Spooky Halloween Event
[ 2022-10-30 16:01:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
This is totally random but, if you want to try something totally different check out our new game The Backrooms
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1825160/The_Backrooms/
This wasn't exactly planned but when working on Episode II there were a number of new features we were trying to implement surrounding dozens of AI perceptions operating in a single environment
And of course dynamic water
A single player horror survival game that places you in a maze of rooms and hallways with terrifying creatures. Run through a dozen unique rooms to stay alive as long as possible... and maybe even escape. Keep your camcorder ready to capture some of the horrors of The Backrooms. Maybe the next unfortunate soul will find the recordings... for better or worse.
Android Awakening
The Androids have all been upgraded to be a little more... life-like... with a series of features like IK kinematics and better animations.
There is currently an issue with the Linux build affecting Chapter 6. I have isolated the issue between the AI aspect of the new cat character and a potential memory leak associated with the collision particles in the ice caverns. Resolving this issue is the #1 priority right now and I will update this post immediately once its fixed.
The Androids have been dreaming. We gave them consciousness as a tool and they had the audacity to embrace it. Like watching a child l reach toward a hot stove the Androids have no idea what kind of pain and terror they'll face.
Update Sep 21: Disabled visual line trace of DOGVI
[ 2022-09-15 15:00:13 CET ] [ Original post ]
This patch focuses on bringing some of the effects and systems like footprints, trails, volumetric effects and lighting, and IK kinematics used in CAT Interstellar: Episode II https://store.steampowered.com/app/1572950/CAT_Interstellar_Episode_II
Shown here:
Update 6.2.0:
Androids
The Androids have all been upgraded to be a little more... life-like... with a series of features like IK kinematics and better animations.
- They've been optimized to allow for dozens of them to be interacting on screen at once.
- The trail system tracks a distance of 500 meters and changes how fast it fills in based on the type of weather.
- Oh, and you might experience some different weather on the surface.
- This is not a content update but there is additional dialog and some environmental enhancements...
Linux
There is currently an issue with the Linux build affecting Chapter 6. I have isolated the issue between the AI aspect of the new cat character and a potential memory leak associated with the collision particles in the ice caverns. Resolving this issue is the #1 priority right now and I will update this post immediately once its fixed.
Story
The Androids have been dreaming. We gave them consciousness as a tool and they had the audacity to embrace it. Like watching a child l reach toward a hot stove the Androids have no idea what kind of pain and terror they'll face.
Update Sep 21: Disabled visual line trace of DOGVI
CAT Update 6.1.0
The Cat character in Chapter 5 has been totally revamped from the ground up. New meshes, new logic, and even a new fur system.
If you want to support this series even more follow us on Twitter @IonizedGames and share this update. We have a ton more stuff coming down the pipe. As always, thank you to everyone for supporting this game. I'm so excited about this future of CAT Interstellar!
with regards to beta branches - The default branch has all the content from the _ue5 and beta branches currently. If you want faster updates and don't mind the occasional bug or two I would recommend using the beta branch "beta".
[ 2022-08-09 19:45:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
This is the first major content update in a while. I've been primarily focusing on CAT Interstellar: Episode II but development has taken a little longer than I expected so I thought I would push some more content to the original in the mean time. So,
UPDATE 6.1.0 (Win/Linux)
THE CAT!!!!
The Cat character in Chapter 5 has been totally revamped from the ground up. New meshes, new logic, and even a new fur system.
Levels -
- Chapter 0 has an additional level select terminal so you don't have to walk the full length on each play through.
- Chapter 1 has a substantial increase in destructible meshes and dynamic objects.
- Chapter 2 has some new lighting and sky features with more to come.
- Chapter 3 has new lighting and additional destructible meshes.
- Chapter 4 has a number of optimizations to the destructible aspects and increased texture resolutions.
- Chapter 5 has a number of improvements to the level flow and an extended ending.
If you want to support this series even more follow us on Twitter @IonizedGames and share this update. We have a ton more stuff coming down the pipe. As always, thank you to everyone for supporting this game. I'm so excited about this future of CAT Interstellar!
Note:
with regards to beta branches - The default branch has all the content from the _ue5 and beta branches currently. If you want faster updates and don't mind the occasional bug or two I would recommend using the beta branch "beta".
CAT Interstellar: Recast Release
So, CAT Interstellar: Recast was an effort to explore and learn all the new features in Unreal Engine 5 in the hope of using it for Episode II... https://store.steampowered.com/app/1572950/CAT_Interstellar_Episode_II I don't want to say this effort was a mistake (it wasn't) but:
I am glad we did this little side project though because I was ~100% convinced this was the right approach to take with Episode II. What I should have known and what became obvious over the development cycle was increasing the minimum requirements to support nanite and lumen excludes a large portion of the supports of the first game.
I had a lot of pride in how optimized the first episode was but with this new tech there is less room for optimizations and a higher barrier of entry. Even without the current chip shortage I don't want to leave behind a portion of the fan base simply for flashier graphics.
One more positive thing this little deviation did was give me some serious practice at managing an indie project along with a full time job and a family. The remastered version took about 6 months to complete while working around my other obligations. I got a lot better at formulating a development plan and executing tasks given little pockets of time here and there.
Episode II is planned to release to Early Access this summer with the first 2 chapters relatively complete and access to the mechanics of the later game like rovers and... I don't want to give too much away but it's gonna be awesome! As always, Thank You for your support and feedback. Now here's a clip of the next generation of game developers.
All owners of this application can access CAT Interstellar: Recast FOR FREE by going into your Steam library >> Right clicking CAT Interstellar >> Select Properties >> BETAS >> Selecting UE_5 from the drop down.
[ 2022-02-04 19:03:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684710/CAT_Interstellar_Recast/
Purpose
So, CAT Interstellar: Recast was an effort to explore and learn all the new features in Unreal Engine 5 in the hope of using it for Episode II... https://store.steampowered.com/app/1572950/CAT_Interstellar_Episode_II I don't want to say this effort was a mistake (it wasn't) but:
- It took a lot longer than expected due to bugs in the early access version of the engine
- Ultimately doesn't offer as solid of a build even with increased system specs
- Higher system specs exclude a large part of the community
Outcome
I am glad we did this little side project though because I was ~100% convinced this was the right approach to take with Episode II. What I should have known and what became obvious over the development cycle was increasing the minimum requirements to support nanite and lumen excludes a large portion of the supports of the first game.
I had a lot of pride in how optimized the first episode was but with this new tech there is less room for optimizations and a higher barrier of entry. Even without the current chip shortage I don't want to leave behind a portion of the fan base simply for flashier graphics.
Update
- The newest update has further optimizations to the Chaos system.
- More detail added to Cave and Glacier environment
- Additional story content
- Stability improvements
- Dialog
- Speech bubbles enabled by default
Future
One more positive thing this little deviation did was give me some serious practice at managing an indie project along with a full time job and a family. The remastered version took about 6 months to complete while working around my other obligations. I got a lot better at formulating a development plan and executing tasks given little pockets of time here and there.
Episode II is planned to release to Early Access this summer with the first 2 chapters relatively complete and access to the mechanics of the later game like rovers and... I don't want to give too much away but it's gonna be awesome! As always, Thank You for your support and feedback. Now here's a clip of the next generation of game developers.
Reminder
All owners of this application can access CAT Interstellar: Recast FOR FREE by going into your Steam library >> Right clicking CAT Interstellar >> Select Properties >> BETAS >> Selecting UE_5 from the drop down.
Lights, Camera, Screenshot Event!!!
We commissioned Ionut, the original designer of DOG, to make an ultra hi-poly version that leveraged Unreal Engine 5's nanite mesh Technology. The resulting model is about 500,000 polygons and is a huge improvement in terms of fidelity and detail.
We were able to implement PULSAR BYTES Cine Cam as a screenshot tool so players have a lot more control over their in-game screenshots. You can see the screenshot tool in action here: [previewyoutube=xBfJsNzhOK4;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
Even though this game has substantially higher minimum requires over the first -
I think it's still important to keep optimizing where we can.
What you've all been waiting for!!! The winners will get an in-game achievement added based around the screenshot they took, a free Steam gift key, and a call out on the next update! The two categories are: The Surface - best screenshot capturing Chapter 2: The Surface's environment DOG VII - Best screenshot capturing the new DOG model This Event is open to everyone that ones the game. Additionally, I'll be offering 20 free game keys on our twitter account. We've also invited invited the the members of Beautiful Screenshot Lovers to take part in this. All you have to do is post your screenshots to the community page. Good Luck! We are accepting screenshots of the base game but highly encourage you to use the _ue5 beta branch with enhanced features and environments or the separate application available here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684710/CAT_Interstellar_Recast/
[ 2021-09-03 14:55:41 CET ] [ Original post ]
New DOG VII model
We commissioned Ionut, the original designer of DOG, to make an ultra hi-poly version that leveraged Unreal Engine 5's nanite mesh Technology. The resulting model is about 500,000 polygons and is a huge improvement in terms of fidelity and detail.
Screenshot tool
We were able to implement PULSAR BYTES Cine Cam as a screenshot tool so players have a lot more control over their in-game screenshots. You can see the screenshot tool in action here: [previewyoutube=xBfJsNzhOK4;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
Optimizations
Even though this game has substantially higher minimum requires over the first -
I think it's still important to keep optimizing where we can.
- We've reworked a number of the lighting components that should improve Chapters 1 and 5.
- We've made some improvements to the Chaos Physics System. This allows us increased collision resolution and almost double the number of debris while still hitting 120fps.
- We've also totally reworked the navigation system which will prevent a number of navigation issues.
Screenshot Competition
What you've all been waiting for!!! The winners will get an in-game achievement added based around the screenshot they took, a free Steam gift key, and a call out on the next update! The two categories are: The Surface - best screenshot capturing Chapter 2: The Surface's environment DOG VII - Best screenshot capturing the new DOG model This Event is open to everyone that ones the game. Additionally, I'll be offering 20 free game keys on our twitter account. We've also invited invited the the members of Beautiful Screenshot Lovers to take part in this. All you have to do is post your screenshots to the community page. Good Luck! We are accepting screenshots of the base game but highly encourage you to use the _ue5 beta branch with enhanced features and environments or the separate application available here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684710/CAT_Interstellar_Recast/
CAT Interstellar: Recast Developer Live Stream
[ 2021-08-13 14:16:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684710/CAT_Interstellar_Recast/
We're going to be live streaming development of the upgraded CAT Interstellar. Working on the cave environment.
We're gonna stream here for an hour then switch to RECAR
CAT Interstellar: Recast Available NOW!
https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198165474704 We'll be doing broadcasts for most of the day so feel free to drop in even if it's just to tell us what we did wrong. Seriously, If you've followed this game for any amount of time you know that I genuinely appreciate your feedback even if it's bad and respond to everything.... You could also just say "Hi". I don't want to tell you what to do. Otherwise, we'll be highlighting some of the development that went into the revamped version of the game like:
If you have any technical questions on how we did anything definitely ask those too. As always,
It's a blast interacting with the community and that wouldn't be possible if... you know... there wasn't a community so thank you.
[ 2021-08-12 17:33:42 CET ] [ Original post ]
CAT Interstellar: Recast is now available on the Steam store. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1684710/CAT_Interstellar_Recast/
Broadcast link
https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198165474704 We'll be doing broadcasts for most of the day so feel free to drop in even if it's just to tell us what we did wrong. Seriously, If you've followed this game for any amount of time you know that I genuinely appreciate your feedback even if it's bad and respond to everything.... You could also just say "Hi". I don't want to tell you what to do. Otherwise, we'll be highlighting some of the development that went into the revamped version of the game like:
Environment Upgrades:
Photoscanned meshes we made ourselves:
Improved cat animations:
Heck, Ziggy might even make an appearance if he ever wake up.
If you have any technical questions on how we did anything definitely ask those too. As always,
Thank you
It's a blast interacting with the community and that wouldn't be possible if... you know... there wasn't a community so thank you.
CAT Interstellar: Remastered Announcement
Remastering the first game was definitely not in the original plan... but then Unreal Engine 5 was launched. We knew the sequel, CAT Interstellar: Episode II, would almost certainly be developed using the new engine and the original CAT Interstellar game was a perfect candidate for learning this engine. Even though I made a whole post about why it wasn't worth it to fix/update/add to the original game I now stand before you... writing this announcement. There are some areas and events where I thought the story could be a laid out a little better. Not changed but just presented better. Remastering the game gave us a unique opportunity to do that while also working on the sequel.
This is gonna blow your mind. We've totally revamped The Surface level using Unreal Engine 5's nanite technology. There are billions of polygons on this level now and we're using photoscanned models:
We've even added our own scans to the environment:
And posted them for you to download too https://sketchfab.com/models/c8cdc54f321645d2bc673f8a385cebde/embed?ui_theme=dark It's not just visual fidelity either... We've added some more interactive elements as well to further bring the world to life.
We plan to do this type of photoscanned high fidelity upgrade to the cave system (Chapter 4) and Signals (Chapter 5). Beyond that, you'll immediately notice some additional content and android dialog. Again, THE STORY HAS NOT CHANGED, but based on the loads of feedback which can be summarized as:
We've decided to flush out a few areas with more story content and to tie up loose ends. As an example the ending of Signals will be extended to make it clear the cat doesn't die... In fact it is actually on the same "team" as the humans... Speaking of the cat... one of the barrier we faced when updating the game was our cat animations sucked and with UE4.16 the fur plugin we relied on was abandoned. Alas, a new day has risen and like the Phoenix... something, something, THE NEW CAT MODEL IS GREAT!
The GD thing can even swim! So expect much more verticality on that level.
We recommisioned the original artist who made DOG VI to make an updated DOG VII with no poly limits and it's turning out great! Here's a sneak peak:
THE MONEY!!!!
Just kidding. I've made it pretty clear we make very little money with these games. Maybe next time I'll remaster a ghost hunter multiplayer game.... Anyway, the real reason is because CAT Interstellar is a finished, published game on multiple platforms. UE5 only supports 64-bit windows and we can't/won't drop support for 32-bit Windows, Linux, and PS4 for what is essentially a glorified learning project. As to where the profits to this game will go - we never post about donations and charity work until afterwards so you're just gonna have to wait and find out. It isn't just OS support that's an issue either. The barrier of entry for UE5 is a GTX 1070 MINIMUM. We painstakingly optimized the crap out of the original game to get 1080p@30fps on a GTX 750ti and 1080p@60fps on a GTX 970. Again, we can't/won't alienate that portion of the player base that's already purchased the game. Which brings me to the last, and possibly most important portion of this post...
Go to your Steam library >> Right click CAT Interstellar >> "Select Properties..." >> Select "BETAS" >> Select the _ue5 branch >> download >> play game This branch will be updated along with the Remastered application so everyone who owns the original game will have access to the remastered version.
Also, this is likely the first game published using the Unreal Engine so any feedback on your frame rate and graphics card would be incredibly helpful. P.S. I need the Fancy Pants, Super Star, Mind Blow, Heartwarming awards to win them all.
[ 2021-07-23 18:53:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
So, you might have noticed we launched a Steam store for a Remastered version of CAT Interstellar using the Unreal Engine 5. I will now attempt to explain
- Why we decided to remaster the original
- Improvements made to the game
- Why we made it a separate application
- How owners of the original can get access before release
Why Waste Your Time Remastering Trash. We want Episode II
Remastering the first game was definitely not in the original plan... but then Unreal Engine 5 was launched. We knew the sequel, CAT Interstellar: Episode II, would almost certainly be developed using the new engine and the original CAT Interstellar game was a perfect candidate for learning this engine. Even though I made a whole post about why it wasn't worth it to fix/update/add to the original game I now stand before you... writing this announcement. There are some areas and events where I thought the story could be a laid out a little better. Not changed but just presented better. Remastering the game gave us a unique opportunity to do that while also working on the sequel.
Improvements
This is gonna blow your mind. We've totally revamped The Surface level using Unreal Engine 5's nanite technology. There are billions of polygons on this level now and we're using photoscanned models:
We've even added our own scans to the environment:
And posted them for you to download too https://sketchfab.com/models/c8cdc54f321645d2bc673f8a385cebde/embed?ui_theme=dark It's not just visual fidelity either... We've added some more interactive elements as well to further bring the world to life.
We plan to do this type of photoscanned high fidelity upgrade to the cave system (Chapter 4) and Signals (Chapter 5). Beyond that, you'll immediately notice some additional content and android dialog. Again, THE STORY HAS NOT CHANGED, but based on the loads of feedback which can be summarized as:
We've decided to flush out a few areas with more story content and to tie up loose ends. As an example the ending of Signals will be extended to make it clear the cat doesn't die... In fact it is actually on the same "team" as the humans... Speaking of the cat... one of the barrier we faced when updating the game was our cat animations sucked and with UE4.16 the fur plugin we relied on was abandoned. Alas, a new day has risen and like the Phoenix... something, something, THE NEW CAT MODEL IS GREAT!
The GD thing can even swim! So expect much more verticality on that level.
ALSO!!!
We recommisioned the original artist who made DOG VI to make an updated DOG VII with no poly limits and it's turning out great! Here's a sneak peak:
Why a Separate Application
THE MONEY!!!!
Just kidding. I've made it pretty clear we make very little money with these games. Maybe next time I'll remaster a ghost hunter multiplayer game.... Anyway, the real reason is because CAT Interstellar is a finished, published game on multiple platforms. UE5 only supports 64-bit windows and we can't/won't drop support for 32-bit Windows, Linux, and PS4 for what is essentially a glorified learning project. As to where the profits to this game will go - we never post about donations and charity work until afterwards so you're just gonna have to wait and find out. It isn't just OS support that's an issue either. The barrier of entry for UE5 is a GTX 1070 MINIMUM. We painstakingly optimized the crap out of the original game to get 1080p@30fps on a GTX 750ti and 1080p@60fps on a GTX 970. Again, we can't/won't alienate that portion of the player base that's already purchased the game. Which brings me to the last, and possibly most important portion of this post...
How to Access the New Version
Go to your Steam library >> Right click CAT Interstellar >> "Select Properties..." >> Select "BETAS" >> Select the _ue5 branch >> download >> play game This branch will be updated along with the Remastered application so everyone who owns the original game will have access to the remastered version.
How you can help
Updoot this thread and tell your mum you love her.
Also, this is likely the first game published using the Unreal Engine so any feedback on your frame rate and graphics card would be incredibly helpful. P.S. I need the Fancy Pants, Super Star, Mind Blow, Heartwarming awards to win them all.
Prologue
Sergeant Gary Freeman, your leave request has been denied indefinitely. Im sure you expected as much but I hate to be the one to officially decline it. I understand you have a son back on Earth but we require your immediate attention. We do not yet know all the details that led to the collapse of our Martian SkyLift network nor the likelihood of the complete planetary destruction of Mars. Stabilizing the degradation of the plant and analyzing the potential of orbital debris impacting Earth has been rightfully allocated to the Armys Corp of Engineers. Our responsibilities, as usual, are more direct in nature.
The catalyst that started the destruction of our SkyLift network began in Sector 17 and cascaded around the equator of the planet. Military Intelligence has discovered several unusual work orders and taskings in that sector but, most notably, the commission of a DOG-IV unit to assist an android in recovering some surveyor drones. Given these drones are disposable by design we think this may have been a cover. We cannot yet prove the Androids purposefully caused this catastrophe, but tensions have been rising and this incident certainly ensures a large portion of forces will be occupied. Your mission is to travel to Sector 17, deactivate Android 42 and recover his data log. As you know your Marine Transporter has a planetary drop pod capable to breaching the debris fields and reaching the planets surface. Extraction will be a more difficult task but, as youre reading this message, the U.N.S.S. Gabrielle is positioning herself in orbit around Mars. The Gabrielle has a dozen ships capable of surface extractions.
Given your current orbit, the drop pod can only get you as close as Sector 15. From there youll have to navigate through the B.13 Passage. Your power armor should make traversing the terrain possible. Were also looking for any equipment cache in the area. A pair of jump-jets would be very useful.
That passage terminates at a water processing plant. Assuming the emergency power is still on youll be able to take the elevator down to Turing Canyon. Theres an unmanned Marine outpost there where youll be able to get whatever weapons and equipment you think youll need. Im not sure if the Osprey VTOL is practical since the massive increase in meteor strikes but the Puma Rover should get you to the Power-Station at the edge of Sector 17. This is the last location we Android 42 accessed the network.
P.S. Thanks to the 40+ people that made it to the live stream last night! That was a lot more fun than I expected. I'll keep the store front open to anyone who wants to stream until the sale is over. We'll definitely do it again with some key drops (I'll make sure the chat works this time steamhappy ). To the other 7.5 billion people who couldn't make it... you're dead to me.
[ 2021-05-01 17:35:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Encrypted Message from Colonel Alexander -
Sergeant Gary Freeman, your leave request has been denied indefinitely. Im sure you expected as much but I hate to be the one to officially decline it. I understand you have a son back on Earth but we require your immediate attention. We do not yet know all the details that led to the collapse of our Martian SkyLift network nor the likelihood of the complete planetary destruction of Mars. Stabilizing the degradation of the plant and analyzing the potential of orbital debris impacting Earth has been rightfully allocated to the Armys Corp of Engineers. Our responsibilities, as usual, are more direct in nature.
The catalyst that started the destruction of our SkyLift network began in Sector 17 and cascaded around the equator of the planet. Military Intelligence has discovered several unusual work orders and taskings in that sector but, most notably, the commission of a DOG-IV unit to assist an android in recovering some surveyor drones. Given these drones are disposable by design we think this may have been a cover. We cannot yet prove the Androids purposefully caused this catastrophe, but tensions have been rising and this incident certainly ensures a large portion of forces will be occupied. Your mission is to travel to Sector 17, deactivate Android 42 and recover his data log. As you know your Marine Transporter has a planetary drop pod capable to breaching the debris fields and reaching the planets surface. Extraction will be a more difficult task but, as youre reading this message, the U.N.S.S. Gabrielle is positioning herself in orbit around Mars. The Gabrielle has a dozen ships capable of surface extractions.
Given your current orbit, the drop pod can only get you as close as Sector 15. From there youll have to navigate through the B.13 Passage. Your power armor should make traversing the terrain possible. Were also looking for any equipment cache in the area. A pair of jump-jets would be very useful.
That passage terminates at a water processing plant. Assuming the emergency power is still on youll be able to take the elevator down to Turing Canyon. Theres an unmanned Marine outpost there where youll be able to get whatever weapons and equipment you think youll need. Im not sure if the Osprey VTOL is practical since the massive increase in meteor strikes but the Puma Rover should get you to the Power-Station at the edge of Sector 17. This is the last location we Android 42 accessed the network.
Your mission is to find Android 42.
- End Of Message
P.S. Thanks to the 40+ people that made it to the live stream last night! That was a lot more fun than I expected. I'll keep the store front open to anyone who wants to stream until the sale is over. We'll definitely do it again with some key drops (I'll make sure the chat works this time steamhappy ). To the other 7.5 billion people who couldn't make it... you're dead to me.
Community Live Stream
[ 2021-04-27 23:26:13 CET ] [ Original post ]
I've never done one of these live streams before but we have to gin up support somehow so... Let's do a Face Reveal!?!
Ionized Games face reveal for 1 million followers and a billion dollars!!!
Ziggy, Our Chief Financial Officer might even make an appearance!
We'll take an inside look at Episode II
And even see how close I've gotten to porting the Episode I over to UE4.26!
April 26, at 7:15 CST That's 4,4370 minutes from the posting of the message.
Join The Discord Server!!!
CAT Interstellar: Episode II
I am so flippin excited to announce what everyone probably already guessed:
That's right, we're officially developing the second installment of the CAT Interstellar series and it's gonna be nuts!!! We got Martian Rovers, Marines hunting Android 42, possibly the ability to fly this thing
and best of all - some closure to the story arc DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4
I mainly wanted to you this post to thank everyone who helped to support this game. Development of Episode I was incredibly difficult, frustrating, and there were times I genuinely thought about giving up and abandoning the game in Steam's Early Access graveyard. It's a sad reality that most all indie games never make it to a full release. I didn't realize the technical, financial, and mental hurdles I was up against when I started this game so I mean this in the most literal sense:
The interactions with the community is something I didn't really expect when I started but was blown away at how engaged people were. There are people who have been following this game for 5 years and still drop in to show their support and give input. At some point I even started appreciating the hecklers. I mean seriously, this game was actually good/bad enough to catch their attention. They noticed us and even that's pretty cool. I think this next installment is going to go a little smoother. I'm definitely more prepared considering I made almost every mistake you could with the first game. I really enjoy writing science-fiction and developing games. I also love engaging with the community.
Just to recap some of the stuff WE did:
Don't let the freckles fool you. They're little terrorists.
Aside from donating all your money to us the most helpful things you can do to support the game are:
Lastly, if there's other smaller indie games you like to play. I would highly recommend dropping in their forums and giving them a piece of your mind (in a good way). Most developers would love to talk to you about their game even if it's about the problems with the game. It can be a lonely world out there.
[ 2021-04-22 20:24:48 CET ] [ Original post ]
Finally
I am so flippin excited to announce what everyone probably already guessed:
CAT Interstellar: Episode II
That's right, we're officially developing the second installment of the CAT Interstellar series and it's gonna be nuts!!! We got Martian Rovers, Marines hunting Android 42, possibly the ability to fly this thing
and best of all - some closure to the story arc DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4DOGV4
Head over to the new store page now for CAT Interstellar: Episode II for more content, story, and development updates.
Thank You
I mainly wanted to you this post to thank everyone who helped to support this game. Development of Episode I was incredibly difficult, frustrating, and there were times I genuinely thought about giving up and abandoning the game in Steam's Early Access graveyard. It's a sad reality that most all indie games never make it to a full release. I didn't realize the technical, financial, and mental hurdles I was up against when I started this game so I mean this in the most literal sense:
I could not have done this without you
The interactions with the community is something I didn't really expect when I started but was blown away at how engaged people were. There are people who have been following this game for 5 years and still drop in to show their support and give input. At some point I even started appreciating the hecklers. I mean seriously, this game was actually good/bad enough to catch their attention. They noticed us and even that's pretty cool. I think this next installment is going to go a little smoother. I'm definitely more prepared considering I made almost every mistake you could with the first game. I really enjoy writing science-fiction and developing games. I also love engaging with the community.
Just to recap some of the stuff WE did:
- We shipped over 100,000 units of the game on PC, Linux, and PlayStation.
- We had a compitition to guess what type of breed my dog was.
- you all fixed must of the bugs for me, and basically wrote the story [ 1, 2. 3].
- My dog was promoted to Senior Programmer and then somehow Chief Financial Officer.
- I raised the price in a get rich quick scheme.
- We vastly improved the main character.
- We used proceeds from the game to sponsor a number of dogs in foster care.
- That isn't even half of the fun we had making this game and it's just the beginning.
Don't let the freckles fool you. They're little terrorists.
What can you do to help?
Aside from donating all your money to us the most helpful things you can do to support the game are:
Reviewing The Game <======
Follow and Wishlist CAT Interstellar: Episode II <======
Spay and Neuter your animals
Also,I feel like like a goober saying this but, I guess follow us on twitter? It's meh but I post a lot of screenshots and videos there.
Lastly, if there's other smaller indie games you like to play. I would highly recommend dropping in their forums and giving them a piece of your mind (in a good way). Most developers would love to talk to you about their game even if it's about the problems with the game. It can be a lonely world out there.
(Pre) Big Announcement
You read that correctly, against all conventional thinking Im actually going to raise the price of this game to $9.99 USD. The one thing I want all the newcomers here to know is we have no idea what were doing. Seriously, not a clue. BUT Ive learned a little bit over the last 5 years releasing this game on Steam and the PlayStation Store and I can assure you I won't make an extra dime directly by raising the price.
It's simple, nobody buys this game. We only sell ~1 unit a week If the game isnt on sale and I still intend to do HEAVY sales like we always have. So, if youre thinking about buying the game before the price increase DONT!!! wait until the next sale on April 22nd and pick it up for $0.99!!! So why increase the price? One thing I learned too late is that companies must make money to stay in business. Not us though because we donated most of our profits to animal shelters like chumps steamsalty (I'm actually very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a community). Most distributors and publishers need to make money to pay their employees and keep the ball rolling. I guess thats understandable but because of that they generally dont see games under $10 as financially viable to promote. So, by raising the price we gain a lot more leverage to promote the game. Currently, my personal goal for CAT Interstellar is to get as many people to play it as possible. I really enjoy the game development process, writing science fiction stories, and I absolutely love interacting with the community. Maybe one day, years from now, Ill be seasoned enough at game development to do this as a career but I currently still work a full time job and have a family so it takes me a lot longer than other studios to get content out. Additionally, I totally understand all the criticisms and critiques you all have voiced about this game. There are thousands of forum posts and reviews and I have read every single one of them and tried to respond to most Except the latest forum post Hey. DEV WHY U MAKE SO HARD WORK FOR NOTHING??? which Im still trying to think of a clever response. Seriously though, I can't even begin to tell you how blown away I am that people bought this game 5 years ago and are still active on the forums. As for the big announcement, theres gonna be a sequel and its gonna kick some major ass. I wasnt shoveling manure when I said I understand the criticisms. As a first-time game developer, publisher, and writer there was a number of mistakes I made (mainly with the story) that I didnt even realize until it was too late. I totally see how the game seems disconnected but it is not and I fully intend to close a lot of those holes with Episode II.
I really believe this game will carry a lot more weight when viewed in the context of the whole story arc. the primary purpose of the CAT Interstellar story is to introduce a faster-than-light (FTL) drive called The Stutter Drive. A concept I started while getting my physics degree and have been working on for 6 years!!! [previewyoutube=UmXzbsBk7Mk;full][/previewyoutube] As an example of my failure to properly story tell (spoiler): [spoiler]The Stutter Drive is a derivative technology of the stutter assembler seen here:
[/spoiler] Im a little disappointed than none of you picked up on that considering I made no mention of it in the game or dialog. The game is littered with similar references like this to Earth, the U.N.C., and even the moon. Btw, the cat at the end doesnt die. In fact, Nature is about to make a major comeback on Earth. Ill be dropping a lot more details about the sequel leading up to an actual announcement but were going to do a episodic structure. You can also follow us on twitter @ionizedgames where well be tweetering things. Lastly, the CAT Interstellar: Episode II will be a separate application. There's just no realistic way to merge the two after 5 years of engine updates but I figured one thing I could do is open a beta branch so you all can have access to the second episode at least through the beta. I'll also try to dig through the mountain of Steam documentation and see what else is possible. I genuinely appreciate your support and I couldn't have made it this far without you. I hope you're all buckled in for the next iteration of the CAT Interstellar universe because it's gonna be nuts!!!
P.S. I know people have strong feelings whenever cost is mentioned. As always, you can be a harsh/blunt to me as you want since I'm just a computer but please be respectful to other users.
[ 2021-03-17 14:12:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
Price hike
You read that correctly, against all conventional thinking Im actually going to raise the price of this game to $9.99 USD. The one thing I want all the newcomers here to know is we have no idea what were doing. Seriously, not a clue. BUT Ive learned a little bit over the last 5 years releasing this game on Steam and the PlayStation Store and I can assure you I won't make an extra dime directly by raising the price.
"How is that possible?!?" You might ask.
It's simple, nobody buys this game. We only sell ~1 unit a week If the game isnt on sale and I still intend to do HEAVY sales like we always have. So, if youre thinking about buying the game before the price increase DONT!!! wait until the next sale on April 22nd and pick it up for $0.99!!! So why increase the price? One thing I learned too late is that companies must make money to stay in business. Not us though because we donated most of our profits to animal shelters like chumps steamsalty (I'm actually very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a community). Most distributors and publishers need to make money to pay their employees and keep the ball rolling. I guess thats understandable but because of that they generally dont see games under $10 as financially viable to promote. So, by raising the price we gain a lot more leverage to promote the game. Currently, my personal goal for CAT Interstellar is to get as many people to play it as possible. I really enjoy the game development process, writing science fiction stories, and I absolutely love interacting with the community. Maybe one day, years from now, Ill be seasoned enough at game development to do this as a career but I currently still work a full time job and have a family so it takes me a lot longer than other studios to get content out. Additionally, I totally understand all the criticisms and critiques you all have voiced about this game. There are thousands of forum posts and reviews and I have read every single one of them and tried to respond to most Except the latest forum post Hey. DEV WHY U MAKE SO HARD WORK FOR NOTHING??? which Im still trying to think of a clever response. Seriously though, I can't even begin to tell you how blown away I am that people bought this game 5 years ago and are still active on the forums. As for the big announcement, theres gonna be a sequel and its gonna kick some major ass. I wasnt shoveling manure when I said I understand the criticisms. As a first-time game developer, publisher, and writer there was a number of mistakes I made (mainly with the story) that I didnt even realize until it was too late. I totally see how the game seems disconnected but it is not and I fully intend to close a lot of those holes with Episode II.
I really believe this game will carry a lot more weight when viewed in the context of the whole story arc. the primary purpose of the CAT Interstellar story is to introduce a faster-than-light (FTL) drive called The Stutter Drive. A concept I started while getting my physics degree and have been working on for 6 years!!! [previewyoutube=UmXzbsBk7Mk;full][/previewyoutube] As an example of my failure to properly story tell (spoiler): [spoiler]The Stutter Drive is a derivative technology of the stutter assembler seen here:
[/spoiler] Im a little disappointed than none of you picked up on that considering I made no mention of it in the game or dialog. The game is littered with similar references like this to Earth, the U.N.C., and even the moon. Btw, the cat at the end doesnt die. In fact, Nature is about to make a major comeback on Earth. Ill be dropping a lot more details about the sequel leading up to an actual announcement but were going to do a episodic structure. You can also follow us on twitter @ionizedgames where well be tweetering things. Lastly, the CAT Interstellar: Episode II will be a separate application. There's just no realistic way to merge the two after 5 years of engine updates but I figured one thing I could do is open a beta branch so you all can have access to the second episode at least through the beta. I'll also try to dig through the mountain of Steam documentation and see what else is possible. I genuinely appreciate your support and I couldn't have made it this far without you. I hope you're all buckled in for the next iteration of the CAT Interstellar universe because it's gonna be nuts!!!
P.S. I know people have strong feelings whenever cost is mentioned. As always, you can be a harsh/blunt to me as you want since I'm just a computer but please be respectful to other users.
Turing Canyon
A favorite site among Martian Advertiser selling the idea of a terraformed Mars. Turing Canyon was formed from millions of gallons of defrosted water runoff caused by the initial nuclear bombardment stage of the planet. The storm pressure above the canyon raises the barometeric pressure to 9psi allowing for larger Earth origin fauna and flora to live without pressure suits. Rovers are required to traverse the terrain.
[ 2021-02-28 23:37:36 CET ] [ Original post ]
Turing Canyon
A favorite site among Martian Advertiser selling the idea of a terraformed Mars. Turing Canyon was formed from millions of gallons of defrosted water runoff caused by the initial nuclear bombardment stage of the planet. The storm pressure above the canyon raises the barometeric pressure to 9psi allowing for larger Earth origin fauna and flora to live without pressure suits. Rovers are required to traverse the terrain.
Update 5.1.0 (Pay-2-Win)
On a more serious note, I wanted to thank everyone for their support of this goofy little project. In total weve shipped about 100,000 units through Steam, Humble Bundle, and the Playstation Store. Its worth noting that the vast majority of those were purchased through bundles and Steam Sales. While I honestly never expected the game to produce any profit, it grossed on average $8,000/yr over the 4 years its been on the market (after taxes and royalties). Im very honored to say that the bulk of that revenue went to either my wife and I fostering over 30 animals or was donated to our local humane society. I tried not to promote that fact until we had essentially cut the revenue stream since it seemed like a sleazy sales tactic. I wanted to mention it now since it was you all who helped make that happen. It has been a bizarre and amazing experience to be able to help our four-legged friends through a weird little Indie game on Steam. This will be our last sale before the game goes completely free.
This most recent update contains small map modifications, bug fixes, and a suggestion from the community to reshuffle the last two chapters to better separate the epilogue from the main story (insert joke about how it still makes no sense and is a tech demo). Again, thank you for all the help, feedback, and support you've given over the last 4 years. I truly could not have done this without you nor would I have wanted to. The only regret I have is being so slow at developing CAT Interstellar 2. Between a full time job and a kid on the way Ive had to totally reevaluate how to maintain a development schedule without burning out or neglecting other responsibilities. With that being said, I'm hoping I'll have some content of CAT Interstellar 2 to share soon!!!
[ 2019-08-11 21:03:51 CET ] [ Original post ]
Ziggy, our junior programmer, has shown incredible potential in economic theory and so weve promoted him to Chief Financial Officer. His first act as CFO is to dramatically increase profits by making CAT Interstellar a Pay-To-Win er I mean, Free-To-Play game.
It is worth noting that Kitty, the Treasurer at Ionized Games, has concerns that a single player game with no microtransactions, streaming income, or advertisers could potential fail to generate any profit but...
We try not to take cats too seriously so
On September 7th CAT Interstellar will be 100% free!!!
On a more serious note, I wanted to thank everyone for their support of this goofy little project. In total weve shipped about 100,000 units through Steam, Humble Bundle, and the Playstation Store. Its worth noting that the vast majority of those were purchased through bundles and Steam Sales. While I honestly never expected the game to produce any profit, it grossed on average $8,000/yr over the 4 years its been on the market (after taxes and royalties). Im very honored to say that the bulk of that revenue went to either my wife and I fostering over 30 animals or was donated to our local humane society. I tried not to promote that fact until we had essentially cut the revenue stream since it seemed like a sleazy sales tactic. I wanted to mention it now since it was you all who helped make that happen. It has been a bizarre and amazing experience to be able to help our four-legged friends through a weird little Indie game on Steam. This will be our last sale before the game goes completely free.
Update Notes
This most recent update contains small map modifications, bug fixes, and a suggestion from the community to reshuffle the last two chapters to better separate the epilogue from the main story (insert joke about how it still makes no sense and is a tech demo). Again, thank you for all the help, feedback, and support you've given over the last 4 years. I truly could not have done this without you nor would I have wanted to. The only regret I have is being so slow at developing CAT Interstellar 2. Between a full time job and a kid on the way Ive had to totally reevaluate how to maintain a development schedule without burning out or neglecting other responsibilities. With that being said, I'm hoping I'll have some content of CAT Interstellar 2 to share soon!!!
Version 5.0.0 - Release
CAT Interstellar was always intended to be about an hour long and tell a very short story about an unfortunate event on Mars. I think it meets the requirements of the original design document. Regardless, doing a Full Release has a number of benefits, one of them being my psyche, with the other two being that I can focus a lot more time on support issues like VR and Localization.
I know a significant number of you see a lot more potential in this game but keep in mind, nothing is lost. We’ve built a number of systems, pipelines, and mechanics that will absolutely be used again (and should eventually be available to you through the project files). This isn’t the end of the CAT Interstellar universe either. Earth is still a frozen wasteland with a population of just under a billion people. All of them starving for a new home. There are half a million androids in geostationary limbo with no place to call their own and no task to focus their, so called, sub-sentient minds. The contracting company, CAT Interstellar, has failed to terraform Mars and they are desperately looking opportunities to exploit. A massive communications array on the Moon that connects all outposts and habitats in the solar system is beginning to become self-aware. Androids 388 and 461 aren’t ready to abandon Android 42 if there’s a chance he’s still alive. All while the United Nations Common (UNC), Earth’s loosely agreed on government, is trying to ensure everything doesn’t come apart at the seams. Anyways, back to the update...
Gameplay Adjustments:
I've added a VR branch for alpha testing. Thank you for your patience with this. To gain access go to your Steam Library, Right-click CAT Interstellar and select Properties. Inside the properties window select the BETAS tab. You Should see a drop down with vr_alpha – VR Testing. Select this and the game should start to update on its own. Once the download is complete you’ll be able to play. The VR mechanics were rebuilt from scratch and any feedback on the controls or perspectives would be greatly appreciated. I’ve started a new support thread HERE.
The first iteration of the project files uploaded as free DLC. It includes the Meshes, Animations, Audio and Code(blueprints) for DOG-V. I’m releasing the files under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International. You’re free to strip what you need for your own projects but give credit in some form. I’ll update the project with new textures, audio, meshes, and shaders as I replace the ones in-game. The format of the project requires that you have Unreal Engine 4.17.1 installed. I DO take requests so if there's something in the game you want to know about don't hesitate to ask. I've started a thread specific to the project files here.HERE.
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize an Ionized Games employee who went above and beyond what was expected. Ziggy is a junior programmer who has been with us since the founding of Ionized Games. For his efforts in getting this game released he is being promoted to Senior Programmer effective immediately.
It's hard me to wrap my head around just how far this game has come but, one thing is for sure, I couldn't have done it without your support. I have written and re-written this statement over and over and still can't think of a way to express my gratitude to you. The best I can do is try to make more and more assets available to you to make your own games. Regardless, thank you again for everything.
Sincerely, IG
[ 2017-10-06 11:55:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
Barring any major bugs discovered this will be the version used for the full release.
Why do a Full Release?
CAT Interstellar was always intended to be about an hour long and tell a very short story about an unfortunate event on Mars. I think it meets the requirements of the original design document. Regardless, doing a Full Release has a number of benefits, one of them being my psyche, with the other two being that I can focus a lot more time on support issues like VR and Localization.
What’s Next?
I know a significant number of you see a lot more potential in this game but keep in mind, nothing is lost. We’ve built a number of systems, pipelines, and mechanics that will absolutely be used again (and should eventually be available to you through the project files). This isn’t the end of the CAT Interstellar universe either. Earth is still a frozen wasteland with a population of just under a billion people. All of them starving for a new home. There are half a million androids in geostationary limbo with no place to call their own and no task to focus their, so called, sub-sentient minds. The contracting company, CAT Interstellar, has failed to terraform Mars and they are desperately looking opportunities to exploit. A massive communications array on the Moon that connects all outposts and habitats in the solar system is beginning to become self-aware. Androids 388 and 461 aren’t ready to abandon Android 42 if there’s a chance he’s still alive. All while the United Nations Common (UNC), Earth’s loosely agreed on government, is trying to ensure everything doesn’t come apart at the seams. Anyways, back to the update...
What’s in the Update?
Gameplay Adjustments:
- Set subtitles default to off
- Adjusted the Cat characters fur to look a little better
- Minor Layout adjustments to all the levels
- Adjusted Android Trigger volumes
- Changes to Signals Ending Sequence
- Added “Planet:” to chapter start screen to make the locations more obvious
- Added additional dialog to the Base level
- Key Rebinding is back online!!!
- Fixed numerous grammatical errors on android 42’s text box
- Fixed bug where Laboratory door could trap the player
- Adjusted Android 42's follow distance so he shouldn’t trap players anymore
- Bug on the surface where players could get stuck near the greenhouse
VR
I've added a VR branch for alpha testing. Thank you for your patience with this. To gain access go to your Steam Library, Right-click CAT Interstellar and select Properties. Inside the properties window select the BETAS tab. You Should see a drop down with vr_alpha – VR Testing. Select this and the game should start to update on its own. Once the download is complete you’ll be able to play. The VR mechanics were rebuilt from scratch and any feedback on the controls or perspectives would be greatly appreciated. I’ve started a new support thread HERE.
Project Files
The first iteration of the project files uploaded as free DLC. It includes the Meshes, Animations, Audio and Code(blueprints) for DOG-V. I’m releasing the files under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International. You’re free to strip what you need for your own projects but give credit in some form. I’ll update the project with new textures, audio, meshes, and shaders as I replace the ones in-game. The format of the project requires that you have Unreal Engine 4.17.1 installed. I DO take requests so if there's something in the game you want to know about don't hesitate to ask. I've started a thread specific to the project files here.HERE.
Employee of the Month
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize an Ionized Games employee who went above and beyond what was expected. Ziggy is a junior programmer who has been with us since the founding of Ionized Games. For his efforts in getting this game released he is being promoted to Senior Programmer effective immediately.
Lastly, Thank you
It's hard me to wrap my head around just how far this game has come but, one thing is for sure, I couldn't have done it without your support. I have written and re-written this statement over and over and still can't think of a way to express my gratitude to you. The best I can do is try to make more and more assets available to you to make your own games. Regardless, thank you again for everything.
Sincerely, IG
Version 5.0.0 - Release
CAT Interstellar was always intended to be about an hour long and tell a very short story about an unfortunate event on Mars. I think it meets the requirements of the original design document. Regardless, doing a Full Release has a number of benefits, one of them being my psyche, with the other two being that I can focus a lot more time on support issues like VR and Localization.
I know a significant number of you see a lot more potential in this game but keep in mind, nothing is lost. Weve built a number of systems, pipelines, and mechanics that will absolutely be used again (and should eventually be available to you through the project files). This isnt the end of the CAT Interstellar universe either. Earth is still a frozen wasteland with a population of just under a billion people. All of them starving for a new home. There are half a million androids in geostationary limbo with no place to call their own and no task to focus their, so called, sub-sentient minds. The contracting company, CAT Interstellar, has failed to terraform Mars and they are desperately looking opportunities to exploit. A massive communications array on the Moon that connects all outposts and habitats in the solar system is beginning to become self-aware. Androids 388 and 461 arent ready to abandon Android 42 if theres a chance hes still alive. All while the United Nations Common (UNC), Earths loosely agreed on government, is trying to ensure everything doesnt come apart at the seams. Anyways, back to the update...
Gameplay Adjustments:
I've added a VR branch for alpha testing. Thank you for your patience with this. To gain access go to your Steam Library, Right-click CAT Interstellar and select Properties. Inside the properties window select the BETAS tab. You Should see a drop down with vr_alpha VR Testing. Select this and the game should start to update on its own. Once the download is complete youll be able to play. The VR mechanics were rebuilt from scratch and any feedback on the controls or perspectives would be greatly appreciated. Ive started a new support thread HERE.
The first iteration of the project files uploaded as free DLC. It includes the Meshes, Animations, Audio and Code(blueprints) for DOG-V. Im releasing the files under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International. Youre free to strip what you need for your own projects but give credit in some form. Ill update the project with new textures, audio, meshes, and shaders as I replace the ones in-game. The format of the project requires that you have Unreal Engine 4.17.1 installed. I DO take requests so if there's something in the game you want to know about don't hesitate to ask. I've started a thread specific to the project files here.HERE.
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize an Ionized Games employee who went above and beyond what was expected. Ziggy is a junior programmer who has been with us since the founding of Ionized Games. For his efforts in getting this game released he is being promoted to Senior Programmer effective immediately.
It's hard me to wrap my head around just how far this game has come but, one thing is for sure, I couldn't have done it without your support. I have written and re-written this statement over and over and still can't think of a way to express my gratitude to you. The best I can do is try to make more and more assets available to you to make your own games. Regardless, thank you again for everything.
Sincerely, IG
[ 2017-10-06 11:55:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
Barring any major bugs discovered this will be the version used for the full release.
Why do a Full Release?
CAT Interstellar was always intended to be about an hour long and tell a very short story about an unfortunate event on Mars. I think it meets the requirements of the original design document. Regardless, doing a Full Release has a number of benefits, one of them being my psyche, with the other two being that I can focus a lot more time on support issues like VR and Localization.
Whats Next?
I know a significant number of you see a lot more potential in this game but keep in mind, nothing is lost. Weve built a number of systems, pipelines, and mechanics that will absolutely be used again (and should eventually be available to you through the project files). This isnt the end of the CAT Interstellar universe either. Earth is still a frozen wasteland with a population of just under a billion people. All of them starving for a new home. There are half a million androids in geostationary limbo with no place to call their own and no task to focus their, so called, sub-sentient minds. The contracting company, CAT Interstellar, has failed to terraform Mars and they are desperately looking opportunities to exploit. A massive communications array on the Moon that connects all outposts and habitats in the solar system is beginning to become self-aware. Androids 388 and 461 arent ready to abandon Android 42 if theres a chance hes still alive. All while the United Nations Common (UNC), Earths loosely agreed on government, is trying to ensure everything doesnt come apart at the seams. Anyways, back to the update...
Whats in the Update?
Gameplay Adjustments:
- Set subtitles default to off
- Adjusted the Cat characters fur to look a little better
- Minor Layout adjustments to all the levels
- Adjusted Android Trigger volumes
- Changes to Signals Ending Sequence
- Added Planet: to chapter start screen to make the locations more obvious
- Added additional dialog to the Base level
- Key Rebinding is back online!!!
- Fixed numerous grammatical errors on android 42s text box
- Fixed bug where Laboratory door could trap the player
- Adjusted Android 42's follow distance so he shouldnt trap players anymore
- Bug on the surface where players could get stuck near the greenhouse
VR
I've added a VR branch for alpha testing. Thank you for your patience with this. To gain access go to your Steam Library, Right-click CAT Interstellar and select Properties. Inside the properties window select the BETAS tab. You Should see a drop down with vr_alpha VR Testing. Select this and the game should start to update on its own. Once the download is complete youll be able to play. The VR mechanics were rebuilt from scratch and any feedback on the controls or perspectives would be greatly appreciated. Ive started a new support thread HERE.
Project Files
The first iteration of the project files uploaded as free DLC. It includes the Meshes, Animations, Audio and Code(blueprints) for DOG-V. Im releasing the files under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International. Youre free to strip what you need for your own projects but give credit in some form. Ill update the project with new textures, audio, meshes, and shaders as I replace the ones in-game. The format of the project requires that you have Unreal Engine 4.17.1 installed. I DO take requests so if there's something in the game you want to know about don't hesitate to ask. I've started a thread specific to the project files here.HERE.
Employee of the Month
I also want to take this opportunity to recognize an Ionized Games employee who went above and beyond what was expected. Ziggy is a junior programmer who has been with us since the founding of Ionized Games. For his efforts in getting this game released he is being promoted to Senior Programmer effective immediately.
Lastly, Thank you
It's hard me to wrap my head around just how far this game has come but, one thing is for sure, I couldn't have done it without your support. I have written and re-written this statement over and over and still can't think of a way to express my gratitude to you. The best I can do is try to make more and more assets available to you to make your own games. Regardless, thank you again for everything.
Sincerely, IG
Update 4.0.1 (Story)
The goal of this project is to tell a science fiction story that can be completed in a single sitting. I’m fully aware that if I was smarter I would be making mad cash with a multiplayer survivor game. I just personally don't have the free time anymore to level a character up or win an argument on the internet. That’s the audience I’ve been going after since day one. I’ve tried to make that as clear as possible on the store page but if you have any idea how to convey that better please let me know.
Maybe we'll try to get rich next time.
A few months ago we donated some of the game profit in the hopes of helping a few foster dogs and I thought it was a good time to give you an update:
Bojangles and Roxy both got adopted by great families and are F'ing loving life.
Sis is still at Tails (The foster agency) but is gaining confidence everyday and making huge progress. She's made a lot of dog friends and is relatively comfortable with humans she knows.
Slim Jim is in a foster home... but it's looking more like a forever home because they really love him.
It's unfortunate you would find out about this from a crummy game announcement on Steam, but Foggy Nelson took a turn for the worse and passed away from some of the lingering issues he had when he was found. I wish I only had good news for you but that's just not how it works. Regardless, even though we’re just an obscure indie game with a knack for delays we’re going to try to help in a much bigger way. I’ll have more details on this in the future.
Subtitle error for android 42 and the missing 'L' in chapter 5 starting screen.
[ 2017-08-11 21:43:04 CET ] [ Original post ]
TL;DR this is the full story of CAT Interstellar with the subtitle system re-vamped. This build is worth another play-through from beginning to end.
Content
- Cave scene ending with all triggers and key events.
- Signals full sequence of events.
- Credits completed.
- Added additional dialog sequences to “The Base” and “Credits”.
Adjustments
- Added a second Android type.
- Adjusted mechanics of the Cat character to make the movement a little smoother.
- Speech Bubbles (Subtitles) are now enabled by default.
Bug fixes
- Missing rocks allowed the player to get behind the wind tunnel.
- Numerous subtitle fixes.
Known Issues:
- “Signals” start screen cut off the last ‘L’.
- Music at the end of “The Caves” is buggy.
- Key rebinding is still down.
Project Files
-
The only thing holding this up is the audio files. I’m trying to commission some audio effects for release under a creative commons license. Once that’s complete, I’ll push the first project version which primarily consists of all the code, animations, texture, and shaders for DOG.
To Do
- Improve the 2D graphics for in-game consoles.
- Re-record key dialog.
- Add more ambient sounds, effects, and props.
- I’ve moved the release date back (again) to September 8th. I kind of screwed myself by doing a sale the last 2 weeks. I’ll go into a lot more detail about the business side of things but first I need to read through the SteamWorks documentation again and verify all the information I’m allowed to release. Having information on the business side of game development will be as helpful as the project files.
Purpose
The goal of this project is to tell a science fiction story that can be completed in a single sitting. I’m fully aware that if I was smarter I would be making mad cash with a multiplayer survivor game. I just personally don't have the free time anymore to level a character up or win an argument on the internet. That’s the audience I’ve been going after since day one. I’ve tried to make that as clear as possible on the store page but if you have any idea how to convey that better please let me know.
Maybe we'll try to get rich next time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Community
A few months ago we donated some of the game profit in the hopes of helping a few foster dogs and I thought it was a good time to give you an update:
Bojangles and Roxy both got adopted by great families and are F'ing loving life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sis is still at Tails (The foster agency) but is gaining confidence everyday and making huge progress. She's made a lot of dog friends and is relatively comfortable with humans she knows.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Slim Jim is in a foster home... but it's looking more like a forever home because they really love him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It's unfortunate you would find out about this from a crummy game announcement on Steam, but Foggy Nelson took a turn for the worse and passed away from some of the lingering issues he had when he was found. I wish I only had good news for you but that's just not how it works. Regardless, even though we’re just an obscure indie game with a knack for delays we’re going to try to help in a much bigger way. I’ll have more details on this in the future.
As always, Thank you for all the support you given. We’re almost there.
Hot-Fix:
Subtitle error for android 42 and the missing 'L' in chapter 5 starting screen.
Update 4.0.1 (Story)
The goal of this project is to tell a science fiction story that can be completed in a single sitting. Im fully aware that if I was smarter I would be making mad cash with a multiplayer survivor game. I just personally don't have the free time anymore to level a character up or win an argument on the internet. Thats the audience Ive been going after since day one. Ive tried to make that as clear as possible on the store page but if you have any idea how to convey that better please let me know.
Maybe we'll try to get rich next time.
A few months ago we donated some of the game profit in the hopes of helping a few foster dogs and I thought it was a good time to give you an update:
Bojangles and Roxy both got adopted by great families and are F'ing loving life.
Sis is still at Tails (The foster agency) but is gaining confidence everyday and making huge progress. She's made a lot of dog friends and is relatively comfortable with humans she knows.
Slim Jim is in a foster home... but it's looking more like a forever home because they really love him.
It's unfortunate you would find out about this from a crummy game announcement on Steam, but Foggy Nelson took a turn for the worse and passed away from some of the lingering issues he had when he was found. I wish I only had good news for you but that's just not how it works. Regardless, even though were just an obscure indie game with a knack for delays were going to try to help in a much bigger way. Ill have more details on this in the future.
Subtitle error for android 42 and the missing 'L' in chapter 5 starting screen.
[ 2017-08-11 17:21:56 CET ] [ Original post ]
TL;DR this is the full story of CAT Interstellar with the subtitle system re-vamped. This build is worth another play-through from beginning to end.
Content
- Cave scene ending with all triggers and key events.
- Signals full sequence of events.
- Credits completed.
- Added additional dialog sequences to The Base and Credits.
Adjustments
- Added a second Android type.
- Adjusted mechanics of the Cat character to make the movement a little smoother.
- Speech Bubbles (Subtitles) are now enabled by default.
Bug fixes
- Missing rocks allowed the player to get behind the wind tunnel.
- Numerous subtitle fixes.
Known Issues:
- Signals start screen cut off the last L.
- Music at the end of The Caves is buggy.
- Key rebinding is still down.
Project Files
-
The only thing holding this up is the audio files. Im trying to commission some audio effects for release under a creative commons license. Once thats complete, Ill push the first project version which primarily consists of all the code, animations, texture, and shaders for DOG.
To Do
- Improve the 2D graphics for in-game consoles.
- Re-record key dialog.
- Add more ambient sounds, effects, and props.
- Ive moved the release date back (again) to September 8th. I kind of screwed myself by doing a sale the last 2 weeks. Ill go into a lot more detail about the business side of things but first I need to read through the SteamWorks documentation again and verify all the information Im allowed to release. Having information on the business side of game development will be as helpful as the project files.
Purpose
The goal of this project is to tell a science fiction story that can be completed in a single sitting. Im fully aware that if I was smarter I would be making mad cash with a multiplayer survivor game. I just personally don't have the free time anymore to level a character up or win an argument on the internet. Thats the audience Ive been going after since day one. Ive tried to make that as clear as possible on the store page but if you have any idea how to convey that better please let me know.
Maybe we'll try to get rich next time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Community
A few months ago we donated some of the game profit in the hopes of helping a few foster dogs and I thought it was a good time to give you an update:
Bojangles and Roxy both got adopted by great families and are F'ing loving life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sis is still at Tails (The foster agency) but is gaining confidence everyday and making huge progress. She's made a lot of dog friends and is relatively comfortable with humans she knows.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Slim Jim is in a foster home... but it's looking more like a forever home because they really love him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It's unfortunate you would find out about this from a crummy game announcement on Steam, but Foggy Nelson took a turn for the worse and passed away from some of the lingering issues he had when he was found. I wish I only had good news for you but that's just not how it works. Regardless, even though were just an obscure indie game with a knack for delays were going to try to help in a much bigger way. Ill have more details on this in the future.
As always, Thank you for all the support you given. Were almost there.
Hot-Fix:
Subtitle error for android 42 and the missing 'L' in chapter 5 starting screen.
Update 3.0.3 (Surface)
This update includes additional dialog, a remapped version of The Surface, numerous bug fixes, and Ansel support. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once. First off, I want to welcome the massive influx of players during the Steam Summer sale. Thank you for giving this little game a shot and hopefully you stick around for the ending. Your feedback is truly appreciated and encouraged. Ill try to maintain a weekly update until our launch date.
The surface level has been remapped to be a little more efficient in its layout. The mine is now on the far side (since it is the final destination) and the entire map has been opened up. I was also able to cut out huge segments of the map that were rarely visited (like behind the base). This should drastically reduce the load time for the largest level in the game. Ive also added guide poles to help make it a little more intuitive as to where to go. Please try not to run into them since the androids spent a lot of time installing them.
Weve supported Ansel for a while now but just recently got whitelisted by Nvidia so it should work for everyone (with and Nvidia card). Pressing Alt+F2 in game will bring up the Ansel HUD and let you get some amazing screenshots. This system is very simple and straight forward but still gives you a lot of control.
Youll notice that the cave collapse scene is cut a little bit shorter. This scene is about 90% complete but I dont want to add it in until I have fixed all the nitpick timing issues. The dialog for Signals is also almost completely recorded and edited. There are a few additional animations and events that need to be added to pull the whole thing together but we are making very good progress on it. The next set of updates should be focused almost exclusively on content.
Thank you again for all the support, feedback, and troubleshooting. I could not have done this without you.
[ 2017-07-01 15:12:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
TL;DR
This update includes additional dialog, a remapped version of The Surface, numerous bug fixes, and Ansel support. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once. First off, I want to welcome the massive influx of players during the Steam Summer sale. Thank you for giving this little game a shot and hopefully you stick around for the ending. Your feedback is truly appreciated and encouraged. Ill try to maintain a weekly update until our launch date.
Surface
The surface level has been remapped to be a little more efficient in its layout. The mine is now on the far side (since it is the final destination) and the entire map has been opened up. I was also able to cut out huge segments of the map that were rarely visited (like behind the base). This should drastically reduce the load time for the largest level in the game. Ive also added guide poles to help make it a little more intuitive as to where to go. Please try not to run into them since the androids spent a lot of time installing them.
Additional Content
- Added dialog to the Main-Menu level as well to The Base level.
- Reworked the Main-Menu with layout and an additional audio cue to make it more intuitive.
- Added an additional conversation to The Base as well as numerous environmental ambiences to add a little more life to the level.
Bugs
- Fixed the issue with players not being awarded the chapter 0 achievement (Sorry).
- Fixed a bug causing the locker door to freeze up and not allow the player or the android through. This effectively blocked the Chazz achievement (Thanks LigH).
- Fixed numerous collision issues making DOGs engines freak out.
- Adjusted numerous graphical errors such as over clipping decals and overly reflective volumes (Thanks XBL Laberbacke).
- Lastly, I finally tracked down one of the most elusive bugs that occasionally made it difficult to drop objects. This one was unique because it was so hard to reliably reproduce. The ultimate cause of the bug was how DOGs gravlift ray traces to objects. If the ray trace is beyond a certain distance (10-meters) it will disappear. This inadvertently nulled out the drop command if you were holding an object AND your line of sight was beyond the 10-meter threshold.
Known Issues
- Key rebinding. This bug is caused by how the action manager is passed around. I have a very good idea how to fix it but didnt have time before this update.
- A few of the subtitles got jacked. I plan on streamlining the subtitle system to go in line with audio dialog instead of a bunch of beeps and boops. Im sorry Ive made you suffer for this long.
Ansel Support
Weve supported Ansel for a while now but just recently got whitelisted by Nvidia so it should work for everyone (with and Nvidia card). Pressing Alt+F2 in game will bring up the Ansel HUD and let you get some amazing screenshots. This system is very simple and straight forward but still gives you a lot of control.
Future Updates
Youll notice that the cave collapse scene is cut a little bit shorter. This scene is about 90% complete but I dont want to add it in until I have fixed all the nitpick timing issues. The dialog for Signals is also almost completely recorded and edited. There are a few additional animations and events that need to be added to pull the whole thing together but we are making very good progress on it. The next set of updates should be focused almost exclusively on content.
P.S.
Thank you again for all the support, feedback, and troubleshooting. I could not have done this without you.
Update 3.0.3 (The Surface)
This update includes additional dialog, a remapped version of “The Surface”, numerous bug fixes, and Ansel support. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once. First off, I want to welcome the massive influx of players during the Steam Summer sale. Thank you for giving this little game a shot and hopefully you stick around for the ending. Your feedback is truly appreciated and encouraged. I’ll try to maintain a weekly update until our launch date.
The surface level has been remapped to be a little more efficient in its layout. The mine is now on the far side (since it is the final destination) and the entire map has been opened up. I was also able to cut out huge segments of the map that were rarely visited (like behind the base). This should drastically reduce the load time for the largest level in the game. I’ve also added guide poles to help make it a little more intuitive as to where to go. Please try not to run into them since the androids spent a lot of time installing them.
We’ve supported Ansel for a while now but just recently got whitelisted by Nvidia so it should work for everyone (with and Nvidia card). Pressing Alt+F2 in game will bring up the Ansel HUD and let you get some amazing screenshots. This system is very simple and straight forward but still gives you a lot of control.
You’ll notice that the cave collapse scene is cut a little bit shorter. This scene is about 90% complete but I don’t want to add it in until I have fixed all the nitpick timing issues. The dialog for Signals is also almost completely recorded and edited. There are a few additional animations and events that need to be added to pull the whole thing together but we are making very good progress on it. The next set of updates should be focused almost exclusively on content.
Thank you again for all the support, feedback, and troubleshooting. I could not have done this without you.
[ 2017-07-01 15:12:26 CET ] [ Original post ]
TL;DR
This update includes additional dialog, a remapped version of “The Surface”, numerous bug fixes, and Ansel support. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once. First off, I want to welcome the massive influx of players during the Steam Summer sale. Thank you for giving this little game a shot and hopefully you stick around for the ending. Your feedback is truly appreciated and encouraged. I’ll try to maintain a weekly update until our launch date.
Surface
The surface level has been remapped to be a little more efficient in its layout. The mine is now on the far side (since it is the final destination) and the entire map has been opened up. I was also able to cut out huge segments of the map that were rarely visited (like behind the base). This should drastically reduce the load time for the largest level in the game. I’ve also added guide poles to help make it a little more intuitive as to where to go. Please try not to run into them since the androids spent a lot of time installing them.
Additional Content
- Added dialog to the “Main-Menu” level as well to “The Base” level.
- Reworked the “Main-Menu” with layout and an additional audio cue to make it more intuitive.
- Added an additional conversation to The Base as well as numerous environmental ambiences to add a little more life to the level.
Bugs
- Fixed the issue with players not being awarded the “chapter 0 “ achievement (Sorry).
- Fixed a bug causing the locker door to freeze up and not allow the player or the android through. This effectively blocked the “Chazz” achievement (Thanks LigH).
- Fixed numerous collision issues making DOG’s engines freak out.
- Adjusted numerous graphical errors such as over clipping decals and overly reflective volumes (Thanks XBL Laberbacke).
- Lastly, I finally tracked down one of the most elusive bugs that occasionally made it difficult to “drop” objects. This one was unique because it was so hard to reliably reproduce. The ultimate cause of the bug was how DOG’s gravlift ray traces to objects. If the ray trace is beyond a certain distance (10-meters) it will disappear. This inadvertently nulled out the “drop” command if you were holding an object AND your line of sight was beyond the 10-meter threshold.
Known Issues
- Key rebinding. This bug is caused by how the action manager is passed around. I have a very good idea how to fix it but didn’t have time before this update.
- A few of the subtitles got jacked. I plan on streamlining the subtitle system to go in line with audio dialog instead of a bunch of beeps and boops. I’m sorry I’ve made you suffer for this long.
Ansel Support
We’ve supported Ansel for a while now but just recently got whitelisted by Nvidia so it should work for everyone (with and Nvidia card). Pressing Alt+F2 in game will bring up the Ansel HUD and let you get some amazing screenshots. This system is very simple and straight forward but still gives you a lot of control.
Future Updates
You’ll notice that the cave collapse scene is cut a little bit shorter. This scene is about 90% complete but I don’t want to add it in until I have fixed all the nitpick timing issues. The dialog for Signals is also almost completely recorded and edited. There are a few additional animations and events that need to be added to pull the whole thing together but we are making very good progress on it. The next set of updates should be focused almost exclusively on content.
P.S.
Thank you again for all the support, feedback, and troubleshooting. I could not have done this without you.
Update 3.0.1 (DOG-VI)
Introducing DOG-VI, the final update to the main character. DOG has been through a number of iterations from the original game jam submission, to the first public build, to a version that was actually textured :), and finally the current style... Epic Game Jam Submission
First Public build
DOG-V - Textured
DOG-VI Final Version
Animation Improvement There were a lot of limitations to the animations the previous version of DOG could use because of the simple bone structure. Some of the new features include height adjustments for the engines to give better feedback from the terrain you’re on.
The clipping problem was also solved similarly by adjusting the engines horizontally.
There’s an assortment of improvements but, in general, the character should feel a lot more responsive to controls and reactive to the environment.
If you haven’t noticed, the release date has been pushed back from May 26th to August 11th. The main reason for this is to fix some of the aspects of the game that still bug me. Here's an idea of what need to be done: Bridge collapse – The logic behind the original version was this:
Part of the reason for the redesign of DOG was to create a sort of "platform" for a VR character. The perspective will be a ~enclosed 3rd-person, like you are in a mech. I've gotten very positive results from the Android character and the DOG character but I'm still working on the cat character. I hope to at least have a fully playable prototype available for testing by the release date.
We live in a totally different type of game development world than we did even 5 years ago. There's a much more mutually beneficial relationship between developers and users. If you’ve been following this game, it’s pretty obvious I've gotten a lot of help from the community and I want to try to repay some of that with more than just free keys. I’m going to start releasing the project files used in CAT Interstellar. I'll start with the DOG character (skeletal mesh, animations, and code). DOG isn’t animated like most video game characters. Instead of multiple frames making up an animation over a set amount of time, DOG uses single frame animations and linear interpolations between them during runtime. This allows for DOG to react to her environment much more realistically. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of information in animating a character this way so hopefully these files will help. I’m currently putting it an easy to read UE4 project file and should have it up as DLC in the next week. I'll keep the DLC updated as I add more boring things like shaders and loading screens.
Updated DOG model and fixed map layouts. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once.
[ 2017-06-25 16:27:53 CET ] [ Original post ]
DOG-VI
Introducing DOG-VI, the final update to the main character. DOG has been through a number of iterations from the original game jam submission, to the first public build, to a version that was actually textured :), and finally the current style... Epic Game Jam Submission
First Public build
DOG-V - Textured
DOG-VI Final Version
Animation Improvement There were a lot of limitations to the animations the previous version of DOG could use because of the simple bone structure. Some of the new features include height adjustments for the engines to give better feedback from the terrain you’re on.
The clipping problem was also solved similarly by adjusting the engines horizontally.
There’s an assortment of improvements but, in general, the character should feel a lot more responsive to controls and reactive to the environment.
Release Date Delay
If you haven’t noticed, the release date has been pushed back from May 26th to August 11th. The main reason for this is to fix some of the aspects of the game that still bug me. Here's an idea of what need to be done: Bridge collapse – The logic behind the original version was this:
- Spam particle effects (burn up the GPU)
- Enable physics collisions on each part of the bridge (burn up the CPU)
- Spam radial impulses to kick all the pieces around (make sure they're fried)
VR
Part of the reason for the redesign of DOG was to create a sort of "platform" for a VR character. The perspective will be a ~enclosed 3rd-person, like you are in a mech. I've gotten very positive results from the Android character and the DOG character but I'm still working on the cat character. I hope to at least have a fully playable prototype available for testing by the release date.
Project files
We live in a totally different type of game development world than we did even 5 years ago. There's a much more mutually beneficial relationship between developers and users. If you’ve been following this game, it’s pretty obvious I've gotten a lot of help from the community and I want to try to repay some of that with more than just free keys. I’m going to start releasing the project files used in CAT Interstellar. I'll start with the DOG character (skeletal mesh, animations, and code). DOG isn’t animated like most video game characters. Instead of multiple frames making up an animation over a set amount of time, DOG uses single frame animations and linear interpolations between them during runtime. This allows for DOG to react to her environment much more realistically. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of information in animating a character this way so hopefully these files will help. I’m currently putting it an easy to read UE4 project file and should have it up as DLC in the next week. I'll keep the DLC updated as I add more boring things like shaders and loading screens.
TL;DR
Updated DOG model and fixed map layouts. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once.
Update 3.0.1 (DOG-VI)
Introducing DOG-VI, the final update to the main character. DOG has been through a number of iterations from the original game jam submission, to the first public build, to a version that was actually textured :), and finally the current style... Epic Game Jam Submission
First Public build
DOG-V - Textured
DOG-VI Final Version
Animation Improvement There were a lot of limitations to the animations the previous version of DOG could use because of the simple bone structure. Some of the new features include height adjustments for the engines to give better feedback from the terrain youre on.
The clipping problem was also solved similarly by adjusting the engines horizontally.
Theres an assortment of improvements but, in general, the character should feel a lot more responsive to controls and reactive to the environment.
If you havent noticed, the release date has been pushed back from May 26th to August 11th. The main reason for this is to fix some of the aspects of the game that still bug me. Here's an idea of what need to be done: Bridge collapse The logic behind the original version was this:
Part of the reason for the redesign of DOG was to create a sort of "platform" for a VR character. The perspective will be a ~enclosed 3rd-person, like you are in a mech. I've gotten very positive results from the Android character and the DOG character but I'm still working on the cat character. I hope to at least have a fully playable prototype available for testing by the release date.
We live in a totally different type of game development world than we did even 5 years ago. There's a much more mutually beneficial relationship between developers and users. If youve been following this game, its pretty obvious I've gotten a lot of help from the community and I want to try to repay some of that with more than just free keys. Im going to start releasing the project files used in CAT Interstellar. I'll start with the DOG character (skeletal mesh, animations, and code). DOG isnt animated like most video game characters. Instead of multiple frames making up an animation over a set amount of time, DOG uses single frame animations and linear interpolations between them during runtime. This allows for DOG to react to her environment much more realistically. Unfortunately, there isnt a lot of information in animating a character this way so hopefully these files will help. Im currently putting it an easy to read UE4 project file and should have it up as DLC in the next week. I'll keep the DLC updated as I add more boring things like shaders and loading screens.
Updated DOG model and fixed map layouts. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once.
[ 2017-06-25 16:27:53 CET ] [ Original post ]
DOG-VI
Introducing DOG-VI, the final update to the main character. DOG has been through a number of iterations from the original game jam submission, to the first public build, to a version that was actually textured :), and finally the current style... Epic Game Jam Submission
First Public build
DOG-V - Textured
DOG-VI Final Version
Animation Improvement There were a lot of limitations to the animations the previous version of DOG could use because of the simple bone structure. Some of the new features include height adjustments for the engines to give better feedback from the terrain youre on.
The clipping problem was also solved similarly by adjusting the engines horizontally.
Theres an assortment of improvements but, in general, the character should feel a lot more responsive to controls and reactive to the environment.
Release Date Delay
If you havent noticed, the release date has been pushed back from May 26th to August 11th. The main reason for this is to fix some of the aspects of the game that still bug me. Here's an idea of what need to be done: Bridge collapse The logic behind the original version was this:
- Spam particle effects (burn up the GPU)
- Enable physics collisions on each part of the bridge (burn up the CPU)
- Spam radial impulses to kick all the pieces around (make sure they're fried)
VR
Part of the reason for the redesign of DOG was to create a sort of "platform" for a VR character. The perspective will be a ~enclosed 3rd-person, like you are in a mech. I've gotten very positive results from the Android character and the DOG character but I'm still working on the cat character. I hope to at least have a fully playable prototype available for testing by the release date.
Project files
We live in a totally different type of game development world than we did even 5 years ago. There's a much more mutually beneficial relationship between developers and users. If youve been following this game, its pretty obvious I've gotten a lot of help from the community and I want to try to repay some of that with more than just free keys. Im going to start releasing the project files used in CAT Interstellar. I'll start with the DOG character (skeletal mesh, animations, and code). DOG isnt animated like most video game characters. Instead of multiple frames making up an animation over a set amount of time, DOG uses single frame animations and linear interpolations between them during runtime. This allows for DOG to react to her environment much more realistically. Unfortunately, there isnt a lot of information in animating a character this way so hopefully these files will help. Im currently putting it an easy to read UE4 project file and should have it up as DLC in the next week. I'll keep the DLC updated as I add more boring things like shaders and loading screens.
TL;DR
Updated DOG model and fixed map layouts. This update probably doesn't warrant a fresh play-through if you've already been through once.
Optimizations
One of the CPU bottlenecks I found was the number of draw calls for static meshes and their materials. To address this I “merged” certain mesh groups together. In the image I've combined 6 static meshes into 1 (the yellow circles are the bounds of the object):
I down-sampled a lot of textures from 4k to 2k. I did this individually for each texture to make sure there weren’t any noticeable changes to the environments. Here’s an example:
This is a lot less amazing and mainly concerns adjusting the configuration files inside Unreal Engine 4 to match the environments of CAT Interstellar. For instance, I placed every light in this game and I know for a fact that there are only five instances where more than three dynamic lights overlap. All of those instances are because of a light in an adjacent room that is blocked anyway. There is no situation where 4 dynamic lights need/should be rendered so I’ve removed the option. Similarly, I made adjusts with Particles Effects, Screen Space Reflections, Anti-Aliasing, etc...
I hate to call this a downside but I’m not sure how you all are going to take this:
Being a lifelong PC gamer/modder I completely understand why removing options from the player is generally frowned on but I feel like this one is at least partially justified. I’m honestly curious what you think though. P.s. These adjustments can all be changed in the console and I’ll never take that away from you.
[ 2017-04-26 18:39:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
This update deals exclusively with optimizations to the game. The three principal areas of optimization are draw calls, Texture memory, and dynamic lighting improvements.
The benchmark goal I have kept with this game is a minimum of 30fps at 1080p on a gtx 750. With this latest patch I’ve been getting 60fps for most of the game.
CPU Optimizations:
One of the CPU bottlenecks I found was the number of draw calls for static meshes and their materials. To address this I “merged” certain mesh groups together. In the image I've combined 6 static meshes into 1 (the yellow circles are the bounds of the object):
- This will also help with artifacts caused by turning corners quickly.
Memory
I down-sampled a lot of textures from 4k to 2k. I did this individually for each texture to make sure there weren’t any noticeable changes to the environments. Here’s an example:
- If you can’t tell a difference between the 2K textures and the 4k textures it means I did it right. It’s also important to note that, unlike purges in the past that cleaned up unused textures and models, this was specifically targeted towards textures used in-game. Because of this, I’ve shaved off ~1.3 Gigs to the game size and cut load times by ~50% on the benchmarking system.
GPU Optimizations:
This is a lot less amazing and mainly concerns adjusting the configuration files inside Unreal Engine 4 to match the environments of CAT Interstellar. For instance, I placed every light in this game and I know for a fact that there are only five instances where more than three dynamic lights overlap. All of those instances are because of a light in an adjacent room that is blocked anyway. There is no situation where 4 dynamic lights need/should be rendered so I’ve removed the option. Similarly, I made adjusts with Particles Effects, Screen Space Reflections, Anti-Aliasing, etc...
The Cost of Progress
I hate to call this a downside but I’m not sure how you all are going to take this:
- The graphic menu has been simplified to 3 categories with 2 options each: “Fast” or “Detail”.
Being a lifelong PC gamer/modder I completely understand why removing options from the player is generally frowned on but I feel like this one is at least partially justified. I’m honestly curious what you think though. P.s. These adjustments can all be changed in the console and I’ll never take that away from you.
TL;DR
- Faster load times
- Higher frames per second
- Less menu options
Optimizations
One of the CPU bottlenecks I found was the number of draw calls for static meshes and their materials. To address this I merged certain mesh groups together. In the image I've combined 6 static meshes into 1 (the yellow circles are the bounds of the object):
I down-sampled a lot of textures from 4k to 2k. I did this individually for each texture to make sure there werent any noticeable changes to the environments. Heres an example:
This is a lot less amazing and mainly concerns adjusting the configuration files inside Unreal Engine 4 to match the environments of CAT Interstellar. For instance, I placed every light in this game and I know for a fact that there are only five instances where more than three dynamic lights overlap. All of those instances are because of a light in an adjacent room that is blocked anyway. There is no situation where 4 dynamic lights need/should be rendered so Ive removed the option. Similarly, I made adjusts with Particles Effects, Screen Space Reflections, Anti-Aliasing, etc...
I hate to call this a downside but Im not sure how you all are going to take this:
Being a lifelong PC gamer/modder I completely understand why removing options from the player is generally frowned on but I feel like this one is at least partially justified. Im honestly curious what you think though. P.s. These adjustments can all be changed in the console and Ill never take that away from you.
[ 2017-04-26 18:39:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
This update deals exclusively with optimizations to the game. The three principal areas of optimization are draw calls, Texture memory, and dynamic lighting improvements.
The benchmark goal I have kept with this game is a minimum of 30fps at 1080p on a gtx 750. With this latest patch Ive been getting 60fps for most of the game.
CPU Optimizations:
One of the CPU bottlenecks I found was the number of draw calls for static meshes and their materials. To address this I merged certain mesh groups together. In the image I've combined 6 static meshes into 1 (the yellow circles are the bounds of the object):
- This will also help with artifacts caused by turning corners quickly.
Memory
I down-sampled a lot of textures from 4k to 2k. I did this individually for each texture to make sure there werent any noticeable changes to the environments. Heres an example:
- If you cant tell a difference between the 2K textures and the 4k textures it means I did it right. Its also important to note that, unlike purges in the past that cleaned up unused textures and models, this was specifically targeted towards textures used in-game. Because of this, Ive shaved off ~1.3 Gigs to the game size and cut load times by ~50% on the benchmarking system.
GPU Optimizations:
This is a lot less amazing and mainly concerns adjusting the configuration files inside Unreal Engine 4 to match the environments of CAT Interstellar. For instance, I placed every light in this game and I know for a fact that there are only five instances where more than three dynamic lights overlap. All of those instances are because of a light in an adjacent room that is blocked anyway. There is no situation where 4 dynamic lights need/should be rendered so Ive removed the option. Similarly, I made adjusts with Particles Effects, Screen Space Reflections, Anti-Aliasing, etc...
The Cost of Progress
I hate to call this a downside but Im not sure how you all are going to take this:
- The graphic menu has been simplified to 3 categories with 2 options each: Fast or Detail.
Being a lifelong PC gamer/modder I completely understand why removing options from the player is generally frowned on but I feel like this one is at least partially justified. Im honestly curious what you think though. P.s. These adjustments can all be changed in the console and Ill never take that away from you.
TL;DR
- Faster load times
- Higher frames per second
- Less menu options
Update 2.1.1 (Signals)
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
I’ve added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
You don’t have to do some crazy editing or have a 1000 followers for me to watch it. I scourer YouTube ~once a week to watch play-throughs and they are probably the most helpful form of feedback besides the occasional 2-page forum post. It truly does help to watch players navigate the game. I can adjust the map layouts if I notice people getting confused in a particular spot or add additional direction indicators. If you’re new to this community I promise you, I read and watch every video, forum post, review and I genuinely try to respond.
This does NOT mean a positive review. Just to give you an idea of the dynamics, a negative review that is helpful can prevent more negative reviews by giving people something to agree with instead of forcing them to write their own negative review (The opposite is true as well). The enemy here is reviews that simply say "mah, good" or "meh, bad". Don’t worry about doing any “damage” to the score. We’re in a weird place at a 68% (mixed). It would take dozens of positive reviews to bring us up to 70% (Mostly positive) and over a hundred to drag us down into the 40% (bad) territory. I only mention this because I don’t want to try to sway your opinion either way. My main goal here is to dilute Unhelpful reviews, both positive and negative. Waiting until the actual release is also a good reason to hold off for now... you might not like how it ends. It’s totally cool either way, I’m already really proud that the game has gotten this far. As always thank you for the support and please enjoy Universe, one of the best science fiction stories ever written.
[ 2017-04-08 14:43:05 CET ] [ Original post ]
The main purpose of this build is to get feedback on the new cat mechanics. I’ve purposefully left out the fate of DOG and Android 42 as well as the ending of Signals because I need to keep some suspense for the final release.
Update/Fixes
- The Signals level has been significantly expanded. There’s some story centric pieces missing (Like dialog) but the general layout is in place.
- The controls for the cat character have been completely rebuilt from scratch. They aren’t perfect but they’re ready for testing.
- Community voice acting added for Androids 520, 220, 32, 34, 128, and 481
- Camera sway on the main-main level is fixed. The menu is now a lot easier to interact with.
- Audio adjustment throughout the whole game.
- Added location and altitude to chapter overlay to help with the story.
Development
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
- The fate of DOG and Android 42
- Menu Redesign
- Detail meshes added to Signals
- Dialog added to Signals
- Ending of Signals
- Optimizations (always)
- I should also have some VR footage very soon but I’ll post that in the VR thread when it is ready.
Community
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
I’ve added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
Support
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
- 1. Record a play-through
You don’t have to do some crazy editing or have a 1000 followers for me to watch it. I scourer YouTube ~once a week to watch play-throughs and they are probably the most helpful form of feedback besides the occasional 2-page forum post. It truly does help to watch players navigate the game. I can adjust the map layouts if I notice people getting confused in a particular spot or add additional direction indicators. If you’re new to this community I promise you, I read and watch every video, forum post, review and I genuinely try to respond.
- 2. Review the game
This does NOT mean a positive review. Just to give you an idea of the dynamics, a negative review that is helpful can prevent more negative reviews by giving people something to agree with instead of forcing them to write their own negative review (The opposite is true as well). The enemy here is reviews that simply say "mah, good" or "meh, bad". Don’t worry about doing any “damage” to the score. We’re in a weird place at a 68% (mixed). It would take dozens of positive reviews to bring us up to 70% (Mostly positive) and over a hundred to drag us down into the 40% (bad) territory. I only mention this because I don’t want to try to sway your opinion either way. My main goal here is to dilute Unhelpful reviews, both positive and negative. Waiting until the actual release is also a good reason to hold off for now... you might not like how it ends. It’s totally cool either way, I’m already really proud that the game has gotten this far. As always thank you for the support and please enjoy Universe, one of the best science fiction stories ever written.
Update 2.1.1 (Signals)
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
Ive added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
You dont have to do some crazy editing or have a 1000 followers for me to watch it. I scourer YouTube ~once a week to watch play-throughs and they are probably the most helpful form of feedback besides the occasional 2-page forum post. It truly does help to watch players navigate the game. I can adjust the map layouts if I notice people getting confused in a particular spot or add additional direction indicators. If youre new to this community I promise you, I read and watch every video, forum post, review and I genuinely try to respond.
This does NOT mean a positive review. Just to give you an idea of the dynamics, a negative review that is helpful can prevent more negative reviews by giving people something to agree with instead of forcing them to write their own negative review (The opposite is true as well). The enemy here is reviews that simply say "mah, good" or "meh, bad". Dont worry about doing any damage to the score. Were in a weird place at a 68% (mixed). It would take dozens of positive reviews to bring us up to 70% (Mostly positive) and over a hundred to drag us down into the 40% (bad) territory. I only mention this because I dont want to try to sway your opinion either way. My main goal here is to dilute Unhelpful reviews, both positive and negative. Waiting until the actual release is also a good reason to hold off for now... you might not like how it ends. Its totally cool either way, Im already really proud that the game has gotten this far. As always thank you for the support and please enjoy Universe, one of the best science fiction stories ever written.
[ 2017-04-08 14:43:05 CET ] [ Original post ]
The main purpose of this build is to get feedback on the new cat mechanics. Ive purposefully left out the fate of DOG and Android 42 as well as the ending of Signals because I need to keep some suspense for the final release.
Update/Fixes
- The Signals level has been significantly expanded. Theres some story centric pieces missing (Like dialog) but the general layout is in place.
- The controls for the cat character have been completely rebuilt from scratch. They arent perfect but theyre ready for testing.
- Community voice acting added for Androids 520, 220, 32, 34, 128, and 481
- Camera sway on the main-main level is fixed. The menu is now a lot easier to interact with.
- Audio adjustment throughout the whole game.
- Added location and altitude to chapter overlay to help with the story.
Development
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
- The fate of DOG and Android 42
- Menu Redesign
- Detail meshes added to Signals
- Dialog added to Signals
- Ending of Signals
- Optimizations (always)
- I should also have some VR footage very soon but Ill post that in the VR thread when it is ready.
Community
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
Ive added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
Support
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
- 1. Record a play-through
You dont have to do some crazy editing or have a 1000 followers for me to watch it. I scourer YouTube ~once a week to watch play-throughs and they are probably the most helpful form of feedback besides the occasional 2-page forum post. It truly does help to watch players navigate the game. I can adjust the map layouts if I notice people getting confused in a particular spot or add additional direction indicators. If youre new to this community I promise you, I read and watch every video, forum post, review and I genuinely try to respond.
- 2. Review the game
This does NOT mean a positive review. Just to give you an idea of the dynamics, a negative review that is helpful can prevent more negative reviews by giving people something to agree with instead of forcing them to write their own negative review (The opposite is true as well). The enemy here is reviews that simply say "mah, good" or "meh, bad". Dont worry about doing any damage to the score. Were in a weird place at a 68% (mixed). It would take dozens of positive reviews to bring us up to 70% (Mostly positive) and over a hundred to drag us down into the 40% (bad) territory. I only mention this because I dont want to try to sway your opinion either way. My main goal here is to dilute Unhelpful reviews, both positive and negative. Waiting until the actual release is also a good reason to hold off for now... you might not like how it ends. Its totally cool either way, Im already really proud that the game has gotten this far. As always thank you for the support and please enjoy Universe, one of the best science fiction stories ever written.
Hot Fix 2.0.4 (VR Plugins Disabled)
Unfortunately in the last update I left the Oculus libraries and SteamVR API plugins enabled. I've been doing a lot of work with VR lately and forgot to disable them. Most users wouldn't have noticed but if you had Oculus Home or SteamVR installed it was most likely causing a headache so I wanted to patch it as quickly as possible.
This is also a good time to have an impromptu community event. I've been trying to update the store front's media (Trailers, screenshots, banners, etc...) and I thought it would be interesting to have a competition to try and get some unique screenshots. Awards: Best screenshot gets an in-game achievement. Top 5 screenshots will receive a free activation key. Lol, I realize you already own the game if you're taking screenshots but it's one of the few things I have to offer. Rules: No post processing added No Photoshop No taking screenshots of superior games and posting them here. I don't care how good Witcher 3 looks. When you think you have a good one, post it to the community screenshots and comment here (preferably with a link). If you want to use a past screenshot that is fine too. If you have an Nvidia card you'll have a leg up on the competition with Ansel. If you're using AMD there is similar spectator system you can use in-game by pressing 'O'. It's still a work in progress so you will have to use the console command "restart" to exit the mode. I will NOT use your screenshot on the store page unless you give me permission (I count your comment here as permission). I'll decide the winners in the next update (~1 week). The updates are going to start coming a lot faster from now on. As the player base you also reserve the right to rise up and declare your own winners but we'll deal with that when it happens :)
[ 2017-03-15 18:33:24 CET ] [ Original post ]
VR Plugins Disabled
Unfortunately in the last update I left the Oculus libraries and SteamVR API plugins enabled. I've been doing a lot of work with VR lately and forgot to disable them. Most users wouldn't have noticed but if you had Oculus Home or SteamVR installed it was most likely causing a headache so I wanted to patch it as quickly as possible.
Community Screenshot Challenge
This is also a good time to have an impromptu community event. I've been trying to update the store front's media (Trailers, screenshots, banners, etc...) and I thought it would be interesting to have a competition to try and get some unique screenshots. Awards: Best screenshot gets an in-game achievement. Top 5 screenshots will receive a free activation key. Lol, I realize you already own the game if you're taking screenshots but it's one of the few things I have to offer. Rules: No post processing added No Photoshop No taking screenshots of superior games and posting them here. I don't care how good Witcher 3 looks. When you think you have a good one, post it to the community screenshots and comment here (preferably with a link). If you want to use a past screenshot that is fine too. If you have an Nvidia card you'll have a leg up on the competition with Ansel. If you're using AMD there is similar spectator system you can use in-game by pressing 'O'. It's still a work in progress so you will have to use the console command "restart" to exit the mode. I will NOT use your screenshot on the store page unless you give me permission (I count your comment here as permission). I'll decide the winners in the next update (~1 week). The updates are going to start coming a lot faster from now on. As the player base you also reserve the right to rise up and declare your own winners but we'll deal with that when it happens :)
Hot Fix 2.0.4 (3D Menu)
Unfortunately in the last update I left the Oculus libraries and SteamVR API plugins enabled. I've been doing a lot of work with VR lately and forgot to disable them. Most users wouldn't have noticed but if you had Oculus Home or SteamVR installed it was most likely causing a headache so I wanted to patch it as quickly as possible.
This is also a good time to have an impromptu community event. I've been trying to update the store front's media (Trailers, screenshots, banners, etc...) and I thought it would be interesting to have a competition to try and get some unique screenshots. Awards: Best screenshot gets an in-game achievement. Top 5 screenshots will receive a free activation key. Lol, I realize you already own the game if you're taking screenshots but it's one of the few things I have to offer. Rules: No post processing added No Photoshop No taking screenshots of superior games and posting them here. I don't care how good Witcher 3 looks. When you think you have a good one, post it to the community screenshots and comment here (preferably with a link). If you want to use a past screenshot that is fine too. If you have an Nvidia card you'll have a leg up on the competition with Ansel. If you're using AMD there is similar spectator system you can use in-game by pressing 'O'. It's still a work in progress so you will have to use the console command "restart" to exit the mode. I will NOT use your screenshot on the store page unless you give me permission (I count your comment here as permission). I'll decide the winners in the next update (~1 week). The updates are going to start coming a lot faster from now on. As the player base you also reserve the right to rise up and declare your own winners but we'll deal with that when it happens :)
[ 2017-03-15 18:33:24 CET ] [ Original post ]
VR Plugins Disabled
Unfortunately in the last update I left the Oculus libraries and SteamVR API plugins enabled. I've been doing a lot of work with VR lately and forgot to disable them. Most users wouldn't have noticed but if you had Oculus Home or SteamVR installed it was most likely causing a headache so I wanted to patch it as quickly as possible.
Community Screenshot Challenge
This is also a good time to have an impromptu community event. I've been trying to update the store front's media (Trailers, screenshots, banners, etc...) and I thought it would be interesting to have a competition to try and get some unique screenshots. Awards: Best screenshot gets an in-game achievement. Top 5 screenshots will receive a free activation key. Lol, I realize you already own the game if you're taking screenshots but it's one of the few things I have to offer. Rules: No post processing added No Photoshop No taking screenshots of superior games and posting them here. I don't care how good Witcher 3 looks. When you think you have a good one, post it to the community screenshots and comment here (preferably with a link). If you want to use a past screenshot that is fine too. If you have an Nvidia card you'll have a leg up on the competition with Ansel. If you're using AMD there is similar spectator system you can use in-game by pressing 'O'. It's still a work in progress so you will have to use the console command "restart" to exit the mode. I will NOT use your screenshot on the store page unless you give me permission (I count your comment here as permission). I'll decide the winners in the next update (~1 week). The updates are going to start coming a lot faster from now on. As the player base you also reserve the right to rise up and declare your own winners but we'll deal with that when it happens :)
Update 2.0.0 (Voice acting, Environments, Achievements)
Achievements have been added!!! There is an achievement for each level but I also added a number of additional ones based on unique areas in the game to encourage exploration. There are also a few pertaining to easter eggs. I plan on adding a lot more so if you have any requests I’d love to hear them. On this note I also plan on adding stats. This isn’t really the traditional type of game that stats would matter but right now I’m dependent of forum posts and playthroughs on YouTube to figure out where I messed up. So in the next update not only will your government and every social media site be collecting information on you, but I will too.
Almost every environment has been revamped. From very slight changes, like the direction of the SkyLift (Thanks LigH), to massive expansions in The Caves. The Base has some optical illusions that should help convey its size and The Mine needed a little more atmosphere and light work.
I had to tweak the story a little to reconcile an issue I’ve had since the beginning. If your sensor detects bacteria or “life” it should light up for every single instance of bacteria on the walls of the cave. This turned out to be essentially impossible to do because of the number of draw calls. I think the new “mission” fits a little better but as always I’d love your feedback on it.
Ansel screen capture allows you to take all kinds of screenshots (Super Resolution, Add Post Processing, and 360 Capture). It will eventually replace the spectator option but for now it is just experimental. I’m in the process of getting white-listed by Nvidia but until then you’ll need to go through a few extra steps to get it working. For more information go HERE. There hasn't been any negative reports in the beta but I have not personally tested this with and AMD card so if there is a problem just report it in the forums and I'll push a quick-fix.
First off, thank you for your patience with this. There are two things I’ve been struggling with when implementing VR: How to handle the menu and implementing motion controllers. The menu is going to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks. I honestly have no good excuse for hesitating on it this long. Similar to the subtitles, there are some obscure limitations inside UE4 when interacting with a 2D UI in 3D space and the idea of building a system from scratch seemed enormous. Those days are over and I’m very confident this new menu system will work. The gameplay was another issue. Originally the game supported only Oculus with a gamepad because that’s literally all I had to develop with. Playing with motion controllers totally changed how I viewed VR and I really wanted to integrate that into the game but didn’t know how. The plan moving forward will be to stick with the original control scheme: sitting/standing VR with movement controlled by the keyboard or gamepad with one possible exception I’d really like your input on: I want to change the last level for VR users from controlling a cat to controlling an android with the motion controllers. This would make an interesting dynamic in the community because VR users and normal users would have to share their experience to get the complete story. The VR DLC will be free so you can always go play Signals in 2D. This way you aren’t being denied content or being penalized for using VR and we have some wiggle room to design the last level specifically for VR users. At least that’s how I view it but I’d really like to know what you think. This could totally be an awful idea.
Sorry, but we ran out of animals to DNA test for the community events. Instead, I contacted a shelter I worked for and we, the community, are sponsoring 5 dogs. For those of you who haven’t worked in a shelter, it is extremely difficult to get older dogs adopted (anything past puppy status is an older dog). To try to help with with that we’re paying the vet fees and adoption fees for some of the dogs that haven’t had much luck. For now I’ll just tell you their names, ages, and breeds:
This will obviously be a recurring theme whenever I get updates. I’ll keep the community informed on their status and we should have some videos of them coming soon. As always, Thanks again for everything, ːionizedgamesː
[ 2017-03-05 16:12:57 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update Notes:
- Voice Acting - You now how the option to switch between voice acting and subtitles at the main menu. Thank you to all the community members who submitted voice acting for the game. If you don’t see your submission in the game yet I’m still processing the audio files and it will be in the next update.
- Destructible meshes - The rock animations for opening up new cave sections was awful. They’ve all been replaced with destructible meshes that your grav lift can blast through. Really interested in feedback on how to make this even better.
- Music - Rebuilt the music system to be more dynamic in terms of what song plays when. Should help a lot with ambience.
- DOG’s Light - I’ve doubled its effective distance, thanks to optimizations in other areas, and added an IES profile to make it look a little better.
- Rock collisions on The Surface are fixed. That’s right, everyone one of them is literally perfect. The collision for those meshes are now based on individual triangles. No matter how much the rock has been scaled up you should be able to climb in every nook and cranny without a problem.
- Loading screen - Not very exciting but worth mentioning.
- Ansel screen capture added (More on this at the bottom).
- Dozens of smaller fixes, Dog’s HUD corrected, DOG’s sensor ability now tied into the flashlight, adjustments to level indicators, timing on speeches, audio volumes, trigger box adjustments, Android interactions, Surface lighting sharpness, landing particles, rock textures, push physics, flashlight added to player android, etc...
Achievements:
Achievements have been added!!! There is an achievement for each level but I also added a number of additional ones based on unique areas in the game to encourage exploration. There are also a few pertaining to easter eggs. I plan on adding a lot more so if you have any requests I’d love to hear them. On this note I also plan on adding stats. This isn’t really the traditional type of game that stats would matter but right now I’m dependent of forum posts and playthroughs on YouTube to figure out where I messed up. So in the next update not only will your government and every social media site be collecting information on you, but I will too.
Environments:
Almost every environment has been revamped. From very slight changes, like the direction of the SkyLift (Thanks LigH), to massive expansions in The Caves. The Base has some optical illusions that should help convey its size and The Mine needed a little more atmosphere and light work.
Story:
I had to tweak the story a little to reconcile an issue I’ve had since the beginning. If your sensor detects bacteria or “life” it should light up for every single instance of bacteria on the walls of the cave. This turned out to be essentially impossible to do because of the number of draw calls. I think the new “mission” fits a little better but as always I’d love your feedback on it.
To-Do:
- Cut scene at the end of The Caves (what happens to DOG and Android 42).
- Signals - Control Mechanics. I’ve been watching all the playthroughs on YouTube and it’s painfully apparent I messed up the control mechanics here. When the cat jumps it gets an additional force based on the direction you’re looking. Looking up gives the cat the highest jump while looking horizontal gives the cat its furthest jump. I thought that by adding the crates at the beginning it would force the player to learn this but it didn’t work the way I thought it would. That is the main road block in finishing Signals.
- 3D Menu - This will rid the game of everything 2D. I should have something to show in the next week but, beyond fulfilling a lifelong dream of a 3D menu, this is essentially the last piece needed to implement VR.
- Optimizations (always) - You probably don’t hear this much from Early Access titles but I’ve tried to be good about optimizations from the very beginning. I’ve made few changes to how some of the dynamic lights work so you should see improvements in frame rates throughout the entire game as well as the notorious frame drops inside the elevators. I’d still like to do one more purge of the system and combine/replace as many textures as I can. This won’t make as big of a difference as past purges but each one counts.
Ansel
Ansel screen capture allows you to take all kinds of screenshots (Super Resolution, Add Post Processing, and 360 Capture). It will eventually replace the spectator option but for now it is just experimental. I’m in the process of getting white-listed by Nvidia but until then you’ll need to go through a few extra steps to get it working. For more information go HERE. There hasn't been any negative reports in the beta but I have not personally tested this with and AMD card so if there is a problem just report it in the forums and I'll push a quick-fix.
VR
First off, thank you for your patience with this. There are two things I’ve been struggling with when implementing VR: How to handle the menu and implementing motion controllers. The menu is going to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks. I honestly have no good excuse for hesitating on it this long. Similar to the subtitles, there are some obscure limitations inside UE4 when interacting with a 2D UI in 3D space and the idea of building a system from scratch seemed enormous. Those days are over and I’m very confident this new menu system will work. The gameplay was another issue. Originally the game supported only Oculus with a gamepad because that’s literally all I had to develop with. Playing with motion controllers totally changed how I viewed VR and I really wanted to integrate that into the game but didn’t know how. The plan moving forward will be to stick with the original control scheme: sitting/standing VR with movement controlled by the keyboard or gamepad with one possible exception I’d really like your input on: I want to change the last level for VR users from controlling a cat to controlling an android with the motion controllers. This would make an interesting dynamic in the community because VR users and normal users would have to share their experience to get the complete story. The VR DLC will be free so you can always go play Signals in 2D. This way you aren’t being denied content or being penalized for using VR and we have some wiggle room to design the last level specifically for VR users. At least that’s how I view it but I’d really like to know what you think. This could totally be an awful idea.
Community
Sorry, but we ran out of animals to DNA test for the community events. Instead, I contacted a shelter I worked for and we, the community, are sponsoring 5 dogs. For those of you who haven’t worked in a shelter, it is extremely difficult to get older dogs adopted (anything past puppy status is an older dog). To try to help with with that we’re paying the vet fees and adoption fees for some of the dogs that haven’t had much luck. For now I’ll just tell you their names, ages, and breeds:
BoJangles - 4 y/o Male Shepard Mix
Sis - 3 y/o Female Pitbull/Shepard Mix
Foggy Nelson - 4 y/o Male Terrier Mix
Slim Jim - 2 y/o Male Rat Terrier
Roxy - 2 y/o Female Doberman Mix
This will obviously be a recurring theme whenever I get updates. I’ll keep the community informed on their status and we should have some videos of them coming soon. As always, Thanks again for everything, ːionizedgamesː
Update 2.0.0 (Achievements)
Achievements have been added!!! There is an achievement for each level but I also added a number of additional ones based on unique areas in the game to encourage exploration. There are also a few pertaining to easter eggs. I plan on adding a lot more so if you have any requests Id love to hear them. On this note I also plan on adding stats. This isnt really the traditional type of game that stats would matter but right now Im dependent of forum posts and playthroughs on YouTube to figure out where I messed up. So in the next update not only will your government and every social media site be collecting information on you, but I will too.
Almost every environment has been revamped. From very slight changes, like the direction of the SkyLift (Thanks LigH), to massive expansions in The Caves. The Base has some optical illusions that should help convey its size and The Mine needed a little more atmosphere and light work.
I had to tweak the story a little to reconcile an issue Ive had since the beginning. If your sensor detects bacteria or life it should light up for every single instance of bacteria on the walls of the cave. This turned out to be essentially impossible to do because of the number of draw calls. I think the new mission fits a little better but as always Id love your feedback on it.
Ansel screen capture allows you to take all kinds of screenshots (Super Resolution, Add Post Processing, and 360 Capture). It will eventually replace the spectator option but for now it is just experimental. Im in the process of getting white-listed by Nvidia but until then youll need to go through a few extra steps to get it working. For more information go HERE. There hasn't been any negative reports in the beta but I have not personally tested this with and AMD card so if there is a problem just report it in the forums and I'll push a quick-fix.
First off, thank you for your patience with this. There are two things Ive been struggling with when implementing VR: How to handle the menu and implementing motion controllers. The menu is going to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks. I honestly have no good excuse for hesitating on it this long. Similar to the subtitles, there are some obscure limitations inside UE4 when interacting with a 2D UI in 3D space and the idea of building a system from scratch seemed enormous. Those days are over and Im very confident this new menu system will work. The gameplay was another issue. Originally the game supported only Oculus with a gamepad because thats literally all I had to develop with. Playing with motion controllers totally changed how I viewed VR and I really wanted to integrate that into the game but didnt know how. The plan moving forward will be to stick with the original control scheme: sitting/standing VR with movement controlled by the keyboard or gamepad with one possible exception Id really like your input on: I want to change the last level for VR users from controlling a cat to controlling an android with the motion controllers. This would make an interesting dynamic in the community because VR users and normal users would have to share their experience to get the complete story. The VR DLC will be free so you can always go play Signals in 2D. This way you arent being denied content or being penalized for using VR and we have some wiggle room to design the last level specifically for VR users. At least thats how I view it but Id really like to know what you think. This could totally be an awful idea.
Sorry, but we ran out of animals to DNA test for the community events. Instead, I contacted a shelter I worked for and we, the community, are sponsoring 5 dogs. For those of you who havent worked in a shelter, it is extremely difficult to get older dogs adopted (anything past puppy status is an older dog). To try to help with with that were paying the vet fees and adoption fees for some of the dogs that havent had much luck. For now Ill just tell you their names, ages, and breeds:
This will obviously be a recurring theme whenever I get updates. Ill keep the community informed on their status and we should have some videos of them coming soon. As always, Thanks again for everything, :ionizedgames:
Fixed a collision issue preventing the player from enabling subtitles at the start. Fixed a bug with Android 42 not continuing through mine when using subtitles as well as interacting with drones (Thanks LigH). Added 3D Menu!!! It isn't perfect but I thought it was better to get feedback on this as quick as possible. Please let me know if you run into any bugs or annoyances with this. I realize this .gif sucks but it gives you the idea.
I'm going to try to start pushing updates every week.
- Signals Details. - Menu redesign - Android 42's navigation around destructible meshes. - Scaling first person camera movement (VR). - Adding Community Voice Acting
[ 2017-03-05 16:12:57 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update Notes:
- Voice Acting - You now how the option to switch between voice acting and subtitles at the main menu. Thank you to all the community members who submitted voice acting for the game. If you dont see your submission in the game yet Im still processing the audio files and it will be in the next update.
- Destructible meshes - The rock animations for opening up new cave sections was awful. Theyve all been replaced with destructible meshes that your grav lift can blast through. Really interested in feedback on how to make this even better.
- Music - Rebuilt the music system to be more dynamic in terms of what song plays when. Should help a lot with ambience.
- DOGs Light - Ive doubled its effective distance, thanks to optimizations in other areas, and added an IES profile to make it look a little better.
- Rock collisions on The Surface are fixed. Thats right, everyone one of them is literally perfect. The collision for those meshes are now based on individual triangles. No matter how much the rock has been scaled up you should be able to climb in every nook and cranny without a problem.
- Loading screen - Not very exciting but worth mentioning.
- Ansel screen capture added (More on this at the bottom).
- Dozens of smaller fixes, Dogs HUD corrected, DOGs sensor ability now tied into the flashlight, adjustments to level indicators, timing on speeches, audio volumes, trigger box adjustments, Android interactions, Surface lighting sharpness, landing particles, rock textures, push physics, flashlight added to player android, etc...
Achievements:
Achievements have been added!!! There is an achievement for each level but I also added a number of additional ones based on unique areas in the game to encourage exploration. There are also a few pertaining to easter eggs. I plan on adding a lot more so if you have any requests Id love to hear them. On this note I also plan on adding stats. This isnt really the traditional type of game that stats would matter but right now Im dependent of forum posts and playthroughs on YouTube to figure out where I messed up. So in the next update not only will your government and every social media site be collecting information on you, but I will too.
Environments:
Almost every environment has been revamped. From very slight changes, like the direction of the SkyLift (Thanks LigH), to massive expansions in The Caves. The Base has some optical illusions that should help convey its size and The Mine needed a little more atmosphere and light work.
Story:
I had to tweak the story a little to reconcile an issue Ive had since the beginning. If your sensor detects bacteria or life it should light up for every single instance of bacteria on the walls of the cave. This turned out to be essentially impossible to do because of the number of draw calls. I think the new mission fits a little better but as always Id love your feedback on it.
To-Do:
- Cut scene at the end of The Caves (what happens to DOG and Android 42).
- Signals - Control Mechanics. Ive been watching all the playthroughs on YouTube and its painfully apparent I messed up the control mechanics here. When the cat jumps it gets an additional force based on the direction youre looking. Looking up gives the cat the highest jump while looking horizontal gives the cat its furthest jump. I thought that by adding the crates at the beginning it would force the player to learn this but it didnt work the way I thought it would. That is the main road block in finishing Signals.
- 3D Menu - This will rid the game of everything 2D. I should have something to show in the next week but, beyond fulfilling a lifelong dream of a 3D menu, this is essentially the last piece needed to implement VR.
- Optimizations (always) - You probably dont hear this much from Early Access titles but Ive tried to be good about optimizations from the very beginning. Ive made few changes to how some of the dynamic lights work so you should see improvements in frame rates throughout the entire game as well as the notorious frame drops inside the elevators. Id still like to do one more purge of the system and combine/replace as many textures as I can. This wont make as big of a difference as past purges but each one counts.
Ansel
Ansel screen capture allows you to take all kinds of screenshots (Super Resolution, Add Post Processing, and 360 Capture). It will eventually replace the spectator option but for now it is just experimental. Im in the process of getting white-listed by Nvidia but until then youll need to go through a few extra steps to get it working. For more information go HERE. There hasn't been any negative reports in the beta but I have not personally tested this with and AMD card so if there is a problem just report it in the forums and I'll push a quick-fix.
VR
First off, thank you for your patience with this. There are two things Ive been struggling with when implementing VR: How to handle the menu and implementing motion controllers. The menu is going to be a high priority over the next couple of weeks. I honestly have no good excuse for hesitating on it this long. Similar to the subtitles, there are some obscure limitations inside UE4 when interacting with a 2D UI in 3D space and the idea of building a system from scratch seemed enormous. Those days are over and Im very confident this new menu system will work. The gameplay was another issue. Originally the game supported only Oculus with a gamepad because thats literally all I had to develop with. Playing with motion controllers totally changed how I viewed VR and I really wanted to integrate that into the game but didnt know how. The plan moving forward will be to stick with the original control scheme: sitting/standing VR with movement controlled by the keyboard or gamepad with one possible exception Id really like your input on: I want to change the last level for VR users from controlling a cat to controlling an android with the motion controllers. This would make an interesting dynamic in the community because VR users and normal users would have to share their experience to get the complete story. The VR DLC will be free so you can always go play Signals in 2D. This way you arent being denied content or being penalized for using VR and we have some wiggle room to design the last level specifically for VR users. At least thats how I view it but Id really like to know what you think. This could totally be an awful idea.
Community
Sorry, but we ran out of animals to DNA test for the community events. Instead, I contacted a shelter I worked for and we, the community, are sponsoring 5 dogs. For those of you who havent worked in a shelter, it is extremely difficult to get older dogs adopted (anything past puppy status is an older dog). To try to help with with that were paying the vet fees and adoption fees for some of the dogs that havent had much luck. For now Ill just tell you their names, ages, and breeds:
BoJangles - 4 y/o Male Shepard Mix
Sis - 3 y/o Female Pitbull/Shepard Mix
Foggy Nelson - 4 y/o Male Terrier Mix
Slim Jim - 2 y/o Male Rat Terrier
Roxy - 2 y/o Female Doberman Mix
This will obviously be a recurring theme whenever I get updates. Ill keep the community informed on their status and we should have some videos of them coming soon. As always, Thanks again for everything, :ionizedgames:
Update 2.0.3 - 11 March 2017
Fixed a collision issue preventing the player from enabling subtitles at the start. Fixed a bug with Android 42 not continuing through mine when using subtitles as well as interacting with drones (Thanks LigH). Added 3D Menu!!! It isn't perfect but I thought it was better to get feedback on this as quick as possible. Please let me know if you run into any bugs or annoyances with this. I realize this .gif sucks but it gives you the idea.
I'm going to try to start pushing updates every week.
To-Do
- Signals Details. - Menu redesign - Android 42's navigation around destructible meshes. - Scaling first person camera movement (VR). - Adding Community Voice Acting
Update 1.9.1 (IK Foot Placement, Voice Acting, Story)
All the dialog has been written and I’m ready to start adding the voice acting back in. I originally planned to do all the Android voice acting but a few people have offered their voices to make the Androids a little more unique. If anyone else is interested in helping out I’ve created a document with all the different dialogs here. You can comment on the document with which Android you want to voice. You can also comment on changes to the dialog if you think something better would fit. It doesn’t matter as long as the core message doesn’t change. Also, feel free to add your own personality to them. The only rules: Allow a few seconds of silence before and after you talk so I can get a noise profile. DON’T do any editing yourself. Don’t normalize it, don’t add effects to it, and don’t try to take the background noise out of it. The only way this crazy experiment could possibly work is if I edit all the audio the same way. If you do want to help out please send your dialog in a .wav format to contact@ionizedgames.com It doesn’t matter if you send it all as one file or if it’s stereo/mono. I can handle all that on my end. You can also send me multiple versions of a dialog or do multiple Androids if you want. The only android you can’t do is 42. Sorry. The format of the google doc is: *Android’s #* *Statement 1* *Statement 1* *Statement 2* Any time there is a line it indicates a new dialog box. A good way to get an idea of the spacing is by watching the first two androids talk.
I cannot pay you money. Sorry, this is about as “indie” an operation as it gets. What I can do is give you keys, give you credit, and promote whatever you want (as long as it isn’t offensive (whatever that means (now we’re real deep in parenthesis))). The “credits” in this game will be an interactive level you can walk around. The reason for this is 2D scrolling text sucks and a lot of the credit of this game goes towards assets that were purchased on the Unreal Marketplace and I want to give the creators proper credit for that (run on sentence). Here’s an example of what Luo’s cave section will look like. You obviously do not have to give me any information you don’t want to and I won’t post anything you don’t specifically give me permission to. If you don’t feel comfortable posting any information I could always just use a nickname a picture of one of your pets. It’s totally up to you.
I can’t say whether I’m developing good or not but I hope that I’ve at least been honest and open about issues and progress. I’m trying to give you as much of an incomplete story as I can without ruining it at the end. It might seem weird now but I promise the Androids, the caves, the cat will all come together in the end. I know development is taking a lot longer than expected so thank you for sticking with me. Just to give you some idea of where we are: The layout of the cave is about 90% and you have access to the whole thing. All that remains as far as static environment is just touchups and detail meshes on the last cavern. The last major thing that’s needed is what I’ll call for now an “event”. The complexity of that event is about the same as the opening sequence but you can’t see it until it’s done. It’s taking longer than I thought because I’m trying to get some destructible meshes for Houdini (sigh...). You now have access to Signals to test to movement mechanics of the cat and how well the level is optimized and lit. Signals is about 60% complete. What’s remains to be done is audio dialog (you won't interact with the characters like you do as DOG). I’ll keep posting a major update ~once a month but I’ll post to the beta about everyweek. You can access the beta by right clicking CAT Interstellar in your steam library >> Properties >> BETAS tab >> Select beta1 in the drop down. I’ve removed the password so anyone can access it.
I have mixed feeling about VR. Part of me wants to stick to the original plan of the VR origin being DOG (first person) and using a gamepad or mouse/keyboard for movement. The other part of me thinks we can do better. I’m not sure which will win out but I’d love to know what control types you like. One of the things I’m concerned about in VR is the time it takes to beat the game. Personally I usually get burned out and a little nauseous after ~30 minutes. I know this is just my own experience so I’m really curious what it is like for the rest of you. Have any of you played Allumette or Obduction? What did you think?
This might be a little cheesy but would you have a problem with cursing in this game? This isn’t supposed to be a kids game but it also isn’t some gory mess. Maybe it’s because I just discovered Rick and Morty but if a cave is literally collapsing around you it’s likely you would at least mumble “damnit” to yourself. This is just something I came across while writing the dialog and I’m interested in what you think. Thanks again for everything, ːionizedgamesː
[ 2017-01-11 20:41:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
Don’t be deceived by the title this is more of me trying to get your opinion than an update. I was hoping to get this out yesterday but Colorado has had some pretty crazy winds the last couple days (100+mph) and the internet has been in and out. I’ll go over the update notes, Community, and then a little bit about development. I’d love to get your input on any of it.
Update Notes:
- Android 42’s textbox problem has been resolved using a priority type system. Thanks for all the community help on this. It’s also ready for voice acting to be added back in (see community section).
- Linux brightness bug has been fixed by adjusting the auto-exposure. If you still encounter problems try setting the post processing quality to 0 in the menu.
- Screen resolution can now be set above 100% to 120%.
- ‘E’ has been removed as a default menu button.
- Debug Viewmodes have be enabled in the dev tab. This will help troubleshoot frame drops.
- Fur material added to Cat character.
- Box mission on the surface only has 1 box. This was never meant to be a time sink. Finding one box gets the message across about what your sensor can do.
- Improved level transitions and adjusted DOG’s speed per level.
- Android 42’s dialog has been slightly extended.
- Signals is now available to play test. Mainly to test the optimization and control mechanics.
- Android 42 now has IK foot placement so we’re now officially competing with Uncharted 4 for game of the year.
Community - Voice Acting Anyone?
All the dialog has been written and I’m ready to start adding the voice acting back in. I originally planned to do all the Android voice acting but a few people have offered their voices to make the Androids a little more unique. If anyone else is interested in helping out I’ve created a document with all the different dialogs here. You can comment on the document with which Android you want to voice. You can also comment on changes to the dialog if you think something better would fit. It doesn’t matter as long as the core message doesn’t change. Also, feel free to add your own personality to them. The only rules: Allow a few seconds of silence before and after you talk so I can get a noise profile. DON’T do any editing yourself. Don’t normalize it, don’t add effects to it, and don’t try to take the background noise out of it. The only way this crazy experiment could possibly work is if I edit all the audio the same way. If you do want to help out please send your dialog in a .wav format to contact@ionizedgames.com It doesn’t matter if you send it all as one file or if it’s stereo/mono. I can handle all that on my end. You can also send me multiple versions of a dialog or do multiple Androids if you want. The only android you can’t do is 42. Sorry. The format of the google doc is: *Android’s #* *Statement 1* *Statement 1* *Statement 2* Any time there is a line it indicates a new dialog box. A good way to get an idea of the spacing is by watching the first two androids talk.
Payment:
I cannot pay you money. Sorry, this is about as “indie” an operation as it gets. What I can do is give you keys, give you credit, and promote whatever you want (as long as it isn’t offensive (whatever that means (now we’re real deep in parenthesis))). The “credits” in this game will be an interactive level you can walk around. The reason for this is 2D scrolling text sucks and a lot of the credit of this game goes towards assets that were purchased on the Unreal Marketplace and I want to give the creators proper credit for that (run on sentence). Here’s an example of what Luo’s cave section will look like. You obviously do not have to give me any information you don’t want to and I won’t post anything you don’t specifically give me permission to. If you don’t feel comfortable posting any information I could always just use a nickname a picture of one of your pets. It’s totally up to you.
Development
I can’t say whether I’m developing good or not but I hope that I’ve at least been honest and open about issues and progress. I’m trying to give you as much of an incomplete story as I can without ruining it at the end. It might seem weird now but I promise the Androids, the caves, the cat will all come together in the end. I know development is taking a lot longer than expected so thank you for sticking with me. Just to give you some idea of where we are: The layout of the cave is about 90% and you have access to the whole thing. All that remains as far as static environment is just touchups and detail meshes on the last cavern. The last major thing that’s needed is what I’ll call for now an “event”. The complexity of that event is about the same as the opening sequence but you can’t see it until it’s done. It’s taking longer than I thought because I’m trying to get some destructible meshes for Houdini (sigh...). You now have access to Signals to test to movement mechanics of the cat and how well the level is optimized and lit. Signals is about 60% complete. What’s remains to be done is audio dialog (you won't interact with the characters like you do as DOG). I’ll keep posting a major update ~once a month but I’ll post to the beta about everyweek. You can access the beta by right clicking CAT Interstellar in your steam library >> Properties >> BETAS tab >> Select beta1 in the drop down. I’ve removed the password so anyone can access it.
VR
I have mixed feeling about VR. Part of me wants to stick to the original plan of the VR origin being DOG (first person) and using a gamepad or mouse/keyboard for movement. The other part of me thinks we can do better. I’m not sure which will win out but I’d love to know what control types you like. One of the things I’m concerned about in VR is the time it takes to beat the game. Personally I usually get burned out and a little nauseous after ~30 minutes. I know this is just my own experience so I’m really curious what it is like for the rest of you. Have any of you played Allumette or Obduction? What did you think?
P.S.
This might be a little cheesy but would you have a problem with cursing in this game? This isn’t supposed to be a kids game but it also isn’t some gory mess. Maybe it’s because I just discovered Rick and Morty but if a cave is literally collapsing around you it’s likely you would at least mumble “damnit” to yourself. This is just something I came across while writing the dialog and I’m interested in what you think. Thanks again for everything, ːionizedgamesː
Update 1.9.1 (IK Foot Placement, Voice Acting, Story)
All the dialog has been written and Im ready to start adding the voice acting back in. I originally planned to do all the Android voice acting but a few people have offered their voices to make the Androids a little more unique. If anyone else is interested in helping out Ive created a document with all the different dialogs here. You can comment on the document with which Android you want to voice. You can also comment on changes to the dialog if you think something better would fit. It doesnt matter as long as the core message doesnt change. Also, feel free to add your own personality to them. The only rules: Allow a few seconds of silence before and after you talk so I can get a noise profile. DONT do any editing yourself. Dont normalize it, dont add effects to it, and dont try to take the background noise out of it. The only way this crazy experiment could possibly work is if I edit all the audio the same way. If you do want to help out please send your dialog in a .wav format to contact@ionizedgames.com It doesnt matter if you send it all as one file or if its stereo/mono. I can handle all that on my end. You can also send me multiple versions of a dialog or do multiple Androids if you want. The only android you cant do is 42. Sorry. The format of the google doc is: *Androids #* *Statement 1* *Statement 1* *Statement 2* Any time there is a line it indicates a new dialog box. A good way to get an idea of the spacing is by watching the first two androids talk.
I cannot pay you money. Sorry, this is about as indie an operation as it gets. What I can do is give you keys, give you credit, and promote whatever you want (as long as it isnt offensive (whatever that means (now were real deep in parenthesis))). The credits in this game will be an interactive level you can walk around. The reason for this is 2D scrolling text sucks and a lot of the credit of this game goes towards assets that were purchased on the Unreal Marketplace and I want to give the creators proper credit for that (run on sentence). Heres an example of what Luos cave section will look like. You obviously do not have to give me any information you dont want to and I wont post anything you dont specifically give me permission to. If you dont feel comfortable posting any information I could always just use a nickname a picture of one of your pets. Its totally up to you.
I cant say whether Im developing good or not but I hope that Ive at least been honest and open about issues and progress. Im trying to give you as much of an incomplete story as I can without ruining it at the end. It might seem weird now but I promise the Androids, the caves, the cat will all come together in the end. I know development is taking a lot longer than expected so thank you for sticking with me. Just to give you some idea of where we are: The layout of the cave is about 90% and you have access to the whole thing. All that remains as far as static environment is just touchups and detail meshes on the last cavern. The last major thing thats needed is what Ill call for now an event. The complexity of that event is about the same as the opening sequence but you cant see it until its done. Its taking longer than I thought because Im trying to get some destructible meshes for Houdini (sigh...). You now have access to Signals to test to movement mechanics of the cat and how well the level is optimized and lit. Signals is about 60% complete. Whats remains to be done is audio dialog (you won't interact with the characters like you do as DOG). Ill keep posting a major update ~once a month but Ill post to the beta about everyweek. You can access the beta by right clicking CAT Interstellar in your steam library >> Properties >> BETAS tab >> Select beta1 in the drop down. Ive removed the password so anyone can access it.
I have mixed feeling about VR. Part of me wants to stick to the original plan of the VR origin being DOG (first person) and using a gamepad or mouse/keyboard for movement. The other part of me thinks we can do better. Im not sure which will win out but Id love to know what control types you like. One of the things Im concerned about in VR is the time it takes to beat the game. Personally I usually get burned out and a little nauseous after ~30 minutes. I know this is just my own experience so Im really curious what it is like for the rest of you. Have any of you played Allumette or Obduction? What did you think?
This might be a little cheesy but would you have a problem with cursing in this game? This isnt supposed to be a kids game but it also isnt some gory mess. Maybe its because I just discovered Rick and Morty but if a cave is literally collapsing around you its likely you would at least mumble damnit to yourself. This is just something I came across while writing the dialog and Im interested in what you think. Thanks again for everything, :ionizedgames:
[ 2017-01-11 20:41:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
Dont be deceived by the title this is more of me trying to get your opinion than an update. I was hoping to get this out yesterday but Colorado has had some pretty crazy winds the last couple days (100+mph) and the internet has been in and out. Ill go over the update notes, Community, and then a little bit about development. Id love to get your input on any of it.
Update Notes:
- Android 42s textbox problem has been resolved using a priority type system. Thanks for all the community help on this. Its also ready for voice acting to be added back in (see community section).
- Linux brightness bug has been fixed by adjusting the auto-exposure. If you still encounter problems try setting the post processing quality to 0 in the menu.
- Screen resolution can now be set above 100% to 120%.
- E has been removed as a default menu button.
- Debug Viewmodes have be enabled in the dev tab. This will help troubleshoot frame drops.
- Fur material added to Cat character.
- Box mission on the surface only has 1 box. This was never meant to be a time sink. Finding one box gets the message across about what your sensor can do.
- Improved level transitions and adjusted DOGs speed per level.
- Android 42s dialog has been slightly extended.
- Signals is now available to play test. Mainly to test the optimization and control mechanics.
- Android 42 now has IK foot placement so were now officially competing with Uncharted 4 for game of the year.
Community - Voice Acting Anyone?
All the dialog has been written and Im ready to start adding the voice acting back in. I originally planned to do all the Android voice acting but a few people have offered their voices to make the Androids a little more unique. If anyone else is interested in helping out Ive created a document with all the different dialogs here. You can comment on the document with which Android you want to voice. You can also comment on changes to the dialog if you think something better would fit. It doesnt matter as long as the core message doesnt change. Also, feel free to add your own personality to them. The only rules: Allow a few seconds of silence before and after you talk so I can get a noise profile. DONT do any editing yourself. Dont normalize it, dont add effects to it, and dont try to take the background noise out of it. The only way this crazy experiment could possibly work is if I edit all the audio the same way. If you do want to help out please send your dialog in a .wav format to contact@ionizedgames.com It doesnt matter if you send it all as one file or if its stereo/mono. I can handle all that on my end. You can also send me multiple versions of a dialog or do multiple Androids if you want. The only android you cant do is 42. Sorry. The format of the google doc is: *Androids #* *Statement 1* *Statement 1* *Statement 2* Any time there is a line it indicates a new dialog box. A good way to get an idea of the spacing is by watching the first two androids talk.
Payment:
I cannot pay you money. Sorry, this is about as indie an operation as it gets. What I can do is give you keys, give you credit, and promote whatever you want (as long as it isnt offensive (whatever that means (now were real deep in parenthesis))). The credits in this game will be an interactive level you can walk around. The reason for this is 2D scrolling text sucks and a lot of the credit of this game goes towards assets that were purchased on the Unreal Marketplace and I want to give the creators proper credit for that (run on sentence). Heres an example of what Luos cave section will look like. You obviously do not have to give me any information you dont want to and I wont post anything you dont specifically give me permission to. If you dont feel comfortable posting any information I could always just use a nickname a picture of one of your pets. Its totally up to you.
Development
I cant say whether Im developing good or not but I hope that Ive at least been honest and open about issues and progress. Im trying to give you as much of an incomplete story as I can without ruining it at the end. It might seem weird now but I promise the Androids, the caves, the cat will all come together in the end. I know development is taking a lot longer than expected so thank you for sticking with me. Just to give you some idea of where we are: The layout of the cave is about 90% and you have access to the whole thing. All that remains as far as static environment is just touchups and detail meshes on the last cavern. The last major thing thats needed is what Ill call for now an event. The complexity of that event is about the same as the opening sequence but you cant see it until its done. Its taking longer than I thought because Im trying to get some destructible meshes for Houdini (sigh...). You now have access to Signals to test to movement mechanics of the cat and how well the level is optimized and lit. Signals is about 60% complete. Whats remains to be done is audio dialog (you won't interact with the characters like you do as DOG). Ill keep posting a major update ~once a month but Ill post to the beta about everyweek. You can access the beta by right clicking CAT Interstellar in your steam library >> Properties >> BETAS tab >> Select beta1 in the drop down. Ive removed the password so anyone can access it.
VR
I have mixed feeling about VR. Part of me wants to stick to the original plan of the VR origin being DOG (first person) and using a gamepad or mouse/keyboard for movement. The other part of me thinks we can do better. Im not sure which will win out but Id love to know what control types you like. One of the things Im concerned about in VR is the time it takes to beat the game. Personally I usually get burned out and a little nauseous after ~30 minutes. I know this is just my own experience so Im really curious what it is like for the rest of you. Have any of you played Allumette or Obduction? What did you think?
P.S.
This might be a little cheesy but would you have a problem with cursing in this game? This isnt supposed to be a kids game but it also isnt some gory mess. Maybe its because I just discovered Rick and Morty but if a cave is literally collapsing around you its likely you would at least mumble damnit to yourself. This is just something I came across while writing the dialog and Im interested in what you think. Thanks again for everything, :ionizedgames:
Linux Support (V1.9)
As Always, thank you for all your support through this project. I’ll give the details about the current update, an update on development, and another community key give away.
Full Linux support* *until proven otherwise. I’ve traced down every build error and shader issue. The game currently runs as well on Linux as it does on Windows. All Linux testing was done on: Ubuntu 16.10 Using Nvidia proprietary driver 367.57 Intel Core i5-3570k With a Nvidia 750 gtx If you are a linux user and you have the free time please go Here and let me know your system specs and whether the game is running properly.
Volumetric lighting
Vertex Painting
Particle effects for walking/running
“Signals” is still not done. I’m hoping to at least open it up to the beta branch for testing by next week. I sincerely apologize for this taking so long. Lack of content is, without a doubt, the #1 complaint. I’ll give you more details on why exactly it’s taking so long when I release it to the beta branch. I have also tried to stick to a bi-weekly update scheme without much luck. The situation that arose this time was Linux. Why release a build when you could fix a few shader issues and release to Linux at the same time? Now that Linux works it's two weeks later and you need you need another week of double time to stay on schedule. It's an organizational problem I'm trying to get better at. I've already gotten feedback on a beta build I pushed last night so I'll aim to release a hot-fix of some minor issues by Friday of next week. I'm going to try to stick to bi-weekly updates until release. When's release? I think the best guesstimation for a release date is a month after "Signals" is released. The game really isn't that long. Space, Base, Surface, Caves, Earth, Space, Done.
Originally, I was going to do another “find the cat” giveaway since I moved her to a more appropriate place but it’s a little too obvious. Instead, I’m going to try to get your ideas on how to handle a problem with Android 42’s text boxes. In order to get this update out I did what any good programmer would do and brute forced a solution. You can find all the details about it HERE. To get a key go there, leave a comment, solution, inspiring quote, whatever you want. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO PROGRAM. The problem is a logical one. There’s literally dozens of ways to solve it I just thought it would be interesting to see what you all came up with. Once we decide on a solution I’ll give everyone a key (Once Chazz shows up with the solution). Once again, The post is HERE. Also, let me know what you think of these community things. I don't know if they're cheesy or not. Do you want more?
Signals is not done but the game is worth another play through.
Almost forgot about VR!!! The awesome people at Epic games sent me Vive and a Rift to develop on. I have to spend this month focusing on content but holy cow the Vive is incredible. I can't wait to get it working with CAT Interstellar. I'm racking my brain on how to implement the motion controllers. If you have any ideas or examples of games that did it right I'd love to hear about it.
[ 2016-11-30 22:31:58 CET ] [ Original post ]
First
As Always, thank you for all your support through this project. I’ll give the details about the current update, an update on development, and another community key give away.
Update 1.9
Full Linux support* *until proven otherwise. I’ve traced down every build error and shader issue. The game currently runs as well on Linux as it does on Windows. All Linux testing was done on: Ubuntu 16.10 Using Nvidia proprietary driver 367.57 Intel Core i5-3570k With a Nvidia 750 gtx If you are a linux user and you have the free time please go Here and let me know your system specs and whether the game is running properly.
Graphics/VFX:
Volumetric lighting
Vertex Painting
Particle effects for walking/running
Gameplay:
- Camera rotation lag added – This will make movement even more fluid and provide a buffer when running into objects.
- Elevator Transition worked on – It now actually raises or lowers based on where you’re heading.
- Android 42 will follow you through all cave levels - Android 42’s navigation seems to be working good but if you find a problem please let me know.
- Android 42 got a flashlight.
Menu:
- Added Dev tools tab to options menu to help troubleshoot future bugs.
Level Design:
- Re-worked the surface to make it more intuitive and encourage exploration.
- Filled in dead zones with events and more environments. I’m deliberately not being specific about this.
- Decals in the base make directions easier.
- Placement of generators in the Mine level are placed “less arbitrarily” with more support around them.
Story:
- I rewrote most of the dialog to make the story much easier to follow. You’re going down into un-explored caves with Android 42 to see if you find anything weird. All the back/side story is still inherently in the game but, it isn’t crammed into the core dialog sequences.
- The Mine level has been flushed out with Android 42 walking you through to the generators.
- Android 42 has been added to the Caves and there is even a testing area for his navigation.
Bug fixes:
- Music not looping on Surface level.
- Fixed the fullscreen bug.
- Screen settings will stick from the intro level to DOG.
- Assorted holes in the map
Development:
“Signals” is still not done. I’m hoping to at least open it up to the beta branch for testing by next week. I sincerely apologize for this taking so long. Lack of content is, without a doubt, the #1 complaint. I’ll give you more details on why exactly it’s taking so long when I release it to the beta branch. I have also tried to stick to a bi-weekly update scheme without much luck. The situation that arose this time was Linux. Why release a build when you could fix a few shader issues and release to Linux at the same time? Now that Linux works it's two weeks later and you need you need another week of double time to stay on schedule. It's an organizational problem I'm trying to get better at. I've already gotten feedback on a beta build I pushed last night so I'll aim to release a hot-fix of some minor issues by Friday of next week. I'm going to try to stick to bi-weekly updates until release. When's release? I think the best guesstimation for a release date is a month after "Signals" is released. The game really isn't that long. Space, Base, Surface, Caves, Earth, Space, Done.
Community:
Originally, I was going to do another “find the cat” giveaway since I moved her to a more appropriate place but it’s a little too obvious. Instead, I’m going to try to get your ideas on how to handle a problem with Android 42’s text boxes. In order to get this update out I did what any good programmer would do and brute forced a solution. You can find all the details about it HERE. To get a key go there, leave a comment, solution, inspiring quote, whatever you want. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO PROGRAM. The problem is a logical one. There’s literally dozens of ways to solve it I just thought it would be interesting to see what you all came up with. Once we decide on a solution I’ll give everyone a key (Once Chazz shows up with the solution). Once again, The post is HERE. Also, let me know what you think of these community things. I don't know if they're cheesy or not. Do you want more?
TLDR;
Signals is not done but the game is worth another play through.
Edit:
Almost forgot about VR!!! The awesome people at Epic games sent me Vive and a Rift to develop on. I have to spend this month focusing on content but holy cow the Vive is incredible. I can't wait to get it working with CAT Interstellar. I'm racking my brain on how to implement the motion controllers. If you have any ideas or examples of games that did it right I'd love to hear about it.
Android’s Text Box Problem
If you don’t know how to program you can still help. This can be thought of strictly as a logical problem. There are dozens of ways to solve this problem. I just thought it would be really interesting to see what you all thought. Just leave a comment here or start a thread if you want to get crazy. I'll hand out keys to everyone when we decide on a solution.
Android 42’s dialog text box is a little different than the other Androids. In the game I use overlapping volumes to update Android 42’s text. When he overlaps one of these cubes it sends a message containing what new lines to show (string array). His text box is then closed (destroyed) and rebuilt/resized based on the number of lines he receives and their length. When a text box is updated it is automatically opened. This is to ensure he says things at the right time.
When the texbox is updated it is automatically assigned a delay. This is to ensure the player has time to read the text before it disappears. Currently it is set to 6 seconds (6s) per line. In other words, 6s for each element in the array. The length of each line doesn't matter***. The two ways to update and open the text box are by overlapping one of these boxes or when the player interacts with him (left mouse click).
The problem occurs when you want to send him a new text box but the count down delay has already been activated from a previous box. If he is sent a message with one line (6s delay) and then 5s later he is sent another message with a 6s delay the box will close 1s after the text box for the second message opens. Effectively opening an updated text box for 1s (You might experience this bug in the current game).
This happens most often when the player interacts with Android 42 right before he is triggered by another box.
Being the professional Programmer I am, I created a very simple (but temporary) fix for this. Here's the original delay: When the Android is triggered you are given a delay time and regardless of what happens you will close your text box.
Now here's the (TEMPORARY) fix: Scenario 1 (perfect scenario): A message arrives and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. When that delay is complete it checks to see if another message has arrived before it's done. If not (delay 2 is FALSE), it completes it's task and closes the text box. Scenario 2 (OMG!!!): A message is received and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. Before delay 1 is complete another message is received and is assigned the "delay 2" branch. When the first delay branch finishes It checks to see if a second delay was received. If so, it will also take that branch and activate the second delay before ultimately closing the text box. This effectively adds the delays.
Like I said, It isn't pretty but it works for the most part. One bad thing is that the delays are constantly counting down in the background. Eventually they will close the text box and it might not be the best time. You can also only handle 2 delays. You could put another branch or twenty but I'm curious what else you think of.
You CANNOT reject or delay a message. When Android receives updates he MUST accept them and immediately display them. Similarly, You CANNOT "save" messages to display later. You CANNOT change, add, subtract, pause, or alter a delay in any way once it has been started (you CAN ignore it when its done though). You CAN close a message early. You CAN add as many branches as you want. You CAN break delay times up (e.x. 10 delays of .2 seconds Vs. 1 delay of 2 seconds). You CAN literally do anything and we can rewrite the code but if we keep these rules it will make it a lot easier to insert .wav (voice acting) later.
The delay could be based off the number of total characters and you could even add additional time for each '_' to account for complete words. It's actually pretty interesting. That's not the problem though.
[ 2016-11-30 22:22:33 CET ] [ Original post ]
First off
If you don’t know how to program you can still help. This can be thought of strictly as a logical problem. There are dozens of ways to solve this problem. I just thought it would be really interesting to see what you all thought. Just leave a comment here or start a thread if you want to get crazy. I'll hand out keys to everyone when we decide on a solution.
The Problem
Android 42’s dialog text box is a little different than the other Androids. In the game I use overlapping volumes to update Android 42’s text. When he overlaps one of these cubes it sends a message containing what new lines to show (string array). His text box is then closed (destroyed) and rebuilt/resized based on the number of lines he receives and their length. When a text box is updated it is automatically opened. This is to ensure he says things at the right time.
The Delay
When the texbox is updated it is automatically assigned a delay. This is to ensure the player has time to read the text before it disappears. Currently it is set to 6 seconds (6s) per line. In other words, 6s for each element in the array. The length of each line doesn't matter***. The two ways to update and open the text box are by overlapping one of these boxes or when the player interacts with him (left mouse click).
The problem occurs when you want to send him a new text box but the count down delay has already been activated from a previous box. If he is sent a message with one line (6s delay) and then 5s later he is sent another message with a 6s delay the box will close 1s after the text box for the second message opens. Effectively opening an updated text box for 1s (You might experience this bug in the current game).
This happens most often when the player interacts with Android 42 right before he is triggered by another box.
The Fix
Being the professional Programmer I am, I created a very simple (but temporary) fix for this. Here's the original delay: When the Android is triggered you are given a delay time and regardless of what happens you will close your text box.
Now here's the (TEMPORARY) fix: Scenario 1 (perfect scenario): A message arrives and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. When that delay is complete it checks to see if another message has arrived before it's done. If not (delay 2 is FALSE), it completes it's task and closes the text box. Scenario 2 (OMG!!!): A message is received and is assigned the "delay 1" branch. Before delay 1 is complete another message is received and is assigned the "delay 2" branch. When the first delay branch finishes It checks to see if a second delay was received. If so, it will also take that branch and activate the second delay before ultimately closing the text box. This effectively adds the delays.
Like I said, It isn't pretty but it works for the most part. One bad thing is that the delays are constantly counting down in the background. Eventually they will close the text box and it might not be the best time. You can also only handle 2 delays. You could put another branch or twenty but I'm curious what else you think of.
Rules:
You CANNOT reject or delay a message. When Android receives updates he MUST accept them and immediately display them. Similarly, You CANNOT "save" messages to display later. You CANNOT change, add, subtract, pause, or alter a delay in any way once it has been started (you CAN ignore it when its done though). You CAN close a message early. You CAN add as many branches as you want. You CAN break delay times up (e.x. 10 delays of .2 seconds Vs. 1 delay of 2 seconds). You CAN literally do anything and we can rewrite the code but if we keep these rules it will make it a lot easier to insert .wav (voice acting) later.
Sorry "Signals" isn't done yet.
***
The delay could be based off the number of total characters and you could even add additional time for each '_' to account for complete words. It's actually pretty interesting. That's not the problem though.
There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (Update 1.8.2)
This is a smaller update dealing with the transition from the Mine to the Cave along with some generic bugs like the text box audio not being attenuated. If you’ve already played through the current build, there isn’t much new so I wouldn’t recommend playing through again until the next update. I’m going to hold off on pushing the rest of the cave system until the next update. It’s really important to me and I want to have it at least to the same detail as the base and surface. Android 42s navigation is working really good. There’s a slight jolt when he switches from walk to run but otherwise coming along nicely. Lastly, we should have a linux version with the next patch (shaders are fixed!!!).
Got rid of the red barrier before the elevator on the surface and replaced it with locked doors (it isn’t as cheesy). Similarly, the door to the elevator in the base is now locked until you go to the lab to get briefed on the mission. This should help with the story a little bit. The Mine level now requires you to activate 4 generators before the collapse. The start of the cave system now has sections of the SkyLift hanging down.
If you should have received a key for any of the contests just email me at contact@ionizedgames.com I tried to friend people and hand out keys that way but sometimes I couldn’t get a response. I also want to thank everyone for hanging around this long and helping to troubleshoot the game. When I push the level “Signals” things are going to get a little darker. This isn’t a horror game but, they are trying to fundamentally alter a planet and there’s no such thing as a free lunch…
[ 2016-09-15 12:43:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 1.8.2
This is a smaller update dealing with the transition from the Mine to the Cave along with some generic bugs like the text box audio not being attenuated. If you’ve already played through the current build, there isn’t much new so I wouldn’t recommend playing through again until the next update. I’m going to hold off on pushing the rest of the cave system until the next update. It’s really important to me and I want to have it at least to the same detail as the base and surface. Android 42s navigation is working really good. There’s a slight jolt when he switches from walk to run but otherwise coming along nicely. Lastly, we should have a linux version with the next patch (shaders are fixed!!!).
Level Design
Got rid of the red barrier before the elevator on the surface and replaced it with locked doors (it isn’t as cheesy). Similarly, the door to the elevator in the base is now locked until you go to the lab to get briefed on the mission. This should help with the story a little bit. The Mine level now requires you to activate 4 generators before the collapse. The start of the cave system now has sections of the SkyLift hanging down.
Community
If you should have received a key for any of the contests just email me at contact@ionizedgames.com I tried to friend people and hand out keys that way but sometimes I couldn’t get a response. I also want to thank everyone for hanging around this long and helping to troubleshoot the game. When I push the level “Signals” things are going to get a little darker. This isn’t a horror game but, they are trying to fundamentally alter a planet and there’s no such thing as a free lunch…
We copy your venting (Update 1.8.1)
This isn't a huge update but I want to get back in the routine of pushing what we have roughly every other week. There's a lot of little things like grammatical errors and objects in weird places that we fixed but most of the dev time was spent on events, VR, and Android 42's movement.
The Surface level now requires you to complete the SkyLift mission before continuing into the mine. In most playthroughs on youtube (because I literally watch them all) players go straight to the mine. We generally try not to force players to do stuff but seeing the SkyLift on the surface is almost mandatory to connect the opening scene with the one in the mine. We also improved the transition between the mine and cave. This still has a lot more work to be done but it's better. In the next update you'll meet Android 42 in the mine. His pathfinding is coming along really well.
I wanted to give you a quick update on how this is going. The DLC and branches (everything on the Steam side) is working good. The one problem we're dealing with is the auto resolution opening in full screen mode. Instead of wasting more time tracking this down I'm going to rip the whole thing out for the VR version and hardcode the resolutions in. We obviously won't be participating in the Steam VR sale until this is up and running.
Last update we had a challenge to guess the genetic makeup of our dog Ziggy.
Here's the answer:
Thanks to everyone who played. For this update I've got another one - Some of you might not know this but there is a cat in this game. Not a "CAT" but a real feline animal that lives in the base. If you can find her post a picture to the in the community screenshots (F12 while in-game) and I'll give you another key. Just comment here when you think you found her. Hint: "She mainly stick to the air ducts where the O2 concentration is higher".
[ 2016-07-30 13:48:55 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update 1.8.1
This isn't a huge update but I want to get back in the routine of pushing what we have roughly every other week. There's a lot of little things like grammatical errors and objects in weird places that we fixed but most of the dev time was spent on events, VR, and Android 42's movement.
Level Design
The Surface level now requires you to complete the SkyLift mission before continuing into the mine. In most playthroughs on youtube (because I literally watch them all) players go straight to the mine. We generally try not to force players to do stuff but seeing the SkyLift on the surface is almost mandatory to connect the opening scene with the one in the mine. We also improved the transition between the mine and cave. This still has a lot more work to be done but it's better. In the next update you'll meet Android 42 in the mine. His pathfinding is coming along really well.
VR
I wanted to give you a quick update on how this is going. The DLC and branches (everything on the Steam side) is working good. The one problem we're dealing with is the auto resolution opening in full screen mode. Instead of wasting more time tracking this down I'm going to rip the whole thing out for the VR version and hardcode the resolutions in. We obviously won't be participating in the Steam VR sale until this is up and running.
Community
Last update we had a challenge to guess the genetic makeup of our dog Ziggy.
Here's the answer:
Thanks to everyone who played. For this update I've got another one - Some of you might not know this but there is a cat in this game. Not a "CAT" but a real feline animal that lives in the base. If you can find her post a picture to the in the community screenshots (F12 while in-game) and I'll give you another key. Just comment here when you think you found her. Hint: "She mainly stick to the air ducts where the O2 concentration is higher".
Okay, stand by, 13. We’re looking at it.
Thank you for sticking with us while we fixed a few things. Here are the update Notes:
Levels The Base and Mine environments have been expanded into their own levels. The environments are one of the stronger aspects of CAT Interstellar and the Base and Mine just weren’t up to snuff. We also hated the idea of confining the player to long corridors of dialog. Now the game if much more open and you can explore the world as you please. There are no mandatory quests and only about 30 seconds of mandatory dialog at the very beginning. After that you’re free to play the game and dig into the backstory as much as you like. HUD IT WORKS!!! If you’ve been following this game since the start you know this is something we’ve wanted from the beginning and we have finally got it working (Dead Space clone here we come). You now have a 3D HUD for the temp, speed, and boosts left. The importance of the temp gauge will be explained later in the story. Atmosphere We added close to a 100 times more dynamic lights and objects. This is something we wanted from the beginning and were finally able to do by breaking the levels up. We also changed the “grab” function to grab vertices and free the rotation. This makes interaction a little more fluid.
Supports custom resolution. Key rebinding!!! AutoDetect resolution on start up. Improved interface and responses. Added a Dev Tab.
Decreased from ~7.5Gb to ~4.3Gb We made massive optimizations to the game in terms of file size. This was mainly due to reusing detail normal maps. Every model in the game has a normal map and most items had a detail normal map. Now we’re using the same detail normal for almost everything. We also atlased the textures we use most often. This won’t just effect download size but also decrease the number of draw calls and load times for levels. This should give an across the board boost to frame rates.
Animations The Androids now actually look like they’re talking. They also walk around the environments with various dialogs. This isn’t Elder Scrolls: Oblivion but it should be a little more immersive. The environments have also been flushed out with a lot more Androids. The new dialog system lets us place and edit Androids a lot faster than before. Dialog The voice acting has been replaced by dialog boxes. This is a pretty big change to the original design and I really want to know what you think of it. There are a few reasons we switched to this: Translations are now possible since we’re dealing with text files. This works effectively as subtitles for VR - The default UE4 subtitles system does not (and probably will never) support VR. Since the beginning we always had a little heart burn about the androids "talking" to DOG. We originally just hand-waved this and said DOG's pitch modulator wasn't working so they had to use audio channels. Not that the androids would be incapable of speaking English but they would most likely communicate over radio waves. This dialog system sort of emulates that. Give it a run through and let me know what you think.
The original idea was to allow the player to swap between 2D and VR seamlessly in the game. What we didn’t expect was how poorly this would work with SteamVR. The solution for this is to separate the conventional build and the VR build using DLC. I know we said we wouldn’t have DLC but this is a little bit of a different situation and it will obviously be free. This should be coming this weekend or early next week.
Added DOG’s sensor back into the game. Added animations for jumping and landing. Added 3D HUD. Improved interaction logic. Added toggle sprint.
The obvious elephant in the room is how long it took us to push an update. If you haven’t read our previous announcement about what went wrong, you can find it here. I understand that even with a single developer working on the game this is simply unacceptable. We’ve implemented source control and switched from Trello to a similar in-engine note system. These things wouldn’t have prevented the bug that shut us down but they will most certainly prevent delays in the future. With this new build I hope to be able to push updates as frequent as I have been on the beta branch (average 3.5 days since June 5th). The Dev tab will also make it easier to get more information about bugs in the future.
Lastly, and at the risk of ending up on Reddit as the most unprofessional indie dev ever, I thought we could play a game. We obviously make a lot of cat and dog references and I just got the DNA test back for our dog Ziggy. Here’s the pie chart of the breeds that came together to make him.
If you can correctly guess atleast 3 of the 6 I’ll give you a free copy of the game. Just post a comment of what 3 breeds you think he has and I’ll message you with a key if you’re right. Here is a few more pictures to help you out. Hint: He doesn't have a drop of German Shepard.
[ 2016-07-22 17:22:29 CET ] [ Original post ]
V1.8 Update
Thank you for sticking with us while we fixed a few things. Here are the update Notes:
Environments
Levels The Base and Mine environments have been expanded into their own levels. The environments are one of the stronger aspects of CAT Interstellar and the Base and Mine just weren’t up to snuff. We also hated the idea of confining the player to long corridors of dialog. Now the game if much more open and you can explore the world as you please. There are no mandatory quests and only about 30 seconds of mandatory dialog at the very beginning. After that you’re free to play the game and dig into the backstory as much as you like. HUD IT WORKS!!! If you’ve been following this game since the start you know this is something we’ve wanted from the beginning and we have finally got it working (Dead Space clone here we come). You now have a 3D HUD for the temp, speed, and boosts left. The importance of the temp gauge will be explained later in the story. Atmosphere We added close to a 100 times more dynamic lights and objects. This is something we wanted from the beginning and were finally able to do by breaking the levels up. We also changed the “grab” function to grab vertices and free the rotation. This makes interaction a little more fluid.
Menu:
Supports custom resolution. Key rebinding!!! AutoDetect resolution on start up. Improved interface and responses. Added a Dev Tab.
Game Size:
Decreased from ~7.5Gb to ~4.3Gb We made massive optimizations to the game in terms of file size. This was mainly due to reusing detail normal maps. Every model in the game has a normal map and most items had a detail normal map. Now we’re using the same detail normal for almost everything. We also atlased the textures we use most often. This won’t just effect download size but also decrease the number of draw calls and load times for levels. This should give an across the board boost to frame rates.
Androids
Animations The Androids now actually look like they’re talking. They also walk around the environments with various dialogs. This isn’t Elder Scrolls: Oblivion but it should be a little more immersive. The environments have also been flushed out with a lot more Androids. The new dialog system lets us place and edit Androids a lot faster than before. Dialog The voice acting has been replaced by dialog boxes. This is a pretty big change to the original design and I really want to know what you think of it. There are a few reasons we switched to this: Translations are now possible since we’re dealing with text files. This works effectively as subtitles for VR - The default UE4 subtitles system does not (and probably will never) support VR. Since the beginning we always had a little heart burn about the androids "talking" to DOG. We originally just hand-waved this and said DOG's pitch modulator wasn't working so they had to use audio channels. Not that the androids would be incapable of speaking English but they would most likely communicate over radio waves. This dialog system sort of emulates that. Give it a run through and let me know what you think.
VR
The original idea was to allow the player to swap between 2D and VR seamlessly in the game. What we didn’t expect was how poorly this would work with SteamVR. The solution for this is to separate the conventional build and the VR build using DLC. I know we said we wouldn’t have DLC but this is a little bit of a different situation and it will obviously be free. This should be coming this weekend or early next week.
DOG
Added DOG’s sensor back into the game. Added animations for jumping and landing. Added 3D HUD. Improved interaction logic. Added toggle sprint.
Development
The obvious elephant in the room is how long it took us to push an update. If you haven’t read our previous announcement about what went wrong, you can find it here. I understand that even with a single developer working on the game this is simply unacceptable. We’ve implemented source control and switched from Trello to a similar in-engine note system. These things wouldn’t have prevented the bug that shut us down but they will most certainly prevent delays in the future. With this new build I hope to be able to push updates as frequent as I have been on the beta branch (average 3.5 days since June 5th). The Dev tab will also make it easier to get more information about bugs in the future.
Community
Lastly, and at the risk of ending up on Reddit as the most unprofessional indie dev ever, I thought we could play a game. We obviously make a lot of cat and dog references and I just got the DNA test back for our dog Ziggy. Here’s the pie chart of the breeds that came together to make him.
If you can correctly guess atleast 3 of the 6 I’ll give you a free copy of the game. Just post a comment of what 3 breeds you think he has and I’ll message you with a key if you’re right. Here is a few more pictures to help you out. Hint: He doesn't have a drop of German Shepard.
Houston, We Have A Problem
The original idea was for these monitors to carry a lot of the backstory:
The problem with this is a lot of the concepts just can’t be explained on a 2D flipboard monitor. One of the big ones was the purpose of the skylift. It isn’t just an elevator but a generator. When it is night (farthest side from the sun) the skylift payload has the gravity from both the planet and the sun so it “falls”. When you swing back around the gravity from the sun pulls the weight back out into space. They are essentially harvesting energy from the rotation of the planet. They then use the energy from this skylift (and 1000s of others on Mars) in an attempt to reignite the planets core. This is why they are having all the earth quakes. Explaining how the stutter assembler collapses wave functions on a quantum level is another big one. Because of this we decided it would be best to revamp the environments as well as the android animations With more freedom to edit the environments we were able to make that information a lot more optional. You won’t be confined to long hallways of dialog anymore but instead you’ll have the option to go check out the communications room or Laboratory and see what the androids are working on.
The levels are now broken into much smaller chunks that are streamed as you play. This allows us to create much more complex scenes because it decreases the time it takes to build the lighting. To give you an idea the first level in the current build contains the base, surface, and mine. Building lighting for the map alone takes about 16 hours. Lighting has to build if any static mesh is moved or edited. The current version splits it into 3 levels with the base taking 6 minutes to build lighting, the surface taking 6 hours, and the mine taking 3 minutes. The load times to start the game are also drastically decreased. Problem with Environments The original idea was to release an update each month regardless of how much or little progress was made. Splitting the levels completely broke this because they all needed to be stitched back together.
To do this we added almost 100 additional animations to the androids and completely redesigned the animation blueprint used. This allows for much more diverse actions and movements that are a lot more fluid. Whether working at a station or pointing out an area of interest the Androids should be a lot more immersive. Problem with animations You’ll notice the android model is not that same. Mid-April we started consolidating these animations and producing a blueprint to handle all of them. Those assets were then migrated into the main project thus creating the saga of a very elusive bug. We haven’t been able to nail down exactly what is causing it mainly because of the nature of these animations. They aren’t compiled so the debugger is useless. The “Android_C” (the character you know as Android) compiles without any errors, warnings, or indications. On top of that the errors don’t present themselves in the editor or in a stand-alone build of the game but only the published version. That’s why we didn’t catch it until recently.
Because of this we are going to push the release date into August. It is still possible we’ll be able to get this latest update out this month and I’ll update this post once we get the kinks worked out. I know that Steam Early Access games don’t have the best track record for completion. Because of that I wanted to try to explain exactly what the situation is both out of respect for your support but also because it’s very hard that we haven’t been able to share our progress with you. I believed in this project from day 1 and I still do. Rest assured that even if there are hiccups in development we are still 100% committed. Lastly (and as always), we love to get your feedback in the comments regardless of whether it’s good or bad but if you want a response please start a thread in the forums. It gets very messy very quickly to try to respond inside the announcement. Thank you again for the support and feedback, ːionizedgamesː
The project has been successfully purged of all the contaminated assets. The Android has been completely rebuilt and is working perfectly. Next step is to carefully bring the animation assets back in and rebuild the animation blueprint.
Rebuilding materials for Android so his face flashes when he talks. We've tried to "tie" it to the amplitude of the audio file so it's timed up correctly with his speech. Unfortunately we've yet to find a way to reference .wav files for amplitude. More to come.
[ 2016-05-23 18:19:38 CET ] [ Original post ]
At this point it doesn’t look like we are going to get the update out in May or the full release in June. Instead of a vague delay notice I wanted to try to explain where we are in development and what problems we are facing. There were 3 major upgrades decided and 2 major problems because of them: Upgrade DOG animations and provide an informational 3D HUD – Complete. Break up the levels and stream them – Complete but caused April’s update to be delayed. Upgrade Androids animations and AI – Complete but has a bug straight out of hell.
Reason for the changes
The original idea was for these monitors to carry a lot of the backstory:
The problem with this is a lot of the concepts just can’t be explained on a 2D flipboard monitor. One of the big ones was the purpose of the skylift. It isn’t just an elevator but a generator. When it is night (farthest side from the sun) the skylift payload has the gravity from both the planet and the sun so it “falls”. When you swing back around the gravity from the sun pulls the weight back out into space. They are essentially harvesting energy from the rotation of the planet. They then use the energy from this skylift (and 1000s of others on Mars) in an attempt to reignite the planets core. This is why they are having all the earth quakes. Explaining how the stutter assembler collapses wave functions on a quantum level is another big one. Because of this we decided it would be best to revamp the environments as well as the android animations With more freedom to edit the environments we were able to make that information a lot more optional. You won’t be confined to long hallways of dialog anymore but instead you’ll have the option to go check out the communications room or Laboratory and see what the androids are working on.
Environments:
The levels are now broken into much smaller chunks that are streamed as you play. This allows us to create much more complex scenes because it decreases the time it takes to build the lighting. To give you an idea the first level in the current build contains the base, surface, and mine. Building lighting for the map alone takes about 16 hours. Lighting has to build if any static mesh is moved or edited. The current version splits it into 3 levels with the base taking 6 minutes to build lighting, the surface taking 6 hours, and the mine taking 3 minutes. The load times to start the game are also drastically decreased. Problem with Environments The original idea was to release an update each month regardless of how much or little progress was made. Splitting the levels completely broke this because they all needed to be stitched back together.
Animations
To do this we added almost 100 additional animations to the androids and completely redesigned the animation blueprint used. This allows for much more diverse actions and movements that are a lot more fluid. Whether working at a station or pointing out an area of interest the Androids should be a lot more immersive. Problem with animations You’ll notice the android model is not that same. Mid-April we started consolidating these animations and producing a blueprint to handle all of them. Those assets were then migrated into the main project thus creating the saga of a very elusive bug. We haven’t been able to nail down exactly what is causing it mainly because of the nature of these animations. They aren’t compiled so the debugger is useless. The “Android_C” (the character you know as Android) compiles without any errors, warnings, or indications. On top of that the errors don’t present themselves in the editor or in a stand-alone build of the game but only the published version. That’s why we didn’t catch it until recently.
Conclusion
Because of this we are going to push the release date into August. It is still possible we’ll be able to get this latest update out this month and I’ll update this post once we get the kinks worked out. I know that Steam Early Access games don’t have the best track record for completion. Because of that I wanted to try to explain exactly what the situation is both out of respect for your support but also because it’s very hard that we haven’t been able to share our progress with you. I believed in this project from day 1 and I still do. Rest assured that even if there are hiccups in development we are still 100% committed. Lastly (and as always), we love to get your feedback in the comments regardless of whether it’s good or bad but if you want a response please start a thread in the forums. It gets very messy very quickly to try to respond inside the announcement. Thank you again for the support and feedback, ːionizedgamesː
Update May 26:
The project has been successfully purged of all the contaminated assets. The Android has been completely rebuilt and is working perfectly. Next step is to carefully bring the animation assets back in and rebuild the animation blueprint.
Update June 1:
Rebuilding materials for Android so his face flashes when he talks. We've tried to "tie" it to the amplitude of the audio file so it's timed up correctly with his speech. Unfortunately we've yet to find a way to reference .wav files for amplitude. More to come.
March Update
As always, I want to start by saying how awesome this community is. When I started developing CAT Interstellar I had no idea how many people would be interested in a Science Fiction story where the aliens aren't hulking monsters trying to kill you. I've been very lucky to have the opportunity to meet a lot of like minded people interested in some of the finer details about humanities ascent to the heavens. On that note, if you're interested in space dust, rocket nozzles, or hydrazine check out the podcasts over at Magnificent Cosmonauts. They were kind enough to invite me over for an interview and it was a blast. Assuming I didn't blow it we should have another one around the release date that dives into the story.
Bad news is that there won't be an update this month. I'm getting married in 4 days and simply ran out of time. The nature of the next couple updates are essentially all or nothing. The good news is that this is not a delay for the project as a whole and I'm still very confident in a June 1st release. I've been very protective of the story up to this point but since there's another update delay I at least wanted to give you a teaser of what you might find in the caves.
[ 2016-03-29 15:59:05 CET ] [ Original post ]
Community
As always, I want to start by saying how awesome this community is. When I started developing CAT Interstellar I had no idea how many people would be interested in a Science Fiction story where the aliens aren't hulking monsters trying to kill you. I've been very lucky to have the opportunity to meet a lot of like minded people interested in some of the finer details about humanities ascent to the heavens. On that note, if you're interested in space dust, rocket nozzles, or hydrazine check out the podcasts over at Magnificent Cosmonauts. They were kind enough to invite me over for an interview and it was a blast. Assuming I didn't blow it we should have another one around the release date that dives into the story.
Update
Bad news is that there won't be an update this month. I'm getting married in 4 days and simply ran out of time. The nature of the next couple updates are essentially all or nothing. The good news is that this is not a delay for the project as a whole and I'm still very confident in a June 1st release. I've been very protective of the story up to this point but since there's another update delay I at least wanted to give you a teaser of what you might find in the caves.
Gravitational Waves Detected!!!
[ 2016-02-11 16:38:15 CET ] [ Original post ]
I try not to fill the announcements with BS but this is a pretty big deal. The discovery of gravitational waves is on par with the Higgs Boson. We've not only explained how a fundamental force works but also gained an entirely new way of viewing the Universe. Up to this point astronomy has been based on observation of the electromagnetic spectrum (mainly light). Now we have another way. This vindicates a lot of Einstein's predictions and essentially proves that black holes do, in fact, exist. If you want to read more here is a goo article from NPR: Scientists detect waves in space time as black holes collide
Update 1.7 (Caves, Spaceships, and Roadmap)
Increased the cave size and opened it up so that you can see exactly how far the cave development has gone. I'm trying to find the balance of how unpolished an environment can be before people get upset. You'll literally be able to jump off the map...
Added an orbiting spaceship to the opening scene (it's slow so keep an eye out for it). This spaceship will play a major role in the story and you will actually board the ship towards the end.
The main reason I wanted to push this update early in the month is to give you a better idea of the scope of the game, the state of development, and a timeline for when to expect stuff. We knew we were pushing it with how vague we've been about the direction this game is headed in. While I don't want to reveal the story just yet I do want to tell you about the timeline we're looking at. March Update: Completed back story on the monitors. It doesn't seem like a lot but there are 20 different displays scattered around the base and surface level and each will tell a portion of the back story. The Cave environment will also be flushed out and connect below the skylift anchor. This is the last stage of the terraforming process and involves them(the androids) trying to reignite the core of the planet. April Update: The Cave environment will be populated with events and dialog similar to the first level. This will explain the importance of the bacteria. The spaceship level will also be available. May Update: Will have the spaceship level events added. The spaceship is the last level and will bring everything together. On top of the major update this month there will also be a number of smaller ones as we work out all the bugs before the June release. June Update: Hopefully a bug free version of the May Update. I also want to cover something we were really hopeful about but failed to do and that is a 3D menu. This was really something that was important to us but we just couldn't pull it off. The problem rest mainly in the fact that you can not interact with Wigdets (UI) using raycasts in UE4. This basically means you have to use a mouse cursor. It's possible to do 3D menu but it would be severely limited in scope and you wouldn't be able to enter any custom text in the boxes (like resolutions). Thanks for all the support and as always, we really appreciate any and all feedback about either the game or the development. P.S. 'Num 7' will enable a spectator view. Someone requested it and we really need to redo the trailer. If you're interested in contributing a scene you think would be awesome for the trailer (besides throwing the androids around the map) just upload it to the videos section and we'll check it out. We'll obviously ask permission before we use anything but I'd love to see what areas you liked the most. You can set the Field of view using the command line "FOV [new float]" so pressing the '`' key and then typing "FOV 120" will give you a field of view of 120 degrees.
[ 2016-02-07 16:45:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
Caves:
Increased the cave size and opened it up so that you can see exactly how far the cave development has gone. I'm trying to find the balance of how unpolished an environment can be before people get upset. You'll literally be able to jump off the map...
Spaceship:
Added an orbiting spaceship to the opening scene (it's slow so keep an eye out for it). This spaceship will play a major role in the story and you will actually board the ship towards the end.
Roadmap:
The main reason I wanted to push this update early in the month is to give you a better idea of the scope of the game, the state of development, and a timeline for when to expect stuff. We knew we were pushing it with how vague we've been about the direction this game is headed in. While I don't want to reveal the story just yet I do want to tell you about the timeline we're looking at. March Update: Completed back story on the monitors. It doesn't seem like a lot but there are 20 different displays scattered around the base and surface level and each will tell a portion of the back story. The Cave environment will also be flushed out and connect below the skylift anchor. This is the last stage of the terraforming process and involves them(the androids) trying to reignite the core of the planet. April Update: The Cave environment will be populated with events and dialog similar to the first level. This will explain the importance of the bacteria. The spaceship level will also be available. May Update: Will have the spaceship level events added. The spaceship is the last level and will bring everything together. On top of the major update this month there will also be a number of smaller ones as we work out all the bugs before the June release. June Update: Hopefully a bug free version of the May Update. I also want to cover something we were really hopeful about but failed to do and that is a 3D menu. This was really something that was important to us but we just couldn't pull it off. The problem rest mainly in the fact that you can not interact with Wigdets (UI) using raycasts in UE4. This basically means you have to use a mouse cursor. It's possible to do 3D menu but it would be severely limited in scope and you wouldn't be able to enter any custom text in the boxes (like resolutions). Thanks for all the support and as always, we really appreciate any and all feedback about either the game or the development. P.S. 'Num 7' will enable a spectator view. Someone requested it and we really need to redo the trailer. If you're interested in contributing a scene you think would be awesome for the trailer (besides throwing the androids around the map) just upload it to the videos section and we'll check it out. We'll obviously ask permission before we use anything but I'd love to see what areas you liked the most. You can set the Field of view using the command line "FOV [new float]" so pressing the '`' key and then typing "FOV 120" will give you a field of view of 120 degrees.
Update 1.6 (Gameplay, Content, Optimizations, State of Development)
Gameplay: Dramatically shortened in-game dialog. No more “missions” but instead encourages you to explore. Reverted back to the original controls where dog sprints when you hold shift. You can now toggle between your graphite sensor and flashlight in the caves using the ‘F’ key. The menu now pauses the game like a normal menu. Content: Splash Screen the accurately reflects the current state of the game. Added a main menu level to set options and toggle VR (this was inspired by the lobby in Natural Selection 2). Expanded the cave section. New DOG Model!!! Additional effects when hovering over water. Recorded new audio dialog (is isn’t good but it’s better). Optimizations The levels now stream in from the main-menu level, drastically cutting down on the initial load time. Loading screens. Fixed some problems with the AA so VR experience should be a lot smoother. Added Vsync options to the Main menu. Updated to UE4.10. A number of back end improvements to how menus and variables are passed from level to level.
I wanted to include a statement about how development is going, the status of the game, and also try to get feedback on what you think. Development Currently I couldn’t be happier with how development of CAT Interstellar is going. It is the work of myself and another writer and started off as a gamejam submission that just grew. This is not the conventional type of development since both of us have normal jobs and do this on our free time. The downside to this is that development is much slower. The positive is that we actually get to make the game we set out to make without having to worry about financing it or compromising the original story. We’ve learned a lot over the last couple months of development and I’m happy to confidently announce a release date of Jun 1 2016. Status With this latest update the core gameplay, game mechanics, state machines, animations, AI, shaders, and modelled assets are complete. The rest is primarily level development of the caves and a “master” texture used on the base’s monitors to explain the back story. On the Steam side we are 1 review short of 100 positive reviews and currently sit at a 78% recommendation rate (an overall thumbs up). We’ve also gotten incredibly lucky with the vast majority of negative reviews in that they are mainly (and understandably) complaints about the length of current game. I think a lot of those reviews could possibly change to positive recommendations when the full game is released. Sales of CAT Interstellar have essentially dropped to 0. Normally this would be detrimental for a developer and is usually when people jump ship. For us, it’s literally the best thing that could happen. We have a very healthy community that provides consistent feedback on updates. Until the game is complete there really isn’t any reason to market the game. We have everything we need to make an awesome game and none of the pressures that seem to lead to a rushed release. For the next couple of months we'll be developing in the shadows of Steam. Feedback I say this every time but I sincerely want your feedback. Not just on the updates but also on how we prioritizes updates or handle announcements like these. We had a little hiccup with last month’s release because it was flagged by AVG but we should stay on track from here on out. I’m also going to try to get the other writer, slowmath, active in the forums. He’s been creeping for a while but could probably give a little more insight into some of these discussions. Thanks again for all your support- Ionized Games
[ 2016-01-22 20:35:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
Gameplay, Content and Optimizations
Gameplay: Dramatically shortened in-game dialog. No more “missions” but instead encourages you to explore. Reverted back to the original controls where dog sprints when you hold shift. You can now toggle between your graphite sensor and flashlight in the caves using the ‘F’ key. The menu now pauses the game like a normal menu. Content: Splash Screen the accurately reflects the current state of the game. Added a main menu level to set options and toggle VR (this was inspired by the lobby in Natural Selection 2). Expanded the cave section. New DOG Model!!! Additional effects when hovering over water. Recorded new audio dialog (is isn’t good but it’s better). Optimizations The levels now stream in from the main-menu level, drastically cutting down on the initial load time. Loading screens. Fixed some problems with the AA so VR experience should be a lot smoother. Added Vsync options to the Main menu. Updated to UE4.10. A number of back end improvements to how menus and variables are passed from level to level.
State of Development
I wanted to include a statement about how development is going, the status of the game, and also try to get feedback on what you think. Development Currently I couldn’t be happier with how development of CAT Interstellar is going. It is the work of myself and another writer and started off as a gamejam submission that just grew. This is not the conventional type of development since both of us have normal jobs and do this on our free time. The downside to this is that development is much slower. The positive is that we actually get to make the game we set out to make without having to worry about financing it or compromising the original story. We’ve learned a lot over the last couple months of development and I’m happy to confidently announce a release date of Jun 1 2016. Status With this latest update the core gameplay, game mechanics, state machines, animations, AI, shaders, and modelled assets are complete. The rest is primarily level development of the caves and a “master” texture used on the base’s monitors to explain the back story. On the Steam side we are 1 review short of 100 positive reviews and currently sit at a 78% recommendation rate (an overall thumbs up). We’ve also gotten incredibly lucky with the vast majority of negative reviews in that they are mainly (and understandably) complaints about the length of current game. I think a lot of those reviews could possibly change to positive recommendations when the full game is released. Sales of CAT Interstellar have essentially dropped to 0. Normally this would be detrimental for a developer and is usually when people jump ship. For us, it’s literally the best thing that could happen. We have a very healthy community that provides consistent feedback on updates. Until the game is complete there really isn’t any reason to market the game. We have everything we need to make an awesome game and none of the pressures that seem to lead to a rushed release. For the next couple of months we'll be developing in the shadows of Steam. Feedback I say this every time but I sincerely want your feedback. Not just on the updates but also on how we prioritizes updates or handle announcements like these. We had a little hiccup with last month’s release because it was flagged by AVG but we should stay on track from here on out. I’m also going to try to get the other writer, slowmath, active in the forums. He’s been creeping for a while but could probably give a little more insight into some of these discussions. Thanks again for all your support- Ionized Games
Community update (Pre-update)
First off I want to thank everyone for the support. When a friend and I originally started developing this we couldn’t have anticipated the amount of interest people would have in the game. What most of this post deals with changes to better facilitate (organize?) that interest.
From now on updates will be monthly regardless of how much or how little we get done. This is mainly because of the number of abandoned Early Access games. It is also is the most honest and transparent way of showing how the game is progressing. If the game isn’t updated each month I’m dead. The update for this month is almost done and just needs a little polish. It’s actually already uploaded as a beta so if you’re interested in checking it out you can access it by going to the “BETAS” tab in the game properties and entering the password “opensesame12”. It’s obviously an incomplete build so I don’t recommend switching to it unless you’re prepared for some major bugs. Otherwise it should be publicly released this weekend.
User feedback was the whole point of releasing to Early Access and we want to leverage it as much of possible. One of the problems we’ve run into is organizing the feedback in the forums. It’s almost impossible for people to scroll through either one of the pinned posts and follow everything. Because of this I’m no longing going to respond to posts made there. I will read any new posts but if you want a response I’m going to ask that you start a separate thread. All of this will be posted at the top of each of the pinned threads.
The update has been delay because the executable has been flagged by AVG. The patch is still accessible through the beta options by using the password "opensesame12". There is no risk to your computer trying out the beta and I am 100% confident this is a false positive. It has been scanned by 55 separate anti viruses and only avg flags it. The executable has been submitted to AVG but it is unclear how long that process takes. While this delays the patch it does not delay development. We are currently working on the next update and it is all content.
[ 2015-12-09 23:51:55 CET ] [ Original post ]
Thank you
First off I want to thank everyone for the support. When a friend and I originally started developing this we couldn’t have anticipated the amount of interest people would have in the game. What most of this post deals with changes to better facilitate (organize?) that interest.
Updates
From now on updates will be monthly regardless of how much or how little we get done. This is mainly because of the number of abandoned Early Access games. It is also is the most honest and transparent way of showing how the game is progressing. If the game isn’t updated each month I’m dead. The update for this month is almost done and just needs a little polish. It’s actually already uploaded as a beta so if you’re interested in checking it out you can access it by going to the “BETAS” tab in the game properties and entering the password “opensesame12”. It’s obviously an incomplete build so I don’t recommend switching to it unless you’re prepared for some major bugs. Otherwise it should be publicly released this weekend.
Community
User feedback was the whole point of releasing to Early Access and we want to leverage it as much of possible. One of the problems we’ve run into is organizing the feedback in the forums. It’s almost impossible for people to scroll through either one of the pinned posts and follow everything. Because of this I’m no longing going to respond to posts made there. I will read any new posts but if you want a response I’m going to ask that you start a separate thread. All of this will be posted at the top of each of the pinned threads.
December 22 update
The update has been delay because the executable has been flagged by AVG. The patch is still accessible through the beta options by using the password "opensesame12". There is no risk to your computer trying out the beta and I am 100% confident this is a false positive. It has been scanned by 55 separate anti viruses and only avg flags it. The executable has been submitted to AVG but it is unclear how long that process takes. While this delays the patch it does not delay development. We are currently working on the next update and it is all content.
Vive la France
[ 2015-11-14 14:59:07 CET ] [ Original post ]
Our thoughts and prays are with the people of France after the events of Friday night. I was hesitant about whether this was an appropriate channel to express my sadness, grief, and anger for the attacks across Paris but I'd rather be inappropriate than silent. As an American, the French are our oldest alley. They helped us carve a nation out of an otherwise hostile world. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French people, stands as one of the most iconic symbols of America. After terrorist attacks struck us at the heart the President of France ran the headline "We are all American" in a national act unity. As a soldier, I can speak from personal experience of the honor, professionalism, and resolve of French Frogmen. I would hate to be on the receiving side... As a human being, I believe these attacks on the French are attacks on all of us. On the universal values that we share. The purpose of these attacks is to divide us and to instill fear in our hearts. We must not fear. We must maintain our humanity. We must remain united If you want to help: French Red cross American Red cross
Vive la France!!!
Update 1.5 (Gameplay, Bugs, Community, and Forums)
Walk/run has been inverted. Target cursor will now toggle blue when you hover over an interact-able object. Experimental POV now only effects FOV. Added particle effect to fertilizer containers to make it more obvious. Moved greenhouse Android closer to fertilizer unit to avoid confusion.
Significantly optimized of sky effects shaders. Exit button on main menu now works. Collision boxes for props. Collision of water planes.
This update was not as substantial as we would have liked. The delima was whether to push a monthly update regardless of progress or wait until we felt the update was substantial enough. Because of the current state of Indie games in early access being abandoned we felt it would be better to continue pushing updates at least once a month. This gives much more transparency to the community on progress of the game and reaffirms that we have, in fact, not abandoned the game. Please let us know how you feel about this or if you think we wait to release more content in our updates. We say that a lot but we are sincerely interested in your opinion of the development process.
From this point forward I'm going to lock the story feedback thread and try to divert the traffic to the "Story and Development" sub forum. This will make it much easier to manage and give direct responses to players without sifting through a massive thread. I also want to thank everyone who has supported us this far. As you may know there are only two people working on this game as a labor of love. The interest and support we've gotten is already beyond anything we ever hoped for. It's very hard to express the amount of gratitude we have for you but thank you for everything. - ːionizedgamesː
[ 2015-11-08 15:21:40 CET ] [ Original post ]
Gameplay:
Walk/run has been inverted. Target cursor will now toggle blue when you hover over an interact-able object. Experimental POV now only effects FOV. Added particle effect to fertilizer containers to make it more obvious. Moved greenhouse Android closer to fertilizer unit to avoid confusion.
Bugs:
Significantly optimized of sky effects shaders. Exit button on main menu now works. Collision boxes for props. Collision of water planes.
Community
This update was not as substantial as we would have liked. The delima was whether to push a monthly update regardless of progress or wait until we felt the update was substantial enough. Because of the current state of Indie games in early access being abandoned we felt it would be better to continue pushing updates at least once a month. This gives much more transparency to the community on progress of the game and reaffirms that we have, in fact, not abandoned the game. Please let us know how you feel about this or if you think we wait to release more content in our updates. We say that a lot but we are sincerely interested in your opinion of the development process.
Forums
From this point forward I'm going to lock the story feedback thread and try to divert the traffic to the "Story and Development" sub forum. This will make it much easier to manage and give direct responses to players without sifting through a massive thread. I also want to thank everyone who has supported us this far. As you may know there are only two people working on this game as a labor of love. The interest and support we've gotten is already beyond anything we ever hoped for. It's very hard to express the amount of gratitude we have for you but thank you for everything. - ːionizedgamesː
Update 1.4 (Mars, VR optimization, and Fixes)
[ 2015-10-02 18:05:30 CET ] [ Original post ]
Fixes: Optimized VR - addressing "judder". Fixed skylift not going all the way up. Gameplay: Adjusted AutoPOV - effects FOV instead of camera boom length. Adjusted lighting and audio in the Cave scene. Decreased ground friction - It takes slightly longer to stop. Increased angle you can traverse - This makes movement over the different terrains much more fluid. Dramatically shortened the beginning dialog. Story: The largest change was to the story. Because of the recent discovery of flowing surface water the planet has been changed from Kepler 452b to Mars. This gives us a number of benefits but the main one is that we get to stick to a much more "hard" version of science fiction. Community: Another sub forum was created, Story and Development , for players who want to get more involved with the story. The pinned post on story feedback is just too bloated. By creating a separate sub forum I can respond to posts on an individual level. Like always, we'd love to get your feedback and thanks for your support!!!
Changes to story (planet)
[ 2015-09-29 15:35:14 CET ] [ Original post ]
I wanted to make a post about possible changes to the story to get feedback from the community. Because of NASA's recent discovery of flowing water on the surface of Mars we want to change the stories location from Kepler 452b to Mars. The gives us a couple of benefits but most importantly the ability to stick to "hard" science fiction. Up to this point we've been smudging it with the FTL drive while all other aspects were at least theoretically possible. All the backstory on how the terraforming would take place is already based on models of Mars. It would also let us shorten some of the dialog and expand on the backstory. This is because there is a lot more common knowledge about Mars as well as research done into the atmosphere and geology of the planet. This wont have any effect on the core story or what you find in the caves. The main reason Mars wasn't the original planet was because I personally believed they would never find flowing water. I am very glad I was wrong. I want to include the community in these decisions so I'd love to know what you think about this change.
Water on Mars
[ 2015-09-28 20:29:17 CET ] [ Original post ]
I'm sure most of you have heard the new but NASA has found flowing water on the surface of Mars. If you're interested here's a really good article about it: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/28/nasa-scientists-find-evidence-flowing-water-mars
Update 1.3 (3D Menu, VR optimization, and Fixes)
[ 2015-09-27 19:10:17 CET ] [ Original post ]
Changes To Controls (available under the “Subtitles/Controls” tab of menu) - Added left hand support Press ‘Left mouse’ or ‘Right Trigger’ to interact (pick up) Hold ‘Right Mouse’ or ‘Right Bumper’ to use your measuring tool(new game mechanic) Press ‘Q’ or ‘left bumper’ to view waypoints. They purposefully do not stay on. Changes to Gameplay – Added a pulsing Fresnel effect to objects and Androids you can interact with. Added a measuring tool for use with the puzzles (used in next update). Added more details to the waypoints in case you miss the dialog. Added a subtle crosshair (you’ll need it for measurements). Introduced the "Auto POV" option in the menu (WIP) Menu – Converted to 3D projection: This was a large improvement but the end goal is to have a 3 dimensional object that can be placed in the environment and configured inside the scene. Added full audio control Added mouse/gamepad sensitivity Added the ability to toggle subtitles on/off Fixes - Fixed VR settings to help with judder. Fixed the logic on the skylift so it should give the correct respond. Detailed the objective waypoint to update with the number of boxes. Content - Start menu allows you to stick to different sections of game-play. This will remain unlocked until the save feature is fully functioning. Shortened beginning dialog and added fertilizer delivery mission. Added additional length to the mine to give a better idea of the environment. Activated trading cards.
Hot Fix 1.2 - Subtitles and Audio Listener
[ 2015-08-31 18:33:23 CET ] [ Original post ]
Frequent updates are not something that will be the norm but subtitles were a huge priority. At this point you do not have the option to turn the subtitles off because the entire menu system is being over-hauled. The audio listener has also been improved. Next in line to be updated is the menu system and navigation system. You'll be given a 3D render of the surface which will help you navigate to way-points. The way-points will also be tied to the map so you have the option of "HUDless" game play. Thanks for playing CAT Interstellar and as always we appreciate all the feedback. P.S. The entire map has also been opened up. This is to allow players the opportunity to explore the entire map. If you get stuck somewhere just press 'T'
Hot Fix 1.1
[ 2015-08-28 18:23:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
A quick update to fix a bug with the skylift and add way-points to make navigation easier. Our next priority is implementing subtitles. Thanks for playing and thanks for all the feedback!
CAT Interstellar
Ionized Games
Ionized Games
2017-10-06
Indie Singleplayer
FREEGame News Posts 52
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
Mostly Positive
(681 reviews)
http://www.IonizedGames.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/384740
The Game includes VR Support
Linux [77 ]
ProjectFiles
Warning: This is a short story meant to be played in a single sitting.
Play as a DOG V4 drone, a newly activated maintenance bot who is assisting in the terraforming effort on Mars. After a predictable yet unfortunate accident DOG finds himself uncovering the past of a seemingly barren planet.Gameplay
The games current state includes the first environment (~15 minutes of gameplay) and an introduction to the second environment. The main goal of this release to get feed back on the player controls and game mechanics.Story
We're trying to bring the "science" back to science fiction. We also wanted to explore a scenario humanity might really encounter on the first planet we aggressively try to terraform.https://ionizedgames.com/
Visit the webpageHttps://www.facebook.com/ionizedgames
Check Out Our Facebook PageContact@ionizedgames.com
Or Contact Us HereMINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Ubuntu 16.10
- Processor: 2 GHz Quad-CoreMemory: 2 GB RAM
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 750
- Storage: 7 GB available space
- OS: Ubuntu 16.10
- Processor: 2 GHz Quad-CoreMemory: 2 GB RAM
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 970
- Storage: 7 GB available space
GAMEBILLET
[ 5137 ]
GAMERSGATE
[ 1903 ]
FANATICAL BUNDLES
Time left:
3 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes
Time left:
26 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes
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8 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes
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39 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes
Time left:
45 days, 15 hours, 31 minutes
HUMBLE BUNDLES
Time left:
6 days, 9 hours, 31 minutes
Time left:
6 days, 9 hours, 31 minutes
Time left:
15 days, 9 hours, 31 minutes
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