roadtovostok

Save System Optimization

Hi!

I had some time yesterday to tweak the save system a bit.

When I looked at the actually save system file (should have looked earlier), I made a rookie mistake and basically stored huge number of unnecessary data. 

Basically every single inventory, equipment and container slot was saved even if the slot was totally empty. This meant that if you stored one item in the container it still stored 96 of those grid slots when just 1 was needed. There were bunch or unnecess...

Dev Build - Save System

Download link

How to download correctly:
-  Download the whole "Dev Build - Save System" folder as a zip file, not individual files.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1meNdAEp4-P91a1mSSyVsqQPwr4wl8PYg/view?usp=sharing

General info

1. These test builds are not designed for public, they are bareb...

Dev Build Update

Hi!

Just to let you know, I just finished the individual item saving feature and I think it's quite reliable now. This feature took a bit more time than I expected but nevertheless it's an important feature that needs testing.

I will have to take one contractor meeting that takes about 2-3h and after that I will upload that dev build for you to test and let's see if you can break the save system in some way :)

- Antti (Developer)

Random Guitar Clip

Hi!

Here's a little random video clip of those recently added weapons (MK18), animations and features like the playable guitar which are included in this tomorrows dev build.

- Antti (Developer)

Dev Update (11/02/2024)

Hi!

I have now basically the dev build ready and here's the main features that are included in this build for feedback:

- Save / Load system
- Shelter (Attic)
- New weapons (Glock 17, VSS, MK-18)
- New optic (POSP 6x42)
- Musical instruments (Guitar)
- Fire / Wind shaders
- Ragdoll tests
- Lootable vehicle test
- Small lighting changes

This is most likely going to be the last dev build before the Public Demo 2, since the next month is going to be so...

Dev Update (Upcoming events)

Hi!

This early February has been really busy, there have been a lot of preparation work for upcoming events and tons of new contractor work related to Public Demo 2.

I must admit that I was caught a bit off guard how much work there was this week, so my original plan for providing that shelter test + save system dev build for you was delayed a bit since originally I aimed to share that early this week.

I think most of this "background work" is now almost done, so I though...

Main Concept (WIP Feedback)

Hi!

I wanted to ask your opinion on this topic since this website overhaul includes new concept art and visual elements.

This topic is also highly related to visibility in Steam and other places which uses small format preview thumbnails which should stand out positively.

Here's a comparison between the old and the potential new graphical assets which are still work-in-progress though.

2024-02-08 16:19:49 +0000 UTC View Post

Ragdolls

Hi!

Ragdolls are now fully added back to the game and they will be included in this upcoming dev build.

Here's a little clip from behind the scenes performance testing :)

- Antti (Developer)

Material Based Interaction Audio (WIP)

Hi!

Here's one new addition in terms of audio work (still work-in-progress).

Previously there was just few placeholder SFX's for looting and interacting with objects. This caused pretty out of touch moments when for example wooden door opening sound played while opening a metal door or some cabinet sound played while opening car doors etc.

Now there's new sounds added for different object / material types and all the core interaction types are now supported for Public.

Attic Update (WIP)

Hi!

Few days ago I kind of finished the Public Demo 2 shelter called Attic. My original design was based on quite a flat "easy to model" appearance but I kind of felt that this needed a bit more details, so I decided to make almost the whole thing from scratch today.

I'm now quite happy with this reworked layout / structure, here's few screenshots of the rework process that I did today.

<...

Brand Upgrade (WIP)

Hi!

Here's a little behind-the-scenes preview of main concept art that is part of this upcoming website overhaul and overall visual style upgrade that happens after Public Demo 2.

A few weeks ago I contacted a fellow Finnish concept artist called LevaSoj who is super talented in concept art and I hired him as a contractor who is making these new brand assets for Road to Vostok.

This specific image that you're seeing is work-in-progress from the main concept / cover art and k...

Dev Update (05/02/2024)

Hi!

Here's a quick update and plan for that next dev build.

I'm currently testing all those new weapons + music instruments that had been added last week. In order to make these fully game-ready they need still some inventory icons and audio files to be added.

On top of this, I'm planning to get ragdolls done this week so the AI death event and ability to loot the body is on the to-do list as well.

Then there's one extra thing. Last weekend I went back to some games ...

Wind Shaders

Hi!

I had some extra time this weekend to improve few visual aspects related to nature assets.

I basically made bunch of custom shaders that now support wind effects whether it's grass, bushes or trees.

These shaders are also now connected to the weather system so storm increases the wind speed and so on.

The performance impact of these new shaders should be really minimal for most hardware.

ps. These trees in the video were debug trees for testing, not sure if I...

Shelter Update 2 (Entrance)

Hi!

Here's a quick video clip about the shelter (attic) entrance for Public Demo 2.

I have now basically all the transitions, save systems and core functionality done for this shelter system and most of the interiors for that attic as well.

I will most likely convert this Village map to some kind of starting hub for the Public Demo 2. This means that I will also add the first in-game trader to this map, so trading testing is pretty close distance as well.

- Antti (...

VSS Animations (Preview)

Hi!

Here's a preview of new VSS animations.

Animation made by BarryBogs

- Antti (Developer)

Shelter Update 1

Hi!

Here's a quick update related to the Public Demo 2 shelter.

To give some background, the first shelter design from Unity was based on these Finnish civil defence shelter (CDS). I originally though that it was a good idea for shelter but it's actually quite counterintuitive in a big picture if I think about the game's lore and use of those CDS's.

To main purpose of these CDS's is to be kind of like "procedural dungeons" in this game or som...

MK-18 Animations (Preview)

Hi!

Here's a preview of new MK-18 animations.

Animation made by BarryBogs.

- Antti (Developer)

Trash Bags (Lootable Debris)

Hi!

Debris kits are expanding and the recent addition are lootable trash / garbage bags. 

I prepared the source bags yesterday and RE3MR made the piles for different surfaces in terms of making placement easy within game engine.

Here's few extra screenshots.

- Antti (Developer)...

Campfire Tests + Fire VFX

Hi!

Today as part of this shelter week, I tested some interactable campfires and implemented a new set of fire / flame VFX.

The old fire VFX was probably close to 24fps and a bit choppy, now there's a new approach that provides ~60fps smooth particle simulation for these fire sources.

This rework also included new "light flicker" scripts (more natural now) and custom shader for handling some emission stuff.

- Antti (Developer)

Silo Scaffoldings

Hi!

Here's a one use case for those modular scaffolding kits that I showcased earlier.

This was my original plan for these silos (IRL they are totally empty) that they turn almost a mini platform game within each silo. Some of these go quite tall, so there's a fracture / death risk for getting some loot up there etc.

- Antti (Developer)

Glock 17 Animations (Preview)

Hi!

Here's a quick look at the new Glock 17 animations.

Animation made by BarryBogs.

- Antti (Developer)

Dev Update (28/01/2024)

Hi! 

The Radar map is now pretty much completed for Public Demo 2.

I spent quite a bit of time today of tweaking the AI spawner to make sure there's some logic behind it when it comes to certain guard / military positions.

Previously the AI spawner was spawning AI just randomly (related to player distance) but now it can prioritize these logical positions like guard towers and high grounds. This also forces the AI to stay in these priority positions unless certain condi...

Military

Hi!

Here's the finalized version of the Military faction.

Military is the defence forces of the Vostok permadeath zone, whose task is to destroy all persons who cross the border without permission.

Coming in Public Demo 2.

Character by Claudia
https://www.artstation.com/zunasw
https://twitter.com/ZunaSW

Ambient Collection (Part 2.)

Hi!

Aki (Audio Designer) has been working on new set of ambient music for Public Demo 2 and this includes six new tracks for different areas / themes:

- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Area_05_03
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Area_05_04
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Border_Zone_03
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Border_Zone_04
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Vostok_03
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Vostok_04
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Shelter_01
- Road_to_Vostok_Ambient_Shelter_02

You can downl...

Radar Update 2

Hi! 

Here's a quick rebuild update.

Today I had to return back a bit and modify these guard towers in terms collisions and dimensions. The purpose of this was to make sure that they are fully enterable, AI can use them and avoid possible issues with getting stuck (both AI and player), since they are quite complex structures in terms of geometry.

After I got the towers working reliably, I finally started working on some details and few new assets like old soviet military...

Radar Update 1

Hi!

Here's a quick Radar map update.

Today I added the main radar elements which are these OTH (over-the-horizon) antenna arrays. On top of this, I added fences, guard towers and patrol waypoints for the Military faction.

Tomorrow I will be adding the main buildings designed for this map and then it's time to start bringing the secondary details and props.

- Antti (Developer)

Submerged

Hi!

I quickly mentioned last Friday that I added a new submerged / underwater water system that supports swimming.

Here's a quick visual preview.

ps. If there are any visual artifacts in the video, those are caused by the video compression.

- Antti (Developer)

Dev Update (23/01/2024)

Hi!

I'm back at the home office and there's a lot of things is currently happening behind the scenes, so here's a new dev update.

Military Faction

Claudia is currently working on the last main faction for Public Demo 2 called Military. This faction will be the main enemy in Vostok and here's some WIP screenshots from the initial sculpt phase (details, pouches, boots, textures etc. are still missing).

2024-01-22 23:39:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Dev Update (19/01/2024)

Hi!

Here's a quick dev update.

The Highway rebuilt is now pretty much complete. I added vehicles, small details and few nice IRL details that are related to this specific Highway tunnel.

On top of this, I had some extra time so I went back to Shipyard map and implemented a new swimming feature that is much more reliable than the old one. This new swimming thing includes full diving control, oxygen UI levels, depth calculations and some minor underwater visual things.

I...

Highway Update 1

Hi!

Here's a little update related to this weeks map rebuild called Highway.

I started with the custom terrain layout and this map needed a bit more technical tweaking since there is a tunnel section which requires holes in the terrain and other small lighting related nuances.

After I found a nice way to handle this terrain, I started placing some of the main map elements like highway bridges, transmission towers and tunnel entrances.

Here's few screenshots related to ...