Happy Independence Day! I usually like giving updates around this time and this year is no exception. As mentioned before, this next update is a fairly large one, involving the complete graphic overhaul of the game. 

Slow Progress

You might be wondering why things have been a bit slow since the last update and why this update has been taking so long. The answer is really down to two factors. First, I recently graduated from university and have been spending the last two months working on filling out job applications and engaging in job searching. Unfortunately, things have been fairly difficult (as I am sure it is for many other individuals out there) which has made things longer than it should. The good news is that things MIGHT change soon. We’ll have to wait and see, but until then I essentially need to split my attention for working on Unsung Heroes.

The second issue is just the scale of this update. There is quite a lot that needs to be changed in this update and it has become increasingly clear that I likely will need to downsize this update in order to get it out in a timely manner. 

What I can say is this; progress has been made on the update and the wait should not be too long. Once I have ironed out the job situation, I should be able to go to having a reasonable work schedule where I can properly allocate time and focus on working on the game (it may even be better than when I was still studying in university). This update is fairly large, but the next updates should be much more manageable and should arrive more periodically. With that all being said, here is what has changed since the last devlog.

New Particle Effects

Weapons will now create bullet holes that kick up dirt and dust. Shooting bodies of water will create water splashes. These were both present in the original build of the game, but were temporarily removed during the first half of alpha 1. New to the game, however, are the new blood wounds that will appear when shooting at an enemy soldier (or allied soldier if friendly fire is on). This will add a little more responsiveness to the overall combat of the game.

Unlike before, all of these particles are using Unity’s VFX graph, which allows for higher performance and physic-based particle movement. These particle effects also use object-pooling, allowing one’s computer to save resources when spawning particles which should also aid in performance.

Graphics Menu

As mentioned in the last update, I really wanted to get a dedicated graphics menu to allow players to adjust more detailed graphics options. This has been fully implemented into the game, allowing players to use either preset graphic settings (low, medium, high, max) or set custom graphics settings. Players will be able to change texture quality, draw distance, and post-processing effects. They will also have the ability to apply anti-aliasing for smoother looking edges, which was something that was not available before.

One thing to especially note is the “detail draw distance” option. This controls how far grass is rendered. Since grass is now far more detailed and higher poly than before, this happens to be the real source of performance slowdown currently. Though by default, the game will be set to high graphics, you will likely be able to run the game at higher settings if you lower the detail draw distance. It is highly recommended to play around with this setting first to maximize performance and game quality.

Finishing up Guantanamo Bay & the Menu

In the last devlog, I was nearly finished with the Guantanamo Bay map. Since then, I have added a few minor features such as ground rocks around some of the beaches and a few ferns and bushes to add a little more landscaping diversity. I have also finished implementing out-of-bound zones to the map that are also visible in the map view.

Due to time restraints, I was unable to make changes to the other two maps. However, I did have enough time to make changes to the main menu background which looks far more detailed than before.

Just for the sake of comparison, here is what that scene looked like in the original version.

These changes are thanks in part to HDRP allowing for far greater lighting and post-processing (including bloom, white balance, and volumetric fog), as well as the new photogrammetry nature models taken from Unity’s “Book of the Dead” demo. These new nature models have built-in LODs making them far more performant than the tree models that were previously in the game, while still looking far more detailed. They also are affected by wind properties, which can really liven up a scene to make it feel more real.

At this point, I feel like the game’s visuals are only held back a little by some of the older soldier and weapon models, some of which have already been changed or that will be changed in the future (not in this update, though). I’m excited to share with you all the graphics overhaul coming to the remaining two maps when that is completed.

The Final Stretch for Version 0.1.121

There were a few other changes I was originally planning to make for this update. I wanted to create a few debugging tools in-game for the soldier AI (since there are a few bugs present with some of the AI behaviors) and to do a full redesign of the main menu UI. However, this update has taken way too long to make. Therefore, I have downscaled the remaining scope of this project to be simply this; finish the remaining two maps and make sure the build is playable (sometimes, bugs appear in the build that don’t appear in-engine). Making changes to these maps shouldn’t take too long as the design of the map will not change, but rather assets will be swapped, a few extra details and the map’s boundaries will be added, and some time will be spent tweaking the lighting.

As mentioned in the beginning, this really is dependent on my job situation and how much time I can take to get work done. However, this update is long past the half-way point of development so it should be sooner rather than later. After this update, there is only one more major content update in alpha 1 to add the remaining features that were missing in this update and to add a few extra quality of life features (such as localization support). Following the release of that update, there will be a few hotfixes (which should arrive in much faster succession than these updates have) to fix bugs with the AI and anything else the community reports one. Once that is all said and done, I can finally begin working on alpha 2 and the Steam Early-Access launch. Alpha 1 has been a long journey, but things are definitely wrapping up. Thank you all for your patience and I am beyond excited to share news with you all again when hopefully this update will be finally ready.

You can also view this devlog on the Venomic Games Website: https://venomicgames.com/?p=765