As 2025 comes to a close, I wanted to updated you on the developpement that occured these passed few months, from October until today.
For a summary of the work that was done earlier in the year, please refer to the 9 months in development article !
As you can see, gameplay and content were the main focus of these past months. Content will be even more important next year, since gameplay is getting quite close to complete.
You can find all these updates weekly on the game's Discord sever if you prefer.
On a more personal note, I just became a father, and will spend some weeks focusing on family life. Hopefully, next year will be an eventful one for Ballistic.exe! Thank you for your continued support.
Meta events manager and implemented first meta events ( events triggered by player progress, related to story/lore of the game )
Teleportation logic and shaders: a special target can be shot (with enough energy) to teleport yourself to a new location in levels
Updated target management, using target pools to handle what targets are available after teleportation
Improve and fix random sway, removing a small drift that happened over time while aiming
Getting close to a final list for the game's weapons, at least the weapons that will take you to the game's "ending" (there may be more weapons to unlock after that, including post-launch content)
Use a distributed sway randomness, sway will have the same range but favors smaller movements
Spotter cards now correctly notify when impact could not be spotted (mostly when it is behind an obstacle)
Use interaction logic in shooter pawn to switch to Spotter or Computer Console, instead of dedicated inputs
Allow manipulated parts to snap when within a small threshold - for example, avoids the Air pistol to fail firing because the barrel is only 99.9% closed, which can be frustrating and confusing
Graduated targets grant a different reward for each concentric region
Light bulbs can be shot! This will not help ( https://x.com/gabriel_d_L/status/1982404919434133659 )
Target center can now be manually specified, avoiding incorrect target center calculations in certain cases
Big refactor of the unit conversions and display, as a C++ plugin for Unreal Engine. It is released freely on Github (https://github.com/Elbriga14/* TicTacToeUnitConversionAndFormatting) (still WIP though, with only US Imperial, Metric, and some British imperial units supported.) Can't wait to add all kinds of units to this.
Cartridges can now be unlocked, a special target may be marked every once in a while in the range, and shooting it successfully unlocks a new cartridge type
Expanded TicTacToe's Unit Conversion And Formatting
Spotter now has a laser that can be toggled if you want to mark a location (such as last impact)
Reworked timings and UI for focus system due to user feedback
Match view rotation with aiming rotation when exiting aiming
Cartridges that are not fired are now refunded when exiting range either through "finish session" or quitting game
Weapon templates now are saved and reapplied when switching weapons, instead of reverting the weapon to defaults everytime
This also allows for weapon configurations to be saved between game sessions! I think this will increase the feeling of really owning one of each weapon and making modifications to it
Opens the door to saving different configurations per weapon later on perhaps
Improved main hub environement and optimisation of existing geometry
Blocking of the game's first level
First level environment and level design, a number of assets have been made ( Floodlights, Crates, Trucks, TirePiles, sandbags, Tents, Bodybags, Watchtowers, Barriers, tables, barrels... )
Improve front sight models for Sten and Air gun
Add MOA accuracy characteristics to cartridges
Improvements to the small swimming pool map
More updates to small swimming pool map
Add 3 new pellet types for air pistol: Round nose, hollow hornet, solid hornet
Adjust air gun manipulation values
Remove multi-hit challenge from fruits (could come back as a challenge that is only possible with smaller calibers, since higher calibers make fruit go splosh)
New version of the end-level reward sequence, still WIP but feels way more... rewarding!
Improved swimming pool environment
New parts for Air pistol: Wooden ergo stock, fixed sight, flip-up sight, fluted barrels
Weapon parts setup (prices, properties)
Improve reward sequence animations, meshes and shaders, add background environment
Setup navigation mesh in stadium map
Setup tiers for lasers and foregrips
Move first quest to first level instead of valley map
Added a new weapon to the game, I won't say what it is though 🤫
Quest areas level improvements
First quest dialogue updates
Wrote up script for next video
Set values, prices and progression for a ton of parts
Wrap up build candidate for testing
Add plastic training ammunition for 9x19mm caliber
Add ambiant post process material per zone of levels
Glass shader for hub level
Environment is muted during weapon manipulation to make it more readable
Show attach item type in shop thumbnail
Update pistol rear sights with HUD UI
Reworked Ammo dispenser UI
Changed the UI used for cartridges in the inventory ; now cartridges are represented with an abstract symbol, each cartridge type having its own symbol
Objectives are now represented not as text, but with pips like illustrated, avoiding localization problems
Unit preference system:
Angle units : MOA, miliradians, and mils - and you can choose between the OTAN mils, Russian mils or Swedish mils
Metric/US can be set independantly for weights and distances
And if you prefer your cartridge load and bullet mass in grains, but still use the metric system, you can!
Temperature: Celcius, Kelvin and Fahrenheit
And pressure: Pascal / PSI
Spotter now displays distance to target
Spotter now displays estimated accuracy at distance
Spotter now has a toggleable accuracy overlay
Scroll log to last entry
Display units according to player settings in several more palces
Target types now correctly displayed in hit cards
Reorganized the workshop UI
Weapon edition mode now shows value differences with previous configuration
Implemented a metadata asset system for more efficient loading of purchasable items when approaching shop
Setup system for rendering ammo thumbnails
Started adding ambiant and UI sounds
Fix weapon drifting with use when shouldering while recoil is applied
Generalize pawn interaction logic into its own component
Fix interaction prompt UI and logic during aiming and manipulation
Remove air gun muzzle flash
Many fixes leading to a test build sent to a few close colleagues for testing
Manipulation of rotating parts was significantly improved
Cleanup hard references in the code for cleaner memory management
Fixed soft lock when pausing when in hand position mode
Setup attach type and categories for all existing weapon parts
Fixed critical bug when objective completion and token rewards are not saved at the same time, leading to buggy save files
Fix teleportation controller orientation
Fixed an issue with the way weapon templates are created and saved behind the scenes, resolving issues where setting an attachment to nothing would sometimes not register