As requested by our community, here's a quick rundown of the key updates our development team is currently working on.
There's lots to digest here, some projects much bigger in scope and time than others, so feel free to leave a comment below with any questions you may have and we'll try our best to respond to y'all.
1. Pipeline Upgrade to URP
We're updating our pipeline to the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) to streamline our development process and improve the flexibility our development team has. This change will also help us deliver better visual experiences across our games. In addition to this, we're exploring a new set of asset packs to replace the vegetation and shaders involved in creating our metaverse. Given the size of our map (100km2) I'm sure you can appreciate that procedural biomes don't always offer the best quality in terms of placement realism, so this is quite a manual process and by far the biggest project in progress.
2. Improved Camera Movement
Refining the camera movement in both single-player and multiplayer modes to ensure smoother navigation and better, more cohesive gameplay overall. We are still using a third person viewpoint, but tweaking the way it behaves, especially if you're on a horse or in a gun fight.
3. New Weapon VFX
We're adding new visual effects for weapons, including gun discharge and bullet tracing, to greatly enhance the realism and excitement of combat. Notice the realism in the smoke upon weapon discharge (see above), this for example, will vary across weapon types.
4. Updated Firing Animations
We're updating the firing animations for various weapons, including revolvers, shotguns, and rifles to include more realistic recoil features. Plus our explosive weapons get a much needed overhaul. Dynamite (as shown above) for example will now have a more accurate damage splash radius, plus some really tasty visuals.
5. Fixing Character Asset Clipping Issues
The team is working to fix issues with character asset clipping, including problems with hair, hats, clothing, and weapons. This will greatly improve character visuals, no more missing hair, or jackets that dissolve into your shirt.
6. Male Character Animation Updates
We're also in the process of updating the majority of the animations for our male characters to ensure their movements and interactions are more natural and fluid. This will of course need to be for the female characters too, but their skeletons and animations are very different, hence the two stage approach.
Please let us know how often you'd like to see these development updates. Bare in mind that our devs take a lot pride in their work and don't rush anything.
As such a weekly update might be a little overkill, so you have two options, Monthly or Quarterly.
I would like to see dev updates...
Monthly
Quarterly
Not interested
As mentioned, please comment and post any questions you may have below.
Stay tuned for more development updates, and thanks for your support!