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Dev Blog #63: So Long 2016!

Santa-Reaper is coming to town, and he doesn't look happy...

Well, that year flew by. When you're laser-focused on a huge project like this, day in and day out, it's easy for the days (and weeks, and months) to start blending together sometimes! It feels like just yesterday that we were setting up our booth at GDC (pic below in case you missed it!) and putting out our last alpha gameplay trailer.

Ahh GDC. Always an amazing and exhausting experience!

So much has been added and improved since then, that it's hard to properly stand back and put it all in perspective. The animations, which were criticized back then, have been completely redone across the board. The playable area in Eden has been astronomically increased in size, probably 6-7 times larger than what it was at the GDC demo, if not more.

We've added a ton of new build-able items (turrets, farms, and more) to allow you guys to build more sustainable and defensible bases. We've added several new enemy (and "friendly") NPCs, and have even more in progress for post-early access updates. Equipable Armor, Flashlight Upgrades, Dyes, and Utility attachments are now things that exist. We've implemented PAMELA's Abilities, which are powerful actions that the player can trigger in combat or exploration.

We also properly implemented Pamela herself into the game world; she'll show up on holo-pedestals in the world as well as your AARM to communicate with you as you explore Eden. You're now able to repair power Generators within the world to improve the efficiency and capacity of Eden's power reserves. We've got a fleshed out options menu with extensive graphics options, full key rebinding and more.

A fun little then/now we posted a few months ago, showing part of the huge Oasis Courtyard area.

And that's just off the top of my head. I briefly considered making a super-progress report for everyone, consolidating everyone's progress throughout the year into a mega post. Unfortunately I think scrolling through that list would give most of us carpal tunnel, and no one wants that. Suffice to say that this year, especially since GDC, has been extraordinarily productive for us at NVYVE Studios. We've been so focused on development that we didn't get around to putting together any new trailers since GDC, but rest assured we'll have some exciting stuff to share before release!

At the end of this crazy year, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank all of you who are tuning in each week for these dev blogs, posting on the forums, and taking part in the discussions. We do read each and every comment, and try to reply or clarify things as often as we're able. Since putting this "Coming Soon" page live, we made of point of not missing a single week, and we'll definitely be continuing that tradition post Early Access launch and beyond.

So, yeah. Thank you so much for your support and excitement so far, it truly does fuel us to keep pushing to make PAMELA the greatest game it can be. Hopefully over the holidays you're all able to spend some quality time with friends, family, and maybe some games you missed playing throughout the year (we've all got a backlog going!). We won't be posting next week as we'll all be taking a much needed breather before the final stretch next year, but we'll see you all back on January 6th for the first Dev Blog of 2017!

Adam

  • Completed "dirt pass" on Ark Medical district props, making the area feel more fleshed out and post-apocalyptic
  • Created projectile FX mesh for a new weapon that Ian's working on this week
  • Merged a bunch of new fixes and features from the team into the Master world scene
  • Input item descriptions, rarities, and costs into in-game items

    Alayna

  • Fixed thousands of "light probes" throughout environment, meaning that dynamic objects such as props and characters will receive more correct lighting
  • Placed dead hedges (954 to be exact) and vegetation throughout quarantined area in Oasis courtyard
  • Optimized lighting layers on props that do not need to be lit by the sun directly
  • Placed "World Upgrade" props throughout the environment; these can be repaired and activated by the player to improve Eden's power systems

    Christian

  • Created procedural animation system for the Observer scout robot
  • Set up pathfinding and AI systems for the Observer
  • Gave the Observer the ability to initial security events; if an Observer sees you doing something against the rules, he'll send Seekers to detain you!

    Patrick

  • Finished a huge variation of clothing props to decorate the environment with

    Ian

  • Finished effects for Warden's Fist weapon
  • Finished effects for Chrondrial Converter utility attachment
  • Finished effects for Kinetic Amplifier
  • Made a great deal of progress on implementing new Javelin weapon

    Mathew

  • Finished dead hedge model
  • Created a computer monitor station with tons of variations

    James

  • Implemented Heavy Armor item that can be found and equipped for some serious survivability improvements
  • Made significant progress on implementing tutorial sequence into the spawning system

    Chris

  • Finished improved looting menu
  • Created Small and Large Container build-able items that can be used to store your hard-earned items!