Alien Dawn News

If the last update was about porting the game to Unreal 5, this one is about refining the core experience.

That means improved performance, better motion controls, and a more fluid gameplay loop.
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Big thank you to everyone on Discord that helped me play-test this version and gave me their valuable feedback (theloneranger, livid, valor_fall, Thayden, WavformVR, ThaAnimalOne, droneattack, Samuri, bootleg, chaunteuse, Nick, and TROJENxxMCDANK).

• Big performance improvements (especially in later game segments with many NPC enemies)
  
• New vehicle motion controls
  
• New reload mechanic
  
• New map locations
  
• Added more realistic red dot, holographic, and reflex optics
  
• Added many interactive physics objects
  
• Added visual notifications for full inventory slots
  
• Improved gripping and locomotion
  
• Revised Item Wheel
  

As always, I love to hear from people playing the game, so please reach out if you want to talk about your thoughts about it.

I hope everyone enjoys the improvements in this new update!

Xtian

Hey yall, Xtian here.

I'm close to releasing the next version of Alien Dawn (1.21), which is the first update since releasing the Unreal Engine 5 version, and a lot more has been smoothed out since then.

This update is primarily focused on quality-of-life game play & performance improvements.

The biggest hurdle I've overcome in this update are the multiple solutions I had to find that ensure smooth gameplay throughout each playthrough, in particular on harder difficulties with hundreds of NPCs in the world. I plan to do an in-depth video going over this journey, but for now I want to get this update released.

I've never seen the game play better, but I want to get some more feedback before I release this update.

If you have some time to do this, I would love to hear from you and have your help, just DM on Discord.

X

​​I thought this port from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 was going to take 3 months, maybe 6 tops. It's been exactly a year since I started on this version I'm releasing today.

[h3]Why switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5?[/h3]

There is of course the obvious, better graphics.

But the biggest reason I decided to make the move is because all future updates to the PCVR platform are going to be happening in Unreal 5, and the further I developed down the road of Unreal 4 the more I would have had to backtrack to eventually stay up to date with the latest PCVR features and hardware.

[h3]What to expect from this new version?[/h3]

My original goal was to make a 1:1 port of the latest Unreal 4 version of Alien Dawn (v1.9) to Unreal 5 and then upgrade the game in subsequent updates from there. Because of many of my original design decisions much of the game needed to be revisited to even get working properly, which made upgrading multiple parts of the game a necessity. So, in addition to improved graphics there are a few subtle improvements to the gameplay, specifically in VR.

Aside from the port itself as described above, the secondary goal was to give first time players a better experience through more indicators of what each button and interaction does.

As another part of that choice, I made the opening first Escape Mode mission the same every time to ensure they get a solid experience on their first run. With the game's primary locations being procedurally generated, it was certainly possible that someone's first experience might not have been an optimal one for a new player.

[h3]What is next?[/h3]

I want to keep this simple. My plan is to continue getting feedback from the community to prioritize certain features and make this original Escape Mode as mistake free and exciting as possible before moving onto what is next. Maybe that's 1 or 2 more updates before adding a new mode and major features, or maybe it's more.

[h3]Where are we meeting up?[/h3]

I'm going to do my best to keep the official server online and streaming on my Discord while I'm at my computer.

[h3]How to support this project?[/h3]

If you want to help and support this PCVR project, feel free to reach out to me personally on Discord.

On that note, there's been a lot of people both new and old to this project that have been a huge help already with their support in many ways, so thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.

Xtian

🗣️ Calling all Escapees!

It's the dawn of a new era.

Alien Dawn is now open for playtesting in Unreal Engine 5!

This is a very early build and there will be bugs and issues to expect, however your help is critical to our goal of successfully bringing the game in to this new era.

PLAYTEST INFO:

• TO PARTICIPATE in the developer feedback UE5 playtest, sign into our Discord and please react to this same message in the "news-and-updates" forum using the 👽 emoji.
  
• You'll get access to a channel where we'll notify you when the latest playtest version is released.
  
• We'll be using the ⁠"alpha-testing-reports" forum on the Discord for reporting bugs, issues and posting screenshots/captures.
  
• For now, we're only focusing on the desktop version in this initial test phase, tho VR is available and optional.
  

This is a critical next step for the future of Alien Dawn and its development.

If you have any questions or are having trouble with the playtest, please let us know in "⁠alpha-testing-reports" on our Discord.

Official Alien Dawn Discord: https://discord.com/invite/2DJ9tebEUP

- L I V I D

Hi All,

As it is the 6th and still less than a week into 2023 I can still say, Happy New Year!

In some exciting news, IndieVR has added Alien Dawn to it's "TOP 20 INDIE VR GAMES OF 2023" list and highlight video. (Alien Dawn is the first up in the video at 1:24)

It's always been one of the goals to have Alien Dawns on lists like this, so I can't say how much I appreciate them for believing in what we are creating. This channel is doing a great thing for VR indie devs by choosing to focus on these handcrafted titles. Please support the channel by taking a look!

I'll also be on the IndieVR podcast in the next week telling an in-depth story about how VoyagerVR and Alien Dawn got started. I'll be posting the link when it comes out.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Unreal 5.1

In terms of game development, it's been decided that the correct move forward was to prepare the game to be ported to Unreal 5.1 and that process has begun.

With the major improvements to the engine and the refactoring of the games code, this will be the correct foundation the game has needed and I can't wait to have it done.

Hope you all are well and please check out the IndieVR YouTube Channel!

Xtian