Frontiers Reach News

This weeks update sees the another starfighter added and the begining of the balancing act that will become the starfighter and stats grids. These grids will be used to determine the roles and in some cases the aesthetics of each starfighter to be made from here on.

-Introduction of starfighter and stats grids into the games conceptual side. This is not something that will be seen in the game but is instead used on the developer side and in community polling to define roles for starfighters and to balance their parameters in the game. All starfighters have been balanced in accordance with this grid.

-Added new starfighter Oshiro Armaments Mark 11 Shuriken Ultra.

-Added new dynamic camera positioning system that detects the average amount of space that is available around a starfighter and adjusts the camera distance and height in realtime from the players starfighter as they move through the environment.

-Added turn speed boost when throttling down and turn speed debuff when at maximum throttle. Using your afterburner currently has no effect on turn speed as you have to be at full throttle to use it and get a debuff for doing so anyways.

-Added mouse pointer clamp to keep the mouse within a 250 pixel radius around the screen center to make mouse control much more manageable.

-Added new artwork for starfighter cannons.

-Adjusted collision damage when impacting enemy starfighters and terrain.

-Module data is now saved to a json file for easier management and the list of modules is updated based upon what is in the JSON file.

-Module cost is now calculated into the over all cost of your starfighter.

-Added a starship cost counter to the bridge menu of the Heliosiren that updates as you change components on your starfighters.

-Vast portions of story mission data such as audio files and objectives are now stored in JSON and the Resources folder and are loaded by the mission manager on an as needed basis. This is also the first step towards laying the ground work for a custom mission builder for future workshop integration.

-Optimizations of radar and aim scope rendering.

-New skybox images for some environments.

-GPU Instancing now running on terrain meshes and a number of other terrain optimizations and improvements.

-Rework of post effects.

-Addition of new post effects options in the config menu.

-Added Level of Detail culling to several models in the game to improve overall performance.

-GPU instancing has been expanded to a number of shaders to improve performance.

-Implemented new particle explosions across the entire game.

-Implemented new projectile graphics.

-Reworked damage states for player controlled starfighters.

-Began redesigning the first mission level as part of a greater movement towards overall better quality and diversity on maps for greater dev side reusability and extended playability.

Happy holidays to everyone out on the frontier!

This weeks update brings a mix of visual improvements, optimizations, and rework of how enemy AI starfighters behave in the heat of combat.

-Complete visual redesign of the Heliosiren menu interface with a different color scheme.
-Complete rework of the NPC starfighter behavior when dog fighting and winged, AI should feel more aggressive and evade when the player is behind it. Should also yield fewer instances of flying around each other.
-Added new bullet mesh for cannon projectiles and added particle effect trail with a new unique particle texture.
-Reworked the engine trails particle effects with a new unique texture.
-Major optimizations to terrain mesh and added sliders for terrain quality control to the config menu.
-Added new controls to the config menu for post effects controls.
-Added new crash sequence for when the player is shot down that works for both third person and cockpit view.
-Made adjustments to the in mission menu so that if the player hits the exit key/button it will apply the adjusted settings.
-Added new landing sequence for mission endings. Player's ship will now have control overriden upon entering the hangar.
-Added loading screens to the main menu when starting missions.
-Added a button to the config menu for changing pilot profiles.
-Adjusted lighting in the load and outfitting menu hangar space to make it easier to see the starfighters.
-Continued level design and development of key features for patrol missions. The Frontier's Reach patrol mission as a result has some new stuff to check out.
-fixed a small bug that would keep the reticle from changing colors at the appropriate times.

The patch notes for this update may seem small, but rest assured a LOT went into this update. I got an obscene amount of work done this week to bring cockpit views to each starfighter, but the work has yet to stop. Tweaks to how each starfighter flies and feels will inevitably need to be made and I'm definitely willing to take feedback from anyone willing to give it.

- Integrated Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick controls for Yaw, Pitch, Roll, Primary Fire, and -Secondary Fire. Throttle and all other controls are still tied to the keyboard.

- Integrated new cockpit view system that can be set in configuration menu between missions.

- Overhauled the artwork and added cockpit view for all of the existing player flyable starfighters.

- Major optimizations across the board to increase game performance.

- Added new sound for the Volkov Heavy Industries SF-38 Vektor Starfighter.

- Added accuracy parameter to all turrets. (Still testing so may not be super noticeable right now).

- Adjusted health on both gun and missile turrets to reduce their time to kill.

- Adjusted health on fuel tanks to reduce their time to kill.

- Tweaked Yaw, Pitch, and Roll speeds on some starfighters to accommodate new cockpit views and joystick control setup.

This Friday's update sees the addition of a major new feature, the module customization system. This system allows players to equip up to 3 modules on to a starfighter to tweak it's performance or to add additional functionality.

MAJOR FEATURE ADDITION

Added new module system that allows players to tweak various aspects of their favorite starfighters and to add additional functionality.

New modules inluded are as follows:
--Radiator: Cools starfighters faster when not boosting or shooting.
--Hardened Armor: Reduces incoming damage from enemy fire.
--Counter Measure Launcher: Automatically launches counter measures when it detects missiles that are too close.
--Enhanced Fuel Injectors: Increases starfighter speed across the board.
--Quantum Field Emitters: Increases Yaw, Pitch, and Roll speed.

Reworked loadout menu to include new outfitting menu for module customization.

Added new buildings and starfighters to score board.

Added brand new starfighter NAM HF-22 Nujoma's Shield.

Adjusted reticle graphics for better over all visibility in the game.

Added new sound to the SF-38 Vektor.

Unlocked all playable starfighters so players can experience them from the beginning (for now).

Changed salvage amount for new players so that players testing don't have to worry about salvage costs.

Fixed some lighting issues in the heliosirens hangar bay.

Added audio warning when player enters map operational boundary.

Renamed a capital ship to help fill out a manufacturer's line of ships in the lore.

ITS FRIDAY!!! And at Blind Alien Productions that means it is time for the weekly release. As it is that the game is still in early access these updates are going to focus more on mechanical additions and refinement rather than content updates. Weekly content updates is schedule for after official launch, so please bear that in mind.

Right now I am working on a plan for moving the loadout menu into the hangar of the Heliosiren and want to eventually setup module slots for each ship. I've posted some information about it in the discussion boards.

Additionally I've added a lore forum to the discussion boards. this forum will be used to house much of the supporting lore for the game until I can get something resembling a wiki put together in the future.

These are the following changes that have been made this week. More to come in the future.

-Integrated Xbox controller setup using Unity's new input system and laid the ground work for more controller configurations in the future.

-Integrated object pooling for performance considerations.

-Added hit indicator sound for confirmation when player cannons hit target.

-Touched up particle effect for player cannons to help accentuate when player cannons hit target.

-Reworked configuration menu to allow for better management of settings now and in the future.

-Added new settings controls for controller and mouse setups.

-Added new in mission pause menu with limited settings control.

-Added new accuracy parameter to NPC enemies to reduce their laser point precision as it was not very realistic and caused some difficulty issues in gameplay balance.

-Tweaked thermals management for all ships to be a bit more noticeable.

-Added new Flight Leader SF-33 Ostriye starfighter that is harder to take down and has a high percentage chance of loot drop on kill in patrol map.

-Added more artwork and destructables to the Frontier's Reach Patrol map.

-Added new launch sequence to mission start and player respawn.

-Switched unity project from 32bit to 64bit this will mean that a 64bit version of the game will be in the next update.

-Adjusted pause game controls to allow for more control over when it comes up and to ensure it acts appropriately.

-Reworked and added more detailing to hangar interior.

-Added new mouse cursor art.

-Reworked collisions on some capital ships to allow for better and more accurate collisions.

-Added target markers to capital ship engines.

-Adjusted music on a number of the story missions to add more audible diversity.

-Adjusted cloud density and coloring on some levels.

-Added audio alert when player hits playspace boundary.

-Various balance changes to NPC starfighters to facilitate better navigation performance in the games levels and environments.