beta decay version: 0.0.45a

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Hello all,

I hope you are all doing well - Perhaps you had a chance to enjoy some end of October festivities. 🍬🎃 But more importantly - I am hoping that you were able to take some time for yourselves.

Once again, we return with a special "Anniversary Edition," and devlog #45 carries that tradition forward. Within this devlog you will find plenty of screenshots and videos, however, the juicy content is within the text. So put your mind forth and lets get a little reading going !

The primary features focused on for Devlog #45 have been:

• World Building + Metropolis

• AI - Core + AI - Crowds

• Combat Core

• TBA Feature

• Extras !

• And many existing features receiving bugfixes or enhancements

You will also discover additional information regarding the upcoming Trailer and Playtesting. So keep an eye out for those sections as I know many of you are eagerly waiting !

Devlog Monthly Cadence 📄

Devlogs and Roadmap updates will continue to be published on a monthly cadence to keep development focus a priority. A lot of time goes into Devlog preparation as well as maintenance of the Roadmap / Database / Features / Photos / Videos / Percentage Updates etc. Keep in mind that not every change, fix, or update makes it into the Devlog, as there is a lot to capture each month. The information that is determined to be most significant is communicated here.Beyond all the High Level updates, the Exclusive section continues to dive deeper into each features, which includes more images/videos and an ambient track for the read.

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Audio Track #1

Here is an ambient tune to kick-off the read !

Song: beta decay - hydron

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There's a lot to get through, so lets begin !

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Roadmap - Objective 🛣️

The initial objective of the roadmap is to advance each beta (-) decay feature to a 'Ready for Testing' state. Once this happens, the game will be prepared for a formal, controlled testing phase and, upon completion, the game will be in a solid position to enter Early Access.Provided below is a visual overview of the feature progression for the month of October that is categorized into four areas:- Features that have progressed to 'Ready for Testing'.- Features in 'Ready for Testing' that have had bugfixes or enhancements.- Features in 'Work in Progress' that have increased in percentage.- Development Extras

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Metric Summary

There are 51 total features for beta (-) decay.

READY FOR TESTING

0 features have progressed to their next State of 'Ready for Testing'.

But have no fear ! Much progress has been made towards the remaining features and they are getting closer to transition !

WORK IN PROGRESS

7 features have been worked on - several with percentage increases.

• World Building - 68 % ▲ 71 % (+3)

• Metropolis - 15 % ▲ 30 % (+15)

• AI - Core - 59 % ▲ 60 % (+1)

• AI - Crowds - 50 % ▲ 70 % (+20)

• Combat Core - 72 % ▲ -- % (+0)

• Visual Inventory - 72 % ▲ -- % (+0)

• TBA Feature - 55 % ▲ 65 % (+10)

ENHANCEMENTS / BUGFIXES

9 features have had enhancements or bugfixes.

• Asset Models

• ECS System

• Controllers

• Weather Systems

• MCVs

• SYNi

• Centauri Exchange

• Weapons

• Vehicles

EXTRAS

4 features have been worked on as 'Extras'. These are typically 'Beta (+) Decay' Features.

• Planetary Terrain - 27 % ▲ 35 % (+8)

• Combat Exo-Suit - 25 % ▲ 50 % (+25)

• Holograms - 30 % ▲ 32 % (+2)

• OST Album - 65 % ▲ 67 % (+2)

Total Percent Increases = 86 %

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Roadmap

As the features are progressing and wrapping up - The remaining 'work in progress' feature cards have been re-organized by prioritization.

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312 ▲ 319 Entries

+ 7 New Entries

Database - Objective

Please keep in mind that not every new database entry is related to a net new item or feature. The current goal is to provide near daily content to populate the primary categories up with a baseline of content to keep building off of in the future.

Database - Changelog

Many database entry posts have had their banner image updated from a far too bright background, to a dimmer one. It was near impossible to read the white text against the bright background for many of the entries. There are still more to work through - If you noticed this issue - Don't worry i'm making the adjustments !

Database - New Entries

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🔥🔥🔥🔥 The discord has surpassed 36,900 members ! 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Attention New Discord Members !

Thank you and welcome ! Please read through the rules, information, and the FAQ before posting. Happy to have you with us. 👋👋👋 Note - If you come across any suspicious users, or behaviour that breaks the rules, Report it here:
Contact: admin@rotoscopestudios.com

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Devlog Videos 🎥

All demonstration videos are captured in the development environment, with the primary purpose of showcasing the progress and functionality of the underlying systems and logic.While the final game will feature textures and color, the current textures are temporarily absent, as they are still undergoing modification, tweaking, and have not yet been finalized.

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FAQ - Is the Source📄

For all the new members - Please be sure to check the game's Website and FAQ for source information about the game ! If the FAQ does not have the answer you are looking for then it most likely has not yet been communicated. Everything outside of the FAQ/Website information should be considered unknown and speculative. As before, I will keep updating the FAQ where appropriate.If there is a question you would like to see answered, feel free to post it into the Discord Topics channel. I do evaluate them regularly to determine if they are FAQ worthy. 🧐

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Email Responses 📨

Thank you to everyone who has reached out and continues to stay in touch - whether by Email, Patreon, or Discord. I do my best to keep up, but definitely expect delays in responses. I attempt to set aside a day or two each month to catch up.So, thank you all once again. Your messages and support are greatly appreciated. The positivity and excitement I continue to see is what helps push the game forward ! 📬

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Time to jump into the juicy

game development content !

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World Building + Metropolis

68 % ▲ 71 % 15 % ▲ 25 %

World Building - Metro Line and Train

In addition to walking and using ground transportation, the metro is another quick and convenient way to travel between districts.

The metro runs in a linear fashion between districts around every few minutes or so. The start, stop, and stay times will likely change when the game's balancing tasks are given a deeper look.

Metro Train Modeling and Functionality

Metro Train Features:

• A fully modeled train interior and exterior ( This is a completely new train model from the one featured in the legacy pre-alpha ).

• Train Audio horn effects (Migrated from the legacy build)

• Audio 'Jingles' and sound effects

• Administrative / Announcer Vocal Audio

• Hand Rails

• Windows

• Operating Doors

• Decorated Interior

• Areas for Seating and Standing

World Building - New Buildings

To help add some depth and size to the metropolis, three new decorative buildings have been modeled and textured.

• Their interiors have not yet been modeled out.

• They are repurpose-able and are temporarily being used to fill the space. This helps with the city street planning and arrangement of buildings so I can continue to model out the rest of metropolis.

World Building - Detailed Alleyways

Several alleyways surrounding the buildings were pretty barren. Time has been spent to enhance some of these dull areas. One of the goals of the metropolis has been to ensure there is a dark, dirty, claustrophobic feel on every street. Especially on the ground levels.

World Building - Cable Fixes

• Critical Bugfix - There was a critical bug with hanging cables that made them kind of freak out when there was too much wind. There have been several adjustments to the cable material to ensure that the game world cables appear and behave naturally.

World Building - Alley Recreation and Comparison

A city street was briefly showcased in one of the legacy build videos. Previously, building structures and ground surfaces were constructed using voxels. While this method was visually decent, it lacked the envisioned level of detail and came with several other limitations.

Street Recreation.
Legacy (Pre-Alpha) Build vs Current Build

World Building - Additional Signs

Several signs have been migrated from the legacy build.

World Building - Testing - Planet and Feature Cohesion

Currently, the project contains a few separate development environments - some of which are dedicated to major features / systems. For example, the creation and editing of the planet itself takes place in a dedicated environment, while the metropolis, crowds, and other features and systems are developed and tested in separate instances.

Time has been taken to migrate a draft version of the planet into the same environment in which the rest of the development / features exist.

World Building - Early Testing

The results from these initial tests are currently 60 fps navigating in the editor and around 30 FPS when playing the game in the editor. I have not yet begun analyzing the results or implementing any optimizations.. At this stage, the objective has been to establish a baseline and get an initial understanding of where performance stands with all the major features running together.

I am also aware of several immediate areas that require optimization. For example, the metropolis could be broken down into smaller segments to improve occlusion / distance culling, which may help with rendering costs.

There are infinite ways to approach optimization. Its simply a matter time to get things cleaned up !

World Building - Changelog / Bugfixes

• Bugfix - Made corrections to the normal calculations of models, removal of excess vertices / polygon cleanup. These are constant, reoccurring tasks.

• Changelog - Exposed several variables for particle smoke effects that allow more control when placing smoke effects. This includes controls for the size and shape of particle systems as well as particle counts.

• Changelog - Made several texture improvements to the megatenement.

• Changelog - Made modeling / mesh additions to the verticality of the metropolis. This includes walkways, overpasses, and additional buildings.

• Changelog - Added Blurriness to Foliage (mainly trees) as viewing forests at a distance was too pixelated, and the background couldn't be visually understood.

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Audio Track #2

Here is a another new ambient tune !

Song: beta decay - tenet

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AI - Core AI - Crowds

59 % ▲ 60 % 50 % ▲ 70 %

AI Core - Crowds

Last month's Devlog #44 outlined three key accomplishments with the Crowd Systems:

• Collision Detection and Steering

• Animations

• Performance Testing

This month, crowds have received the following devlog worthy highlights:

AI Crowds - Fleeing

if a weapon is fired within a crowd, the crowd units will now flee from the origin of the threat. Logic has been added so that each individual unity will play a running animation and increase their speed to flee while maintaining avoidance and collision logic.

• Logic for crowd materials has been created to determine when to play running animation.

• Logic has been added to the character's weapons to trigger crowd reaction events if the threat is within a certain radius.

There is currently no implementation of death of crowd units (when firing into the crowd), as this is too big of a lift at the moment. I am hoping to revisit this in a future update.

There are still frequent and noticeable bugs present - specifically regarding crowds getting stuck on complex geometry, and the crowd units ceasing to play their run/walk animations all together.

The groundwork is there, but much room for improvement ! Next month the crowds should be all wrapped up !

AI Crowds - Variants

• An initial first draft series of individual crowd variant models. These models had to be created specifically for crowd usage - which means there has been a lot of polygon reduction, merging, as it relates to performance.

• These will be shown in full detail in the new trailer.

• Overall, the variants add more life and immersion to the crowd.

AI Crowds - Changelog / Bugfixes

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where errors were thrown if the crowd system did not exist in the game world and the player fired their weapon - The crowd system reference was missing when to indicate where the nearest crowd threat was.

AI Core - Remaining Tasks To Advance

■ Crowd System - Core / Networked

■ Crowd System - Basic movement states and collision.

■ Crowd System - Animated

■ Crowd System - Advanced avoidance logic and steering.

■ Crowd System - Reaction to threats, bullet hit detection and death. Triggered threats such as weapon firing that cause crowd units to run away.

■ Crowd System - Unit Variety

□ AI Core - Locomotion

□ AI Core - Movement States and Stances

□ AI Core - Agendas - A very basic first iteration of AI that fulfil their own basic needs / stats.

□ AI Core - Allegiance Relations - Ensure that AI enact on relationship status' between the player and other allegiances.

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Visual Inventory

72 % ▲ -- %

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - When holding down the aim button to place objects, previously only the arms and hands would slightly turn invisible / transparent to allow you to better see where you are placing. This same logic has also been applied to the characters lower torso, legs, and feet (This also includes exosuit overwear).

• It became difficult when crouching and trying to place objects as the view would become obstructed by the character's lower body / legs.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where you could equip an item while simultaneously holding down the aim button to place. Doing this caused an issue where the item visual placement overlays/holograms remained in the game world, even though you were not placing the item and it was already added to the inventory.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where you could add an item to you visual inventory while eating or consuming it.

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Combat Core

72 % ▲ -- %

Combat Core - New Hit Animations

• New Mocap recorded hit animations for when the player is hit by projectiles. Each animation will play in relation to the bodies bone location where it received the hit.

  • Hit Left - Upper

  • Hit Right - Upper

  • Hit Left - Lower

  • Hit Right - Lower

  • Hit Center

  • Hit Head

Combat Core - Blood Decals

Bullet Character Penetration Direction

• Blood splatter effects will now properly spawn behind the player - if close enough to walls, or on the floor if nothing is behind the character.

• Blood decals will appear farther distance depending on the penetration force/impact of the weapon projectiles.

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Added randomization to the blood decals that appear when the player takes damage.

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TBA

The final TBA Feature is in relation to player death and cloning - and it has received updates.

• Fortunately, this TBA feature will be the quickest and easiest of all the TBA features thus far. It should only take a few days to get it to a ready for testing state. I know what needs to be done, its just spending the time to do it !

- End of Detailed Work In Progress Updates -

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Asset Models

Asset Models

Another round of models have been created and/or migrated to the new build. These encompass all game objects other than the player model, weapons, and metropolis structures. In blender, the model counts mark over 1700+ and will be continuously increasing as i keep creating more.

Asset Models - New

• Chain Linked Fence (Short Barbed)

• Foliage Cluster 3

• Foliage Cluster 4

• Counter (Long)

• Chair (Stool)

• Foliage - Cliff

• Market Canopy and variants:

  • Small

  • Small with Side covers

  • Small with Side covers and wooden counter packaged inside

  • Medium

Canopy Speed Model

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Narrowed the tops of trees so they appear less blocky and more pointy / thin.

• Changelog - Added several tiny and large stone meshes into tree clusters.

• Bugfix - Corrected the vertex weight values on several rock meshes within the tree clusters, as they were being effected / moving by the wind.

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ECS System

ECS - Placement Physics Inheritance

Previously upon placing ECS entities within the game world they would stick to any surface and not activate physics upon placement. This has been corrected in a number of ways.

• Firstly, the physics will reactivate upon placement.

• Secondly, if the object is placed on a 'parent' object, such as one that moves, it will also inherit it's movement. Which previously was also not happening.

• This is highlighted as a crucial update as it is the foundation of how cargo and smaller items stay upon moving vehicles and objects, and eventually leads up to how spacecraft behave.

• Simultaneously, for performance considerations, entity physics will deactivate via manual calculation (Unreal has its own built in system for doing so, but additional logic is required).

ECS - Nearby Physics Activation

This functionality primarily revolves around performance, but is also a gameplay enhancement. If an entity is interacted with (picked up) it will activate the physics of nearby entities that were previously touching. A use case is showcased below:

When this functionality did not exist, the physics of nearby ECS entities would remain inactive, causing ECS entities to float in the air without properly interacting with physics in the game world.

ECS - Destruction Debris - Removal

When an ECS entity is destroyed, several bits of debris are spawned upon it's destruction. Destroying something wooden, will spawn several wood 'gibs' - destroying something with a metal material will spawn several different size pieces of metallic 'gibs' and so forth. These pieces of debris now stay in the game world for quite longer before disappearing. When their lifetime is reached, they will 'shrink out of existence...'

Watch the paint dry

ECS - Deployment and Packaging

You may have observed several ECS entities displayed in a cargo container, This indicates that the ECS item is packaged, and it has the option to be deployed.

Players may now deploy or 'unpackage' ECS entities from their container.

Demonstration of unpackaging an ECS entity to its deployed state.

ECS - Shops and Market Tents

In relation to player trading and the in-game economy, ECS Tents / Canopy structures play an immersive factor while supporting roleplay. This ECS structure enables the physical buying, selling, and trading of goods within a marketplace and helps create an overall immersive trading environment.

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the sprite smoke for 'wood debris' was not rendering and instead a default engine sprite was rendering in its place. This issue occurred after last month's Unreal Engine Hotfix was applied.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where ECS Entities were had more than one unique identifier tag assigned to them. Where there should only be one unique tag. Additional tags were being applied to the ECS entity after every time their transform position was updated in the editor. Therefore several ECS entities were plagued with hundreds of unique identifiers!

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug in relation to the new 'ECS - Nearby Activation' functionality where ECS subcomponents that were already inserted a slot, would 'come loose' and fall out of their slots when a nearby ECS entity was picked up or placed, as it would trigger the activation of physics in the nearby area, causing it to come loose.

• Changelog - Created more varieties of Debris particle effects and assigned to over 100+ ECS entities that were missing these effects for destruction. This took quite some time !

• Changelog - Decreased the brightness of the ECS placement hologram material, as it was too bright and not transparent enough where it made it difficult to see where you were placing an entity.

• Changelog - Characters will no longer collide with coffee machines...

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Controllers

Changelog / Bugfixes

Bugfix- Fixed a bug where a single key press or holding a key press was not properly working. This had become particularly important for the ECS Deploy and Packaging functionality mentioned above. This fix has also alleviated subtle issues with camera switching.

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MCVs

The following details are updates and enhancements for Mechanized Combat Vehicles (MVCs).

MCV - Canopy Shield

The cockpit of an MCV can be fired upon and the Pilots and gunners can be sniped or killed through the MCV glass canopy. To Combat this, for the pilot and crew to be protected, the pilot has the ability to toggle on and off the Canopy Shield which extends a protective barrier in front of the MCV canopy glass. In turn protecting the crew from small arms fire or RPG blasts. It would be nice to add some animation here, currently it is a static on/off switch.

MCV - Gyro Stabilizer

The Gyro Stabilizer is required in order for the turret of an MCV to properly rotate.

• The stabilizer is Inserted into the Interior of the MCV turret.

• Logic has been created where you can now no longer rotate the MCV turret unless the MCV has power and a Gyro Stabilizer is actively mounted in the MCV turret.

MCV - Bugfix - FPS Mounted Pilot Mesh Visibility

When entering the MCV pilot seat in FPS view, the player's model, and peripherals such as a helmet or NVG's, would obstruct the camera view. I had put a fix in for this before, but, the issue re-emerged when the character was wearing 'overwear' such as exosuits. An additional fix has been provided and things appear to be working again.

MCV - ECS GAU (Minigun) and Particle Effects

Several improvements have been made to the MCV GAU ( A minigun ) upon firing.

• Shell casings now eject from the rear of the weapon.

• Particle sizing, counts, and performance tweaks have been made to the smoke particle effects.

• The legacy pre-alpha muzzle flash sprite has been migrated and put in used - Rather than the new one that was created. I didn't like the outcome of the new one, so it's been reverted to the original.

• All new backend logic - There are several logic changes from the legacy build as the weapons are each their individual ECS entities (can be created and destroyed). Also, net new networked logic.

MCV - Camera Shake on Land

When an MCV lands from a high jump or fall - Nearby players will be affected with a camera shake.

MCV - World Destruction with Weapons

In previous devlogs the destruction of game world buildings was showcased as an MCV walked through them. In addition, MCV weapons can now cause the destruction of buildings when firing upon them.

Additional explosion and particle effects will be added in future updates ! So that destruction appears similarly to how buildings are destroyed when stepped through.

MCV - Vehicle Destruction (Networked)

• MCV damage to vehicles is properly working over the network.

MCV - First Person FOV Control

A small addition - In the MCV first person view you may use the mouse scroll to increase/decrease the field of view. Pressing and holding the 'Z' key still provides the same FOV zoom effect, but using the mouse scroll sets a fixed FOV.

MCV - Changelog / Bugfixes

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where there was no delay before re-triggering another fire for weapons - Therefore, you could spam the fire button and trigger the howitzer to fire repeatedly several times in a row.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where you could insert MCV subcomponents that were still in their packaged containers. When this occurred the entire container was mounted in the slot instead of the ECS item within.

• Changelog - Increased the bullet spread of the GAU ( Minigun ).

• Changelog - In addition to the gyro stabilizer unit - The turret can no longer be moved/rotated unless the MCV has power/electricity.

• Changelog - Reduced the time and amount of fire/smoke effects that play while performing a thrust / dash.

• Changelog - Increased the size of particle effects that are fired from the GAU ( Minigun ).

• Changelog - Decreased the audio range of MCV weapons when fired.

• Changelog - Decreased audio level of MCV switch effect when a switch is flicked. Previously it was a little too high decibel and hurt the ears with headphones on.

• Changelog - If pressing the fire button and there is no ammo or power, a 'click' noise will be played. Similarly to normal character weapons that are out of ammo.

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SYNi

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - When a stock trade is performed on the Centauri Exchange, the SYNi will display a visual notification animation of a trade, and play an audio jingle effect.

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Centauri Exchange

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Made improvements to the UI layout on the Centauri Exchange application where event logs occur.

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Weather

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Converted all weather particle effects to run on the GPU.

• Changelog - Increased the amount in which randomized wind forces are applied.

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Weapons

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Increased the camera shake of full auto weapons by 0.5f.

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Vehicles

Vehicles - Orbital Camera

Previously the camera was locked in a fixed offset position. You now have the ability to use the mouse to control the rotation of the camera.

The camera also automatically return to its default / forward rotation if there is no input detection over a certain period of time.

Vehicles - Changelog Bugfixes

• Changelog - Vehicle Reverse speed is now always 1/2 the full forward speed. Overall to limit and decrease reverse speeds.

• Bugfix - Fixed critical bugs around network clients and servers entering and exiting vehicles, where synchronization was not properly working. Currently things appear to be more stable !

Behind the scenes work for bugfixes such as these can be quite painful and time consuming.

• Bugfix - Fixed the Normal shading with the wheel materials. Negation was missing within the normal map assignment logic.

• Bugfix - Input Throttle and Network Flood prevention - The Input Throttle button was previously making several network calls to update the value of the throttle when input was held over time. Now a single call is used and the server is responsible for calculating the throttle increase until the player releases the throttle button or the throttle threshold is met. So in total only a single network call each for press and release. I believe this has helped reduced movement lag due to the previous imminent flood of network calls.

• Bugfix - Fixed several client based network bugs (Where visually everything appeared fine on the server, but the client's visual effects were not properly updating. This eventually lead to a re-work of parts of the input/throttle systems to ensure visuals were working correctly.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where the handbrake for clients was not working at all.

• Bugfix - Fixed a bug where attaching ECS entities to vehicles were not inheriting the physics, movement, transformation properties of the parent vehicle.

- End of Ready for Testing Bugfixes and Enhancements -

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Extras typically include beta (+) decay features that have been worked on a bit in advance, in order to provide a head start when it's time to focus on those features.

25 % ▲ 50 %

Combat Exosuit

The combat exosuit feature was a low hanging fruit and will make its appearance in the new trailer.

• The model has been migrated from the legacy build and enhanced with more detail and all new texturing.

• There are more combat exosuits planned for creation.

• The purpose of combat exosuits provide additional protection against projectiles and explosives.

• The exosuits ( just as the industrial exosuits ) have been implemented as part of the ECS system. Which means that they can be crafted, picked up and worn.

Remaining Tasks

• Additional MK Variants (MKI, MKII, MKIII).

• Actual Protection and damage prevention logic.

The combat exosuits will make their appearance in the new trailer ;)

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Holograms

30 % ▲ 32 %

Changelog / Bugfixes

• Changelog - Added the ability to change the 'channel' on holograms to go to the next channel and previous channel.

• Changelog - Created new materials for other hologram models so that they may be used in advertisements.

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Planetary Terrain

27 % ▲ 35 %

Planet - Foliage Models

Time was spent improving the planetary wide foliage models a bit more, testing through the placement of these objects, to make sure things are at a solid state before mass placing everything for gameplay.

• A few new trees, rocks, and foliage - Also illuded to in the Asset models section.

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OST / Album

65 % ▲ 67 %

OST - CD Cover Finalization

The artwork for the physical disc is complete and pending review upon a physical, in-hand copy.

From here I am looking to continue working on the booklet pages. Space on each page is quite limited so I have to be very conscious with what i would like to stay in the booklet as far as themes and lore - to ensure everything is consistent.

OST - Changelog

• I know I've said it before, but there are a LOT of tracks, especially for situational and atmospheric scenarios. Another challenge has been organizing and naming each track. I'm anticipating that 20 or more tracks will be cut from the final albums.

• Two new allegiance themed music tracks have been created.

• Overall, there has been a challenge to ensure the ambient tracks are unique enough.

OST Album - Remaining Tasks to Advance ( 5 / 10)

■ - Distribution and Logistics

■ - Game - Hologram / Advertisement Music

□ - Game - Allegiance based Music Tracks - ( 6 Total Complete )

□ - Game - Location / Zone based music Tracks

■ - Physical Album - Artwork Booklet Drafts

■ - Physical Album - Artwork CD Cover Drafts

□ - Physical Album - Artwork Booklet Finalization (Long Process)

■ - Physical Album - Artwork CD Finalization

□ - Physical Album - Music Track Finalization (Long Process)

□ - Order Sample Copy and Make Final Adjustments (If Needed)

- End of Detailed Development Updates -

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Playtesting - New Materials

Three significantly new materials have been created in regards to Playtesting and bug (defect) tracking. THESE ARE NOT YET PUBLIC !

1. Playtesting Page - A simple feed that displays the current list of defects with details.

2. Defect Database - A Defect Database that houses, tracks, all reported defects.

   • A list of some current defects have been uploaded into the database.

   • This has provided general defect tracking for myself along with a Dashboard with Metrics and Reporting.

1. Defect Submission Form - Allows individuals to submit defects (bugs) that they may have been identified through testing. These defects are automatically stored in a database and listed on the defect feed.

Playtesting - Purpose of Materials? Why Now?

With the next round of playtesting approaching, the pre-emptive creation of these pages provide Playtesting Readiness - as these materials needed to be created regardless at some point.

Playtesting - Updated FAQ

The existing Playtesting FAQ Post has been updated with additional information regarding playtesting. You may find this information on the website FAQ below:

Playtesting 🎮

There are only 6 features remaining in a 'Work in Progress' state.

For each of these features , a list of remaining subtasks exist and must be completed before the feature can progress to a 'Ready for Testing' state.These sections are titled as: Remaining Tasks to Advance The goal is to clearly outline the remaining development work needed at a high level for these features to become 'Ready for Testing'.

A few things to keep in mind:

The Testing Phase (UAT) has not yet begun.

Publishing the Trailer is first priority with playtesting to follow.

Once all features are marked 'Ready for Testing' , focus will be directed towards recording and publishing the trailer.

Thereafter, details for Playtesting will be communicated.

I know how excited many of you are ! Including myself !

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Changelog / Bugfixes

The Website has been updated to facilitate the new playtesting items that had been mentioned above.

• A page for submitting defects.

• A page for viewing submitted defects and their status.

• An actionable dashboard and metrics for my own monitoring and use.

The pages (excluding the dashboard) will be made public once playtesting arrives. I ran out of time this month to get the pages ready for public view as there are still some missing features I would like to have on the defect feed.

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Trailer - Objective 🥅

The goal of the trailer is to infuse gameplay with moments of cinema while showcasing all major features.During the trailer, whenever a feature is demonstrated on screen, a text description will appear identifying that feature. While watching, I imagine playing somewhat of a "Feature-Bingo" as the trailer will go through the feature list.If you're eager to see a Roadmap feature showcased in the devlogs but it hasn't appeared yet, don't worry — it's planned to be featured in the new trailer.

Trailer - Timing

October has come to an end which leaves two months of development left until the end of 2026. This quick passing of time is not surprising nor is it unexpected as every month seems like a flip of a page, and were already back at another devlog.

Trailer - Status Update

Nearly all features have reached a 'ready for testing' state which means its almost time to get the cameras out ! You may find some key notes and takeaways listed below:

Trailer - Key Points:

The final remaining features are some of the most challenging. Their development difficulty may be observed via the Extensive Feature-to-Difficulty Ranking Matrix (EX-FTDRM) provided below:

EX-FTDRM

| Percentage Feature | Difficulty |

71% World Building | Easy peezy

60% AI + Combat Core | Not too bad

72% Visual Inventory | Oh my.

• The good news is, upon consulting the EX-FTDRM, these features already had a lot of work put into them. So hopefully we hit the ground running.

• The save / load feature does not need to be in a 'ready for testing state' in order to work towards the trailer.

• The TBA feature does not need to be in a 'ready for testing state' in order to work towards the trailer.

• I absolutely will not rush the making of the trailer. To half ass it would be to diminish all the work put in this past year !

Things are very close, but there is still one major factor in regards to the release date of the trailer:

Trailer - Premier

Similarly to the previous major video showcases - The trailer will be set to be a Premier on YouTube. This means a time needs to be set in advance for a trailer release date. And the trailer must already be completed and uploaded in order to publish the Premier.

My preference is that the Premier be published several weeks in advance to allow followers to be aware of it.

With this information - If the trailer is recorded and completed at the end of December 2026 - it wouldn't be publicly showcased until 2027.

Overall, I will be reporting the progress and updates they occur as I've been very eager and excited eager to finally start recording.

Trailer - Remaining Tasks ( 8 / 16 ):

■ YouTube Premier Teaser Music

■ Trailer Primary Music

■ Core Audio Effects

■ Voice Recording Drafting

■ Dialogue Script Writing Draft

■ Cinematic Camera And Triggers Functionality

■ Main Character Outfits

■ Outline and Storyboard

□ Voice Recording Finalize

□ Dialogue Script Writing Finalize

□ Record Game Footage (Pending on all features being 'Ready for Testing') ... Getting there !!

□ Record Cinematic Footage

□ Dialogue Recording

□ Editing and Post Processing

□ Trailer Premier Date Scheduled

□ YouTube Premier Video Published

The Trailer Premier Date is TBA !

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Upcoming Devlogs

Expect the next several devlogs to be quite significant with logistical details. Not to say the previous devlogs haven’t been important, but I would describe several of this past year’s devlogs as being fundamentally focused on development - where they have communicated progress on core features that are ultimately leading us towards Playtesting and Early Access.

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That's a wrap! 🌯 I hope you enjoyed the content !

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Final note

So many of you have been following this project for years, watching it evolve and change in different ways. During this time, we have also changed ! We’ve gone through life's experiences, from the passing of someone close, the beginnings and ends of relationships, to the development of new interests. And yet, for so many of you, your interest in this project has remained. This is incredible. 🤟

I am excited to say there will be a major upcoming change for beta decay, that I believe is for the better - regarding the longevity for the project. Stay tuned for this announcement !

We are all here collectively in this world - Whatever may be going on in your life. Don't stay still.

Keep pushing forward.

I appreciate you being here.

Thank you - Stay safe - and take it easy ! 🤟

- Kray

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