Howdy gentlemen!

I’ve been sharing weekly updates in our discord about the work we’ve been doing, and I figured I’d start putting together monthly updates sharing some of the things we’ve been working on. I’ll format them out below:

***Keep in mind, these are not in any particular order, but as I post these moving forward, it will be more itemized per month***

***Also please note, this game is a work in progress***

AI Behavior / AI Soldiers

Added flanking, investigatory behaviors.
Various improvements to AI behavior and awareness without making it feel unfair or unfun. Still lot’s of work to do in this area, but some really great progress has been made in the AI
New Enemy Type - Spotter
Fixed Shooting Response for the spotting AI in response to clients in high latency environments
Reworked RPG AI Behavior Tree AIC
Reworked Charging VC Behavior Tree and AIC
Reworked Sniper AI Behavior Tree and AIC
Reworked Damage Output for AI
Added death sounds enemy AI
Working on Attenuation for how far our sounds can be heard.
Revising Bullet hits for Player to avoid technical debt regarding camera shake ref.
Added footstep sound for concrete/building interior
Added Hit sound for player
ADDED Sound Bites of VC soldiers
ADDED Attenuation for Voice
ADDED and Tested Air Absorption Valeus for voice
ADDED Stationary Weapon Emplacement Prototype
Stress Tested AI Behavior
Tweaked AI Behavior Sound
Stress Tested Wave Spawns of Enemy AI in high latency environments.

Spooky Gunship Support Call-In

Gunship pre-call in functionality and conditions
Worked in integrating the gunship into the call-in function.
Created a system to dynamically create a flight path depending on where the support package is requested
Optimized Materials on the Gunship
Reworked aspects of gunship for performance
Replication Tested in high latency environment Gunship call-in
Gunship Pathing Fixed, tested in high latency multiplayer environment
Gunship Exiting, conditions for exiting
Gunship Projectile, speed, and velocities as well as impact conditions for effecting Enemy AI
Also worked on projectile accuracy and the spread at which the gunship rounds hit.
Duration of Gunship support
Sound Design to increase the amount of reverb and natural air absorption as well as attenuation work. (This has been really challenging for me as I'm not a sound designer by any stretch, but I know what I want it to sound like and I think it's getting to a good place).
Projectile Impact FX optimizations to account for high volume of rounds.
Replication test in high-latency environment.***This gif takes place in our hill-assault testing area***

Cobra Helicopter Support Call-In

Added Cobra SKM
Added Cobra Materials
Created Cobra Actor
Created sockets for Cobra Rocket Pod L and R
Created socket for Cobra front gun
Added Call-In Button functionality to the Cobra call in button Widget
Created ABP For Cobra Rotational Values for main and back prop
Optimized Rocket Trail performance for Cobra Rocket Pods
Fixed Sound Distance Issue with Rocket Pod Impacts
Fixed Rocket Trail Material emissive Rendering
Fixed Cobra Helicopter Glass material
Fixed Cobra Helicopter flight path sync issue in high latency, ping environment
Added impact results to enemy AI
Testing explosion Distance when impact foliage from above
FIXED Cobra Exit Path
Added distance explosion Sounds for rockets if strike is a certain amount of distance away
***This gif takes place in our AI Testing Area***

First Person Rework

FIXED slight shake in first person on host single player when aiming up and down, used delta time instead of a set time for the loop.
FIXED binocular aiming in first person.
FIXED binocular clipping issue. Had to hide bone by name not the entire player mesh. There were discrepancies in
FIXED binocular first third person transition. Prevented switching to first or third person while aiming with binoculars.
FIXED pitch replication issue in high ping environments where client to client and client to host was not replicating pitch properly or breaking in higher latency environment.
FIXED sprinting replication sync in high latency environment where host to client could desync in certain situations
FIXED/ADDED prone state changes for first person
FIXED helmet sync issue in first person when ending the aim state in prone, crouch, and standing.
FIXED bug when switching to first person from third person where state wasn’t syncing, and the camera was not activating iron sights.
FIXED shadows not rendering properly in first person (headgear, head)
FIXED secondary first person ammunition bug when switching from third to first person
FIXED collision issues with shell ejection of secondary in first person
FIXED mag sync error with reloading primary
FIXED bug where secondary hip fire was firing rifle
FIXED bug where primary wasn’t producing sound after switching back from handgun
FIXED hip fire with secondary in first person not firing trace from correct position
Added iron sights aiming with secondary
FIXED sway
FIXED hit detection from Iron Sights using Secondary
FIXED M16 reload mag release, changed replicating conditions for physics
FIXED crouched first person secondary animations
FIXED crouched first person secondary aiming and end aiming conditions being unmet
FIXED error when switching to first person while aiming secondary in third person
FIXED issue with switching to other weapon while aiming in first person
FIXED prone animation with secondary aiming in first person
Reworked fingers/hands in first person while in prone with secondary
FIXED collision issue with ejected secondary shells when firing. (shells would occasionally freeze)
FIXED rotation speed being too slow in first person where arms might lag in quick turn combat situation
FIXED aiming but in first person where when switching to first person, occasionally it would automatically go into the aiming state even if client was not aiming
FIXED end sprint in first person bug preventing a re-enter into the aiming state
REMOVED the ability to switch weapons while aiming.
REMOVED ability to switch from first to third and vice versa while aiming
FIXED Pitch issue when removed this ability
FIXED animation for M60 idle in third person so hand placement is correct.
FIXED relative rotation of socket for M60 causing sights to be slightly off kilter to the lift.
FIXED M60 idle animation, left hand.
FIXED M60 Idle Aim left thumb, and fingers in first person
FIXED M60 Walk Forward animation for first person
FIXED M60 Fwd Right for first person
FIXED M60 Fwd
FIXED sprint to aim bug in first person
FIXED M60 L anims First person
FIXED M60 FL anims First Person
FIXED M60 B anims First Person
FIXED M60 BL anims First Person
FIXED M60 Crouched anims First Person
ADDED Hand Sway In First Person to Primary
ADDED Hand Sway In First Person to Secondary
Removed Clipping when looking down in first person
FIXED ABP M60 third person crouch aim animation, hand not syncing properly

***This gif takes place in our AI Testing Area***

Recoil Rework

ADDED Recoil and Sway that effects clavicle bone for a more refined, responsive look and feel.
FIXED M16 slight turn on aim to that wasn’t centering iron sights
FIXED Secondary bug with recoil where the M60 recoil was affecting secondary first person
Fixed Recoil in third person to affect the clavicle, inducing a more prominent kickback effect
Reworked recoil to have more of a spring effect, reducing the overpowered effect of the M60 or full auto
Fixed hand sway to rebound a bit
Added First Person Camera effect

Player Character

Modified skin roughness of arms/body
Updated M16 textures for first person
FIXED Sprint to Move transition rate too fast
Respawning/Death - When a soldier dies, you re-join the fight on a Huey Helicopter to the nearest LZ to the player's death. This entailed creating the flight of the Huey, how it calculates where it's landing, support roles on the Huey (M60 door gunners), and the Huey's exit from the battlefield after dropping off the player. All of this had to be tested for replication in a high latency setting. I'm happy with where it's at, but it will need more refinement to give it that spicy feeling I'm shooting for. Great progress here though.

Weapon Initialization and Save Data Serialization for Gun Choice -This isn't as exciting to talk about but it's important. I was running into some syncing issues with how the gun choice was initializing for clients and hosts in a multiplayer setting and I'm happy to say I was able to iron these out. I've also been ironing out how this data persists from the client to the game etc. so it's all synced up and allows customized weapon choices. Data Driven systems are my favorite, but they also make my brain hurt. Either way, it's working much better now.

Added M60, relevant data etc.
Added M14, relevant data etc.

This does not include work previously done as this post would go on and on forever, but I figured I’d at least do the last month or so to catch you guys up on some of the things we are doing. Progress is rolling along.

If you want to get in on the weekly action, hop in our discord and say hi!

I am excited to keep going along and start to get into the jungle with you guys.


-Connor (Dev)