And here we go for version 0.9.7, with a batch of new features, improvements, and bug fixes! The list of changes is long, very long, but that's what it takes to approach version 1.0 💪
🏃 Faster than ever! Many optimizations have been made, whether it's on graphics effects, sound, physical effects or AIs, without degrading the final rendering (PS: It's even globally improved AND with bugs fixed!). Expect an average performance gain of at least 15 to 20% (just like that!) and between 30 and 40% improvement on the lowest 1% and 0.1% compared to the last version of the game.
🌐 New map! A new map has been added, it's an island with an active volcano (guess which one?!). This new map is filled with points of interest: A lighthouse where you can camp, ancient mystical ruins, or even... a radioactive dump. I hope you will like this brand new environment, completely different from the other maps currently present!
⚖️ Better physics: The physics of player movement has been reworked; it will now be more logical depending on the speed bonuses or penalties according to the classes, but also depending on the boosts used. For example, from now on, inertia will be preserved during a jump, which was not the case before. At the same time, the Doppler effect will now be correctly affected according to the respective speed of each player!
And, to improve immersion and the gameplay of weapons, various animations have been implemented for the camera (during movement, jumps or landings, etc...), as well as a vertical recoil effect for weapons. Expect a game with significantly more pep!
Finally, the rendering of bullet impacts and shots has been improved, with enhanced physics of smoke or spark effects that will be projected more realistically.
💾 Save system improvement: The save system has been completely reworked to be more flexible and will allow adding new content (like capes, graves, emoticons, and much more) in the future! Your old save will be automatically converted while playing the game. Be careful: The conversion system will be removed in version 1.0, so think about launching the game at least once by then to keep your stats and customizations!
🤖 AIs will be able to aim or not! Blind firing and aiming have been added for AIs! Previously, they continuously aimed, which gave them too significant an advantage with very (too) high shooting accuracy, especially in close combat. AIs will now have a more natural aiming behavior.
I think that's quite something for this 0.9.7, which looks great and beats all the old versions hands down, so happy gaming everyone!
Full changelog:
Additions / New Features:
- Added the map "Island"
- Added an end-of-game screen with various statistics and XP and Cisla Coins bonuses.
- Possibility to disable classes in solo play
- Added an animation (can be disabled) after death that allows seeing which player killed us in action.
- Added a visual effect visible on players who have taken mushrooms.
- Added a bleeding particle effect when health is below 15
- Added an effect of losing assisted armor pieces when assisted armor is below 75
- Added a graphical effect when a bouncing object (debris, rocks, shells) plunges into the water.
- Added various sound effects for bouncing objects (debris, rocks, shells)
- Removed invisible walls to delimit maps
- Implemented a 10-second delay to return to the game field if leaving a map.
- Improved refresh rate display with the display of the average rate and milliseconds
Improvements:
- Improved player physics management, movements, and player velocity in the air are now more logical.
- The physics of bouncing objects (debris, rocks, shells) has been improved.
- Increased the contrast between allies (yellow) and enemies (red).
- Improved rendering of the health or mana bar displayed above players.
- Improved the graphical effect of bullet impacts.
- The sounds players make (sorting, footsteps, etc.) will now follow the player, instead of being played where the player was located.
- The pitch of sounds for gunfire will be proportionally higher in case of abilities or boosts that speed up the firing rate
- The GAU-8 will go brrrrrt!
- AIs are now capable of firing at judgment or aim.
- AIs will be less likely to jump all the time like idiots.
- AIs will now be more tempted to steal the enemy flag than before.
- AIs will be less likely to shoot half their ammo into walls.
- Bullet impacts in water will no longer have an illogical effect of sparks or smoke.
- Improved the graphical effect of bullets for the Mossberg-500 and Hydra.
- Significant damage to a player wearing assisted armor will result in the effect of losing assisted armor pieces.
- Possibility to automatically equip the weapon (A key by default) that a base regenerates in the base capture-regeneration game mode.
- Aiming speed is now correlated with game speed.
- Aiming is now smoother; the aiming scope also appears more smoothly.
- AI waypoints have been optimized on all maps, and slowdowns are now reduced when there are many AIs in the game.
- Added a distant sound for players using EPO.
- Possibility to adjust weather effects rather than dealing with prefabricated ones.
Bug Fixes:
- Fixed a bug where the damage values given to enemies continued to rise when the game was paused.
- Fixed sounds of different spells of the Shoshone class that were not correct.
- Fixed game crash during an attempt to screenshot on the main menu.
- Fixed a bad text identifier for an error message of unowned customization.
- Fixed particle effects of different spells of the Shoshone ability that were no longer the right size.
- Fixed a bug where some sound effects could remain in a loop if a player or bot was disconnected
- Fixed weather effect lightning passing through the ground.
- Fixed a bug where automatic weapons no longer worked unless re-clicked after the explosion of assisted armor.
- Fixed poor synchronization of the weapon carried when another player (non-AI) picked up a weapon in multiplayer.
- Fixed a slowdown of the game when a first-person player equipped assisted armor.
- Fixed duration and effects of boosts for the junkie class which were (again) not calculated correctly.
- Fixed bullet shells that appeared to float above the ground.
- Fixed certain sound effects played in a loop when the game was paused (again!).
- Fixed the density of particle effects (projectile trails, map decorations, weather) that were influenced by the refresh rate.
- Fixed SMAW and Mini-rockets explosion debris that got stuck in walls.
- Fixed the player's tomb that was half in the ground if the player died crouched.
- Fixed the rendering of grass at a distance that could be buggy when the 3D rendering graphic settings were set to maximum.
- Fixed the display of volumetric lighting when water or lava was displayed behind.
- Fixed a bug where the death screen's color filter was disabled when another player finished using mushrooms.
- Fixed a rounding bug of health or armor that could be displayed on the HUD with the value 0.
- Fixed the death screen camera that was no longer centered on the player when the first-person view was enabled.
- Fixed the LOD of a plant model that was not displayed at the same size as the original 3D model.
- Fixed a weapon change message with the "Identical" mutator that was displayed unnecessarily at the end of a game.
- Fixed particle effects of abilities that were continuously renewed when the game was paused.
- Fixed sound effects of some weapons whose position was no longer updated when a player with the spy class was disguised.
- Fixed the texture of 3D models of beached boats that were not correctly loaded.
- Fixed the scoreboard that was displayed over other information when the number of players was high.
- Fixed map sounds that continued to be played when the sound entity was deleted in the map editor.
- Fixed the height of map ambiance sounds that were not updated when changing game speed.
- Fixed the "Power of the Atom" achievement that had become impossible to unlock.
- Fixed a bug where debris or particles were played at the edge of the map when its origin was not visible.
Buffs and Nerfs:
- Damage and its radius have been increased for the SMAW.
- The damage radius for the grenade has been slightly increased.
- The class 'American' will now have the right to launch two atomic bombs when picking up a superweapon.
- Crouching will now increase accuracy by 30% against 50% previously.
- Crouching will no longer reduce the spread of the flamethrower, Mossberg 500, and Hydra.
- Medics now only regenerate 5 health points per second to themselves instead of 10 (they continue to regenerate 10 health points per second to other allies)
- The grilled pig will no longer be improved for the medic class, but will now be for the junkie class.
- EPO boost will now double the player's speed during the entire boost.
Engine:
- Some optimizations have been made in managing dynamic 3D models in the game (players, customizations, shields, debris, ...) with a performance gain of 5 to 10% on parts with many players or AIs.
- Significant optimizations have been made in the management of sound effects, with an additional performance gain of 20 to 30%
- Possibility to display the game in a higher screen resolution than the desktop.
- The save system has been completely reworked, allowing adding new customizations and statistics.
- Improvement in managing the database of sound effects, music, and ambiance sounds of maps.
- The occlusion effect of sound effects is now progressive, avoiding abrupt and unpleasant changes.
- The occlusion effect of sound effects is now dynamic, preventing the occlusion effect from persisting if the sound is no longer occluded.
- The velocity of players, projectiles, and other sounds is now calculated dynamically, allowing a more realistic Doppler effect.
- Added reverberation effects according to map areas (up to 5).
- Improved performance for shooting graphical effects without degrading quality.
