Graffiti Bombing: Development News 2022 #1

If you joined the GB playtest on Steam - I hope you've been having fun, and are enjoying the improved experience and paint system updates. It's been great to see some of your cool graffiti creations and gather valuable player feedback via the GB Discord server.

The playtest is still open - so if you haven't already joined and would like to give it a try, you can sign-up from the GB Steam store page and start playing right away. The current playtest version is the fully unlocked experience, as it is right now. So it's a good opportunity to try out the game and get up in VR for free!

Why so quiet, what's been going on?

Yes, it's been a long while since I posted any updates to Steam, however work still continues on the game. Getting GB back into playtest in 2021 took a lot more effort than expected, including some major updates that we had to do to the V1 paint system.

That said, I think it was worth it. Feedback on the improved V1 paint system has been really positive overall. Performance-wise it's a big improvement and it's now possible to paint lag free mostly, even on lower end rigs that could not handle the game before.

However- even though the current GB playtest experience is much better, I still feel the game is not ready for releasing back into Early Access (EA). So my current plan is to leave the playtest open, until I get the game into a more solid state, one that is ready to release back onto Steam EA.

Image above - new player home entrance through the sewers.

Development road-map for 2022

I've been gathering player feedback on the playtest, adding items to a list for development. There are also some major updates of my own in the works, that I think will make a big difference to the overall experience, making it more stable and fun in VR.

Here is a list of what's being worked on right now:

• Completely new VR system, for more immersive movement and interactions.

• Reworking the player models hand system, re-rigged and improved physics.

• Interactive objects support multiple grab points and full gravity grab action.

• Re-working paint tools like the paint roller to be more user friendly, less glitchy.

• New inventory system will let you store a lot more objects, and easier to use.

• New interactable objects to stack and climb, also ladders and platforms.

• Integrate new / URP render pipeline to improve performance and customization.

• Rebuild paint surface shaders and integrate system for new render pipeline.

• New lighting system for more physically correct baked lighting with specular.

• Relighting all scenes, plus making the terrain lighting mixed for better performance.

• Day / night improvements with new environment FX and street lamps etc. at night.

• New terrain vegetation rendering system, for better quality / performance.

• New player home area, first version that will be improved / added to over time.

• New menu system for game setup, quality and other settings.

• New ways to play the game, open world roaming vs. single level painting.

• Various minor bugs and improvements gathered from the playtest feedback.

Wow, there is a lot there! Yes there is - but the good news is that it's all doable, and that work actually started in November last year. So I've already completed some items from the list above, and am making good progress on the others.

These updates will roll out incrementally over the next 3-6 months, as there is a lot of changes happening. So it will likely be released on an experimental Steam branch to start with.

So this is why I'm now starting to update the Steam community again, and will be posting development updates on a monthly basis going forward. To keep you all updated on progress, as we get closer to releasing a new playtest version.

Also - depending how things go I may also start to record some development videos, to give previews and sneak peaks on the new features and updates as they get closer to completion. More info coming on this soon!

Image above - new player home area! (WIP)

Social Channel Changes

The Graffiti Bombing presence on Twitter has been quiet for some time now. Previously I was posting updates on the Urban Weaponry account. However moving forward, I'll be switching to use a dedicated Twitter account for Graffiti Bombing, which you can find @ user GB_Wildstyle.

Community

As always - you can interact with us via the Steam community features. We do read all posts, and reply where and when it makes sense.

The Graffiti Bombing group on Discord is also open. So you can jump on there if you want to speak with the development team directly, or meet other potential players and graffiti artists.

Discord server: https://discord.gg/ZVkByeVyQG

// Wildstyle @ Graffiti Bombing