Soldato
PU Monthly Report April 2024
AI (Tech):
- Progress was made on the spaceship combat behavior, which is planned for release in Alpha 3.23
- The team implemented point defense cannons that will protect capital ships from incoming missiles.
Animation:
- The Animation team worked on various creatures, including two predators and a prey animal.
Art (Characters):
- The Character Art team began work on two specialist armors and reworked a utility armor
- The Character Concept Art team continued developing specialist armors and completed handoff sheets.
- The Hair team kicked off new hairstyles for Alpha 4.0 and undertook R&D on fur.
Art (Ships):
- The Ships team progressed with the RSI Zeus, continuing with the beauty and polish stage. The cockpit is now greybox complete
- The Anvil Legionnaire is now whitebox complete, the devs are currently exploring options for collapsable cover built into the boarding tunnel.
- Resource Network work was finished for 10 ships
Audio:
- The Audio Vehicle team completed their first milestone in overhauling the ship audio experience with new thruster sounds, which is rolling out to all new ships.
- For Vehicle Audio, the devs introduced a very early state of manufacturer-based soundproofing – with this, each brand will have a unique soundproofing profile
Core Gameplay:
- For jump points, the team enabled new fail states if a jump drive detaches or stops functioning and added tunnel push force from the edges of the map to help players stay on course
- For the life support and room system, the team implemented filters that degrade over time, with the life-support generator ceasing to work once all are used.
- Gas propagation now uses accurate positioning within rooms, while atmospheres will equalize differently depending on whether they’re high or low-atmosphere environments.
- April saw continued work on Maelstrom and the radar and scanning feature.
- Reputation-based hostility was further worked on too, a new neutral zone was added. This is a special restricted area that all players have permission to be in, with NPCs ignoring reputation relationships and criminality and reacting neutrally to everyone.
Interactables:
- The Interactables team completed their work on fire extinguisher recharge cabinets, including both high-tech and low-tech versions.
- Industrial cargo containers had their final art passes, including branding and signage, giving them more credibility as container storage.
Locations:
- The Sandbox team are currently finalizing the last few outposts going into Pyro for Alpha 4.0
Mission Design:
- The team used the extra time until the cargo updates to add additional high-quality content and further polish the Cargo Hauling:
- “The various shipping companies of Stanton often outsource cargo hauling to freelancers through contracts. These job-board missions task the player with picking up the designated cargo shipment at one or more locations and offloading it at one or more destinations. At their core, these missions will test the player’s knowledge of their ship’s specs and their ability to weigh the time spent loading and traveling against the payout.
R&D:
- The half-resolution render mode was updated to accompany the new cloud rendering improvements and the introduction of ground fog
UI:
- Updates were also made based on player feedback, such as reducing the hologram effect on the HUD and bringing back differently shaped quantum-travel markers.
