ProtoZED News

Happy holidays friends! I hope you all are having a family-filled, wholesome time at the end of 2024!

We're getting closer to an alpha 1 release but still not quite there yet.

[h3]Here are the highlights: [/h3]

• The floor plan generation system is officially in beta. (IE: No active major bugs)
  
• The map generation system is also in beta and we now see loading statuses and related percentages (IE : Placing Roads( 72% ), Populating Foliage ( 20% ), Generating house floor plans ( 100% )
  
• Animations have been added for reloading
  

[h3]
Dev Updates For Nerds ( Curated descriptions lifted from p4 repo )[/h3]

• Floor Plan Generation Fixes: Room mismatches & Improper layout generation
  
• Custom Animations and Montages can now be driven by Efz Action Manager.
  
• Reload Animation implemented
  
• updated house 3d models and assets to be more run-down/dirty
  
• efz actions can now hook into UE GAS for replication purposes
  
• reload anim montage is now being triggered via GAS
  
• implemented plugin "cog" for debugging/troubleshooting GAS framework
  
• Floorplans: fixed rooms spawning without doors
  
• adjusted floor plan instanced static mesh generation to use collision profile name on HISM component generation
  

To ensure we can get a build out for internal testers for alpha release 1, the scope is tentatively being locked down with the following criteria:

• One extraction zone map
  
• One "Home Zone" Map (Static)
  
• 4 weapons : Bat, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun
  
• 3 Stats : Food, Water, Health
  
• Only zeds in extraction zone map. (Random Armed NPC's will be Release 2)
  

[h3]Hello there protozed fans & friends![/h3]

Recently, I noticed some performance hiccups so the past couple of months have been lots of optimizations. I know I know, it's not terribly exciting but the good news is - were back up to 90+ fps. Anyways, here are the updates:



[h3]Physics-based animations for zeds are now in place. It's small but it gives a little more life to the animations. You can see what I mean in his arms as the zed is knocked back.[/h3]




[h3]Interaction/looting mechanics SFX and animation[/h3]




I've added a dedicated “constructed” collision channel. This allows for unreal's PCG framework to properly place foliage types inside/outside of houses.

Also, this further enhances the masking tech I've implemented for reducing draw calls. This was mentioned in the last post but for anyone interested, here is a diagram of how that works. The blue spaces are defined per inside instance custom data. All three wall sections are the same mesh and material :




Other:

• Up until recently, the damage value from melee and projectiles has been static. Now, this can be dynamically driven by weapon attributes
  
• WIP - automated dirt/gunk mask placement on constructed surfaces
  
• refactored for loot generation to be completely driven by lua
  

What's next?

• Many of the loot tables and items are already in place. Tags/Name assignments to world objects are required to properly generate the loot. This will be a primary focus over the next couple of months.
  
• Loot generation for zed corpses
  
• I like how the zeds react to being hit. It feels right but player animations are a bit lacking.
  

[h3]As always, thank you for your continued support![/h3]

Hello friends! I've been hard at work on Protozed. hope you all are doing well! Overall, my plan is to have an early alpha demo build by end of November. Won't be anything like the final product but I'm itching to make something i can share with my brother at least! :)

Been working on crafting mechanics and survivor action logic. Here you can see the player opening a can of food, and then eating it.

[h3]Here the Crafting recipe is very simple. Open Canned Tuna. Also, you see a new player action, consume [/h3]


[h3]Tooltip showing possible crafting recipes and what you're missing[/h3]


[h3]Here you can see my new IK logic at work. Still very WIP but how he holds the rifle is dynamically driven by IK.[/h3]


I've implemented new logic for floor plans, removing the need for "door frame" and "door window" modules during the configuration/generation process. By dynamically tracing a box where the door/window should be and passing those parameters into the instanced static mesh, we mask out the wall dynamically . This will greatly help with content procurement, reducing the need for LOTS of complicated assets (due to varying sizes of doors and windows)

I'm about to head out for summer vacay with family so my post is coming a little early but here's what's up.

"Identification" system is in place. I say "identification" because its more a "it takes time to discover ruffle through everything in the cabinet" system. This speed can be affected by various things including traits, stress, exhaustion. (But you will not have to worry about it at home base)



Runtime Attachment Modification System



What you see here is the ability to modify attachments via a transform gizmo. This will enable modders to easily tweak meshes and how they attach to each other. The mesh you brought in doesn't quite look right? No problem, scale it, rotate it, translate it and save it. (This feature won't be allowed without admin/debug mode on)

Here's the Deployment screen preview.



It's in early development but this is the deployment screen. You'll be able to send scouts out and report back on what sort of supplies are available, thus giving you more info on which sites are best to raid.

Next month, we'll be taking a look at the home base system

Hello Friends!

Its been a busy month for me personally but I'll at least post what the perforce changelog looks like.

• Implemented ultra-dynamic weather system.
  
• Added real-time mesh pro and virtual texture functionality.
  

• Improved floor plan loot generation.
  
• Updated instanced dungeon tester.
  
• All item buttons now perform actions.
  
• Added notifications for sim HUD.
  

• Fixed context menu issues.
  
• Resolved various Lua tweaks and issues.
  
• Improved mesh loading setup.
  
• Removed RPI plugin and vertex painter examples.
  

• Added debug editor widget for loot generation testing.
  
• Implemented force roll loot on dungeon tester.
  

Have a good one!
Scott