It's been 4 weeks since the last devlog, so it's time for another one. Devlogs show off some of the new features you can look forward to in the new proper rewritten version of Alien Horizon I'm currently working on. So far it's been scheduled for November, but judging by how fast development is going, it's actually unlikely to arrive before January.
Since a lot of what I've been working on has been under the hood lately and isn't very showy, I thought I'd show you some of the less consequential, but very showy features that are supposed to make the game a bit more lively.
Animated vehicle lights
All vehicles have received animated lights, which includes headlights, signal lights, brake lights and even reverse lights. Don't worry about performance as I've managed to implemented them with negligible overhead. This goes for all other animations in this devlog.
Structure animations
Some buildings have also received animations. These should make the colony more dynamic and also inform you whether the structure is working.
Delivery animations
Vehicles no longer drive into the building walls when they deliver resources. Instead, they maneuver into position and visibly deliver their package into the building.
Warehouse drive-through
Delivery works a bit differently when it comes to warehouses, though. Vehicles can now enter them, be loaded and unloaded very fast and then drive through the other side. This should pretty much completely eliminate any traffic jams in front of warehouses. The warehouse got a new model to accommodate this functionality. Small warehouse is unchanged, though, as it doesn't have enough space for such system and, because of its limited capacity, doesn't suffer from traffic jams as much.
Modified colony ship entrances
One funny issue has arisen with the inclusion of dynamic water - the trench the colony ship creates by its landing fills up with water, making the current position of its entrances at the very bottom quite impractical, as they flood. So entrances have been moved up and are also animated.
Next time, we'll take a look at how colonists have changed in the rewrite. You can also hop on the official Discord server, where more features will be presented. I hope you've enjoyed this devlog and see you next month!