Frontiers Reach News

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On the hangar controller updates.
First Friday of the month and as such, it is update time! A lot of new things and we're going to get right into it:

- New loadout system
Save, load, and modify. The new system takes all of our previously constructed elements for managing your starfighter in the hangar to include paint jobs, and unifies them into the new loadout screen. When you save, it will now be displayed with its cost along the top side menu.

- New Helm menu
A new menu has been added for changing planetary locations. This new menu is also accompanied by updated lighting and transitions during the warp travel.

- Completely overhauled input system now supports three main control schemes. Generic joysticks are supported in theory but we've had some difficulty getting it to recognize a HOTAS setup properly. More updates to come.

- Completely overhauled mouse and keyboard flight system. Part of the input system overhaul was due to this right here. So much had to be changed in the input system to make mouse flight function the way we wanted, that we had to completely rework the entire thing. That said, the new mouse flight system may feel familiar to those of you who have played other flight games.

- New module outfitting updates and menu screen. This new screen is merely a preview. We have a LOT more to get done on the module system. Nothing too heavy a lift for us, just a lot of little things and some small but significant additions like a new camera system to zoom in on the modules as you work on them.

- Completely new Turret system.
This new turret system still has some kinks in it, but it's got a pretty awesome feature set that we're excited about since it allows us to setup turrets in just about any configuration and not have turret artwork intersecting into their own structure or ship hull.

- New bullet system.
Though not fully integrated, and more changes are planned, this new bullet system is far more accurate than the previous one, using more tools for precise detection.

- New missile system.
Missiles can now lead and chase targets and are much more accurate but will lose their tracking completely if they over-shoot their target. No more lasso missiles looping around until they hit something.

- Numerous tweaks to camera system to compensate for changes and additions in the mouse flight mode.

- Completely new countermeasure system.
As part of the module system, countermeasures have been added to the game as a whole new mechanic that will eventually accommodate three different types of defense. Currently we only have flares, which will dot the sky behind the player with enough flares to disrupt a dozen missiles. Eventually a chaff module will be added that disperses a disruption cloud behind the player, and finally an EM field that will project a disruption field around the player as they travel.

- Completely overhauled hangar system for landing and reloading. Much of this work is foundational. Still lots to wrap up here, but it's all essential work for the future. Some of which are the new AI, wingmen, new reload sequence, and mid-mission weapon swapping.

- Numerous changes to the flight model to affect feel, performance, and play. This required rebalancing several parameters on fighters to adjust performance.

- Fixed another edge case that was causing missile warning cones to not go away.

While this week’s update does indeed break some of our levels, we're in the process of getting a bunch more artwork overhauled and new stuff added before our next update on December 3rd. Rest assured all levels will be restored to full functional state and some, hopefully many, will be completely reworked with a whole host of additions added to them.

Additionally, we're beginning work on the first set of missions that we aim to build with the quality in mind for the final product. A lot of this is being focused around preparation for the launch of our Kickstarter but will ultimately play into a better experience for everyone in the long run.

We also want to take this time to give everyone a brief run down on our schedule the next month and our contingency moving forward.

November 22nd - team will review over the period of a week.

November 29th - Decision will be made on whether or not the demo is ready for Kickstarter prime time.
December 3rd - Launch new demo and Kickstarter.

Contingent timeline in the event that demo approval is not met on November 29th.

December 3rd - Demo release as usual.

January 7th - Demo release and Kickstarter launch.

For the sake of getting this out the door, we're only allowing ourselves one opportunity to push the dates back! There will not be a second delay in release.

Oh, before we go, you will need to make a new save file. We added a whole bunch of small changes that we didn't go into because they were parts of the large changes listed above. These smaller changes required adding a number of additional parameters to the players save file.

We regret to inform you that this weeks update is cancelled. But not without good reason.

We're doing this to restructure our schedule a bit so we can get through some major integrations and prep the final demo before going live with the Kickstarter. This will also allow us to really focus in on development and artwork production without worrying if the game will be ready by the weekend.

While our release schedule is going to change you should still expect to see screenshots, video, and artwork hitting our social media accounts as we continue to work.

To accompany this announcement we want to layout a list of things that we're working on.
- More damage models for starfighter NPCs.

- Unity DOTS integration (we're looking at this to solve some performance issues and to increase capabilities. still speculative).

- Original music (Our composer is working on preparing small sampling of the music he is composing for the title as a whole)

- New sound effects for starfighter engines and weapons.

- New enemy AI (there is a lot going on with this new AI and it is capable of a lot of things the current AI is not it's a big integration though and will need to be handled very carefully over a period of days).

- New module system with completely new artwork to accompany it.

- New countermeasures as a part of the new module system. These new CM's come in three forms. Flares, Chaff, and an EM Field.

Flares - Launches a series of flares in a pattern across the sky that disrupt missiles that get too close.

Chaff - Launchers a cloud of disrupting debris behind the player as they travel. Any guided munitions that enter the cloud will be disrupted and veer drastically off course.

EM Field - Deploys a large disruptive field affects missile tracking causing them to veer off target drastically. In some cases missiles have been known to self destruct from short circuits.

- Q-Field visual effect and module.

In the Frontiers Reach Universe, faster than light travel is not achieved by warping space around the ship like most other sci-fi universes. No, in Frontiers Reach we get around with what is known as Quantum Field Manipulation technology, sometimes called quantum flux fields, Q-fields, or Quantum Bubbles. Regardless of the name, Quantum Field Manipulation technology operates on the same principles across the board.

To understand QFM tech we must first understand space in the Frontiers Reach Universe. In the FRU space time is a kin to a liquid, so thin and viscous and all encompassing that it takes enormous amounts of energy, or mass, to affect it in any meaningful way. But what if you could create a spacetime void? A space so empty that not even spacetime itself could exist? Well that's what QFM tech does. In much the same way that a torpedo uses a bubble of air to push water out of the way as it travels at high speed through water, a starship in the FRU uses a spacetime void bubble to push spacetime out of the way as it travels.

In the FRU traveling this way you can reach speeds of up to 1 to 2 lightyears a day depending upon your size and mass. Most starfighters can hop around the interior of a star system quite comfortably if they don't have to engage in any serious fighting. Capital ships like long haul freighters, ferries for small vessels, and other large ships can travel roughly 15-20 lightyears before needing to refuel. The hulking megaships known as Interstellar Carriers can travel up to 100 lightyears before having to refuel.

One of the things we want to do with this is visualize the Q-field affect in some way. Right now we're playing with distortions in the Unity HDRP and have had some really cool effects. But we've had some difficulty getting them to work exactly as we need them so we're exploring a few different options.

- New Mouse flight model. The model we've chosen may seem familiar to some of you.

- Major overhaul of the hangar and mid mission reloading mechanic with a UI that will allow player to swap some equipment/weapons when they've landed aboard the Heliosiren during a mission. This also includes some visual changes.

- New ambient noise backgrounds for Heliosiren interior.

- New Helm menu interface for selecting planetary locations that also gives additional information on the chosen planet.

- Loadout system that will allow players to setup, save, and load different loadouts.

- New character art and dialogue system changes (this will likely take affect later as we're still working out our full list of characters and only have portraits right now).

- Support for more languages.

It's difficult to say when exactly all of these things will be available in the game. Some are already in. Others haven't even been started on. Assuming we can actually get all of them in on the new schedule, which is partly why we reworked it, Frontiers Reach should be a fairly more refined and deeper game to experience.

This weeks patch notes bring few changes. One of our key team members for developing the game has taken a full time position and our updates will be smaller as a result until said developer is in a position they can more easily work around their full time employment. That said this developer is also the person who funds quite a bit of the games development so we’re looking at acquiring some new tech to ease our development so that we can get more done with less time spent doing it.

One thing we want to be sure to communicate. We’ve done some testing with the control schemes for for custom rebindings and we feel confident that we have a way forward with regards to establishing a means that player can configure any controller/keyboard/joystick setup they choose.

Also, please know that while our time table is going to slow slightly, we will continue to push an update every week. We’re also thinking about moving our deployment day to Saturday.


However, we’re here for patch notes.

- Fix for RCS systems roll, pitch, and yaw speed so as to make RCS mode much more manageable.

- Added new animations in holomap for two missions as a visual test as well as the infrastructure to build a system to play them. The briefing video that went out with last weeks update has been removed. It will be replaced at a later time.

- New paint job preset added, “Tuskegee”

This weeks patch notes encompass yet more preparation for a major update coming in the future. One centered around AI and Reloading. Additionally we have a number of small fixes, additions, and a couple of small changes that affect the game in a big way.


- Adjustments to thrust vectoring animations.

- Expansion of explosion models for each fighter to include all player controlled starfighters.

- Added debris explosions to Vo-33 Ostriye and Mark 6 Super Kunai enemy NPC fighters.

- Added preview art of coming changes for holo table.

- Fixed issue on the Jadha map kept player from being able to launch into the level.

- Changed music for Jadha missions.

- Adjusted lighting to address issues on Jadha Sector 42F map.

- Fixed no spacing on planet button names at the holo table.

- Adjusted portraits in main menu to affect better visibility.

- Added backend support for video playback as a part of mission briefings.

- Modified aiming reticle to increase target visibility when aiming and increased its size.

- Added in RCS and Stall mechanics into flight model.

-Stalling-

-Vectoring requires a minimum speed both in atmosphere with gravity and in the vacuum of space.

-When in atmosphere, airbrakes work the most pointing up and not the least pointed down.

-When stalled, your nose will push itself down when gravity is a factor.

-When stalled, torque applied to the craft is severely reduced as vector control is a factor of forward speed.

-RCS-

-The RCS thrusters can be activated on controller by holding both triggers down.

-RCS greatly increases the torque you can apply to the craft with a cost to speed.

-While RCS is activated, you have no control over the direction your aircraft travels. It continues as a
ballistic object.

-RCS can be activated while stalled to regain control of your craft.

-Ending RCS comes in the direction of travel results in control being regained instantly.

-Ending RCS facing the opposite direction to the direction of travel will result in control being lost until your engines can correct your forward speed.

-Ending RCS in any other direction will lead to slower recovery they facing the direction of travel.

-Holding boost before ending RCS and continuing to boost after will allow for near immediate correction of travel direction even when ending RCS facing the opposite of your direction of travel.