Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 1
After nearly a hundred patches, we are leaving 0.1.+ behind us, entering 0.2.+ Penkura patches. 0.1.+ branch was designed to create global systems that would speed up our game development while testing out dozens of key gameplay systems. With the creation of LionsRoar, LionsMat, LionsMind, and eliminating hundreds of bugs (thanks to our bug hunting community), we drastically increase the performance and stability of the game.
0.2.+ branch will focus on overall content, new gameplay elements, features, structures, biomes, and visual improvements to UI, models, animations. With Midway branch version 1 of 0.2.0 branch, we are adding two buildings, two new features, and two community request visual changes.
Small Habitation Module, was in the game since the beginning, but besides the storyline, it never had any use. Thanks to a massive rewrite of each system that calculates or depends on time, we are able to add sleeping mechanics to the game allowing players to skip the night.
We are also adding a new tunnel type, "Tunnel Type I Windowed Long", to improve player base visual esthetics.
Players will notice a different look of each tunnel, and certain main buildings, thanks to the LionsMat v3 we drastically lowered the number of calls each structure needs to make for proper render. This change allowed us to add much more details to each affected structure while also lower their render requirement from 20% to even 60% improving overall performance.
Another game mechanic added is a physics-based pick-up item system. Thanks to this system, players will be able to put objects found in the game world, not only inside the tables but also on them.
Two community-requested changes affect the visual esthetic of the game.
For high-resolution monitors and players with poor eyesight, we created a system that will change each 3d monitor screen material from flat unlit, to properly affected by Anti-Aliasing translucent lit based. This should drastically increase visibility, and thanks to the system that dynamically changes the materials when needed, performance should not change.
Lastly, our community was always requesting changes to the inventory based on the previous titles they played and got used to. One side wished for Line-based inventory while the other grid-based. As we ourselves like both systems, and didn't want some players to feel left behind, we added both of them at the same time. From now on, players are able to change their Inventory UI presentation from line to grid and vice versa in the UI options.
As the last note in this long patch note, we wanted to also inform players who choose to support the project in the Midway branch, that from now on, we will be changing our approach on patching the Midway branch. From now on, we will be sending patches as soon as a feature, model, bug fix, or material improvement is available. To not spam the players who aren't using Midway branch, minor single line patch notes will be shown on our Community Discord channel in the new #midway-dev-notes, and on our official Trello.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Added Tunnel Type I Windowed Long, to the construction list.
Added sleep function to the game.
Added physics-based pick-up item system.
All buildings in the RTS UI will now present their fully lighted 3d model rather than a simplified sketch-based 3d simulation.
Added Grid-Based Inventory UI modification to the options menu.
Added improved screen material for all computers in the game, drastically improving the text visibility, and allowing translucency. (Experimental system)
Improved light, emergency light, and red alarm calls in all buildings.
Mission Logs, Character Screen, P.D.S now uses an improved font, to increase visibility.
Moved all time-based code to one global timer check, to allow time modification.
Structures video thumbnails are now much more smooth.
Added two new sound effects to beds (Lazarus Bed included).
Base Neurocores (for example Sara) are now able to add buildings to the construction list without player permission. (Player don't have to worry about Sara)
Adjusted 39, 3d models to use LionsMat v3 (between 20% to 60% of drawcall reduction, globally improving performance).
Messages from Sara, will now check players' state to make sure, no messages send/displayed when the player is unconscious or sleeping.
Visual improvement and reduction in mesh polygons amount (global performance improvement) to set buildings: /// Command Center /// Tunnel Type I /// Tunnel Type T /// Tunnel Type L /// Tunnel Type T Windowed /// Tunnel Type I Short /// Tunnel Type I Windowed /// Tunnel Type X /// Storage T-1 /// Ore Extractor /// Maintanance Platform /// Gemini Base Tram Platform
Added additional 3d elements to Gemini Base for visual improvement.
Removed FPS counter from the game screen and permanently added it to the Main Menu and in-game Menu.
Another most likely last patch before the 0.2.0 MW 1. This patch introduces two very important changes. First is a new way of calculating energy and hydrogel. We added a filtering system to the calculation formula, that will allow skipping buildings that don't have a certain requirement, or their flow is turned off by the player. Base calculations are not only faster but we were able to remove most of the hitches when creating bases with over 100 sturcutres.
The second change is the update of our material system to Lionsmat v3. Players that follow our patch notes, know that Lionsmat is the in-house material system that allows us to swiftly speed up the process of creating new buildings, bots, (some of the items), and most of the environmental assets. Lionsmat v3, is a major leap forward as from now on, it will take the workload of nearly all normalmaps in the game. This change drastically lowers the number of calls the engine needs to make to CPU, allowing us to create bigger bases and add more to the game levels.
Current models need to be adjusted to Lionsmat v3, but each future one will already be created with Lionsmat v3 in mind. (We will adjust all possible models in the game to use Lionsmat v3 in the upcoming patch 0.2.0 MW 1).
And as always, for more information regarding the latest technical support, patches, and updates please join our Discord Community.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Updated LionsMat to version 3. We are now able to reduce the number of drawcalls on a mesh, whenever the mesh requires a dedicated normalmap atlas.
Added new system after game load, to make sure that on slower PC each building is properly added to the player structure list, even if the game loads in improper sequence.
Emergency Manual Rest panel, in Tirix Power Plant, will now show a filling up bar above the third switch to inform the player when it's ready for reactivation.
Added activation and deactivation buttons to Atmospheric Vaporators in the RTS system.
Improved player statistic visibility, rather than a percentage, a full number will be displayed in the main character window.
Show map, animation is 50% faster.
When the player stops rotating itself with the map out, it will center his mouse cursor to the middle of the screen.
Added new instructions to the map legend window.
Improved font visibility for smaller resolution.
Improved Atmospheric Vaporator normalmap.
Added additional signs to the Research Base.
Buildings missing energy and/or hydrogel won't be added to the global base energy/hydrogel calculation if building power flow and/or hydrogel flow is turned off.
Base power and hydrogel calculation now filter buildings based on their requirements, speeding up the overall calculation by up to 60%.
Minor adjustments to wording in most of the missions, making them a bit more clear, and easier to understand.
In this minor patch, we fixed few bugs reported by the community and added requested changes.
We reset all the new furniture at the base near the ancient temple, changes will be using our save adjustment system, so there is no need to start from the beginning to see the changes.
And as always, for more information regarding the latest technical support, patches, and updates please join our Discord Community.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Pushing the camera to the wall in the temple allowed you to see past it.
Player was able to save the game when a special event is on if trying to save and go back to the main menu.
Game didn't trigger his primary default Field of View settings on the first launch, make some of the computer's screens a bit too big.
Doors animation and sound effects at the Gemini Base could be triggered multiple times affecting sound triggers and animation reset points.
If players walk in back to the tramp, after getting out, it will trigger "Z control system" for 53 seconds that prevented the player from jumping. (system in place for weaker CPU to make sure player won't phase out through the tramp in case of loading problem).
Hello, world! Penkura is now patched to version 0.1.9.3
First of all, we want to thank our community who tested each build of Penkura in the Midway branch. Those community members that reported the most amount of bugs/problems/suggestions on Discord and/or our Bug Report Page, were added to the credits list. In the upcoming days, we will also release information on changes we plan to make to the workflow in the Midway branch to speed up the development even more.
Patch 0.1.9.3 for those who didn't visit any update of the Midway Branch will showcase a massive step forward for Penkura.
Over a month of extensive testing with light, shadows, 2D planar spherical projections, and sound effect improvement, we were able to implement not only a proper cloud system to our day/night cycle but also a full set of weather systems. Weather in the game will have a big impact on the overall gameplay, not only the wind will affect buildings such as Magnetic Wind Turbines (the stronger the wind the higher power output) but clouds and weather type will have an effect on solar panels (the higher the coverage the lower sun intensity). Players in the future will have to adjust their base construction strategy depending not only on the environment but weather effect dominant in the playable area.
While we are talking about RTS mode, we made some changes to the overall system, from now on connectors that allow the player to connect buildings to each other, will only showcase connectors that the building is able to attach to, multiple arrow (connection) types are a thing of the past. An automatic filter system should make the gameplay a bit easier and allow us to implement much more connection types in the future (also automatically filtered of course). Besides a large number of balance changes to the building construction requirements, power, and hydrogel input and output, we also added few changes to the UI. From now on, the player will be able to see required items for construction when selecting an unconstructed building, sun intensity, and wind power.
We have also improved our save and load system, from now on, it can adjust already made saves to switched content. For example, if it will be required to implement new furniture (storages) in buildings that are already used by the player, the save system will create a micro save that will collect data from deleted storages, and imprint them into newly added by the developer. Thanks to this, we will have more freedom in adding new content without the need of resetting the saves. Improvements such as this will make it possible for the player, to play Penkura even on every old saves file as they will adjust themself to new content automatically.
Lastly, we were able to fix all the issues with ambient occlusion, light bleeding, and color blending within the world, allowing us to not only drastically improve the transition between day and night, but also lower the requirements the game needs for proper shadow rendering. The new function will also fix a well-known bug of black ghosts appearing in very dark places. The screenshot above is a showcase of color transition within the game with the hand-painted planet made by our Artist Mirwen.
Once again we want to thank every community member who tested over a dozen of builds in the Midway branch, next major Midway branch will begin the transition to patch 0.2.0 and new levels.
And as always, for more information regarding the latest technical support, patches, and updates please join our Discord Community.
There was a chance that on weaker computers, bots didn't reset their global variable data before the main player character could imprint their own data.
The player was able to consume more ammunition when reloading than the weapon is able to hold if swiftly repeating reload command while the weapon/tool is already reloading.
When manually moving items between storages, the call to move is sometimes ignored.
While moving stackable items from one storage to another, items moves would be split to fill up the first stackable item of the same type, and then halt transfer rather than search another stack or create a new one.
On weaker machines, storage generation could potentially happen after the call for storage content breaking storage interaction.
Ore Extractors screen didn't trigger if the player spawned next to it on load.
Fixed all 12 normalmap errors in modular base assets.
RTS system didn't properly showcase the build process if the player spawned too far away from the C.A.T on load.
Command Center main storage screen didn't update properly on game load (required player to leave and reenter the building for it to work properly).
MMC Screen didn't properly update its primary data on game start if player loads next to it (required player to leave and reenter the building for it to work properly).
Command Center light, didn't change shadow settings if the player spawned in it when loading.
Path Lamp didn't trigger correct shadow effects if the player was spawned near it when loading.
Bot could delete its items if the player ordered a bot to extract items from storage while manually removing them from the same storage.
One dialog line missing from Sara Neurocore Main Base.
One dialog from the Chief of Security didn't have its voice acting enable.
Typos fixed at the Miss Onishi Base.
Save repair system, activated itself when progressing to the next level, even if the player never was in this level before (leading to one of the missions being progressed too soon).
MMC didn't refresh "can be created" checks after changing items on the list, and pressing STOP and CREATE to reset MMC.
Solid Construction Component used wrong preview item.
Dialog System didn't properly save triggers.
Wrong names on some of the personal computers.
Animation error in Tirix Power Plant (light flicker at end of animation).
Player was unable to change key input settings in the main menu.
Buildings give Ambient Occlusion, even if not build.
Large items when drop from inventory, rubs the player collision slowing its fall down.
There was a chance connected to RTS system, that would not save or register building on stage 0. (Hologram would not appear).
All Tunnel Types were unscannable from inside.
Collision fixes in Gemini Base.
Player was head bobbing when interacting with the map.
Fixed player position to ground detection, player won't head bob when in the air.
Main Menu was offset off the screen on 4k monitors.
Archeological base doors were affected by the environment from both sides.
Main menu didn't correct its position on the screen when changing the resolution.
Bots didn't activate proper functions on power management after loading the game.
Not all collision triggers were loading at Command Center Armor Mesh.
Oculus Bot was capable of glitching through collision, which triggered in-game security systems pushing the bot on top of the model (in this case buildings) to not allow it to fall under the ground.
Player was able to interact with Lazarus Bed through its outer armor.
Solar Panel and Ore Extractors animations didn't trigger properly when the player spawns after game load.
(In RTS mode) Holographic Connection Arrows didn't light back up if a holographic version of the building connected to it was canceled.
Buildings in the Energy/Hydrogel Input/Output list were duplicated on the load game.
Ore Extractions special functions change their name on load. (they reset themself to the base name).
Added a new structure to the game, Small Hydrogel Tank.
Magnetic Wind Turbine added to the game.
Added Magnetic Wind Turbine to the construction list.
Added auto UI adjustment system for 4k and above screens.
C.A.T is now clickable in the RTS mode.
Added 6 decorative interactable items.
Added Corporate Assets Dispensers to the game (DMC version).
Added two new corporate posters.
Added Pause Menu (by default bound to F4).
Added new portable P.D.S as readable role.
Added complete set of furniture to Archeological base.
Added 14 new pieces of furniture for a modular none player buildable building set.
Hydration requirement added to the game. (Player now requires 1500 hydrogel units to hydrate which is equal to 3 liters of water).
Added environment based dirt/damage/corrosion effect on buildings, interactables (furniture).
Added 14 new items: /// Aqua Jelly /// Water (Materialized) /// Rotten Aqua Jelly /// Dirty Water (Materialized) /// Clips /// Dark Matter Cola Malloc Extreme /// Dark Matter Cola Sour Acid /// Dark Matter Cola Neuron Breaker /// Dark Matter Cola Malloc Extreme Expired /// Dark Matter Cola Sour Acid Expired /// Dark Matter Cola Neuron Breaker Expired /// Corporate Meal (Malok Flavour) /// Corporate Meal (Odo Flavour) /// Spoiled Corporate Meal /// Bioceramic
Added Aqua Jelly and Water (Materialized) to MMC blueprints.
Balans changes to set items: /// Dark Matter Cola and Rotten Dark Matter Cola now provides 40 Hydration rather than 50 Nutrient. /// Vivi now provides 25 Nutrient (from 150) and additionally 250 Hydration. /// Rotten Vivi now provides 5 Nutrient (from 50) and additionally 250 Hydration. /// Camubron still provides 35 Nutrients but also takes away 25 Hydration. /// Golden Malok now adds 5 Nutrients (from 10) but also adds 15 Hydration.
Increased Path Lamp, light range by 15 %.
Switched Medium Cabinet to Large Cabinet in Command Center increasing storage from 15 to 20.
Graphical improvement to CCC.
Added tutorial message window.
Added new elements to Ancient Temples.
Size of the Bio-Ring screen was increased by 40%.
Added Nutrient and Hydration bars to the Bio-Rings.
Changed position of Blueprint Repository and Large Cabinet in Command Center.
Improved atmospheric coloring change when the sun rises and sets.
Solar panels provide 12% more energy at a full day peak.
Days are now 18% brighter.
Improved camera shadow distance rendering. (minor performance boost).
Base Construction tutorial updated to showcase changes made to RTS.
Material improvement to Oxygen Station.
Improved hover sound effect in Inventory (more options section).
Drawcall reduction and material improvement of all chairs.
Improved game smoothing, removing as many hitches from the garbage dump, data allocation as possible for the time being.
Improved ambient occlusion rendering on all foliage, and environmental assets (rocks, stones, mountains). FIxing all black spots, lines, and black ghosts appearing in darker corners of caves.
Increased size of door buttons and switches to make them more visible.
Clouds will now change colors depending on the sun in the day and Gas Giant color at night.
Gas Gaint now reflects stars' light on to landscape, providing correct shadow rotation, and coloring.
Falling Stars added to the night sky.
Added Experimental Helmet Effect.
Added wind and solar power indicators in the RTS mode.
Added color change to buildings holograms when they are perfectly connected with the building's connector.
Added Connection ID check to RTS system (only connection arrows that building is able to connect to will light up rather than all of them).
Holographic representation of a building will now change its color when properly connected to the connection arrow.
Modification to main character UI (UI size is changed to eliminate content being cut from smaller resolution).
Added light to Maintenance Platform Screen.
Maintenance Platform will now detect the first entering character and trigger a constant scan each second.
All particle effects are now activated and deactivated per player camera frustum and distance from the center of the effect. (minor performance boost).
Color improvement and Ore Extractors and Maintenance Platform.
Improved close distance texture rendering on Ore Extractors and furniture.
MPS will now inform the player if Ore/Crystal type in the Ore Vein is depleted.
Improved camera dirt effect. I will now change color depending on the dominating light, and the center of the screen will always be clean to not hinder player visibility.
Day-night cycle is now 25% shorter.
Transition between the night and day (the complete darkness moment right before the sun rises) is now shorter by 70%.
Fog color now depends on the sun color, planet color, and environmental effects.
Gas Giant is now moveable, properly reflecting light from the star.
Depending on the position of the planet, nights can become 50% of its normal brightness to 150%.
Improved sun position calculation (minor performance boost).
Change the name of Hydrogel Storage to Hydrogel Tank.
Hydrogel Tank now adds 10000 Hydrogel Storage rather than 5000.
Hydrogel Tank construction cost increase: /// From 4000 energy to 6000. /// From 3 Stages to 4. /// From 7 Liquid Construction Component to 10. /// From 0 Solid Constrcution Component to 4.
Hydrogel rebalances: /// Command Center now stores 1 hour of oxygen (from 45 minutes) and contains 360 Hydrogel. /// Atmospheric Vaporator now produces 1.5 Hydrogel rather than 10. /// Oxygen Tank requires 60 Hydrogel for construction rather than 600. /// Oxygen Station now stores 180 hydrogels rather than 1800. /// Med-Spray from 750 Hydrogel to 120. /// Stimpak from 750 Hydrogel to 200. /// Neuclir from 500 Hydrogel to 100. /// Nutrino Bar from 300 Hydrogel to 60. /// Nutrino Box from 1000 Hydrogel to 250. /// All tunnel connectors from 100 Hydrogel to 10. /// Bio-Recycler now stores 200 Hydrogel from 1000, and use 5 Hydrogel when activated rather than 25. /// Tirix Fusion Power Plant now stores 100 Hydrogel rather than 300. /// Hydrogel Purificator now stores 500 Hydrogle rather than 1000. /// T-1 Storage now stores 50 Hydrogle rather than 1000.
Energy Balance Changes: /// Liquide Construction Component energy requirement lowered from 2000 to 1250. /// Refined Polan Crystal energy requirement lowered from 5000 to 2000. /// Refined Xavoc Crystal energy requirement lowered from 3000 to 1500. /// Crystalized Construction Component energy requirement lowered from 4000 to 2000. /// Battery ST-1 energy requirement lowered from 10 000 to 5 000.
Completely redone scanning light effect on MPS.
Glass is now also affected by environmental degradation (dirt/dust).
Set objects are now scan-able by MPS. /// Metos Drone. /// Metos Warrior. /// Metos Grower. /// Alien Obelisks. /// Alien Temple. /// Alien Square. /// Alien Sarcophagus. /// Vanduti Crystal Beacon. /// All Door Controls (buttons). /// Cave Support Beams (with light). /// Holo Signs. /// Holo-Viewers. /// Corporate Containers. /// Metos Nest.
Minor graphical improvement to MRT.
MPS information can now change depending on the object's live properties (MPS will reset data each second when scanning even after the initial scan to change the information provided if needed).
MPS will now provide "container dimension" (class size) when scanning any type of storage container.
Added additional scan-able objects into the Ancient City.
Minor adjustments to Gemini Section of the game.
Added curve effect to some of the UI elements (this effect is bound directly to the UI rather than directly to the camera effects, which won't lower the frame rate/performance).
Beacon button will now change the color of its text in the "Planetary Surface Overlook" if it's our current position.
Change function name of "Extensive Extraction" in Ore Extractor to "Extensive Ore Extraction Mode", to minimize confusion.
Save and Load system can now adjust to new furniture (storage) added to the game by the developer, it can also adjust save to load the content of one furniture into another in case of furniture switch was needed.
Information window of a currently selected beacon in the "Planetary Surface Overlook" will now adjust its size to the amount of information in it.
Gas Planes removed from the game, switched with new localized fog emitters.
Drasticly improved environmental gas zone distance calculation. (calculations needed for affecting players stats based on player distance, type of gas, amount of gas .etc).
CCC bot list now shows bot name and bot type.
Speed up interaction with the screen when weapon/tool is equipped.
Graphical modification to the camera rendering (text sharpening on UI) will be activated after the map is shown not before.
Global Music and Global Ambient will now respect the save system and instantly change on load rather than gradually adjust.
Reductions in drawcalls by 70% in all holographic signs.
Visual improvement to holographic keyboards, they also generate their own emanating light.
Visual improvement to Hydrogel Tank.
Added new sound effect when player "Journal" is updated.
Decrease in draw calls in Lamps, Hydrogel Tank, Power Storage. (very minor performance boost).
Increased the item name, and message board text size.
Failed Objective Bar was removed from Objectives Window. (failed missions are now stored in the completed objectives bar).
Complete rebuild of CCC UI.
CCC now features Base Status, Bot Control, Crew Status, Planetary Map, RTS (Base Construction) as separated screens.
Added Base Statistics to the Base Status window in CCC.
Added Operations logs to Base Status window in CCC.
Construction bot will now print all of his movement triggers, commands, and errors in the Operations Log.
Added ability to change the base name.
Solar Panels will now produce 25 energy at peak sunlight and clear sky (from 12 at peak no negative weather effect).
Minor adjustment to temple texture, to improve blending.
Base name is now connected to Map Points of Interest Detection.
Bots will now read points of interest and base beacons by name and not by code. Allowing the player to use his own base name as the target location.
Bots will now trigger messages to the player only when in close proximity.
Player is now able to read bots logs from CCC.
Added a new inventory system to the game.
Inventory and storage are no longer set slot base but upgraded to use IP system (Inventory Points)
Inventory and Storage can now have as many slots for items as IP allows.
Every single item in the game is now IP weight Based.
When reloading a weapon or tool, the inventory system will now find all ammunition in the inventory and fill the weapon till it is at max, rather than using only the first found ammo slot.
Player is now able to once again split items in the storage with the ability to drop items directly from it to the ground.
Player is once again able to eat directly from the storage.
Over 40 % of the script was optimized into four mathematical sequences increasing inventory, item, and storage logic by over 4500%.
User Interfaces of all Storage Screens, will now display the percentage of used space rather than the number of slots taken (as slots aren't a limit anymore).
Updated Inventory Legend.
Command Centers, Bio-Recyclers, and Ore Extractors can now have a randomly generated loot.
Drastically increase the calculation speed of all storage screens.
Bio-Recycler will now set its work time, by 2 x (Amount of IP used) with a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 1000 seconds, rather than 60 seconds per slot (even if the slot had only 1 flower).
Holster weapon/tool will now remember the item as if it was a quick slot. (even if we remove the item from the inventory, and at a later date pick it up again, unholster weapon/tool will still work).
Items that are locked in the inventory can now be moved.
Added item and storage generation into separate asynchronous code, speeding up game start.
When shooting a weapon, or using a tool that uses ammo, each shot will decrease the IP in the inventory.
Weapons and tools will now calculate their weight based on their set IP and the addition of ammunition IP per unit.
Added drag over function to the inventory.
All stackable items stack limit is increased to 1000.
Nutrino box is now stackable.
Player is now able to drag items from inventory and storage directly on Reference Bar (as a reference).
Player is now able to throw away items from inventory or storage by just dragging them out of the window, and letting go.
Added sound effects on Reference Icons when hovered over, or dragged over.
Visual improvement to set of UI's: /// Inventory /// Storage /// Blueprint Repository /// CCC /// Character view /// Item split /// Item Details /// Character Stats /// Buffs and Debuffs
Wind Power, Wind Direction, and Weather Type are now saveable.
Global Ambient sound triggers such as birds, will now change their behavior depending on the time of the day and weather.
Solar Panels, Ore Extractors, Bio-Recyclers, and Beacons sound effects are now occluded by objects.
Added physics-based rain particles.
Improved ambient light coming from the sun and Gas Giant.
3d Gas giant replaced with hand-painted 2D.
Magnetic Wind Mills, will now restore their state after game load.
Increase flashlight range by 35%.
Improved speed of saving/loading functions by minimizing unnecessary security calls and cleaning arrays (removing tested objects) after each test.
Save/load system is now able to recompile older saves and adjust them to the new systems by creating a separate line of functions for each check that requires adjustment to a new improved script.
Save/load system is now able to check minor corrupted objects. It will then remove them from the checklist and arrays to prevent crashes. (errors appearing from turning off mid saves on weaker machines).
Saving is now adjusted to use more than one core.
Loading system will now pause the game before each event check to make sure all the systems are properly loaded.
Added new messages to Bot AI (to improve communication): /// Bot will now inform what he was ordered to follow. /// Turning Off. /// Turning On. /// Detecting Manual Control. /// Lifting Manual control. /// Returning to the home beacon.
Added new global wind system.
Added 4 wind variations (for the moment affecting only foliage, wind, and all objects affected by the wind, for example, magnetic wind turbines). /// Calm Weather /// Windy /// Strong Wind /// Extremely Windy
Wind system will now change its wind power.
Wind now will change its direction each time there is a shift.
Added wind effect to all non pickable foliage in the game.
Added new wind animation on all types of grass.
Improved wind system on all trees, now trees bend according to their density from top to bottom.
Global wind system takes a gas giant location on the sky to change its wind power.
Whenever taking over a bot, it will trigger a global check to activate all animations, AI, triggers, and every visual effect at the view distance to reduce errors in sudden camera position change.
Graphicly improved Dark Matter Cola Original, Aqua Jelly, and Rotten Aqua Jelly.
Added Gamma settings to the Video Options.
Options settings not properly save each time the main menu is closed. Even if the player forgot to apply and save it directly in the main menu.
Player jump range increase by 15%.
Added Sprint Toggle to the Key Binding Menu.
Crouch is now more smooth. (added additional check to make sure there aren't hitches in the animation).
Added Crouch Toggle to the Key Binding Menu (on by default).
Added Walk Toggle to the Key Binding Menu.
Optimization off over 29 background calculations (minor performance boost, reduction of game hitches).
Improved M.P.B textures.
Improved texture of small foliage.
All tree collisions are now much more precise.
Added new storyline pages, to Epsilon Base, and Underground Temple Base.
Added new items to the randomly generated loot (furniture/chests)
Added new tutorial triggers to explain new and already implemented gameplay elements.
Minor visual changes to mission title notification.
Save system will now save players and other bio characters thirst.
Added audio volume adjustment system to the jump system. From now on, the volume of all sound effects triggered by player landing will now increase depending on the height difference from position A to B.
Added find and select C.A.T Icon to RTS mode.
C.A.T construction list is now active.
Added new window to the Main Menu options, (Game & UI).
Added option to turn off special camera effects (screen distortion) to RTS mode and Bot mode.
Removed Polan Crystal from the First Ore Vein. (this change is only visible on the new game).
Increase amount of Noble, Heavy, and Metal Ore, in both first and second ore vein.
Eliminated over 400 drawcalls by model optimization (small performance boost).
Tirix Fusion Power Plant construction requirement lowered till new items are added to the game. ( Liquide Construction Component lowered from 80 to 65).
Dark Matter Cola and Expired Dark Matter Cola now provides 100 Hydration from 40.
Vivi Drink and Expired Vivi Drink now provides 330 Hydration from 250.
Visual update to Double Door mesh.
LionsMat system updated to version 3. LionsMat is now able to render multiple textures on a single drawcall while still providing high-quality textures with different resolutions.
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.1.9.3 MW 8
Midway patch 8, is the last planned Midway patch for 0.1.9.3 if no more problems arrive after the next scheduled testing. All of the Midway patches will be moved to the Main branch. We will be opening Midway 1 of patch 0.2.0 shortly after opening 0.1.9.3 to the main branch.
In this patch, we focus on adding more interactive content to the game. Player will be able to use the in-game currency for purchasing items from the Corporate Assets Dispenser, for the moment only DMC products, but we will widen the range of corporations that will use this system, from food products, through components to even weaponry.
We also added new portable mini P.D.S, this asset is used as another way of providing players with lore, mission updates, environment presentation, and more. This system is also a test of the upcoming portable CCC which still needs some testing before the release.
The addition of new furniture and decorative items to the generation pool should improve the immersion of the world and make it feel more liveable. We will be still adding more items to the pool, new lights, even more furniture, interactive items, and so on, to eliminate repetition as much as possible.
After a lot of work, and use of different ambient occlusion posts processing methods, we were able to drastically improve the world colors, shadows, and light and were finally able to eliminate a known bug of ghostly black shadows and spots, that appear when the player moves swiftly between dark and lighter areas. We did our best to make sure that the performance of the game stays at the same level, and we can happily report that not only we didn't go past the level, but actually manage to improve it slightly, even after drastic changes in the light and rendering.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Foliage sway strength is now dependent on their height, thickness, and wind strength, rather than wind strength only.
Added complete set of furniture to Archeological base.
Added 14 new furniture for modular none player buildable building set.
Added new storyline elements.
Improved ambient occlusion rendering on all foliage, and environmental assets (rocks, stones, mountains). FIxing all black spots, lines, and black ghosts appearing in darker corners of caves.
Increased size of door buttons and switches to make them more visible.
Improved camera shadow distance rendering. (minor performance boost).
Base Construction tutorial updated to showcase changes made to RTS.
Material improvement to Oxygen Station.
Drawcall reduction and material improvement of all chairs.
Grammatical fixes to text in archeological base.
Improved hover sound effect in Inventory (more options section).
Improved game smoothing, removing as many hitches from the garbage dump, data allocation as possible for the time being.
Clean up of background spawning code (minor performance boost).
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.1.9.3 MW 7.1
In this Midway update, we focused on balance, the RTS system, and minor bug fixes related to the new inventory system released in the previous patch.
We added a third holographic color ID to buildings in RTS mode whenever the player will try to connect the building to another by use of connection arrow, the system will change the holographic representation of that building to green (from blue) to indicate that the building is perfectly aligned with the building.
This change comes with one more improvement, from now on ONLY connectors that the building is able to connect to will light up, rather than all of them with different colors. This should not only limit the confusion but also make sure that the player exactly knows where he is able to place the building.
Because of the changes made to the weather system, and the addition of global effects that affect solar panels, magnetic wind turbines, we had to once again balance out the energy consumption of items, and buildings.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Added wind and solar power indicators in the RTS mode.
Added color change to buildings holograms when they are perfectly connected with buildings connector.
Added Connection ID check to RTS system (only connection arrows that building is able to connect to will light up rather than all of them).
Holographic representation of a building will now change its color when properly connected to the connection arrow.
Balance changes to the set items: /// Refined Xavoc Crystal, energy requirement lowered from 1500 to 1200. /// TRX Ammo, energy requirement lowered from 2000 to 1000. /// Stimpak, energy requirement lowered from 500 to 300. /// Refined Polan Crystal, energy requirement lowered from 2000 to 1250. /// Solid Construction Component, Heavy Metal requirement lowered from 15 to 12, Metal ore from 10 to 8, and energy from 1000 to 850. /// Oxygen tank, energy requirement lowered from 400 to 150. /// Nutrino Box, energy requirement lowered from 500 to 300. /// Nutrino Bar, energy requirement lowered from 100 to 80. /// Med-Spray, energy requirement lowered from 500 to 350. /// Liquid Construction Component, Metal Ore lowered from 20 to 18, energy from 1250 to 1000, and addition of 2 Noble Metal Ore. /// Crystalized Construction Component, energy requirement lowered from 2000 to 1500. /// Neuclir, energy requirement lowered from 500 to 300. /// Basic Electronic Repository, energy requirement lowered from 2500 to 2000. /// Aqua Jelly, energy requirement lowered from 200 to 150. /// Pener-07, energy requirement lowered from 9000 to 5000, Liquid Construction Component reduced from 5 to 3, added 1 battery requirement, and build time from 250 to 200 seconds. /// Water Bottle, Metal Ore requirement lowered from 7 yo 2.
Balance changes to the set buildings: /// Atmospheric Vaporator, will now consume 3 energy when active (from 5). /// Bio-Recycler will now consume 5 energy when active (from 10). /// Magnetic Wind Turbine, Solid Construction Component lowered from 5 to 3.
Magnetic Wind Turbines will now produce 2.0 (from 1.5) energy at the lowest, and 14 at the highest wind speed (from 8).
Solar Panels will now produce 25 energy at peak sunlight and clear sky (from 12 at peak no negative weather effect).
Minor visual update to Main Menu to make it easier to read.
Minor adjustment to temple texture, to improve blending.
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.1.9.3 MW 7
Midway 7 is finally ready for release, the most important patch in MW of 0.1.9.3, Midway 7 fixes two major fundamental parts of the game, the inventory system (which is item creation, item management, storage, player inventory, bot inventory, buildings inventory, flowers (as spawned items), monsters and so on), and weather system.
With those two fundamental functions, we were not only able to fix all the reported issues but also add new functionality and balance improvement.
A new inventory system that controls nearly every aspect of the game, is now between 25 to 60 times faster (depending on the number of buildings, items in the world, monsters, and so on). With all that additional processing power we decided to spend it on a much more advanced weather system that allowed not only the addition of complex weather effects such as full-fledged storms but, we are also improving global ambient sounds.
The new weather system is not only a pretty effect but also a major impact on the gameplay, wind changes its speed which affects the magnetic wind turbine (just like in the last patch) but with the addition of complex 2d wave clouds, all objects, buildings, and foliage that is affected by the power of the sun will change their behavior. For the moment, some of the flowers will grow faster on rainy days, some slower because of the lack of sunlight. The same with the solar panels, which from now on, will provide much less power the more cloudy it is.
We are also improving sound effects, some of the sounds made by the building will now be occluded by other objects and buildings, pumping up the immersion aspect of the game. The system is still not perfect as it's not taking opening and closing doors when calculating the volume, pitch, and other variables, but we already are improving the system, and it should appear in the next upcoming patch.
Because of the new inventory system, a lot of balance aspects of the game had changed. Ore Extractors aren't limited by the numbers of slots, but rather the size and tonnage of the items that are added, it's indicated by the IP (inventory points), same with MMC, CCC, bots, and so on. For the moment we did our best to translate the game to new systems as best as we could to make sure that players that played Penkura for some time, won't feel alienated by new systems.
We also drastically improved our saving system, it will not only automatically adjust to new systems and content, but it will also recompile the save to make sure it will use all the new functions on each new save/load. The system was tested on saves from version 0.1.7.3 to make sure even older saves work as they should.
Once again I want to thank each member of our community on Discord, that send me their older saves to test our new save/load functionality.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
There was a chance that on weaker machines, bots didn't reset their global variable data before the main player character could imprint their own data.
On slower machines, the player was able to consume more ammunition when reloading than the weapon is able to hold if swiftly repeating reload command while the weapon/tool is already reloading.
When manually moving items between storages, the call to move is sometimes ignored.
While moving stackable items from one storage to another, items moves would be split to fill up the first stackable item of the same type, and then halt transfer rather than search another stack or create a new one.
On weaker machines, storage generation could potentially happen after the call for storage content breaking storage interaction.
Ore Extractors screen didn't trigger if the player spawned next to it on load.
RTS system didn't properly showcase the build process if the player spawned too far away from the C.A.T on load.
Command Center main storage screen didn't update properly on game load (required player to leave and reenter the building for it to work properly).
MMC Screen didn't properly update its primary data on game start if player loads next to it (required player to leave and reenter the building for it to work properly).
Command Center light, didn't change shadow settings if the player spawned in it when loading.
Path Lamp didn't trigger correct shadow effects if the player was spawned near it when loading.
Bot could delete its items if the player ordered a bot to extract items from storage while manually removing them from the same storage.
Inventory and storage are no longer set slot base but upgraded to use IP system (Inventory Points)
Inventory and Storage can now have as many slots for items as IP allows.
Every single item in the game is now IP weight Based.
When reloading a weapon or tool, the inventory system will now find all ammunition in the inventory and fill the weapon till it is at max, rather than using only the first found ammo slot.
Player is now able to once again split items in the storage with the ability to drop items directly from it to the ground.
Player is once again able to eat directly from the storage.
Over 40 % of the script was optimized into four mathematical sequences increasing inventory, item, and storage logic by over 4500%.
User Interfaces of all Storage Screens, will now display the percentage of used space rather than the number of slots taken (as slots aren't a limit anymore).
Updated Inventory Legend.
Command Centers, Bio-Recyclers, and Ore Extractors can now have a randomly generated loot.
Drastically increase the calculation speed of all storage screens.
Bio-Recycler will now set its work time, by 2 x (Amount of IP used) with a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 1000 seconds, rather than 60 seconds per slot (even if the slot had only 1 flower).
Holster weapon/tool will now remember the item as if it was a quick slot. (even if we remove the item from the inventory, and at a later date pick it up again, unholster weapon/tool will still work).
Items that are locked in the inventory can now be moved.
Added item and storage generation into separate asynchronous code, speeding up game start.
When shooting a weapon, or using a tool that uses ammo, each shot will decrease the IP in the inventory.
Weapons and tools will now calculate their weight based on their set IP and the addition of ammunition IP per unit.
Added drag over function to the inventory.
All stackable items stack limit is increased to 1000.
Nutrino box is now stackable.
Player is now able to drag items from inventory and storage directly on Reference Bar (as a reference).
Player is now able to throw away items from inventory or storage by just dragging them out of the window, and letting go.
Added sound effects on Reference Icons when hovered over, or dragged over.
Visual improvement to set of UI's: /// Inventory /// Storage /// Blueprint Repository /// CCC /// Character view /// Item split /// Item Details /// Character Stats /// Buffs and Debuffs
Wind Power, Wind Direction, and Weather Type are now saveable.
Global Ambient sound triggers such as birds, will now change their behavior depending on the time of the day and weather.
Solar Panels, Ore Extractors, Bio-Recyclers, and Beacons sound effects are now occluded by objects.
Added physics-based rain particles.
Improved ambient light coming from the sun and Gas Giant.
3d Gas giant replaced with hand-painted 2D.
Magnetic Wind Mills, will now restore their state after game load.
Increase flashlight range by 35%.
Improved speed of saving/loading functions by minimizing unnecessary security calls and cleaning arrays (removing tested objects) after each test.
Save/load system is now able to recompile older saves and adjust them to the new systems by creating a separate line of functions for each check that requires adjustment to a new improved script.
Save/load system is now able to check minor corrupted objects and removed them from the checklist and arrays to prevent crashes. (errors appearing from turning off mid saves on weaker machines).
Saving is now adjusted to use more than one core.
Loading system will now pause the game before each event check to make sure all the systems are properly loaded.
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.1.9.3 MW 6.1
Another patch for Midway Branch, in this patch we are adding more functionality to the RTS mode, by adding a proper construction list to the C.A.T bot.
Also a handy button at the bottom right of the RTS mode screen to smoothly move the camera to the pre-selected C.A.T. In patch 0.2.+ players will be able to create bases much bigger and more complex than currently, so finding C.A.T could be difficult in a sea of buildings.
We are also adding a new options menu, Game & UI, with two requested features, of disabling certain camera effects for those with sensitive eyesight. In the future, we will be adding more options to make the game more tailored to player preferences.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Magnetic Wind Turbine can't provide less than 1.5 energy (from 0.8).
Iron out some of the wind effects to make them more subtle.
Added audio volume adjustment system to the jump system. From now on, the volume of all sound effects triggered by player landing will now increase depending on the height difference from position A to B.
Added find and select C.A.T Icon to RTS mode.
C.A.T construction list is now active.
Added new window to the Main Menu options, (Game & UI).
Added option to turn off special camera effects (screen distortion) to RTS mode and Bot mode.
Removed Polan Crystal from the First Ore Vein. (this change is only visible on the new game).
Increase amount of Noble, Heavy, and Metal Ore, in both first and second ore vein.
Minor visual improvement to CCC interface.
Added experimental system that should put all buildings in the instancing group of the building type. (It means that the more there is of the same type of structure the less GPU will be required to render next one on the screen). (performance boost)
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.1.9.3 MW 6
For the moment this is the biggest Midway patch released since the Midway Branch started. We will provide a detailed report on the Midway Branch results since it was open to the public with the full release of patch 0.1.9.3 to the Main Branch.
Till then, in this Midway Patch, we introduced a new building called Magnetic Wind Turbine. It is one of the power production buildings we wanted to add in the patch 0.2.0 but because of the balance issues and reports from our community, we not only decided to add it sooner but also rebalance the power consumption of MMC when creating certain items. With these changes, the early game should be a little bit more manageable.
With the addition of Magnetic Wind Turbines, we needed to create an entirely new weather system, for the moment weather system will control only the wind (its power and direction) and foliage on the map, but with the development of the game, we will be adding more systems to it. As of now, we plan to add standard weather behaviors that can be found in nearly all games such as, rain, heavy rain, storm, snow, dust storms, and so on. We plan to add a few Penkura only related weathers but, more on that in patch 0.2.+.
After extensive comments from the community, tips, and even ideas, we will be making changes to the RTS, RPG, Inventory System, and progression systems. We will make sure that the game feels as it felt at the start of the development to not alienate players that are with us from the start, but we will be adding new base management systems that will make the game more interesting. All the changes will be introduced after the full release of the 0.1.9.3 patch, in the Midway Branch 0.2.0 MW 1.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
In case of problems/bugs/glitches appearing in the Midway Branch version of Penkura, please contact us on Discord (Link above) or post in the "Midway Branch of Penkura" section of the Steam Forum.
Main Menu was offset off the screen on 4k monitors.
Archeological base doors were affected by the environment from both sides.
Bots didn't activate proper functions on power management after loading the game.
Not all collision triggers were loading at Command Center Armor Mesh.
Oculus Bot was capable of glitching through collision, which triggered in-game security systems pushing the bot on top of the model (in this case buildings) to not allow it to fall under the ground.
Player was able to interact with Lazarus Bed through its outer armor.
Solar Panel and Ore Extractors animations didn't trigger properly when the player spawns after game load.
Added Magnetic Wind Turbine to the construction list.
Added auto UI adjustment system for 4k and above screens.
C.A.T is now clickable in the RTS mode.
Added 6 new consumable: /// Dark Matter Cola Malloc Extreme /// Dark Matter Cola Sour Acid /// Dark Matter Cola Neuron Breaker /// Dark Matter Cola Malloc Extreme Expired /// Dark Matter Cola Sour Acid Expired /// Dark Matter Cola Neuron Breaker Expired
Added new global wind system.
Added 4 weather types (for the moment affecting only foliage, wind, and all objects affected by the wind, for example, magnetic wind turbines). /// Calm Weather /// Windy /// Strong Wind /// Extremely Windy
Wind system will now change its wind power.
Wind now will change its direction each time there is a shift.
Added wind effect to all non pickable foliage in the game.
Added new wind animation on all types of grass.
Improved wind system on all trees, now trees bend according to their density from top to bottom.
Global wind system takes a gas giant location on the sky to change its wind power.
Whenever taking over a bot, it will trigger a global check to activate all animations, AI, triggers, and every visual effect at the view distance to reduce errors in sudden camera position change.
Graphicly improved Dark Matter Cola Original, Aqua Jelly, and Rotten Aqua Jelly.
Added Gamma settings to the Video Options.
Options settings not properly save each time the main menu is closed. Even if the player forgot to apply and save it directly in the main menu.
Player jump range increase by 15%.
Added Sprint Toggle to the Key Binding Menu.
Crouch is now more smooth. (added additional check to make sure there aren't hitches in the animation).
Added Crouch Toggle to the Key Binding Menu (on by default).
Added Walk Toggle to the Key Binding Menu.
Optimization off over 29 background calculations (minor performance boost, reduction of game hitches).
Energy Balance Changes: /// Liquide Construction Component energy requirement lowered from 2000 to 1250. /// Refined Polan Crystal energy requirement lowered from 5000 to 2000. /// Refined Xavoc Crystal energy requirement lowered from 3000 to 1500. /// Crystalized Construction Component energy requirement lowered from 4000 to 2000. /// Battery ST-1 energy requirement lowered from 10 000 to 5 000.
Improved M.P.B textures.
Improved texture of small foliage.
All tree collisions are now much more precise.
Added new storyline pages, to Epsilon Base, and Underground Temple Base.