Hello all,
Hope you are doing well!
I wanted to give a quick shout since it has been a while.
As many of you have noticed things been moving rather slow. This partly due to funding (or lack thereof) issues for this project but also the sheer amount of work involved. Nonetheless, slowly but surely, things are moving in the right direction. Also, to put some of you at ease, I have no intentions of abandoning this project, surrender is not an option, fight to the death!
The good
I am happy to say, I have completed an entirely new open world system. This will allow us to have a huge map without any loading. The best part about this is that, you (the potential Modder) will be able to create an entirely new map using your own assets. You will however need to use the Unity editor to make these maps and I will make a tutorial when the time comes -it is not too difficult.
I am nearly finished with a whole new vehicle controls system, and this will probably take of the whole of this month to complete.
Input system has also been overhauled, including the ability to remap control bindings. But one big item remains. Which is is the overhaul of the interaction system -my previous attempts of updating the existing system has been subpar. Once this is complete, you will also be able to also play without VR, which I am personally very excited about!
I am, also laying the foundation for the campaign, it will be a survival type campaign where you ultimately must reach the enemy lines, with as much of your crew as possible. I will have more information on this later, as it is a little way away -hopefully, before the end of the year!
The (somewhat) bad/changes (though some might find this be good!)
The physics interactions will be completely removed. I tried to get this to work but due to performance limitations of VR and the tight spaces in the vehicle, this creates far more issues than the fun it delivers. To be frank, it is simply not fun at times. Also, if I am not mistaken (from feedback I got) most you do prefer simple controls over complex and potentially clunky physical interactions.
This also means, you must grab/interact with a button first (no more pushing with the hand) then move. Shell loading will also have to be somewhat simplified. For VR, you can still grab and place the shell, but it will insert itself. I will work on this more though, to see if I can get it back to where it is now. No promises!
And I have a bit of a dilemma. I must migrate all of these in one go because all systems are interconnected. If I were to update one system at a time, there is a good chance that game is going to break (which is also why you haven’t seen any small updates thus far). There are too many VR devices to account for, which makes this process even more challenging.
Because of this and all the remaining work, it is unlikely you will see a game update until sometime in August 2022, but rest assured it is coming.
Lastly, I apologize for the long radio silence -it’s been bit rough going, but it is going! and I will do my best to keep you informed going forward.
Cheers!