Devlog 28

# ------ Announcements

## Sprint

1st sprint, of the 4th cycle. Chapter 00/Pass 03. New cycle!

Play-tests are always welcome open. If you want to help me with your feedback, please contact me :)

Note: I've messed the version numbers from 0.5.1 onwards. They should roughly indicate something like "XXX.Cycle.Chapter.Build" but somehow i messed it up. Also XXX is not very indicative, at the moment i've decided to increase to 1. 1... usually is considered a finished product, but not for me, i want to use it as a "milestone". At first i considered using the year. But it has been about 2 or 3 years, and it's hard to line up with chapters' end times. I thought about using the Cycle as major, but i feel there should be another metric in between. In terms of cycle it would be at version 4.0 which seems odd. So i'll use the major as a sort of "milestone". After 3 full cycles, and almost 3 years, i think the game deserve to jump to 1.0. So i will go with 1 for now. If something else major happens, i might increase again. Keep in mind my versions and numbers are 0 based. So even if the current version uses 0 for the chapter, it refers to the 1st chapter. Enjoy.

**Explanation and showcase**

# ------ Game

## General

NEW: * Added force feedback! * Added "ppl"! This is a bit of a stub, and still work in progress.

Improve: * Several optimizations and refactors. * * Adjusted scalability for `r.Forward.LightGridPixelSize`, `r.Lumen.DiffuseIndirect.Allow`. * * Optimized scalability for all niagara systems (including ghosts). With different configurations. * * Optimized lamps, shadows, lights attenuation, light animation interval and duration, sunlight. * * Optimized vsm invalidation, clipmap levels, max wpo distance. * * Optimized materials blending and inheritance. * * Optimized fog volumes, disable local fog volumes. * Several fixes. * * Bra collisions, piano keys, piano mesh, hints, screwdriver, kitchen light, plate fade. * * Possible crash when reloading the game during a hint or inventory animation.

Known issues: * The phone on ch0 doesn't activate. * The ppl don't disappear, and appear too soon. * Books have disappeared, i'm adding them back one room at a time. * Flashing during chapter transitions (it's an ue thing).

## Settings

NEW: * More feature flags. ForceFeedback, Ray traced shadows, Dust. * Added "Back" button. * Implemented new key rebind flow and mechanisms. Some rework. * Added a couple of `SetDefaults` buttons. Quite some work.

Improve: * Fixed fps limit setting getting reset. Improved how fps is applied. Added option for smooth fps. * Improved savestate flow. Fixed a few issues (Inventory getting cleared, double loading, ...). * Improved default key bindings. * Improved/fixed some ui elements not working well.

## Art

NEW: * Dust particles. * Ppl. * Fire particles on stove.

Improve: * Reworked flashback material a bit. * Optimized clouds fb, now supports nanite. * Improved central target icon. * Blur target fps. * Adjusted lights, shadows, auto exposure, distance fields. * * Some work around distance fields and their shadows. * Rework card 0 "Range" effect. * Updated ghost based on fb. * Updated toy (not yet in game). * Reworked all materials to improve performance! * * Improved fading and masking settings. * Improved character name readability (brightness). * Fixed streetlamps volumetric shadows. * Removed "speed" post process.

## Chapters

All:

CH00

* Keep polishing and extending chapter 0. Dialogs, interactions, etc.

CH01

CH02: CH03: CH04:

# ------- Subsystems and plugins

## All

> Public repos for the plugins are updated on a later date, according to (my) availability.

## Flashbacks

New:

## Dialogs

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/Diags

LifeDev: * Added, fixed, removed a bunch of dialogs. * Fixed disable inventory during dialogs.

Plugin: * Improved the code and ui flow. * Added ability to auto-skip dialogs while holding a button.

## Interactions (and animations)

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/Interact

LifeDev: * Interactable hanger and toy. not yet in game. * Puzzles: * * Fixed race conditions. * * Added `SetStateNow`, force feedback, and others. * * Fixed word cube's hinting.

Plugin: * Reworked and improved the flow for interaction hovering detection. (`CInteractor::DoStart`) * Implemented "Look" action. Added sfx, force feedback, delegates, and stuff. * Added force feedback for locked, unlock, trigger, and look. * Improved `SetHidden`.

## Inventory / Flags / Teach

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/Inventory

LifeDev:

Teach (NUX): * Rework to use only one data table. * Added ability to use actual input names, and other variables. * Rework the way the current input type is handled, as well as the data types. * Change the message input automatically when using the `UTPInput`. And re-show on change. * `ShowNow` was made public.

Plugin: * Added `UTPInput` Player Input with a delegate for input type change (gamepad, keyboard, etc.). * Moved inventory select inputs, to the plugin, instead of character.

## JSignificance

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/JSig

• Fixed registering during cooking. * Added ability to set initial significance, and change it during runtime manually.

## JUtils

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/JUtils

New: * Ability to change the shader batch mode. Allow for dynamic optimization on loading. * Added `WorldToScreenUV`, `WindForceFix`, "Interleaved Gradient Noise" (based on Acerola's stuff). * Added `PlayInEditor`, `GetMutableDefault`.

Improves: * `CamFade`, `DepthFadeMask`. * Moved input stuff to new `JUtilsInput`. * * Added a few things, like `ResetMapsAll`, `ResetMap`, input types.

## Sounds

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/Sounds

LifeDev: * Added a bunch of sounds. * Fixed heater sound. * Optimized loading settings for sfx sound class.

Plugin: * Optimized some components with `AutoManageAttachment`.

## Story

https://codeberg.org/jerobarraco/Story

LifeDev: * Added heartbeat force feedback on ghosts. * Fixed destroying ghosts after step.

Plugin: * Improve load wait on bg thread. * Change shader batch mode on load. * Added force feedback option on steps. With optional loop flag. * Avoid double loading steps.

# ------ Links

Play on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/2450230/LifeDev/

Forums https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/solodev-lifedev-my-game-about-overcoming-cptsd/1172122

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jerobarraco

Mastodon: https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@jerobarraco

Support on patreon ("one time" also available) https://www.patreon.com/c/jerobarraco

Support on liberapay https://liberapay.com/nande

Support on Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/jerobarraco