ABSENT LOG Dev Update 4/15/2024

The main focus for this past month was to really nail down the workflow for levels and related assets. A lot of different specialist skills stem from this key area of development. Being that the entire game takes place in an enclosed spacecraft, interior lighting and strategic prop/asset placement is key. Documenting this process has been instrumental in establishing a baseline for optimization of assets and content.

We were able to implement a few new things we've learned like streamlining seamless trim sheets, using material slots for key areas on a singular mesh(walls, floors, supports, etc…), and generating separate light maps per room module. This has made the process of actually creating levels and the game world a lot quicker and more approachable.

We knocked out a majority of the interior layout for TW and Huey’s private ship, with the texture work and mesh work just about complete for the engine bay, core engine block, central hallway, and the EVA Prep room. Next items to be tackled are the cargo bay, airlock anti-chamber, airlock hallway + bulkhead, crew lounge, observation deck, and lastly the bridge. Once the layout is complete, we can work in tandem with the texture work as well as adding interact-ability, and develop them as templates that can be used as branches for other level assets in the future.

(The Core Engine block and engineering bay, is definitely one of the more standout areas of this starting location. The idea for the core block itself was to do something non-conventional, an almost organic looking fuel source, being pumped through a irregularly shapes plastic covered cylinder, with large tubes, cables and cords protruding snaking their way into various parts of the room. It invokes an aortic system, a heart metaphor made more literal, and it gives a very strong visual presence.)

(The central hallway has gotten a pretty significant face lift. the room mesh and textures where totally redone from scratch. Orginially, it was too irregular, and the layout of the geometry made it difficult to get a nice, clean seamless trim sheet working. We've streamlined the geometry and layout and feels much more natural to walk through.)

(The EVA Prep Room was a fun one to tackle, the room layout is fairly straightforward and simple, the big challenge for this one is finding a tasteful way to populate it with just, stuff.

The idea for this room is that it acts as TW'S staging area. all her equipment gear, and even some of her cybernetics are managed and maintained in this area. it doubles as a workshop as well, to make slight modifications to her equipment.

How we want to translate this into intractability and game-play is still being determined, but we anticipate that this will be a location where you can go to swap out to a different suit and tweak or modify some of your gear. There will be stations strewn about the world ship that will allow you to do some of this, but here is the only area where you can do it all in one spot.)

Included change list for 3/15/2024:

- Mandrones now operate with an EQS system for observing surroundings and level context.

- Mandrone speed has been slightly reduced to compensate for updated maneuverability options from EQS.

- Added a cover management system from mandrones + updated animations.

- Implemented base mesh and textures for Overlande Garde/Pursuer enemy type.

- Created BASIC AI for Overlande Garde/Pursuer.

- Reduced TW’s sprint and jog speed to compensate for updates to Mandrone AI.

- Reworked the camera offset distance for the player camera for both moving and aiming.

- Reworked collision response for player camera to alleviate “quick jagged movements” (needs testing).

- Balance changes for mandrones, including slight buffs to firing and aiming speed.

- Fixed an audio bug related to certain weapons occasionally firing “shoot” sounds twice.

- Added Main Menu theme track to the main menu.

- Added support for Screen Space Global Illumination for levels.

- Reworked lighting, replaced Atmospheric fog, with volumetric based E.H. Fog.

- Added an alternative “anchor suit” for TW to wear.

- Added sight response stimuli source to TW’s upper body. Now if she's behind cover, but her upper body is exposed, Enemies will still detect her.

ART ASSETS:

Imperial Sahmar Infantry Armor:

“I've been set to work on some character design that's surprisingly unlike what we've done up to now: dedicated military equipment of the Imperial Sahmar.  With virtually all of our extant designs being geared toward industrial or civilian security use, this was an opportunity to provide some contrast and context for the drones TW will encounter throughout the game, as well as TW's own personal gear.  We're not sure precisely how this design will factor into the finished game, but at a minimum we've talked about creating a modified version as an alternate skin for TW's suit.”

(Versions A and B, rendered, with/without cloth)

Art by Tekka Croe.

“I wanted to create some immediate contrasts with the shipboard security aesthetic.  The drones are very smoothly contoured, their shapes dominated by rounded forms, with soft-covers over many of their joints.  They're designed for subduing and pacifying belligerent civilians, and their sleek design is suggestive of that.  Even more combat-oriented drones reflect this, as they're derived from the basic drones that Peris initially has access to.

The infantry armor is something else, and I want that to be apparent all the way down to its most basic shape.  It's built on a thick soft-armor power-assist suit which adds significant bulk to the wearer, and its outer plating adds even greater volume.  This armor makes its wearer big.  Unlike the rounded forms and otherwise small, light plates present in civilian designs, the rigid plates feature large unbroken surfaces, oriented around aggressive forward edges.  If I've done my job right, this design has some intimidation factor.

Even if this gear only shows up stowed in an armory somewhere, I think it contributes valuable context to the other "armor" seen throughout the game.  I want it to give an immediate impression that whatever challenging foes TW has tangled with, and however advanced TW's own gear is, actual military equipment purpose-built for fighting is in a whole other league.”

-Tekka

Art by Tekka Croe.

AUDIO ASSETS:

Art by Looming Column.

https://soundcloud.com/machine-ghost-165231349/sets/alog-discord-wips/s-qJEK8f2xsYF?si=fc3ee99841bf4115abbdd4241ce49362&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

"The menu theme was made to be dark, gritty and atmospheric based on the aesthetic talks with LC. Earlier versions were a lot more organic, but adding the extra fog and grit to the track suited the vision for ALOG. The first 2/3rds swirl around with synth patches created on the minilogue xd and various tape emulation plugins while the main bass sound is a heavily overdriven square bass with a lot of filter movement. Once it builds into the final impact, you can hear massive synth layers over glitched-out, generative percussive elements. The main cascading pad that appears throughout is a micro-loop of the massive synth used in the end, that sound in particular gets warped and re-purposed throughout the entire track, tying everything together. I love the glitchy tape cassette noise halfway through, it feels like lost radio signals out in space, really happy with how that texture came out. "

-Machine Ghost

Demo build can be accessed here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AEyBvJHFQPquMKtaoXyrqs_7JxGWsPU8/view?usp=sharing