Red Frontier 2 Release Date

06 Oct 2023Developer post

Future Of Red Frontier 2

Hi everyone! It's been a while huh... I'm going to talk about what we've been doing and what will happen to this project. First of all, I want to say that I love this project and the idea behind it. I love immersive sims and interesting horror games. But sadly we have to announce

Hi everyone!
It's been a while huh... I'm going to talk about what we've been doing and what will happen to this project. First of all, I want to say that I love this project and the idea behind it. I love immersive sims and interesting horror games.

But sadly we have to announce that the project's development has been halted

Why?

Development first started in 2019. We've had worked on it for 2 years or so but it was not a full-time project due to our workload with our university. After a while, I had to start developing another game called DoubleWe due to external reasons. I thought I could juggle between the projects but working on Red Frontier 2 proved to be difficult due to legacy code, bad unity project files, and outdated systems. Unity editor got so screwed that I couldn't even edit the terrain due to the extremely low performance of the editor. Also, Red Frontier was way technically overscoped for a two-person team. So we couldn't work on it consistently for the last few years.

Future of Red Frontier 2

Development will be halted while we focus on DoubleWe. When we return to this game, we have to remake most of the project. Currently, it's very very time-consuming to model, rig, paint, and place every environmental object by ourselves. Since I was still learning 3D during this project, let's say it turned out.. not so good. We lost our visual style along the way. We plan to return to the art style of Red Frontier 1 & DoubleWe which are much more manageable and stylistic for an indie game. I can't say when we'll return to this project but hopefully, it will be after the release of DoubleWe.

Permanent Demos

We'll release what we have as a permanent free demo. I don't like unfinished projects so we decided to release what we developed so far as a free demo. Along with this new demo, you can play Centipede Demo (the old one) and Red Frontier 1 which probably most of you haven't tried before. Here's the summary of the demos:

Snake Demo (Outside) This new demo features a giant roaming snake similar to RF1. You start at a safe station and have to make your way to the city entrance. It also features gadgets, the power mechanic, safe houses, and the ever-present dust storm. You might experience bugs & issues so we're sorry in advance!
Centipede Demo (Inside) This is the demo we published before. It shows you what the gameplay will be like inside the cities & stations. This demo is happening after you finish the snake demo. The game should be pretty stable
Red Frontier 1 The origins of Red Frontier and it's a jam game made in 3 days. It's a finished game but controls might feel a bit old. It takes about 20 minutes to 1 hour to finish it.

Demos will only support Windows. Sorry, Unity doesn't like it when I switch build targets :(

DoubleWe

We're developing another game called DoubleWe. In this game, you have a clone hiding among the crowd and you have to kill them before they kill you. I think it's a pretty unique horror game with highly emergent game mechanics. Here's the link:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2506530/DoubleWe/

Closing Thoughts

Thanks to everyone for sticking with the development! I hope we'll return and finish this awesome game and give you guys an awesome experience! If you have feedback or just want to say what you liked about the game, don't hesitate to open a topic! We're not disappearing anywhere and very much like to hear your feedback!

If you want to keep up with our future projects, here are the links:

https://twitter.com/Wolderado https://www.artstation.com/belaniax

Or just join our discord channel:

https://discord.gg/AK6qNNXfKz

Have a good day everyone!
-wolderado

Original post

11 Jun 2021Developer post

FF4: Sounds from below

Hello everyone! This is the fourth of Friday Frontier. Today we want to talk about a system player footstep sound system I've made. There are two systems that are somewhat connected: Inside and Outside (Terrain). System We put an extra code to the moveable areas. This code only c

Hello everyone!

This is the fourth of Friday Frontier. Today we want to talk about a system player footstep sound system I've made. There are two systems that are somewhat connected: Inside and Outside (Terrain).

System

We put an extra code to the moveable areas. This code only carries the data required for the step sounds. The most powerful aspect of this system is creating layered sounds. For example, I can combine concrete step sound with metallic sound to produce something completely different from the other two sounds. I can also change each sound's volume or add a delay or even change their pitch. There's no layer limit. In this way, the game offers much more variety in the audio experience.

Inside The Station

You've probably already experienced this without notice if you played the last demo. We've used this system to create different feelings while you progress through the station. We first look at the texture and think of what kind of sound will this make when stepped on with a spacesuit. Then we start to mix sounds that best fits that texture. After we've done it, the code takes over and plays the sound with the parameters we gave to it.

An example data on a floor tile in the demo:
(Max out the volume. No jumpscares I promise)

Terrain

On terrain, the system works a little bit differently. In the station, there are discrete places where the floor is divided into. Like you enter a metal tiled room then sound suddenly changes and that feels normal. In terrain, we can't afford such luxury. The terrain is a mix between 8 or more texture that blends into each other. So you expect a smooth transition into other sounds.

To achieve this effect, we set up the sound with the parameters normally. But we give each texture its own sound layer (On the inside, only one sound layer is present for each floor tile). Then the system checks the texture and learns how dominant each texture is. After learning that, it adjusts its parameters (for example volume) and plays all of the sound layers with their sounds. This creates a really smooth transition into other sound layers. Here's a video of the system in action:

Watch on YouTube

Next time (probably next week), we'll talk about a sister system. Sound profiles and other sounds from players. Tell us what you think!

Twitch Discord

Original post

04 Jun 2021Developer post

FF3: Among the mist

Hello everyone! This is the third of Friday Frontier. This is starting to become a weekly thing right? Today we want to talk about a new asset we acquired for the game which you didn't see yet. Aura 2 We always had a post-processing effect to make the game look nicer. We both are

28 May 2021Developer post

FF2: Different spaces, different enemies

Hello everyone! It's the second of Friday Frontier. Today we want to talk about the two massively different environments you'll be in when you play the game. And also, what their differences are. So you start the game in a safe station. You need to unlock all stations to escape.

Hello everyone!
It's the second of Friday Frontier. Today we want to talk about the two massively different environments you'll be in when you play the game. And also, what their differences are.

So you start the game in a safe station. You need to unlock all stations to escape. You need to move to the next station which means going outside.

Outside

Out there in the dust storm, there are lots of things that can go wrong. You're on an alien planet with constant dust storms. You're just a small part of the world and we want you to feel that. Everything you'll encounter is huge and the distances are vast. The enemy is a giant alien snake that can flatten huge buildings. It's constantly looking for you and roaming around the map. We want the snake to be a real living part of the world so we won't teleport it at any condition. He'll look for you through his senses and it'll react to your actions.

Obstacles:

Distances are vast, so reaching your objectives is harder. We'll give you some transportation options but they'll have some kind of drawback
Bridges, broken roads, mountains, etc.
Devices that require power to operate. For example, the road might be blocked by an energy barrier and you need to power it somehow to lift the barrier. Though, due to the game's immersive-sim nature, there'll probably multiple ways to solve these types of problems. (Check out our last Friday update for more info about power mechanics)
Weather changes. Heavy fog, no fog, acid rain, strong winds, etc. (This system not decided for sure)

We're still working on the outside mechanics. On the inside, there are plenty of mechanics for the player to interact with so we want the same amount of interesting stuff for the outside.

Inside

Finally, after a scare from that snake, you made it to the station. But the journey is far from over. There are one or more giant centipedes crawling around the station. They can kill you much faster than snakes. For them, you need to use stealth mechanics or plan around their movements. We're thinking of giving tools and traps for dealing with these creatures. Maybe you can disable, hurt or kill them. But you can be sure that it won't be easy. Once you unlock the station, they'll escape and you'll have some time to relax.

Obstacles:

Objectives are much closer but the threat of centipede is much higher so you need to be much more careful while moving
Hack panels
Like on the outside, there will be power ports inside the station as well. But their effect will be much more limited and local.
Hazard System. Some pipes might be broken and they'll leak their stuff outside. For example, this can create fires, radiation, freezing temperatures. You'll need to work around them. (This system not decided for sure)
Station-specific obstacles.

We want to make every station unique in some ways. In the story, this is already the case. We want each station's situation to affect the gameplay and your plans.

The overall gameplay loop of the game, at its core, is like this:

So we might say that there's a third environment. One where you're safe and have time to plan and craft stuff before moving out to the next station. The game will be relaxed in terms of giving you an objective. So it won't be a linear experience. You can decide which station you want to go to next and how you'll deal with the obstacles ahead. We want to make every experience unique.

So that's it for today's update! Sorry for the long post. The next ones are probably not going to be this long. But tell us what you think!

Twitch Discord

Original post

21 May 2021Developer post

Friday Update: Powerable Systems!

Hello everyone! We're (hopefully) starting new update series. Every Friday we'll post things about what we're working on. It won't be long as an article/dev-log. It's more about getting immediate feedback from you guys. It'll probably be just a video/gif and a short description.

Hello everyone!

We're (hopefully) starting new update series. Every Friday we'll post things about what we're working on. It won't be long as an article/dev-log. It's more about getting immediate feedback from you guys. It'll probably be just a video/gif and a short description. Also, remember that everything we show here is subject to change! It's a more permanent mechanic if we make an article or a dev-log about it. I guess this is the first one so let's start!

Powerable Systems

So what are we going to talk about in this one? Powerable systems. We were thinking of how to make the outside more interesting. We want to make players have various interactions with different systems just like the inside. We developed a new versatile system which you can power stuff or take power away from other stuff. So there's a power port which you can insert power thingies (Name not decided) you've collected over the course of the game. Powering the port is going to give power to whatever it's connected to. For example, it can be attached to a door or a giant bridge. Potentials are unlimited.

Using the power port is going to deplete a power thingy you've collected. So it's also a resource system. And also the power port will be locked after use (Maybe some of them will be reusable). So you evaluate the value of what's behind that door with the power cost.

The code you see at the button (Ex. "D001") is going to tell you which system it's going to activate / de-activate. We thought about multiple solutions but this is the one we felt comfortable doing it. And I think it's more immersive and makes the world more believable than a bunch of HUD images flying on the screen.

Here's a short demo in action:

Watch on YouTube

(Don't worry about other things you see in the video. We'll talk about those later)

A render image I've taken from the Substance Painter:

So that's it for this update! Wow, this update became longer than I thought. I guess I am excited to talk about it. We're thinking of naming these updates something catchy (Maybe Friday Frontier??). Any suggestions are welcome! Or if you have any feedback about powerable systems, we'll be happy to hear it! And like I said at the beginning, this system can change into something else later on

Developer Streams

Also, we opened a live stream while developing the UI of this system. Maybe you saw it. We may do more! I enjoyed it even though the view count was quite low. If we stream again, it'll probably on the Steam and Twitch platforms. Here's the link to the Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/wolderadodev

And of course, you can always join our Discord

Original post

06 Oct 2020Developer post

Try Out Our New & Updated Steam Autumn Festival Demo!

Hi everyone! You can try out the new demo RIGHT NOW! Here we are with another demo festival. You can download the demo right now! We’ve been working on The Snake (or also called Chirk). So expect an article about it in the future! We wanted to make a demo around the snake but aft

Hi everyone! You can try out the new demo RIGHT NOW!

Here we are with another demo festival. You can download the demo right now! We’ve been working on The Snake (or also called Chirk). So expect an article about it in the future! We wanted to make a demo around the snake but after a lot of prototyping, we realized that playing with it on a short time scale (like 5-10 min) wouldn’t be fun. The game also lacks many core features of player-snake interactions meanwhile there are enough mechanics to have fun with The Centipede. Even though Red Frontier’s protagonist is The Chirk, we just didn’t have enough time to create those core features. But stay tuned for future demos or playtests! Meanwhile, if you want to get a taste of that terror of the snake, you can play the Red Frontier 1.

So what’s in this demo?

We wanted to make a new experience so badly. But we just didn’t have any gameplay features and time to make those features. So we’ve updated the steam summer festival demo. While making that demo, we had to cut out portions of content to match the deadline. We’ve worked to add those content back into the demo.

New Snake

The ending of the old demo finishes with the fake 3D of the snake eating you. There was nothing interactable. It’s just a linear non-interactable animation that you have to sit through. And like I’ve said we’ve worked on the core features of The Snake. So we’ve wanted to add it and the demo’s ending has changed! We’ve also added a new room to adjust the pacing. I’m not going too much detail on Snake (Stay tuned for next article!) but I can say that the snake you’ll be seeing on the demo will %100 real with it’s AI and body IK systems.

A little sneak peek about The Chirk

Hacking System Visual Overhaul

We also didn’t like the old look of the hack system. We wanted to add some mini-game so we’ve rushed it. Now, we updated the visual both UI and in-game appearance.

New Hacking Device

Old vs New

New Hacking UI

Centipede AI upgrades

The centipede had lots of troubles at the demo. We’ve patched it like 4 times. With this new demo, we’ve updated the centipede’s codebase. We also adjusted the difficulty so it wouldn’t be much annoying

Other changes

New Door Material (New vs Old)

New step sound system
There are different layers of sounds stack on top of each other with their weights affected by lots of things

Watch on YouTube

New decontamination room
New door: Auto door
-There are at least one in every mall
Room adjustments
-Level design adjustments to achieve more fluid gameplay
Sound Visualization
-We’ve found in the old demo that the players didn’t notice throwing objects will cause a sound that will attract hostiles. So we've made a new visualization system

That’s it for this article! There were other features (like progression) we wanted to add but we both are working on this game in our free times. So we tried our best with the time we had. Anyway, be sure to try out the new demo!

Original post

17 Jun 2020Developer post

The Demo, The Bug And The Snake

The Demo of Red Frontier 2 is now released for the summer festival and try before the festival ends! The Demo Now let’s talk about the demo. Joining the summer festival was a late decision for us because of our personal lives conflicting. But the benefits outweighed the cost. Eve

The Demo of Red Frontier 2 is now released for the summer festival and try before the festival ends!

The Demo

Now let’s talk about the demo. Joining the summer festival was a late decision for us because of our personal lives conflicting. But the benefits outweighed the cost. Even though the game was not ready for playing, we had to scrape together what we can to make a viable demo. level design and models for outdoor weren’t ready so we did the whole game indoors. Even though the Alien snake was the more important enemy, there wasn’t enough time to make it a proper ai. On the other hand, we were working on the second enemy, the alien centipede was in a better position to offer some gameplay. So we worked on the centipede and made the demo around it. We lost our edge, The Snake which made Red Frontier 1 so interesting. But we wanted to show what we’ve been up to.

The Bug

The centipede AI’s was almost ready when the festival announced. But it was nowhere near production-ready. We started to develop the centipede first because it interacts with the player’s movement system more than the chirk. So we decided to simulate what indoor actions will the player make in the original game. We had more plans for a demo that makes players affect the centipede but we crossed our deadline so we had to cut some features. One of these features was stunning or killing the centipede. We’re happy that we were able to make a organic real enemy instead of a static and scripted centipede. We are were lacking environmental models a lot and we didn’t want empty rooms so we rushed some models like Roomba. We wanted to include a mini-game that turned out to be a hacking system to change the pacing. So we made the rudimentary system that only includes a small mini-game.

The Snake

Now the demo is released, after some hotfixes, we’ll turn towards making the actual game with the feedback we got from the demo. We’ll update the centipede and design the alien snake under a new perspective. The demo doesn’t include open-ended solutions to the given task (Collect datapad) and it’s a crucial part of an Immersive-Sim game which will definitely in the full game. This demo doesn’t include the open-world aspect of the game. So who knows? Maybe there will be another opportunity to make a demo that features the Chirk!

Original post

Updates & announcements

But sadly we have to announce that the project's development has been halted

Why?

Future of Red Frontier 2

Permanent Demos

DoubleWe

Closing Thoughts

Hello everyone!

Helmet System

Hello everyone!

System

Inside The Station

Terrain

Hello everyone!

Aura 2

Volumetric Fogs & Lightning

Outside

Inside

Hello everyone!

Powerable Systems

Developer Streams

And of course, you can always join our Discord

So what’s in this demo?

New Snake

Hacking System Visual Overhaul

Centipede AI upgrades

Other changes

The Demo

The Bug

The Snake