Hi!
It's time for another SITREP update which covers the development progression in July.
The format here is going to be same as in previous SITREP, so categorizing these topics to each upcoming build that has received some development hours recently.
Build 2 development and the friendly faction Nomads has been progressing like expected and I would say the build is roughly 75% complete in terms of planned features and content.
In the last SITREP, I already showcased the Nomad characters visually, so this time I want to talk a little about the tech related to AI overhaul in general.
Let's use this debug scene for demonstrating few core tech elements:
Previously the AI basically only received data from the player which meant that AI wasn't aware of any other targets than you. This obviously isn't doable for the Build 2 where the AI needs to "visualize" multiple different targets and prioritize their threat level, whether it's you as player or other hostile AI's.
In this debug scene, the spheres represent different targets and the red line refers so called "Priority Target" meaning the target which the AI will mainly react to.
This new AI sensor is now pretty much fully implemented for Build 2 and the AI can switch between those priority targets by multiple factors. However the tricky thing is to determine when exactly that red line should change, since for example if there's a combat scene with multiple AI's and you, there needs to be quite a bit of "priority logic" to make the target switching somewhat realistic.
There's currently three main elements related to this priority logic:
Distance based priority
Damage based priority
View / obstruction based priority
When I started working on this new sensor, I also wanted make this tool really modular and easy to debug both for bug fixing and modding purposes.
Here's an inspector view of this new sensor tool:
In this inspector view, there's basically multiple parameters to adjust the sensor behavior and at the bottom you can see "Results" segment which is the most important related to those targets and which target is dynamically assigned as priority.
This tech topic is of course mostly developer related, but I wanted to point this out to explain why implementing the friendly faction requires all these overhauls like the new sensor etc.
Next let's talk a little about AI variants.
Basically all the factions like the Nomads and Bandits will have 3 different visual variants.
Currently, the game only has for example Bandit_A variant but now the Build 2 will bring those other variants as well, meaning Bandit_B, Bandit_C etc.
The main goal of this variant approach is to introduce more visual randomness to the game but in the future also link certain gameplay elements to these different variants as well.
You have already seen the three Nomad variant, but here's the new Bandit ones:
On top of the actual character model variants, each of these variants will also have 3 color options, so in total there will be 9 different AI's visually for each faction. Here's few color examples with the Nomads:
Then continuing with the character topics, in the last SITREP I showcased some work-in-progress images related to new trader called Driver. The Driver and his bus is now completed and here's few images:
Then in terms of new shelter that is coming to Build 2, that is going to be a specific garage which is also linked to Driver and completing his tasks you will receive a key to unlock this shelter.
Here's few IRL references related to this Garage (located in Highway) and how it's going to look as a shelter layout-wise when completed:
Build 2 is also going to feature a lot of new items (~x10), here's few random ones that I did recently:
Recently I also shared a video clip on social media covering bunch of Build 2 new animations related to AI's. I didn't manage to find a suitable format to showcase those here, so here's the link to that video clip if you're interested to see those: https://x.com/roadtovostok/status/2078417813899796519?s=20
One final thing related to Build 2 is that there's two new maps being made:
Airfield (Vostok)
Bridge (Border Zone)
This WIP screenshot is badly outdated already, but here's some Airfield blockout phase progression few weeks ago:
Few quick things about the Build 3 which is all about the lore features and quest system to bring much needed progression content for the game.
Build 3 is still on-track for Q4 this year
Grandma (Trader) is going to be in this build
Each trader will get a questline tab in the trader UI
Quest require specific actions and missions in the game world (not item deliveries)
Each questline (starting from Generalist) unlocks next guestline (like Doctor etc.)
All the existing trader questlines (expect Driver) have been designed meaning what those are going to be and what kind of unique assets they will require development wise.
The weapon overhaul for Build 4, where the goal is to make ~50 weapons from scratch is gaining good momentum and pretty much each week there's new weapons rolling in.
Here's some latest ones and few modded versions as well related to that upgrade system that I talked in the previous SITREP:
This topic is going to be linked in multiple builds, but here's something that I haven't shared before:
Game will have 3 unique "special bosses" that don't belong to any faction
These bosses are designed to be rare events and also linked few rare items in the game
First of these special bosses is now in development and should be in Build 2 if there aren't any major issues timeline wise.
Here's a small teaser for the first special boss called Bogeyman:
To end this SITREP, here's few final things worth mentioning:
RTV Steam price should now be adjusted to Polish audience
RTV will participate to one game show before Build 2 releases (more info later)
This specific game show will include the release date for Build 2 (if goes to plan)
Next week I go filming the game show / Build 2 release video intro to IRL Area 05
Since I'm probably not yet allowed to mention when this specific game show will happen, I decided that it's fair to roughly estimate some timelines for Build 2 release in this SITREP as well:
August is extremely tight timeframe, a lot of contractor work is still to be finished
I need as much testing time as possible when all the AI overhaul topics are ready to be tested for balancing and potential bug fixing
I would say September is going to be the target month for Build 2 and it still fits that Q3 slot.
Thanks for all the patience waiting for this new content and I will try my best to get everything together as soon as possible :)
-Antti (Developer)