This week on the Replay, the same as every week on the Replay... NEWS!
Around the Verse: Outposts and Environmental Storytelling
Burndown
80 issues remain outstanding as of Thursday (this was shown on screen as most up-to-date number). There were 88 issues on Tuesday when AtV was recorded. 77 as of Friday
3.0 will be the first time ‘real’ persistence will be in the game - leveraging a lot of technology development done over the past couple of years.
Difficulty getting some performance capture in as different actors perform the same action slightly differently - in this case interacting with a countertop.
Subsumption will allow NPCs to pay attention to you and interact. Working to get facial animations synchronised with Subsumption.
Difficulties with using the same feather blending technique for Eckhart that they use for all other AI as the experience with Eckhart is meant to be more cinematic.
Working to get item highlighting in shops to actually highlight the whole item - not omitting things like magazines, scopes, or other attachments.
Issues with doors fleeing the ships they belong to.
Work being done to fix longstanding issues they weren’t sure how to fix until now.
CopyBuild 3, the basis for the Delta Patcher, has been launched internally. Degree of success of that launch is unknown.
Work on Quantum Drive as frequently ships were colliding due to exiting QD in the same place. Also, ships were randomly exiting Quantum Drive inside the system’s star.
3.0 branch has been split off of the main development branch.
Surface Outpost - Part Two
Environment Team talk about branding, integration and detailing of planetary outposts
Its process of layering the dressing and then building up an authentic atmosphere
With their tools finding a location is more natural/organic than in a traditional game: just have a little scout around
A believable outpost should indicate how long it's been there, the type of climate and the type of people that live there
Several levels of integration:
The outpost has a blend map that picks up texture information from the planet's surface
The walls have blend maps that show the sand, ice, etc. build up over time
Projected decals can show streaks running down walls or dirt buildup on rooves
There are differences between the different corporations, or brands, that own the outposts
The interior and props will reflect the corporate values
The colours, logos and graphics are part of a procedural system driven by DataForge
Outposts are not static: they will be constantly evolving on a spinning planet orbiting a sun
Using prefabs to build outposts means fixing an issue on the prefab fixes the issue on all instances in game
Currently the process is very complex but tools Programmers/Tech Artists are working to automate most of the process
3 more items on global schedule completed
Features post 3.0 complete: Criminality System (Gameplay)Item Degradation / Failure / Luck (Gameplay)Recovery Missions (AI)
No AtV next week due to Gamescom.
Gamescom presentation: Friday, August 25th, show starts: 19:00 UTC at the Gloria Theater.