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Unity 6
Finally got around to upgrading to the new Unity LTS of Unity 6. LTS (Long-Term Support) provides developers with the best stability and support for their projects. Unity 6 also provides the benefit of being able to replace the Unity splash screen with our own Minskworks splash screen.
Upgrading Unity versions is almost always a mini nightmare. Everything is now working as before with the exception of screen-spaced fog on the rain effects for the interior of the truck. This should return in time, I'm just waiting for the asset we use to be updated.
New Deliveries
Deliveries, the early-game method of earning money and upgrades, have had a slight design and visual rehaul. Previously, deliveries were all packaged in cardboard boxes, sharing the same visual style. This was pretty dull, so I've created a bunch of unique art assets for deliveries. These include:
- Newspapers
- Beer
- Eggplant
- Radish
- Rice
- Fish
Deliveries now need to be taken to various locations, rather than depot to depot as it was before. The location will be shown upon accepting a delivery job. The delivery locations currently include farms, markets and izakayas.
The way this is all setup in-engine makes adding additional delivery locations and produce to the game fairly trivial. So expect more in the future.
The depot also got a much needed visual overhaul, as it was originally built to function as a scrapyard, but got repurposed into the current depot functionality.
Frob Animations
"Frob" is a verb used in game development (especially in immersive sim games like Thief, System Shock, and Deus Ex) to mean "interact with an object", such as pulling a lever, opening a door, or picking up an item.
Keiko now has more animation interactions with the environment. Currently this is limited to pressing light switches and vending machine buttons, but work will continue in this area.
Audio Improvements
A major pillar of Honcho's development relates to the focus on immersion through comforting play. Whilst warm visuals can help anchor players into the universe we're crafting, they can only take us half way there. The other, arguably more important half, is audio.
Honcho usese an ambisonic spatializer to create realistic audio behaviour, which it achieves through bouncing, occlusion, and spatial awareness. This system relies on raycasts and surface types to determine how sounds are perceived by the player. More specifically, by Keiko’s ears.
Out of the box, the spatializer does a fairjob. Things get ropey with dynamic objects, such as Keiko’s kei truck. Ambient audio sources such as rain can become too muffled when the player is sat in the truck, and barely change with things like open doors, or open windows.
I've therefore setup a manual helper system to deal with each situation in the truck. Whether it be broken windows, Keiko hanging her head out of the window, a missing windscreen or any of the number of edge cases. The featured video demonstrates this solution with various states and audio changes. Just be sure to listen with headphones on.
As I've also been doing a bunch of playtesting towards getting the demo ready, I've gone through and replaced a bunch of annoying or harsh audios, such as spanner (wrench) interactions, and balanced some audio levels. Work on this will of course continue all throughout development.
Demo
With regards to the demo, we're fairly close. I expect to have something to share by the end of this month*. Worth noting, as this is a closed development demo, there will be bugs and features missing.
Distribution will be done through Steam. Steam keys for this demo will be sent to all paying patreons. Keep in mind, this is not a key for the full game. I'm still not sure how to handle this with Steam clamping down on giving developers keys. Valve will of course want their share of the purchase come full release.
*This will be down to the wire, so don't be surprised if this date slips. I just want to try to put some pressure on myself as so many of you are supporting through Patreon with little to show for it - which I am incredibly grateful for.
Anyway, back into the dev mines for me.
Greg