The Falconeer News

[p]Hi everyone,

You may have seen a bunch of updates the last few days, this is because when someone reports a bug , I tend to patch in a solution that can be tested right away. [/p][p]
I did today upload a build that was less performant, so that also got patched out earlier tonight with a build that should be a little bit more performant, especially if you go to high shadows instead of ultra. [/p][p][/p]

• [p]bugfix for the dreadnot mission that refocuses if you lose the item[/p]
• [p]attempted some performance improvements for steamdeck[/p]
• [p]added a 85% downsample option to AA, this basically allows steamdeck users to have a lower gameplay resolution but keep the UI readable at native resolution.[/p]
• [p]added a few fishing boats and fish[/p]
• [p]upgraded the nodbomb cutscene[/p]
• [p]improved cloud performance, better spread[/p]
• [p]added window mode settings[/p]
• [p]reduced the ridiculous aim assist values for easy mode[/p]
• [p]reduced the shadow quality in high to accommodate steamdeck better
  [/p][p][/p]

[p]Hi everyone, the remaster hotfix 6 is now available, [/p][h3]Here's the list:[/h3]

• [p]added a WASD axis option to assign different options to WASD when in mkb mode.[/p]
• [p]added a 'green district' to westgate[/p]
• [p]added a 'stone district' to port remit[/p]
• [p]changed that under mkb controls the fast travel on the map is LMB based and more button-ey[/p]
• [p]fixed crabton not appearing, chapter 1 finale not ending.[/p]
• [p]added missing voices[/p]
• [p]tuned the sunset colors a bit[/p]

[p]So the WASD and mouse button changes are actually some of the last changes to the MKB that have been made. Any player should be able to recreate the "legacy" mkb controller systems, except the flying turret option, tho a hybrid of that is now possible. Basically you can set core flight controls to WASD (and then have to rely on E+wasd to do acrobatics) or the acrobatics. That way you can have a WASD for motion control setup, the mouse will also steer the bird, but if you remain in the middle dead zone of semi-fixed gun arc, then it's basically WASD + mouselook-esque.

All in all that brings the MKB up to something a bit more flexible, probably not perfect but more in line with what can be expected.

I also added the rest of the voice acting, this time it has been done on a shoestring budget, so some of the procedural sidemissions won't be voiced in-play, but most of the town npcs are now voiced, giving a much better quality feel. I've had to change genders on a few characters in order to accomadate the actors that were available, so let me know if I messed up a NPC. ;)

[/p][p]There are also a few bits of extra worldbuilding, cuz I tend to use that to wind down and relax. :)

Westgate got a district made of the greenstone, similar to a few temples I put up in Imperial cities. This is a bit more commercial with a SquidBelly Mercenary Company also being housed there.
Port Remit was a bit small, so i added a small stonequarry on an island, I might expand it a bit more cuz I love Port Remit.
[/p][p]Alright everything from now on is likely to be bugs and pressing Issues, so do keep reporting. [/p][p]Cheerio,
Tomas[/p]

[p]The pace of improvement is going at a good clip. I've been busy pretty much on a whim to implement a really cool tech art solution for dynamic damage. Specifically for the blimp balloons. It always irked me that it was just shooting duds at what is a really vulnerable giant outerskin to a set of inner airblatters. I was really missing that "ooh the humanity" moment when the airships go down. So I tried to make that. It's certainly coming at the cost of some gpu cycles but its worth it I think.

The UX for the chapter selection and some other menus didn't have rollovers or really any good UX for mouse,, also improved that (ongoing). [/p][p][/p]

• [p]final version of the dynamic damage system for airshops, now polished and applied correctly to all airships.[/p]

• [p]Added rollovers to perch npcs portraits.[/p]
• [p]improved chapter select with rollovers and design[/p]
• [p]changed fonts for readability[/p]
• [p]reduced landing overshoot[/p]
• [p]fixed some npc genders to match the voice (hoping this week brings the missing voices)
  
  
  [/p]

[p]SteamdecK.

My wonderful sister repaired my steamdeck ! (which I won from a Unity3D contest at gamescom a few years back). This is wonderful cuz I don't buy much of that type of hardware for myself and now I can test again. Literally VR happened cuz I got a old index headset as a loaner... That's how ports happen .

Happy to report the game is still playable on deck. Just turn of reflections and tone down shadows to high. and you should get 50-60fps .
[/p][p]Cheerio,
Tomas
[/p]

[p]Hi everyone,

Things are getting a bit out of hand, as linux users cannot by default try the Remaster beta. Simply because its become impractical to maintain so many branches of the remaster and future main game.

This causes folks not to receive the remaster because the launch option for linux won't get updated and other issues.

So for the time being the Linux version will now revert to Proton for the short term future. Apologies, not having a studio of devs helping me does bring limitations and this is one.

On the positive side:

I am in the midst of delivering a balloon dynamic damage model. Exposing the internal air bladders and lattice framework. This is tied to gun impacts so your shots have a chance of actualy tearing away the outer skin.

It's a cool effect, it will receive more updates , cuz at the moment the impacts aren't cooling down and they keep glowing, which looks cool, but is a bit naff.
[/p][h3]
Here is the hotfix #4 changelist[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]added destructible  balloon visual FX and damage visualization[/p]

• [p]made sub target cycling much faster.[/p]
• [p]made distance a target may be locked greater[/p]
• [p]fixed that some enemies would not notice the player and fly away[/p]
• [p]added more randomness to the defense and scramble missions
  
  
  [/p]

[p]Next week will hopefully see some missing voice acting and off course more user reported bugfixes and improvements. I also have my repaired steamdeck back. (hence the linux changes, I finally noticed that was messing up things on deck), so gonna see if its good on deck (or melts its gpu).[/p]

[p]So someome posted about the new mouse scheme, actually two persons so far, with valid critiques.

One of them was that WASD for the acrobatics cannot be re-bound(binded?) , which is true.
And another one explaining they were a retro gamer that used the arrow keys , not the WASD keys.

Now I am not 100% sure these are talking about the same issue, but I had a sleep and a think. And I woke up with the following idea: what if the new mouse steering just works together with a keyboard based yaw/pitch.

now the seperation of the acrobatics, roll , dive, boost up, is a clear improvement, especially since A and D now represent stratfing or directional rolling. But it takes up a lot of space and I don't have the funds to get everything re-localised nor the time to make a controller menu to accomedate that.
Generally I must strive to work within what I got rather than completely rebuild.

BUUUUT: I woke up and went, ok what If just turn on the arrow keys for turning at the same time as the mouse steering/aiming?. perhaps it just works really well together..

And it works!!!.

It works really well actually, because some of the mouse changing like the slow centering behavior, means you can just pick up mouse and fly and release it and go to arrow keys. Or use both together.

And because any mouse aiming ALSO steers the bird then it no longer has this 'flying turret' effect when you do. Which really irked me about the old system.

[/p][h3]So changelist:
[/h3]

• [p]use Arrow keys to also steer the bird, combine at will with mouse steering and wasd acrobatics to form a more complete mkb control scheme.
  
  [/p]

[h3]To do on this matter:[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]find a way to swap the wasd acrobatics and arrow keys. or find some more rebind options for both that don't require a full rebuild of the controller menu (perhaps clicking on the acrobatics rebinds , cycles thru options, such as arrow keys or wasd keys).[/p][p][/p]

[p]Honestly I think that you need need WASD and arrow keys to control fully on the keyboard. But swapping it out makes left handed control much more comfortable.. So likely that is the minimal change you can expect.

There is some difficulty here cuz technically the WASD and arrow keys are all "axis controls" so they need a 4 button pre-defined 'axis' layout to work in the underlying input system, which is hmmmm very suspect. But gotta work with what is there atm..

Hope this helps,, I am quite grateful for both remarks even though the solution might not yet be 100% what is requested, I hope it shows there's a lot of potential in the current single mkb scheme concept..[/p][p]
Cheerio, Tomas

p.s. no further updates until later tonite / tommorow or perhaps monday, due to life.

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