Aug 16, 2018

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark enters Early Access!

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - 1C_Dan

Hi guys,

it is finally happening! After your support through our Kickstarter campaign and months of hard work we are ready to start a new chapter in the development of Fell Seal! Early Access!

Ever since our Kickstarter, we've had solid lines of communication with you guys and your comments/suggestions have been invaluable to us. That feedback and communication is the main reason we're here in Early Access after all!

Our official position is always to try to answer all fan inquiries and comments, wherever they are posted. That being said, with all the various social platforms out there, it's easy to miss some. So, we're going to focus our efforts and attention in one main location primarily, which is going to be the Steam forums. Thus, we'd like to encourage everyone to post their comments and feedback right here, on Steam. We'll be able to get to it more easily and quickly, and it should foster more conversation, which ultimately should lead to even better feedback and suggestions and thus, to a better Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark!

The EA version is in a great state currently and pretty much all of the games systems and mechanics are already in place.

There are 21 Story encounters in the current version and around 30 optional non-story encounters. There are over 25 playable classes, 200 abilities and a crafting system. We have the ability for players to use custom portraits, to mod the game to add abilities, classes, languages and even customize core systems via a simple (but very large) customization file.

If we're looking at what's missing, it would be more story battles, about 50% of the sound effects, a Hard Mode and optional story-characters events. And, of course, your feedback! The above systems are all created and in game, but we're very eager to get your feedback to tune and improve them!

With all that being said, the most important thing in the end is that you enjoy the game :)

With regards,
6 Eyes Studio and 1C Company

Aug 16, 2018

DEVJAM - Art Team Spotlight

Robocraft - GammaJamma

Hey there Robocrafters, it’s Hannah here!

The whole team is hard at work implementing Tiers currently, so for this week’s Dev Jam we thought we’d do a spotlight on our Art Team. We’re currently made up of three artists: myself, Wu, and James. Each of us sat down and wrote a little bit about what it’s like working at a small indie developer, our backgrounds, how we got into the industry, and why we do what we do. Lets begin with me first of all.

Hannah: Lead Artist

I’ve been at Freejam for over 2 and a half years now, and I literally get to do my dream job. I’ve always loved video games, they’ve been my biggest passion since I was a tiny child watching my Dad play Dungeon Keeper 2; so when I found out that making video games was actually a job that you can do, I pored over University courses to find the one that fit me best. After 3 years on a Game Art Design course, I started at Freejam, it was my first job in the Industry. I didn’t really know what to expect when I started here but it turns out I was pleasantly surprised; Freejam has a really nice vibe.

My specialisation is 3D Environment and Prop Art. The Lock-On Missile Launcher was the first piece of content I generated for Robocraft, and is still my favourite. The standard software I use is Maya for modelling, Photoshop for texturing, and Unity as our engine. However since we’re a small art team, I’ve also created large and small scale marketing assets, UI sprites, and also been involved in various design decisions.

As Lead Artist, I’m involved in all the artistic decisions made in the game as well as actually getting to do fun art (and the inevitable bug fixing that comes along with it). I’m also involved in planning meetings, reviewing my fellow artists’ work and co-coordinating with our Producers to figure out their schedules and workload. There really aren’t enough hours in the day…

Working in a small art team means you have to be a Jill of all trades; like me, you’ll likely be involved in all different art disciplines so it helps to have some understanding of each one, even if you have a speciality. One of the best pieces of advice I can give to an aspiring Artist, especially if you’re looking to work for a small scale indie, is nail your art fundamentals - composition, colour theory, anatomy, material definition, understanding of design principles, etc. They all transfer into every piece of work you do, whether that’s you generating a cool new weapon, putting together an environment, or designing a new UI screen. As an Artist, allow yourself to be inspired by your favourite games, movies, and other media! The artists who made them put in a huge amount of time and effort and also likely looked at reams and reams of real world reference to ground that cool thing they designed in reality; engine blocks, 1950’s bumper cars, the inside of a nuclear reactor, brutalist architecture, sports cars, natural rock formations, drones, etc. These are just a teeny tiny selection of things I’ve been inspired by while working at Freejam.

One of the best things about working on Robocraft is the creative freedom we’re given. We’re given a goal e.g. give the players better feedback during battle, and as artists we can set out to achieve that goal in any way we see fit. The recent Weapon Feedback update was a massive collaborative effort between the Art Team, the Coders we had assigned to support us, and Designers’ input. It was a really fun challenge, being able to sit down to play the game together and see what a difference our ideas made to the pace and feel of battling was really rewarding.

James: VFX Artist

I've been developing games since I was 9 years old when my dad taught me BASIC. I started designing and coding games in my spare time outside of school and eventually spent most of my lunchtimes developing games in the school IT rooms and doodling game designs on scraps of paper between classes.

I wanted to go into gameplay programming, so I applied to universities to do programming and got into a Computer Science course, where I learned how to code properly. Unfortunately, Computer Science wasn't the kind of practical course I was looking for and I left after 2 years to work out what I wanted to do. Eventually I ended up deciding to go into cinema special effects, but after a year I remembered that my real love was games and I last-minute transferred directly into the second year of a Games Art course and learnt 3D art, shader programming, and modern graphics technology. I graduated in 2017 and later applied for a job at Freejam as a Visual Effects Artist.

While I'm primarily a VFX Artist, my background is in Technical Art, which involves programming material shaders, post-process and camera image effects, scripting, rigging character models and getting all the technical parts of a games art working, basically bridging the gap between art and code.

At FreeJam I've worked on many effects, but my favourite thing to work on was the Tech Point screen where I coded the materials and surface lighting, created the visual effects, and created the animation for the tech points.

Working in a small indie team is amazing because we have a tight-knit community of developers and this means everyone has to cover a wide skill set. It's nice to have such a variety of challenges and no two days are ever the same. Keeping on top of many different art and code disciplines is important so that I can understand problems that come from both sides and communicate well between them.

Wu: UI Artist

At Freejam, I create new game UI for Robocraft including menus, buttons, and HUD. Recently I worked on the Weapon Feedback update and the upcoming Infinity update, which contains UI improvements for the entire game.

I have background knowledge in various area such as Architecture, 3D Art, Graphic Design, & VR. Previously, I worked as a Freelance Graphic Designer supporting independent businesses.

Working for a small indie developer is busy but nice. I enjoy collaborating with other artists and designers in the team to achieve a better user experience for players. It also allows me to explore freely and come up with ideas that will improve the visuals of Robocraft.

Robocraft has been out for 5 years and it’s still constantly evolving. Much of the existing UI might be accepted by current Robocraft players but I always have new ideas to improve the user’s experience, making it cleaner, clearer, and more enjoyable. I believe art in Robocraft should always remain progressive in order to attract new players and keep the community alive.

My main advice for working in the game industry is don’t restrict your art style because you are good at it. Be versatile and gain knowledge of different things. It helps a lot if you have knowledge of other art disciplines or even code/design; it will greatly improve the outcome of the collaboration with your colleagues.

Thanks for reading guys, we’ll keep you updated on what’s happening at Freejam!

Have fun <3

Hannah

Aug 16, 2018

Announcing Update 2.5 - Developer Preview!

BATTALION: Legacy - brammertron

Hey all!

We hope you’re all enjoying our latest update to Battalion 1944, Major Update 2. The comments, feedback and overall positivity from the community surrounding the game has been a real motivator to make sure Battalion is the best version of itself it can be. After the release of Major Update 2, our team moved straight to working on the next updates.

Major Update 3 is currently in development and has strong emphasis on improving the overall experience for new Battalion players. It's such a substantial game update that we also intend MU3 to enhance the current Battalion experience even further for existing players. After internal discussions, we’ve decide to push Major Update 3 back to enable us to add even more features, polish them and make sure we nail the full intended Battalion 1944 experience before we push the game again to the wider Steam community.

Major Update 2 improved Battalion's core competitive experience by leaps and bounds. Major Update 3 aims to bring user experience improvements to the game which will make the overall experience more enjoyable for more casual players. But as Battalion’s early access journey continues the game is taking big steps towards its full release as a finished game.

Today however, we wanted to announce an extremely important update we’ve been working on for Battalion that will be going live in early September in a patch we’re dubbing ‘Update 2.5’. Although this update isn’t a ‘Major Update’, due to it being less focused on new content - It does contain significant improvements and changes to the game that have been long time community requests.

Third & First Person Scale Rework

Note: The following rework is quite difficult to explain in words without actually seeing and playing the changes in action, so please ask questions and watch the gifs too!

Players have always noticed something feels slightly ‘off’ with Battalion. There is an ever present issue that is the root cause for many of Battalion’s core problems. Battalion’s characters, were too small. An early mistake in development caused a knock on effect throughout the game - and Battalion’s scale issues have been punishing to your experience thus far.
“Something just doesn’t feel right”
“Players look weird in 3rd person”
“Jump height is broken”
“I can barely see him!”
“The character is not smooth in the air”

Effectively over two years ago when we started Battalion, we didn’t respect the scale of the original blockout version of the game enough when it came to creating the 3D visuals you see today.

We have spent the last 6-8 weeks recorrecting this issue and we have seen the massive benefit and knock on effect it has had on the game. Below, we have detailed the steps we have taken and the changes to both scale and movement we have made, to solve the following issues.

Increase Character Scale

Increased the character scale/size by 16%.
This means characters are now nice and chunky, allowing for an increased feeling of hit registration with larger character models to plow your bullets into..

Rescale Environments

We’ve modified every single doorway, window, and headshot angle to compensate for the larger character model. Classic FPS games have large window/door frames to allow 1-2 players to easily pass through - these new standardised heights have been retroactively applied to every single enterable building - making for a hitch free experience when maneuvering from indoors/outdoors.

Movement Speed Very Slight Increase

Overall movement speed has been increased very slightly so that first person doesn’t feel sluggish with the new larger character scale. We’ve also fixed previously incorrect movement values of certain weapons - meaning eco SMGs are now faster than Heavy weapons etc

Overall Jump Height Reduced

Jump height has been reduced significantly as an effort to combat the ridiculous looking ‘bunny hop’ third person animations that has dampened the game’s feel since launch. The new (less springy) animation makes the game feel more grounded - and less ridiculous compared to previous versions of Battalion where you would’d see soldiers jumping their own height around corners. The change still retains a good feel of height gain in first person - and no longer looks cartoon-like in third - whilst retaining the same 1-1 first to third person movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJYkJaYAINc

Strafe Jump Mechanics Improved & Distance Increase

A very common complaint we’ve received is that our strafe jump wasn’t effective enough and didn’t emulate the games that Battalion 1944 was influenced by closely enough. This unintentionally meant players who picked up the game Day 1 could manoeuvre just as well as a player who would put in hundreds of hours.

To make up for the loss of overall jump height - after weeks of refinement - we’ve come much closer to what we believe are the correct values that fit Battalion 1944’s ethos as a classic shooter for the modern era. The change feels liberating and is much closer to how Battalion 1944 was intended to feel from launch day - with skilled movement and map flow now feeling smooth like butter rather than a sluggish chore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PraALzZHA6Y

Crouch Jump Height Gain Heavily Reduced

Now that vault has been improved both back in MU2 and with further vaulting improvements coming to Update 2.5 - we’ve taken the decision to remove the legacy crouch jump mechanic from Battalion 1944. The reason crouch jump was previously so high in MU1 and earlier (it was above the players own head height!) was the lack of a solid vault. The game has since changed.

This change has the added benefit of reducing the ridiculous height gain in third person animation from crouch jumps vs regular height jumps.

To replace crouch jumping - we’re adding subtle options for gaining height within the levels themselves, such as many more vault volumes, ladders and nicely laid props to enable players to move smoothly throughout the levels whilst still retaining the ability to be able to maneuver vertically when needed. Combined with the new strafe distance and overall smoother, less clunky, movement - we can’t wait to see the new spots players find with the new and improved mechanics.

https://youtu.be/oynU3iHXRQ0

Landing ‘Viewbob’ Smoothed Depending on Height of Drop

When landing your camera will now ‘bob’ slightly lower than previously to feel smooth when moving around the games maps, as well as giving players crucial info of how far/hard they’ve fallen. The higher you fall - the larger the viewbob.

However - if players smartly and smoothly jump up to a higher surface they will not receive a viewbob or any landing sound, increasing that feeling of movement & momentum when you jump up to higher surfaces and chain skilled movements around Battalion’s maps.

This improved visual viewbob affects landing in ADS, hip fire, crouch and landing into prone.

https://youtu.be/lG0kMdt8GCM

Added Slight Deceleration After Landing Consecutively

To bring Battalion’s movement mechanics more inline with the titles Battalion 1944 takes inspiration from, we have added deceleration after landing. Each consecutive jump slows the player closer and closer to walk speed. Effectively, this means you can not jump as far after landing when trying to sprint & strafe jump consecutively again and again. Knowing when and where to jump, strafe and manage your stamina is more important than ever.

https://youtu.be/laAmDE3IvyU?list=PLv_u6kEQpiVdKqxyKZvhgggtXwfzY1zOc

Movement Audio Improvements

As previously mentioned - moving around levels in Battalion felt like a chore. Part of this issue is to do with audio. After studying some of the most fluid FPS titles of the last 2 decades - we’ve tweaked how much sound is being played to the player for minor movements. For example when jumping up to a point of higher elevation, you will no longer make a sound.

These audio changes include how much sound is made when jiggle peeking, going into/out of ADS is now silent, the amount of sound played when transitioning into sprint or making minor positional adjustments on the ground or on a ladder. All these factors add up to the smooth feel of classic FPS titles which has taken to this point in development to have the time and manpower to polish. The result is a much smoother, fluid feeling game.

General Movement Fluidity Improved

A combination of lower jump height, increased strafe distance, small audio tweaks and a concoction of new acceleration/deceleration values have created a much smoother experience. We can’t wait for you to check out the new subtle game feel changes for yourselves after the 2.5 release!

https://youtu.be/u9-zEGh0-is

More Update 2.5 Previews To Come!

Just like with our Major Update 2 preview posts - we have many more exciting features, updates and improvement coming before the Update 2.5 release. Following the development of a game and seeing it improve can be just as rewarding as creating the game itself, and we want to keep encouraging you guys to get involved in Battalion’s development.

Keep an eye on our social media accounts for the very latest news coming soon in the near future!