Noot noot, fellow penguins. Today's update is a bit different as it a lot bigger (in terms of disk space) than the previous ones. The game now takes up around 6-7 GB, but not for just any reason. From the first launch bach in July until now, the game has not always been performing very well for everyone. We had chosen to work with full realtime lighting because of the interactable physics elements, and that goes well when you have simple levels and not too much else going on, but as the game grew it became a bit too demanding. That's why we've chosen to mainly go over to baked lighting.
What does this mean? For starters it means that the game will be much larger in size, since we have to store all the precomuted ligting data, but it also means that the lighting will be much better as it simulates light bouncing around. However, realtime shadows not really be present in most environment lighting, so your penguins doesn't cast shadows everywhere. Since the game runs about 1.5 to 3 times faster in all scenes, we think this is well worth the sacrifice, although we're looking at adding a realtime-mode (but extra baked lights for even better effects) for those who have beefy computers in the future.
There may be some odd lighting on your penguins and in the shops, but we're working hard on getting it all smooth. We think you'll like this update, though, as it looks better and runs better in general.
Additions
- Baked lighting for all maps
- Added several extra lights, foliage, rocks, etc. as it doesn't make the game more demanding
Fixes and Changes
- Fixed rubber-banding in multiplayer
- Fixed some desync issues for clients
Most of the work right now has gone to improving performance and stability. We don't want to roll out the blueprints and post office update just yet before we know that the game runs well for everyone. For those of you who are now and have gotten the game and feel like it's not working as expected, please write to us about it and we'll try to fix it.
Also, thanks to all of you newcomers who have gotten the game lately! We're glad you've joined us, and we hope that you're enjoying the journey of Penguin Heist. A lot has been done, but a lot more is to come. Feel free to join our Discord too! There you can report bugs, just chat with us, post penguin pictures, or whatever you feel like.
Stay safe, and keep on nooting!