AI Olympius News

After collecting some feedback on Elysium, I significantly reduced the annoying things and adjusted the levels for a comfortable passage.
Players had a hard time with the vines, so the most important paths are now mostly replaced with something simpler.
The location-based puzzle of Elysium 3 has also undergone some changes to make it more clear and comfortable to create a path to the objective.

As for the shooting balance: many players complained about the shooting itself at the beginning of the game. So I made the basic accuracy and speed of bullets without improvements much more pleasant, and the accuracy improvements were replaced with a new bullet feature that allows you to partially pass through plasma shields, which will favorably raise the value of rifles and pistols compared to the “almighty plasma”.

Meanwhile, the work on the new sector is still ongoing...
Detailed list of changes:

• The basic firing rate of rifles has been slightly increased.
  
• The “accuracy” improvement has been replaced with “chance to penetrate plasma shield” for the Pistol, Rifle, and Olympic Rifle.
  
• All shooting parameters reconfigured, base bullet speed increased, base shooting accuracy increased, and “shooting accuracy” improvements are now merged with “bullet speed” improvement.
  
• The “long-range bullet split” improvement for the Olympic Rifle now triggers earlier.
  
• Elysium 1 - Simplified movement around the location.
  
• Elysium 2 - Simplified movement around the location. Removed friendly stingray, added additional enemies in the temple, and added enemy stingrays that activate in some areas.
  
• Elysium 1, 2 - added more respawn points so that when you fall, you don't lose the path you've traveled.
  
• Elysium 3 - simplified control of location elements, control panels moved for better accessibility, removed their duplication.
  
• The main lighting model is better adjusted, shadows should become less black, softer lighting of the environment.
  
• On many levels the lighting is better adjusted, on the South Station level, the lighting has been completely changed, with a golden sunshine.
  
• Island - the lighting of the day-night change is also better adjusted, and the fog of the location in good weather is reduced.
  
• Slightly improved graphics on some levels.
  
• Improved quality of the Volumetric Fog.
  
• The detection range of turrets placed by the player has been reduced.
  
• The “Esc” key now exits the hidden interface mode.
  
• Fixed the problem when the sprint is pressed before the start of the run - it did not work.
  
• The icon for changing the mode of the Olympic rifle has been raised above the reticle for better visibility.
  

Summing up the year 2024 and the dynamics with which the project is being developed, I have to shorten the ending part of the game a bit so that it doesn't stretch on for another year.

• Fixed a bug on the South Station level where the player did not start at the beginning of the level.
  
• Changed the sound of the standard rifle firing. (The previous one always sounded not very good to me)
  
• The first missions have been reordered. It will be easier for players to get used to the gameplay on a more linear location before being allowed to a larger space.
  
• The effects of the energy pistol shot now sound like a plasma shot instead of a regular pistol.
  
• The homing missiles of the Olympic Rifle, Defensive Missile Launchers, and Hoverbike are now accelerated in flight to make them a key element in the fight against strikers.
  
• The range of the red target lock has been increased from 250 to 300.
  
• Increased the standard zoom when aiming.
  
• Minor corrections to the graphics at the level of “desert”, “island”
  

• Some elements of the second level (bridge detonation) were changed.
  
• The Bastion mission is now swapped with the South Station mission, I see that most players play the missions in the order they are presented on the map, and this mission is more spectacular and easier.
  
• Improved interaction with ladders, and fixed some bugs in interaction with ladders.
  
• Improved the effect of the SSAO and SSGI post-effect (not so dark).
  
• At Elysium III level, the bonfire will not work as a respawn point (as an exception, due to the presence of moving platforms).
  
• The Olympic rifle in harpy mode now fires hybrid bullets like a rifle by holding the button instead of pressing it.
  
• The firing rhythm quest module now also affects the machine gun in Harpy mode.
  
• Turret loot chance increased from 60% to 80%.
  
• The loot indicator now flashes more frequently and more clearly.
  
• Fixed some system errors.
  

The last level of Elysium was completed pretty quickly!
The next update will focus on the Island, as the next story mission will be directly related to it.
Also, the update includes some improvements to the cooperative mode. Not many people play in co-op so I'm glad to hear any feedback on it. For now, thanks to Krato for his feedback.

• A new story level, and one new item of equipment.
  
• TAA is better tuned, the picture is now crystal clear.
  
• Enriched the background of Elysium on the first and second missions.
  
• A tiny lens flare effect was added.
  
• Fixed some bugs with enemy “cores”.
  
• SSGI is working again. It broke down unnoticed when switching to Unity 6.
  
• Fixed some issues with cubemap rendering when their color scheme did not match the scene.
  
• Changes to some sounds to avoid noise.
  
• Improved the layout of the main interface. Now everything is a little more compact, and better centered, and the text description of special actions when selecting them has been removed.
  
• The minimum shadow quality setting now completely turns off the sun, which looks pretty good as if it were overcast.
  

The game is competing in two nominations at IndieCup!

I've already started working on the last mission of the Elysium sector, but I've noticed a few technical issues after switching to Unity 6 that should be fixed.

• Minor fixes related to the recent switch to the new Unity.
  
• The game window no longer minimizes when losing focus, especially important for dual-monitor systems.
  
• New soundtrack in the last mission has been added.
  
• Added a slight scattering effect in the fog.