Vapourware Sui Generis + Exanima Early Access

[Technomancer]

3/10/22

This week we've been getting deep into the AI side of things. We've gone a bit beyond our initial goals of combat interactions and looking at a few aspects of AI that need to be expanded on or improved. There is an amount of overlap between our immediate goals and the two following major updates (the second of which should be the final update for version 1.0). The update following this one will focus almost entirely on AI related things, expanding the role system for important story and other interactions. We won't reveal much about the final update, but it will introduce some key things that from an AI perspective will benefit from the work we're doing now.

We have a strong foundation with a lot of untapped potential for the AI with the emotion, relationship and role systems, which will be expanded on in the update after this. The core essentials are also important (and not simple), like combat which has received big revisions in recent updates, and navigation which we're in the process of making some improvements to. Beyond navigating the environment though, AI currently doesn't have much awareness of it, or anything really beyond other characters and some scripted locations and triggers tied to roles. This will change, with the AI being able to recognise and react to every little object or thing in their vicinity. This is something we've been carefully building towards from the very first steps in development.

We touched on this last week, how we wanted AI to react to and in some cases attack force powers. But this isn't through some specific behaviours for this or that, we're building a framework for AI to perceive and respond to anything, based on their unique qualities, knowledge, emotional state etc. Breaking it all down into a common system is how we respect all these things on both sides of the relationship, and approach something that resembles intelligent behaviour regardless of the situation.

This might sound like a lot, but we've been considering these problems for a long time, it's all part of our plan and we're already well into implementing it. In fact from here it's largely a matter of finally giving some meaning and purpose to all the work we've already done. The game has absolutely grown beyond its planned scope and far beyond the level of refinement, but this shift occurred long ago. We know by now that "good enough" just isn't a thing, and while we don't know how far we will ultimately go, what's important is that when we take a small step it isn't into a dead end, but that we're also laying down the path ahead. For you right now this just means that AI will react to your showy new powers in a way that isn't stupid and immersion breaking, but it's all part of a bigger picture.

We've broadened the scope a bit here, but sometimes a bit of context can be good. This aspect of AI has always been a strong design focus for us, for the same basic reasons as physics has been; it's not really about combat or to support specific gameplay elements, we hate restrictive, highly purpose designed mechanics. We want a world where things work the way you'd expect them to, so you can be creative with how you interact with it and be rewarded with plausible outcomes that contribute to immersion. We might not get it exactly right or do it all in one go, but we are making the effort.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

10/10/22

We are still focusing on AI, we've worked through the various mechanics and built up the framework we discussed in detail last week. Now we mostly need to go over final implementation details and do some testing. For now we just want to get a baseline, as AI makes decisions in a very organic way, it's less about right or wrong and more about tuning values to get realistic and interesting behaviour. This will largely happen over time as we observe it and get feedback from the community.

We are being very thorough here, both in exploring future applications and additions so that we'll be ready to support them, and also in correcting and improving things based on current shortcomings, everything we've learned over time and feedback. This includes things like giving more importance to positive and cooperative combat interactions to build trust, better target prioritisation in group combats, more nuanced fear and courage mechanics and behaviours that also involve allies, visibility and stealth mechanics (currently only applies to mind mask) and how characters react to concealment, responding to when targets can't be reached, fixing various issues with golem behaviour and many other small but still important things. There's also a lot of interactions with mind thaumaturgy here, which is getting various revisions to increase its value and introduce Potential scaling.

We covered our general goals last week, but basically while we introduce what we need for more character interactions and behaviours, we also just want them to feel very lifelike in how they react to things happening around them. Emergent behaviour is key in our brand of realism and we're particularly keen on it. Either way this new AI framework should be the last thing we need so we can move on to completing the new powers.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

We have a strong foundation with a lot of untapped potential for the AI with the emotion, relationship and role systems,

 

[thesecret1]

Romances in exanima... Can't wait for realistic dick controls, taking into account momentum and weight. Multi headed dicks hitting ass and leg, soon.

 

[somerandomdude]

They should simply stick to combat and exploration. Ignore all the other stupid shit the socially maladjusted ass-burgers are asking for like emotions and relationships in games. It's super cringe they'd even consider it in a game like this. It can only end badly.

 

[Technomancer]

Ignore all the other stupid shit the socially maladjusted ass-burgers are asking for like emotions and relationships in games. It's super cringe they'd even consider it in a game like this. It can only end badly.

I don't think Madoc is into this stuff. Emotions and relationship in this context mean systems that AI uses to remember player actions towards them and emotions mean their dynamic reactions. In SG overworld for example, peasant NPCs would freak out if player would display their powers in front of them because thaumaturges became rare, feared and infamous 20 years after Exanima plot took place.

 

[Technomancer]

17/10/22

Madoc had a lot going on this week besides work so we're a little behind, but still making progress. The new AI framework is more or less complete now, but we're still going through some improvements and additions from the previous system. We're now essentially describing what new things like force powers are to AI so it can make its own decisions on how to react. Golems have an all new process for their unique behaviour which was previously quite incomplete. We have also discovered and fixed some issues with AI that explain some problems players have reported.

We tried to take a mostly "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach with the AI, a lot of interactions work well as result of carefully tuning how AI responds to little many things and we don't want to break that delicate balance. Due to the nature of the system this isn't always possible, any small change or addition can shift that balance, and we've got some broader changes in reserve. It's quite likely that before the update proper we'll want to do some test builds for this and other general changes to the game. Some of the more focused testing we've done recently was very useful.

We're already well into the force power specific side of this, though not all the powers are implemented yet and there will be differences. This was the main motivation for the changes right now, though we ended up addressing a lot more, present and future. We're also getting the UI art for force thaumaturgy finalised which is looking great.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[BruceVC]

I am going to be playing Exanima now as my next game, I found some informative non-spoiler game guides on Steam but if anyone has a good link or high level advice that would be appreciated

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I am going to be playing Exanima now as my next game, I found some informative non-spoiler game guides on Steam but if anyone has a good link or high level advice that would be appreciated

Been ages since I played but thrusting with hammers works as well as physics says it should and better than rpg convention thinks it should.
Mind your footing, tripping on furniture is a bitch in the middle of the fight.
Closing the gap can help cut down manueverable room for your enemies.

 

[Kruyurk]

I am going to be playing Exanima now as my next game, I found some informative non-spoiler game guides on Steam but if anyone has a good link or high level advice that would be appreciated

I would advise you to start by playing a few hours in practice mode to get a good feel for the unusual controls before going into the story mode. But be aware that the character in practice mode is at max skill, so it will feel more clumsy when starting the story mode (e.g. your character will not yet be capable of chaining a swing with another one in the opposite direction).

 

[Technomancer]

First enemies in story also don't parry your hits so it might throw you off if you train on humans for too long.

 

[Technomancer]

24/10/22

We're now mostly moving on from general AI changes, there will need to be some testing and tweaking, so we're looking at other things that can be tested at the same time. Specifically we're getting into the pathfinding system updates. We briefly mentioned this before as some of the planned changes feel necessary for the upcoming content, but they are already relevant, will improve the game in general and support a lot more in future.

The key change to the pathfinding is basically making it a lot more 3D. While the current pathfinding is basically a 2D map, the new system is a 3D map based on detailed voxel data. This properly supports multiple levels (verticality) and allows AI to understand how deep a drop is and potentially support future climbing and jumping actions, or even crawling. 3D objects in different orientations are described much more accurately (imagine an upside down table), which can also be used to build ramps or bridges to create new paths. Beyond these new features, this is a more stable approach that should result in less getting stuck or AI failing to recognise dangerous drops and so on.

From the AI perspective we're also including support for preferred paths based on "terrain types" and the like, this would for example encourage characters to walk over a paved path or stairway rather than the rougher ground near it. This behaviour and general path choices can change based on urgency or emotional states. Another important change we're working towards is high level logic that considers things like doors, and eventually interaction with them.

Finally we want to improve performance by offloading pathfinding work from the main physics and AI. Pathfinding is generally not very time critical, as in it really doesn't matter if it takes AI a few more milliseconds to figure out exactly where they're going next. This means we can put expensive pathfinding work in the background, freeing up resources for physics and having more active characters at once.

We don't need to make all these changes at once, even a basic version of the new system represents an immediate improvement over what we have, and removes a lot of headaches from content creation and dealing with problematic cases. Importantly this new system has been carefully designed to support everything we might need it do in the future, we can build on this without worrying about running into technical limitations that could invalidate or complicate our work.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

31/10/22

We're working on the implementation of the new pathfinding system we described last week. We did discuss quite a lot, but once we get the fundamentals in we should immediately have something functional and we can then gradually leverage everything it supports, building on a future proof system. These fundamentals we're trying to get through right now are of course the difficult part though.

The most challenging aspect of this new pathfinding system is building the 3D map. This is quite complex and it needs to be a completely automatic process which happens at run time. This is a rule we impose for everything, all content, including saved games which are fully persistent copies of the world, needs to just work as is. Nothing is done by hand or even precomputed, which also means it doesn't need to be revisited or updated as engine systems change. This makes developing, iterating on and maintaining content extremely easy and smooth, which is something that also translates very well to modding.

This means it all needs to be very fast, and it needs to happen in the background, so as to not impact loading times and support streaming content. There are some other related changes we're working towards that will massively reduce loading times. Physics objects then use an additional layer and system to make dynamics changes without having to rebuild the map.

There's a lot of considerations and technical challenges here, but we think we've figured out all the details and we're well into the implementation already. This was our other major goal for this update besides force and hopefully we can wrap it up fairly quickly.

Happy Spooktober!
-the BM team

 

[BruceVC]

Im about 15 hours into Exanima and 13 hours of that was learning how combat works in the arena. I moved onto the main game when I defeated all the enemies in the arena under Novice

First impressions, its by far the most realistic and exciting combat I have ever encountered in any game. Learning the physics of movement and combat swings and watching enemies groan and die has been very rewarding

Its a hard game, I am only on level 1 and Im still learning new things around effective combat movement now that I face enemies outside of humans. I dont like how your red health doesnt restore itself but from what I read thats part of what makes it a hard game and challenging?

But so far so good, I will give further updates once I have progressed further in the main game

 

[Technomancer]

Its a hard game, I am only on level 1 and Im still learning new things around effective combat movement now that I face enemies outside of humans. I dont like how your red health doesnt restore itself but from what I read thats part of what makes it a hard game and challenging?

There are opportunities to heal, be on the lookout for the blue glow. Also game checkpoints after each level until 4th. There are supposed to be mechanics that preserve progress after but they are not in yet, and it is very likely you will die losing a lot of progress since things become harder. For that reason I suggest you to make save back ups past level 4.

 

[Technomancer]

While team is busy cooking up the update, 3D artist works on other things. Old ass thigh boots got a face lift.

Was:

Will be:

 

[Technomancer]

Also, new leather helmets because Exanima had like two.

 

[Alienman]

Bring out the gimp!

 

[BruceVC]

Im 50 hours into this game and Im still loving it, I have just reached level 3 and Im fighting my first skeleton

Some feedback on the successful way mechanics and design is implemented

• The combat is by far the most realistic and exciting I have ever encountered. Im surprised more Codex members arent singing its praises around this?
• I love how hardcore the game is. It took me about 8-10 hours to find a compass on level 1 and I only found a map on level 2. This game is definitely one of those experiences where if you love making your own maps it would be useful and advantageous
• I take my time and explore every room and its always rewarding to find a good weapon randomly. You really appreciate resources and the lack of them
• I have only found 2 x healing potions\salves and I used one of them on my NPC. I do use save scumming because its a hardcore game and Im not that hardcore
• Because you dont want to get red injured every battle is meaningful. Its a unique experience for me to be wary of getting hurt because you cant just " heal " easily ( I even tried a healing mod which doesnt work anymore )

I dont know if Sui Generis will ever get released but I can tell you one thing, the developers have created one of the most brilliant, RPG survival games I have ever played and I recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge and is tired of Carebear and hand holding RPG that are fairly common nowadays

Exanima is definitely the game for you

 

[Technomancer]

7/11/22

Last week we talked about implementing the new pathfinding, and how we had all these difficult extra requirements, but we thought we had them all figured out. Well, perhaps we focused too much on these extras and overlooked just how "complex" the basic problem is.

As we got deeper into the implementation details we realised that building a multiple layer 3D map from "polygon soup" is indeed pretty complicated to begin with. Some fairly simple approaches might work 99% of the time, but there are problem cases with multiple overlapping disconnected paths, inaccessible regions etc. that massively increase the complexity of the problem. We explored a bunch of approaches in detail and kept running into some cases where they would fail. We've been seriously worried that we just wouldn't be able to find a solution that is fast, run-time and doesn't burden level designers with extra work and technical challenges. It's a lot, and why games usually rely on a combination of hand crafted and precomputed solutions.

We did persist though and finally arrived at a solution that we think still meets all our requirements too. It's not simple, it's going to take some work, but assuming we didn't forget anything we should be able to get through it fairly quickly.

Meanwhile we're making good progress on the new area, adding more new and unique props, fleshing out the details. The early levels are also getting some updates with new elements, and we're finally shortening the maze section of the first level. There's a bunch of new items and many existing items are getting a major overhaul and being converted to the procedural system. Hopefully we can get a good amount of the updates to existing content in some earlier test builds to make them a bit more enticing.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

14/11/22

Good progress on the pathfinding this week, we're building the multi-layered 3D maps, it's fast and automatic, and they look very tidy. We're now adapting the pathfinding to take advantage of this and we expect that even putting aside the new features it supports, it will immediately result in a much smoother experience for general navigation and movement.

We've also been going through our planned QoL changes, we have a long list of these, but we think there's a few that are particularly important as they remove some fiddly or tedious aspects of gameplay and controls that can be quite detrimental. Some are pathfinding related, but we also have things related to moving objects, comparing equipped items, interacting with small icons and objects, playing dead after a KO, queuing some inputs and more.

Comparing equipped items is a problem we've been juggling for a while. Unlike in other games, items don't always have direct equivalents and sometimes replace multiple items if equipped, so the solution isn't as obvious, and we still want to keep things minimalist and unintrusive. We do think this is important, the layered equipment makes the process difficult and also very confusing for new players who end up just ignoring important upgrades. This should be a fun and rewarding part of the game, not tedious and confusing.

Along these same lines we'd also like to see companions being more autonomous in managing their items. We talked recently about expanding AI to be aware of more things surrounding them than just other characters, which is an important step. However, we realised that before NPCs can search the environment themselves, we could also have them search bodies and containers after the player has, making use of what they left behind and perhaps letting them know if they missed something useful.

In general we do want to make the gameplay experience more streamlined and comfortable so you can focus on the fun stuff, with solutions that don't feel hand-holdy or gamey, but just more comfortable and intuitive, and that can contribute to immersion rather than detract from it.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I'm not sure what they changed, but combat got a lot better. Clipping is gone, limbs no longer tangle, and I don't trip over every little thing on the ground. Overall movement is very fluid. The AI seems to be much better too. Aggressive quarterstaff wielders are the bane of my Aspirant matches. I have a team of 3 that are each up to expert. Guiarsame is my wondrous upgrade from the trusty pointed bill that carried me up the ranks. I have a lot of fun with the Valour combat crushing peasants with it, or the Voulge. I love pole-arms in all games, and this really lets me appreciate their reach, versatility, and inertia.

I'm having some trouble with remise though, which sucks against aggressive shield users. Thrust is also tricky, but very gratifying when they land. I've never stuck with arena mode long enough to get fully kitted out in plate. With how horrendously expensive Expert & Master gear is, it will be a long time yet.

 

[BruceVC]

I'm not sure what they changed, but combat got a lot better. Clipping is gone, limbs no longer tangle, and I don't trip over every little thing on the ground. Overall movement is very fluid. The AI seems to be much better too. Aggressive quarterstaff wielders are the bane of my Aspirant matches. I have a team of 3 that are each up to expert. Guiarsame is my wondrous upgrade from the trusty pointed bill that carried me up the ranks. I have a lot of fun with the Valour combat crushing peasants with it, or the Voulge. I love pole-arms in all games, and this really lets me appreciate their reach, versatility, and inertia.

I'm having some trouble with remise though, which sucks against aggressive shield users. Thrust is also tricky, but very gratifying when they land. I'm really hoping that I will be able to get the expert. I've never stuck with arena mode long enough to get fully kitted out in plate. With how horrendously expensive Expert & Master gear is, it will be a long time yet.

What weapon and strategy do you use to fight the Golems on level 6, Im near the end of the game but Im really battling with them

 

[Technomancer]

What weapon and strategy do you use to fight the Golems on level 6, Im near the end of the game but Im really battling with them

There is a really powerful armor hidden in that level. Powered armor essentially. Empowers your speed and strikes while maxing out protection. In market sewers you can also find two bottles of armor potion. With these two items you will have an advantage. For weapon pole hammers work best.

 

[BruceVC]

What weapon and strategy do you use to fight the Golems on level 6, Im near the end of the game but Im really battling with them

There is a really powerful armor hidden in that level. Powered armored essentially. Empowers your speed and strikes while maxing out protection. In market sewers you can also find two bottles of armor potion. With these two items you will have an advantage. For weapon pole hammers work best.

Thats great feedback, I read some tips on fighting golems and I have found and I am going to use a pole hammer. I just need to get familiar with it because I never used it before

I also found the flanged mace and I charged it using the blue crystal