Frontiers Reach News

This weeks update is a significant change in the games architecture as it sees the expansion of levels completed and the beginning of major moves in terms of level design. Additionally more refinements have been made to the Mission Manager to increase it's robustness and prep it for custom missions. This is yet another big step in the proper direction and it opens the game up by a significant margin.

- All map locations have been restructured into different locations and scaled up for implementation into the new level and mission management system.

- Multiple maps are now available for patrol missions. These maps will unlock as players progress through the campaign.

- Each planetary location now has multiple deployment zones at varying altitudes. For the time being these are used by the dev team only, but will be exposed on the custom mission editor.

- Each mission now has a time limit that the mission must be completed in with a timer on the 3rd person UI. Additionally there are 5 and 1 minute audio warnings to let the player know when time is getting critical.

- The F-135 Solarhawk is now flyable on any map once it is unlocked.

- Changed UI color for 3rd person mode to white for better visibility.

- Terrain resolution is now adjustable with the general quality dropdown in the config menu. This is best reserved for machines that absolutely need to reduce poly count.

- Massive over haul to the Longreach Class of Frigates making them much more difficult to take down.

- Fixed a bug in the terrain quality controls that kept the auto-quality controller from doing it's job appropriately.

This weeks update sees the implementation of Linux support! Yay! We have successfully tested the game on Ubuntu, Mint, and Pop Os. We've also added some new quality settings to the config menu and have continued the effort of laying the ground work for larger levels and custom missions.

- Linux support for Ubuntu, Mint, and Pop OS.

- Fixed a couple of graphics issues that were unique to Linux machines and that should also bring up quality on Windows machines.

- Added new Cloud Quality control slider to control the quality of cloud rendering. Lower is better.

- Added settings toggle for cloud shadows rendering to enable/disable cloud shadows.

- Added settings toggle for cloud volumetric shadows rendering to enable/disable cloud volumetric shadows.

- Added settings toggle for ground fog rendering to enable/disable ground fog rendering.

- A number of maps have been expanded in size in a much larger effort to prepare the game for moving to a more modular format.





This week we're also publishing our roadmap. I will include more details about it below the image. One thing I will ask is that every keep in mind that some of the roadmap features are things that are being built into the architecture of the game. This means that while the affects might not be immediately visible they will lend to a greater gameplay experience down the road.









One of the first tasks on the roadmap is the refactoring of the enemy AI. With this we're looking to smooth out the combat and make the combat less wonky. It is difficult to say how long this will take so I don't want to make promises we might not be able to keep in terms of timelines or to put too much stress on my team and risk burning them out.



Right now we have a structure that assigns one mission to one level. We're working on a much larger system that will allow for multiple missions to be assigned to one or more maps. This allows us to grow the game exponentially, use larger more heavily designed levels for those missions, and to create levels that can be revisited over and over and that will serve as common points of interest for players to visit and share stories in.



Once the AI refactoring is completed, we'll be doing a pass at the player mechanics to get them smoothed out and to bring them in line with the AI refactoring. This is like all of the high priority tasks is something I cannot put a concrete timeline to. However, refactoring will likely include some mechanical changes as we've got a few ideas for how expand the player experience in a few different ways. I'll go into more detail those when we get closer to them.



We want to add some truly robust story telling mechanics to the game but we don't want to get bogged down too much with relying on voice actors to be constantly present to get things done. As such we're exploring some interesting ways to get this done. Additionally we want to a means through which the player can interact with characters more directly with the ability for character interaction aboard the Heliosiren to drive gameplay.



Starfighter customization is an important feature but we've yet to really start on it. We want your starfighters to feel like the retro-futuristic space hotrod of your dreams. From tweaking performance parameters to change how a starfighter feels to swapping patterns and colors and even decals to change how your starfighter looks. If you're gonna be a space pirate, you need a custom hotrod starfighter to go with it.



One of the reasons the lead developer started this project was to enable the story telling potential of gamers by giving them the tools to tell their own stories in a science fiction universe they know and love. Unlike other intellectual properties and the creators behind them, we don't want to stand in the way of community creation and instead want to make an effort to support it. This feature is still a ways down the road though but rest assured it is a key feature that we absolutely want to implement.



One of the things we've tested behind closed doors and on limited streams is the ability to rapidly create story driven content. This is not something that we speculate we can do, this is something we are already doing. But before it is ready for prime time we've got a lot of refinement and feature expansion to get done. One thing I will say is that in order to make this system work we have to avoid some conventions that other game embrace. One of them being fully voiced dialogue. The moment we choose to include voice over other than our computer generated narrator our entire time table expands and this goal will become unachievable, so we will be sticking to text based dialogue for most cases.

We hope that this paints a good picture of the game moving forward and ask for your assistance in finding bugs and testing the games mechanics.

Till next time, fly safe!

This weeks update blog is small as I've had to spend some time on projects that are not this game. However, this update brings the first pass at an implementation of the user interface for 3rd person mode. And the release of a new starfighter. I also spent more time getting the team up to speed and managing team taskings.

Additionally, this past week saw more time and effort put towards laying the foundation for future updates and while that is reflected in this update, the core of that future expansion will not seen in this update. This period of refinement is pretty big shift in how the game is structured and it may take some time before it is ready for public release.
- Added new starfighter. The Lochland and Masters F-135 Solarhawk. The new starfighter is locked until you get to mission 11 as it is not fully integrated into every mission.
- Added new large environment to patrols for testing purposes. This environment is foundation that will be used to construct all future levels. It is quite large in comparison to the previous levels and sufficiently more diverse. There are also multiple set pieces which are still in the process of being cosntructed. While it is currently setup in the patrols section of the game, it will eventually play host to many missions and provide much greater replayability.
- Added new user interface for 3rd person perspective while on mission. This UI will likely see changes in the future.
- Fixed a bug that would cause enemy AI to get stuck searching for the player at the players last known position.

This weeks update sees some visual touch ups and additions. Chief among them is some new cloud artwork. Additional some experimental changes have been made to work out just how big we can make a level. We trying a small expansion for now but are looking at something much larger in scope.

-Tweaks to launch sequence to reduce instances of launching prematurely or launching into walls.

-New artwork for frontier settlements.

-Major optimizations for aim scope and radar rendering as well as for cockpit view.

-New clouds for all the levels that currently use clouds.

-New starfighter instrument artwork.

-Fix for an instance where lock on based munitions wouldn't actually lock on.

-You can now adjust the calibre of the cannons on your starfighter in exchange for more salvage. These new cannons options will affect the rate of fire and sound that is played when you fire your primary weapon.

-Rework of several textures in the game to add dirt and grime to make them feel less clean and new.

-Tutorial level is now larger as a result of experimenting with some methods to increase level size.

-Redesign of the Kruger Interstellar S-27 Wildboar.

-Heat management for guns is now implemented with it's own gauge in the cockpit.

-Caldero Patrol map added to the game to test out lighting and begin the process of building out the level.

-Added new Colonyship artwork to a number of levels.