July Development Update
Greetings Steel Dragons!
It has been a few weeks since the Steam Next Fest, and we hope you’ve had fun playing the Project Haven demo. While still relatively early in development (we’re officially still in alpha and almost everything is still subject to change), we feel it represents our vision for the game going forward, and we’ve been overjoyed with the positive response to it so far. We’ve been relatively quiet since the festival, as we’ve returned to our natural, subterranean home in the Code Mines, slowly excavating the bits and bytes required to construct the final game.
[h3]You talkin’ to me?[/h3]
From the feedback we received on the demo, we’ve identified and squashed a lot of the biggest issues with the game already. Check out our Twitter feed to see some of our smaller updates. Still, one element clearly stood out as especially divisive among players - our combat bark system. While it’s functioning as intended, players are split on whether it brings flavour to the battles or just adds unnecessary noise to the battlefield, and player response varies a lot between characters.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
While we’re tweaking some lines of dialogue to better represent battlefield conditions and our thematic intent, we’ll be taking a hard look at ways for players to control the frequency and intensity of combat chatter.
[h3]Move like you mean it[/h3]
Beyond that, we’ve been focusing on character pathing to make sure that characters no longer wiggle into locations that they can’t path their way out of. On the subject of movement, we’ve implemented a whole new advanced technique - a combined ‘slice the pie’ command that allows characters to strafe their way around an obstacle while maintaining aim on a fixed point. A great technique for passing a potentially deadly doorway, as you can see in this clip:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’ve also improved how characters move when leaning around cover. Characters can now take a half-step out of cover to get a better look around a corner at the cost of a single action point, or just lean slightly to minimise the amount of meat you’re exposing to incoming lead.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And because you should never skip leg day, we’ve added more Crouch and Prone options to the UI. You can now perform these actions through the radial menu or via the action bar. Of course, true operators have their hotkeys memorized to keep that workout going all battle long.
On the subject of UI improvement, your character’s planned movement path is now fully visible during Free Mode. You’ll see a continuous line drawn along your planned movement path, instead of just the dashed version during Turn-based mode.
And one frequently requested quality-of-life improvement: You can now hold the Middle Mouse button to open up a whole new world of camera movement options, for when you absolutely need the perfect angle on a firefight.
[h3]The Future Of Combat, Tomorrow[/h3]
And we’ve got plenty more changes in the pipeline. The UI is getting some more love across the board to both make it quicker and easier to use, but also present more pertinent info to players at all times. We’ll also be implementing a way to control camera visibility especially within buildings to better navigate in those situations.
We’re massaging the brains of our AI grunts so that they’ll have a more natural range of behaviours. Right now they’re either very deadly who’ll set up the perfect shot, or blind to the easiest opportunity. Plus, some bugs have been identified causing NPCs to play less-than-optimally.
And we’re really going deep into the brains of our characters to tweak their combat barks. We’ll be adding new lines to cover more possible scenarios and reduce repetition of dialogue, and increase the amount of interaction and combat banter between characters. Plus, some clumsier lines are either getting axed or rewritten to better convey the tone we want to project.
These are only some of the improvements we’ll be making, but stay tuned for more updates!
[h3](Dream)hack the planet[/h3]
Some of you might have noticed that we’ve taken our Steam demo down. Don’t feel bad, though - it served its purpose well, and it has been safely recycled. A new and updated demo featuring some of the improvements mentioned above will be rolling out on July 24th, coinciding with our appearance at Dreamhack Beyond! Fans can claim free digital ticket events here, or just return here on Steam to try out the latest version.
We’ll also have an even further improved version of the demo ready for you all to enjoy later in August, where we’ll be making a (digital) appearance at Gamescom. Stay tuned, wishlist and follow Project Haven on Steam for updates as and when they happen in your news feed. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and join our community Discord either. It’s where all the cool kids hang out.
[h3]We’re doing numbers[/h3]
And to wrap up, some interesting statistics from our time at the Next Fest:
[h3]Thanks for your time, and we’ll see you all at Dreamhack![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/443190/Project_Haven/
It has been a few weeks since the Steam Next Fest, and we hope you’ve had fun playing the Project Haven demo. While still relatively early in development (we’re officially still in alpha and almost everything is still subject to change), we feel it represents our vision for the game going forward, and we’ve been overjoyed with the positive response to it so far. We’ve been relatively quiet since the festival, as we’ve returned to our natural, subterranean home in the Code Mines, slowly excavating the bits and bytes required to construct the final game.
[h3]You talkin’ to me?[/h3]
From the feedback we received on the demo, we’ve identified and squashed a lot of the biggest issues with the game already. Check out our Twitter feed to see some of our smaller updates. Still, one element clearly stood out as especially divisive among players - our combat bark system. While it’s functioning as intended, players are split on whether it brings flavour to the battles or just adds unnecessary noise to the battlefield, and player response varies a lot between characters.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
While we’re tweaking some lines of dialogue to better represent battlefield conditions and our thematic intent, we’ll be taking a hard look at ways for players to control the frequency and intensity of combat chatter.
[h3]Move like you mean it[/h3]
Beyond that, we’ve been focusing on character pathing to make sure that characters no longer wiggle into locations that they can’t path their way out of. On the subject of movement, we’ve implemented a whole new advanced technique - a combined ‘slice the pie’ command that allows characters to strafe their way around an obstacle while maintaining aim on a fixed point. A great technique for passing a potentially deadly doorway, as you can see in this clip:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
We’ve also improved how characters move when leaning around cover. Characters can now take a half-step out of cover to get a better look around a corner at the cost of a single action point, or just lean slightly to minimise the amount of meat you’re exposing to incoming lead.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And because you should never skip leg day, we’ve added more Crouch and Prone options to the UI. You can now perform these actions through the radial menu or via the action bar. Of course, true operators have their hotkeys memorized to keep that workout going all battle long.
On the subject of UI improvement, your character’s planned movement path is now fully visible during Free Mode. You’ll see a continuous line drawn along your planned movement path, instead of just the dashed version during Turn-based mode.
And one frequently requested quality-of-life improvement: You can now hold the Middle Mouse button to open up a whole new world of camera movement options, for when you absolutely need the perfect angle on a firefight.
[h3]The Future Of Combat, Tomorrow[/h3]
And we’ve got plenty more changes in the pipeline. The UI is getting some more love across the board to both make it quicker and easier to use, but also present more pertinent info to players at all times. We’ll also be implementing a way to control camera visibility especially within buildings to better navigate in those situations.
We’re massaging the brains of our AI grunts so that they’ll have a more natural range of behaviours. Right now they’re either very deadly who’ll set up the perfect shot, or blind to the easiest opportunity. Plus, some bugs have been identified causing NPCs to play less-than-optimally.
And we’re really going deep into the brains of our characters to tweak their combat barks. We’ll be adding new lines to cover more possible scenarios and reduce repetition of dialogue, and increase the amount of interaction and combat banter between characters. Plus, some clumsier lines are either getting axed or rewritten to better convey the tone we want to project.
These are only some of the improvements we’ll be making, but stay tuned for more updates!
[h3](Dream)hack the planet[/h3]
Some of you might have noticed that we’ve taken our Steam demo down. Don’t feel bad, though - it served its purpose well, and it has been safely recycled. A new and updated demo featuring some of the improvements mentioned above will be rolling out on July 24th, coinciding with our appearance at Dreamhack Beyond! Fans can claim free digital ticket events here, or just return here on Steam to try out the latest version.
We’ll also have an even further improved version of the demo ready for you all to enjoy later in August, where we’ll be making a (digital) appearance at Gamescom. Stay tuned, wishlist and follow Project Haven on Steam for updates as and when they happen in your news feed. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and join our community Discord either. It’s where all the cool kids hang out.
[h3]We’re doing numbers[/h3]
And to wrap up, some interesting statistics from our time at the Next Fest:
- Almost 700 of you left us comments. We love to hear from you!
- Most players (72%) played the demo in Normal mode. 20% played on Easy, and only 8% challenged Hard or Insane modes.
- 74% of you turned off the profanity filter. You clearly like your mercs rude and crude.
- A mere 5% played the demo in co-op mode. Next time round, give it a spin! The game is designed for co-op from the ground up, so share the fun with a friend.
[h3]Thanks for your time, and we’ll see you all at Dreamhack![/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/443190/Project_Haven/
