Another worldbuilding update! But I couldn’t just write text… I want as much of my lore as possible to be tied to gameplay. Something that grounds all the (boring for some people) text in actions too. So, this update introduces terminals. Each of the colosseum maps has terminals that you can interact with. These activate hidden functions of the server, from defense protocols to experimental technology. These features affect the game modes and change the dynamics of the map and gameplay.



The cube map contains an array of experimental tech. This is the testing grounds and as such has been ground zero for experimental tech. Either deconstructed mechanics from stolen technology or designed by the creators and designers of the colosseum.



Wormholes allow you to cross the map in an instant. Airtunnels as a fast method to move vertically up the map. Laser sentry technology and yeah a few more…



A hacker has installed a computer into Taiyo which directly disrupts the game modes. Find the right user ID to access its features. Designed to help other gladiators discover that there is more to the colosseum than meets the eye.



There is a portable device plugged into the Monolith, which needs specific energy signatures. These energy signatures will activate the features of the structure from its automatic targeting defense systems to anti-gravity. Is that all that it can do? Or are these features simply surface level to what the Monolith really can do… or what it is.

Other changes/fixes:

- Fixed error with breakable walls in Taiyo.
- Fixed missing music: Press N to check it out.
- Jump cancels sprint was broken now fixed.
- Added more particles to the muzzle flare effects, namely smoke trails.
- Chat bar visibility... it wasn't visible.
- Added scroll wheel to zoom in/out in ALT camera mode.
- Fixed text input interaction.
- Reworked melee weapon combo string to include jumping and slide attacks.

Update 3.9 is an update focused on the player character, such as tweaking animations, movement controls and more. A few small touches in order to make the character look and feel nicer until I rework the model entirely, in the future. Holding that off for later though, as I want it done right and other elements require my full attention first.

That said, here is a breakdown:



Animation
Hard to show animations in still images. However, the animations for walking are reworked to add better hip movement, in accordance with the recent changes to root motion in Unity. Now the character doesn't feel as stiff when walking. I also tweaked the gun holding position to look more combat-ready, in comparison to the awkward hip aiming thing I had going on before.



Helmet
Added a new helmet! This helmet will be available, for a limited time, to all players as the standard helmet. As other helmets are made, those too will be given to all players for a limited time. With each new helmet, I will lock away previous designs to be unlocked through the coming quest lines.



Shaders
Mainly chrome and metallic shaders and materials for the character, to give the battle suit some visual variety. This is a minor visual boost to the character until I tackle reworking it entirely.



FPS cam positioning
Moved the position of the fps cam to avoid clipping and to have a better feel in relation to the hands and weapon. The camera clips a little bit through the body when jumping due to some movement delays. I will fix this in the next update. As well as some system to fade the armor pieces that clip through the camera in certain angles.


Audio
More audio from the awesome Johan Keith! Character sounds, ambient cityscape sounds, weapons, gadgets and more! This marks the second audio package from awesome musicians and audio engineers I've worked with. I am working with them on completing the audio packages and will be implementing some kind of audio styles to chose from. This will be a bit down the line though as their busy schedules permit.

Check out more of Johans work on:
https://audiolegacyworks.000webhostapp.com/portfolio.html#information

Gameplay



Virus mode rework
The last of the modes to be reworked. The virus mode is redesigned with increased challenges and score assists in order to motivate objective cooperation. Changes are as follows:

- Falling debris is spread better out across the maps.
- For each time a virus chip is quarantined, one of the falling debris is frozen in place.
- Ball lightning sparks out each time a new virus enters through the breach.
- Gladiators can now assist in virus quarantine to receive partial scores.
- Virus behavior further balanced and fixes for some bugs.



FPS cam
FPS camera position changed to account for new animations and body clipping. Expect better finesse to this camera state as more animations are added.



Scoring system
Upgraded the scoring system to include a combo kill multiplier and a consistent list of score multiplier conditions across modes. These are designed to reward stylish frags, as well as motivate varied gameplay styles.

• Ricochet
  
• Walljump
  
• Gadget Use
  
• Survival time
  
• Melee kill

Each of these can stack, except for combinations such as melee kills with guns. More will be added to this list and their respective multipliers will be tweaked over time.



Rewards
The multipass rewards are expanded to include costume customization with the introduction of the Orange pass. The multipass system is reworked to be item specific. No longer only a color but also a number associated to an item within that set. When a multipass is unlocked it will randomly generate a number not yet unlocked.

Red - 7 Weapons
Blue - 7 Gadgets
Green - 4 Gadgets
Orange - 10 costume pieces

Unlock rewards through reaching a set score in a game. Multipasses are color specific to each mode, for each dragon which owns stakes in their respective modes. Except the Orange dragon, a multipass with a hidden unlock condition.

Invader - Red pass
Lava - Green pass
Virus - Blue pass
The Mainframe - Orange pass

These items can be tested on the Mainframe, once unlocked, or equip them into your loadout through the main menu.


Links
The new reward system paves the way for secondary rewards. These rewards have hidden conditions, more info will be revealed soon.




UI

Gear UI in start menu
Adapted to include new rewards unlock system. This menu will be further developed in the next patch to display weapon info and set up systems for mods.



UI initialize animations
On spawn the UI animates to visually simulate initialization. More to come on this too!


VFX

Scoring effects
Added to the scoring effects for lava and virus mode. The part of polishing the experience of reaching objectives. Sound effects coming soon!



Dissolve shader
Added Vacuum dissolve shaders. First implementation on this is for initialization of characters and maps, shown each time a player spawns or loading into a new map. This shaders second implementation is to show damage to the character and environment, specific weapons will create a hole in the object.



Lighting, materials and shader rework
This is the first step in upgrading the shaders in Neon Valley to simulate vibrant and ethereal cyber world. First done to The Mainframe, with changes to lighting, color balance, volumetric lighting and more




Animations

Gun animations
Finally added base gun animations, currently simply equip and firing animations. However, this will be further developed to include reloading and more.



Shoulder switch system now properly swaps shoulders using the mirrored parameter in the animator system. Fixed hand position errors when switching shoulders. More work is needed to mirror melee weapons, coming in the next patch.

You can call this a hotfix for patch 3.7 however there are more, such as: changes for maps, tweaks to gameplay, modes and more. Not counting this as a major update as the changes and additions are relatively small in importance. 3.8 will be focused on fixing the last of the current game modes and pave the way for additions leading to world building!




Notes:
General Gameplay
Added Water to Taiyo map
More drones and fireballs spawn, multiplied by number of users
Sprinting while falling no longer possible
Fixed more invisible trigger zones affecting movement
Fireballs no longer die when hack point is moved, they now relocate to the new target
Added a prejump. If jump is pressed 1-2 frames before landing, the character auto jumps
Increased the limitation of aiming down, you can aim up to your feet now
Fixed drone sounds being heard from hundreds of meters away




Lava mode
Tweaked fireball orbit
Fireball facing direction
Fireball exhaust effects emitting at two directions
Particle effects added to lava hack point platform

Invader mode
Fixed debris collisions in Data mode
Moved debris positions to better cover the map




UI
Character UI fades smoother now
Reduced visibility of Watchers
Stats bar transparency - increased visibility
Lava marker UI proximity detection added
Fixed facing direction of some map objective UI
Tweaked discord status updates

Modes



Update 3.7 continues with revamping the game modes. Main focus was increasing the platforming options in lava mode to make up for the rising lava firewall consuming lower platforms. Giving the gladiators platforming options when there are none, right in their control. By shooting the firewall, a platform will be generated slowly consumed by the lava. However they give a temporary safe zone. Landing on them will create a splash, which can be shot to create a wall to wall jump off or use as a step up.



Checkpoint Orbs have been added to lava mode. Running through an orb will refill the stamina bar and mark that spot as a checkpoint to respawn at after death.


Animations



Grenade animations are tweaked further, switched to root motion and the first few steps of upgrading the animations in NV. This was restricting the kind of motion I could animate as it froze the hip bone. This lead to animations feeling rigid however switching to root motion has fixed that. Though, this requires remaking some of the animations. Expect to see more over the coming months!

More Gameplay updates

Stamina Orbs are added into the Colosseum. On killing enemies, an energy orb is spawned. Grabbing this will refill stamina. They can be taken by enemies, so beware.


Invader drones are reworked, they now fly to specific heights relative to the player. This is to make melee weapons easier to use and easier to use enemies as platforms.


Wall slide allows the player to slowly slide along the face of a wall. Giving players a moment to calculate their walljump angle or get height advantage on enemies.


UI & VFX



Sliding particle effects added for slide, run slide and wall slide. Footstep particle effects added too.

Grenade throw UI is reworked into a trajectory calculation. Its not as precise as I want it to be just yet, but this is much better than the previous implementation. Will be updating this soon.



Sword visual distortion wave effect, to reinforce the power of the slash and make it look more interesting.

Other patchnotes:

Fixed interaction system

Fixed falling on invisible walls and sinking

Changed raycasting of proximity warning for accuracy

Fixed drones aiming lazer through walls

Fixed red drones always rolling on ground

Fixed needle parent position when impaling enemy

Added watchers to the Arena

Increased drone and fireball spawn count

Fixed multipass position on hip

Made turret bullets effects more visible

Fixed sprint states for animation

Fixed jump states for animation

Added fading UI instead of only clipping on and off

Fixed discord status updates for maps and modes

Main focus of this update was fixing a lot of bugs found by players in 0.3.5. So let me start off with some of the new features in 3.6 and then list off the changes.




Unarmed state
The player was always stuck in firing stance, which for a shooter isn't a big deal. However, moving forward my focus will be on world building and more out of combat interactions. Meaning, this is will be important soon. I have added the first iteration for the unarmed state., press "X" to unequip/equip weapons. Personally, I am quite unhappy with the animations so I will be tweaking this over the coming weeks!




Nade throw
Nade throwing is in! The player can now hold the nade button to cook them and goes into a ready to throw pose. This includes some back end scripts to make grenades their own weapon set, expect more to come! There's some timing issues with the throwing that will be worked on over the coming weeks but please check it out and tell me what you think!




Fixes & Changes:

- Fixed had positions for different equipment states

- Push nade trigger box kills drones without triggering

- Invader death blocks disappear 1 minute before game ends now corrected

- Monolith moving parts had broken physics, now fixed

- Spawning with no guns when joining a game is fixed

- Virus enemy now synchronized across network

- Weapons initializing after already equipped when client joins is fixed

- Fixed an issue where sometimes game mode and map reset when a new player joins a server in mid game.

- Changed booster particle effect to also have a line render

- Bug where switching modes broke when clients are connected now working

- Increased visibility of particle effect when sword hits enemy

- Could not access a couple items in The Mainframe for testing, its now fixed

- Fixed bug when entering spectator mode would just respawn you

- Needler shooting new spike before old one returned corrected

- Multipass sometimes not spawning is fixed

- Fixed drones sometimes only targets first player

- Sword position corrected

- "Hot join" joining through mid game breaks everything bug is fixed

One last thing, forgot to mention changes to UI and relay cam...




Relay Cam
As 3rd and first person exists in this game, I've polished the relay cam and the cam state switches. It should have a smoother transition now to avoid disorienting the player.




Player
Changed the third person cam UI from screen to world space. This is in order to better represent that it's a drone camera which follows the player. Also added a 360 degrees compass circling the player. This is to better communicate directions when cooperating and will be more useful down the line when teams are added.




Aim proximity warning
Added a warning sign for weapon barrel too close to wall. As the gun aims towards where the camera is centered sometimes objects obstruct the line of sign from the gun. Hence the proximity warning.




Map UI
Added worldspace UI for Mainframe map features. Press F to toggle them on/off. This is also used for objectives on the map. As well as




Enemies
Enemy detection UI. Gives distance info for attack drones and enemy players. The virus has UI which signals its attack, defense and neutralized states.




Scoring
Killing enemies will show off your score for everybody to see.




Compass for objectives

Made a smoother real-time compass arrow to guide players towards objectives. Such as the direction to go for the hill, virus quarantine and more.


Whoever is interested in lists, continue. If not, you've been warned.

Lists 'n' stuff:

UI

- UI for drone spawn location for invader mode

- UI for breach in the sky

- UI for for debris and their height

- Number UI for ammo in 3rd person

- Increased quality of scoped crosshair UI

- Changed crosshair UI

- Added hints in loading screen

- Added loading screen for Mainframe too

- Added scoreboard above game map for spectators

- Slider UI for movement gadget

- Next button for end game. It takes you to a sort of bonus round

- Changed multipass design

- Added text to multipass reward types

- Fixed /votemode /votemap showing up in chat


Gameplay

- Recoil reworked. Recoil before shot in random patterns with a max spread. Decided to try out a different system where bullets always go to the center and each shot displaces camera according to recoil value

- Slowed down base movement speed, increased movement speed in air after walljump. Promoting walljumping to cover distance and for repositioning

- Changed hitboxes. No longer single full body hitbox and using relative height when shot for headshots. Now there are separate hitboxes for the limbs, torso and head

- Changed ricochet angle for combat rifle, will now bounce at 90 degree angles

- Fixed gravity multiplier particles

- Added forward dash, only when in air

- Virus enemy resets target when it makes a kill

- Waypoint boost tunnels fixed

- Map/mode change not always synchronizing for joining player now fixed with new game sync script. On join it updates the game mode state for joining player.

- Fixed teleportation portals infinitely looping

- Made movement gadget timer refresh instead of ammo

- Fixed rotating shield collisions

- Auto adjust number of weapons equip for scrolling and weapon switching

- Fixed bullets spawning inside you if moving too fast

- Fixed connection error when joining room too fast

- Fixed all weapons equipped on client

- Reworked ground detection

- Used that ^ to have walking up/down slope affect movement speed

- Fixed grapple hook bouncing off some objects that it should hook to

As mentioned in previous updates, there are more things to come! The following is more of the features worked on in my social media hiatus. However, beyond this, I am working on upgrading the project to unity 2019. This does require more work than usual as a lot of Unity has been revamped in new versions which require rebuilding large parts of the game. This includes the dreaded networking. Unity has decided to depreciate their old Unet system. Something that my game is built on, the solution I've decided on is to switch to Mirror for networking. Atleast until Unity gets their new unet system up and running with proper documentation. More on all of this later, for now here are some more changes in 3.5 <3


Modes



Invader drone types
Increased the number of drones in the Invader game mode. Also introduces 3 new enemy types for this mode, more on that later. Score multipliers are added properly now. Killing NPCS will give a set score, killing other players give score multipliers depending on ricochet bullet, survival duration and using a gadget in combination.




Lava increasing & scoring
The terrain turns into lava on selected maps. Firewall inspired lava rises, slowly consuming the map and increases difficulty traversing the map in floor is lava mode. Hacking the points and defending it will push back the firewall!

Scoring when reaching a point with the following multipliers: on survival time, wall jump count and time spent not touching the ground. Bonus points on up to 3 other players who also reach the point, motivating cooperation. More players on the point increases hacking speed.




Data mode, falling debris and virus
Reach the designated quarantine zone and get points. The quarantine zone according to a timer to avoid viral countermeasures, reaching one of these zones within 15 seconds of it spawning with a virus will give a large multiplier. Avoid obstacles, falling debris from the breach and other players hunting you down. On death the virus will detach and begin finding a new target.


Enemies



Attack drone: Fastest of the drones, they shoot tiny high speed projectiles. As they are hard to see, stay in motion to avoid damage! When they reach a certain distance from the player they will begin orbiting while shooting. Make sure to not get surrounded.



Roll drone: These drones move about covertly, they roll along the ground hidden amongst foliage and crevices. When in range of their target a tractor beam is activated which keep its object in place for the attack drones to finish the job. Their beams can be countered if you manage to reach its edge and resist its gravity.



Laser drone: Visually, its most notable feature are its forward shields. Able to deflect most energy weapons. Keep a railgun handy to deal with them… or find a more creative solution. Their lazer beams do a high rate of damage per second however their turn speed is limited, presenting a possible weakness.




Virus
The virus has evolved, it now has attack and defense states. In defense mode the shield will protect against all incoming projectiles and negates all damage. The virus can only be damaged in attack state. In this state the virus will fly towards a target near it, on contact the virus contaminates the users code immediately corrupting what it touches.


Map Updates



Taiyo
Updated the map with more verticality in mind, hidden pathways, upgraded foliage for close range stealth and Breakable walls! When walls break they respawn after several seconds



Cube
Outer terrain added, this is the first step in redesigning the outer layer of this map. The patrol drones are now restricted to this map. Further representing that this map is a test zone and the promise of more map features to be tested here!



Monolith
Redesigned this map to, well have a monolith instead of several because then it wouldn’t be a monolith. In redesigning this however I wanted to play with map events. Enter the trigger zone above the monolith to activate its antigravity feature, raising rocks and other debris from its impact zone.




Teaser for art alley
Some work in progress, playing with pixel art style of low poly for the art alley in The Mainframe! This is the first steps to Phase 2 - World building. Where I will create the different bars, npcs, marketplaces, loot items, more content for each of the Colosseum maps and more.

Phase one: Gameplay (Doing a marvel aw yee)



After my long radio silence, I am back! I've spent the last year not on social media to focus on game development. Last years release and the following months of updates, reflecting on my design and state of the game with players. It was obvious I had quite a ways to go. This time around however I am more confident in the gameplay and will be polishing it even more over the coming weeks! Keep an eye out for more updates and join me for testing sessions on the weekends.

Don't forget to join the discord: Discord.gg/XV2yyB8



Crouch
Added crouching state when Crouch button is pressed (Default “C”). For low cover objects, smaller attack profile. Eventually for better shooting accuracy too. Gives stealth option to players, with the newly added foliage. It’s also the state you enter after performing a slide maneuver.




Slide
Talking about slide maneuver, I added a slide this patch. Using the crouch button whilst in motion the player performs a slide. When sprinting the character does a short dash, followed by an extended slide. Sliding in air, it slightly increases player down velocity, to mimic a shinobi air dash move inspired by ninjas in asian pop culture.




Swords (Finally)
Added the slide for a reason. To increase the ninja-like game feel, the long awaited Ninjato sword has been added. The first of the melee weapons. Still working out fluidity kinks, motion and better collision detection. So please help me test this out!


Ninjato has a 4 attack types:



High & low
High attacks, using Left Mouse button, the player dashes towards looking direction and this attack has 3 moves in its combo. Low attacks uses the Right Mouse button and the player performs a slide motion whilst slashing in a 3 move combo too.



High and Low attacks can be interchanged to perform different combos. For example, R + L + R will perform a high, low, high attack chain. Attacks have a movement multiplier according to movement input. So when holding forward, attacks lunge further as gap closers to reach gun users. When holding backwards, attacks are performed on the spot.



Jump Attack
The jump attack gives the player a double jump, essentially. At the apex of the double jump the player attacks, reaching targets with the height advantage.



Slide Attack
While in sliding motion there is a small window to attack, which triggers a slide attack. Shortly dashing the player forward whilst simultaneously slicing vertically, the player can quickly reach an enemy and damages everything along the dashing path.




Character customization
Added a range of items for character customization, more are in the works! Here are some examples of the options available.




New gun: The Needler
Introducing a new weapon from the Fire dragon. The Needle Gun, a secondary weapon which shoots high impact needle rounds. The weapon only holds one round, however, each spike can be recalled after shooting. It has a 5 second lifetime to be called back before disappearing. Close range this weapon can be shot and recalled at a rapid speed.




Changes to gun: Akimbo baby
Akimbo is the largest change to guns. Secondary weapons can now be equipped dual wield. Even though it replaces the primary weapon slot, the idea is that a dual wielded weapon has the same power and perhaps more versatility than a primary weapon. Giving players this option is part of the game design philosophy of allowing players to fully customize their gear according to a play style they wish. Guns can be mixed and matched in dual wield.




Boost pad
Portable boost pad! It's like a digital trampoline really. However its utility can be used to reach higher ground, to boost across the map horizontally, or even as a trap to lure enemies into a vulnerable kill box




Push nade
Push nade works as a sticky grenade or mine. As players throw it, on contact it will stick to that object or position. It is then triggered when enemies, players or bullets come into its trigger box. Which will then push away everything. This can be used to push enemies away, push you away from danger or as a pseudo boost pad!

Part two to 3.5 patch notes incoming, stay tuned!

Enemy update!

The "Attack drones" "Fireball" and "Hunter" enemies were revamped. So their movement patterns are less predictable. The speed adjusted so its more challenging to track them. Also made the flight path non linear. Aside from the drones, the other enemies now fly in parabolic curves and come from different angles. There were a few smaller changes like spawning and such to make them more difficult.



Beyond this! The animations for the sword is half done :D I have worked out how I want sword combat now and how they will fare vs guns and other swords. I will be rolling out some of this over the next couple weeks.

Also, I am working on a new weapon and a couple new gadgets. A needle gun, platform maker and a double jumper. There are more ideas for items I am working on before I finalize them and actually start making them. You'll hear about them soon enough :D