Update log
Full GROUND BRANCH update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Repeated intro
Hello!
Extracted changes
- Maps
- Gameplay
We're back with another Intel Report filled with dev news and sneak peeks for our upcoming release GROUND BRANCH V1036.
Today we'll go over some details on new game systems and mechanics — including AI — as well as another map reveal, some brand-new character art for a new enemy faction, and finally some more player customization options. Let's get to it.
Upcoming systems and mechanics
Though we aren't able to do a proper visual showcase of these updates just yet, we thought it would be nice to take the time to talk about some of the changes and additions currently being worked on by our programmers for game systems and mechanics.
Here are some recent developments on the coding front:
AI
In V1036, we'll be bringing significant improvements to enemy AI beyond new art assets.
💡 New dev team member Zachary Ledbetter is working on our enemy AI while Chris pivots over to focus on the friendly AI and Extraction (aka PvE Hostage Rescue — more on that soon!).
Grenades
In addition to AI grenade usage being reined in — no more spam, with better judgment on when and where to throw — enemies will also have a dedicated "flee" state when overwhelmed or suppressed, taking cover intelligently both indoors and outdoors. Smoke grenades are being more fluidly integrated into AI behavior, ensuring they're thrown as enemies move into cover rather than awkwardly interrupting fleeing or other actions.
Awareness
The enemy AI is also being programmed to more contextually and accurately react to player presence, refraining from all rushing to the source of shots and instead holding position more often. This will allow their hearing detection range to be increased considerably, mitigating the now-common situation where enemies remain oblivious to firefights that are happening at pistol-shooting ranges.
Enemies will also react to being shot by suppressed weapons when far enough away for the shot itself to not be heard. Even if they don't hear the shot, they will still run to cover and begin their cautious-and-alert logic trees, further improving our stealth gameplay to be more rewarding and less fish-in-the-barrel hunting.
A cartel member on upcoming map Border — new faction assets to be revealed in the future!
Coordination
Coordination between bots is also being improved in a few ways.
Dead bodies will no longer be repeatedly searched when discovered — once a fallen AI's body is inspected, it is marked as "discovered" to all enemies. No more conga lines of first responders.
New to V1036 AI is also the ability to detect when lights have been disabled or shot out. An AI patrol will come out to inspect the breaker and turn it back on. If it's been shot out, the patrol will alert and notify their allies as well.
Hit reactions
We'll also be introducing hit reactions, i.e. flinching animations for when characters are shot but not killed — during which most actions (such as returning fire) will be interrupted.
In this first implementation, hit reactions will be 4-directional for upper body hits, with an additional animation for lower body hits. They will also be contextual, not necessarily happening with every shot, and depending on ballistics aspects such as caliber (larger rounds will be more likely to generate hit reactions than smaller ones).
Door locks and types
The long-awaited door lock system is finally making an appearance in our next release. How they work is simple: when a player goes to interact with the door, they
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