Alpha Release 0.1.2 - First Look at ProcGen

Today I am finally bundling together Alpha release 0.1.2! This update took much longer to develop than I anticipated.

ProcGen

The main feature of a0.1.2 is a new procedural generation system for scenes, which replaces the placeholder scene from prior versions. Without getting too technical, it is a tile-based system which generates levels from one or more layers, which can be customised with rules. These generated maps are automatically synced to all clients with very little data transfer (only the seed + a basic ID is sent).

The new map is currently created from 'roads' and 'filler' layers, to simulate a sort of destroyed city environment.

Below are in-editor screenshots of some generations. They definitely wouldn't pass the approval of a city planner, so I plan on implementing several changes in the next few days to make the layouts less nonsensical.

Here is a screenshot of what it looks like in-game:

Other Changes

• Several parts of the codebase have been refactored, which should allow me to integrate new features faster.
• 9 new perks have been added (many taking advantage of the above change).
• Improved the camera by further extending FOV, and adding an auto-adjustment feature.
• Rebalanced some weapons, and increased overall Magitech damage.

What's Next?

In the coming updates I plan to move from minor additions and polish, to actually tying the game together such that it resembles an actual experience, rather than a vertical slice. The first part of this will involve adding new enemies and enemy variants, so you can put your abilities and perks to good use. After that, I'll begin implementing the strategy layer, which will basically allow you to choose a path through multiple levels.

Cheers, Jack V.

Full changelog:

• Added new perks: Adrenaline Surge, Rebound, Gambit, Heart of Stone, Auspice Catalyst, Bloodlust, Abyssal Charge, Sleight of Hand, Sharpshooter.
• Added procedural generation.
• Added new level, based on proc-gen.
• Adjusted various perks.
• Considerably increased Magitech damage.
• Increased projectile speed of all weapons (shotguns affected the most).
• Increased range of all firearms slightly.
• Adjusted other stats of various weapons.
• Enemy health has been slightly increased.
• Further increased FOV slightly.
• Added a feature where the camera will rotate to a better angle when the player is obscured by geometry.
• Adjusted several aspects of collision to prevent player getting stuck on level geometry.
• Changed visual effect of Ballistic Overcharge.
• Misc. visual adjustments.
• (ALPHA ver. only) Added a one-time popup asking the player if they want to change their loadout before starting, since it's currently the main feature of the game.
• (ALPHA ver. only) While spectating/dead, players can now change their loadout.
• Improved brute hitboxes.
• Fixed issue where entities could incorrectly spawn with the states of previous entities.
• Fixed audio settings not saving.
• Improved the 'FRandom' algorithm, resulting in more accurate/varied randomness with things like damage spread.
• Improved error handling when a player is spawned incorrectly, such as in cases of extreme packet loss, lag, or corrupted data.
• System for how players connect and initialize their game session has been refactored, likely fixing and/or causing various bugs.
• Disabling "Advanced Meshes" will now hide some small geometry details, which improves performance on low spec machines.
• Reduced memory usage of shaders.

LOC: 47,877