Overview.
This is an interim technical update. We've done a lot of work on refactoring the NPC creation system, cleaned up all the unnecessary stuff and made the main systems much easier. Along the way we added new mechanics, improved existing ones, fixed a lot of old bugs and added new ones.
More Details.
Characters in the game are complex creatures, which at the time of generation are assembled from a variety of different modules: body, skin, head, hair, clothing, shoes, accessories, equipment, weapons, condition. All these data arrays need to be processed quickly when creating a character and calculated on the fly during further play. This is what the NPC creation system does.
And of course all this complex bunch requires a lot of resources. So the task of refactoring was very important - the more we make the basic system lighter, the more resources will be available for the artificial intelligence to handle. We want NPCs not just to stand there, but to surprise and make the player sweat, don't we?
The next stage will be the implementation of the AI system for human characters. The task is not easy, but we have already created the basic systems, which will now be refactored and expanded, as hard as one might guess. Especially the AI of group behavior of characters.
In general, all the technical work done is not visible to players. But players will notice a decrease in the number of freezes when moving around the location, increase and stabilization of fps, and faster loading of the game.
But that's not all we've been doing. We fixed and improved a lot of mechanics and systems along the way:
- Added localization to languages: Chinese Simplified, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese Brazilian, German, French.
- Updated the start screen, which now displays the character in all equipment and with all the arsenal from the last save. New original music theme to enhance the atmosphere is included.
- Kicking has been improved. Kicking opponents has become much more effective and easier.
- Improved camera behavior in aiming mode.
- Improved aiming at body parts of enemies. Aiming and shooting became more comfortable.
- Expanded informativeness of tooltips and description of muzzle modules. Now you won't have to guess for what firearm the found muzzle device is suitable.
- Improved indicators in the inventory. It became much clearer to determine the compatibility of firearm modules.
- Added indication of enemies visible for the playable character, but not visible for the player.
- Added ability to aim, hit and interact with enemies hidden for the player behind obstacles, but visible for the playable character.
- Improved the sounds of the character's actions, as well as expanded the sound filling of the game world.
- Fixed a ton of bugs and, by tradition, added many new ones. To fix which we rely on your feedback and comments.