Author Topic: This is squawking!  (Read 9959 times)

Offline chemical_art

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This is squawking!
« on: June 05, 2016, 12:15:43 am »
There is no real cute or amusing wit to be had. Just simply truth.

What's the status? Are there awful bugs you are battling? I deal with mosquitoes myself. Details, friend. Details!
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Offline x4000

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2016, 12:34:08 am »
Short version: I have been very very busy on this, and feeling the time crunch in a major way for a variety of reasons, and so have been more silent than I should be.

Longer version: a TON of work has been done... all over the place.
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- The way the raptor handles
- the visual polish
- the destruction improved a bit
- the raptor audio much more raptor-y sounding (thanks to Pepisolo for big parts of this, and pushing me on it, too)
- other bits of audio sounding more varied and material-appropriate (thanks to Pepisolo on this completely)
- a fully custom AI system that handles traversal of VERY complicated level geometry like a breeze (and that will be showing up on the unity asset store in a month or two via a new partner in that area I'm working with to handle the asset store part and not distract me from actual development).
-integration with new pooling systems to make garbage collection better.
-upgrading to the latest version of unity (5.3.5p2) to get some bugfixes and some performance improvements.
-integration with the mobfarm smooth turret system (my AI does not do any targeting logic because there was already plenty of public code for that sort of thing)
-heavy improvements of said turret system to integrate it with pooling, with SECTR audio, and for nearly zero ram allocations during runtime.
-side-jumps/wall jumps for the raptor, which is a big deal for dodging projectiles.
-ledge hanging and jumping for the raptor.
-lots of particle effects are partially implemented, but more are coming.
-lots more asset store art has been worked on and partly integrated and optimized.  More coming on that.
-the workflow for level editing has been figured out on my end, and a lot of improvements made in that department.  However, it will be only for the developers unfortunately, and not client-side, because it requires the unity editor and the ability to embed prefabs for this.  Such is life.
-a ton of the raptor animations have been improved or outright redone by Blue, making the raptor increasingly organic.
-lots of robot animations, only a few of which are in place thus far.
-a new sort of explodey-collapse logic for the small robots is partly in place, and I'll finish that tomorrow.
-a system for visual force field bubbles and the logic for that is about halfway done.  It's super cool!  it's for the robots, of course, not you. ;)
-lots of internal optimizations to code, project structure, etc, to make for increasingly fast development of content as time passes.
-the game actually compiles for a standalone executable now, haha.  I had not bothered testing that previously, and there were some issues (as expected).  All sorted now!

Big things coming really soon (next couple of days):
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-the first actual procedural levels to be shown off.
-the main menu, with attendant settings for quality and performance and controls.
-fully getting the robot AI in there and letting you actually win levels.  Right now the movement logic is done and the shooting logic is done, but they aren't put together.
-a much better antialiasing solution, which will really take that quality up a notch.

Big things missing but coming a bit after that:
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-the big "dismemberment enemy" robots will be implemented, to go along with the "pounce target" robots that have been my focus thus far.
-substantial camera system improvements that are needed.

Other related big news:
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-we are aiming to have a new trailer AND the first press playable preview build out on Tuesday. :)
-we're not announcing the exact date yet, but this will be heading to early access later this month.

About the early access pricing strategy:
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The final price is intended to be $15, but we'll be adding content as long as player interest is there to financially support it.  Our goal is to always provide the game at a price that at minimum reflects the value that is there at the time of sale, so that if financial support for the game dries up, we can wrap up the 1.0 release at a lower-than-intended price while still providing a great price-to-content value.
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Offline Pumpkin

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2016, 05:28:23 am »
Thanks a lot for these info bits!

I'm curious to see what the robots will look like. Will they look old and clunky (StarWars IV-VI, District 9)? Or chromed and polished (I Robot, Interstellar)? Or maybe more cartoonish and low poly (Transformers, Planetary Annihilation)? Looking at the scene and the tone of the first (and currently only) trailer, I would bet on the first rusty twist, but who knows?
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline TheVampire100

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2016, 09:49:56 am »

-we're not announcing the exact date yet, but this will be heading to early access later this month.


Offline x4000

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2016, 10:07:19 am »
:)

As far as how the robots look... mostly it's a very clean sheen, but with a bit of sub-detailing like you'd see in a transformers movie.  In some respects they are very Portal-esque.  That said, if given the chance with the game, I intend to have a lot of variety in styles to fit different locales.  I really want to be able to do raptors in suburban neighborhoods and houses as one of the areas, for instance, and the robots there would look different (in some way -- not sure how just yet).  A military base is all but guaranteed, and those would be a lot more rugged.
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Offline Draco18s

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2016, 02:45:12 pm »
suburban neighborhoods and houses as one of the areas, for instance, and the robots there would look different (in some way -- not sure how just yet).

Roomba / Eve (Wall-E)

Offline x4000

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2016, 02:49:53 pm »
Hahahaha, nice.  Oh man that would be hilarious.
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Offline Mánagarmr

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2016, 02:51:33 pm »
Interesting tidbits. Thanks!
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Offline Draco18s

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2016, 03:10:53 pm »
Hahahaha, nice.  Oh man that would be hilarious.

Plus whatever that lawnmower robot is called.  Umm...
Oh, there's a bunch.
Lets go with the Honda Miimo because a) its name is more awesome than the others and b) has a nice sleek design.

Offline crazyroosterman

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2016, 04:10:40 pm »
Hahahaha, nice.  Oh man that would be hilarious.
you know you could put that in as an Easter egg if you wanted/had the resources to spare for it of course.
c.r

Offline Pumpkin

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2016, 04:43:36 pm »
Thanks for the robot answer. I'm looking forward to watching the next video.
Please excuse my english: I'm not a native speaker. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Offline tuigirl

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2016, 07:52:53 pm »
I second that idea about the outside area and the lawnmower robot. What a great idea!
Man, this game could be really hilarious.
Definitely should have some Easter-eggs like that.
Sounds great. Looking forward to this!

Offline x4000

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2016, 08:14:34 pm »
Thanks folks!  One note: the press build and preview and all that is going to be Wednesday, not tomorrow.  Erik is traveling tomorrow, and despite working all weekend I still needed a bit more time.  But HOLY COW this is awesome with the robots fully in there now.  The first three, anyway.  There will be many more!
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Offline mrhanman

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2016, 12:47:30 pm »
OK, I'm starting to get excited.   :D  It's Wednesday.  When will we know more about what's going on?

Offline x4000

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Re: This is squawking!
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2016, 09:20:32 am »
Last night!  Sorry on the delay.  Believe it or not, it was menus that held me up so much.  A big press demo was something that took longer than I expected, although it got a lot of good things done for the game itself that needed to be there.  Things for quality settings, controls settings, etc, etc.
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