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Dev Blog #62: Snowed In

A 100% real* photo of the NVYVE Studios offices

Day 4 stranded at the studio - Snowstorms have been raging for days; we are no longer able to see through the windows. We have radioed in for extraction, but thus far our calls have gone unanswered. Mathew and Patrick have scoured the office for books and assorted paper products to burn, which has kept a meager fire alight. Food supplies running low; all we have left at this point are a few Nutri-Grain bars and some pepper-flavored Triscuits... so salty. Fingers are almost to cold to continue development. If you get this message, stay safe friend... and send help...

///END TRANSMISSION///

But actually though, it's been a snowy few days in the Great White North! Short of some insanely long commutes home, we're all safe and sound. And not a single book burnt yet! As if we have many books around... can you burn hard drives and old sticks of RAM for warmth? Anyway I'd call that a successful week, all in all.

As the end of the year approaches, we've been pushing full force to end on a high note. This week, some great progress has been made on both adding some last features before launch and polishing/tweaking existing systems. From an environmental standpoint, Adam and Alayna have been pushing to wrap up the bulk of the "finishing pass" throughout, well, the entire world. This means hand-placing thousands of props throughout all of the existing districts, as well as making tweaks and fixes to Eden's architecture where needed. We're pretty excited for you all to be able to explore Eden for yourselves soon; there's a ton to explore and discover, if you can survive that long, of course!

Christian has been adding a few new "friendly" robot characters which we're all highly looking forward to. I say "friendly", because that part is sort of up to how you play the game... I'll leave that for you to find out soon enough! James added our first working suit of equip-able armor to the game, which thanks to our full-body-awareness system, you're able to see appear on your body when equipped. Feels secure.

There's been even more polish and touch-up work done on Ian and Chris' side this week, as they've been improving some existing systems such as our Ammo Counters and Looting menus. These changes serve to improve the usability and fun of these various mechanics, which we'll be doing even more of in January.

Anyways there's still more, as always, so please do read below if you're interested. Drive safe, to all our friends in the North! See you next week for our final Dev Blog of 2016.

Adam

  • Created custom entrance doors for Origin Station District
  • Fenced out a large quarantined area in Oasis Courtyard District
  • Added a new Medical Clinic area to most districts, which contain powerful medical bays that can be used to heal your wounds... for a cost
  • Completed "dirt pass" through Garrison Security District props; meaning furniture has been scattered, trash and lootable areas have been added, taking the world from a clean state to a post-disaster state

    Alayna

  • Upgraded effects on Warden's Fist weapon
  • Placed props throughout new Medical Clinic areas that Adam added
  • Polished Oasis prop placement, and finished some previously unfinished areas within the courtyard
  • Worked on large quarantined area in Oasis Courtyard District
  • Polished Origin Station prop placement
  • Created new Container/Looting UI for more visual feedback when looting and storing items in the world
  • Created Recycler menu (gotta go green)
  • Created several new item icons

    Christian

  • Rigged new custodial robot NPC
  • Set up animations on " "
  • Set up AI systems for " "
  • Created "look at system" for " "
  • Rigged Medium Armor item for James to integrate
  • Started work on Observer, a security patrol bot that was hinted at in our Rebirth Trailer

    Patrick

  • Modeled a ton of clothing (shirts, pants, sweater...) and shoes to flesh out the promenade area further
  • Created his own fashion line - Eden Winter Fashions 2016
  • Created pick-up-able versions of Medium armor pieces

    Ian

  • Implemented new Ammo Counters on all ranged weapons
  • Implemented color-based Ammo effect on all melee weapons
  • Implemented new Player hand animations for Utility attachments and Pamela ability uses
  • Various bug-fixing
  • Started work a several remaining Utility FX

    Mathew

  • Created large body-bag pile props
  • Created Observer model variants
  • Started dead hedge model

    James

  • Finished up few remaining tasks on farming system
  • Added ability to loot dead NPCs
  • Implemented new Medium Security armor suit - you can find and equip a Helmet, Torso, and Leg Guards for improved survivabilty!

    Chris

  • Finished first pass on tutorial system
  • Started to implement new Loot/Container/Recycling menu systems

    *not