Hi there,
I am very happy to announce that this is the last alpha post. This means that after this update Under a Desert Sun will enter beta phase. Just to recap:
For Under a Desert Sun I try and work in 3 main phases:
- Alpha phase, in this I create functionality and test it by implementing it in wavemaps or test maps. The wave maps will stay as a separate mode when the game is finished next to the singleplayer
- Beta phase, will focus on creating the singleplayer and narrative
- Pollish phase, an extensive bug fix and pollish period where we make sure everything works optimally and performance is improved as much as possible.
In this post I want to do two things,
- Mention the changes in this particular patch
- Recap all the things that are now available in beta
Changes and additions In this last alpha update
Updated weapon behaviour
- Colt1911 is now manual reload
- Improved manual reload on most weapons
- Fixed Colt, Luger and Bar ammo clip drop bug. They would pop trough gun geometry sometimes.
- Fixed bolting bug where you can pull bolt further then it should go.
Updated the tutorial level
- All tutorials have new movies that better depict how the current guns work
- Added tutorial text and movies on enemy stagger and melee weapons
Flight mechanics
- Guns for player and enemies now work
- You can dogfight enemies, enemies respawn after being destroyed
- Hands animate when grabbing stick and throttle
Alpha recap
The alpha phase is there so I can make and test many mechanics that I will use in the singleplayer. Basically I've worked on an entire “adventure game” template which I can now use to make the singleplayer. You, the player, have helped me enormously by testing these mechanics in the wave maps and test maps available in the current early access.
Game mechanics
I’ve made a whole bunch of standard game mechanics ready to be used in game. These are things such as:
- Health indicators
- Hit behaviour
- Highlighters for dynamic objects
- Animation and sound behaviours
- Sound, Particle and animation triggers
- Level switch triggers
- Menu settings
- Physics and collision behaviour for movement and hands
Basically many of the things you need for an VR adventure game that are not standard implemented in Unity.
Weapons
I’ve implemented fully controllable melee and projectile weapons.
All weapons can be controlled by your VR controllers
Melee
Blades and knives that damage the enemy
- You can stab and leave them in enemies
- You can throw them into enemies
- Ofcourse you can slash away as well!
Projectile
- You can shoot guns that have impact on surfaces and of course enemies
- Almost all weapons are manual reload meaning that when a weapon does not have a bullet in the chamber you manually have to reload it.
- You can use weapons to bash some off the enemies, they will stagger
Enemies
I’ve made several enemy templates allowing me to make:
- Living enemies that shoot guns
- Undead enemies that have typical zombie behaviour
- Undead enemies that are faster and more agile
Flight mechanics
- I’ve made sure that you can fly a plane and fight enemy planes.
- Fully controllable airplane
- Airplane projectiles/guns
- Crash mechanics
- Damage mechanics
Friendly AI
I’ve implemented a friendly companion in the form of a dog. It auto attacks enemies and is ready to get more functionality like being able to go to and pick up specific things.
Lots of content ready to be used
Lastly, you see that I have purchased or made lots of content. All assets such as buildings, guns, enemies, sounds, music and a whole bunch of other things I’ve purchased for use in the singleplayer. The range of things is quite broad but basically I have all the necessary things to make a first singleplayer chapter from desert environments to rainy city scapes with a 1940’s vibe.
I am sure I didn't mention everything I did in the last three years but I hope this gives an idea of the scope of the entire alpha. Personally I am quite happy what I have achieved so far as a lone developer doing this next to his full time job ;) And now we go onward towards the beta! Will post soon when I've got some things to show.
Discord
Don’t forget the discord channel. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! The discord: https://discord.gg/g5fK7Df
Roadmap
Also don’t forget the Under a Desert Sun roadmap. You can find it here: https://trello.com/b/CEDvwMAb/under-a-desert-sun
Be safe everyone and kind regards,
Raymond