roadtovostok

Texture Hunting

Hi!

It's starting to get summer here in Finland and this means that it's good time to start collecting new textures and details for Road to Vostok.

Yesterday, I revisited the Village map location and also explored some new buildings and bunkers that could be suitable for the game. None of the in-game maps aren't yet on the quality/immersion level that I like, but it's getting there slowly but surely.

Here's some general pictures that I took from some of these locations. Ne...

Radar (Vostok)

Radar is the first permadeath Vostok map.  

The most central element of this map is the over-the-horizon (OTH) military radar, which is linked in several ways to the game's lore.

- Antti (Developer)

Northern Lights

Hi!

In Finland, Northern Lights also known as Aurora Borealis appear sometimes in the skies as green or violet sheets caused by storms sent from the sun.

I wanted to add this phenomenom to this upcoming teaser trailer and it's now also implemented in the game.

In the future, when you enter the map at night time there's a 1% possibility that Northern Lights effect will appear. It should look pretty look, especially in Winter :)

- Antti (Developer)

Boat Mechanics & Fishing

Hi!

I decided to take a small break from shelters and teaser trailers, so I improved some boat mechanics, fishing and sea ambient sounds for Public Demo 2.

These still need some work because water is really buggy element when it comes to video games :)

- Antti (Developer)

Highway Bridge (WIP)

Hi!

Here's a small behind the scenes look at the bridge which will be located at the Highway map in Public Demo 2.

ps. PC Gaming Show teaser trailer is almost ready. After this video is done I will continue working on the new mechanics like ammo system and so on.

- Antti (Developer)

Highway Tunnel

Hi!
Here's a first look at the Highway map.  

This highway tunnel is located at the end of the map and it leads to the crossing point called Minefield.

- Antti (Developer)

New Item: Snus

Here's the rest loot challenge items from last week.

In post-apocalyptic situations, sometimes you have to use vices in order to survive. Snus is one of the most popular tobacco products in Nordic countries and part of the culture that fits the game.

Disclaimer: Road to Vostok does not support or encourage the use of tobacco products :)

Loot Challenge: 75/100

- Antti (Developer)

New Item: Battery (Leisure)

Here's the first loot challenge item from last week.

In the future there will be multiple use cases for all kinds batteries in the game. This specific battery is meant for "leisure" activities like powering some camping gear, lights and charging other small electronics.

Loot Challenge: 71/100

- Antti (Developer)

Public Demo 2 Assets (WIP)

Hi!

Here's another peek behind the scenes and some new unique assets and landmarks that are being developed for Public Demo 2. 

Excellent work from RE3MR

Here's some RE3MR's links if you're interested see stuff he's doing outside of Road to Vostok:
https://www.youtube.com/c/re3mr
https://twitter.com/re3mr
2023-05-02 18:58:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Development Update (30/04/2023)

Hi!

Here's a quick development update and some upcoming events / tasks for Road to Vostok.

Shelter
Next week I will focus on finishing that first shelter and save system related to that. I'm already starting to like how this shelter looks and I think it will be a good starting point for this whole shelter system.

Video Preparations
Once this shelter is ready, I will start preparing few "special" videos that I will be revealed in June/J...

Shelter System

Hi!

I'm still working on the first iteration of the medical system, but I realized that I have to start working on the shelter system also in parallel since character stats need the ability to save and there's multiple connections to the shelter system.

I have made the initial layout of the first shelter which will be inside of civil defence shelter which are super common thing here in Finland. Next month's devlog will be a special episode focusing on this system and I'm going t...

New Item: Toilet Paper

Here's the second loot challenge item from last week.

Loot tables also need boring items, so nothing special with this one :)

Loot Challenge: 70/100

- Antti (Developer)

New Item: Board Game

Hi!

Here's a new item from last week.

I created a new item type called Special and this contain items that should have some kind of entertainment, luxury or special value in a post-apocalyptic situation.

This board game is a special item in the game and in the future it will include a mini-game called Dice. This mini-game will be playable through a specific trader and you can gamble with him using this item.

This idea was inspired by My Summer Car.

Loot Challenge...

World Map Updates

Hi!

This world map will be visible in the Public Demo 2, so I made few changes in order to provide accurate presentation of current / upcoming the game world.

Changes:
- All Area 05 maps were moved closer to accurate IRL-locations.
- Swamp map was totally in the wrong spot, it's now corrected.
- Airport map was changed to Railroad (multiple reasons).
- First four shelter locations are now marked to the map.
- First four crossing points are now marked to the map. 2023-04-24 01:02:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Medical System Tests

Hi!

I'm currently testing the medical system and see how it works visually with the UI.

Here's an example when when I triggered few medical conditions and how it's indicated through colors and text.

I think this approach will be quite easy to understand and react once there's also HUD / Medical Tooltips in place. There will also be unique sound effect for each medical condition when they activate, like bone breaking sound in Fracture, so you should also notice the condition ...

Public Demo 2 UI

Hi!

Here's an updated main UI for Public Demo 2.

I tried to keep a clean minimal look (like before) and something that it's easy to visually understand. Like mentioned in the previous post, there will tooltip functionality for all medicals, which should highlight the symptoms and cures for each one.

I'm not sure if there's time to fully utilize that crafting grid but in anyway it's there working now and it just needs crafting recipes and item variations. If I manage to get a...

Carry Weight

Since the Loot Challange is on track and the context menu is ready, I'm now starting to focus on character stats and medicals.

The first feature which is now implemented is called Carry Weight. This parameter basically controls your inventory capacity in terms of weight. If you put too much gear on your inventory and you go over that max carry weight value, you will activate medical condition called Fatique.

Here's the symptoms for Fatique

Fatique Minor (1...

Wind Turbines (WIP)

Hi!

Here's some new WIP-assets to the maps that will be in Public Demo 2.

These wind turbines are pretty big landmarks in IRL where some of these maps are located and the sheer size of these should be quite impressive in-game when your standing near them.

- Antti (Developer)

Sea Mines

In Public Demo 2, you get access to a sea-themed map and drive a boat.

When moving near sea lanes and islands, a little caution and observation of the environment is highly recommended :)

There will multiple different mines in this game and even with the sea mines there's few different variations, some will detonate at impact some are equipped with sensors that detect movement and detonate without touching them.

- Antti (Developer)

Item Data Architecture v2

Hi!

I decided to quickly cover some technical aspects of the development and updates that I'm implementing to the current item architecture.

Usually video games that handle large database of items, the actual items are only data containers which contain item information like name, weight, rarity and so on. This basic data container (in Road to Vostok it's called ItemData) approach is really common and useful but it's problematic once the item database gets larger (like in Road to ...

New Item: Pastilles

Here's some new consumables and survival snacks.

Salmiakki = Salt liquorice
Karhu Pastilli = Salt liquorice with Tar

These pastilles are somewhat Finnish favorites IRL (brand name is only different) or at least you can buy these in almost any corner.

ps. I should now be back on track with that loot challenge, so I'm going to fully focus on those new mechanics rest of the week.

Loot Challenge: 68/100

- Antti (Developer)

Item Context Menus

Hi!

I'm still few items behind in the looting challenge but I already started working on those item context menus.

Context menus are basically dropdown options for items and through context menus you can do all the basic functions like you can already with key combinations (like "drop/transfer) but now there will also be the item action "USE" which will provide you the method of consuming items (like food), using medical items and so on.

I will now make this context menu sys...

New Item: Magazines

Here's some of the new items.

The current main focus of the project is still the core mechanics, but sometimes it's also fun to do these little extra details. These are in-game magazines that are lootable and readable. The magazines contain Finnish folklore that is also linked to the Road to Vostok game world.

I think having readable in-game items are part of overall immersion and details like these are interesting in multiple ways.

ps. The finnish magazine title Seikkailu m...

Development Plan for Public Demo 2

Hi!

Here's an development/production plan in a chronological order towards the Public Demo 2 which is the main milestone this year.

1. Loot Challenge Catch-up

The first task is catching-up with that loot challenge (2 new items per week) since I'm few items behind because I wanted to focus on this Public Demo 1 v2 update. Public Demo 2 will have actually loot, loot tables and gameplay loop, so this loot challenge (+100 items) is needed for this purpose.

Public Demo 1 v2 Hotfix

A small hotfix to Public Demo 1 v2 build.  

- AI no longer spawns on the tutorial map
- AI directional audio slightly improved
- AI hit accuracy reduced -10%
- AI sensor modified a bit (player detection)
- Deactivating the AI spawner will now immediately remove all existing AI

This was kind of a "must-have" fix since so many people got shot by the AI while reading the tutorial billboards and that's pretty bad starting experience...

Now I'm taking that...

Dev Update (16/04/2023)

Hi!

A quick mention that I will be taking tomorrow totally off and then early next week I will publish a detailed game plan here on Patreon towards the Public Demo 2.

Usually it's quite exhausting to publish something as a solo developer (even a small demo), since you have to take care about every detail yourself. However this Public Demo 1 v2 update was really smooth for me in terms of workload, so I won't be taking any extra days off.

In other words, development continues ...

Public Demo 1 v2

Public Demo 1 v2 release date: Today  

I will publish a short YouTube video around 9:00 PM (EEST) that will cover the key features of this demo. After the video, the new demo build is available for download.

Excited to hear you feedback!

- Antti (Developer)

Dev Update (13/04/2023)

Hi!

A quick update related to Public Demo 1 v2.

I'm almost done editing the video related to the release and the build is 99% ready, there's just few minor audio fixes to be done.

I will not announce this yet publicly since it might change but I'm trying to target Saturday as release date for this demo update. If there's something unexpected then it will be Sunday but most likely everything should be ready for Saturday.

If this goes as planned, I will schedule the Pu...

Blending Shader

Hi!

While working towards the demo update this weekend, I decided do some fun "extra visual stuff" and utilized some of my shader knowledge.

Basically I made a quick and cheap (in terms of rendering) blending shader that supports moss / snow / sand blending and visually provides more balanced view with the terrain.

I have still those development rules that I can't focus on the visuals yet (PBR, Displacements, Global Illumination, Volumetrics etc...) until the initial visio...

New Vehicle: Wagon T4

Here's a new vehicle.  In the Public Demo 1 v2 update, vehicle looting takes place only through the UI.  

In Public Demo 2 every door will be interactive and you can also go inside the vehicle, for example to get protection from the weather.

- Antti (Developer)