Hello everyone!
We've returned back after 3 months of silence and with a lot of progress and great news too.
Steam Page
We have finally managed to get the SourceWorld Steam store page up and running, it took us a lot of set up and filling up e-documents but it all paid off in the end. We've set up the basics on it and a thread in discussions where you can ask us whatever you want if you have questions for us! The steam page wouldn't have been possible without the Supporters who helped us to make this a reality and give our mod the real chance to shine among all unique mods!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3489490/SourceWorld/
We'll be very happy if you would wishlist SourceWorld, as this greatly helps in growing up to be more noticed and seen on Steam. By the time of writing this, we have already gained 500 wishlists.
The Multiverse
In Demo Post-Mortem article it was mentioned that the whole world scanning mechanic needs to get changed in favor of something drastically different.
Map Legend: Green - Explored | Yellow - Scanned | Gray - Visible | Unreachable - Barely visible dots.
At the start of any playthrough, there's a fixed amounts of worlds being generated into a single multiverse, looking similar to a starmap. Worlds that players visit will not be completely random, but rather playthrough consistent, meaning that if you meet your demise in one world, you can try it again after reloading last save.
Scanning was changed too. Players now have access to a Multiverse map, which shows all accessible worlds that player can scan and travel to. Upon visiting worlds, the neighbouring worlds get unlocked for scanning. For now the multiverse is limited by a number of 200 generated worlds that you can explore.
Worlds themselves now consist of stages. Formerly a player would jump into a generated environment and return back after a short while, but now there are so-called "stages" for each world player has to go through in order to finish their mission.
We consider utilising this change to get around engine limitations, slicing big worlds into smaller stages. It's also not excluded that an optional save system could be added in between stages to let players feel less risk of losing their progress and being pushed all the way back to the lab.
The Terminal's interface was reconstructed from scratch. It used to be a very simple console with few commands, but now it's changed to have a bigger gameplay role.
Updated terminal has a multiverse map menu, scan details map, portal control, stats menu which will serve as display for previously explored worlds, files will work as way to interact with pieces of information or software the player gathers over time and of course messages tab.
www.youtube.com/embed/mWTPS3LG4uU
Map Generator Updates
AI Pathfinding
Without proper pathfinding, SourceWorld's combat feels redundant when enemies barely move around. However, with some help from Nbc66 we finally managed to get working AI Pathfinding for generated environments. This solves many problems, including the ones which prevented adding companion/ally NPCs into the mod. Besides, enemies will be able to roam or chase player around and just be less dumb overall.
Minimap & Exploration
Just like many other things you've seen in the Demo version, minimap has been remade from scratch to match the new map generator. Levels now consist out of premade rooms or "tiles". Formerly, the Exploration mechanic worked in a way which forced player to walk to almost every corner possible, sometimes often having to open the minimap to see which tiny spots you've missed.
New minimap shows only the rooms that player has visited much like the former one, except that unexplored pathways are now highlighted so that any time player opens the map, they will instantly see which parts of the level they haven't checked yet.
www.youtube.com/embed/EdVwc_dnG8A
Optimisation
Since SourceWorld follows a brute approach of placing playable enviroments when a map is already loaded, we had to add some kind of optimisation to prevent the whole level from rendering at all times. We came up with a very primitive Potentially-Visible-Set algorithm for occluding non-visible areas. Not only this disables drawing of far level geometry to improve perfomance, but it also helps with making lighting not bleed through floors and walls.
Map Change Effect
We've also added a screen-melt effect when loading into a map.
District Security Riot Unit
The District Security receives an additional unit in their roster which in reality wasn't planned or accounted for but the message that The_GuardianTM has to transmit is that "It is a happy accident", thanks to a user on the Garry's Mod workshop which demanded the people that ported and made the District Security as functional NPC's there was someone that also asked for a Security Riot unit, which at first was far from happening, but later on a second thought eventually this idea wasn't too far fetched from happening, so now we have the Riot Control Unit to become a reality and soon-to-be functional in-game too! (They will basically just rise up their shields at you to protect themselves from your bullets.)
Level Design Progress
The maps are also seeing some touches too, either adding or modifying, but most importantly optimising them for computers which have issues with the district city! Aside from that there are also some WIP stuff such as a story named Tunnel Fission (Still heavily WIP as it is, still laying out ideas for it and designing it.)
Conclusion
Thanks for reading the devlog, make sure to check out the steam page. We also have a Q&A thread in its community hub where you can ask us any questions. Leave your thoughts in the comments!
