Level and Value Balance Adjustments: a. "1-1-4" - Removal of enemy leader's skill, reducing overall difficulty. b. "1-1-3" - Enemy leader's skill adjusted to: "Personality Conflict": Reduces attack power of subordinate units by 1 point. c. "1-1-2" - Enemy leader adjusted to: "Multiple Personalities": At the end of the turn, summon one of the personalities "Jack," "Mary," "Troy," "Carly," "Ben." "Personality Conflict": Reduces attack power of subordinate units by 1 point.
New Features and Optimizations: a. New tutorial optimization in "1-0-1 Dreamland." b. Animation optimization for determining turn order before battles. c. Shielding word library optimization. d. Direct game exit to desktop from settings, instead of returning to the login screen. e. Matchmaking rules optimization. f. Login and main interface now feature a QR code for the Q group, inviting players to join for communication and feedback. g. Differentiation in the display of cards from various pools. h. Improved click determination in the recharge interface. i. Backpack's "Gift" label changed to "Consumable." j. Replacement of some story music.
Bug Fixes: a. Fixed an error in loading battle scenes. b. Fixed a potential freeze issue on the login screen. c. Fixed an issue with one-click activation in the promotion interface. d. Fixed an issue with being unable to exit the game with ESC from the login screen. e. Fixed a potential freeze issue when two "Mirror - Reflection" are attacking each other.
Designing helpful Companion Nanos, heroic Runners, and fearsome Tyrants is one thing, but bringing them to life in game requires the latest animation techniques.
Today we're speaking with Guilluame Picard, Animation Director at NexT Studios, and Xiao Jie, animator at NExT Studios, for a peek behind the curtain at what it takes to breathe life into SYNCED through animation. Check it out!
Hey! It's been 58 DAYS since i've made a Update like this, I've made a lot of progress these past few weeks, And i've had to make some tough decisions.
I've been dealing with burnout since the Last Update, Hence why i started posting Equipment Reveals instead of Regular Updates, but i've taken a few weeks off, And i've gotten back into working on it Daily ~ 3 Weeks Ago. So here's all what i've done since then, Starting with some news about the Demo
I've decided to hold off on the Demo until closer to Early Access, Here's Why, I'm worried about releasing the demo So far behind the Early Access Release (Likely ~3 Months) as i feel by the time the game releases, the Demo players would've already forgotten about the game, i may not have a Demo at all, since i plan on having a pretty cheap launch sale as well, but i'll let you all know closer to it! (I may even make the Original early access build the demo closer to full release) I will have Gameplay videos going up on Release Day as well!
Here's what's New:
THE SAFE HOUSE
(Here's some EARLY W.I.P Photos of the Safe House) NOTE: The safe house is still pretty early, it's likely going to be a lot smaller in the Final Version, and it's Textures will likely be replaced.
Finally Added a safe house to the Game, When you spawn in, Straight ahead will be the Computer, Using it, you'll be able to Access the Campaign Missions, and you can also see the Backstories of the Maps. To your left, will be the Arcade, where you can see all the maps you've unlocked, and the 100% Ghost Hunting Section of the game. (For those who don't Know, the Campaign will be a Mix of Harder ghost hunting Levels, with more intense/Scripted Events, and Other Missions with varying Gameplay.) Behind you will be a 'Tutorial Room' Showing you the Controls, Tips, etc
MAIN MENU
While it's too early to show, i've remade the main menu, Previously a Image of The House with the door partially open, and a light flashing through the crack. It's now a Image of a CRT TV With a dark and Foggy background. I'm still deciding whether or not to add the Start and Options button to the TV, or off to the side (Feel free to comment what one you'd like to see) but i'll be posting images of the Menu likely in the next update.
The rest of this Update has 'Code Talk' so for those who aren't into Unreal Engine much, Here's what it all means, Level Sequencer/Sequences: A Feature in UE5, Typically used for Cinematics, but the Tool can Change nearly any attribute of any object in your Scene, making it useful for Evidence, Events, Etc. it can even Trigger Spawns, Add Music, and more.
BP / Blueprint / Event Graph / Events / Functions Blueprint's Are pretty similar to Drag And Drop coding systems (Dreams, Scratch, etc) But used in UE, Blueprints make up most of SPECTER's code, I.E Inventory, Ghosts, and can also Edit nearly any attribute of Objects in a scene. Functions, and Events can be Activated by other objects in the scene as well. the Event Graph is the 'Inside' of everything listed above.
CODE UPDATES
GHOST
A.I REMAKE If you've seen my play test videos, you would've seen that the A.I was very, Very simple, The A.I would just wander randomly around the Map, It Had no unique Behavior Whatsoever.
Now, the A.I Will have Random places it prefers to be, And, the ghost can Wander towards, or Away from the Player depending on the Ghost Type. In the Campaign Ghost Hunting levels, the Ghost can Wander the entire Map, but it will be Locked in Rooms, when the Rooms 'Unlock' it can wander Anywhere, and will get a Speed Boost to help it get out of the room.
In the Future, the Arcade will get Hard Mode for ALL Maps, and I'm planning on Adding a few extra items to help keep the Ghost in its room for Longer.
OLD INTERACTION SYSTEM Before, there was a Separate 'Mode' for each ghost room, that would load in based on the room the ghost picked, Interactions, Events, Temp Etc were all bound to it, making the AI Clunky, Hard to make new rooms, and fairly unstable
NEW INTERACTION SYSTEM Now, Each interaction and event has their own Collision Boxes, that trigger when the ghost walks into it, Now all i have to do is make the collision Boxes, The ghosts Tag, then just the place the ghost in the room. the Level blueprint that loads the Events, and the Ghost Room Temp.
OLD GHOST TYPE SYSTEM: Before, the ghost type would be picked from a random Variable in the Players BP, then it would assign the evidence through a series of multi-gates...Yeah, This worked, But obviously it wasn't at all ideal. This would lead to Ghosts being Completely different from each other in (the Far in the future) Multiplayer, And it was pretty hard to understand when i came back from my break a few months ago. I also felt it would lead to issues if i ever wanted to add more Ghosts.
NEW GHOST TYPE SYSTEM: Now, the ghost type is in the Ghosts AI Itself, And the Type is still picked by a Multi-gate, but each Ghost Type has its own Blueprint, and is called at the Start of the level. Each Evidence (I.E EMF 2, EMF 4) is now a Level Sequence that gets called based on the Type, And when the Ghost gives an evidence, This Helps Performance, makes Future Ghost Types, tweaking Evidence, and Adding more Evidence A Breeze.
OTHER GHOST STUFF
The ghost can now interact Mostly everything in the Kitchen! - Currently 17 Interactions
Sounds have also Been implemented for the Interactions - 10+ Sounds W/ Random Variations
OLD EVIDENCE SYSTEM: P1 Before, the Player would be around the ghost, and the Game would decide to give Evidence based on how close you are to it, and for how long You are near to it. This led to the Ghost giving too much evidence too quickly, or barely giving evidence at all
NEW EVIDENCE SYSTEM: P1 Now, When the Player collides with the ghost, The ghost will either decide to give Evidence (10% - 30% based on Ghost Type) or not give any. The "Give Evidence" Variable resets every 2 Seconds, OR when you Switch Equipment. The Ghost's Collision Size will vary depending on room size to make the System Consistent.
OLD EVIDENCE SYSTEM: P2 Before, when you would get evidence from the ghost, it would play a series of Variables, Functions, etc to show the evidence. Obviously... This would be too intensive, Hard to polish, and would Look bad either way.
NEW EVIDENCE SYSTEM: P2 Now, when you get evidence from the Ghost, it simply checks what Item you're using, and if the Equipment is on, then it'll play a Level Sequencer to 'give' the evidence.
GHOST OVERVIEW
Overall, Very happy with how the ghost functions now, It feels a lot more Realistic, and Unpredictable, which is good for a Ghost Game. Everything from Ghost Speed, to Interaction Amount, is completely Random, And Unique to each Ghost.
I'm also working on adding in a Note System for each Ghost type, so you can write down the different Behaviors and odd interactions you witness from the Ghosts!
To me, the Ghosts are way more important to a Ghost Game than things like Graphics, or Flashy events. Once the ghosts are fully fleshed out the way i want them, i do plan on going back and making everything look nicer, As of right now, I feel like the game looks realistic enough to be immersive, but not as realistic as it could be.
PLAYER
PLAYER INVENTORY A few Months ago, the player would have All the items in their Inventory at once, then in October i decided to make them Pickup-able, Even though this is a Better Change, it still feels Clunky. and as i add more Features into the game, i've been feeling like the controls are too Complex,
Now, When Equipment is TURNED OFF, You can Click 1 - 5 to switch Equipment, And, When Equipment is TURNED ON, You can Click 1 - 3 on Certain Items to use them. (i.e Ask Questions on a EMF Reader)
Here's the Updated Controls: FLASHLIGHT: Q to switch Flashlight Mode. T to toggle on and off EQUIPMENT: R-Click to Turn On/Off, 1 - 5 to Use/Switch INTERACTION: L-Click to open Doors, E To Toggle Light Switches MOVEMENT: L-Shift to Sprint, WASD to Walk, C to Toggle Crouch
ALT CONTROLS: FLASHLIGHT: \ to switch Flashlight Mode. ] to toggle on and off EQUIPMENT: 0 to Turn On/Off, 1 - 5 to Use/Switch INTERACTION: L-Click to open Doors, ' To Toggle Light Switches MOVEMENT: R-Shift to Sprint, Arrow Keys to Walk, R-Ctrl to Toggle Crouch
Gamepad controls are Still being worked on, and will be shown Later.
SANITY I've decided not to add a Sanity System for the game, Here's Why: I've noticed in other Ghost Hunting games that the Sanity System is either Way too Hard, or just added to make the game Seem Hard, Having little to no gameplay effect. but either way, they can feel pretty annoying when Playing with, in my opinion.
So, with SPECTER being a more Casual Game, I'm not adding it in it's current State, but it is planned for the Hard Mode. During that time, i'm trying to find more ways to make it Unique, and not just a Glorified Timer. Currently, the concept is for it to Start at 50% And go up or down based on events that happened in the game. and with the better way i'm making the game now, It'll be Very easy to implement it in the Future.
OTHER PLAYER STUFF The Ghost Book is now Finalized!
THE HOUSE
Remade all the Reflections, making them more clear and realistic (With a Small cost to FPS)
Adjusted Scaling of a lot of the objects to make them look better in full-screen
Adjusted LOD's and Texture Sizes to get a more consistent FPS
Added Radios for the ghost to interact With, With 4 Song Clips Currently.
Added a Equipment Table
Remade the Car model to be higher quality, with 1/4 of the Polygons.
Added a mix of Nanite and LODs to various Other Models.
Deterrence is a tower defense to put it simply, but it's not just any ordinary tower defense. Deterrence can be described as a special blend of tower defense and real-time strategy mechanics that gives the same instant action feel of a tower defense and the same dynamics, depth, and freedom of a real-time strategy.
Deterrence is dynamic in that there is no one way to defend your objective, the environment such as trees, civil utilities, and civil infrastructure like bridges are destructible which can alter paths for units, and the player can unlock new units, defenses, and upgrades with the research tree.
Deterrence is instant action in that there is no base building tech tree to construct each game, instead, the player deploys troops and defenses right away. The player can take advantage of civilian structures and use those for quick defenses. The player can also call-in power tactical aids to turn the tide of battle.
Deterrence can be described as being a mid-core strategy game by having all the freedom and depth of an RTS while still maintaining a simple economy and having levels that last about 15 minutes like a casual tower defense.
What is the history of Deterrence?
Deterrence started as a tower defense project that existed in the back of my mind while working on Dyflexion, my previous project. Once Dyflexion was complete and released, I immediately began to work on Deterrence in March of 2022.
The original vision was to have all the mechanics of a tower defense, but with all the freedom of a real-time strategy. As the project progressed, the game leaned more towards a resource economy, and offensive gameplay making it purely an RTS game. After a lot of thought. I came to the conclusion that the game was out of scope and became too massive for me to handle. And that's when I came full circle with my original vision.
The scope creep wasn't necessarily a bad thing or a waste of time. It actually gave me a bunch of mechanics to mix and match which in my belief gives Deterrence a unique blend of tower defense and real-time strategy mechanics.
What is the lore of Deterrence?
Deterrence takes place in the future where you play as the human race and fight malfunctioning artificial intelligence. The rogue machine is named Big Birtha for her ability to make copies of herself and install them in autonomous bots, giving them artificial life. Her objective originally was to help mankind create a sustainable future moving forward, but she somehow comes to the conclusion that humanity must be destroyed to achieve sustainability. During this take down of humanity, most digital systems are hacked and rendered inoperable by Big Birtha, so the military is reduced to using old systems and to reestablish communications with allies all while fighting autonomous bots that are doing the will of Big Birtha.
What is the campaign mode like?
The game itself is not story driven, instead, the game is nonlinear – allowing the player to choose their own conflicts. Each mission gives the player rewards whether that be supplies to unlock more defenses, units, and upgrades; or it can be a new tech tree. Ultimately, I'm going for a dynamic approach for the game, so that no one tech is needed to beat a level and that many different strategies can be made to achieve victory. So, when you see a video of someone playing a level you beat, you'll say, “Oh, I never thought of that”, or “That's really different.”
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