Zetheros
Developer
Hey Exanimates,
It took us longer than expected to get a test build out as we discovered a number of problems with AI behaving strangely. This is because there were very extensive changes to AI systems besides pathfinding, even though for the time being these should not have a very noticeable impact. It's out now, and it's been a surprisingly smooth first release, with few issues reported that we were mostly aware of / expecting or isolated and probably easy to fix. Amazingly we didn't need to do any urgent hotfixes, that has to be a first for a release like this. We've already gotten through some fixes and when we've gotten through a couple more we'll update the build.
We've had some good feedback and useful reports (thank you for that!) and the response to the changes has been very positive. We'll hopefully get through fixing the remaining issues quickly and then we'll gradually introduce some further improvements and additions to the test build. Either way we'll keep an eye on feedback and player submitted footage to gradually adjust and tune everything based on what the new features allow.
Check out the release notes for the test build along with instructions on how to access it here:
www.baremettle.com
Both the new pathfinding system and AI behaviour framework represent major development milestones. As the game has evolved and grown in scope we've done several (mostly unplanned) big overhauls of engine systems which do represent big improvements, but don't really add much that is new by themselves. From this point on we feel we're finally back on track with things that we actually planned to do and just adding features with a more direct impact on the game. This is both exciting for what it brings to the game and also for all of us to be working on adding new things rather than redoing what we did before. Good times.
Have a great week!
-the BM team
It took us longer than expected to get a test build out as we discovered a number of problems with AI behaving strangely. This is because there were very extensive changes to AI systems besides pathfinding, even though for the time being these should not have a very noticeable impact. It's out now, and it's been a surprisingly smooth first release, with few issues reported that we were mostly aware of / expecting or isolated and probably easy to fix. Amazingly we didn't need to do any urgent hotfixes, that has to be a first for a release like this. We've already gotten through some fixes and when we've gotten through a couple more we'll update the build.
We've had some good feedback and useful reports (thank you for that!) and the response to the changes has been very positive. We'll hopefully get through fixing the remaining issues quickly and then we'll gradually introduce some further improvements and additions to the test build. Either way we'll keep an eye on feedback and player submitted footage to gradually adjust and tune everything based on what the new features allow.
Check out the release notes for the test build along with instructions on how to access it here:
Exanima 0.8.5 beta test
OVERVIEW We've made extensive changes to major game systems to support some new and upcoming features and content, we've also made several important engine improvements and fixes. This test release is to make sure everything works as intended, get some early feedback and tune the new systems...
www.baremettle.com
Both the new pathfinding system and AI behaviour framework represent major development milestones. As the game has evolved and grown in scope we've done several (mostly unplanned) big overhauls of engine systems which do represent big improvements, but don't really add much that is new by themselves. From this point on we feel we're finally back on track with things that we actually planned to do and just adding features with a more direct impact on the game. This is both exciting for what it brings to the game and also for all of us to be working on adding new things rather than redoing what we did before. Good times.
Have a great week!
-the BM team
