We've been wrestling with some technical debt and old code that has been plaguing performance and making it difficult to add new contributors to our team. Today's patch successfuly resolves many of these issues!
+Some parts of the game have been slightly rolled back so that maintenance and upgrades can be made. Please be patient as we update lighting, NPCs, and other content.
+New map shows off terrain streaming tech.
+Fog, the camera, and other perspective settings are being adjusted to accommodate streaming terrains.
+Don't forget to try different graphic settings, as well as grass and tree options! These can have a major impact on FPS and visual presentation
As we update and rework parts of Dragon we've been constantly toying with the right balance of open-world vs modular zone design. Because Dragon has the unique character of being both a flight simulator and action-rpg - two vastly different kinds of games - we must find approaches that scale well.
To this end, we think we've found the right balance. Moving forward, we'll be using "zones" or "regions", bounded spaces that are composed of many streaming terrains. The game manages the streaming terrains for a (generally) seamless experience. This approach keeps the vast open-world experience while leveraging the reduced development and performance overhead which comes with bounded spaces.
This patch is just the tip of the iceberg! Thanks for being patient as we clean house and get Dragon in to shape.