Summary

Our main focus for this week has been two-fold. Weapon refactoring and steam leaderboards. Unfortunately the steam leaderboards wasn't finished in time to make the update. Our weapons have been refactored allowing us to implement weapon stabilization (added for sniper this update), and then in future updates we will add customizable weapon grip angle and left-handed mode.

We have two new environments in this update, a Canyon level and a DDay-style Beach defense map. Both of these are very much Alpha and require testing and feedback. Let us know what you think here in comments and on the forums. For now on the DDay map the units arrive in boats from the sea, and the Canyon level has mortar teams that spawn like sniper teams. Note that on lower end machines the DDay map will cause performance issues due to the sheer number of units that can spawn.

AMD GPU Performance Issues

AMD have identified that our game was being detected as another game and implementing a custom performance for that game. We have solved the weird Unreal Engine issue causing this to occur, and this will allow AMD to develop a custom performance solution for their next driver update.

We are testing with Radeon R9 390X and R7 360X, but we have not noticed performance improvements so far. We'll continue working with AMD to try and identify the issue. In the meantime, on higher end cards the settings can be lowered to get acceptable framerates but the quality is far lower than we would expect from high end cards.

The minute we have a confirmed solution we will implement a hotfix. We suspect this might involve a driver update from AMD.

Known issues

• AMD GPUs have worse performance than they should.
• Canyon environment may be unbalanced and may have pathing bugs for units.
• DDay Beach environment may cause MAJOR performance issues on lower end machines. This is because it ignores unit caps and potentially spawn hundreds of units. This is our first attempt at a more "mission" oriented level so it breaks some of the rules we have for our other levels.
• Building placement is much fussier than it should be. A fix was not identified in time for this update.
• Spent cartridges come out of the wrong side of the M16.
• M16 is missing charging handle.
• Hard to click new environment buttons in the select environment screen.

General

• NEW: Helicopter model with doors that open on landing.
• NEW: Canyon Environment. Alpha state only! Playtesting required to identify bugs and balance issues.
• NEW: Beach Fortress Environment with DDay style enemy landing and pillboxes for defense. Very much alpha, missing paratroopers. Expect bugs and severe balance issues.
• NEW: Weapon stabilization. Sniper handling smoothed while looking through scope. This should reduce weapon sway using sniper.
• NEW: Floor height adjustment setting in main menu. Allows customization of floor height for more comfortable play.
• NEW: Enemy mortar teams will appear on the canyon level. They will spawn at a distance and occasionally lob mortar rounds toward your base. They can be eliminated by sniping or dropping artillery on them.
• NEW: New model for RPG. Now has iron sights for improved accuracy.

Bugs

• FIXED: Sangbag wall too small to hide behind for players. Made sandbag wall higher and bigger.
• FIXED: Grenades easily get picked up when reloading M16. Adjusted positions slightly to reduce chance. Still not perfect will adjust further next update.
• FIXED: Hard to select some defenses such as medic and engineer stations. Adjusted sphere collisions so easier.
• FIXED: Sometimes when assigning a unit to a building they don't actually go there, but become stuck and can't be unassigned. Possible cause was location being below zero on Z. If for some reason a unit can't get somewhere they will teleport after trying for a while.
• FIXED: Units sometimes become unresponsive and can no longer be assigned or interacted with.
• FIXED: Medics getting confused as to what they are supposed to be doing.
• FIXED: Unit selection sometimes getting stuck on when selecting stuff too quickly.
• FIXED: If you select a unit and and choose close it breaks the unit forever. Lol.

Next Update

Main focus for next update will be left-handed mode, customizable weapon angle, steam leaderboards, and initial testing for Coop MP now that our new HTC Vive has arrived! If we get time we will consider some basic "upgradables". A key priority for the project is working with AMD to solve performance issues for those with AMD GPUs, so priority will be given to any feedback received from AMD and may delay new features.

Note that Coop MP will not make it into the game for many updates. For now we are testing to see how difficult the task will be and assess feasibility. This will give us an idea of how long it would take to add.

Content wise DDay and Canyon environments will be redeveloped, and work will start on a "last stand" mode that features you as a sniper in a church tower in a small village, making you last stand in first person mode.