Colony Ship Update #37 - Demo Update #4

[Vault Dweller]

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7764.0.html

We're still working on animations and armor, I doubt we'd be able to to wrap it all up before Aug. Ivan's doing a bit better but he has a long way to go before he fully recovers. He'll focus on animations from now on and all armor and clothing tasks will be handled by Maria, our new armor specialist (you can see some of her work in the previous update). We've been working with her for a while and I hope she'll stick around as our next project will be even more "armor-intensive".

In the meantime our programmers have improved the building interior system and map navigation, and added character outlines in combat (you can turn them off if you don't like them) and when your character is blocked by an object or wall. All weapon meshes are in now so each weapon has a unique model. Oscar is working on the Pit, which looks better and better (not to mention bigger) so the delay on one front doesn't affect the rest of the team's progress.

The screens below are work-in-progress:

^ navigation meshes; what you see is about a third of the Pit, so it's not a small place.

 

[Infinitron]

Oof. Last month it sounded like the combat demo was almost ready and now it's delayed until August?

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's playable from start to finish and overall it's in a very good shape (much better than the AoD combat demo, for example) but it requires some work on the visual side:

- some animations need to be tweaked or changed
- we still need half the portraits
- we have 10 combat vests out of 12, 2 wip jackets/coats out of 9, 1 pair of boots out of 5, 7 helmets out of 10, 1 pair of goggles out of 6, 2 gas masks.
- interface changes and improvements (you go from theory to active playtesting, you see what's missing or should be rearranged)

I hoped that Ivan would make a full recovery after the hospital and finish the remaining tasks in 2-3 weeks but it wasn't the case and he might need further hospitalization. We can release as is, of course, but you can make a first impression only once.

 

[JarlFrank]

I hoped that Ivan would make a full recovery after the hospital and finish the remaining tasks in 2-3 weeks but it wasn't the case and he might need further hospitalization. We can release as is, of course, but you can make a first impression only once.

Good recovery to Ivan! Hospital sucks and I hope he manages to get that shit behind him ASAP.

 

[Ismaul]

All the best to Ivan.

Character outlines look good and will be useful.

our next project will be even more "armor-intensive"

Already planning far ahead I see.

 

[Abu Antar]

I have nothing constructive to add. Just wanted to say that shit's looking cool.

 

[Sarkile]

This is looking pretty damn good, I'm looking forward to the demo when it's done.

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Plug it in my vein.

 

[CappenVarra]

and a speedy recovery to Ivan

armor-intensive? now you just need to also make it firearm-intensive as well

 

[Efe]

would you consider changing combat log ?
like color source and target character too and put them first, like "titus -> clementine * [cheap shop] * Miss"
it hardly looks readable and hit- miss text seems to be redundant?

 

[Vault Dweller]

would you consider changing combat log ?

None of the interface elements are final as we didn't have time to focus on them yet or fix any gui-related issues. For example, I have no idea why it's in all capitals so it's something Nick (our programmer) should look into it but it's not a top priority at the moment. However, before you make suggestions you must understand why it was done this way to begin with. Our goal was to answer the following questions to make it easier for the player to understand the combat system (based on the countless questions I had to answer about AoD mechanics on Steam forums):

- why did the enemy's attack have special properties? different attack type
- why was my DR lower (or higher) than what it says on the armor? DR modifier due to attack type and/or weapon type or different damage type (melee vs ballistic vs energy; armor has different resistances)
- why was the damage so low (or so high)? graze or critical; if critical, the exact modifier as it depends on feats, attack type, weapon type.
- why did I miss 3 times in a row? roll breakdown