Greetings Pioneers!

Our next release is coming as soon as possible and should include shiny new build assets, interior lights and the new fortification system. There are just a few remaining issues to fix before we can confidently push it out to you all.

We have done a lot of debugging this week in order to try and solve some of the potential issues with runaway memory use on the servers. We think we have resolved them for the next release! This should mean more stable servers reducing the frequency in which they need to be re-set.

In between getting this release ready we have been continuing work on upcoming features including the new inventory system, new AI and new structures.

Here is what we’ve been working on this week:

John – Lead Designer

I have been planning production for the next few months, working on further designs for the fortifications, the introduction sequence and story beats for gameplay while helping the guys out with implementation like a boss!

Matt – Art Director

Focused on mesh cleanup for the new build interior and fortification set. Made some critical post process tweaks to compliment our new interior lights as well. Also did a talk for students at Burton college yesterday which I thoroughly enjoyed 🙂

Will be moving swiftly onto character armour meshes in preparation for setting up our new inventory items for crafting of armour pieces.

Lee – Technical Director

So this week I continued work towards finishing off the new SwampSnake, which will be a water based creature. I’ve also made a few changes to how creatures get spawned so we can try to confine certain types to certain types of Biomes. I’m also trying to get some time to focus on bugs which have cropped up of the last few weeks.

Marcin – Designer

What have I been working on this week? What have I not? 🙂 As it turns out variety is not only the spice of life, but also of game development. I have been working on another pass of the survival mechanics designs, character stats, progression, but also the Eden Kit Shield designs. On top of that I have been fixing the turrets, which suffered a massive bug-blow after the server optimisations a few updates back.

My apologies for not noticing that straight away. I also fixed a few issues with Ikas’ and Vipers’ ram attack, which was coming out of sync in multiplayer. Finally, with Matt and Joe. I have been putting my finishing touches on the new primitives and fortifications.

Tristan – Senior Developer

This week I have mostly been at the top of a mountain but I thought I best get back to it so here I am. I have been profiling and looking into server and client issue regarding large structures and working with Yves to come up with some solutions for it. I have also been working on production as well as a fix for replication large power networks.

Yves – Senior Developer

Yves has been fixing some major bugs this week including several issues with build caused by some of the optimisation work. He has also found and fixed an illusive server memory leak, what a hero! Understandably too busy to write his blog this week as he still has things to fix, a hero’s job is never done…

Ricky – Developer

Continuing work on the new Inventory system implementation and UI. This week specifically I have Implemented systems for Item Categories for filtering the new menus, Finished Technical design for the new tab menu interactions including drag drop, and

Joe – Environment Artist

Firstly I finished my work on the visuals on the second Build Set’s fortifications and set them up in-engine – we just need functionality to swap between these sets. I created new simple icons for Primitives, Foundations, Fortifications and some Utilities to make the build menu easier to understand for when we add these new visuals.

Closer to the end of the week I helped with setting up the new Structure assets to fix bugs we found in testing. Finally, I mocked up a new style build wheel based on designs and feedback from Marcin and John!

Tom – Character Artist

Baked out the textures and did a quick paint over for another one of our creatures. I’ll be sharing images of the new fauna and enemies as soon as they are in game!

Lauren – Animator

This week I have been working on Splintermite Queen animations, this giant will emerge from the hives of Splintermites as an additional defence to bypass. I have also been working with Lee to refine the Swamp Snake attacks now that we have them swimming around in our test level pond.

Andy – Lead QA

This week I’ve been working with Yves to try and solve the issue with our server saves and testing all the lovely new build assets and lights.

See you in the Fray

-Team Flix

 
Greetings Pioneers!

Firstly a massive thank you for those of you that joined us in our server stress test last night! We had great fun playing with you all, building some epic bases and working together to defend them (at least some of us!).

The test was very useful, we have highlighted some of the issues encountered such as apparent server hangs and fluctuating high ping for certain clients, and we’re now debugging them internally. Hopefully we will have fixes for them soon alongside future feature releases.

Here is what we’ve been working on this week:

John – Lead Designer

This week I have been planning the production for the next few months, up to Alpha complete, there are several upcoming big features that we’re really excited about!

I’ve working with the team on final design solutions for the build and the new fortifications system. We’ve also started designing the logic for a switches and triggers system. We are hoping to introduce this to allow for more control over utilities such as doors, potentially it could also be used for making and triggering traps.

Lee – Technical Director

This week I continued working with the new water based snake and I think it is virtually finished. I have also been putting pen to paper for the planning stages of Allied AI that the player will eventually be able to command and control.

Matt – Art Director

Moar epic weaponz. Before we implement the modular system I’m fully developing the components for other guns. So far I’ve put together some shiny engine materials for the Shotgun.

I’ll be working on further visual design for our final building fortifications next and developing our grenade launcher for more explosive action!

Tristan – Senior Developer

This week I have been finishing off foliage replication system to cater for mass destruction of foliage. I have also been creating the new save version to work with the new foliage destruction as well as the new light panels. Unfortunately this means we will need to wipe old saves. Hope you enjoy the new lights.

Lauren – Animator

This week I have been finishing up the modular weapon prototype, ironing out the glitches, attaching scopes, battling with inverse kinematics and generally tidying up the animations. Ive also been setting up the shotgun as a complete weapon to be added before the modular system is released.

Yves – Senior Developer

Not much to tell other than I have been reworking the inventory from the ground up, this will be important for things like loot and the survival mechanic we will be introducing later on in the year.

Tom – Character Artist

Continuing on from last week, this is the latest work in progress on a new fauna beast I’ve been working on!

Ricky – Developer

Inventory menus and some slightly tweaked mechanics for them to be ready for content expansions in the future, such as how we will categorise items and allow the use of multiple “optional” materials for a single item. This week the menus are about 20% cooler… err I mean more completed. Still plenty more to do, though.

Marcin – Designer

Fewer designs and more hands-on work was what this week had in store for me. I had been helping out Lauren with the weapons and Ricky with the inventory, but mostly I have been working side by side with Matt and Yves on the implementation of “Fortifications”.

They are the next step we are taking with our build mechanic, which is supposed to address a few issues, one of which is the natural consequence of our design – the “double-walling”. On another note we wanted to seize this opportunity and cull the number of primitives that used to accomplish the same goal, and update the visuals on all of the primitives too!

Joe – Environment Artist

This week I’ve worked with John and Matt on nailing down the aesthetic for the second ‘Fortification’ set. I’ve nearly finished the initial 3D visual work on these, with just the door left to do.

Simone – Concept Artist

I am Re-plenishing my art Chi, and resting my drawing hand. I can feel the power building within, will the tablet be able to withstand my pen pressure when I return. Only time can tell.

Andy – Lead QA

Talking with the guys from Multiplay to resolve some issues with the servers. Working with John to organise the server stress test, and crushing bugs. I’ve also been dealing with the crippling pain of Kef leaving and worrying if the people at his new job mocking him for how he uses his mouse

See you in the fray!

-Team Flix

Greetings Pioneers!

Just a quick hotfix today to address some of the critical issues experienced recently.

• Fixed issue where Eden Kit could explode randomly when building
• Fixed issue where laser posts would not always produce lasers between them
• Optimisation to client-side building

Note: If you’re running your own server you will need to now update this to the latest version. Our servers will be updated shortly!

Stay tuned for awesome new buildings in the next week or so!

 

In other news we have recently been nominated in the SXSW Gaming Awards! Attendees of the exhibition will get a chance to vote on which game in the Indie Corner they think tops trumps and deserves the coveted Gamers Voice award.

The SXSW Gaming Expo is free!
March 17 – March 19
Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez St) in downtown Austin, Texas.

So if you live nearby and can make it down, go for it!
You might see one or two of us there…

For more information on the exhibition: http://www.sxsw.com/exhibitions/gaming-expo
For more information on all of the awards: http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/awards/gaming

Many thanks to Shaka Okeer for the screenshot used in the header image. That’s an awesome pyramid you have there!

See you in the fray
-Team Flix