Dev Report #2 - 'Remastering' the game in Whiteout Engine 2
Attention Republic soldiers, In this second Incursion Dev Report, I'd like to share some of the exciting stuff that's happening with the game, my progress so far, and plans for the future.
In this update4
Full notes
Full Incursion: Reforged update
Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.
What changed
0 fixes5 additions0 changes0 removals
UI and audio
Maps
Gameplay
Performance
Compatibility
addedWHAT IS WHITEOUT ENGINE?Although development was always focused on the game Incursion, any tools/systems I made along the way I spent extra time & thought to ensure they could be generic, modular, and independent as to be able to add them to the engine & re-use them for future projects. For example, when programming a game all logic/UI would usually go toward the rules of that game. However, for this project, knowing I wanted to re-use the engine, I made sure to separate the game-specific logic into gamemodes. This way in the future should I ever want to change, remove, or add entirely different game rules & logic, rather than having to chase down the various parts of the project responsible for that code, I can simply add/remove/change gamemodes.
addedWHAT IS WHITEOUT ENGINE 2?A couple months prior to the release of Incursion, I had thought I was finished working on it (in hindsight, it definitely needed a lot more work!). So I copied the project (branched off), deleted all the content specific to Incursion and focused on improving & working on the engine itself. This was great as it let me improve major parts of the engine without needing to worry about breaking existing content. I ended up rewriting or improving so many different features & aspects of the engine that I thought it was appropriate to call it "Whiteout Engine 2". Some examples are, improved gamemode logic, expanded weapon system to allow programming of different weapons other than the standard weapon logic, added faction support which eventually led to PvP support, adding dynamic crosshairs, adding playtest systems so I can playtest maps/gamemodes without having to go through the main menu, simplifying & adding mapping tools, automating more tedious aspects of development, along with various bug fixes. improving code, and much more.
addedPORTING THE GAMEWith the release of Incursion, I think I've identified some key points of improvement for adding long-term replayability to the game. But it would involve reprogramming some pretty big sections. I stopped to think about it, and I asked, what portion of Whiteout Engine was actually Incursion? Stripped of all Incursion-specific content, the engine still has its weapon system, its AI, its gamemodes, networking, all of its main features. I figured that only about 5% of the programming was specific to the Incursion game (i.e the gamemode & special enemies), the rest was still features/parts of the engine itself. So there'd be little to reprogram, which means most of the work could be focused on programming the new features I want, adding content, and polishing.
addedPORTING THE GAMEThe updated engine is now running Unity's High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) which allows me to achieve greater graphical fidelity than before. Working on the port, it started with stripping out the old features from the engine I didn't want anymore (for example, I've gotten rid of class-specific XP and instead made so you earn XP from any class that you can spend how you want). After that I started writing new features and porting models/animations over from the old engine. Except now armed with the improved tools & features of Whiteout Engine 2, I'm able to make them better than before. For example, zombies now feature greater model variety & different animations. This new system of variations has also let me work more easily on new zombies such as crawlers.
addedMOVING FORWARDWorking with Whiteout Engine 2 is a blessing. Since this isn't creating a game from the ground up, but rather working with an existing framework with weapons, AI, etc, as well as the fact that much of the content can be ported over (i.e enemy visuals) progress has been made very quickly and I'm hopeful to have a beta branch of the update within the next few weeks. Assuming that goes well, then pushing the update to everyone. Remember, this also isn't just a port to better looking graphics or to a new engine, but changing some big systems in the game to try and improve things. If you want to stay up-to-date with the latest updates on the reforged update, I recommend joining the Discord.
Incursion: Reforged changes
addedAlthough development was always focused on the game Incursion, any tools/systems I made along the way I spent extra time & thought to ensure they could be generic, modular, and independent as to be able to add them to the engine & re-use them for future projects. For example, when programming a game all logic/UI would usually go toward the rules of that game. However, for this project, knowing I wanted to re-use the engine, I made sure to separate the game-specific logic into gamemodes. This way in the future should I ever want to change, remove, or add entirely different game rules & logic, rather than having to chase down the various parts of the project responsible for that code, I can simply add/remove/change gamemodes.
addedA couple months prior to the release of Incursion, I had thought I was finished working on it (in hindsight, it definitely needed a lot more work!). So I copied the project (branched off), deleted all the content specific to Incursion and focused on improving & working on the engine itself. This was great as it let me improve major parts of the engine without needing to worry about breaking existing content. I ended up rewriting or improving so many different features & aspects of the engine that I thought it was appropriate to call it "Whiteout Engine 2". Some examples are, improved gamemode logic, expanded weapon system to allow programming of different weapons other than the standard weapon logic, added faction support which eventually led to PvP support, adding dynamic crosshairs, adding playtest systems so I can playtest maps/gamemodes without having to go through the main menu, simplifying & adding mapping tools, automating more tedious aspects of development, along with various bug fixes. improving code, and much more.
addedWith the release of Incursion, I think I've identified some key points of improvement for adding long-term replayability to the game. But it would involve reprogramming some pretty big sections. I stopped to think about it, and I asked, what portion of Whiteout Engine was actually Incursion? Stripped of all Incursion-specific content, the engine still has its weapon system, its AI, its gamemodes, networking, all of its main features. I figured that only about 5% of the programming was specific to the Incursion game (i.e the gamemode & special enemies), the rest was still features/parts of the engine itself. So there'd be little to reprogram, which means most of the work could be focused on programming the new features I want, adding content, and polishing.
addedThe updated engine is now running Unity's High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) which allows me to achieve greater graphical fidelity than before. Working on the port, it started with stripping out the old features from the engine I didn't want anymore (for example, I've gotten rid of class-specific XP and instead made so you earn XP from any class that you can spend how you want). After that I started writing new features and porting models/animations over from the old engine. Except now armed with the improved tools & features of Whiteout Engine 2, I'm able to make them better than before. For example, zombies now feature greater model variety & different animations. This new system of variations has also let me work more easily on new zombies such as crawlers.
addedWorking with Whiteout Engine 2 is a blessing. Since this isn't creating a game from the ground up, but rather working with an existing framework with weapons, AI, etc, as well as the fact that much of the content can be ported over (i.e enemy visuals) progress has been made very quickly and I'm hopeful to have a beta branch of the update within the next few weeks. Assuming that goes well, then pushing the update to everyone. Remember, this also isn't just a port to better looking graphics or to a new engine, but changing some big systems in the game to try and improve things. If you want to stay up-to-date with the latest updates on the reforged update, I recommend joining the Discord.
Attention Republic soldiers, In this second Incursion Dev Report, I'd like to share some of the exciting stuff that's happening with the game, my progress so far, and plans for the future. This will require a little bit of explanation but bare with me because it's all good news.
WHAT IS WHITEOUT ENGINE?
Whiteout Engine is a series of development tools & game features I wrote on top of Unity as a way to develop games more quickly. It's not something I'd normally recommend, but having programmed many games up to this point, I think I was ready to do it & it'd be a massive help with more quickly making games in the future. It began shortly after starting on Incursion where I wanted to develop a first person framework that would allow me to more quickly prototype & create games without having to program everything from the ground up every time.
Although development was always focused on the game Incursion, any tools/systems I made along the way I spent extra time & thought to ensure they could be generic, modular, and independent as to be able to add them to the engine & re-use them for future projects. For example, when programming a game all logic/UI would usually go toward the rules of that game. However, for this project, knowing I wanted to re-use the engine, I made sure to separate the game-specific logic into gamemodes. This way in the future should I ever want to change, remove, or add entirely different game rules & logic, rather than having to chase down the various parts of the project responsible for that code, I can simply add/remove/change gamemodes.
WHAT IS WHITEOUT ENGINE 2?
A couple months prior to the release of Incursion, I had thought I was finished working on it (in hindsight, it definitely needed a lot more work!). So I copied the project (branched off), deleted all the content specific to Incursion and focused on improving & working on the engine itself. This was great as it let me improve major parts of the engine without needing to worry about breaking existing content. I ended up rewriting or improving so many different features & aspects of the engine that I thought it was appropriate to call it "Whiteout Engine 2". Some examples are, improved gamemode logic, expanded weapon system to allow programming of different weapons other than the standard weapon logic, added faction support which eventually led to PvP support, adding dynamic crosshairs, adding playtest systems so I can playtest maps/gamemodes without having to go through the main menu, simplifying & adding mapping tools, automating more tedious aspects of development, along with various bug fixes. improving code, and much more.
PORTING THE GAME
With the release of Incursion, I think I've identified some key points of improvement for adding long-term replayability to the game. But it would involve reprogramming some pretty big sections. I stopped to think about it, and I asked, what portion of Whiteout Engine was actually Incursion? Stripped of all Incursion-specific content, the engine still has its weapon system, its AI, its gamemodes, networking, all of its main features. I figured that only about 5% of the programming was specific to the Incursion game (i.e the gamemode & special enemies), the rest was still features/parts of the engine itself. So there'd be little to reprogram, which means most of the work could be focused on programming the new features I want, adding content, and polishing.
So with this in mind, I began work on porting Incursion to Whiteout Engine 2!
The updated engine is now running Unity's High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) which allows me to achieve greater graphical fidelity than before. Working on the port, it started with stripping out the old features from the engine I didn't want anymore (for example, I've gotten rid of class-specific XP and instead made so you earn XP from any class that you can spend how you want). After that I started writing new features and porting models/animations over from the old engine. Except now armed with the improved tools & features of Whiteout Engine 2, I'm able to make them better than before. For example, zombies now feature greater model variety & different animations. This new system of variations has also let me work more easily on new zombies such as crawlers.
MOVING FORWARD
Working with Whiteout Engine 2 is a blessing. Since this isn't creating a game from the ground up, but rather working with an existing framework with weapons, AI, etc, as well as the fact that much of the content can be ported over (i.e enemy visuals) progress has been made very quickly and I'm hopeful to have a beta branch of the update within the next few weeks. Assuming that goes well, then pushing the update to everyone. Remember, this also isn't just a port to better looking graphics or to a new engine, but changing some big systems in the game to try and improve things. If you want to stay up-to-date with the latest updates on the reforged update, I recommend joining the Discord.
