It has been a long time since one of these have been written. But a lot has been going on, from effects and graphical details too new gameplay elements. One of the major obstacles has been trying to get this project in too one of the local conventions to hopefully boost some awareness for Instincts. That being said lets continue on to the interesting stuff.
Gameplay:
Some of the newest features to make the cut where destructible objects in the world and explosives which can be added on to these destructible objects or items. Explosive knifes sound fun. These elements have really changed how we look at the way AI work together as well. Since we don't want all the AI to blow up in a clustered group, (Well, not all of them anyway). We want some of the more talented enemies you face to be cautious and space out to avoid being targeted by weapons that effect larger areas. There is a lot more work to be done on the AI behaviours now and has us thinking it may need to have a re-write. For gameplay there is some future updates but more content needs to be added to the current gameplay systems before adding viable solutions for the next ones.
Pretty things and the environment:
When testing began it was OK, but soon enough it got boring looking at the same scenery all the time. We put in place new environment effects and non-playable things to make it look like the world was actually living and not just a space that you move around in. Fog has been added to dense forest and swamp areas. Wildlife such as birds roam the map and some can even be killed for no reason entirely
There will be more environment stuff to add later but right now we felt this was a good start.
The state of multiplayer:
Multiplayer is working quite well but there is a problem when you don't know how to configure your own modem and want to host or have NAT issues that do not let you host. We are working on solutions to this but there isn't much to do till we do more testing.
The EXCITING stuff:
We have decided to do an open alpha in July after some of our other major events. This is to coincide with a crowd funding strategy we also have planned. There will also be a green light page to hopefully get on steam. Other platforms such as humble store are also being considered.
We will be sharing more details on the alpha as soon as we can.
Until next time.
