Wow! The merry month of May is here already, it will soon be time for the Xmas adverts to hit our screens…It’s also time for another gluttonous foray into the dark world of ‘The Day of the Infected’.
New Character Model
As promised in last weeks blog, here is a closer look at our new character model including early work on infection shaders and animation sets.
As players and NPCs become infected their appearance will change to reflect the stage of the disease they have reached. Here is an early look at the development of the shaders.
*Note this is still an early stage work in progress
The animation of the character is much further along with its development, as seen in the clip below. We are looking at tweaking some of the model’s features, notably those spectacularly humungous hands, a genetic aberration born of a player’s primal need to take all the loot!
Pictured below is an example of a recently genetically modified character that has had its greed gene removed and it is very sad about it…aww!
We are also working on player/NPC clothing and skins so you will all be able to look good come the apocalypse! If you’re gonna go, go in style as someone probably once said. More on this as we move beyond the emperor’s new clothes look.
Vehicles
Meanwhile down in the motor pool, the team have been ruining a perfectly good car and making it apocalypse ready…If there is one thing a badass needs in a badass world, it’s a badass ride. So here is a first look at the beginnings of our upcoming bandit range.
Sound and Music
There is a dark dank room in the basement from whence strange music emanates to echo through the corridors here at dev central. Not to worry, no operatic phantoms but there is rumoured to be a mad composer working his mysterious magic down there. Here are a few bars of DOTI ditties to bring music to your ears.
- Hope left in this World
- So this is the End
Vehicle sound effects are still being tweaked with current work being centred on the Badger pickup truck and the School bus.
World Building
Now we have bespoke buildings and building systems in place we are turning our attention to adding greater detail to the game environment. Buildings will now be generated and then handcrafted to give a more naturalist and aesthetic feel to them.
Bitesize Lore
In the early days of the infection, news reporters named the unidentified disease ‘Pierrot Syndrome’ a reference to the white-faced clowns of the 17th-19th century, due to its victims becoming extremely pale and developing an uncontrollable urge to chuckle.
Other symptoms included the yellowing of teeth and eyes, desiccation of the victims’ skin causing it to crack, the development of weeping, open sores, erratic psychotic and extremely violent behaviour.
The disease is known to spread through physical contact but some reports have indicated there may be an additional risk of airborne infection.
All residents of Canard City and Canard County are advised to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary contact with anyone outside of immediate family members.
So that’s all for this week, be sure to come back next week for more insights into our work here at ‘Holy Fire Games’ and check up on what’s new…Have a good week and stay healthy!
Latest updates
Added – Survival; initial map setup
Added – DOTIBuilder; survival map to scene list, GetSceneList now handles survival map
Added – Vehicles; chinook helicopter
Added – Shaders; zombification shader
Added – DB; basic DB util tool, Direct query mechanisms and join functionality
Players are now persistent in the world; when you log out, you’ll rejoin right where you left off.
Added – Survival; added props to unique store buildings
Changed – Character; new character and controller setup (WIP)
Changed – Vehicles; tweaked camera for some vehicles adjusted GenericWheel suspension to stop gliding at high camber
Changed – Post Effects; tweaked health effect outline
Changed – Player Saving; now using DB instead of playfab
Changed – UI; removed weapons mods for now
Fixed – ClientCharacter; radial menu would remain open after opening
Currently in the works:
Badger and bus sfx setup, helicopter sfx
Character migration, terrain tools
Character clothes, character adjustments for shader support
Scout car
async database setup, revamping inventory
Building setup
Building and tree textures