on the internal active monitors will stop updating.

MCV - SMS (Stores Management Systems)

The SMS functions display weapon and ammunition information. It is a straightforward interface showing ammo counts for each primary MCV weapon mount, the gunner’s ammunition, and the countermeasure flare count.

MCV - TADS Systems

TADS = Target Acquisition and Designation Sight

TADS - ECS Entity

The TADS sensor is an ECS entity, meaning it must be carried and manually mounted to the front of an MCV.

TADS - UI

This UI is most relevant for the gunner position, as they retain control of the exterior-mounted machine gun.

MCV - Terminals - Work In Progress

The display systems are still a work in progress, but their current state does not impede the overall functionality of the MCV. Therefore, they are considered ready for testing.

MCV - Torso Model Updates

Changelog - Tweaked the pilot and gunner seat models by lowering the headrest a tad lower. This makes it easier to see when a pilot or gunner is seated from behind. I think it looks really cool to see the gunner's head from the pilot seat - Just a reminder that your crew is with you!

Changelog - Increased the depth of the pilot seat model - When the character would sit with either a backpack, or outfit with a hood, the models would clip through the seat and could be seen from behind.

Changelog - Removed the top two monitor screens from the pilot’s seat. The main reason is performance concerns related to rendering additional displays. Technically, this would have required rendering up to four render targets simultaneously, which was decided to be an unnecessary performance cost.

MCV - World Destruction

MCV destruction has been integrated with the overall building destruction system and is functioning over the network. It is triggered by various colliders attached to the MCV’s feet and torso. The same collision detection is also used to apply damage to characters - AKA “squishing” them.

The Result is similar to how RPG's may destruct buildings (Showcased in previous devlogs and once again later in this devlog).

MCV Destruction is functioning over the network

Modified the particle effects created for wall crumbling. This includes smoke rising and concrete, metals, rebar, and debris falling.

MCV - Optimizations

Draw Distances

All small interior components, such as switches and screens, have a very limited draw distance. This ensures they are only rendered when you are inside the cockpit.

Screen Render Targets

The TADS system uses 'render targets' for the external camera view to render - These additional camera renders are extremely expensive, and it is critical that they are disabled when not in use, and that they are only visible for the gunner/pilots when in use.

Leg Animations

Leg animations and bones are only meant to update when on screen and not occluded. It is extremely expensive for, any animations really, to be rendering and be active all the time.

Compass Direction Calculation

In the legacy build, compass direction was calculated on every update tick, meaning it was constantly being computed. This has now been moved to event-based functions, so it only calculates when needed. It's not a heavy calculation but it should help a little bit overall.

There are many other smaller tweaks, but the ones listed above highlight the main factors impacting performance.

MCV - Changelog / General

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the Servo Audio was immediately playing in a loop upon piloting the MCV.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the leg armor was not properly mounting into the correct designated slots as all other insert entities mount.

Bugfix - Solved several player collision issues when in the Pilot's seat that was preventing 'tracing / raycasting' from detecting MCV switches in order to use.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug when zooming for the first time in an MCV - The target FOV was set to 0 - So the camera would appear to endlessly zoom in.

Changelog - Slightly increased the MCV turn rate at rest.

Changelog - Modified the leg IK's to only detect the game world collision and large structure collisions. Previously, all visible objects would be detected and the feet IKs would adjust the leg height to them.

Changelog - Corrected the pickup/hold position of the Fuel Injector. Previously it was intersecting through the character's hand - Now it looks a little better as demonstrated in the assembly video.

Changelog - Migrated the .50 casings from the legacy build to be used with HMG fire Particle Effects.

2A65-77 - Artillery Cannon

MCV - Final Notes

Future Testing

There will be ongoing bug fixing and testing up to and beyond Early Access, so future devlog updates will include additional bug fixes and enhancements to the MCVs.

Modularity

A final, ultimate goal I hope that I hope comes to fruition - is the ability to switch and swap leg and torso types. This would be the final piece in creating completely fully customizable MCVs!

Cross-Relation to Spacecraft

It has been mentioned in previous devlogs that several of the current systems are paving the way for beta (+) decay development features, particularly with spacecraft construction in mind. In some ways, an MCV can be thought of as an “on-land” version of a spacecraft, as the way components are configured to interact and integrate into the MCV torso - this follows a very similar structure, which includes the use of entities, power systems, terminal screens, hull states, and more.

Time !

These are not all the features or changes that have been made for the MCV - But they are some of the most critical that were captured with the time that I had.

Manufacturing

74 % ▲ 75 %

[ Migrated to Ready for Testing ]

Processor (Continued)

Introduced in Devlog #39, the processor is a structure that refines or 'processes' raw materials into the ingredients required to manufacture final products with the Fabricator.

It is a compact, all-in-one solution that takes any single raw input and converts it into a refined output.

The work completed on the Processor has pushed the feature into a 'ready for testing' state. This includes:

Terminal UI Screen.

'Raw Material' to 'Processed To' material Relationship Table

Entity Input Discovery > Processing > Output.

Processor - UI

The terminal UI is very light weight with a single function - TO PROCESS - Much like the fabricator, there are still audit logs, and configuration menus for diagnostics.

Processor - Application

The Processor Application and UI have been properly set up as part of the overall terminal system, similar to the Fabricator, IDE, and Reader applications.

Processor - FIFO

For all you accountants out there - The processor works using a FIFO (First In First Out) method. Where the machine will only process the first item that comes into it's cargo at a time. This is a limitation of the Processor as there are no individual job queues.

Input - Raw Material Entity

Output - Processed Entity

The output / 'Processes To' material is defined on a refined resources relationship table.

Processor - Relationships

A relationship table has been created where each raw material is assigned its target processed material.

You may have noticed these relationships supported by every database post regarding Raw Materials, Ores, Monomers and Polymers.

Fabricator Collection

Once materials are processed, they may be inserted into the fabricator as raw ingredients for production. This may be done automatically through the fabricator system’s automation, or manually via a lever switch.

Manual Collection

Automated Collection

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the disc mount slots were out of position on the fabricator, due to the raised elevation of the fabricator model.

Economy

74 % ▲ 75 %

[ Migrated to Ready for Testing ]

The economy has reached a 'ready for testing' state. However, much like MCVs, there will be ongoing bug fixing and testing up to and beyond Early Access, so future devlog updates will include additional fixes and enhancements to the economy..

The primary areas of work this month have been focused on:

Network Testing

Terminal UI adjustments (Majority of time spent here)

Player Input and Typing bug fixes

Economy and Manufacturing Showcases

Economy and Manufacturing are the type of features that will not fit particularly well into the upcoming trailer, as they are fairly slow-paced and require focused attention to fully understand. As a result, I plan to create a separate YouTube video dedicated entirely to these systems.

Closer to the Early Access release, I will be demonstrating the inner workings of the economy, along with a much more detail within the start to finish manufacturing process.

Market - Search

The market contains a full list of all ECS entities that are marked available for trading.

Market - Product Listings

The key takeaway here is that the listed market data is pulled directly from the ECS entities themselves and displayed on the marketplace accordingly.

Actionable Equipment

74 % ▲ -- %

An optical eyewear device that uses bio energy to scan the radius for nearby entities. Once discovered, a visual icon is displayed which signifies the type of entity. Additional tweaks for the scanner have been noted below:

2024 Legacy Version - Entity Scan

Taken from the Pre-Alpha Devlog #20 gameplay video

Current Build - Entity Scan

The major changes are as follows:

The model itself has had small enhancements, additional polys, in order to be more visually present. Rather than just being paper thin.

The scanning visual effects are quicker.

Removal of Icon coloring - All icons appear flat white to match the general theme.

Touched up the icon textures, to be slightly less smooth and more rugged, and resized many of them so they are all consistently sized and identifiable no matter the distance.

All existing entities had to be updated with the appropriate icon based on their entity type - Whether it is a resource, ammunition, component, and so on.

Scanner rename to EIL-MKI. Preciously was just scanner, or ESCAN.

Entry added to the database.

Scanning and the ECS System

What the above demonstration also shows as that the many objects you see on the screen are ECS entities - These items can be crafted, manipulated, and moved about. Overall, re-enforcing the presence of the ECS System.

Consumption - Eating

Use of food vending machines to get some big dirty chips to eat. Just as soda vending machines demonstrated in previous dev logs - They require currency (Centeks) to purchase.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 ATTENTION 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Step Ladder

Ah Yes - The step ladder has finally arrived. You've been waiting - Delay upon delay.. decay, upon decay, and bidet upon bidet - The step ladder is the solution.

There's no skipping positions or fly mode - Let the step ladder physically move you about the world. Reach your destination with the step ladder! Be one with the step ladder!

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed an issue with flickering icons for the scanner that involved disabling the depth test of the material.

Bugfix - The scan left behind some unwanted pixel artifacts on the user's screen viewport. The material has been modified to fix this

Bugfix - Fixed a bug when consuming, was giving a false positive error, where after consumption the entity should clear out from the player hand/inventory, the system was fed inputs from other consumption types that weren't expected, and threw an error as they were null.

Bugfix - Fixed several bugs with the cigarettes, in regards to how they should be stored as combinables within the inventory.

World Locations

62 % ▲ 65 %

Previous work around world design and modeling was directed towards garages, for storage and warehousing. For the month of May, the focus has turned to something a bit darker and labyrinthic.

Sewer Systems

One of the world locations and themes you will come across are networks of underground sewer systems. These may be found underneath the Metropolis and beneath the Strata. For this month, a few days of modeling work has been spent here.

Water Caustics

A new material has been created to handle water caustics - That wavy light pattern you see reflected against the walls. This effect does not appear everywhere where there is water, and it is typically found in more significant / notable areas of architecture.

The effect overlaps all objects that are within radius.

As far as performance - There is no actual light, or reflection process happening, just a material that generates the illusion of the effect.

I would like to add a bit more randomization to the surface effect - So is not so one directional movement.

Waterfalls

Commonly in tunnels and sewers you may find smaller waterfalls. This helps adds more motion to the overall scene.

Separate Meshes and materials created with some smoke particle effects.

Id like to add an additional water effect / material at the point where the water collides.

These effects together pay a bit of homage to the classic titles. Hoping what's shows does a bit of justice here.

Save / Load

72 % ▲ -- %

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where Character's hair was not loaded successfully. Solution involved reactivating some of the disconnected logic for setting the character's hair on game start.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug when loading a save game, logic fires to equip the saved outfit, the logic would think that a carried outfit entity existed and would need to be hidden from the character and would throw errors indicating no entity exists. Since no carried outfit entities exist on game load to equip, additional logic has been added to prevent this error.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug when loading a save game, the character would play the outfit equip animation on start. (As if they were carrying an entity - similar to the issue above).

Allegiances

65 % ▲ 67 %

KOFFO Commercial

Introducing a new commercial company that primarily manufactures and produces home equipment - Such as the coffee machine you may have seen in the database here.

Ecorych

Some of you may recognize this company from very old legacy projects/builds. There has been a migration of this legacy company to the new build with slight touch up to the logo - to have a bit darker appeal.

Migration of legacy company to new build.

Created Logo and Transparent logos for game usage/implementation.

50+ Public Companies

Although, the total number of in-game companies has surpassed 50+, several of these companies are still missing their logo and a transparent version of their logo, which enable them to be added to containers and cargo.

There are currently 33 companies with finalized logos.

The company list does not include Syndicates, Cells, Factions, or Divisions. These solely relate to the public Corporations that are present on the Centauri Exchange.

Over time, proper descriptions of the allegiances will be added. The current system is designed to house this information.

Primary Allegiances

Finalization has happened for several of the primary Allegiances. I really want to take my time with lore/history and other areas such as this. Typically any naming process I have takes months as I attempt to let the names sink in - Then come back at a later date to see if it still feels right - and it makes you say - Aw yeah!

Overall, there is quite an in-depth thought process behind the Allegiance names and how they make sense within the game world.

As mentioned in Devlog #38 for Allegiances

"Most of the remaining work focuses on finalizing names and logos, as these are critical for game lore, marketing, and presentation.

I really don't want to be in a position later down the road, where I would need to change the title or logo of a major Allegiance, once in-game images, billboards, texts, and marketing are already tied to them. It may happen - but I'd rather not jump the gun here."

Primary Allegiance - Publishing

As features continue to move into Ready For Testing and the game progresses closer to Playtesting / Early Access, expect more information to be released on the primary Allegiances. (Divisions, Conglomerates, Syndicates) as their information becomes finalized. This includes logos, and a banner image.

ALPHA CEN UTIILITARIAN (ACU)

The first Allegiance to be published is "Alpha Cen Utilitarian" or the ACU. This Allegiance functions as a Tier I Division. Which is greater amongst the Tier II Factions.

Allegiance information will also be added to the database. The next Allegiance will be showcased in next month's devlog, so stay tuned !

Visual Inventory

72 % ▲ -- %

Kits

A kit is an equippable item designed to provide specialized functionality, potentially enabling use cases such as camping, medical, and engineering kits.

Kits integrate into the existing visual inventory system and mount similarly to a backpack, appearing on the front or back of the lower pelvis.

They also provide a cooler aesthetic 😎 Demonstrated in the MKIII music video where the character is wearing a pilot's kit there.

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed a few bugs where the hair model was clipping through helmets - Tweaks have been made to ensure that helmets disable character's hair when equipped.

Changelog - Equipping a kit now uses the same animation as adding an inventory item to the back. Previously, the kit equip action was using a shoulder equip animation.

- End of Detailed Work In Progress Updates -

ECS System

ECS Color Control Fixes

Colorization of Entities may have been mentioned in previous dev logs, but regardless - this month there has been several bugfixes and tweaks around the code for saving/loading entity colors.

Drop Collision Sounds

When entities are thrown or dropped, they will play a sound when they hit the ground or another object.

This took some time to get working correctly, as collision complexity varies across different entity types. Some entities have no collision, such as small objects and ammunition, while larger entities like structures and walls do have collision. So the collision detection must understand the thrown objects collision type.

Cargo Door Single

Previous devlogs showcased single commercial doors, double doors, and large cargo doors. In addition, smaller single cargo doors have been created that function similarly.

File Cabinet

Just like the hatches on an MCV, these types of items are quite tedious to create. The file cabinet features multiple drawers that can be opened and closed individually. Each drawer must also synchronize and save its state over the network.

I love the little details. Small features and objects like this often have a much bigger payoff when it comes to gameplay immersion. Even an interactable file cabinet opens up roleplay opportunities, whether it's storing physical documents, stashing weapons, or anything else players can think of. So, if players are conducting a routine search of an office or apartment, they'd better remember to check the cabinet drawers too!

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the incorrect ECS Entity Placement Sound, was in correct, and was changed to the correct sound effect type - Specifically for when an object is placed.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the Engine's 'Nanite' feature was causing static meshes to rapidly flicker. Disabling nanite on these meshes resolved the issue - Note that these meshes were not intended to utilize Nanite to begin with.

Changelog - Created a new entity variable, "Ammo Type," to store the type of ammunition required by an entity. The variable can be used for weapons, MCV weapon types, actionable equipment that requires bioenergy or fluids, and other similar systems. Overall, it makes the logic a cleaner and easier to work with.

Bugfixes - Minor tweaks and bugfixes to entity 'Composition'

Character Customization

New Outfits and Headwear

A few new outfits and headwear have been created. This could of also fit in the 'Development Extras' section but it ended up here these are complimentary items to existing outfits and themes.

Outfit (Crewman) MKI and MKII

Helmet (MCV Pilot) MKI and MKII

Helmet (AMU)

Headset - MKII

MCV Pilot Bag

Hat (Flattop)

Gloves

Certain outfits - Especially PPE Outfits - now have gloves. Previously all outfits showed the character's bare/exposed hands.

Gloves are not separate entities you pick up and equip - They are part of the base outfit types. At least for the early versions of the game - This may change in the future.

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Outfit custom colors are now being properly set. Whether the entity initially exists in the world or is equipped on the character, the set color will remain true

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the color of entities would not be applied only when equipping the item. For example: In the game world, the color of a hood item appears Red, but when the character would pick up the item and equip, the color would return to its default color.

Bugfix - Fixed the texture UV alignment issues with the Male and Body lower torso meshes. When there is mis-alignment with the Texture UV's the result can be textures not matching well with the ones adjacent. There are plenty of these cases happening on all sorts of different models, but the character ones are typically most important to fix.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the neck texture/material was set black after an outfit change. This was due to the body material being applied to the neck - Where there are completely different UV maps than the head/neck which share the same UV's but different material. Therefore the neck turned black. Took a bit to track this one down and apply solution.

Changelog - Added Selection Arrow Icons to the character customization screen

Changelog - Darkened the color of the MKI body armor.

Changelog - Increased the height of extra large backpacks mounted on the character. Also adjusted the world origin of these models in order to fit correctly/snuggily on the character's back when equipped.

Changelog - Decreased the height of 'Kits' mounted on the back of the character's pelvis.

Changelog - Fixed texturing holes in the male underwear :/

Destruction

Changelog / Bugfixes

Changelog: Made minor adjustments to the particle effects for rubble burst explosions. This includes increasing the gravity strength and reducing the drag applied to concrete debris. As a result, concrete now bursts outward more aggressively instead of slowly floating to the ground as it did previously. There is still plenty of room for improvement.

A brief updated showcase of destruction via RPG.

There is still a lot of tweaking and testing to be done with the destruction system but currently things remain working at their core.

Weapons

Changelog / Bugfixes

Changelog - Increased the volume of the silenced weapon shot audio.

Changelog - Very minor tweaks to the left hand ik positioning across several weapons.

Changelog - Re-work of a few explosion particle effects

Locomotion

Mounted Animation State for Full Body IKs

Currently, a completely separate state is used for when characters are mounted in vehicles/MCVs. This enables full-body IK (inverse kinematics), allowing free positioning of the character’s arms and legs to specific mount points within the vehicle.

This had been showcased previously in the MCV updates above. In the MCV, this allows the character’s hand to remain on the pilot stick as it moves.

Additive Idle Animations

Previously the character would appear quite static/motionless during idle or walking animation. A secondary animation idle animation has been added on top of the base layer that brings things a little bit more to life.

In more attempts to keep FPS view smooth (minimal camera jerking), logic has been added to ensure that the third person additive animations are disabled when camera is in FPS view in order to minimize unwanted camera movement.

Mocap Animations

Some of you have expressed that you enjoy seeing the mocap animation captures, so here is another round animations that needed to be recorded ! Some of the new animations include:

Showering

Eating solids - large bites out of something.

Deploying Entities

Inserting Entities into slots. (One Handed / Two Handed)

Surrender Emote

And a few more unlisted ones.

Surrender Emote

Aim offset Zooming

When the camera zooms in and out from the character, its important that the camera stays snug to the character / to offset left/right over the shoulder. Within the legacy build this somewhat existed on a janky level - so it had to be properly re-worked.

Changelog / Bugfixes

Changelog - Previous updates/devlogs introduced when stumbling, the player has a chance to fall over and go into a ragdoll. The character will also drop their primary weapon or whatever they were carrying when this happens. When characters enter just a basic stumble (without ragdoll) they will now drop the item they were carrying in hand (Not a primary weapon).

Changelog - Decreased the trace/raycast distance from 80 to 60 units from the character to a nearby objects that trigger the characters torso twist / object avoidance. When the character is close to a wall or in a tight space, they twist their body to 'avoid' the object. However, this was constantly happening in small/tight spaces, where it was visually annoying.

Weather Systems

Performance Tweak

Changelog - Removed ground rain splatter particle effects. Each time the rain weather kicked in I noticed a performance drop. I was able to narrow it down to the rain splash particles - When rain collides with the ground.

If I have extra time, I will re-visit this to replace the rain splatter effect with a simple pixelated sprite to work more performantly. Suspect its just the collision handling + the large amount of rain particles hitting the ground that's causing the performance hit.

Stats and Conditions

Showers and Hygiene

Characters may enter portable showers in order to restore their hygiene.

Taking a shower:

Restores the character's hygiene stat.

About 30 second shower time.

Coffee

In addition to standard energy drinks a coffee machine exists to compliment the consumable coffee cup.

The machine has a single "Brew" button

Coffee is poured dispenses a consumable coffee cup after one minute.

Cigarettes (Updates)

Migrated Cigarettes Smoke particle effects and decreased the performance weight to the particle systems. Decreased the amount of particles.

Changelog / Bugfixes

Changelog - When using the shower, the player is no longer able to move until showering is finished.

Asset Models

Model Counts

Another round of models have been created and/or migrated to the new build. These encompass all game objects other than the player model, weapons, and metropolis structures. In blender, the model counts mark over 1700+ and will be continuously increasing as i keep creating more.

Below is a demonstration of creating a very basic ammunition crate in blender. I did some more texture touch ups after as I created it quickly for the sake of the record.

Once object models are complete, they may be imported into the engine as ECS entities, assigned collision, and setup with the correct variables and parameters - The crate has been implemented into the game world along with a database post. The entire process its pretty locked in!

Since I am creating new models pretty consistently, I think it would be cool to keep doing a demonstration each month - such as above.

Cinematic Camera

This one has been on the back burner for quite some time. A scalable cinematic camera and event system that enables a blend of cinematics and gameplay.

This task had been planned for the game in-general, but it had been expedited as a need for the upcoming trailer.

Cinematic scenes will be used to briefly explain a bit of the overarching game's storyline (As there is a goal/progression). But please do not expect any full dialogues, massive story-line explanations and so forth. Although I would love that - This is not priority nor do I have the capacity for such things at the moment !

Some technical examples of what this entails:

Drag and drop trigger events within the game world

Dynamically assignable cinematic records - This allows the system to be scalable.

Cinematic letterboxing with transitions and fades.

A completely separate cinematic camera used to freely manipulate - focus, angles, width, post processing, and a variety of other settings.

Camera audio fade-ins and fade-outs.

Extras typically include beta (+) decay features that have been worked on a bit in advance, in order to provide a head start when it's time to focus on those features.

Vehicles

There has been a swap between two features on the Roadmap:

Vehicles

V23 Helicopter

There has been no gain or loss - Just a swap of features based on priorities.

Vehicles - has moved to beta (-) decay.

V23 Helicopter - has moved to beta (+) decay.

This means vehicles will arrive at Early Access while more functional helicopters will come later.

NOW LETS TALK VEHICLES

Vehicles - Custom System

Unreal Engine has some really nice native solutions for vehicles where you could implement a racing prototype quickly with some decent results. It's pretty crazy!

For beta decay, with the abundance of other systems running in parallel, vehicles and all other systems, need to maintain a low performance footprint.

With that said, a few goals have been set when building out custom vehicles and physics.

Primary goals

Minimal movement lag/warping of vehicles in a networked game.

Low performance cost.

A scalable vehicle template - That can be used to expedite the creation of different vehicle types.

Vehicles - Types

Demonstrated above is the Truck. The Early Access Trailer is planned to feature 3 additional vehicle types.

Feel free to guess what they may be in the beta decay discord !

Vehicles - Component Attachments

Apart from the actual driving - Vehicles exist similarly to MCV's - Where components may be attached to them (Such as batteries).

Vehicles - Full Body IKs

Just as with MCV's, vehicles allow characters to utilize full body IK's. This means their hands will appear fixed on the steering wheel and move with it when it turns - Their feet will also be correctly positioned on the pedals.

Vehicles - Ready for Testing

A lot of cosmetic work still remains for vehicles, including particle effects for spinning tires, exhaust smoke, breaking windows, and so forth.

Currently, the vehicles are mountable, drivable, and synchronized across the network. I haven't come across any performance outliers, and the network movement so far is acceptable with minimal warping. Therefore, they have proven stable enough to move into the "Ready for Testing" phase.

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix - Fixed a bug when exiting a vehicle that was on an angle, the character camera would maintain the same tilted rotation, even though they would exit on flat ground where the camera should stay straight.

Bugfix - Fixed a bug where characters could mount vehicles while holding / carrying objects. Added prevention logic so this is not possible.

Changelog - Decreased the volume of the engine audio as it was overpowering.

OST / Album

New Published OST Track

A new OST Track - "MKIII" has been published !

It has been a while since the last song was published so I figured I've give it a go.

If you haven't listened, the song is the main video of the DevLog that you may find back at the top!

Hope you enjoy :)

Project Cleanup and Overhead

I bring this up every now and again in the dev logs - Just to indicate that there is periodic cleanup for the maintenance side of things.

Files and folders renaming and organization.

Migration code cleanup and tweaks. Historically - Whenever legacy code has been migrated from the pre-alpha it typically gets re-worked and enhanced.

Challenges

I am forecasting that the Visual Inventory, AI Core, and Roles and contracts, are the last three most challenging features to continue working on for beta (-) decay. And of course, networking and all the data synchronization throughout. That's an on-going challenge for sure.

Save / Load

Save/Load systems are likely be the final feature to cross the finish line.

Saving / loading, and network code have been developed alongside nearly every feature so far, but there is just a lot of game data that must remain persistent across many of the several systems. Once all the beta (-) decay features reach ready for testing - I will run through another final testing pass.

It will be interesting when that time comes.

Time Consumed

I must note that this devlog and the communicated materials took roughly a week to put together.

Final note I Swear !!

Although it may be challenging - Not all conflict is a bad thing - Use it as an opportunity to develop yourself, or something greater/stronger. Just keep moving forward 🤘

Ending this one on a musical note :)

* Music Sample Below ! *

Just as the last devlog - Another short snip of the mocap suit - its not about the silly dance moves ! Keep an eye on the feet tracking, stability, and foot drifting (Where the feet slide or glide out of position - If any) - This is a raw record with no post process editing - And I'm still impressed with the quality ! So the suit was worth the investment. This video also includes a tease of one of the several new tracks.

Take care 🤟

- Kray

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