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The month of May has been quite productive. We want to start this month's update out with a big shoutout to all the players new and old for their help, reporting bugs, and suggestions.
Before we dive let’s begin with announcing our next scheduled patch date. Monday, June the 15th we will be launching our next patch push. The server will come down at 10:00 AM EST for approximately four hours. We’ll broadcast our normal warning on the server before bringing it down. Once it is live we’ll post an update to let you know.
We have been able to do a lot over the last month on both the island and the mainland. So let us get started with updating you on the progress for the next game update, the island, and then move onto the current mainland areas.
GAME UPDATE: 15 JUNE, 2020 @ 10AM EST (2PM GMT)
Read our Patch notes for the Build: A.00.02.45 here.
THE ISLE IS EVOLVING!
We have now replaced most of the whiteboxing with actual art models. I want to especially thank those players that met me in-game over the last several weeks and gave ideas, suggestions for art, layouts/placement, styles as well as having the privilege to show off some of the new harvesting trees and plants to come your way later this year. It was a lot of fun and the feedback has been amazing! I hope to be able to continue doing this at least once a month with everyone. It has been a great tradition to have.
ISLAND HARVESTING REGIONS
Reports of missing harvesting regions on the island alerted us to an issue where region sizes had changed to be unusually small. These were addressed and double checked across the entire island in all six areas. All harvestable resources in the area should appear as intended after the patch.
OWON DISTRICT (STRT_01)
New wall sets: OWON finally has their own walls. All whiteboxes that were in place for these walls have been removed and replaced with OWON’s own dark style. You can see the new walls and an observation deck over by the combat training facility. In the future, each nation will have its own style that will reflect that nation.
Training Signs and Banners: We have added new training signs to help guide the players through their combat training. As we progress, the new NPC’s will be placed in these areas for the new systems. We will be adding additional signs and banners as we move forward with the Item, Skill and NPC systems. We have also added in a few new banners.
An Experiment: We are testing out a new asset management technique built into the engine, called “ rooms” in the OWON district. This room we hope will help with some of the NPC load and unload between the areas, especially when you look towards an area heavy with NPC’s in another area.
Example: You are in the REC district and look towards the OWON district and FPS drops (for a moment or as long as you look in that direction. The two spots that we are testing this out is on the Martial training platform and the shooting range.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have also added additional scrounging in this area. Players will find one location which they can scrounge for water after the patch. This area is the small water garden in front of the OWON Embassy.
RIN DISTRICT (STRT_02)
Platforms: An update was done to the platforms to reduce the poly and vert count. The textures were also updated and tweaked to fit and match the area better. The current environment had made the platforms too bright at noon, almost blinding. Though we may have some assets that are very bright and refract the light, these are not ones we wanted to be too bright.
Resource spawn Nodes: The resource spawn nodes were adjusted to prevent overgrowth, and try to keep the nodes from spawning on the roads. With the current system and range, you may still see a few spawns yet on the road and path behind the barracks.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have updated scrounging in this area. Players will find two locations that they can scrounge for water after the patch. These areas are the small pond behind the RIN Embassy and the small pond under the shopping district bridge.
ISLAND WILDERNESS (STRT_03)
More Detail: the wilderness has changed quite a bit since the Islands debut. Players will soon be able to enjoy a more lively view from the research platforms. The landscape is now populated with various bushes, cactus, trees, and rocks. The nearby swamp has seen the addition of various rocks and cyprus knees.
Players will also discover that the dunes to the northeast have gotten a bit of colour.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have also added additional scrounging in this area. Players will find a large area that they can scrounge for water after the patch. This area will include most of the adjacent swamp.
REC DISTRICT (STRT_04)
The Flight Deck and Shuttle port in: When you come back to the Island you might want to check out the new additions to the flight deck and the port if you have not seen the progress over the last several weeks. It has grown from a lonely platform to a full service Shuttle port. It now even houses the Nation Shuttles on the upper level.
New pallet Jacks and other detail: A few bits of clutter were added, sitting alongside an old one near the loading dock on the flight deck. Players will soon notice new assets such as pallet jacks, new towers, and tanks that relate to the Port Repair shops for the nations. These new cylindrical tanks are part of a new group of assets which will be seen commonly throughout our future builds. They will range in color to specify their intended uses such as blue hues for water, and red hues for chemical storage.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have also added additional scrounging in this area. Players will find three locations in this area which they can scrounge after the patch. These are the inlet which flows under the shuttleport, and lake adjacent to the adjoining area by the Museum, and the crescent-shaped lagoon on the southwest of the island.
Medical Center: Players find themselves in the medical center as their first stop on the island. Since the islands debut the building has been updated many times. Soon players will notice the medical center now has finished rooms! Yes, those whiteboxes that were once walls and an intake desk are now fully fledged out. Thank you again to our players that helped me work out the room layouts. Hopefully, we will have some REC medical staff start moving in by the end of the summer.
FPR DISTRICT (STRT_05)
Crafting Hall: A new crafting hall has been built. It is still empty yet, however you can now see the basic layout for when we begin placing the new NPC’s and implement the first stage of the new crafting system later on. The new crafting hall for FPR will have a focus on electronics, computers, tech and of course, some of those cool vehicles.
The new building includes four outer rooms, and an outdoor crafting court and of course a place to craft some of those larger items out back.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have also added additional scrounging in this area. Players will find two locations in this area which they can scrounge after the patch. These are the small pond behind the shopping block and by the fishing hut and small docks.
New small pub and lounge: If you travel to the shopping block in the FPR District, you may find a new pub and lounge. It is small, quaint but it will have a lot more added in upcoming updates. We plan on adding a lot more to the buildings. Each one will be its own unique shop that may help players explore the island a bit more.
Unnamed FPR Inn: Next to the bar before you enter the shopping block we have added a new inn. At this time, we only have some whiteboxing in place and a few generic furniture pieces that you would expect to see inside. This will be updated later one we have finalized the inn rooms and updated the interior model. Please feel free to check out the upstairs and the small rooms for rent. In Beta, we plan on opening up the rooms for players to “rent” giving each their own door. Other missions are planned to work between the pub and the inn.
AG DISTRICT (STRT_06)
Agriculture Center Farming: We have updated Garage Bays and doors, as well as the maze field. New tanks and other clutter have been added to the farming area to build out the area a bit more and start to add a little life.
These industrial assets will be used in other locations that focus on machinery, robotics, farming and of course genetics.
Additional Water scrounging nodes: We have also added additional scrounging in this area. Players will find six locations which they can scrounge for water after the patch. These include the two areas around the Agricultural Flora Research grounds with glowing runoff water and four areas along the bandit islands.
Agriculture Center: We have added new walls and a platform inside the Agricultural Flora Research grounds. Additional flora and assets were placed to help fill out the area and get some of the most basic assets in place for new content coming later this year.
Some of these new assets and changes are the walls, a platform observation deck and sewer intake/outtake from the glowing runoff water on the sides. You may also see some glowing mushrooms now that fit the corrupted spot on the island.
MAINLAND TUNE-UP
As we have mentioned often, your bug reports are a great help to us. We have spent a good deal of time concentrating on the island as it is our testbed for future changes. However, we understand that content in the existing game areas is still important to you all. While we are not currently creating new content, we have taken time to make corrections to some existing issues. These changes will be included in our next patch. Below you will find some of those changes listed for you.
AREAS
Oasis Valley Watchtowers an area located in the Plymouth region of OWON is now in better working order.
- The main inhabitants of the outpost will now stay spawned unless killed and respawn on a proper timer.
- To ensure that the NPC attacking or inhabiting the area no longer able to pass through the platform and wreak havoc or become unusable art assets have been changed.
- Paths have also been adjusted to ensure the NPCs have a better chance of surviving attacks if players are not present to assist them.
- The interior has been rearranged to allow for better access to the NPC as well.
- NPC who shared appearances have been adjusted to make identifying them easier, and reduce the number of repeat appearances.
Plymouth Control Center an area located in the Plymouth region of OWON has also seen a brief pass of work.
- NPC will no longer stand in huddled groups. They will now be found in areas more suited to their functions.
- Players will soon be able to view an OWON Shuttle on both platforms.
Banshee’s Hollow an area located in the Wailing Chasm region of FPR.
- NPC that should have been merchants have been amended with the proper Glom to allow them to sell Armor, and Firearms.
- Professions have been amended on NPC located in the structure known as the Evening Star Lounge.
Freedomtown an area located in Freedomtown region, FPR
- Players will soon be able to view an FPR Shuttle at the shuttleport.
Sept Falls an area located in Fal Sept Region, RIN
- Players will soon be able to view a RIN Shuttle at the shuttleport.
Obsidian Bastille an area located in the Mt Ash Region, of the contested area
- Now has two working rest areas.
- The rest area for the bar known as The Macuahuti will now function properly and allow players to use resting associated abilities.
Miscellaneous
- Blair Ridge located in the region Plymouth of OWON has received terrain changes to remove a large pit on the mountainside. Players should no longer find themselves trapped there in the future.
GENERATED MISSIONS:
There were reports of generated missions that would not complete as intended. Instead, they remained on the player’s mission list with a green checkmark. This left the player unable to interact with the NPC again, and without reward. Our engineer was able to help address a script issue that corrected the root of the problem. Missions that have been identified to have this issue are being addressed and corrected as found. Some missions which have been corrected are:
- I’ve Been Cheated
- An urgent Request
- My Muffin Cravings
- Cheer up…
- Running Weapons
Note: If a player has the broken version of these missions they will first have to abandon them to potentially receive the corrected version via mail at some point. The corrected version will be available in our next patch.
KNOWN ISSUES
Listed below are some of the known issues. Please be aware that some issues will not be addressed until their associated system is revamped. However, most issues will be corrected in a timely manner and patched accordingly.
- Fitting associated issues will be addressed with a system revamp in the future.
- The Catch a Nacoot! mission on the island can not be completed due to a script issue with the associated prop. A fix is being looked into.
- Players can still complete a taming mission for the nacoot if they visit the Master Tamer in the Area Strt_05 - FPR District. They will be directed to the forested area near the Genetics Platform to tame one of the wild nacoots.
- Issues with the Mount taming ability have recently been reported. A fix is being looked into.
- Mission reward balance - some of the existing missions and engagements give rewards that are very unbalanced at this time. This will be addressed in the future with a revamp to the Mission, and Item systems.
- Some Generated Missions will not complete as intended and remain on the player’s mission bar with a green checkmark. These should be reported with the mission’s name and will be corrected in a timely manner.
- Alpha draw order issue: For example, if the player is on the coast of Area Strt_03 you may notice the new bushes in the coming patch seem to be cut in half or load strangely. This issue will be corrected once the hero Engine Version is fully updated in the future.
As always your feedback and reports help us to determine what is in need of correction. Should you find yourself in an area where missions do not complete, or the NPCs do not spawn please make sure to report the issues you find. Some issues may not find resolution until systems are revamped, but those that we can correct beforehand we are happy to address. We look forward to your feedback and appreciate your continued support. Please take care of yourselves in these uncertain times, and be well.
Read our full Article HERE.