NightSpawn News

Dev Bites - Issue Three

Welcome to our issue three of Dev Bites! We hope everyone had an enjoyable break over the winter holidays. After a short festive break ourselves, the team are back on the project getting ready for our next update. In this Dev Bite, we’ll cover some of the changes we’re already making and what to expect in the next major update.

Overview

• Difficulty system
  
• Steam Deck
  
• Intel® Arc™ & XeSS support
  
• Church update
  
• Bug fixes
  
• Performance
  
• RTX situation
  
• New animations and timed interactions
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Difficulty System[/h2]
Our roster of core game systems is nearly complete with only a few exceptions. Top of the list of missing features is a difficulty system, allowing players to adjust the difficulty of the game to their liking - both easier and harder.



Our new difficulty system will allow hosts in the lobby to either select a base difficulty ranging from Easy to Nightmare or they can simply tweak the system to totally customize each game session modifying:

• Healthkit spawns
  
• Healing time
  
• Self-Revive kits
  
• Revive time
  
• Looting
  
• Flashlight
  
• Escape plans
  
• AI
  
• Crawl spaces
  
• Obstacles
  
• Storms
  
• Weather Health
  
• Traps
  
• Minigames
  
• And more…
  
• 
  

More customisation settings will be added to the game as we go forward. Players will be able to select which map and Sanguivore they want to play with as well, as the game grows beyond the first map.

[h2]Steam Deck[/h2]


We have good news for Steam Deck users! It has long been our intention to get the game running on the Steam Deck. Tests on early builds showed issues with performance and common crashes. However, we’re pleased to announce that many of these problems have been overcome in our latest internal build and will be available with the next update.



In our settings menu, we have a Steam Deck preset which allows users to select settings best suited to the hardware. In our latest internal test (without various optimizations available) we were able to achieve 40-60FPS. As we introduce more optimisations, we expect this average will become more consistent.

There are some specific things causing the frame rate to drop at the moment. The fluid simulations from the Noble entering and exiting cause some notable drops for example. We are currently working on some alternative effects which will allow the framerate to remain stable. This is work in progress, but we are looking to have this ready for the next patch.

Currently the latest version of Proton is required to play on the Steam Deck, but we will be looking to try and make a Sanguivore native Linux version of the game in the near future as well.

Processor Unit: AMD Zen2 2.4-3.5Ghz
Ram: 16Gb DDR5
Storage: NVMe SSD
GPU: AMD Equivalent:- Radeon RX 6700xt
nVidia Equivalent:- GTX 1060 / RTX 2060

Steam Deck Technical Information: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech

[h2]Intel® Arc™ & XeSS Support[/h2]


In further hardware support news for Sanguivore, most Intel GPUs are made for laptops, but their new brand of the Intel® Arc™ 7 series cards seems to be competitive with the budget GPUs by nVidia. For example, sources show us that the Intel® Arc™ 7 series can achieve 93FPS over nVidia’s RTX3060ti which runs at 88FPS on Rockstar’s Red Dead 2.

Source: https://t.ly/TAsyx [DigitalTrends.com]

So as we aim to support as much hardware out there on the market as possible, we are considering how to best support newer GPUs. So to accomplish this, Sanguivore now supports XeSS AI supersampling by Intel. This is basically Intel's version of AMD's FSR or nVidia's DLSS. While testing XeSS, it does seem to work for nVidia hardware, but will lower visual quality to the native DLSS 3.5.

Documentation: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/discrete-gpus/arc/technology/xess.html

[h2]Church Update[/h2]
Our 3D Modeler has been hard at work breathing new life into the church in the second section. The repairs to the church roof is important to the story of why there is construction equipment in the area. One problem though - there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the roof. Until now!



The majority of meshes we use are set to utilize Unreal Nanite, a rendering technique for getting extremely high polycounts on meshes, including the new church roof.



Skipping ahead slightly to some future development for the church, our changes aren’t entirely visual either. We’re aware that getting from one side of the section to the other can be quite a journey. With the new church spire, we’ll be adding a fast way down with the use of a handy zipline. More details to come in the future with this new feature.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
Since returning after the New Year, there has been a general focus of clearing off as many known issues as possible, with a view to having a good clean start to the year. We started off by reprioritising our known issues in the hopes of tackling any major problems first.

Progress on this front has been positive. Some notable examples include a slew of issues relating to the scoreboard and various issues causing the game to lock up when using hiding places.

We’re also hearing feedback from multiple sources regarding AI balance. The common thread is that the AI hangs around players too much. To address this, we’ve rebalanced the Noble so that he spreads out his movement pattern further, while still having plenty of capacity to have an encounter with the player.

Additionally, several improvements have been made to the Fledgling’s vision. There were issues where they could attempt to get to players hiding under houses. Despite not having access, they would loiter by the houses indefinitely. With their latest sensory update, they will now rapidly ignore inaccessible targets, such as people hiding under houses.

The balance of the AI’s perception is still being investigated and will continue to be balanced until it feels just right. Follow the next update, feedback on this subject will be much appreciated!

[h2]Performance[/h2]
We’ve made good headway with a couple of important performance updates. Some major optimizations have been done affecting popup UI elements. The changes have had a fairly major improvement on CPU performance. This was the main cause of the framerate dropping when looking in different directions around the police station.

Additionally, we have finished a general cleanup of levels in the game. This process helps ensure that only assets that need to be loaded in are actually loaded in at the right times, preventing any overhead from objects that cannot be seen.

Our in-game settings have been spruced up too. In addition to various quality of life improvements for the settings, a new benchmark tool has been added to automatically identify the best settings for your hardware. You will have the option to run the benchmark tool after first launching the game and is also available in the settings.

[h2]RTX Situation[/h2]
We spent some time looking into some of the graphical issues surrounding RTX Ray Tracing. We’ve discovered several anomalies ranging from mild to severe that we want to try and fix when possible. However, just at the moment, fixing these RTX-related graphical issues is not our main focus. We have therefore decided that it would be best to disable RTX features for now, until we have the time to fully address the associated issues. Apologies for any disruption for RTX users - it will be back as soon as we can get it working properly.

[h2]New animations and timed interactions.[/h2]
In line with the addition of new difficulty settings, we’re looking to make some interesting updates to how players interact with objects in the world.

We’re putting together a series of new animations covering the majority of interactions in the game. Examples include typing at the computer when using it, handling fuses in and out of the fusebox and squeezing through tight gaps etc.



This is not only to make the whole gameplay experience better and more engaging but will also introduce the new timed event system, where each task will take time to complete and may require multiple attempts to get an item working.

Lets take PCs for example:- Currently a single button press can reveal a code required for a secure area. With the new system a number of timed key presses may be required to solve a puzzle on the PC to access the machine's content.

This will also bring inline the plans we have for selected player characters and player perks that will be available to players. For example, a hacking perk to make accessing PCs easier.



The inclusion of new animations allows players to visually see what other players are doing in the world.

Furthermore, new animations mean that certain actions may take a little time to complete. This interaction time can now be integrated with the difficulty system so that certain activities are either faster or slower depending on difficulty.


Looking beyond this next update, we are excited to make further headway with the third section. Much of the third section has already been worked on, but we are now getting closer to being in a position to finish the remaining parts. Since many of the core systems are now in place, we can dedicate much more time to working on the sections themselves.

Optimisations, fixes, quality of life improvements and balance changes will all continue as needed.

[h2]Next Patch[/h2]
Similarly to the last time we did a Dev Bite, internal testing on the latest build is underway. We are looking to release an update on Friday if possible. In case of any last minute hold ups, we’ll look to be ready with a new update around the start of next week. Stay tuned for news on the next update!

Version 0.25.0 arrives just ahead of the winter holiday!

Firstly, we’d like to give a big thank you to everyone in the community who has given us suggestions and feedback! We’re keen to start implementing many of the suggested User Experience (UX) improvements starting in this update. Most notably, the inventory and journal have received a big update in the form of a digital tablet which now conveniently contains all the information needed. The journal has been reorganised for ease of use as well as the Escape Plans on the HUD, which have received a lick of paint of their own. To help player’s keep track of objectives, new icons and notifications appear as your team finds new items and opportunities.

The roaming creatures of the world have been updated too. All sounds for the smaller vampires have been updated to be more tolerable to human ears. Furthermore, the vampires that roam the streets have been redesigned. Watch out that they don’t cut you off as they leap over a car or fence!

This update upgrades the game engine to the latest version of Unreal, allowing us to start implementing some of the latest technical features available to us.

[h2]Links[/h2]
Remember to check out any of the following resources for more information and updates on the game.

• Website: https://bloodeater.games/
• Sitemap: https://starter.productboard.com/beg-starter/1-sanguvoire-blood-eater-game
• Presskit: https://impress.games/press-kit/blood-eater-games/sanguivore
• Twitter(X): https://twitter.com/BloodEaterGames
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BloodEaterGames
• Discord: https://bloodeater.games/discord

• Game Engine update to Unreal Engine 5.3.2
  
• Player inventory has been completely overhauled with character animations and visual style.
  
• Added new animation when a player loses all their health.
  
• Added global game text chat. Defaulted to "Enter" press to start chat, send message or cancel message. (Community request)
  
• Added new window smash effects for Scouts in windows
  
• Added on-screen notification when an objective/task is discovered and completed.
  
• Added inventory camera zoom control in the video settings.
  
• Added settings to modify reflection method, reflections off, lumen (High quality) or screen space (Performance).
  
• Added map to second floor of the Police Department
  
• Added journal features for maps viewed, these can now be enlarged in the journal entry.
  
• Added extra self-revive at end of the street in Section 2
  

• Updated visuals of smaller adversaries
  
• Section 2 ‘Fledglings’ (originally called Bloodhounds) have been completely redesigned in line with their original intended direction. They no longer crawl around on all fours.
  
• Heartbeat for Fledglings is now much more relevant. They are most dangerous when the player’s heartbeat reaches maximum.
  
• Fledgling audio redesigned to be less ear-piercing.
  
• Outdoor enemies now move slower when chasing but can jump over obstacles to cut off their prey.
  
• Objectives and escape plans will now auto navigate to the relevant entry in the Objective tracker display when being added or updated.
  
• Updated default lighting state for lights in cells
  
• Resolutions below 1280x720 no longer scale the UI off the screen.
  
• Each collectable found now gives players 100 shards per collectable.
  
• Cables can now shock players from both sides.
  
• Various audio updates and improvements affecting sound occlusion and spacialisation
  
• Updated The Noble’s footstep sound effects
  
• Large mirrors now have a description
  
• Exit area of Section 2 now has a name: ‘Point Hope Town’
  
• RTX can now be turned on in the settings (user beware - this feature is currently experimental)
  

• Fixed navigation issue where The Noble could get stuck around the refreshment counter in the Police Department
  
• Fixed situation where player loses all their health from the cold in a hiding place causing the game to lock up
  
• Fixed being captured while in a keypad causing the keypad UI to get stuck on screen
  
• Fixed NPC’s legs being raised in the air when walking near the church generator
  
• Fixed issue causing client to not be able to spectate their own body
  
• Fixed decals unexpectedly appearing on enemies
  
• Fixed players not receiving collectables found on a successful playthrough.
  
• Fixed collectables being recorded on game summary screen
  
• Fixed shards display saying level instead of shards
  
• Fixed collection reveals saying level instead of cards
  
• Fixed backwards facing loot boxes
  
• Fixed escape plan text for the heating valve has always been cut off.
  
• Fixed score screen showing ‘Player 1 - 4’ instead of using usernames.
  
• Fixed hanging bodies sometimes completely blocking The Noble
  
• Fixed being able to turn torch on and off on the scoreboard
  
• Fixed car winch sounds not responding to volume settings
  
• Fixed text being occasionally cut off in Escape Plans UI
  
• Fixed flashlight flickering when moving with RTX turned on
  
• Fixed client not being notified when the host is captured
  
• Fixed death markers rotating cross visuals being cut off a certain point in the rotation animation.
  
• Fixed main menu music starting for the host when a client leaves the game.
  
• Fixed garage door sound playing during intro cinematic
  
• Fixed UI saying ‘Downed’ instead of ‘Captured’ when a client is captured.
  
• Fixed heating valve always spawning near stairs to basement.
  
• Tentative fix for issue causing inventory to lock up under rare circumstances.
  
• Fixed sparking cables objective for fire escape plan not triggering an objective.
  
• Fixed Fledglings standing outside hiding places forever until the player leaves.
  
• Fixed HUD escape plans not updating if swapping when picking up an item used for an objective.
  
• Fixed several shelves falling over with nothing to support them in Section 2 houses.
  
• Fixed PC in Office 19 being on the wrong power circuit.
  

• Various translation issues.
  
• Controller support issues interacting with settings
  
• Some rooms on the second floor are still the old visuals (These final rooms will be complete through then next minor updates to the game)
  
• Various issues with Hardware ray tracing (RTX) on translucent objects either rendering black or not rendering at all.
  
  

Have a great holiday season everyone and we will see you again in the new year.

BloodEater Games

Dev Bites - Issue Two

Welcome to our second issue of dev bites! While our last update focused heavily on improving performance and updating the appearance of the police station, this next upcoming update aims to improve elements of the User Experience (UX) as well as the inclusion of various new features thanks to an update to our game engine.

Overview

• User Experience and Quality of Life Updates
  
• Grunt vampire visual update
  
• Unreal Engine 5.3 update
  
• Performance Features
  
• Sound Updates
  
• Anti-Aliasing & DLSS 3.5
  
• Lighting Improvements
  

This upcoming update contains a significant User Interface (UI) overhaul aiming to improve the overall user experience with changes to management of the players interaction within the game world.



We are currently testing the updated inventory and journal system. These UI systems have been replaced with a much slicker digital tablet which players can use to access their items and information gathered.



The journal specifically will be receiving some improvements including general reorganization to help players access the information they need faster.




The vampire grunts have also had a visual pass, with male and female versions of the vamps. We have given them more of a terrifying look with more expression and presence in the world.



We are also concepting different behavior for them to give them more of a threatening feeling. We will see what the outcome is in the next update.


[h2]Performance Features[/h2]
With this latest update comes the opportunity to incorporate additional performance improvements. Top of our list is the inclusion of Nanite Landscapes, a rendering technique which we were unable to implement until now. The landscape (the ground outside) can be fairly expensive to render. We use nanite to minimize the GPU cost of rendering assets in the game, so being able to apply this technique to the landscape is expected to help with GPU rendering times.

In a similar vein, we have improved the performance of our corpse models whilst also improving their appearance close up. The old bodies were a little low quality when searching them, so we felt it appropriate to improve their overall appearance. The new bodies have more Levels Of Details (LODs) which help to reduce the cost of rendering bodies at distance. Additionally, the new bodies have improved materials which are also faster to render without sacrificing visual quality.


[h2]Sound Updates[/h2]
One aspect of the engine upgrade which has required some additional attention is the sound system. The under-the-hood audio system has been reworked to be compatible with the latest engine version.

Thankfully, after a few days of wrangling the system, these issues have now been resolved. The game's audio is now mostly identical to how it was in the last patch with some additional improvements along the way. For example, some of the sounds The Noble would make could be fairly confusing if he was on a floor above or below the player. Now, his sounds travel differently so that players can better understand The Noble’s location.

More sounds are now binaural. These sounds replicate sound as a real person hears them, making them sounds more immersive and easier to track.

Furthermore, we are currently experimenting with several new sounds. New heavier footstep sounds for The Noble are being trialed which are more befitting a gentleman of his size, as well as new screaming sound effects for the other adversaries.


We can now allow players to change their anti-aliasing method. Players are now welcome to mix and match their anti-aliasing settings with other settings to find a healthy balance of visual quality and performance. Please check your game options to find the setting best for you.

The latest engine upgrade also gives us access to the latest version of DLSS. DLSS 3.5 offers NVIDIA card users additional performance gains. Notably, DLSS was only available for 30-series and 40-series GPUs, but is now available on older cards too.


We have had some success in reducing some of the visual rendering artifacts happening on screen. For players able to run the game with ray-tracing enabled, new shadow ray-tracing helps provide a significantly clearer image in darker areas.

We have also taken measures to reduce the blotchy effects that the Lumen lighting system can cause in some circumstances.


We were pleased to see that optimisation had improved from the last patch. However, we are still hearing many reports of performance related issues which we are keen to address quickly. We will be continuing to improve performance as much as we can in the coming weeks.

We’re also excited to start implementing our plans for challenges and difficulty sliders. These changes are going to let players have a great deal of customizability of their games.


We just wanted to let everybody know that the Blood Eater team is going to be taking a short break over the holiday period from the 23rd December to the 2nd January. Rest assured, development will be continuing with full steam ahead from the start of the New Year.


We are currently testing the latest build internally. There is a chance we may have a new patch ready before the end of the week. Keep your eyes peeled for an update this Friday or shortly after the winter break depending on our progress. We’ll keep you up to date as the week goes on.

Today’s update shines the spotlight on the Sheriff's Department. Following a thorough makeover, the station is now oozing with new details, dark corners and hidden paths.

This patch additionally addresses a variety of performance related issues. The game has been updated with optimisations for both the CPU and GPU, as well as reducing the overall size of the game.

Take a look at the new hiding place animations. All hiding places are fully animated when entering and exiting.


• Fixed Lumen Global Illumination method always being turned on, even if Global Illumination is turned off in the settings
• Global Illumination method now defaults to off and can be turned on to Lumen if desired.
• Game size reduced from approximately 21GB to 12GB
• Texture optimisations.
• Various lighting optimisations.
• Various CPU related optimisations.


• All rooms in the building have been remade to make them feel more worked in.
• Evidence room has been expanded to have an extra step to complete before using the keypad.
• The Upstairs office now has quick access to downstairs.
• Small storage/archive room can no longer be accessed via the door, an alternate route must be found.
• The centre corridor through the armoury and evidence, now uses electrical doors that require a player to push a button to open as well as requiring power to the ground floor.
• A lot more PC locations have been added to both floors
• Spawn crate numbers have been increased and moved around.

[h2]Added[/h2]
• Added new hiding animations for car trunks and under desks
• Added new loading tips
• Added new icon showing where a player was captured

[h2]Updated[/h2]
• Characters can no longer be blocked by first aid cabinet doors
• Updated desk visuals. All desks can now be hidden under.
• Increased focus area on shotgun traps
• Increased number of desktop computers in the Sheriff’s Department.
Players now drop their items when captured, allowing another player to collect any items needed to revive their teammates.
• Players now drop their items on disconnect from the game
• Character’s animation pose improved while in hiding places
• All mirror, salt and UV light trap placement locations are available, instead of being random. Mirror spawns are now random though.
• Added new vehicles, barricades and blockages to the outside areas of Section 2. This aims to make outdoor hiding places slightly more favourable as there are new obstructions to block line of sight.

• XP is now also earnt for failing a game attempt but no shards will be given and only half the XP will be earnt.
• Tarot cards are no longer added to the account upon picking them up, you will be required to complete at least one section of a map.
• The location of the warped key has moved from the desk to stop wall glitching

[h2]Fixed[/h2]
• Fixed UI scaling issues with 4:3 resolutions.
• Fixed issues with PC power in Sampaio Residence.
• Fixed the escape plans UI not updating if bringing an item from Section 1 into Section 2 that can be used to complete an objective.
• Fixed garage roller doors, generators and church elevator SFX not being controlled by audio volume settings.
• Tentative fix for rare occasions where The Noble is invisible to players.
• Fixed breathing sound while hiding persisting after player leaves the hiding place.
• Fixed pressing ‘V’ to paste lobby codes not working.
• Fixed rare issue where player’s camera could become much closer to the ground.
• Fixed player’s camera being too tall after exiting a hiding place.
• Fixed missing footstep sounds for Noble.
• Fixed a number of other underlying bugs.

[h2]Known Issues[/h2]
• Various translation issues.
• Controller support issues interacting with settings
• Text occasionally cut off in Escape Plans UI
• Some rooms on the second floor are still the old visuals (These final rooms will be complete through then next minor updates to the game)

Dev Bites - Issue One

Welcome to our first issue of dev bites, where we will keep you posted on the development process and what is coming in the next major update and future updates from BloodEater Games.

Overview

• Performance pass
  
  • CPU optimisations
    
  • GPU optimisations
    
• Police Department visual pass
  
  • Before and after
    
• Character animation industry veteran
  
• Launch sale ends
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]GPU Optimisations[/h2]
Players who have been experiencing game performance issues are typically bound on the GPU. We have already taken several steps in an attempt to improve GPU performance.

Firstly, we’ve tightened up control of several light-casting objects, meaning that the lights (and of course, shadows) will not be processed unless actually visible to the player.

One of the most significant changes affects our use of the Lumen lighting system. Previously, all players, regardless of their system capabilities, would be forced to use Lumen for Global Illumination (GI). This is an expensive lighting method only really meant for systems able to handle it. There were options to change the GI method, but an issue meant that Lumen would always be turned on. This issue has now been fixed and the default GI method is now no longer set to use Lumen. Players are welcome to turn these lighting features on, but we no longer expect all players to have them turned on by default.

An ongoing task we are working on is improving the efficiency of our assets, especially textures. The texture resolution of many assets is higher than it needed to be. This can affect GPU performance as well as bloating the overall size of the game. We are yet to see the effect this will have on performance but anticipate an improvement once the process is finished.

Some assets are being replaced entirely, in favor of both better looking and more efficient assets. For example, the floor of the Sheriff’s Department is significantly better optimized while also more detailed.


[h2]CPU Optimisations[/h2]
We are in the process of running many tests to find various optimisations within the game code, which will hopefully lead to generally improved performance for anyone bound on their game-thread. From what we have seen, hosts often suffer from slightly higher CPU performance costs, meaning any game thread improvements will likely benefit hosting players the most.

Many of these improvements involve ensuring that gameplay elements activate only when they are needed, instead of continually running.

One of the more significant changes affecting game-thread render times is the logic responsible for highlighting nearby objects. Finding and sorting through all the gameplay objects in a local area can be an expensive process, so this method has been changed completely so as to reduce the number of calculations required.



Now the base layout and area of the police/sheriff department has been tested by the public, it is now time to start to add the detail to coincide with our performance pass.



The game was released with bare minimum models in the first area to test the waters for layout. Typically adding more to a location can drop performance and increase draws from the CPU to the GPU, but with a good instancing method, texture crunching and being conservative with what items cast shadows, we are able to add hundreds more assets to a scene while also improving performance.



One of the reasons the police department is now getting an update is because of our focus developing the second stage of the Alaska map that took priority when coming out of the first stages of our playtest. Now we are officially in early access, we can now give the first section the polish that is deserved and required.



The new update will bring a better use of dead space. Before this was just an open area with an object in the middle with no real feeling of the area that was once used as a workspace. Now with the evidence of firefights with the Sanguivore, reading publications scattered around and fallen ceiling panels, the sense that something has gone down is evident.



We have also started to introduce more complex objects that players will need to navigate through and pass to evade the threat of the Sanguivore, with updated visuals to the existing ones that required the players to crouch through.



Each room will be given its own look in relation to the type of work that went on in the area. New waiting areas have been added and workstations are now furnished with photos of family members and the stationery required to complete day to day jobs.




We’re keen to fill in the blanks when it comes to animation - and our animators have been hard at work creating several important missing assets. As of today, we now have a full suite of new animations for all hiding places (including desks).

Additionally, we’re pleased to welcome a new animator joining the team with experience from AAA studios who will begin tackling several missing player interaction animations.


Optimisation and visual improvements are still a work in progress on all fronts but progress so far has been good. We intend to have an update out at the start of next week including the changes mentioned above as well as several other general gameplay fixes and features.


We also just wanted to let everyone know that the launch sale is about to finish in less than 24 hours! For anyone interested in snagging the game at a 20% off from Steam, please head over the store page.

Thank you to everyone who supported us during our Early Access launch weekend. The team has had a great time watching streamers from across the world run the gauntlet. For everyone interested in getting closer to the community, remember to join our discord at bloodeater.games/discord