As the week comes to an end, the team is hard at work making improvements to the crafting system. We discussed adding a few new recipes to the list of craftable items, and talked about different ways players could discover new recipes. We’re working on the drag and drop system to shake out all the bugs, and introducing sorting options to make the player inventory screen more manageable for those who believe in leaving no trinket, or piece of garbage behind. In addition, Nelson is making it easier for players to see what items in their inventory are equipped.
We briefly talked about game merchandise, and a few different Hawaiian-esque products. Jesse showed off the work he’s completed on the Paddle Creek Games bumper trailer, and it’s coming along really well. We talked about making a few audio changes, and possible animation tweaks. The web team fixed some bugs, and made some layout improvements too. The group discussed the problems we’ve been having with the Veil News Network (VNN) live stream on the front page. We’ve made sure that a prerecorded video of the game area plays when the live feed is down.
With a landscape as beautiful as Lahaina’s, we want lighting, and a weather system that is equally striking. Few things can be as scary as hunting something, or being hunted by something, in the fog. The team is working out some of the issues we’ve had with the rain and mist, to make it feel more realistic, and make it a potential factor in gameplay. We want the nights to feel dark and ominous, with players never sure what might be lurking in the brush just ahead, but we don’t want it so dark that you can’t move around without running into trees, or falling into a ravine. To that end, we’re adjusting light sources, and making sure the stars are bright enough to allow players to operate at night.
All of our loot drops are ready, and they’re being tested in the game to work out any remaining problems. Soon, players will be able to harness their urge to shoot, ambush, maim, and kill for certain rewards, not just a general love of mayhem. We’ve added more audio to our monsters so they sound as gruesome as they look, and discussed giving certain individuals in a group extra abilities, like using ranged attacks to keep players on their toes.
With the Wash Bench design complete, the team is working on a 3D model so players will be able to repair/clean clothing, and maybe even change the color of something down the road. Sorry, tie-dye lovers, we don’t have any plans, as of yet, that would allow you to set up shop. The Thorcon Power Plant and the Lahaina Armory are being placed on the map, and the team is working on incorporating some basic gameplay elements around them. They’re also adding placeholder lockout tiles around the border of the map to let players know that they’ve gone as far as they can go in one direction. We plan on eventually using natural boundaries like the ocean, lava fields, and cliffs as well as impenetrable ruins, poison clouds, and radioactive fog to mark the boundaries.
Since we stripped down the map, and were rebuilding much of it during the last sprint, we talked about areas of exploration that we could add to the mountains, and more remote locations. The group discussed, quarries, canyons, mines, and other places to loot and pillage. We also briefly discussed clearing land, and possible base construction at some point in the future.
Finally, we’ve finished adding the improved plants and road remnants to the map, and we’re ready to push the whole thing from staging to production. The new environmental work, and foliage looks absolutely incredible as you can see from these screenshots below.
We’ll be back with more next week.
