AI Olympius News

This time I put a lot of effort into the weapon control terminals. Instead of repeatedly entering combinations to change modes, you can now simply use the mouse or the AD keys / hold E, the interface now does not close the view, but rather positions the camera so that it is clear what is happening. I wanted to focus on the strategic choice of weapons in the gameplay and remove the struggle with the UI. A more detailed description of each of the modes is also added.

• Improved damage indication. The HP bar turns white when taking damage. each shield has its own HP bar if it is damaged.
  
• Shields don't fall off in one piece but crack into pieces.
  
• Plasma in the Olympic Rifle now auto-regen very slowly. To keep players from dead ends until the player has figured out the game mechanics.
  
• Olympic alloy shields cooling slowed down by 4 times.
  
• Shooting now doesn't take you out of invisibility immediately, but simply reduces the overall invisibility time with each shot. (Same as before - except shooting with a bow or throwing grenade)
  
• Collected unstable Olympic shards are no longer lost when passing the portal. It seemed like a great little detail according to the lore but more looks like a punishment as a result. Shards now can be used to craft in the HQ before starting the mission, this will also make it easier to pass the level with the cliff if the player uses the return to HQ during the mission.
  
• The movement speed of the worms is slightly reduced, their dynamic movement is pretty cool, but not so good when the player misses 90% of bullets.
  
• Polished the "Construction site" level a bit, added a Specter recommendation for the final terminal, and added protection to the room with the terminal so that nothing interferes with working with it.
  
• The starting number of missiles on the hoverbike has been changed from 25 to 24. 25 with this font was perceived as decoration and not the number of missiles, so it was not clear that there was a possibility of shooting at all.
  
• In the level with the cliff, several enemies in intermediate locations have been added.
  
• Fixed a bug where a stingray on the "Desert" level could chase the player while crawling on the sand...
  
• Reduced terminal lock time after failed hacking.
  
• The path from the platforms under the city on the "Old Path" level reduced the gaps... they were small but people fell there more often than intended.
  
• Fixed a bug where the quest module for the destruction of screamers did not work properly.
  
• Enemy "jellyfish" - slowed down the rotation of the plates, added the rotation of the missile launchers so that they are more clearly visible from different angles, changed the behavior so that the enemy does not rotate so much in different directions in its behavior.
  
• Fixed a bug where it was possible to get rid of the Olympic rifle or other weapon while working with inventory.
  
• Other minor fixes...
  

I experimented a bit with the controls and animations and also added walking (requested by some players)...
If you don't like that changes, I can roll everything back or add some settings. Also, remember that sprint and crouch work two ways, you can toggle it by pressing a key, or sprint/crouch while holding a key.

In parallel, work continues on the next sector, it will contain 3 missions, one of which is almost ready visually.

• The character now walks if not carrying a weapon. The sprint in that mode is equivalent to a normal run, so it becomes endless.
  
• Slightly changed the mechanics of the rotation of the character's body when moving, eliminating the ability of the player to aim a weapon at the camera.
  
• The timer for hacking terminals now depends on the selected game difficulty.
  
• Fixed a bug where interaction with the environment caused simultaneous interaction with several objects (simultaneous dialogue with two characters, or dialogue simultaneously with interaction with the terminal, etc.)
  
• Fixed animation glitches when picking up multiple items in a row.
  
• On the level with the bridge, the access to the roof of the small building with solar panels has been made easier, also fixed one of the pipes where it was possible to get stuck at the end of the sewage - the passage has been increased.
  
• Extended camera limit rotation up / down from 70 to 84 degrees. Should make it easier to shoot down from a height or if the enemy is overhead, should also help with jumping between platforms in the Old Path level.
  
• The levitating platforms in the Old Path level now move slower if the player stands on them.
  
• Control delay on landing animation reduced from 0.2 to 0.15 seconds, animation sped up accordingly.
  
• Speed up 15-30% animations of climbing obstacles.
  
• On the level with the cliff, added indication of points of interest that were on the level, but were not marked with a marker.
  

In this update, I focused on the beginning of the game, so that the tutorial part and the first missions did not fail the general impression, since they were developed more than three years ago, they were designed differently from the last missions, and they had to be extended a little.

Also, regarding the appearance of the characters (too tight-fitting suit), I want to announce that the game is planning RPG-style equipment, with slots for a shoulder, bracelet, chest, and belt... they will have a small effect on the player's parameters, and will significantly improve the characters visually. Since there is a lot of feedback in this area, I will mark this part of the work as a priority.

• Changed map management, there are no more additional terminals for scrolling sectors (they were on the left, maybe you didn't notice them), and sectors are scrolled with the main buttons, also added an indication of the current sector to understand the general progress of the game better.
  
• Improved the first two missions.
  
• At the beginning of the game, the part with rats is cut out, and immediately after training the player is allowed to do the first missions.
  
• Fixed the posture of the characters' arms, the elbows are now closer to the body instead of at a weird distance, and it seems to look better, and more relaxed.
  
• Fixed a bug where enemies who lost a target continued to observe the location of the target loss, instead of continuing to patrol.
  

In parallel with these changes, the development of the next sector is already underway.

• Reworked icons of quest modules for a clearer indication of their meaning.
  
• Increased the base speed of the character. Now, the main effect of the exoskeleton upgrade is on the sprint duration.
  
• Improved the indication of how to overcome the first Stingray on the level with crater, and added a generator to avoid running out of plasma.
  
• Stingrays now drop spare parts loot.
  
• Increased missile count on the combat hoverbike.
  
• Optical zoom now toggles much faster and has more zoom initially.
  
• Toxic Screamers now give 2 healing capsules instead of 1.
  
• The lotus puzzle now has symbol icons directly on the terminals, which should make it easier to understand how it works.
  
• Fixed a bug where after dialogues, if you select phrases with the mouse, the camera would look at the floor after the end of the dialogue.
  
• Fixed a bug where the inverse kinematics of the head of all NPCs did not work properly. Now they more often look at the nearest NPC, or at the player standing next to them.
  
• Generators now fully charge the plasma charge for the Olympian Rifle instead of 75%.
  
• Revised the balance of enemies on the "Old Path" level.
  
• Improved the graphics of deserts.
  
• Made minor changes to the UI and various levels.
  

• Screamers, stingrays, all configurations of scouts, and spiders - now have a detection zone (140 degrees). So they cannot see the player from behind, which can add a new aspect of gameplay for some classes. Basically, it should not affect the usual gameplay.
  
• Fixed a bug where enabling shields on turrets from the terminal did not work while turrets were destroyed.
  
• Glass, especially damaged, can now be broken by the character himself, and its shards do not interfere with the player's movements.
  
• Added alternative via ABXY / XO△▢ to hack and control terminals with gamepads. (The Xbox controller has low accuracy with arrow input)
  
• Connection of a new player does not happen immediately to avoid accidental connection, for example with Alt+TAB while using a gamepad.
  
• Bonfire is no longer pushed by explosions.
  

UPD:
Minor changes to puzzle, dialogues, controls, and balance.