Development Blog #5

Greetings Survivors!

It has been some time since we have showcased the development progress, and with everything moving so quickly, we wanted to take time to show off some of the hard work happening behind the scenes! As many things have been changing and improving, we wanted to hold off until we had some time to showcase some upcoming features in a more polished state. Our team has been hard at work and we are very pleased with how internal testing has gone so far and are happy to share some of that progress in this development blog!

[h2]Base Building[/h2]
One of the biggest new features coming for Season 4 that we’re excited to share more information with you on, is our new base building system!

Our base building design will require resource gathering, which means we have implemented a destructible environment system that will allow for the gathering of wood, rocks, and other resources. By default Unreal Engine does not support this very well so in order to achieve a destructible environment that will scale to the size of our new map (64km2), we had to modify the engine. Resources that have been harvested will respawn after a certain amount of time, and regions on the map will be specialized in certain resources that are generated within each area.

Wood can be harvested from trees with an axe, boulders can be harvested for ores and rocks with a pickaxe. A furnace is used to smelt ores into bars, which then can be used to craft other items or upgrade your base.

We’ve overhauled our placement system which was previously used for other deployables such as sandbags and turrets. The new system includes a snapping system, which allows for base parts to easily snap together.

Each base part will have individual health and will be destroyed if it’s supported by other base parts; for example a wall or roof that has no other supports will also be destroyed. Base parts are individually upgradable, with 3 tiers - Wood, Stone and Metal.

The base building system is separated by two separate types of components, base parts and perimeter parts. Base parts, such as foundations, walls, floors are used to create your base. The perimeter parts, such as walls, gates and platforms are used to surround your base to add extra protection. Base parts will only snap to other base parts, and perimeter will only snap to other perimeter parts.

Other objects such as storage containers, water collectors, and more will also be available to place inside and around your base. Defense objects, such as punji sticks and turrets can also be used to protect your base against raiders.


[h2]Missions / Campaigns[/h2]
One of the biggest new features for Season 4 will be the new Missions and Campaigns system. As we talked with a lot of community members, one of the biggest challenges in the game’s current state was finding a way to give people a better sense of progression and sense of accomplishment. By dedicating time and putting substantial work into the missions system, we hope to help address some of these concerns from the community as well as give players more ways to progress through the game and learn about features they may not be aware of.

The missions system has been split into 4 categories, each with varying mission types and objectives. Mission objectives will have a large variety of objectives including item collection, resource gathering, NPC / Player kills, crafting, building and more.


[h3]Mission System Categories[/h3]
Daily - Daily missions will rotate every 24 hours. Each daily mission will give specific rewards for completing the required tasks.

Vendor - Vendor missions are objectives that a vendor may ask you to complete, finishing these missions will grant vendor reputation and your vendor reputation will provide discounts for purchasing and increased buy-back values.

Field - The field missions can be activated by completing events on the map, including radio towers, compounds and reactor events. These missions are optional and can be rejected if you don’t wish to complete them. For field missions, you will have a limited amount of active missions that can be progressed through at the same time.

Campaign - The campaign missions will be a progressive system, which will allow players to be introduced not only to in-game mechanics, but also will challenge players by rewarding them for their time spent completing the missions and granting rewards that enable them to continue progress through the Campaign. Campaign missions will start out very simple and increase in difficulty as you progress from one tier of missions to the next. Rewards from these missions will include things such as gear, in game currency rewards, experience, and more.

[h2]Changes to Server Character Data[/h2]
In order to accommodate balanced cross-server gameplay we have decided to change the way characters travel across servers. You will now have a unique character on each server, with its own inventory, core stats (health etc), and location. Global stats such as currency, skill rating, experience, level and mission progression will still be shared across all servers. In order to transfer loot between servers, you must use the global stash which is in the safe settlements.

[h2]PVE Server Changes[/h2]
We’ve also made some changes to how PVE servers will work in order to create balance. Firstly, the global stash will be disabled on PVE servers - meaning you can no longer transfer loot from the PVE servers onto PVPVE servers. You must build a base to stash your loot. Raids on bases will also be disabled. Vendors in safe settlements will still be enabled, however buy-back values will be reduced by 50%. Your character’s global stats such as currency, experience, level and mission progression will still be shared across all servers.

[h2]Character Customization[/h2]
Connor has built the new character system from the ground up, with brand new base models. You will be able customise your body type (masculine/feminine), face type, skin tone, hair style/color, eyebrow style/color, eye colour, beard style/color.

Mikhail and Connor have also worked extensively on the clothing system and you will be able to customise character with various tops, pants/shorts, gloves and footwear.



[h2]New Humanoid Design[/h2]
Connor has completely redesigned the humanoids, and they are now called Xoids! We have the all new standard Xoid, Stalker, Flamer and the Heavy.

[h3]Standard-Xoid[/h3]
The standard humanoid will be replaced with the new updated Xoid. Xoids will be common around the world and will spawn with various visible serial numbers which will indicate their stats - such as health and strength. Be sure to use those binoculars to see what you’re up against.



[h3]Stalker-Xoid[/h3]
The new Stalker Xoid will be replacing the old stalker humanoid, similar to the old design - it’s fast, agile and now packs some nasty swords for arms. You’ll want to look out for the blue glow as once it’s locked on - there’s no running from it!



[h3]Flamer-Xoid[/h3]
The new Flamer Xoid will be replacing the exploding humanoid. Packed with a flamethrower - you’ll want to keep your distance from him! Strategically take the Flamer down around other Xoids, as it will explode and cause blast damage against other enemies.



[h3]Heavy-Xoid[/h3]
The new Heavy Xoid will be replacing the “Green-eyed Boss” humanoid, it’s heavy, strong and will pack a mean punch. Vulnerable areas are covered in armour, which will need to be destroyed to expose the weak points.



[h2]New Map[/h2]
The new map is coming along really well. Erekose has created the layouts for all the new towns and cities - ready to be filled with loot and Xoids! The traditional events such as radio towers have been placed around the map, as well as the reactor compounds and regular compounds.



[h2]New Buildings and Assets![/h2]
Karan has been working on a bunch of new buildings, including skyscrapers for the large city and a large mall! There’s a lot more in the works that will be in the new map as well.



[h2]Tester Applications[/h2]
Want to get involved with the development of XERA: Survival? This is your opportunity! Community playtester applications are now open until May 20th! Our ideal candidates must possess both problem solving and troubleshooting skills, as well as be able to think outside the box. Individuals must be passionate about XERA: Survival and want to help with the development process. Community playtesters must be active community members and have at least 50 hours of playtime throughout Early Access. Applications can be submitted at https://forms.gle/P69fXgJ2tZLwcrXf7.

[h2]Closing Thoughts[/h2]
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about all of the exciting things that are coming soon and look forward to reading your feedback. Remember, as a community driven game, we count on everyone for your feedback and suggestions as we expand the content available to all of our players. Feel free to connect with us via our discord at https://discord.gg/xera and let us know your thoughts!

Cheers,
Spotted Kiwi Interactive