Hello and welcome to the new dev update!
Before we jump into the dev update we need to address the playtest release first. Sadly we will not be able to launch it this year. Originally we planned to release it as an early Christmas gift in December but we decided to delay it until the next year. The delay is mainly because we want to improve the AI further and optimize the server performance. The latter will also require more testing, that's why can't wait to invite all of you to test the game! Now let's jump to the dev update.
In this article, we’ve aggregated all the exciting changes and new features we’ve worked on over the past six months. So let’s dive into the details!
Horses
Who doesn’t love these beautiful animals? We love them too, which is why we’ve added horses to ALTERA! These loyal companions will be your best friends on your journeys. Thanks to their endurance and strength, they’ll help you traverse long distances quickly and carry large amounts of gear.
Horses come with a variety of coat and tack colors, based on our new random appearance system. This ensures every companion feels unique and distinct.
Traders
Traders are neutral characters who visit your outposts to trade goods with your faction. They sell all kinds of equipment, gear, and supplies. If you need to restock your troop quickly, keep an eye out for a trader!
New Weapons
The weaponry arsenal in the game continues to expand.
LWM Sniper Rifle:
Our first sniper rifle. It’s hard to acquire, but its devastating long-range stopping power makes it worth the price.
Ammo: 8.60mm
AKM:
A widely used rifle originating from Earth. It offers decent damage, though with low stability and a below-average fire rate.
Ammo: 7.62mm
B-25R:
A rare and expensive automatic rifle that delivers high damage with a lower fire rate. It’s very effective at medium to long range.
Ammo: 7.62mm
Weapon Attachments
We’ve implemented an attachment system to provide more customization options for different playstyles and combat scenarios. Guns can now be equipped with scopes, magazines, and more. Attachments can be looted in-game or purchased from traders.
New Attachments:
- Red dot sights (3 variants).
- Holographic sight.
- x2, x3, x4, and x7 scopes.
- Extended magazines (2 variants).
- Drum magazine.
Adding attachments is simple: equip a gun, then drag and drop the attachment onto it. Removing them is just as easy with a single click.
Flashlights
All guns now come equipped with flashlights, allowing you to navigate more effectively at night.
DNA Grenades
Each DNA grenade contains an imprint of a character encapsulated in the size of a handheld device. Just put in your backpack and use it to spawn help. There are three types of grenades, each designed for a different species:
- Humans.
- Penguin soldiers.
- Horses.
Save System
We’ve laid the groundwork for a robust save system. While largely invisible to the player, this system enables seamless cross-play and cross-progression by saving all data in the cloud. With this system in place, we’ve also unlocked the possibility of implementing new features like character creation and customization.
New Main Menu
The main menu has been completely redesigned. Upon launching the game, you’ll see the environment of an old, abandoned house. A single table with a PC—showing signs of recent activity—is your gateway to the game world. The PC screen displays information about your active save slot. There are three save slots available, allowing you to manage three independent game sessions.
Character Customization
After selecting a save slot for the first time, you can create your character. Customize the body type, skin, hair color, hairstyle, eyebrows, beard, mustache, etc. And this is just the beginning. The system will be expanded in future updates.
AI characters in the game world also have randomized appearances, ensuring a diverse and unique cast of characters. This system mirrors the one used for horses.
AI Updates
We’ve made significant improvements to AI behavior:
- Cover System: AI units now analyze their surroundings and seek cover when under attack.
- Behavior Variations: Different soldiers act based on their loadouts. Snipers maintain distance, while assault marksmen prefer close combat.
Building System
We replaced the radial buildings menu with the new tile-based one. It allows you not only to place structures but also facilities and other placeable objects. The number of those will gradually increase over time, that’s why we decided to make a tile-based menu which will provide more space and better organization of the items.
The models of the building parts have been reworked and now look like this:
New placeable objects include:
- Item crate: place it anywhere in the game world and store any items inside.
- Electric lantern can be placed anywhere to light up your surroundings.
- Lighting towers help you set up lighting of your outposts which is crucial at night.
Item Management and Looting
Item crate feature
Crate system enables allows various types of cotnainers, boxes and chests in the game world. Players are able to move items freely from their inventory to an external storage or just throw them to the ground.
There are two types of crates:
- Constant crates can be placed in the game world to provide an extra storage option
- Temporary crates appear when any item is dropped to the ground. Dead enemies now also drop their loot.
Players can easily share items with their troop, as well as with each other. Just come close to a desired character, press the interaction button, and move items freely between the characters.
The items lying on the ground can be easily accessed with TAB looting. Any time your inventory is open but you’re not interacting with a specific crate, all nearby items will be displayed based on proximity.
Portal Dungeons
Crates with valuable loot can now be found in portal dungeons, making them essential for your economy.
User Interface Improvements
- Updated item appearance with a clean tile view.
- Re-captured and edited inventory icons with added shadows for better readability.
- Notifications for interactions and building restrictions.
Weight and Overload System
Characters now have a weight limit. Overloading reduces movement speed, requiring careful inventory management. Horses can help carry additional weight while leveling up specific skills increases your carrying capacity.
Resources
ALTERA Cash, wood, and other resources are now displayed in the inventory alongside other items, therefore they can be shared as well.
Clothing and Gear System
We’ve introduced several clothing sets:
- Casual outfit.
- Survivor outfit.
- Basic military outfit.
- Special operations outfit.
- Tactical military outfit.
Clothing and gear can be bought, looted, and equipped like other items. The inventory now also includes armor slots for enhanced protection.
Changes to the Game Loop
We've made a few changes to the core game loop. Now all enemy outposts have a control tower just like the player-controlled ones. To capture the outpost you don’t need to destroy the tower. Instead, just hack it to bring it under your control, but only if the outpost is cleared. To capture an area you have to control all towers in it. The number of towers in an area is now not limited to just one, enabling you to build your own outposts completely from scratch!
The preset outposts now have active lighting towers to provide visibility and aid the base defense at night.
User Interface
We changed the overall colors of the UI to a more greyish tone and applied the same color scheme to all parts of the UI in the game.
We updated the appearance of the minimap and the quality of the icons. Numerous new icons were added, including displaying the friendly units and loot.
The “Escape” menu has been reworked to look similar to the main menu. It also features information about the active locally hosted session.
The game settings have been split into a few separate screens: Video, Audio, and Input.
Some of the keybings for the deprecated features have been removed. On the other hand, a setting was added to enable MegaLights - a new experimental feature that provides a better performance of scenes with a large number of light sources.
Shader compilation screen
We added the shader compilation screen which now appears right after the game launch. Pre-compiling the shaders will prevent stutters during the gameplay.
Other Changes
- Soldiers in your troop now wear backpacks, while those protecting the outposts do not.
- The area belonging to each outpost is now rectangular instead of circular.
- Items can be switched using the mouse wheel.
- Updated building controls.
- Updated default graphics settings and resolution.
- The engine version was updated to 5.5.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug causing player control loss after riding far from a horse’s spawn point.
- Fixed a bug preventing enemy spawns in portal dungeons.
- Fixed multiplayer teleportation issues in dungeons.
- Fixed desynchronization of enemy weapons for remote clients.
- Fixed neutral character attacks by enemies.
- Fixed disappearing character heads in inventory previews.
Thank you for your continued support and feedback! We’re excited to hear your thoughts on these updates.
We wish all of you a Happy New Year and see you in ALTERA!
