Update 10: Covering Fire! news - Interstellar Marines

Update 10: Covering Fire!

Tactical movement using the crouch and cover system is now vital to battlefield survival, and is a further step towards Interstellar Marines becoming the tactical experience we have envisioned.

To compliment the new crouch and cover system we have introduced a high-poly legacy update of the CE-6 SMG, and have added exclusive renders and additional concept images for our Spearheads to access in the Spearheads folder.

Update 10 also introduces the first version of our sleekly futuristic Helmet HUD. Coupled with a wide range of new audio enhancements and effects, the new Helmet HUD brings us one step closer to total immersion.

To round out the highlights of Update 10 our newest map, which is now called Colony, is fully multiplayer, and we have set up several Colony-only servers around the world in our new, expanded, server locations.

Click here to see Interstellar Marines on Steam

Off the Cuff

In many ways update 10 continues our theme of "doing it right".

We are building the tech foundation for Interstellar Marines which will later allow us to create our ambitious coop campaign. That sometimes means holding off on what may seem like simple additions until the underlying tech is ready. A great example of this is the FPS controller, which we introduced in the last update. That allowed us to release the crouch and cover system in this update, and who knows what in the next!

So for update 10 we worked hard on the sound engine, optimising its performance and adding new functionality and effects to enhance immersion. These new effects are most prominent on the new Colony map - for example, when you move into a room you can hear the timbre and reverb change, just as you would when you move from room to room in the real world. We've also worked on other, less noticeable and more nuanced effects. Amongst other additions, the suit start up and shutdown have been updated, there are new AI SARA announcements, and the sounds you make when moving have been greatly improved.

After analysing the community's feedback we have also switched to a new server provider. All existing servers have been replaced, and we have added new servers in Rio de Janeiro and Moscow for our players in those regions.

In the last update we asked players to send in their videos from update 9. This video by Oblivion Arrives was one of the first we saw, and has consistently been our favourite. Enjoy!

Round Up

The community tournament we held in February and March was awesome! Many thanks to everyone who took part, and a special congrats goes out to the grand final winners:

Jonas has also released two snippets from the next full-length documentary. Here's the first one on Animating the Marines:

Click here to see Interstellar Marines on Steam

Version: 0.5.10
Released: 26th March 2014

What's New

• ADDED: New crouch feature with peek and "peek over cover" ability
• ADDED: New HUD prototype
• ADDED: Weapon retraction when close to obstacles (prevents shooting)
• ADDED: Colony (formerly known as Astrodome) with new weather states and added it to multiplayer
• ADDED: New cover modules on Rupture and Colony
• ADDED: New SMG weapon model
• ADDED: Audio pool support for impact effects
• ADDED: New audio ambiance system
• ADDED: New sprinkler and wind effects on Colony
• ADDED: "Shadow quality" setting to settings menu
• ADDED: New SARA audio announcements
• ADDED: Emissive team color on marine's backpack
• ADDED: More capture areas to Rupture
• ADDED: HUD prototype images, base suit art direction sketches and high-poly test renders of the SMG to the Spearhead content folder

Improvements

• UPDATED: Dynamic bobbing (helmet, body, breath, weapon)
• UPDATED: Hit damage on stomach, backpack and arms
• UPDATED: Rupture/Arch/Evacuation with complete light overhaul
• UPDATED: Spectator mode so first-person follow view is the same as the spectated player's (aiming, fire shaking, bobbing, FX etc.)
• UPDATED: All impact audio: new samples, smaller memory print, max playbacks
• UPDATED: Soundscapes on Colony and Arch to use the new audio ambiance system
• UPDATED: Camera shakes to enhance HUD feel
• UPDATED: Sandbox to be situated in the Astrodome
• UPDATED: All walk animations
• UPDATED: SMG offset for third-person marines
• UPDATED: Most particle effects to use soft particles
• UPDATED: Network replication code (~5% less bandwidth usage)
• UPDATED: Capture corner icons and behaviour so they work better with HUD prototype (temporary solution)
• UPDATED: Tonemapping and bloom postprocess effect to always on
• UPDATED: Team capture start tickets to 1000 (previously 750)
• UPDATED: Friendly Fire off
• UPDATED: Suicide message

Fixes

• FIXED: "Select previous target in follow cam switches between player 1 and 2 even when more players on server"
• FIXED: "Weapon reload animation continues when owner is killed"
• FIXED: "Spectator camera doesn't trigger reverb/rain audio"
• FIXED: "Aiming network replication"
• FIXED: "Casing ejections in first-person spectating"
• FIXED: "Switching between 1p/3p muzzle flashes in spectator mode"
• FIXED: "Helmet shaking does not work in spectator"
• FIXED: "Rain on helmet does work in first-person spectating"
• FIXED: "Connecting with spectator pass doesn't work on password-protected servers"

Known Issues

• Footstep audio and FX does not work on terrain (known bug in Unity 4.3)
• Third-person jump animations does not work correctly yet
• The game will stop updating when switching out of fullscreen in Windows (known bug in Unity 4.3)
• View jittering may occur when jumping on lossy networks
• Audio may cut off partially/completely on weapon/helmet sounds
• Other players will seem to float above or interpenetrate while standing on a moving dynamic platforms (network smoothing will exaggerate this effect)

Head on over to our Steam store page and check it out

Keep the great feedback coming!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME,
Your team at Zero Point Software