Freerunners News

[p]Hi all,[/p][p]First off, big thanks to everyone who has bought the game or taken the time to share feedback. It’s been really great (and very useful) seeing and hearing your thoughts.[/p][p][/p][p]Originally, I planned for the first patch to focus on fixing a few smaller bugs I noticed during my own playthroughs. But after watching people play and reading feedback, I decided to dig deeper and address some bigger things as well.[/p][p][/p][p]This patch is live now, so the next time you play you’ll get all these improvements.[/p][p] [/p][h2]Biggest Changes:[/h2][p][/p][h3]Camera Rework[/h3][p]The camera previously followed the character’s pelvis bone, which could cause slight jolts and a feeling of slowdown during certain moves (like the dash vault). The camera now follows the actor capsule instead, resulting in smoother and more consistent movement while interacting with obstacles. I also adjusted the code to reduce camera micro-jitters and smooth things out even more.[/p][p][/p][p]It's only subtle, but if you watch the video below a few times, you'll see how the camera changes help with the feeling of flow:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Early Game Rebalancing[/h3][p]Originially the start of the game was intentionally slower to simulate the player being inexperienced at parkour and to contrast with getting better later.[/p][p][/p][p]In practice, though, I realised that this made the opening of the game feel a bit sluggish and worked against the feeling of flow that I wanted to give players.[/p][p][/p][p]So to fix this, for the early game, I sped up the player and some early obstacle moves, and increased the player’s maximum stamina. I also adjusted the spacing of some obstacles in those early levels to help the flow feel better right from the start.[/p][p][/p][p]Below is a behind-the-scenes editor view showing how the levels are built (triggers, Obstacles, and other gameplay elements).[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Level Fixes[/h3][p]While playing through the whole game to test the camera and balancing changes, I also found and fixed numerous smaller issues that were getting in the way of the flow.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Full Patch Notes[/h2][h3]General Improvements[/h3]

• [p]Player camera now tracks the actor capsule instead of the hips, resulting in smoother camera movement through levels[/p]
• [p]Reduced camera micro-jitters[/p]
• [p]Rebalanced the early game to improve flow (slight increases to player speed and stamina)[/p]
• [p]Adjusted star rating times for early levels to reflect the balancing changes[/p]
• [p]Slow moves now play at 75% of their original speed, rather than using a fixed speed reduction[/p]
• [p]Improved slope detection to prevent jittering[/p]
• [p]Sped up several moves to improve overall movement flow[/p]
• [p]Step-ups are now more responsive[/p]
• [p]Improved breakfall animation blend-in and blend-out[/p]
• [p]Improved the blend transitions for the sliding state[/p]
• [p]Prevented a speed boost when exiting an obstacle onto sloped surfaces (this could previously cause the player to bounce off and die)[/p]
• [p]Stamina no longer drains when sliding down slopes while holding sprint[/p]
• [p]Tricks no longer consume stamina[/p]
• [p]Improved environmental LODs to reduce popping while running through levels[/p]
• [p]Improved character heads and hair LODs[/p]
• [p]End-of-level next unlock text now wraps correctly instead of appearing squished[/p]
• [p]Removed a duplicate additive out-of-breath animation that caused popping[/p]
• [p]Removed collision from some small landscape meshes, such as sticks and rocks[/p]
• [p]Improved the dog profile image used in the intro/outro text sections[/p]
• [p]Added more sound variation through additional modulation on several effects[/p]
• [p]Miscellaneous art improvements across multiple levels[/p]
• [p]Increased the weight of falling air-conditioning units so they feel more realistic[/p]
• [p]Tweaked various intro and outro level texts[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Level Specific Fixes[/h3][p]Chapter01 [/p]

• [p]Level: Getting Better[/p]
  • [p]Moved some obstacles around for a better flow[/p]
  • [p]Fixed an obstacle where the Fast / OK / Slow message wasn’t appearing[/p][p][/p]

[p]Chapter 02[/p]

• [p]Level: Put It All Together[/p]
  • [p]Adjusted the design slightly to make the step-up easier to use[/p]
• [p]Level: Rooftops [/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug that stopped predictive move selection from working on a climb-up[/p]
• [p]Level: Too Fast Too Furious[/p]
  • [p]Improved grab detection on the lorries
    [/p]

[p]Chapter03:[/p]

• [p]Level: Thanks For The Lift[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug that stopped predictive move selection from working on a climb-up[/p]
  • [p]Added a death-area camera adjustment trigger for a better view[/p]
• [p]Level: You Spilt My Drink[/p]
  • [p]Removed an incorrect camera adjustment
    [/p]

[p]Chapter04:[/p]

• [p]Level: Which Way[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a climb-up that wasn’t working correctly with predictive move selection[/p]
  [p][/p]
• [p]Level: Breath Of Fresh Air[/p]
  • [p]Fixed an issue where the slide after the machines could throw the player off and cause death when performing a fast move[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a ladder climb-up that caused a jolt[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a ledge grab that caused an upward jolt instead of a smooth transition[/p]
  [p][/p]
• [p]Level: Drug Lab[/p]
  • [p]Fixed the end camera volume position so it now triggers consistently[/p]
  [p][/p]
• [p]Level: Don't Shoot[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a camera adjustment volume placed incorrectly at the end of the level[/p]

[p][/p][p]Chapter05[/p]

• [p]Level: Skip The Queues[/p]
  • [p]Improved the starting area camera pop on first play[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a bug that made grabbing one of the Ferris wheel cages difficult[/p]
• [p]Level: High And Low[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a spot where the player could get stuck while climbing into the sewer[/p]
• [p]Level: Almost There[/p]
  • [p]Fixed an issue with a ladder climb[/p]
• [p]Level: Found Tim[/p]
  • [p]Fixed an issue with the swing pole[/p]
  • [p]Added an additional camera volume at the start of the level[/p]
  • [p]Fixed a ledge that caused a pop-up[/p]
  • [p]Changed the animation when climbing out of the elevator to a more appropriate one[/p]
  • [p]Adjusted an early AI so it now blocks the player’s path instead of chasing them[/p]

[p][/p][h3]General Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Fixed some bad looping animations on background characters[/p]
• [p]Miscellaneous environment art fixes across multiple levels[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the main menu audio fade-out and fade-to-black did not trigger correctly when exiting the game after returning from a level[/p]
• [p]Fixed a small sprint animation bug[/p]
• [p]Fixed textures on vans that were using the incorrect world position setup[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where part of the end-level menu UI would flicker and change shape when revealed[/p]
• [p]Fixed a skinning issue with the white T-shirt and long-sleeve T-shirt combination[/p]
• [p]Fixed several spelling mistakes in the intro and outro texts[/p]

[p][/p][p]And there you have it, a range of improvements and fixes all aimed at making the overall experience better and the movement feel smoother and more fluid.[/p][p][/p][p]Let me know if you have any more feedback or suggestions.[/p][p][/p][p]I also updated the demo with these fixes, so if you're curious about the game, give the demo a try and see how it feels.[/p][p][/p][p]Thanks again for all the support,
[/p][p]Cheers,[/p][p]James[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Freerunners has officially launched![/h3][p][/p][p]After years of development, iteration, testing, tweaking movement, working on the flow… Freerunners is finally live, and you can jump in right now.[/p][p][/p][p]Watch the Launch Trailer Below:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Built For Speed[/h2]

• [p]Master parkour across 50 handcrafted levels built for speed and flow[/p]
• [p]Chain vaults, swings, flips, and slides into smooth, seamless runs[/p]
• [p]Three time targets per level, challenging you to go faster[/p]
• [p]Optimise your route, refine every run and chase the perfect line[/p]
• [p]Environmental hazards and henchmen that add pressure to your runs[/p]
• [p]Designed for gamepad play with tactile, responsive controls[/p]

[p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Launch Discount[/h2][p][/p][h3]Freerunners is 10% off for the first two weeks.[/h3][p][/p][p]Reviews during launch week make a big difference.[/p][p]If you enjoy the game, I’d really appreciate you leaving a review.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]If you’ve had Freerunners on your wishlist, or you’re jumping in today, thank you for your support! It genuinely means a lot to me.[/p][p][/p][p]Be Fast. Be Fluid. Be Direct.[/p][p][/p][p]James (CBgameDev)[/p][p]
[/p]

This week I’ve been working on the usual stuff: a mix of polish, bug fixing, balancing, but also something fun I’ve been wanting to do for a while but haven’t got around to, More Fails!


[h2]MORE FAILS![/h2]
One thing that has come up a bunch when people play the game is that they like it when the player and the bad guys get hurt. So this week I took the demo and looked for places I could fit new interesting ways for the player to get hurt (fail state in the game). I have to admit I was chuckling along as I was implementing some of them.

I also added some more audio polish to the fail stuff, giving it a bit more juice. I implemented new bone-cracking sounds and per-material sounds for the object you hit. For example, if you hit a metal dumpster you will make a metal doinnnggg sound, but if you hit the concrete you will make a hard concrete hit sound!

Below is a video of some of the fails I’ve added to the demo so far!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]EXTRA POLISH[/h2]
Thinking about the audio polish for the fail-states, got me thinking about some other non-fail state related polish things I could add to the game. They are only small things but I think they add to the overall vibe of the game. In the video below you can see:

• Kicking a physics football
  
• Dog and owner looking, with barking at you as you go past
  
• A person spinning and slowing down on a roundabout in a park and a guy smoking in the background
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]BALANCING CHANGES[/h2]
Even with my recent balancing/flow changes I still felt something was off with the beginning of the game. Originally I wanted the player to feel more noob-y so that as they got new skills by playing through the game, they would be able to feel the contrast. However, as good as this sounds in theory, I think it just wasn’t working in reality. You just felt a bit start - stoppy and didn’t get the flow feeling that parkour should be giving.

So I found a middle ground. I decided to give the player more speed and stamina from the start of the game. You still have less than the first speed and stamina skills give you, but you are a lot closer to that than before. I tested it…. and I think it’s much better, I get a better feeling and representation of what the rest of the game is like from doing this, so I kept this change!

This has been a fun weeks worth of work which I think made the game more fun and interesting to play. I’m going to keep incorporating more fails into the levels as I go through polishing them, as I think this really adds to the vibe of the game. I pushed all these new changes into an updated Demo build on Steam, so you can go play them right now!

[h2]PLAY THE FREE STEAM DEMO HERE[/h2]
[h3]Let me know what you think and give the game a wishlist if you like it![/h3]

I've been continuing to chip away at my parkour game Freerunners and I wanted to show some of the gameplay progress I've been making!

Thanks to Steam Next Fest I had a bunch more people playing the demo and from that, I got a lot more feedback. Thanks to everyone who let me know their thoughts! One of the common feedback trends I picked up on was that the gameplay didn’t align with the marketing message of “finding a flow” through your environment. In particular, using obstacles felt a bit stop, start-y to some people. Aka It didn’t feel as fluid as it should have been.

[h3]OLD NON-SMOOTHED OBSTACLE USING[/h3]
Here is what it used to look like, vaulting an obstacle (First video) and going under an obstacle (Second video).
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You can see how sometimes it looks okay but other times it seems to snap to the obstacle. This makes sense because, well that’s exactly what I was telling it to do ha. I was using a straight-up teleport to a specific location per obstacle to line up the using animation with the player/obstacle. It worked when you were close to the correct location it needed to be. However, if you were too far when the move was triggered it would give you that snappy feel to it. I wanted to fix this so I came up with a new system which you can see below:

[h3]NEW SMOOTHED OBSTACLE USING[/h3]
Here are similar situations vaulting and going under but using the new smoothing system.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Now instead of instantly teleporting the player to the required location, I simply move them over time to that location. The move takes place over literally 2 milliseconds but it really does make a big difference to the snapping problem. It’s funny this ended up being a lot easier and less buggy to implement than I thought it was going to be.

Playing the two methods back to back, it can be quite subtle at times but you can definitely “feel” the difference, which is cool. I’m super glad I took the time to make this change. It’s definitely taking the game in the direction I want it to go!

I updated the demo build to include these new fluidity changes so, if you enjoyed this break down go check out the Free Steam demo of Freerunners!

I better get back to work!
James

It's that time of year again when we get to play Demos from loads of great games, Steam Next Fest!

This one is special for me because my game Freerunners is taking part in it!


Freerunners is a parkour game, based on my own experiences of doing parkour a couple of years ago. I wanted to try and give the feeling I got of finding a flow and underlying rhythm of movement through an environment. Vaulting, climbing, jumping, ducking, swinging, sliding, doing what it takes to complete a route as fast as possible.

I'd appreciate it if you go play the Demo HERE !

Have fun and remember to wishlist the game if you enjoy it!

Cheers,
James