This month passed fast! With Alpha updates on pause and the workshop doors locked up tight, the entire team has been heads down working madly on everything from technical memory management to visual effects and level polish. As we arrive in 2023, there are now 7 team members working on Cyber Knights: Flashpoint across design, coding, UX, animation and level design - so lets take a spin through some highlights of the month!
As the team grows, so do the branches in our source code control

UX Implementation

Were excited to have welcomed a new Unity engineer who is focused on the UX implementation to the project in December. With his help, weve been accelerating the conversion of the UX to the new design, adding UI features and improving the data flow to the player and also making it look great.
Still the project is massive - spanning the tactical mission map, Matrix Mk2 hacking and the safehouse with all of its interconnected systems. This is no small mountain to climb! The final piece -- the extensive set of safehouse wireframes -- just entered the final stages of visual design last week. However, the results are looking awesome; the design includes considerations for controllers and multiple screen sizes (TV, PC, mobile). We are getting nearer to completing the implementation of all the tasks for the main tactical mission map which would be an exciting milestone.

L2 Mission Pipeline

Throughout 2022, the level design team planned, designed and crafted over 70 levels (fun fact: thats more than in our previous squad tactics game, Templar Battleforce). These levels were brought up to the playable stage and many of them were loaded into the game in the Alphas Mission Playtest menu while others have just been played by the internal team. At the start of January, we engaged the L2 mission pipeline. This second pass on level design includes a review of each levels themes and its location within New Boston, integrating the level into the larger scene and surroundings, final level lighting, volumetrics and VFX, a close review of the levels security, matrix and reinforcement flows, and finally optimization and performance testing.
In addition to all these improvements, during this phase levels are also being plugged into story missions finalizing its scripting, special cut-scenes, complications and secondary objectives. Were in a good place with levels; the L1 pipeline, with thanks to all of our alpha players feedback, has produced a vast trove of well-constructed raw material for this L2 pipeline to refine. Now that the L2 pipeline is up and running, it will keep running straight through Steam Early Access, loading more and more content into the game. [previewyoutube=sjo4kq0dLqY;full][/previewyoutube]

Fuzzier Stealth

Stealth mechanics are tough! Theyve been getting better throughout the Alpha as weve soaked up the feedback from our players, studied other greats in the genre and worked hard to figure out how to achieve the right feeling in Cyber Knights turn-based gameplay. Our latest improvements makes our stealth systems fuzzier, adding much-needed padding to the concept of being spotted by the enemy. This style of AI alertness is used by some of the best stealth games in the genre and has greatly improved the feel for Cyber Knights stealth. Where previously, a single raycast from a mile away could get you spotted by an enemy (so frustrating!) being spotted is now a function of your distance from the enemy and the exact time exposed to the enemys view. The farther you are away, the longer you need to be in their view to be well-and-truly spotted. This creates a few key scenarios that didnt exist before -- (1) if you dodge between some crates at a distance from the enemy, they might not see you or they might just become Suspicious and investigate that area (2) if youre in a decent hiding spot and the AI moves past you, sweeping over you with their sight cone, you need to be in a more exposed position to be truly spotted. This gives all your mercenaries more room to wiggle in the stealth system, which is important. Starting mercs also now all come with stealth weapons equipped (silenced pistols, silenced SMGs, blades) and even classes like Soldier now have at least one stealth-capable Talent in their class tree. Going hand-in-glove with these improvements is the upgrade to the UI to warn players about detection when they are planning their movements. Removing the guesswork from moving in stealth changes the nature of the gameplay, rarely are you now failing stealth due to a simple mistake (Ah crap, I shouldnt have run that close) or miscalculation (I didnt think hell patrol that way!) but instead as a forced sacrifice (Im out Talent charges and time, I have to run for it) or due to a strategic planning failure (I shouldnt have split the Vanguard off the other way...).
Basic bounds help keep the game camera in the playable area - there is a heist here, pay attention ;P

Continued Alpha Pause; a Fresh Start Coming

Were continuing our pause on alpha updates for now, aiming for an Alpha V2 fresh start that will give you a big package of improvements and new content all at once. When the time comes to resume the Alpha, we want to get every Alpha player back to the game for a big V2 hurrah and playtesting bash as we march to Early Access. Everyone whos participated so far has given us a ton of great feedback, bug reports, playthrough data to work with. So hang tight for now; when we welcome you back itll be to a game thats taken a big leap forward, and your feedback will be that much more valuable in determining any changes we still need to make before launching to EA.

Creative Surveys Closed

Per the deadline we shared in November, all created reward surveys (except Encode Your Legend, which is not yet available) have now closed. If you have any questions, were in the #backers channel in our Discord to help.

Reward and Stretch Goal Progress

For completeness, we include the progress bar infographic in each and every update. If you have any questions about rewards or stretch goals, check out the graphic or reach out to us. Weve completed about half of the pages that are planned for the Digital Artbook, including character, faces and cybernetic concept art and are working toward wrapping up that project.