V 0.50

Changes and Additions

Unity

Version Upgrade

• Allows us to do video playback in the game.

• We’ll be upgrading again after the update so we can properly rework the look of some elements such as the Modifier Menu.

DX11

• DX11 is now the default setting for PC’s capable of using it, should improve performance slightly using mesh instancing.

Player/Level Selection

There is now a video preview of the game in the Player and Level selection menu. When complete, this will be showing Hunt and Gauntlet specific gameplay, but for now it’s the same video for both modes.

Character Selection

• No more profiles or names displayed

• Displaying the 2D Portrait art instead of models, both in game and in character selection.

• Colours are now locked to specific Critters

• Can’t double up on Critters

Level Selection

• Added a random map selection as default for Hunt

• Shifted the levels for Hunt into two rows to accommodate the layout for all screen aspect ratios.

• Gauntlet now has a procedural level, built from an assortment of different lanes and a number of parameters under our control. This is just the start of its feature set and the variety it will enable.

Sustained Active Players

• Now when you leave a game back to the menu, the game will remember what characters and controllers were in the game and keep them active for when you choose a new mode.

• Players can leave at any time by holding the displayed button on the “Active Players” menu.

• This will result in the game ending if there are not enough players to continue in your current gamemode.

Modifiers

• Added Modifier Incompatibility, some modifiers will disable other modifiers due to mechanical incompatibilities, such as Hare Trigger and Snake Rocks.

• What Powerups are able to spawn can now be toggled from the Modifier menu, with all enabled by default.

• Added Powerup Speed modifier to determine how often Powerups are spawned.

• Added Throwaway modifier, this will allow you to pick up Powerups when you already have one but it will overwrite what you already have.

• Added Energy Refill modifier, this will refill your whole Energy bar used for creating rock walls whenever you pick up a Powerup.

• Added Overload modifier, this will kill players that try to collect another Powerup while they already have one.

• Added Dream Crusher modifier, this lets the Bear destroy any uncollected Powerup that it touches.

• Added Rock Recharge rate modifier, allowing you to speed up or slow down how quickly your rock Energy bar recharges.

• Added The Basics modifier for Gauntlet, which disables leveling , locking the players at their base level for the entire game.

• Removed Amoebear and Predator Bear modifiers, we weren’t happy with their designs and feel that it’s not worth reworking right now.

Controls

• Updated controller controls for accessibility

• Both triggers now work for Accept in Menus, Digging in Hunt or Blinking in Gauntlet

• Both shoulder buttons now work for Back in Menus, Powerups in Hunt or Time Bubble in Gauntlet.

Gauntlet

• Removed all abilities aside from Blink and Time Bubble

• This will allow the team to focus on building well designed levels and mechanics around these abilities.

• When players reach a level up point, the Skill Wheel opens automatically and you must now level up there and then before continuing. There was previously no reason to hold onto the attribute points anyway, and this freed up extra controls for our control revamp.

• New “Whiskers” system for the Gauntlet camera.

• Each character sends out a number of invisible Camera focus targets around them, responding to environment as they move through it.

• This stabilizes the camera and gives players (especially playing Solo) a better view of what’s happening in the lane around them.

• Blink and the preview reticule should now smoothly glance off walls to reach an optimum blinking distance.

• Temporarily removed the Payload lane from Gauntlet, and have replaced it with a long lane containing Slammers.

Performance Improvements

• The art for the Critter rocks has been better optimised so more can be spawned at once with less of a performance overhead.

• DX11 is now enabled on compatible PC’s, which should allow less of an overhead when rendering more on screen.

UI Improvements

Shared

• Added a Timer in the top left hand corner of the screen in Hunt and Gauntlet to help you learn specific timings.

• Combined Change Characters and Change Level buttons in the post game menu, into a single option.

• Added a button to switch Game Modes in the post game menu.

• Added the 2D character portrait to the player badge in Hunt and Gauntlet.

Hunt

• Decreased the bloom and saturation of eliminated player badges.

• Decreased the size of the Bear drop indicator.

Gauntlet

• Decreased the size of the player respawn indicator.

• Shrunk Gauntlet critter Badge size.

• The rescuing players tip is no longer visible while all players are dead.

• The respawn prompt tip is much smaller.

Visual Improvements

Shared

• Paint pools left by killed players will no longer glitch visually, or render while floating in the air. They should also tint correctly to their player colour.

Hunt

• Much progress has been made on the Harvest Hell environment art, with it nearing completion.

• Work has started again on Frozen Fjord, with a concept piece completed and we’re just waiting to wrap up work on Harvest Hell

Gauntlet

• Added temporary colour schemes to Gauntlet lanes to test our shader, while waiting for the final Gauntlet environment assets to be complete.

• New final look for the “Cybear Jabber” hazard, with proper warning states for its arms and modifiable arm length.

• Improved the look of the Time Bubble ability with an optimised refraction shader.

• Improved clarity for the Blink reticule by making it no longer transparent.

• Made the victory Beam effects at the end of Gauntlet disappear shortly after triggering, to not obscure menus.

Fixes

Gameplay

• Fixed a problem with pathfinding that was causing the Crystal Cargo train to not properly block Bear AI.

• Stopped the Finders Keepers modifier from letting you keep powerups when player is out of lives.

• The Wet Paint modifier being applied mid game will now properly apply retroactively to all existing Paint pools.

• Changing the Player Lives modifier mid game was only changing the visuals of the hearts, it now actually limits/increases your lives.

• Stopped the Snake Rocks modifier rocks from having gaps, adopting other player’s colours and sometimes not being droppable.

UI

• Stopped players from being able to control the Post Game menu before it was visible.

• Gauntlet revive icons will now disable when the round is over so they do not obscure the menu.

• Re-Enabled the missing Tutorial prompts in Twisted Tunnel

• Modifier button visuals will now animate while in the Pause menu.

• Removed mip-mapping(dynamic texture downressing) from all UI elements, so UI remains clear at low texture settings.

Cosmetic

• Camera shake works again now, apparently this was broken for a while!

• Stopped Green dashing Cybears from jittering while sitting still.

• Fixed an error that was causing SFX to not slow down with the game as it was supposed to- eg. on player death.

• Added SFX back to the Oil Slick effect.

• Fixed a problem with the Bear oil trail not being visible.

• The Wet Paint modifier’s oil trail should now tint correctly to the player colour

• Stopped Powerup meteors being visible floating in the air while they’re waiting to fall.

• Assigned missing Crystal materials to the Train’s cargo in Crystal Cargo