Dec 19, 2023

Dev Log #2: Evil's Den returns in January 2024

Evil's Den: Forsaken Dungeon - Tiritto

Hi! Apologies for the delay in dropping this devlog – meant to hit you up on Friday, but we had a crucial meeting today, and I wanted to make sure I had all the juicy details to share.

So, heads up first: we've decided to push back our Steam comeback to the first weeks of next year. Why the change? Well, we're diving into the holiday spirit, and we want to spare everyone the crunch during this festive season. Plus, the whole office will be off on holiday break soon, so would leave the game unattended right after our big comeback, which is not ideal. We would like to make sure we're around to keep things smooth and address any issues right from the get-go.

Now, let's get to the good stuff – we've revamped our character movement system with a serious upgrade, providing it with more fluidity and momentum. This ensures that your actions look more natural and dynamic. We've also begun working on improving enemy movements and reactions, but this involves more intricate adjustments tied to the AI system, requiring a bit more time. Honestly, our previous AI system was a real headache—it turned out to be one of those assets that just didn't play nice. Long story short, we decided to hit the reset button and rebuild the whole thing from scratch. This removal of premade assets and replacing it with our custom system will be quite a recurring theme in upcoming updates, which I’ve mentioned in more detail in our previous devlog.

Since we've decided to move our return to Steam from before Christmas to after new year, you can expect the abovementioned changes to be part of our upcoming update as well. Meaning that our update won't be as “empty” as I've described previously in our last post.

Once the abovementioned things are implemented, we're going to redesign our very first boss fight, so it actually feels like a proper boss fight, rather than just a glorified elite mob. Whether this change happens in an upcoming update or the next one is yet to be seen, but I would personally suspect the latter.

Because of the upcoming Christmas break, I would also like to inform that there will be no more devlogs this year. It will come back next year, probably around January 5th (friday). By then, you can expect me to show up with more concrete dates for our Steam return and overall more details regarding our comeback.

Lastly, I would like to once again invite you all to our Discord server and Steam Forums, where you can ask any questions regarding the game and development process. We might even share some more behind the curtain content there.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all!

Visit our Discord: https://discord.gg/f3PrKGEbP9

Dec 19, 2023

Update 5.201

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad - -DED-Rapidus

Dear Friends,

The huge update 5.201 is live. It contains three major additions and a number of other fixes and improvements.

Flying Circus Vol.III is now officially released and is available on our website and on Steam.

Most of the Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft were already available via the Early Access program - the last one is the R.E.8 two-seater, a very versatile aircraft for its time (it began to reach the front in late 1916). It was designed to carry radio and photographic equipment for reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and a small bomb load on underwing racks. For more information on this airplane, please read our Dev Blog#354.

In total, Flying Circus Vol.III contains 8 early Great War aircraft: the Albatros D.II, Halberstadt D.II, Nieuport 11.C1, French Nieuport 17.C1, Nieuport 17.C1 adapted for British service, and Hanriot HD.1 fighters, and the R.E.8. and F.E.2b two-seater reconnaissance planes.

Updates to the Western Front map to include the entire frontline, many new objects and settlements, and five seasons - Summer, Autumn, late Autumn, Winter, and Spring.

The WWI Pilot's Career mode has also been updated - it now starts earlier, in 1916, includes all available WWI era aircraft including FC Vol.III and Collector, takes advantage of the updated map and uses all of its seasons.

Please note that the updated map and career mode are also available to owners of any Flying Circus volume (If you don't see the new map seasons immediately, please wait a few hours - they are being assigned to eligible accounts on the server). It is recommended that all FC players start a new WWI career, however we have been able to keep the old FC careers playable - they don't include the new additions and are unsupported, but you should be able to finish an existing WWI career if you wish.

Another fascinating addition is a new aircraft type, something we haven't had in the sim before - a player-controlled military glider.

In our simulator, the visual model of the CG-4A glider was restored with great care, and our engineers recreated in its new virtual life all the main features of its control and use. It should be noted that this is a new class of objects for our simulator and we have developed a number of technologies to make its realization possible - for example, a flexible towing cable. In addition to the Quick Mission Builder and multiplayer modes, if you have the Normandy and/or Bodenplatte modules, you can fly them in career mode on the Western Front during the major airborne operations - Overlord, Market Garden, and Varsity.

The third major addition in this update is the short version of the long-awaited IAR-80/81 Collector Plane (the long version is also included in the purchase and will be made available in early 2024 in January or February). We have covered it extensively in our Dev Blog#355.

The I.A.R.80-A fighter series 106-150 is the base model for the short version - it has six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns that fire German ammunition. Its flying capabilities were comparable to those of the Yak-1, but later versions of the IAR had more powerful weapons and bombs:

I.A.R.80-B series 181-200 has four 7.92 mm machine guns rather than six, as well as two 13.2mm FN Browning machine guns that fire 13.2 mm Hotchkiss rounds.
The I.A.R.80-M has two 20 mm MG-151/20 cannons and two 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns.
The I.A.R.81 series 151-175 is equipped with six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns and can carry up to three bombs weighing up to 400 kg. The underbelly bomb rack has a distinctive parallelogram mechanism, similar to the Ju 87 dive-bomber, preventing bombs from hitting the propeller during dive bombing.

In addition, the Achtung Spitfire! campaign that previously was only available on our website is now released on Steam.

5.201 Changelist

The CG-4A Collector Plane has been released;
Flying Circus Vol. III has been released - R.E.8 two-seater airplane is added to the sim;
Romanian I.A.R.80/81 fighter is available in Early Access (short version, long version will be added in the next update);
Added Autumn, Late Autumn/Early Spring, Winter and Summer seasons for the Western Front WWI map (available to either Flying Circus module owners);
All Flying Circus Vol.III airplanes have been added to the Pilot's Career mode during WWI timeframe;
The accuracy of AI gunners on player-controlled aircraft matches the "Ace" level on AI-controlled aircraft;
AI won't turn on the landing light during a daytime approach;
A tactical number set by the player is saved;
The send message button in multiplayer chat matches the team color;
A 100% setting on a control axis should result in 100% value displayed in the technochat instead of 99%;
T-34 mod. 1942 and PzKpfW III Ausf. L won't be erroneously listed as part of the Bodenplatte module in the equipment selection menu;
Pilot's Career: new options have been added for fine tuning the difficulty level;
Assault guns with indirect fire capability (SU-122, SU-152, Stug III Ausf. G, SdKfz 184 Ferdinand) have panoramic sight leveling features to ensure accurate shooting. Ballistic tables added to the
Description tab for Stug III Ausf.G and SdKfz 184 Ferdinand ;
New training scenarios added for SU-122 (firing at stationary targets and indirect fire);
Removed extra aftersounds from the SHKAS machine guns firing sound;
Airco DH.4 stabilizer fixed camera position corrected;
Pilot protection from the shrapnel corrected on British planes when the canopy is closed;
Albatros D.II lower wing aerodynamics data corrected;
Li-2 altitude throttle lever function inverted according to its label (forward - poor mixture, reverse - rich);
La-5 ser. 8 wing sturdiness corrected;
Overlord campaign is updated and translated into French.

Dec 19, 2023

Law School: Episode 1 Development Update #2

The Entrepreneur - Kingloski

Greetings Law School Enthusiasts!

I am thrilled to share with you the second update for "Law School: Journey to Becoming America's
Top Lawyer." Your warm reception of my demo has been incredibly heartening. Your positive
feedback and constructive criticism have been invaluable, and I assure you, every piece of advice and
concern is being considered to deliver an outstanding first episode.

Progress Recap for Last Month

It's been a relatively slow month in the development of Law School, mainly due to the demo's release a
fortnight ago. Designing a unique and personalized game GUI from scratch was a hefty but rewarding
task. While the core coding of the game is established, allowing for easy tweaks and adjustments, there
may still be further enhancements as we approach the first episode's release.But I'm glad that Law
School will have a unique design, on which I work hard.

Improvement in the workflow

I previously mentioned a bottleneck in my rendering process due to an overwhelming amount of
animations and statics. My second computer struggled with the load of over 300 statics and 2
animations, both of them totaling more than 200 frames; in the rendering queue.
However, upgrading to an RTX 4090 GPU has significantly expedited the process, reducing the queue
to just 40 statics.
This upgrade not only speeds up rendering but also enables me to add more animations, enhancing the
game's transition effects, a feature I'm particularly excited about.

Where do we stand now?

As of now, Law School boasts approximately 1900 statics and 31 animations, with over half of the
content complete. I'm confident that we are on track for a March 2024 release, anticipating around
3000 statics and 60 animations to create a well-rounded first episode.

Goals for the upcoming month

The primary focus for the next month is to complete the remaining 1000 statics and additional
animations by January's end. This will allow February to be dedicated to post-production tasks such as
editing, coding, music composition, and testing, gearing up for the March release.
Ensuring thorough testing by our dedicated testers is crucial to avoid the pitfalls experienced with
previous releases of "The Entrepreneur."
Our goal is to launch a flawless first episode for Law School.

Final Thoughts

This month has been a rewarding journey, filled with a blend of excitement and anxiety. Seeing the
game take shape and receiving such positive community feedback is both affirming and motivating. I
eagerly await the moment when you can experience the game in its full glory. I hope it brings you as
much joy as it has brought me in its creation.

Now, back to the grind – another day, another scene!

Warm regards,

MisterMaya

Dec 19, 2023

Winter Sale & Community Based Improvements

One Lonely Outpost - Ashe

Hey Colonists!

There are a lot of key changes in this update that came directly from your feedback and suggestions. Enjoy some light from lamp posts, fish the shallows with less worry, save your game at any point, and so many other smaller tweaks to make your settling on this foreign planet better.

If you were thinking about getting the game, now is a great time to do so as we are part of the Steam Winter Sale! From December 21st until January 4th, the game will be on sale for 20% off! Make sure to check out Freedom Games' Winter Sale 2023 page to pick up some great games to play over the holiday season.

Check out the patch highlights and notes below to see all the improvements, fixes, and changes.

Now you can save your game at any point without having to go to sleep to end the day! Just open your Omni-Tool and head over to the options tab to save over or load from an existing save.

The fishing mini-game has been revamped and no longer has the slider after dashing to catch the fish. There are also new warnings to make sure you don't miss your drone running out of power!

The decorative lamp posts are no longer just pretty to look at - they actually produce some light! Spruce up your farmstead with lighted pathways - without the need for a power source!

Improvements & Changes

it is now possible to manually save your game
updated tutorialization: moved some tutorial windows around so they no longer pop up randomly, added some clarification to existing tutorials. More to come, and any feedback is welcome!
from 0 to 2 rocks and minerals will regenerate in each region every day
from 3 to 5 sandmounds will now regenerate after a sandstorm hits a region
added “low power” notification for the fishing drone, with SFX
improved the fishing drone notification that is displayed when its almost completely out of power; also added SFX for it
added visual information that helps identify points at which you change regions
removed slider from the fishing mini-game
added coloured borders to Blueprints (Blue: usable item, Red: decorative item) during crafting
lamps are now a light source

Bug Fixes

buying an OmniTool upgrade through NPC Order will no longer make it unusable
a cutscene with Jim-bob and Elisha will no longer cause a time skip
opening options or inventory now prevents tutorial windows from popping up
fixed an issue that would sometimes make the game swap between two different energy bars
destroying rocks with an improved laser now displays a correct number of resources that will be obtained
changing seasons no longer causes plants to become translucent
fixed the UI display of “Activating the Cryo Vault” quest
fixed seed descriptions tooltips; they now display correct values
fixed looped SFX that could persist after one of the cutscenes with QWERTY
fixed a rare situation where the player could delete his own save while it was loading by clicking very quickly on the delete button

Follow us on our socials and join the amazing community in our Discord to share your feedback and thoughts as well as any issues you come across. We love hearing from you!

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465550/One_Lonely_Outpost/

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