Alpha 9 is here, and with it comes a brand new destruction system, a new map called "Borderline" to try it out on, as well as a new gadget - the Explosive Barrel! Throw it into enemies or roll it down slopes. It starts to burn when it takes damage and explodes when it breaks!
Secondly, I have fully overhauled fire, explosion, smoke and all impact effects to look more detailed and last longer. Fire now stay around after a fireball explodes so watch out!
And last but not least, numerous changes to bot physics have been made, resulting in improved performance and responsiveness!
Alpha 9 was supposed to be the final free update before the Steam Early Access release, but I have decided to release another free Alpha version, Alpha 10 before that!
The Steam Early Access release, originally planned for last year has been delayed to later this year (2024). I want to make it as good as possible and add lots of awesome new things for you to enjoy!
Don't forget to wishlist and follow the game to get notified of further updates and releases!
Thanks for playing my game!
-Vincent-
Gameplay
- Check out the new gadget: An explosive barrel
- Throw it or roll it down slopes into your enemies which might make them fall over
- It will start to burn once it takes damage, when it breaks, it explodes!
- Added destruction physics! Now, certain things can break when you attack them. What can be destroyed depends on the map
- Check out the new destruction pysics on the new map "Borderline"
- Wood can usually be broken with melee weapons, but things made of stone may require explosive weaponry or very strong impact force like the catapults coming to the Steam early access release
- Destruction is very easy to add as its fully dynamic. Once modding is out you can make any object destructible in just a few seconds
- Structural integrity can also be simulated, if all lower parts of a structure are broken, the top parts can collapse as well
- Increased upwards force received from explosions
- Crossbow projectiles now travel faster
- Added a new setting to invert vertical flight controls (In preparation for dragons, there are no dragons... yet)
- Added a new setting to change mouse sensitivity in vehicles or when fallen over
- Changed collision with stairs and bridges on the map Gray Tower to be more accurate
- Hitting an enemy from behind is now easier and will feel more consistent
- Fixed hits from behind not calculating damage properly on ragdolled enemies. This was noticeable when kicking or using weapons like the spear or mace
- Bots can now also make an enemy fall over if they're kicking it from behind, just like the player
- Changed the ammunition boxes center of mass so it is less likely to fall over after throwing it
- Updated the ammunition boxes description to inform about it also replenishing throwable gadgets (Like knives or fireballs) over time
- Certain objects like first aid packs and ammunition boxes can now collide with ragdolled bots and vehicles
- Increased throwing knife force and speed
- The ballista is now controlled more directly and reacts to aiming instantly instead of slowly following it
Graphics
- New and smooth smoke effects throughout the game
- Fire has been overhauled completely featuring a new look as well as spreading behavior
- It can also burn you and others, so watch out!
- Smoke and embers are affected by wind too
- Light emitted by fire now smoothly appears and fades out instead of having full range and intensity once something starts or stops burning
- Fully overhauled all impact effects (for example when hitting wood or stone), they all now leave physical debris in the environment
- Added a new kick dust impact effect
- The weapon trail effect received an overhaul and is now smoother and feels more elegant.
- In addition, once weapon modding is out, modders will be able to easily customize their created weapons trail color and light intensity
- Updated metal impact effects to be more white and less yellow
- Updated light emitted by fire to fit the fire color more closely
- Updated light emitted by fire to be more intense
- Crossbow bolt trails are easier to see now
- Entering any vehicle now has a smooth transition
- The onehanded sword now has a slightly different, more elegant look so it is easier to differentiate from the twohanded sword and highlight its higher attack speed
- Fixed and overhauled ice visuals and collision on the map Cold Fort
Audio
- Added wind sound occlusion to the tower on the map Gray Tower
- Added ice footstep sounds
Technical stuff
- Updated Unity to 2022.3.21
- A huge overhaul of bot physics has been done, resulting in improved performance, especially when playing with many bots at once
- This also now has fixed slightly incorrect or unintentionally fast movement reactions when falling over
- Fixed sometimes looking away from intended direction after spawning in
- Spawning in now feels smoother as the players spawn position is now adapted to the physical environment instead of the navigation mesh bots are using, previously this could sometimes result in a slight move upwards or downwards immediately after spawning
- A new spawn camera animation makes spawning in feel more physical
- Bot navigation overhaul
- Bots will now re-decide their current objectives and movement in timestemps, before they were doing it in frame-dependent steps.
- This change results in potentially slightly higher framerates for faster pcs and more responsive and consistent bot behavior at lower framerates
- Numerous smaller optimizations to bot behavior resulting in improved performance
- Fixed field of view number not displaying correctly in settings menu
- Placed gadgets like the healing banner wont push you away anymore if you place them directly where youre standing
- Explosion and impact forces are now applied as originally intended, you are now pushed back by explosions even if they dont make you fall over
- Fixed vehicles not being considered by bots if they spawned right next to them at the start of a round
- Updated modified respawn durations to affect bots instead of the player
- Increased default bot respawn duration from 5 to 7 seconds to make capturing points less challenging
- Decreased player respawn duration
Known bugs
- Bots placing ladders dont have an animation yet and just stand still
- The map selection menu does not have enough space to fully display the new map, but you can still select it
Come and join the Dragonfield Discord server, everyone is welcome!
