The 4th tier of content is now available! If you're currently at Mission Hall level 18, you'll need to clear one existing A or S rank mission. Afterwards, a "High Rank" button will appear in the mission select menu.
The new regions have new music. Be sure to listen.
Hi, every day we make some changes in the game, but they are so primitive that we don’t want to waste time demonstrating them to you, so we rarely have news. But now we are working on interesting mechanics that we want to talk about.
The operation of the masks was demonstrated above, we will use them not to display strips on the tank tower from the hull, and under the hull it will not be visible what is under the tank, thereby we cleaned the visual part of the game.
Also, with the help of masks, we will give players the opportunity to hide in bites. Due to the different dimensions of the tanks, they will be given out by the sizes crawling out of the bushes.
And if our tank leaves for the notebook, it will also disappear in the mask, since the tank is difficult to draw on the table;)
This article was originally created for Vortex, Czech-based media. Due to the growing interest in different positions in SCS, we decided to translate the whole mini-series of these talks to publish here, on our blog. Today, we bring you first episode, featuring Ondřej "Duffator" Dufek - ATS world architect
When I meet someone for the first time, they often ask "So, what do you do exactly?". "I make video games, I'm a game developer" I often say, expecting more questions to follow. "Oh, interesting, sounds cool" they respond, but I can tell that they don't understand what that means and continue to ask more. "So work in programming or graphics?" is a common follow up question. "Neither, I'm a Map Designer" which is usually followed by more confusion. And that's why I'm here - to explain what exactly a Map Designer in SCS Software does for a living.
As the name suggests, the main role of a Map Designer is to create maps. Our job is to create a virtual world and environment in which a player travels and works. In SCS Software as you know, we create truck simulators, so we have to create everything you could possibly see outside of your virtual truck's window.
"Ah, so you create 3D Graphics!" is probably the main thought running through your mind right now, but that isn't entirely true. To clarify what we do more, I like to think about map designing similar to building with Lego bricks or playing Minecraft. Being a Map Designer isn't about making an individual cube or element, nor does he create a specific model such as a house, bench, tree. All of these are created by his colleagues in the asset department, so he can put them together in a map editor, creating a small part of our open world. With enough trees, you'll get a forest, with a number of buildings, you'll make a town. We're called Map Designers because our game space isn't composed of individual game levels, it is an open world which we watch mostly from a birds-eye view. So the comparison to the creation of a map offers itself.
Nevertheless, that would be a very simplified description of our work. The important word in the job title is "designer" - a man or woman designing something (not just a car or electric kettle).
Our game world is stylized, a miniature variant of the real world. Due to the technical requirements and manpower, it has been created in a 1:20 scale. So a designer has to choose one thing out of twenty and drop the rest, there isn't space for more. It's a pretty hard decision and one of the first and foremost duties of a map designer, to what he wants to create.
For example - take a process of road-making. Think of a section of road with the surrounding country, which connects two cities. The goal is to find out as much relevant information about it as possible (the length, height, what landmarks are there, points of interest, climates, landscapes etc) to create a draft which s/he will able to process and finalize. So the task at hand is mainly about filtering and the priority of information, along with staying within the boundaries of limitations.
And what limits are we talking about? Everything! - from scale, time, resources available and more. The real world is unique, and almost every place is original. Unfortunately, we can't afford such a luxury in our game world, where the number of available models we can use is limited. Designers must make up their mind of which models to use, and where to place them. For example, which house is most similar to the pattern found in the real world, how it could be improved using his or her 'artistic license' to stylize the in-game world. Another limitation is technology, unlike pre-rendered animations, our world must draw itself in real-time using various PC configurations. We can't fill it with an unlimited number of models and details. Another limitation is surveillance distance, which is the number of reflections in mirrors or water surfaces. All of these aspects directly influence the output and framerate. And the last big limitation is time. Our players expect a new expansion in a reasonable amount of time, so we can't take too long with our production.
In our studies of the road section we are working on, we find out the most characteristic details of the road and see if it is possible to re-create these in-game. The goal is to transfer the look and design into our virtual world. In an ideal case, a map designer creates a landmark on a 1:1 scale. During the 1:20 compression, it's impossible for us to include all of the most interesting places, as they would be located next to each other (due to the scale), which would not be true to life or distance. So our task is to combine both interesting landmarks between longer stretches of road to make them stand out. For example, if a 20km stretch of road had three farms and a large forest, it would end up likely two of the farms and a majority of the forest would be removed to correctly imitate the real-life landscape on a 1:20 scale. Another task of map designer is to connect different types of landscapes together and to create a smooth transition when travelling between forests and towns.
And that is what a map designer job consists of. Finding solutions to various design, technical and artistic obstacles. Whether it be a virtual city, junction, or dirt road, it is a combination of art and technical skills to be able to find a creative solution.
So I hope this very explanation helps you understand a bit more about what a 'map designer' does. If we we're to go in-depth into all the nitty-gritty details of our work, we would need a series of articles, perhaps a documentary! Let us know if you enjoyed the general theme of this blog, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section.
A new version that contains a new mission is now live! It took a little bit longer to get this one ready, but here it is finally. The new mission is a pretty decent sized prison map. This update brings the total amount of missions to four, so if you have only played one or two missions, now would be a good time for a new playthrough!
0.6.5 Patch Notes
New content:
Added a new mission, Prison Break
Fixes and improvements:
Added an option to change fullscreen mode between fullscreen, windowed fullscreen, and windowed. Default setting is windowed fullscreen
Graphic settings are now saved to GameUserSettings.ini-file instead of settings.sav-file -> easier to change resolution etc. if having issues
Added a blue arrow to be shown when the mouse cursor overlaps Team GoTo enabled doors and stairs. The key info text is moved to the bottom of the screen
Improvements to the the logic how Ai teammates choose their shooting positions and where they can shoot -> more shooting and less running
Fixed Ai teammates and enemies to crouch if in cover position when reloading a weapon
Ai teammates should now also crouch if they can shoot their current target while crouching and if the crouching gives some protection against other detected enemies
Ai teammates have now 10 meters range limit in their first aid kit delivery service
Heal interaction is now possible to start only when the target is not moving
Improvements to the flashlight -> should be more performance friendly now
Increased grenade throw angle when the player is looking toward stairs -> easier to throw a grenade upstairs
Fixed a bug that caused the open/close door interaction to be shown sometimes even the player moves away from the door
Fixed bullet tracers coming from a hidden floor to always pop visible when entering a floor that is visible to the player
Fixed bullet impact effects to be always shown to the player if hit locations are in a floor that visible to the player
Fixed a bug that caused the player character to keep switching crouch on/off when moving stairs up while crouching and aiming down sights (falsely detected stairs as cover locations)
Fixed a bug that caused enemies sometimes walk through closed doors (when playing as a multiplayer client)
At 5pm CET starts our stream again on twitch. We build, program together and answer your questions. Earn virtual gold for watching. We are looking forward to seeing you.
We're bringing alot of changes in this update to address some of the long running issues and bugs in SRC, while also introducing a slick new Championship UI and alternate modes for Circuit and Eliminator tracks! Alongside some quality of life additions and network lobby changes.
First of all the Championship UI, this is the first stage of improving the confusing interface that was Championship selection. We've streamlined everything into a single row of tiered progression, and introduced all the new tracks into Championship mode. The final stage will see improvements to Championship UI during and after races in the next Update.
We've taken every Circuit and Eliminator track, made a few balance tweaks and made them playable in either mode. Essentially doubling the amount of tracks in SRC. Some tracks have even seen whole new sections added or tweaked for compatibility with the new modes.
Lastly network functionality has been changed, in the past it was hard to lobby up with players and stay together between races. Not only can you now select the next track from the end game screen, you can also invite any visible online players to a game through the social tab. Don't worry, those who want to play alone can set network privacy to prevent any unwanted invites.
UI: Fixed several softlocks when creating multiplayer lobbies from specific menus,
Audio: Clicking error in looped sounds has been fixed,
Gameplay: Walking backward through portals will no longer allow you to get behind playable areas,
Gameplay: Fixed several achievements not granting steam achievements on completion,
Gameplay: Fixed several potential hard crashes,
Gameplay: All moving obstacles now update and reset correctly,
Tracks: Patched several small holes on tracks,
Tracks: Fixed a soft lock on Blackhole,
Tracks: Fixed some safety rails not being behaving as safety rails,
Tracks: Fixed some accelerators not applying bonus speed,
Tracks: Fixed a crash when restarting Rubix,
Tracks: Fixed a bug which caused you to be stuck after the reconvergence point on Escape Velocity,
Gamesystems: Fixed a bug which caused Elimination time to stack above the starting Max Time,
Gamesystems: Fixed a network issue that caused some players to fail to load,
Gamesystems: Fixed several small network issues,
New Stuff
UI: Added ‘Apply All’ and ‘Mirror’ buttons to customisation,
UI: Added slide angle marker to help new players identify slide-able areas,
UI: You can now invite any online players to a network lobby,
UI: Network visibility can be set to private from the network tab,
UI: Trials / Network track selection can now be filtered by gamemode,
UI: Championship mode UI changed to be easier to understand,
UI: Post game screen has been slightly reworked,
Gameplay: You can now access track selection from the post game screen
Gameplay: Portal exit direction is now relative to entry direction,
Gameplay: Min Jump height is now enough to clear a single blockade (on flat ground),
Gameplay: Max Jump height is now enough to clear a double blockades (on flat ground),
Gameplay: Championship mode has been split into two distinct championships,
Gameplay: Sliding and Wallrunning now have subtle visual effects when losing or gaining speed,
Gameplay: Checkpoints can now respawn you on magnetic tracksections,
Gameplay: You can now ascend and descend while wall running by holding the Jump or Slide keys (Community Suggestion),
Tracks: Whiplash new section added to canyon top shortcut,
Tracks: Blackhole re-linked portal puzzle to new locations,
Tracks: Sandsnake loop shortcut has been made more difficult,
Tracks: Sidewinder new section added to end of lap section,
Tracks: Snowbound accelerator added at final checkpoint,
Tracks: Escape Velocity has wall runs added to one exit location,
Tracks: All Race mode tracks are now playable in Elimination mode,
Tracks: All Elimination mode tracks are now playable in Race mode,
Tracks: New Alternate mode tracks have slightly redesigned sections and checkpoints,
Graphics: Increased texture resolution to 4k for all character textures,
Known Bugs
UI: Some player names aren’t visible (Currently only English alphabet characters supported),
UI: Ghost selection has been temporarily disabled in the end race track selection,
UI: End race buttons appear in the wrong positions,
Gameplay: Pipe section challenges sometimes pass/fail without reason,
Gameplay: Privacy settings can cause the host to not see other players but still be able to race them,
Graphics: Blackhole has shader errors when viewed from specific angles,
This has been a massive update and a longtime coming, there are a few minor known bugs that will be patched out shortly. If you do experience issues please be sure to file a bug report on our Discord or via email at contact@ragequit.studio
Here’s a quick preview of the new large energy weapons coming in next week’s patch. Although content isn’t a priority at the moment, these weapons were partially implemented some time ago and we didn’t want to keep those of you that have been asking for them waiting any longer 🙂
Ebombs: Large Energy Weapons
As an energy weapon, they’re blocked by shields and powered by the ship’s power supply
Compatible with all large weapons slots
Each shot deals damage to each enemy ship within the ship’s line of fire
When they were originally designed, the idea was that they would work similar to missiles and torpedoes e.g. other ships within their splash range would also take damage.
While they will still damage multiple ships per shot, instead of splash range it will be based on line of fire. Each ship in the line of fire will take damage each shot. For example in the image below, the front 3 ships will take damage each shot but the ship at the back will not.
We went with this approach instead because it adds an extra tactical dimension to battles and gives player’s that like to line up all their ships in a line something to think about! The stats haven’t been finalized yet, but they’ll be updated and on the wiki when the patch is released.
Problems with Treaties
In the recent v106 patch we fixed an issue where treaties with players that left the galaxy weren’t being cleared properly. Although this is now working, a separate issue is preventing treaties being correctly formed in certain circumstances e.g. with players not within scanner range or that have previously restarted in that galaxy. We’re working on a fix for this now and expect to include it in the next patch. Apologies to those of you that are currently affected by this.
Tech Tree Tweak
One minor change I’ll also mention – in the next patch we’re going to swap the positions of the T3 laboratory and the Transporter in the tech tree. Plus, we’re going to drop the research cost of the transporter from 1,250 to 720. So the new order on that branch of the tech tree will be: T3 Power Station (450sp) > Teleporter (720sp) > T3 Laboratory (1,250sp). This change was following player feedback. If you’ve already researched T3 laboratory but not Teleporter it won’t cause any issue and any research of either already in progress won’t be affected. Just visually they will have swapped places.
