KickStarter Spy DNA - realistic tactical combat with genetically enhanced agents

[shysnake]

Why isn't this game getting more attention? They're doing some neat stuff here. It should appeal to XCOM and JA2 fans, which are more than a few here on the codex from what I can tell.

It doesn't help that each time we need to choose between putting time into PR vs working on making the game better, we almost always choose the later.

 

[Viata]

To be fair, you can always go after youtubers since most people watch them way more than read gaming sites, now.

 

[shysnake]

To be fair, you can always go after youtubers since most people watch them way more than read gaming sites, now.

Yes, we just need to get a demo (that we are happy with) into their hands. We keep finding things we would like to fix and pushing it back until we do.

 

[Infinitron]

Spy DNA gunsight controls allow you to choose between aiming at a target without shooting, and five shooting modes: aimed shot, quick shot, overwatch, area fire, and suppression fire.

Spy DNA agents have a range of genetic enhancements to help them with their adventurous, mysterious, and dangerous jobs.

 

[Infinitron]

Learn about how our weapons work, from short, to medium, and all the way to long range. Towards the end, you can see our sniper Zoe hit a target at 680 meters.

 

[Infinitron]

We track 41 different body parts and organs in our damage model, and simulate the effects of their injuries on the character's ability to function.

 

[shysnake]

We are finally editing that next play though of the hostage rescue mission. I may have to junk this one because of some glitches recording the audio. It didn't seem to like all the loud action. I still wanted to drop it here because there were some requests for a mission that went sideways.

This is mostly unedited, just clipped out a few places where I was thinking about what to do next and nothing was moving.
17:00 approaching enemy camp
18:00 things start going wrong
23:20 AI counter attacks
29:22 failed spotting check leads to chaos
32:35 out of ammo, despair

 

[Infinitron]

You're watching actual game footage, edited for time only. We cut the time from mission start to the point where things got interesting.

Play-through shows many aspects of our highly realistic combat system, including:
- aiming and accuracy
- aiming point selection (can shoot at weapon or other object if desired)
- anatomical damage (injuries simulation based on physiology)
- combat carried out over realistic distances

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Zombra]

shysnake Dumb detail question. Is it possible to edit your main character's looks after you create them? Like, if I make my guy way too tall, then I see him in the world and think "that isn't what I meant at all", can I fix it? Or do I have to start a new game?

As always, I continue to be very excited for SDNA. So many ideas here that make me think, "If I made a game, I would want to do that."

 

[shysnake]

shysnake Dumb detail question. Is it possible to edit your main character's looks after you create them? Like, if I make my guy way too tall, then I see him in the world and think "that isn't what I meant at all", can I fix it? Or do I have to start a new game?

As always, I continue to be very excited for SDNA. So many ideas here that make me think, "If I made a game, I would want to do that."

You can edit most things about your characters appearance after creation. The fixed attributes are the 6 fields in character creation (complexion, sex, face, height, build, and body type).

Because body type, height, build, and sex factor into attributes and NPC reactions, allowing them to be regularly changed would be an exploit. We bias several attributes based on the body type. Ex: taller characters or more muscular builds will tend to be stronger. The less fit types have more intelligence, less strength. So this would provide an indirect way to tweak attributes each mission.

We might be able to let a player burn an enhancement on re-doing the body type, so it's limited. That's not a currently planned feature, but if it becomes an issue it could be addressed that way. If you really just want to poke height, you could change it in the save file. It wouldn't update the other derived attributes though.

The commander you see in the trailer was the default height 5'8" (~175cm). The party PCs vary from Ronda (5'4" 162cm) to Karsten (6'3", 190cm). Nuri (5'11" 181cm) can be taller in Karsten depending on shoes.

 

[Zombra]

Mailing list update! Look at all those videos!

Hey there folks, Alex and Jason here!
We've been pretty heads-down over here, working on levels, visuals, AI, dialog, and all the other things that make a game, you know, finished. Things like saving and loading a save, and optimizing level load times.

We've also recorded a new trailer showing the latest state of things. Here it is:


Spy DNA trailer (pre-alpha)
Tutorial videos
In case you missed last month's newsletter, here's a collection of Spy DNA tutorials.

If you have ideas for a tutorial video, please let us know! Just hit "reply" or email games@shysnake.com






Now, back to work!
We'll be keeping this issue short, as we're working hard on getting the game finished and into your hands.

Previously at Shy Snake...

• Spy DNA dev.update archive
• Training in Spy DNA
• Gameplay and difficulty settings
• Procedural maps in Spy DNA: a peek under the hood
• Procedural maps in Spy DNA: appearance

We're now on Instagram, too
We've started posting screenshots of our work on Instagram, and we'd be over the moon if you followed us there.

Check us out on Instagram
Burning questions?
We're always happy to help. Reply to this email, or hit us up on any of the social media sites - we're looking forward to connecting with you.

 

[Zombra]

 

[shysnake]

No need for the secrecy.

We started sending out invites to the kickstarter backers and mailing list subscribers to join the upcoming beta test where we are working out issues before going to public availability on steam.

 

[LESS T_T]

Why Early Access?
“Spy DNA is a RPG that is driven by a simulation based combat system. We are bringing a level of detail which isn't generally seen in an RPG. We will be iterating on the ballance and detail of the system during early access and are looking for feedback from players to help us with the refinement of this system.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“12 months. During this time we will be pushing regular feature updates and bug fixes.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
“The Early Access version will contain combat simulation with firearms. It will ship with many procedurally generated missions and a few story-line ones. The game will have full character creation and customization, music soundtrack, and some voice acting for PCs.

The full version will include the complete story line with dialog, more music tracks, more voice acting, plus combat simulation will now include hand-to-hand and martial arts combat. We will also further refine the AI to provide player with a more realistic experience.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“There are two major development projects underway for this game, the combat simulation engine, and the story/missions.

The simulation is mostly finished and we have been iterating on refining it for several months. The firearms simulation, damage models, accuracy models, and combat timing are ready. We will be refining these, but they are fun right now.

Early Access includes six storyline missions, several VR training levels, and a number of generated missions.

Storyline missions are right from the beginning of the game, so they will be gently increasing in complexity as the player becomes more familiar with the game.

The generated missions will give you an example of each type of mission you can expect in Spy DNA -- stealth, low-intensity combat, and high-intensity combat. Some of them will also include infiltration options, which allow you to use the strengths of your team to prepare before you actually go in.

There are a few areas which we are still developing. The martial arts system, non-lethal weapons, and area attacks are still being developed.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“Price will not change when we leave early access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“We are actively seeking feedback from the community to help us refine the combat simulation and fine tune the accuracy vs playability tradeoffs. The second area is helping us identify any areas of the UI that isn't intuitive to use. We want the game to be fun and easy to pick up for new players. We have put a lot of effort into UI design, and will be trying to refine it based on feedback.”

 

[shysnake]

Ok, I'm impressed. That was literally just a couple min between us pushing the big green button and someone noticing it.

For those waiting on their beta keys, we are testing the build (0.3.8.0) for the beta right now. If nothing comes up, we will send out the keys tonight.

 

[Zombra]

I did indeed receive my beta key! Very much looking forward to getting hands on.

 

[Infinitron]

shysnake How soon is "soon"?

 

[Zombra]

[redacted for stupidity]

 

[shysnake]

shysnake How soon is "soon"?

Depends on how the beta goes. We want to knock down any game breaking issues first. So, I don't know, but we will know a lot more "soon".

 

[Zombra]

Mailing list update! Join the beta!

Hey there folks, Alex and Jason here!
Our Beta is almost a month old!

In that time, we've fixed more than a hundred issues, and made some serious improvements to UI, AI, and navigation.

As the stream of bugs is slowing down, we're ready to add more players to our Beta. Read on to find out how to join the Beta!

In the 28 days Spy DNA has been in Beta, we've fixed more than 100 issues that our Beta participants and ourselves have found testing. We've given priority to any issue that was a potential crash or was otherwise game-breaking. "Game-breaking" in this context means that the game gets into a state that makes it impossible to continue, and you must close it and reload; e.g. situations where you can't complete a level because of a bug.
We tracked down some hardware compatibility issues, and a few software ones. At the time of this writing, we've pushed 20 builds to our Steam Beta channel. That's just under one a day on average if you count the weekends, and one a day if you only count workdays.

Spy DNA has undergone a few changes since the Beta started. Outside of bug fixes, we've added, refined, and sometimes even re-implemented things in response to player feedback.

Right now we don't have any crashes or game-breaking bugs in our tracking tool. We have received a lot of feedback we are still working on for improvements to tutorials and making the UX easier to understand.

We have a few things we want to focus on before pushing this to early access. The big things we still need to do are:

• Add tutorials for a few more game mechanics. Right now we have enough unique mechanics that some parts of the game are difficult to pick up just by playing.
  
  
• Add a few more missions so the players have enough to do.
  
  
• Improve a few parts of the UI where information isn't communicated clearly to the player; mostly around pausing and encumbrance.
  
  
• Refine the artificial intelligence controlling the NPCs in the game, to make the levels more engaging and challenging to complete.

As we approach Early Access, the rate of releases will be slowing. During the early part of the Beta we wanted to push out fixes as fast as we could, but now that things are much more stable, we want to put more effort into keeping the release build stable. We have separate channels set up in Steam, with the main branch being a conservative stable build, and "Beta," where we will continue to push more frequent releases.

Early Access players will have access to both though Steam and will be able to choose the one that fits them best.

Finally, now that we have hammered down the biggest issues, we're ready to expand the Beta to include more players. We've reopened our Beta enrollment form and we'd like to invite you to join the Beta if you haven't already. Or, if you know someone who likes tactical combat sims, feel free to share the link with them too!

We've condensed this update to fit in an email, which means lots of stuff got cut. Read the full update on our blog.

Two easy way to get encumbered in Spy DNA
Spy DNA handles equipment differently than other games. We attempt to simulate the real world as much as possible. So let's talk about encumbrance, uniforms, and accessories.
Encumbrance in Spy DNA involves two mechanics: weight, and free items. Weight will be familiar to everyone. More weight means it becomes harder to move and you have to slow down.

We also add the mechanic of free items. The idea is that to carry an item, you either need to store it in a pocket, backpack, or other location made for the purpose, or you have to carry it in your hand. Because of this, even a few free items will quickly make it impossible to move. This represents the character's inability to hold everything without dropping anything.
To clearly show why a character is slowed down or can't move at all, we now show two distinct icons over the character portrait to indicate the two encumbrance conditions: a kettle-bell weight for weight encumbrance, and juggling hands for too many free items.
For more on how uniforms and storage work, head on over to the blog.

 

[Zombra]

Mailing list update. Performance! Stability! Scripting overhaul! OK, no real "boobs and explosions" but clearly they're strengthening the foundations of the game. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't made time to try the beta yet to give feedback. maybe you have time

Hey there folks, Alex and Jason here!
Happy New Year folks! We hope that you've had a great holiday celebration, and wish you a happy, healthy, and fulfilling year 2020.

Thank you everyone for your support and participation in the Beta! We've been learning a lot about how our players play the game, and where to focus our efforts next.

Right now we're in the middle of a major update, which has touched pretty much every part of the game, and will address issues with stability, saves, and performance, among other things.

Based on the feedback we've received from the Beta testers, and our own experience developing and testing new levels, we've decided that a major overhaul of the way that we script and run the missions was in order. (Also, we may have been bored over the holidays.)

We're working on pushing out a new release in near future, and one of the releases following soon after will include new missions for you to play.

We're still accepting new participants into the Spy DNA Beta and we'd like to invite you to join in the fun if you haven't already. You can also share the link with your fellow tactical combat sim players.

Until next time,
Alex and Jason.

 

[Stavrophore]

Dont know if anyone said it, but it looks like 7.62 high calibre.

 

[curry]

Looks promising but the textures are bad.

 

[Stavrophore]

Looks promising but the textures are bad.

what? the new builds looks nice. At least its much better than 7.62.