11 December, 2023

Greetings Survivors and welcome to Dev Log #2. It was another busy fortnight for the Drop Point team. Wrapping up last weeks Dev Log updates, we've tested multiple map sizes and kept up the push towards solidifying a playtest date. We tested across 4x4, 8x8 and 16x16km landscape sizes and decided an approach with multiple 4x4km islands gives us a good balance of performance and gameplay pacing. We're also keen to move towards the private playtest with everyone and plan to schedule the playtest to commence sometime January 2024. We expect to finalize this date soon.

Building Interiors
We began filling the interior of many buildings used across the map. From broken furniture, tables, and TVs through residential buildings to hospital beds and medical equipment in the hospitals.

Swimming
We implemented basic swimming handling and animations for the player character.

Changes:

• Flashlight item texture fixes
• Created and setup Tarpaulin materials and mesh and inventory item
• Created Storage Box deployable storage item and crafting recipe
• Created Civilian Tent deployable storage item and loot tables
• Created Hidden Barrel Stash deployable storage item and loot tables
• Created Tarp Shelter deployable storage item and loot tables
• Permissions Component: placing a door or window barricades locks building privileges to the owner
• Permissions Component: ground work for lockable storage
• Created crafting actor for Ammo Machine
• Created recipes for 9mm, 45acp, 12g, 556, 762 ammos
• Created items for charcoal, scrap metal, gunpowder
• Created recipe for gunpowder
• Created Helicopter Rotor Repair crafting actor with Main & Rear rotor recipes
• Created items for bolts, springs, tech pats, metal tube
• Updated Berries mesh
• Updated Water Bottle mesh
• Updated the Loot Cache leaf litter coverage to match the foliage better
• Created car battery mesh and setup materials
• Created new material for AK body scuffed version
• Updated item deployment system, can now place objects on uneven surfaces and rotate the object while placing it with mouse wheel scroll
• Created item for Corn, loot tables
• Created Gun Repair bench crafting actor with rifle recipes
• Updated portable mill to not require wood as a "fuel"
• Updated inventory names across many storage actors
• Updated materials for Portaloo
• Created item for Pumpkin, loot tables
• Created mesh, materials and setup for multiple window barricades: Wood, Metal Bar, Metal plate, in 1x1 and 1x2 sizes
• Hospital interior meshes added

27 November, 2023

Introducing the first Dev Log, these posts are a high level list of the latest work committed to the game, occasionally along with some insight into the process and decisions made behind the work.

Map Size Tests
Currently the team is trialing different maps sized at 4x4, 8x8 and 16x16km in order to determine the best sizes that balance performance, player count and gameplay action pacing. With our map generation process we can quickly iterate over different realistic landscape and biome choices which allows us to produce new islands and populate them with our prefabbed buildings and monuments easily. We want our map size to be large but not sparse with regards to action - that is we don't want to build a running simulator and we are working to ensure that the parts of the game that do involve foot travel offer more gameplay opportunities.

Private Playtest Starts Soon!
We're excited to share the very first playtest with everyone on Discord, the date period will be announced within 2 weeks. This is a private playtest for the first 130 or so discord members who joined during or close to Armageddon Expo 2023. This will be the first playable test at home and all the details regarding the client and download will be available prior to the playtest beginning. This version is not the final nor full game as you will see. Playtests give us the chance to compare features, analyze stability/performance as well as give the players the opportunity to gather feedback. During the playtest period, we will be fixing bugs and stability issues so expect occasional downtime or maintenance periods with given notice.

Changes:

• Began work creating our custom player characters
• Began work setting up player clothing models for the character models
• Created warehouse mesh, setup and materials
• Created supermarket mesh, setup and materials
• Created Primitive Mill deployable crafting object that converts raw Wood into Planks
• Created Sulfur & Sulfur Ore mesh, Resource items, and Furnace recipes
• Created Harvestable Sulfur rocks & foliage actors
• Updated icon and collision for metal pickaxe
• Setup and materials for Portaloo mesh
• Updated Fire Station mesh ceiling
• Updated roughness across materials
• Setup and materials for air vents, sprinklers and ducting meshes
• Created Roofs for multiple built houses
• Created mesh, setup and materials for Gas Station
• Updated Primitive Mill collisions
• Updated stone pickaxe collisions
• Created player movement speed attributes
• Created walk & jog abilities
• Created Broken leg effect, currently drastically lowers movement speed and disables jump ability
• Created legs hitboxes, for now any damage from bullets to legs will apply Broken Leg effect, we can decide to break legs based on bullet type, penetration, damage values etc
• Created Water Collector deployable item, currently dispenses bottles of water over time, in the future this will be a source to refill bottles.
• Created Weapon items for Wooden Bow, Stone Club, Spear, Firefighter Axe
• Created Tool items for Shovel, Crow bar, Flame torch, Hammer
• Created Food items for Apple, Berries, Candy Bar
• Created modular air vents, sprinklers and ducting mesh kits
• Began modular bathroom/urinal block mesh kits
• Created Portaloo mesh
• Materials research for decals and other texture effects
• Created billboard mesh and materials
• Created, setup & materials for Stop sign, Give Way and public rubbish bin