With a quick turnaround from this weekend’s 0.1 build, this is probably what you can expect from now until launch. Our testing sessions are primarily to get new bug reports and test tweaks from the previous session. But we’re also still adding in features.
One of those features in this build is the addition of new power ups. Unlike pickup items power ups will be consumed instantly by passing through them and then removed from the world. These are more potent than pickup variations of the same effects.
We also turned our attention on the warning system to make it easier for players to know when they need to move on or be gassed. This includes new sound effects, flashing lights, and a gas particle effect.
Tele-grenades were also introduced. These “grenades” deal no damage but instead teleport the thrower to where they landed. These are rare and can be stowed on your chest, similar to other grenade types. They are best stored and used in situations when you are pinned down.
We also focused some time on making some adjustments to the camera location for the player. It should now be easier to see the body as the camera was pushed out a bit from the body from its previous location. The mount points on the body were also adjusted. Some more adjustments are forthcoming to make using the back items easier and looking at making some hand adjustments to make them more accurate.
Finally, we added a new option for reloading weapons. You can now rapidly move the gun from a near oriented level (aiming up just slightly is recommended) to pointing to the ground and it will reload. If you want to get use to the amount of force you need just grab a gun and fire a few shots and try to reload it, it will click due to no ammo, but can be used as a cue that it would of reloaded.
Audio
- Added new power up and teleportation oriented sound effects.
- Made adjustments to voice chat attenuation. It now has twice the range before it starts falling off, and a roughly 20% boost in maximum range.
- Clicking sound for adding a grenade to the inventory was not playing in the right location, it should be working now.
AI
- NPCs are now able to utilize power ups.
Character
- Adjusted the camera location on the player. It should now be a bit more forward making it easier to see the body.
- Movement should now take into consideration the HMD location versus the internal rotation so the animation played will be proper.
- Adjusted most of the mount points to make them less conflicting with each other and fixed the horrible placement of the handgun, it should now be near your hip like it was before.
- Adjusted the movement code slightly when moving your head around to allow some leeway before moving the character.
Combat
- You can now reload a weapon by rapidly rotating the weapon downward. It is best to start the gun aiming up just slightly then quickly rotate it so it is pointing toward the floor. If you want to get use to the amount of force you need just grab a gun and fire a few shots and try to reload it, it will click due to no ammo, but can be used as a cue that it would of reloaded.
Graphics
- Added a new blinking camera effect.
- Optimized weapon materials.
- Tweaked the texture materials on some weapons playing with color variations.
Interactive Objects
- Introduced a new power up system. These are traditional style power ups which you simply run through to activate. Once activated they will despawn. Each power up adds either a temporary buff or instantly applies an effect. In comparison to pickup based items of the same type power ups are more potent but are automatically activated.
- Teleportation Grenades have been added. These grenades deal no damage but will teleport the thrower to where the grenade lands. They can be stored on your chest like other grenades, allowing them to be a good way to escape when pinned down.
- Focus Stim spawns should vary more than was previously the case.
- Adjusted the drop code on death as it was setup before the weapon handling code was adjusted. Hopefully it should fix a few issues with gripping and spazzed out weapons on death.
- Adjusted grip location for the left hand on the pill bottle.
- Adjusted the grip location for the energy shield for the Oculus Rift.
- Increased radius of incendiary and frag grenades.
- Corrected an issue with grenade effects not triggering.
Maps
- Added new alarms to the map that start at the 1 minute warning in the rooms that are going to be cut off when the round advances. They emit a sound once the warning starts as well as give off a visual effect. Once the round advances and the rooms kill you they will start to emit a green gas for a few seconds.
- Added energy shields to the tutorial lobby, as well as tips on how to use them.
- There are now three different colors for the paint trim in hallways on the Royale map. This was intended to make it easier for players to recognize their position without needing to use the map.
- Added sprinklers and additional decals to the Royale map. The gas effects come from out of the sprinklers.
- Continued work on lighting and shadows in the Royale map. At the moment we’re focusing on optimizing the map to try to ensure that no players will go under 90 fps. The latest round of changes has reduced the quality of some shadows in this pursuit.
- Continued to optimize the Royale map.
- Adjusted the culling distance to fix an issue with the map that was introduced in 0.1.
- Stitched seams on the Royale map.
Stat Tracking
- Players no longer get kill stat credit when they kill themselves.
User Interface
- The trigger for weapons will no longer work if that hand is interacting with the UI (options).