More balanced gameplay, improved ai behaviour, new punch sound effects, punch particle effects, fixed damage of close range punches, body shots can drain stamina, bug fixes.
As always, we’d like to say a huge thank you to our amazing community. We know we’ve been a bit quiet on the updates front lately. Hopefully this dev blog will help explain why.
So, the best place to start would be to show not tell. Thanks to Jesse-Delta for his great work on the showcase.
Please see as follows for a showcase of our recent progress;
Over the last few months, the three main areas of development have primarily been: -The swap from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5 -The total animation overhaul -Creation of the new 4x4km map with new biomes.
One of the reasons we’ve been a bit short on news, is we didn’t want to be one of those teams screaming about how Unreal Engine 5 will solve all of our problems. While a great tool, nothing in game design is ever that easy.
In our case we did a lot of estimating what could be useful from the new systems which are available to us now.
Then it was a matter of when to do the swap over, our logic is it's better to do it now when we are in alpha instead of later as it would be more time consuming and riskier.
I’ve asked if Mr. Z could prepare a more skilled explanation of the physical effects from the swap over.
There have been various new developments since the last time we spoke. Many systems changes and optimizations have been made to allow for a giant open world map, mocap work is full swing, and UE5’s new features are being fully utilized now.
As some may have noticed, a new survival map was briefly tested to iron out all the issues of scaling up to larger map sizes. I may have jumped the gun a bit with the map as I ended up making it 8x8 kilometers. It’s good to test a bigger than expected map as our final survival map is around 4x4 km so this gives us quite a bit of breathing room. Lots of systems had to be changed for this to work, including the ingame map menu, the way resources are populated in the world, additional systems for placing points of interest in the map, and on a more boring note plenty of code had to be optimized or rewritten for this to work. It was quite a time consuming ordeal but I’m glad we’ve taken care of all the large obstacles for the final survival map to be technically feasible.
Alongside this work, we have also gone into full production with the new mocap animations for the characters. We’ve been quite busy with retargeting all the motion capture animation data to our character and getting them into the game itself. Lots of work had to be done on the animation controller to support a wider array of animations. Where it stands right now is we’re part way through implementing the Longsword animations, so hopefully it won’t be too long until we can have at least one animation set using fully motion captured animations. Motion capture is a very lengthy process but we’re confident with this type of workflow now and we’re very excited to get these animations finished and in our backer’s hands.
The switch to Unreal 5 has been fully completed, meaning we’re using all the new systems we’ve intended to utilize and the legacy systems have been fully removed. What are these systems you may ask? For starters we’ve fully switched over to Chaos Physics, which is the new physics engine for Unreal 5 that allows for a higher degree of complexity in destruction physics. We’re also now fully using World Partition, which is a new feature that allows us to build substantially larger game levels while still maintaining good performance. Another important feature we’re using is Lumen, which is a next generation lighting engine for the game. It has done wonders for the look of the game, especially with how much better the armors look in real lighting now. Finally, we’re also using Nanite, which is another next generation feature, what it does in effect is it makes LODs (Level of Detail) models obsolete, by removing the jarring transition of models to lower detail ones that’s plagued 3d video games since the first days.
2024 will be a very productive year for us going forward, we’re making very rapid progress on the game, but it is a big game to make especially for only a handful of developers working on it. As we’ve seen time and time again there’s no use in rushing out an unfinished game just to get it in people’s hands quickly. So we’ll give a proper release date when we’re confident we can actually deliver a game we’re proud of.
We’ll have more regular updates coming in the near future as we move past the transition to UE5 including more words from Mr. Z
I’ve also asked if KZ could prepare a short note for you folks explaining in detail his side of stuff a bit more. It should be noted while a team effort, what you’ve seen in the above showcase is largely the result of KZs hard work.
The last few months have seen significant progress on the art front. A lot of work has been done to establish a strong foundation for the new year. Essentially, much time has been dedicated to developing the new map. This endeavor has presented substantial challenges, considering it's no longer a small map; it's a world. Nevertheless, we are making good progress.
We began by designing how we wanted to shape the world itself and envisioned all the interactions across the map that we would like to see or open up possibilities for. Our approach prioritized function before form. From the ground up, we designed additional biomes to give the world a more rounded feel.
A big challenge was to design the transitions between biomes, but a lot of thought was put in, and tests were conducted, and I think we got there on the feeling of traveling seamlessly through the biomes while still feeling inline.
We have expanded from one biome to nine, including Meadows, Forests, Swamp, Snowy Fields, Snowy Mountains, Steppes, Arid, Canyons, the Desert, Beaches, and rivers to break it all up. Safe towns have been developed for some of the major biomes, and while these are still being fleshed out, they are mostly completed.
Specifically, there is a big castle with a town and port included in the Meadows biome, a Norse Village in the mountains, a Steppes village, and finally, a Desert Town. Lastly, a lot of thought and work have been put into the placement of Points of Interest to keep players entertained with plenty to explore and fight over.
Fortunately, the new biomes have accommodated this effort and will introduce biome-specific Points of Interest, adding more intrigue to different parts of the world.
Hopefully we’ll have some more of KZ’s work to show off for you soon!
Alongside all the topics Mr. Z has discussed, one main goal for the new year is to get organized weekly wipes going again as soon as possible. We’ve had to put regular testing on hold for the UE 5 swap.
This means we can start to rebuild the weekly population on servers across the major regions of our backers.
We’d like to thank everyone again for their patience with the lack of activities and low pop over the last little while. It’s an area we’ve keenly aware of and hope to address quick smart.
We’ll also hopefully have some more flashy news for you folks in the new year as we start to see the results of our recent work.
Again, folks from our entire team, thank you so much for your amazing support this year. The last 3 months (and this entire year honestly) have been tough but your enthusiasm and kindness are one of the main things keeping us going. We hope to have some good results to make you proud soon!
Hi everyone!!! As the year comes to an end, we are ready to announce the release of our pre-alpha build! This is a very, very early stage of development, but we want to show you what we've been working on all this time.
So, let's remember what our game is about.
The Lust Kingdom is in danger! Since the last king passed away, dark sorcerers and their minions have plagued the common people and laid waste to the lands. For years, the loyal women have been searching for the true heir to savor his magically empowered cock. The protagonist is yesterday's college graduate and now a simple office clerk. One day, a horny sex fairy, Ruby, came to him with great news. He is the very heir the girls from the other world crave.
Try on the role of the ruler and defeat all pretenders to the throne. The juiciest and most lecherous warriors of the Lust Kingdom are ready to fulfill all your fantasies.Gather resources, increase your army, pump up the squad of heroines - and remember: you can put anything but sex "for later".
Right now you have access to:
- 5 beautiful girls - Era 1 - 5 chapters - Plot and dialogue - Gacha system - Autobattle mechanics and squad creation - Ministry and resource mechanics - Character relationship system - Shop - Inventory
We tried very hard and in a hurry to show you the build, we hope that you will not judge us harshly, because this is just the beginning! Further we will gradually add mechanics, new girls and of course a lot of new h-scenes!
Our team wishes you a Happy New Year, thank you for supporting our projects, writing us comments and putting a part of yourself in the development of the game! We are very grateful to all our subscribers, without you we would have nothing!
The Combat Zone is here! Drop in from helicopters, gear up, survive the circles and be the last man standing! Use your best Combat Master tactics, weapons and movements -- the challenge is on!
Explore the whole new map with many POIs and secrets. The free city of Pokrovsk awaits your arrival -- Welcome to Combat Zone!
The free city of Pokrovsk
The free city of Pokrovsk is now open for you! Drop in at the golden morning lights, foggy daylight or rose-tinded sunset. Experience the glory of Pokrovsk at all times!
Explore the many points of interest of Pokrovsk, adopt your playstyle to diverse environments -- whether it's close-quarter clashes in Industrial Zones or long-range sniper duels in Freedom Park, discover your ultimate Combat Zone!
Use the 24/7 Combat Zone game filter, to enjoy the non-stop fight for the last man standing!
Buy Station is now open!
Embark on an epic shopping spree with the new Buy Station! Hunt for cash in every nook and cranny of the Pokrovsk city, snatch some moolah from weapon boxes, and loot those foes you totally outplayed!
Snag Ammo, Armor, Self-Revive, Gas Mask, and the ultimate game-changer -- your beloved Loadout. It's the key to reigning supreme and securing your spot as the Last Man Standing! Time to gear up and dominate!
Free Loadout Drop, twice the match!
Survive the first circle and witness your complimentary Free Loadout Drop descending in your vicinity. Secure your go-to weapons not once, but twice -- swift as the gas in Circle 1 and Circle 5.
Monitor the descent of rival Loadout Drops to catch your adversaries off guard. Turn the tables and seize the advantage!
Fight your way back!
Out of the game? No problem! Embrace your second chance as a Prisoner of the Combat Zone. Battle your way back through a 1v1 Gulag Duel for redeployment -- but tread carefully, as this opportunity knocks only once!
Keep an eye on the Gas Circle upon redeployment -- seize the moment and unleash your revenge!
Survive the gas!
Secure the Gas Mask to outsmart enemies and prolong your stay in the Circle. The Durable Gas Mask is a rare find -- take your shot for unmatched protection!
Flank with caution: your Gas Mask wears down quickly! Keep a sharp eye on it's cracks as the Circle tightens it's grip.
Save yourself with Self-Revive Kit
When downed, don't throw in the towel -- unleash the power of the Self-Revive Kit to rise again and win the fight!
Launch yourself in the sky with Jump Pads!
Level up your Combat Zone commute by rocket through the skies with new Jump Pads! Combine them with Parachute to elevate your movement to a new heights!
New Weapon: P90
Get the new P90! Easily recognizable for its unique bullpup design, best for shooting on the move due to its high-capacity magazine and low recoil.
P90 mods feature P20 High-Mobility Prototype Reciever, long-range V-Max Tip Cartridge, Incendiary Dragon Breath Ammo and many more.
New Weapon: Dual Punch Daggers
Equip the new Dual Punch Daggers when you need to add some power to your punch. Show your knife skills with various breathtaking inspect animations!
"Fists speak the truth, and this truth is sharp!"
New Masters Camo: Combat Zone Topo
Outlast your rivals 15 times in Combat Zone to score new epic camo for all your weapons at once! Ready for the challenge? Grind on!
New Street Fighter Operator Package
Meet Combat Zone warrior, Street Fighter at heart. If you wanna understand the streets, you gotta live them.
Forged in urban fights, only the strongest survive. Join the club! Note: This Bundle weapons has Dragon Breath Fire and Ruby Tracer rounds.
*Let's goooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!*
Street Fighter operator features Red Combat Zone Parachute with red parachute lines and straps.
Drop in with style and shoot while gliding on parachute! Use the extra parachute jump to master your parkour!
New version highlights:
New BR Game Mode -- Combat Zone:
Large scale map -- Pokrovsk;
Parachute: shoot while gliding, extra jump!
Use Buy Stations;
Get free Loadout Drops;
Fight your way back from Gulag!
Survive longer with Gas Mask;
Self-Revive Kit;
Jump Pads;
Custom CZ lobbies;
Offline СZ and Pokrovsk Free Run modes!
New Weapons: P90 and Dual Punch Daggers.
New Bundle Street Kid!
New CZ Topo Master Camo
Welcome to the Combat Zone!
A huge shoutout to all Combat Master players for your love, patience, and support. Thank you for being with us on this long journey! From the Alfa Bravo Team.
First of all, let me wish everyone very happy new year! I wanted to finish 2023 with a bang, and the new level, Misson's lagoon does just that. Avoid the cannon volleys of a huge battleship, while fighting the French colonial forces. I wanted to release the next map too, but I got sick :C . For spoliers you can visit the Borington Discord dev diary.
Another short map has been added right after the Wicked Mermaid in act 2. This serves as the new ship tutorial level.
Ship combat has been changed in multiple ways: - Ships are now healed by collecting Flotsam. Use your fiddle to attract some. Music still heals the ship at the moment, but significantly less (might be zero in the future, not sure yet)
- Ships with sails can use a speed boost. Can be even more useful for fast steering.
- Enemy ships try to keep a minimum distance from your ship - Ships now play a water sound effect while moving
Other changes: - Important Notice: All old save games will be set back to the start of the map to avoid errors caused by map changes. Almost every map was changed in some way by this patch. - Detailed stats screen accessible from the inventory - New spell: Flicker. Melee attack that teleports you behind the enemy. - New spell: Bubble. Slow-moving homing projectile that can be charged up for more damage and scale. - also, updated model for bubbles - New spell: Magic bullet. Homing bullet with a flat damage bonus and reflection resistance - New mini-boss on the Haunted Landing: the Shorelord - Added ship battle to Hooghly Crossing - Compatible spells are displayed on equipped items when hovering over a rune - New enemy type: Assassin - Cursed Sailors can use Flicker ability - Improved tutorials for reloading and sprint/sprint charge - New animation for running with 2-handed guns - New animation for walking/running with a shield - Added custom grenade weapon model (not a retextured bomb). - Updated models for shields and rum pickups - Improved shell texture for Hermit Crabs - Adjusted rifle/blunderbuss hero animation (gun is not tilted) - Added Elemental / Bloated Corpse birth sound - Added step sounds for giants - Improved look for Stand Your Ground area - Updated cursor texture - Structures are dynamically updated on the minimap. Allied structures are shown in color. - Structures have 2x smaller life bars - Bleed damage and time scaling is now using a square root formula, and it scales with max hp. This means that on later levels it's not certain death. - Some spells now inherit windup from charged weapons (rifle, javelin) - Anchor now has sprint damage bonus - Javelin uncharged projectile speed increased - Anchor attack cooldown after switching has been reduced - Immolation now supports burst attacks - Increased bleed time on Hooks - Soulfire no longer gives bomb regen, instead bomb per kill (when held, also applies to secondary weapon) - Faultline and Bullet Slowing spells buffed - Increased mutlishot powder cost of Hurl Lava from 1 to 2 - Explosive Parasite now has 30% spellpower damage bonus - Added birth animation for Bloated Corpse - Ocean Guardian is now a giant mudskipper, renamed to Marsh Guardian - Reworked Jungle Protector into a larger enemy with very delayed attacks - You get a guaranteed Torch at the start of Uncharted Tunnels - Added camera shake to snake boss birth - Changed color of saturation bar - Improved look for GUI bar floaters effect - Xp display arm now rotates gradually - Retouched rock doodad and rock terrain textures - Improved Destructible Rocks UV mapping - Kraken's tentacle animations are no longer in sync at birth - Buff display for "Near, Far" perk effect - Off-screen hero projectiles now disappear, to not aggro enemies that are far away - Fractional reloads are now accumlating instead of chance-based - Homing projectiles no longer count for hit streak - Gun loot types can now drop even if their pickup was missed (from next mission onward) - Bone Snake boss can now be killed at 3 segments, not 2 - Reduced Crazed Torso life from 40 to 30 - Reduced Husk life from 50 to 45 - Reduced Skeleton life from 80 to 70 - Updated some editor GUI buttons - Additive shader no longer writes in alpha channel - more correct shoreline shading - Added custom maggot shadow model. Eliminates bias artifact - Added new trigger actions to control rain, music track, enemy ship speed - Added new trigger conditions: perfect reload, ship cannon use Bugfixes: - Fixed (from last patch): unit armor was ignored. MAJOR BUG! - Fixed: Item tooltips could not go below inventory panel, even with reduced GUI scale - Fixed: birth sounds are no longer played on map start - Fixed: various Fort Bourbon bugs and issues. (e.g. soft-locking). - Fixed: captured ship was still in focus - Fixed: Trident sprint charge can no longer be spammed with 'Run and Gun' perk - Fixed: possible error if projectile had water death SFX but no land death SFX - Fixed: setting unit tags under 0 caused editor freeze - Fixed: editor minimap reticle scaling - Fixed: missing female version speech line in Sober Shore map - Fixed: Scorpant Martyr ragdoll anim is missing. Disabled it. - Fixed: jungle texture mistake
That's all for today! The next content update is being made at full speed right now, but my vacation ends this Tuesday. I hope to release at least another large patch in January, finishing the Madagascar arc and starting the final couple of maps. Until then, smooth sailing! Have a wonderful 2024!
- Added ricochet pistol for SMG class - Added the ability for guns to ricochet - Better placeholder materials for placeholder weapons - Added recoil offset to guns - Added delay for being able to switch weapons - Adjusted SMG damage to 15 - fixed quickjoin - fixed weapon sync - fixed weapon offsets when aiming
