Time has flown by since I made the last announcement that gave you all an idea of what to expect with this upcoming update, and now that the U8 is getting close to being ready, I thought it would be a good time to share the progress and roadmap with you all.
Flying & the Huey:
The Huey is done and working perfectly!
Originally, I was going to make two flight models (arcade & realistic), but after flying around for a couple hours, I decided not to do so. Flying is much easier in-game than I originally thought and, because the Huey is one of the easier helicopters to fly in real life, there isn't any major challenge or issues with the current flight model that an hour or so of practice would fix. With that being said, if there are a lot of reports of wanting an easier flight model, I'll definitely put the idea back on the table.
Another large part of the update is the flight range (also finished). It's the largest map in the game and has the most amount of objects, so I put a lot of work into optimizing it. As you could see in the video above, the trees have more extreme LODs which basically render objects with more detail the closer they are to the camera. Since making the video, I have adjusted the values a little bit to make them not as extreme, but considering it's a flight scene and that there are thousands of objects in it, optimization is still going to be necessary.
Radio
PunjiVR is a Vietnam War game, so obviously the music is going to have a large part to play. Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to license music of that era, so the playlist that will be included in the game will be rather limited. Expect a few classical songs, fan made songs (special thanks to MemeIsMyDream on Discord!), and a few others.
Because I can't put in whatever music into the game doesn't mean you can't. The way the in-game playlist will work is I'll have a folder that's included in the build so you can access it in the game's files. You'll be able to drag whatever eligible audio file(s) you want into that folder and the in-game radio will use the music selection from said folder as its main playlist. Hopefully this will satisfy some of your needs of playing Fortunate Son full blast while flying down the river.
Other Additions & Improvements
Besides helicopters, I've made and will continue to make a lot of other improvements to the rest of the game.
AI Improvements
I've upgraded the AI by giving them a defined "relaxed" and "alert" state. In the relaxed state, they have their max view distance dramatically reduced as well as a more narrow field of view. Unless they were knowingly hunting you and your squad down, they likely wouldn't be so eagle-eyed as they currently are in Update 7.
Whenever you or someone else shoots their weapon, if the enemy is in hearing range of the shot, they'll go into a more focused/alert state. Their view distance and field of view will increase, their eyesight and detection time will substantially improve, and they'll look around a larger radius at a faster speed. This is to mimic the panic effect you would likely get if you're in that situation where you see someone shooting at or around you.
After going into the alert stage, they'll be on the hunt and either flee/make a tactical retreat, stay in position, try to flank you, or outright charge the noise position. They do not reset to a relaxed stage unless all threats are gone.
Lastly, if they see you or a squad member, they'll enter the combat state, which is unchanged from Update 7.
Hopefully this should make missions a little more realistic and a little more fair for you all. Don't let your guard down though because they will still aggressively hunt you if they directly see you!
Foliage & Stealth
The next campaign focuses more on stealth than outright combat, so I've been working on some features and mechanics in preparation for it, one of which will be included in Update 8: the foliage system.
In tall grass, dense brush, and [eventually] extreme darkness, the player will gain a stealth bonus by making it harder for most enemies to spot you (snipers are affected less). The only mission that this is notable in at the moment is Bridge, but future levels will have this feature included as well.
Closing
Instead of working another few weeks to a month on one super huge update, I decided to break it up into two parts. Update 8 will be the framework and first part of the upcoming "Ride of the Valkyries" update which will expand on helicopters and flying a lot more. I'll give more info on that update after Update 9, but expect a few helicopter-orientated missions, additional helicopters including combat ones, and much more!
The update split lowers the scope of Update 8 and makes it so you all will have new content much sooner! Update 8 is expected to release in the next week or two.
Thanks so much for reading, let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns, and don't forget to check for leeches!