Build 00.09.07.16 Status Update (Feb)

Just a quick update to let you guys know that we’re still doing some final internal testing and tweaks for this build. Also, we’re going to be doing a simultaneous DSS and public release because we’ve done extensive testing on this build these past months.

Because these vehicles, though not yet usable by players, are part of the next build, all the ground work we did from years back for them, coupled with the revisions, integrations etc, have all been worked on these past months. This means that Phase III and IV (described in the top section of the changelog) of the vehicles update, will take a lot less time to release.

The planetary vehicles are the last major milestone of the development. Everything else after the final Phase IV are minor and basically high level gameplay features, tweaks (e.g. the fps mechanics need some loving).

Shockingly, the known issues list hasn’t grown at all. But don’t worry though, that’s probably going to change in the upcoming major updates due to these vehicles.

Also, having deprecated legacy DX9 support, we’ve done a lot of fixes and tweaks to the DX11 build which improves stability, visuals etc. We actually found an obscure shader issue in that build, and which resulted in weapons disappearing (not rendered) in some cases.

As to the on-going asset improvements (only weapons, some vehicles, and some planetary buildings and scene assets remain), those are on hold for now as we work through the stages of our eventual port to UE4 (as mentioned in my Nov dev blog). The reason being that we’re going to have to revise, improve, and export ALL of the game’s assets in order to take advantage of the vastly superior UE4 toolset which not only gives us seamless support for things like 4K, HDR and PBR, but also will significantly improve on the game’s visuals (while retaining its colorful art direction) and performance.

At the end of the day, it’s already clear that doing a UE4 port so we once again have a PC/XB1/PS4 game release, means that the game stands zero chance of being released in 2017. We’re a very small indie team, so it’s just not possible. After spending so much money, time, effort, and resources on this game, I am not inclined to release a PC only version. Let alone a PC version ahead of the console version.

It’s a long time coming, and seeing how the sausage is made, is not always as expected, let alone glamorous; but basically, as I said from the start, it’s ready when it’s ready, and right now it’s not ready.

UPDATE: The media page now contains new shots of some of the planetary defenses you’re going to be contending with in the upcoming update.