Alien Dawn News

Hi Everyone!

We've been looking forward to migrating Alien Dawn to the newest version of Unreal for a while and have determined now is a good time to do so.

[h2]OpenXR[/h2]

One of the main advantages to making this upgrade is the addition of a production ready version of OpenXR, which is the unified software standard that all VR manufactures have agreed on. This means far fewer compatibility issues as a VR software developer, in particular as new headsets are released.

Developing software in VR since 2015, I can say one of the biggest issues was constantly adapting to the new standards that would come out every year, and each hardware company had their own way of doing things, so this helps simplify things for developers like us.

As most VR headsets and drivers have moved to this new standard, this should also help some of the rare instances of the game not working on some people's computers.

[h2]Unreal 4.27[/h2]

Upgrading from Unreal 4.26 to 4.27 also has its own set of advantages, and is the next step in ultimately moving to Unreal 5 when that becomes production ready for VR.

The hope with upgrading to 4.27 is that you will get a higher quality and smoother experience overall in game.

We're making a preview of this new version available today, which is really meant for people who want to help us test and refine this new upgrade with us.

A decent amount of the transition has been done, but you'll definitely find some issues that were previously working that now need to be tweaked again.

We've migrated our projects to new versions of Unreal in the past and sometimes it's a relatively simple process that takes a week, and sometimes depending on the amount of changes to the Engine it can be a month.

We're excited about what this update will help us do and hope to have it out on the default branch ASAP.

[h2]Test The Update Preview[/h2]

If you would like to try it and help us test, just go to the Alien Dawn "Properties" in Steam, select "Betas" and choose "update-preview".

I'll be making a Discord channel for this topic as well as reactivating the Trello to track down bugs, ect.

Looking forward to working with anyone who wants to help out, thank you!

Christian

Hello Everyone,

We have what we think is an important update in the right direction to improve the game and expand our player base by refining the gameplay controls for VR players, as well as adding support for Xbox and Playstation controllers to the Desktop version of the game.

All of these updates are a direct result of listening to the people on the Steam forums and Discord, so very special thank you to:

LCountach, TedSan, YBDASHOOTER, Smokey3100, Muffll, Skully666, LONFL, & more.

Your excitement and help with the game continues to drive us.

[h3]Alien Dawn - v1.09 Update[/h3]

Gamepad Support:

This was a fun project to do and I'm liking the direction it is going in. I've always been more of a keyboard and mouse type of person when it comes to FPS games, but I've played a handful of console FPS too.

It was a pretty cool experience seeing the game we created going from being designed for VR with motion controllers to keyboard and mouse, and now with a gamepad that has its own strengths.

This also opens the possibilities to bring the game to consoles or even something like Steam Deck. We would love to see a future version of this game where someone in VR is playing with a person on a Desktop PC, and another on a handheld device.

VR Controls Updates:

Of all things we've heard feedback most on it's the VR Body IK, Gripping and Inventory. We've taken some of the most recent feedback and started implementing those ideas into the game. It's of course not PERFECT yet as we are in Early Access still, but I hope this starts to show improvement to the experience for VR players, in particular for people playing the game for the first time.

2/23/22 (Early Access) v1.09

+ Added Xbox & Playstation Gamepad support | Desktop
+ Added Controller option to swap Teleport Grab with Triggers and Grip Buttons | VR
+ Items can now AUTOSTORE into Vest IF Overlapping Vest when Dropped | VR
+ Moved Camera forward slightly over IK Body | VR
+ Fixed Alt Grip not letting go when releasing Grip while climbing | VR
+ Decreased size of SubV14 Weapon and Silencer
+ Decreased size of Mag attachment box on KA-47
+ Optimized Lightning Storm performance
+ Fixed Weather Kiosks in DevRoom
+ Tweaked a few menu descriptions to for better Player interpretation
+ Removed Melee Weapons breaking (temporary)

Hi Everyone,

As some of you may have seen, we released our first actual trailer just a little over a week ago and we've been really happy with the response to it.

Since then, we've shifted our primary focus to development on the game and today have a new patch with several improvements to help with VR gameplay, like an indicator to show where you were aiming if you missed teleport grabbing an item.

There are also a handful of tweaks to the game as well. The game was in need of more mags and ammo spawns, so we added a feature to the weapons where they now have a chance of spawning with a mag already attached and with a random amount of ammo.

In addition to that, we're still taking in all the suggestions everyone has had and starting to put a plan into place on how to continue to improve the base game, as well as add new content.

Finally, we're trying to stream the game several times a week, so if you would like to watch or join the game with us, we would love that!

Xtian & Jes

https://www.twitch.tv/VoyagerVR




2/1/22 (Early Access) v1.08

+ Added visual cue to Teleport Grab IF missed at missed location

+ Weapons now have chance of spawning with a Mag and random amount of Ammo

+ Infected Wolves now spawn Flying Enemy Parasite

+ Backpack now attaches correctly from teleport grip

+ Added Ladder to Radio Tower for alternative access point to Radio

+ Increased area in which Radio Tower can spawn

+ Increased VOIP audio quality

+ Voyager A.I. Camera can now be manually controlled, and server owner can talk to players in game

+ Tweaked Zombies raising from dead animation from Alien

+ Fixed Weapon reload on Vest IF Client

🚨New Trailer!🚨

Jes and I just finished creating the first real trailer for Alien Dawn and we're going to be posting it starting tomorrow!

If you enjoy it you are welcome to share it around so we can keep growing this community. We love making this game with all of you involved and we hope you continue to enjoy what we're doing.

On a side note, we'll be doing a lot more streaming on our Twitch channel and playing on the A.I. Camera server, so if you would like to join us just check our Discord or social channels.

Thanks for checking it out!
Xtian & JesV

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We've received a quite a few very nice comments over the last couple of weeks and we've truly appreciated your support. It makes a difference in our day to day work, so does the feedback.

I've talked about getting the game more stable so we can start to add more content. It's vital that the performance is at an acceptable level in VR, so adding more content was only going to make matters worse.

While it's still not PERFECT, we think a lot of progress has been made in that area, and we will continue to do so moving forward.

That being said, this patch begins the process of adding new content with a new weapon and a new enemy, along with several other very important fixes.

Our plan is new content with each new patch, making the game that much more rich.

LFG

Xtian


1/8/22 (Early Access) v1.07

+ Added New Weapon | Submachine Gun V14
+ Added New Enemy | Blue Submachine Gun Soldier

+ Added bullet spread to guns
+ Added tent to Exfil location at end game
+ Added new Patrons to credits

+ Vest now turns transparent when hand is over Vest in VR to see inventory easier

+ Adjusted Knife rotation to have blade facing the correct direction
+ Decreased size of Status Bars on Hud | Desktop
+ Increased size of Player Marker on Map
+ Increased difficulty of End Game Exfil sequence

+ Fixed 3D VR Main Menu not working as Client in Multiplayer

+ Decreased time between Mothership attacks
+ Optimized vehicles to turn off physics when not being used to improve performance
+ Added blocking walls in Dev Room so Players can’t fall out of the level
+ Game is now packaged uncompressed to follow Steams distribution standards

SIDE NOTE:

A lot of people have asked about the increase in download size with this latest update. This is partly because of the new content but primarily because the games pak file is no longer compressed.

I did some research on this and Steam and Epic recommend NOT compressing the pak file using Unreal's compression settings.

If you'd like to learn more about it yourself here are the links I researched:

Epic's Website
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.26/en-US/Basics/Projects/Packaging/#compressingyour.pakfile

Unreal Forum Discussion
https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/steamworks-about-pak-compression/70432/7