Changelog Version 0.1.3

Previous changelogs on can be viewed on our Discord announcements channel, as well as on our website.

Over the past month, we have been working tirelessly on improving the performance of NeverBound. This required several major architectural changes to our source code, which, given the extremely small size of our team, ended up taking us much more time than we had initially anticipated. Thankfully, gameplay is far, far smoother now, and the knowledge that we gained throughout this process will be invaluable going forward. Unfortunately, this also means that hardly any new features have been included in this update; our focus was on performance and performance alone. Rest assured, the next update will contain a large number of new features, which we are very excited about.

A note to WMR users:

We are aware that there are various rendering issues that occur when playing our game using some WMR headsets. These bugs appear to have been resolved in Unreal Engine 4.19, and we were hoping to update our game for this patch. However, when we upgraded to UE 4.19, we encountered a number of game-breaking bugs that prevented us from being able to incorporate it into this update. We are actively working on this and apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your patience and hope we can get the update out to you soon.

New Features

• Experimental Levels
  • We have added a new section to the main menu for experimental levels.
  • These are levels that do not consist of complete missions, but contain new maps with various challenges for the player.
  • The goal of these levels is to have you, our users, try them and provide us with feedback on what you like and disliked about the levels, so that we can continuously improve our level design.

• New Experimental Level: Bipolarity
  • The first training level is a basic combat scenario, where the player must simply survive the onslaught of enemies until time runs out, while attempting to achieve the highest score possible.

Major Updates

• Throwing improvements.
  • We reworked the code handling the throwing of objects in-game, and throwing now feels much more accurate, realistic, and intuitive.

• Performance improvements: Several architectural changes were made to our code base in order to prove the overall performance of the game; the major changes are outlined below. Note that no existing functionality was removed during this process.
  • Weapons, as well as their impact effects, were modified to be significantly less costly when they are not held by the player.
  • Enemies were stripped of superfluous functionality and components that were hindering performance.
  • Environmental objects that were degrading performance were simplified and optimized.
  • Player and enemy movement code was significantly improved.

Minor Updates

• The payload now speeds up when there are no enemies present in Blitz.
• Added music to Leap of Faith.
• The default behaviour for picking up items is now tap to grab.
  • This is currently the only behaviour. The next update will contain a menu option to enable tap-and-hold grabbing functionality for players who desire it.
  • The grenade range tutorial has also been modified to reflect this change.

• The trace direction of Gravity Shift Module, which enables the player to dash and change their gravity, was slightly modified.
  • The result is a much more fluid and accurate feeling when attempting to dash or shift to various locations.

• The way the player holds the shield was slightly modified, making it easier and more comfortable to hold.
• Modified the location of the checkpoint in Leap of Faith just before the long fall, so that the player can restart from just before the fall. Thanks, Tony, for suggesting this! :)

Bug Fixes

• The player’s in-game hands now accurately match the location of the controllers in real life.
  • As a result, objects held by the player in game are correctly positioned and feel much more natural and realistic.

• Fixed a bug that caused the screen percentage to only update when the menu slider was clicked.
  • Screen percentage is now being set to the last configured value at the start of the game, in addition to when the menu slider is moved.

• The music that was previously playing now resumes after loading the game from a checkpoint.
• Unreachable battery charging stations are no longer highlighted when payload batteries run out of power in Blitz.
• Fixed a bug that made it possible to occasionally get stuck with all movement blocked after dashing.
• Fixed a bug that broke configured gravity grenades and caused them to get stuck in zero-gravity after pausing and resuming the game.
• The high score shown on the player’s wrist UI in Blitz is now properly synchronized with the player’s Steam leaderboard score.
• The checkpoint after the grenade range in Primer now saves the equipment the player was carrying, permitting the player to bring grenades with them into the ensuing combat scenario.
• It is no longer possible to get stuck in weapon room after the grenade range when playing from the checkpoint in the weapon room if it is entered with two grenades in the player’s holsters.
• The Gravity Slam Gun now awards the player points after destroying a drone.
• The objective marker in the weapon disposal room following the shooting range no longer disappears as soon as the player drops their weapon.
  • It now disappears after the weapons have been placed in the disposal bin and destroyed.

• The impact effects that are created when the shield takes fire no longer remain floating in the air until they disappear.

Known Issues

• Sentinel body parts occasionally get stuck in walls/floors.
• The shield doesn’t block incoming fire if held too close to the player’s body.
• Sentinels do not always successfully navigate over shift ramps.
• Drones are unable to navigate through small areas.
• The player doesn’t take lethal fall damage if they pause the game before hitting the ground.
• Equipment state is not saved (e.g. if the player dies while holding a gun with low ammo, they will respawn with a gun with full ammo).
• Drones spawn too often in Blitz.
• Drones still occasionally cause performance hitches.
  • This is due to the drone’s navigation module, which we are still in the process of improving.

• The location of the player’s holsters feels too low.
• Sentinels occasionally float on the floor.
• The kill box surrounding levels does not work consistently.
• The assault rifle’s red dot sight does not work through the weapon gaps in the shield.
• Weapons should not be highlighted when player’s hand is overlapping a holster with an object in it.
• The player can walk on surfaces with a slope greater than 45 degrees.
• Battery holders play no haptic or force feedback when the player overlaps it with a battery.
• Sentinels have difficulty patrolling on walls.
• The collision of the stairs in various levels is not accurate, causing the player to be lifted up before descending them.
• Occasionally, when walking over shift ramps slowly, the player “vibrates” or moves in discrete rotational jumps.
• It is possible to walk through walls and other objects in room space while the game is paused.