ABSENT LOG Dev Update 8/15/2024

This month we have made tremendous strides in a number of development areas. Most notably Enemy AI, combat mechanics, animations, and further progress on some of our opening sequences and levels. 

A Lot of work for animations and combat mechanics was really to refine a few of TW’s movement options to allow a deeper, more substantial way to fight against enemies. As we start to get closer and closer to the right pace of combat and movement speed, we can now get a better idea on how to create abilities that allow a deeper, tighter experience that flows well with that speed.

A really comfortable zone we've found for movement abilities is the area of “Quick movements, with short distances”. The first area we began trying this concept out is by implementing a dash system. In the previous build, although we liked the snappy, aggressive feeling of TW rolling and sprint slides, it made combat start to feel more and more like an arena shooter as opposed to a  tight, tactical, slower paced one. It also betrayed the original vision for how TW should feel. We had wanted to present her as weighty, stout and clunky, as opposed to quick, limber and dextrous. With how the dash system works, it's ideally used as a method to quickly clear that final stretch or gap between you and cover when in a pinch, or if timed right in the proper direction, it can dodge an enemy melee hit, giving you a little bit of breathing room.

With enemy AI, the main focus was getting it back to a usable state, performing basic functions at an appropriate level, so that testing and refinements can be accurately done. For core features for MDs, we needed to make sure damage and health systems were functioning, movement and animations set up to allow different states of movement, Reacting to stimulus from the player and surroundings, (damage, hearing, sight, etc…), weapon handling was working appropriately, and EQS and cover systems are functioning.

After a few weeks of development, we have most of our core features for our main class of enemy functional, and now we can move to refining and tweaking AI to fit the style of gunplay and combat we want to achieve. This is likely going to be an ongoing process, as a lot of context for balancing and AI functions are dependent on level design and flow.

CINEMATICS:

INTRO CINEMATIC

We had debated whether or not we should show this for this update as we don't want to expose too many narratively important elements, but ultimately came to the conclusion that it's important to showcase developments on the narrative side of the project and how those are presented in game, especially being that ALOG is a more narrative focused experience. We are big proponents of “show, don’t tell”, and due to the narrative importance of certain things we are keeping some things close to the chest. That being said, we would like to present an early WIP of our introduction cinematic for ALOG’s campaign, presented as is:


(!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!)

(Unfortunately Patreon doesn't allow video embedding directly so click the you-tube link below to view the intro cinematic, be sure to watch at full 1080p!)

https://youtu.be/dWo1MyA1t8c

(!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!) (!) IMPORTANT (!)

ART ASSETS:

Alternative outfit: “Station Technician”

“For the station technician outfit, it was my attempt to bleed in a little bit of my own personal aesthetics, styling and tastes into TW, to make something that would fit well as a kit a technician or ship engineer might wear. Although we have an established visual identity for the project, it's good to mix up how the details and shapes are being treated to give some visual variety, double so for outfits so each has its own specific theme and feel. Large cuffs with snaking cables flowing into tech elements gives the invocation of some form of scaffolding, the mixture of soft and utility elements with exposed tech gives it a bit of a scrappy feel, indicative of TW’s nature. Material likely consists of rubberized vac sealed layers for dealing with electric hazards, reinforced helmet with a slit visor for better protection from debris, and modest insulation and reinforcement for short, temporary EVA work. Although it's not technically designated as “armor”, it can act as armor in a pinch.”

-Looming

Health Pickup

“I’ve been enjoying building little gadgets for the game.  The health pickup is significant, as this is a design that was voted on by our patrons.  Loom had worked up a trio of possible shapes for this item (see the July update!), which were put to vote for our upper-tier patrons.  After the shape was voted on, I did a revision pass to add a little further polish and visual interest, and have built that revised design into a finished asset.

It’s perhaps more detailed than is strictly necessary for such a small item, but it will be seen throughout the game and is planned to be viewable up-close in the inventory menu, so going a little bit extra felt appropriate.

TW’s and Huey’s Ship: Bridge Blockout

We really need to come up with a name for this little ship!

One of the ship exterior’s most noteworthy features is the distinctive wedge-shaped canopy on its bridge module, and we want to make certain that this is properly reflected in the ship’s interior.  To really emphasize the shape, the deck on which the helm and other consoles are located is raised, suspended in the middle of the wedge.  My hope is that being able to see out both above and below will sell the spaceyness of the ship, and that being able to see the ship’s hull looming above will give the bridge a strong sense of placement within the world.

This is just a blockout to establish the general shape and scale of the space.  I’m going to be collaborating closely with Loom to turn this into a realized (and hopefully very memorable!) location.”

-Tekka