Devlog 18

Hi hello its the FIRST of the month and its time for another Devlog. Theres quite a lot of new stuff, parts of which i cant show yet because i dont wanna spoil the entire game.

In the previous Devlog ive been working on a lot of different Areas and Features but for this one, almost all of the progress lies in Level 3, as part of my new:

Gameplan

I now actually have a broad plan on the timeline to finish the game, as well some stuff written down on the scope and ending of the game.

For example this month ive been working on Level 3 exclusively, for April i will create the Final Level / Ending to the game

Level 3

(previously i called it level 2.5)

This is where most of my efforts went to. It is now pretty far along in completion. The main things missing are polish, some decoration, SFX and of course all the lore.

I originally wanted this to be wayy smaller (hence why i called it level 2.5) but i kinda overscoped..

Testing Track

In the last devlog i said that i want this area to switch around between inside and outside the testing track, but most of the gameplay ended up being in here.

Steam post imageTheres still some sections outside but its mostly "transitionary" areas but more about them later.

The gameplay is finished now, after reworking some stuff that i didnt like that much. I hope its properly paced now with the new elements being introduced.

Visuals for the actual testing tracks are still lacking post processing, plants and all the polish.

New Gameplay Additions

Quick intermission about the new stuff in these testing chambers

The Cube

• its a cube

Of course this cube can be placed on buttons which open specific doors.

Steam post imageDONT call it a portal clone yet

Notably theres also a new design language with how the testing tracks use Signs, Colors and other warnings (theres way more random "guiding lines") which ill probably translate to the testing chamber in Level 2.

Steam post imageThe cables should (hopefully) give the player information on what the buttons actually activate.

Timer

• It counts down

Steam post imageAnd of course theres also the new launchpads.

Backrooms

Similarly to the Testing Track in Level 2, there are "Backrooms" which you can explore, although in this case you actually have to traverse them.

Steam post imageSteam post image

I cant show it all yet, but this "area" is probably the least finished out of all since i still need to decorate the actual hallways and stuff.

Outside Section(s)

Like previously mentioned, these now mainly serve as transitionary areas to get from point A to B.

After finishing the Testing Track you can now take this (maintenance) Elevator to reach the mysterious tower.

Along with that, the "Bridge" now also has a proper model, along with a few tweaks to lighting and VFX.

Big Tower

At the end of the Elevator, there is this small structure through which you can enter the Tower/Bridge.

The first section inside is mostly comprised of these small claustrophobic hallways.

After that you can drop down here.

And finally see this "thing".

The gameplay for this section will probably be minimal - im also being intentionally vague to not spoil stuff.

Dropper Section

At the start theres now some clouds placed around, along with some better VFX and particles.

Theres also a lot of these... "towers" placed around at the start now.

The biggest change is probably (yet again) post processing & lighting.

Previously:

Level 4 & 5

Although most of my effort went into Level 3, theres still a bit of cool stuff here.

The Bottom

I had a pretty cool idea for the gameplay in this area, which involves activating an old transportation line (idk what to call it) so you can get into one of those hanging container thingies and progress to the next area.

Im still trying to figure out the specifics but for now there is a script which dynamically populates a spline with containers and moves them accordingly. The containers themselves are Physics Objects which can swing around and stuff.

For the design of this area, id like it to look like irl oil platforms / oil infrastructure - although im terrible at modelling so i might have to scratch that idea

???

???

Interactions & Polish

New Creature

Random idea inspired by Dune Helicopter and dragonflies. Idk what to call him yet but you will probably be able to rip his wings off

I was also thinking on how i could get them to feel a bit more believable instead of stupid NPCs so I gave them a simple reactive thing where they look at things the player picks up. When picked up they stop flapping their wings and they only twitch a bit which i think is cool as well.

Check this patreon post for a video: https://www.patreon.com/posts/150440743

Levers

Hopefully satisfying to interact with

They... well they can trigger things, like an airlock or starting an elevator. I might put some in the first 2 levels retroactively, since I think they can make the pretty boring gameplay there a bit more satisfying.

Doors

Cant show a video but TRUST me - they can be opened.

Im thinking of adding some of these around the game so you are kinda incentivized to check if the door is open or not. Its also satisfying to interact with them since they are physics objects.

Other

UI

Nothing concrete yet but im thinking of reworking parts of the UI to look a bit cooler. My main inspirations would be Evangelion and Marathon - basically a more in universe and "functional" / diegetic UI, tho it will probably just end up looking like a watered down version of that (im not a great designer)

Ill also probably change the terminal font

Optimisation

Im currently experimenting with switching from forward to deferred rendering which could (?) improve performance by a lot, and fix the issue with lights popping in and out on lower quality settings. This is still very experimental tho.

The advantage of deferred rendering is that adding more lights doesnt scale performance multiplicatively with scene complexity, but additively - meaning that this could greatly reduce setpass calls, a big bottleneck in many bases.

Tldr: deferred can handle more lights with less performance cost

Of course there are also downsides, for starters theres a small overhead from just using deferred but that should be negligible. The real issue arises from the fact that deferred cannot render transparency. This means that transparent objects (including particles) have to be rendered in a separate forward pass and then added to the image.

This CAN be a problem if there are a lot of them.

And if youre asking "why isnt he just using forward+" - i dont have access to it lmao

Music

Im STILL struggling..

Thank you for reading

-Stefaaan!!