We're locked in for the Jan 1 2025 update and that update is going to be off the chain! With that said, if you haven't noticed, Frontiers Reach is now on sale! And now is a great time to get prepped for launch on January 1st. [previewyoutube=_RZbwZTiFuE;full][/previewyoutube] This new, MASSIVE, update includes a major expansion of ALL playable levels. But this isn't just an expansion of these levels, the terrain has been completely overhauled. Several plugins have been updated for vastly improved performance. New weapon systems have been added. And last but not least an all new fighter has been added to the line up. You can get an early look at all these changes by checking out the experimental branch with the password below. TestBranchDoode With that, I wish all of you the very best this holiday season and will see you all next in the new year when we finally launch the All These Worlds update to the main branch. Happy hooning pilots!

[ 2024-12-19 19:12:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

I don't want to sell you a big dream that would take decades to make, but I do want to share with you a vision. A vision I've had since 2015. I've already gone over some of the particulars of this vision, but in this blog I want to use some concepts I've worked up with Midjourney to give you a breakdown of the user experience in a more granular approach. Before I start I should note that some time within the next 12 to 24 hours the last experimental build for Frontiers Reach 1 will be going out. After this, there will be no further updates until the official build goes live on Jan 1.
Frontiers Reach 2 was always intended to be a small scale and very intimate multiplayer experience. I had some of the best times of life playing games that I could share with my closest friends, and I believe pretty strongly that this kind of multiplayer experience is the bread and butter of games. So when you load into Frontiers Reach 2, you'll always start out on your carrier.
Your carrier is your mobile base of operations. It's how you get from one star system to another, it's where you customize your vehicles and build loadout presets, and if you're part of a larger organization, it's where you'll manage that organization and how you interact with it. Your friends will also have carriers of their own, but if they join your game they will leave their carrier and board yours. All of their presets and equipment loadouts will still be accessible. One day you and your friends decide to go help a local town deal with some raiders who have been particularly bothersome. These cats have even gone so far as to conduct large scale aerial raids and today they're planning another one. So the locals call up to your carrier and ask for assistance. Having agreed to help in the fight you depart and join a larger force of fighters to intercept the raiders in atmosphere, high above their base.

Once you're in atmosphere some time goes by as you're traveling to your destination until you finally catch the raiders on radar and engage them in a fierce battle in the air.
However in the heat of the battle, you and one of your friends get shot down. Your friend does not survive and is forced to respawn on the carrier. You on the other hand survive and manage to bail out.

Though you were really high up your suit and equipment protect you all the way to the ground. Which is a dense jungle with many hazardous flora and fauna. However you are confident and undeterred. And so you decide to do something about the air defenses that the raiders set up in anticipation that someone might try to attack their base. You proceed on foot until you find the air defense system and blow it up.

With the air defense system destroyed, the battle is quickly turned in favor of you and the local defenders and your friend who was forced to respawn on the carrier has a clear path to come and pick you up.
After retrieving you, you and your team agree to meet up in the town belonging to the locals who hired you for the job you just completed.
After landing at the local airfield you head for a pub where you can link up, talk shop, speak to contract holders, and discuss your next move.
According to some of the rumors going around the room, there is talk of a cavern of alien origin not far from the town, that is said to behold riches of extraordinary design and purpose. So you and your friends decide to take the plunge into the depths to see for yourselves.
What you will find there is foreign, alien, and not in any way shape or form friendly to humans. That's it for now pilots! Keep an eye out for the next experimental build and happy hooning!

[ 2024-12-13 04:10:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

If I told you that Frontiers Reach and Blind Alien Productions are a completely self funded venture? Because it is.
Save for the past year, I was able to maintain a day job throughout most of the development of Frontiers Reach. Mostly remote contract work that required I keep licensing for all of the same software that I use to develop FR anyways. And while it has certainly been a struggle, it has been worth it. Because Im self funded, development on FR and subsequent titles is not in danger of stopping unless my heart stops beating. There are no investors to tell me that I have to close up shop because THEY didnt make enough money off of my hard work and that of the people I work with. And because I do about 80-90% of the work myself from architecting backend systems to 3D modeling vehicles and environments and building the levels and even optimizing everything from top to bottom, there is very little need for a massive budget. The worst case scenario is that I have to put development on hold, or just slow down, because I have to go focus on making money to keep the lights on. Even if my publisher dropped me tomorrow, which I dont see happening at all right now, I could still continue to work on the game. This was extremely important for me to setup operations like this because Ive long been a story teller with a love of writing and visual arts and games are just the medium I prefer to work in. If games did not exist it would probably be animation or comic books. Another really great advantage to this is that when you buy a Blind Alien Productions game, much of your purchase goes directly to supporting the studio. Steam of course gets their 30% cut, the publisher gets a cut smaller than what Steam takes, then of course taxes, but what ever is left goes into the studio, the studio technology, and the games BAP makes. In the past Ive looked at crowdfunding as a means of bringing in more revenue to fund development and even ran a Kickstarter that failed get funded and have a Ko-Fi I havent updated in a while, but at a certain point, the crowdfunding effort becomes a job on its own and then development slows down the same as if I was working a regular day job. And crowdfunding just means I have more investors with smaller contributions and as seen with other projects, micro-investors can get in the way of development and production progress the same as any traditional investor. All things considered I think the best way forward is to continue working as a self-funded effort because while it can be slower, there are fewer hazards that directly affect the future and progress of the studio and the games it creates. But most importantly of all, you get an actual product that you can play and participate in the creation of without empty promises, moving goal posts, and the constant nagging that if you just gave more money it could all be so much grander and more immersive than the last time you crowdfunded a game. Besides, as a life long gamer myself, I cant stand being nickel and dimmed every step along the way. -------------------------------------- With that out of the way, there is a new experimental build up, available for those willing to play test or anyone who just wants to get a glimpse of what is coming on Jan 1. The build includes numerous changes as well as tweaks to timing of missions and fixes to some particularly complex missions that were incompletable. For Linux users I should note that there is a new performance tweak that will completely toggle off ALL clouds on maps that have them. This is a tweak I made to test whether or not clouds are the primary culprit in poor performance on some Linux distros. Till next time pilots, happy hooning!

[ 2024-12-06 20:18:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today is a bit of an odd day. If youve been following along in the discord server then youll know that Ive been releasing updated versions of Frontiers Reach onto the experimental branch. Today that branch got an update, and today I would like to invite you to join me and the rest of the community in testing the experimental branch in preparation for the official release on January 1st. As you probably know, the Jan 1 update is intended to be a face lift for the game. But as you can see in the trailer below, this isnt just about planets. The trailer below contains updated artwork for the Siren exterior and interior. It is also part of an internal effort to update the storefront with new content. [previewyoutube=rH6j_dVbb4k;full][/previewyoutube] If you would like to join in on the testing for the Jan 1 release, those of you who already own the game can do so by selecting the experimental branch in the beta section of the steam interface and entering the password below TestBranchDoode -------------------------------------------------- But today I have more than just Frontiers Reach 1 content to release and talk about. In continuing from my previous post, I have more to cover in regards to Frontiers Reach 2. FR1 covers the end of Golden Age of Exploration by exploring the Frontier War and the beginning of the Age of Tarnish, a dark age of chaos and lawlessness for pretty much all of humanity. With yet more waves of colonists leaving the core worlds to seek new lives on new worlds on the frontier. The Age of Tarnish begins with the end of the Frontier War, and ends with the conclusion of the Human-Vir Interstellar War. It is through the conflict with the Vir, that humanity begins to find unity again. But keep in mind this is no apocalyptic end times story. This is just the beginning of humanities story among the stars. In Frontiers Reach 2 we will be getting a more intimate look at things planet side. As covered in my previous post, there will be new vehicles to interact with. But what I did not cover was the locations on planet and in space that youll get to visit. As in FR1, in FR2, youll start out on the moon Frontiers Reach. This time youll start in a new sector. One dotted with the catacomb structures left built by the Vir. It is in these catacombs that your adventure will start. But you will not stay there. On the ice bound world of Jotunn, you will find the Mercenary King. A self made royal whose legacy among the stars is one of fortune and blood. While rumors say he comes from a royal house long dead, no one truly knows where he came from. Only that when he arrived on Jotunn he and his band of mercenaries quickly set about making a name for themselves setting up their own fortress.
Early concept for the Mercenary Kings fortress on a mountain on Jotunn.
The Mercenary King seated upon his throne ----------- On Quixotes Dream you will find an alien race known as the Thulians. Once their world was an aquatic paradise with a diverse biosphere. Their people were organized into distinct houses, each with a responsibility to uphold the balance of their natural world. But then division was sown by some unknown force and a 100 year war ravaged their planet. A war that only came to an end after a large meteor struck the planet permanently altering its ecology, magnetic field, and the way of life of all of its inhabitants.

Early concepts of the desert world of Quixote's Dream. Now the planet is ruled by the relic war machines that wander the wastes, and the Thulians are left to scavenge what they can from the sands of the Great Wastes of Heistha. She whose wrath is absolute. These relic war machines are what is left of the great war that tore the planet apart and they no longer recognize the Thulians as friend. And the Thulians now believe them to be angry gods who will only cease their ravaging when every last one of the Thulians has atoned.

Early sketches of the Thulian peoples.
Early sketches of the Thulian mounts which they ride into the desert. ----------- In the Mar de Sangre Nebula, youll find a clan of pirates who have been hiding and preying upon passersby. This clan of neer do wells, is known as the Devils Best, and they are in the midst of a dispute of leadership. If you can win them over, they will become powerful allies in the fight against the Vir.
Screenshot from FR1 of the Mar de Sangre nebula with a pirate in ancient salvaged gear from the golden age of exploration. ----------- In orbit around the planet Doluu, there is an all female group of Mercenaries known as the Daughters of Minerva. They are currently in dispute with another mercenary group called Executive Opportunities. The DoM specialize in starfighter combat, and EO specializes in ground warfare. EO was hired to put down a farmers rebellion on Doluu and contracted DoM for air support. But EO has not paid DoM. Getting both to join your cause will be a challenge.
Private Military Corporations are the defacto means of military defense and offense in the frontier worlds. Especially during the Age of Tarnish when the Sol Confederacy and Frontier Republic no longer exist. ----------- Thats it for now pilots. Until next time, happy hooning and I look forward to seeing you on the experimental branch and the Discord server!

[ 2024-12-02 21:44:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Frontiers Reach is not my dream game... If ever you have heard me say this, or read a blog post where I stated this, then maybe you've been wondering what exactly I meant by it. Or maybe you're just now reading it and thinking to yourself why I would say such a thing. Today I will elaborate.
Back in 2015 I had a vision. This vision was inspired by a game called Destiny. A game that had many elements I loved dearly, and that wanted to see expanded upon. The key element of which was the concept of a golden age where in humanity reached for the stars. But that golden age ended with a massive war that caused humanity a great deal of suffering and wiped out much of humanities progress. 2 years later, another game came out called Ghost Recon : Wildlands. It was a new take on the old Tom Clancy IP and while there were some problems I personally found the new direction they went with to be a breathe of fresh air, and something that I had personally thought about doing. But with a setting in a science fiction universe akin Destiny. In Frontiers Reach 1, we are currently in the midst of the end of the golden age of exploration and expansion. This period will be known as the age of tarnish and the Frontier War. An era of great conflict with humanity divided in its very first interstellar civil war. But way out on the fringes. On a moon called Frontiers Reach. Something stirs beneath the surface. Disturbed by a group of mercenaries. Years before a new type of mercenary was born. The Tombwalkers. They got their start as simple mercenaries who made fortunes for themselves diving into the depths of a subterranean alien structure known as The Catacombs. Which in the early days of their fortune seeking was only accessible via a drilling rig that discovered a vast network of underground tunnels and chambers while searching for subterranean pools of mist beneath the surface of the moon Frontiers Reach. For many years it was the only structure of its kind that could be accessed. And the name Tombwalker was given to those who become legendary at navigating the labyrinthian passages of chambers, halls, and traps crawling with hostile life forms and the remnant of the Sol Confederacy expeditions that came before them.

A team of Tombwalkers making their way across a bridge between chambers.
One of many platforms where the Vir store equipment and supplies for the innumerable soldiers in hibernation. That they may one day be awoken in a time of great need from their empire. [previewyoutube=iginzLrN7OY;full][/previewyoutube] Then one day a team of researchers attempting learn more about the alien structures finally opened another site elsewhere on the moon. But it, like the original Catacombs, was just as dangerous and lethal to explore as any other. And so they put the call out to any mercenary group that was brave enough to try their hand at the profession of Tombwalking to explore these new catacombs. One of those groups to answer the call would be a mercenary group made up of you, the players, as you hop around the frontier looking for every opportunity you can find to make a living. [previewyoutube=paKIexAHqiM;full][/previewyoutube] This new adventure which I've been planning since 2015 will require new tools, equipment, and vehicles to win the day as you battle against an alien menace that has been disturbed from its slumber deep beneath the surface of Frontiers Reach. This alien menace is known as the Vir. And they are thousands of years old and far more advanced than humanity. But their advancement and humanities are such that human technology is not completely irrelevant. And so there is a chance for humanity to stand against the tide. And this conflict with the Vir will be humanities first major conflict with an extraterrestrial species that is beyond humanities ability to comprehend.
The Vir foot soldier is the basic combat platform of the biomechanical terrors buried beneath Frontiers Reach. In these vast networks of hallways and chambers, they rest in coffin like containers embedded into the walls.
Early concept for the Vir fleet. [previewyoutube=7JdeWZ2FeP0;full][/previewyoutube] Early concept for a Vir fighter To fight back against the Vir you'll have new fighters at your disposal. Two of these fighters have already been concepted. They represent the 4th generation of cheap fighters brought out to the frontier by new waves of colonists seeking new lives on new worlds in the decades following the end of the Frontier War.

And since Frontiers Reach 2 will include the ability to get out of the cockpit and explore what's on the ground and beneath it, you'll need a set of wheels to get around on.
And of course, some new weapons and armor to protect yourself while you're on the ground. Here is a look at the first of many.




Of course, relics left over from the Frontier War will also be available. Some of which will be in use only by pirate and raider factions who have scavenged the wreckage in the decades after. And others which may offer advantages that even the newer equipment cannot. Built with technology and knowledge that has been lost to the throes of time.
A Frontier War era helmet
Frontier War era rifle
A pair of S-27cu Razorbacks built by pirates using old Wildboar airframes salvaged from a long forgotten battlefield.
A Sol Confederacy Assault Automaton. Expensive to maintain and difficult to find parts for they are typically used by mercenary groups that can afford the. Frontiers Reach 2 is still a ways off for the time being. And right now the focus is primarily on Frontiers Reach 1 and an offshoot title that I'm not yet prepared to make an announcement for. In the mean time, if you want to support the efforts towards making FR2 a reality, the best thing you can do is join in on FR1. Everything being built for FR1 will be migrated to FR2 in some form as it is the foundation of a new frontier. Till next time pilots, happy hooning!

[ 2024-11-23 17:13:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=m_Ik8Q6WhVw;full][/previewyoutube] Over the years I've played several space games that have entire procedurally generated planets. Most of them have been straight up barren rocks with very little in the way to do. Though there are a couple of games that have done a very good job in filling out the surfaces of their planets with a plethora of interesting content. Having listened to the developers of No Man's Sky and Star Citizen give talks on their technology at conferences, I took away from those talks the understanding that even if had the ability to build the systems necessary to fill out an entire planet with content, I simply did not have the resources to make or obtain the content required to use those systems effectively. In short, it takes a LOT to fill up an entire planet with interesting things to do. But something else was bothering me though. In all my years of playing space games there is one thing that has always bothered me about the genre. Travel times. In nearly every space game I've played since Freelancer, traveling between locations made up a significant amount of the play time. And traveling in a space game often involves decent stretches of time where you're basically doing nothing while the stars fly past your screen. Both Freelancer and Elite Dangerous tried to solve this issues by giving NPCs, and other players, the ability to interdict your travel but at a certain point this became more annoying and frustrating than anything else. Especially in the case of Elite Dangerous where you could be spending as much as 30 minutes in FSD only to be interdicted during the last 2 minutes of travel. So when I was thinking about how to structure travel between locations in Frontiers Reach I really wanted to get away from relying on long travel times to make the game feel big. And for the record, all of this is ignoring the fact that almost every game that has done full procedurally generated planets feels off in terms of scale. Especially when you're on the ground. So for Frontiers Reach I choose instead to go a different route. Especially since the game is combat focused game. In warfare, unless you manage to catch an opponent in transit across an open desert, there are very few instances where you would be fighting in the middle of nowhere over absolutely nothing. Most of the actual fighting is going to be taking place in an area of strategic concern. Which could be a facility of importance, a choke point created by a land feature like a valley or a canyon, or a particularly mineral rich field of asteroids in orbit around a star or planet. When I first started development my tools and knowledge in making space games were quite limited, and so I did the best I could with what I had. And for the longest time that meant the play spaces in FR were under 30 kilometers of horizontal space and the terrain scaling was off. But in the past year I've gotten some new tools and learned a lot about managing larger worlds, and the payoff for all of this learning is that all of the locations in Frontiers Reach can now be expanded by a significant margin. I'm still discussing with my publisher how best to release these new locations, but right now it's looking like Jan 1st is going to be the day that the Frontier is expanded. For planetary locations the containment zone is being expanded from 30 kilometers to 60 kilometers horizontal space with a flight ceiling of about 22 kilometers. Meaning dogfights can now take place at the edge of space.

For space locations the containment zone is being expanded to 90 kilometers in just about every direction. With the skyboxes having been completely replaced by a dynamic sky system that allows for multiple planets which now spin. These new locations are so large in fact that I've had to create a new navigation overlay for objects and locations that fall outside of the camera render distance.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but this is a giant leap for Frontiers Reach in several categories. For now though it's time for me to get back to work in prepping this massive update for the Jan 1 release. Till next pilots, happy hooning!

[ 2024-11-01 12:43:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

With all that is available on the current market and what is yet to come in the likes of Light No Fire and Star Citizen I find myself asking a simple question. Why play anything else? These games that are currently in development, and those titles that have already released, that achieve what we might call metaverse status in that they are essentially simulated realities no matter how rudimentary they may seem. When games like these exist, that create spaces where anything can happen. What reason is there for anything else to exist? If Star Citizen created a low stakes PvP arena for gun slinging gladiators, what reason would Call of Duty have to exist other than the story it presents in the context of modern or near future military fiction? Once the fantasy virtual world of Light No Fire is released, will there be a reason for Dungeons & Dragons to release a new game or would it make more sense to contact Hello Games and work out a collaborative deal? After all, its not like they couldnt just generate a whole DnD themed planet with key locations injected at various points. I would be surprised if Wizards of the Coast hasnt already had that conversation. On a personal level Ive been asking this question of myself with regards to Frontiers Reach for the past 4 years. But as a developer watching other devs work on things they love, Ive also been pondering what the question means beyond just myself and FR. With entire studios putting enormous amounts of effort into whole universes, rendered at or beyond the edges of what is possible graphically, where anything is possible in terms of gameplay Why would you play anything else?
The truth is that there is plenty of reason. First and foremost is that there are different people in the world with varying levels of interest and time. Second is that not every game is able to deliver on the same experience in the same way. Frontiers Reach being as visually distinct as it is, is just one immediate example I can think of. Another reason is depth, having played games like No Mans Sky and Elite: Dangerous, one thing that always sticks out to me is just how shallow some of the mechanisms in these larger metaverse type games are. And some of that may come down to accessibility in effort to maximize player appeal across ever wider demographics.
However there is something going on that is affecting the games industry at nearly every level. Something that is having an impact not just on Frontiers Reach, but every game. I have heard my publisher make mention of it in our meetings. Ive heard other devs mention it in their complaints about the industry. And recently Ive read articles about it in the media. They all say essentially the same thing, that the AA Games section of the industry is gone. Lesser and lesser interest is being given to games that arent AAA games with AAA budgets and AAA sized studios working at the edge of photo-realism in rendering. While there are still some left, numerous studios that once made games in the 20-40 USD range have been decimated by the throes of an economic downturn and increased levels of automation creeping into the game dev space. There is also a widening budgetary gap between indie games and AAA games. One so large that any AA studio left standing after all that has happened is essentially an indie studio now. Whether they like it or not.
When it comes to Frontiers Reach Ive always pitched the game, and studio, as indie. Not because of the size of the project, but because of the size of the budget involved with making the project. The whole budget for Frontiers Reach is less than 60,000 USD cold hard cash across 4 years and thats almost exclusively for software licenses, some assets, and a bunch of voice over. Everything else, the artwork, the game mechanics, and back end running everything and saving your progress. That was all done by myself. Bringing in guest developers to work on different parts and pieces to fill in the gaps where my knowledge was lacking. Even with the assistance Ive still got 7000+ hours of development time into FR. So when people ask me about what makes Frontiers Reach standout against the competition like Star Citizen, War Thunder, Everspace, and No Mans Sky, I always come back to the same conclusion. I dont have the money, time, or interest in destroying my personal health enough to even bother trying to compete with those other games. I have certainly felt the pressure in the form of other people comparing Frontiers Reach to other games. But the reality of the matter is that there is no money for FR to be anything other than a niche space/flight combat game. Nearly every direction that I could expand in, is barred by a budgetary limit I simply do not have the resources to overcome. And thats ignoring the fact that the game is already much larger than it was initially planned to be. Features like the Warmap and Uncharted Worlds were added to increase the content offerings using existing tools and components. Very little in the way of new features, code, or menus needed to be added to facilitate those additions. The Warmap for instance uses all of the exact same scripting tools, art, and NPCs as the main story missions.
So when I think about why someone should play Frontiers Reach over a game like Star Citizen, this is what I have concluded. In Frontiers Reach, youre not going to be doing, a lot of nothing. No spending 30 minutes traveling between locations. Thats a fancy loading screen with your vessel moving between major locations as you watch the stars fly past the screen. And then launch into a sector in your starfighter where you will run a mission, or explore the sector at your liesure. You will be spending a lot of time in combat. This first game in the series is laser focused on space and aerial combat because I want a focus on vehicles, particularly flying vehicles, to be a staple of the series. Even in the earliest of days for FR development and design there was always a focus on flying machines. Additionally a retro aesthetic is what you get when you dive into Frontiers Reach. If you like me are tired of looking at Star Wars or Bladerunner and things that are desperate to be Star Wars or Bladerunner; then you are probably remembering the older and more obscure scifi worlds and universes out there. Terran Trade Authority is one such universe that comes to mind. Along with Trigan Empire for you more seasoned pilots hailing from Europe. Frontiers Reach is also a story driven game. Always has been, and always will be. There are of course opportunities to engage in exploration and even shoot some space rocks for game currency, but the driving force is always going to be story. No mindless gameplay loops that end up turning into a grind. We dont do really want to do that here. And on a personal level, I hate that type of gameplay. No, out here on the frontier we are almost the exact opposite of the modern AAA, blockbuster, billion dollar next big thing game. In almost every sense of the word.
Till next time pilots, happy hooning and fly dangerously!

[ 2024-10-22 14:38:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Looking back at the history of game development for PC and console it is very easy to see why so many people get hung up on what we might call Dev and Dump titles. Where a studio releases a title after X amount of years working on it and if it does well, it makes money and gets a sequel. And if it doesnt do well they cut their losses and either close up shop or move on to something else. Re-purposing their tools as they can. However in the year 2024, because of the progression of technology and the spread of the internet across the globe, developers like myself are no longer beholden to the idea that once youre launched, youre done. In fact I would go so far as to argue that launching a game is really only about 75% of the work. Especially if, like myself and the team at Blind Alien Productions, a developer is looking to curate a library of games over time and not just dev and dump titles on to store fronts. Where as games as a service see annual updates in the forms of season passes or battle passes, games curation means maintaining our games with visual updates, bug fixes, and balance changes as we collect feedback from a community of players vested in the games we make. There may even be feature additions or story driven expansions spun off from the main project files if there is enough community demand from it. So even though the story is complete, and the feature set filled out in accordance with our internal plans, if the players want more of what FR1 offers, then I and the rest of the team are very much capable of delivering on that. And to show you more of what games curation for FR1 looks like I have some images below.






Below is new tunnel art for train tunnels. Similar is coming for naturally occurring caves.


Behind the scenes of all these gorgeous pictures I am also working on streamlining the entire process of creating content for the Frontiers Reach Universe. Everything from small tools to make positioning groups of objects quick and easy to refactoring large portions of code and cleaning it up to make it run better and easier to understand for future integrations. And in some cases, the tech being developed for future titles is being back ported to previously launched titles now in maintenance mode. Like a new method for doing fast travel between planets like in the video below. [previewyoutube=QPLToPIvm38;full][/previewyoutube] And last but not at all least, were getting closer and closer to achieving a near seamless transition between planet and space environments. This is a pretty big step in the direction of creating FR2 and the methods developed to manage the levels and art for this transition will definitely be pulled into Frontiers Reach 1 to bring up the visual quality when youre flying around in the newly improved and expanded levels you can see in the images above. [previewyoutube=5QF5q5uqS4w;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-10-12 02:35:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=qLrPmuPa1u8;full][/previewyoutube]

On January 1st 2025

, the single largest overhaul of Frontiers Reach worlds and terrain artwork will go live. There is a lot to do till then and the holidays are just getting started here in the US. These terrain updates will include a major overhaul to all the campaign missions and the warmap scenarios. All of the scaling has changed to include the flight ceiling, overall playspace horizontally, and wildlife will be making a return to some maps. Additionally the first uncharted worlds map will be released on January 1st along with a new sector type that was once a thing of myth in the very early days of Frontiers Reach development. The Wild Sectors. All the existing planets will get Wild Sectors which will procedurally generate a new map every time you load into a wild sector. Exactly what you will find there and how you will access them is a secret for now, but it will include plenty of opportunity for collecting salvage, exploring unseen areas, and encountering hostiles that have as of yet been a rarity in Frontiers Reach aside from the occasional story mission, and some you have not yet seen before. Till next time happy hooning, enjoy the video, and I look forward to seeing you on the frontier!

[ 2024-10-06 19:15:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Work on the first of the Uncharted Worlds is progressing the script is out and voice actors being recorded. However in this news update I would like to share the fruit of nearly a years worth of learning with a tool set I picked up back in January for creating the planetary surface playspaces of Frontiers Reach. This of course require some changes to the game and have a major affect on gameplay. It will also see origin shifting finally implemented into Frontiers Reach.
[previewyoutube=A_1uloU1-74;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-10-02 14:58:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

What is Frontiers Reach? A few weeks ago I made a post mostly describing what Frontiers Reach isnt. But I didnt really go into a whole lot about what Frontiers Reach really is. Before I get to deep into that, I should probably explain a bit more about myself. First of all, I hate talking about myself. But people rightfully want to know where their money is going if they choose to support even a game studio these days and I can understand that. I grew up out in rural and wilderness America, where I still live(though I have traveled outside the country under orders). Come the 2040s, it will be 400 years since the trunk of my family tree came over from England and settled on the frontier. Most of my family has spent the past 400 years living in such isolation and poverty that when things like the Civil War or the Great Depression were cast upon the nation we just didnt feel it; though there are exceptions. For instance only my grandmother on my mothers side had any recollection of the Great Depression. However the past 30 years have seen an uptick in the amount of technological progress the great American wilderness has seen slowly creeping in. Which is why it is possible for me to make Frontiers Reach at all and write to all of you today. Many years ago I had my first experience with games with an Atari 7800 and a Kaypro 2 computer and this was in the early to mid 90s. Older games and tech is what the family could afford, so that is what I grew up playing when time allotted. My first experience with game development was with the StarEdit tools that came with StarCraft and StarCraft : Broodwar some time between 2000 and 2003 after we relocated to living in town for a spell and a family member took a job at a local university which helped pay for a newer computer. Then I did the military thing from 2007 to 2013 where I served in the mechanized infantry and in the recon infantry. Got out of the military and went to college for animation and game design between 2014 and 2017. There I got a 4 year degree in 3 and graduated salutatorian. I probably would have been valedictorian if I hadnt made a couple of enemies in college because I have a habit of drawing lines and putting up boundaries and Im not afraid to ruffle feathers when I feel it needs to be done. First job in the tech industry I worked on smart kiosks for healthcare, banking, and hospitality i.e. hotels. Then I worked in corporate for about a year as a pipeline engineer, then AR apps for the Air Force and a demo app for NASA which Im told they loved. I was a contractor for that job so I didnt get to talk directly to NASA. Now for the good stuff. Four years and four days ago I found myself on furlough and living in my then studio directors basement. Which really sucked because just before that I was sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 college buddies who are also veterans like myself(great times). But at the same time I suddenly had a bunch of free time and was able to actually sit down and focus on a large game project with the intention of completing the game and releasing it to the public. Because I dont come from middle class America, and had not yet proven I could even complete a project, I was going to have to pay for everything upfront. So I decided I would make the game that I wanted. A game that would never see the light of day if it had been pitched to a AA or AAA publisher. While I tried to share the project with others, I had to learn the hard way that I am not really leadership material, and for the record I never got to a leadership role in the military(shamshield for life). The programmer I was working with was about the only person who would actually listen to me and his design work is still in the game. He was an Ace Combat fan and is currently running his own project called Red Sun. Before meeting him I had never played an Ace Combat game in my life, but my development efforts were already leaning in a similar direction as I was hyper focused on trying to capture the experience of early Cold War Era fighter jet combat from Korea and Vietnam which includes massive dogfights, very early, short range, air-to-air missile warfare, and about every possible type of military engagement you can think of. It is an era that also includes some of the wildest design in aviation ever. Using a bunch of sketches and writing that I had been working on since 2015, and using 1950 to 1969 as my art and mechanical design inspiration point, I then proceeded to create something that as far I could tell, would have never made it past the pitch stage if it had been pitched to a studio or a publisher. LOTS of rejections even after I built a prototype. For the menu system and general structure of the games architecture I looked at titles like Wing Commander and Freespace, which used 2d images and video to great affect between full 3D gameplay in large and interesting environments(for their time at least). For the moment to moment action I kept some of the spirit of what my programming partner had worked up, but leaned a bit harder towards turning it into a sim where the expectation is that youre expected to be the crazy newbie pilot asked to fly and fight according to the rules of an unfair universe, while using less than perfect equipment against a superior foe. I even at one point considered adding something like engine failures with a mini game that would have required pressing cockpit buttons in the right order to get the engines back up(now thats podracing). But felt like I was already asking the player a lot. But this isnt really the game I want to make. But it is a stepping stone towards the game I really want to make. I used to call Frontiers Reach, Pirates of Frontiers Reach, because my original plan was to make a flight game first, and then the next game would include getting out of the cockpit after landing at an airfield and running around on foot for one purpose or another. And youd be able to do that with your friends(multiplayer). But that is a ways off still. Till then I am here to work on Frontiers Reach and I will continue to support the game for the foreseeable future. Im not sure when I will be able to get warmap multiplayer in(authentication servers and a host server are needed and cost money every month), or if it will be possible to make more expansions. Ive got the Uncharted Worlds content in the works now, and Im trying to prep some stuff for promoting the game IRL. But, the game doesnt make enough money for me to be able to focus on it full time, so Im having to spend time pinning down contracts and other forms of work to keep even the slightest momentum moving forward. Also, there is another project that differs greatly from Frontiers Reach 1 that Im trying to get into an Early Access state. But money is only really needed to add new content to the game, like voice over and character art, and to build out and maintain server infrastructure. Everything else is stuff that I can do myself but without a player base giving feedback and requesting & suggesting, I have no idea what else anyone would want to see added or changed to the game. And for the record, I am open to suggestions for the game, but if a suggestion deviates too much from my core design philosophy I will absolutely change or reject it. I do this partly to avoid the game becoming bloated like a giant community mod installed on top of a base game, but mostly because I am making a conscious decision to avoid going down the same route that others have been down multiple times. And were only just getting started. The Frontiers Reach Universe was always intended to break some of the rules of established philosophies in the space game genre and if youre interested in that kind of journey, there is room for you here. After all, in the year 2230, humanity has only just had its first major interstellar conflict and the timeline I have planned goes on for at least another 1000 years. And theres aliens. The old, the new, and the unreal. Special Forces operations on worlds habited by other civilizations. Espionage, intrigue, and all manner of interests. Until next time pilots, happy hooning! Oh, one last thing, here is a list of the fixes in this latest patch for both the official release and the demo. - Fixed a critical bug in the AI that was affecting multiple breaking points. - Repositioned all the HIT and MISS indicators on all fighters. - Added the ability for bomb hits to also track number of targets hit. - Increased the lift factor for all fighters by 2. - Increased the amount of fuel on all fighters by a small amount. - Modified fuel consumption to be relative to the throttle and afterburner input. - Fixed a bug that caused the TRC MPB-1055 to misreport its ammo count. - The demo has been updated.

[ 2024-09-25 02:20:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

And in keeping with the promise I made when it first went it to affect, Frontiers Reach is now back to it's original price of 19.99!! If you've been following the updates those of us who have been using Unity for some time are a bit tickled right now because the changes coming out the past few days have been showing just how great Unity can be when the right leadership is in place. I also want to take a moment to show off something I've been working on in the background that came about a result of the work on Frontiers Reach the past 4 years. This was part of an internal game jam that I did in my own time that. I've continued to work on it in small capacities as time allows. [previewyoutube=G2wwzGJ6CS0;full][/previewyoutube] Till next time pilots, happy hooning!

[ 2024-09-20 18:10:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Another pass at fixing node flips on the WARMAP. - Fixed a bug that could cause the Fleet Fights to not behave properly. - Fixed a bug that could cause both Fleet Fight and Sector Battle Scenarios to become incompletable. - Fixed a bug with the UI on the Alhaju Al Akir map.

[ 2024-09-14 22:53:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed a dialogue timing issue in the first tutorial mission. - First pass at a potential fix for a bug on the WARMAP that was stopping nodes from flipping when the player had finished a mission on the node.

[ 2024-09-13 22:13:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Im probably going to get into trouble for this. But Im going to say it anyway. And Im going to say it because I want newcomers to understand what Frontiers Reach is, and what it is not. Steve Jobs once said people dont know what they want until we show them, but I would prefer to say it another way. Most people, only want more of the things they already know that they love. Frontiers Reach is not a traditional space game. It is not an Ace Combat or Project Wingman fan game. It does not care to even try to compete with a game like Star Citizen. In fact, Ive actually made jokes that most of the missions in Frontiers Reach are quick and intense enough that you could play them while on downtime waiting for your friends to group up in Star Citizen. (insert I heard you like space games so I made space game you could play while you play space games meme) Ill be 40 years old in the next few years. Making games has been my passion since I was kid, even when they didnt make any money. And I grew up in a family that believed games, especially computer games and console games, were a waste of time and money and as an adult now myself I can kind of see their point. But working on games has opened doors for me that would have otherwise been closed. So even when they didnt make money directly, other opportunities came along. When I started Frontiers Reach I was definitely inspired by past games. But I also had reached a point of exhaustion. At that time I had played Elite Dangerous, No Mans Sky, Freelancer, Darkstar One, and dabbled around with games like the X series, Battlecruiser, Everspace 2, EVE Online, and I:war2, and I watched long plays of all the Wing Commander games. And Im sick and tired of looking at the same design aesthetic and playing with the same game mechanics in the space game genre. In the past 30 years the most innovative thing anyone has to offer is No Mans Sky with some awesome procedural generation tech to fill out an entire universe. Yeah Ill give Star Citizen some props for doing large planets with a massive city or 2 but as far as Im concerned, NMS beat everyone to the dream game and they did it with a studio that was a fraction of the size of most. And thats despite the rocky start. And Im still not convinced that procedurally generating a whole universe is necessary or worth it. But Sean Murray and his team deserve props for being the absolute mad lads and lasses that they are for both taking the risk to make it happen and actually pulling it off. But Im still tired of playing what are essentially re-skins of the same game. Whether they be a survival space game, a looter shooter space game, or a traditional space sim. So if you want more of what Everspace 2 has, I recommend playing Everspace 2 and giving your support to those devs, they work very hard on that game and they deserve every ounce of loyalty their fan base gives them. And if you want more Ace Combat or Project Wingman, go give your support to those teams. They also work very hard on their games. Ive played both of them, but as an older person I just cant get into them like younger people do. And then there is Project Red Sun, Ive given some small advice to the dev on that game and weve worked together in the past. That project should be your next target if youre looking for more Arcade Shooter games. If youre looking for something more like No Mans Sky, I would recommend either sticking with No Mans Sky because they are still updating the game, or checking out Terrene; its basically NMS in 2D and very fun and accessible if want a universe in your pocket. If you want the traditional space trucker experience I highly recommend tuning into some tracks from the band Deep Purple and downloading Star Trucker. Its literally just that. Like, from the videos Ive seen it may as well be American Truck Simulator, Space Edition. And if you want 2nd life in space, well, I guess theyre supposed to release Star Citizen at some point. Reality is Frontiers Reach is none of those games. And maybe its a game that nobody asked for, but I am indeed nobody, and yes I did ask for this game. I asked for a military retro-scifi space and atmospheric combat sim with game mechanics and an art style inspired by the early to mid Cold War fighter jets and aerial conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union. I tried something that leaned more towards the arcade side of things with a different team early on, but when things didnt work out, I went my own way and leaned more towards simulation. But this isnt just a simulation in respect to having a lot of physics interactions going on. Nor is it a pure aerodynamic simulation because that would actually make some of the fighters I designed literally unflyable. Part of the simulation is that youre one of the underdogs in an asymmetrical conflict where your goal isnt really to win the war, but to get out of it. And you wont have the luxury of an entire military behind you either. Youll need to do your own recon, strategize on the fly, and learn to identify friend from foe on a battlefield where civilians and military alike are struggling for control and stability. And youll have to do it all in a world you dont really understand and will have to learn. If that sounds like a lot, thats because it is. Frontiers Reach is a space/flight sim made by me and Im the type of person who has a pretty long history of playing space/flight games and sims. So its not really made for the casual gamer, and if your heart isnt really in it, then I recommend playing something else. You wont hurt my feelings by doing so. With that aside, those of you who are here for it can rest assured that updates to Frontiers Reach are still coming. The Uncharted Worlds exploration themed content will be getting a revamp here soon and Ill be looking to begin work on multiplayer. Yes, thats right. Were looking to add multiplayer to Frontiers Reach. I say we, because I met someone last year who was kind enough to take time out of their day to put together a simplified multiplayer setup for Frontiers Reach where you will play WARMAP missions as a singular player and when you complete missions youre completion data will be calculated across the network so every player connected to the internet will see your progress affect their maps and vice-versa. There is still a lot of work to do on that front but weve already gotten it working in the test environment. Till next time pilots, happy hooning!

[ 2024-09-07 04:46:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed a bug that stopped the camera from zooming in on the bounty board in the galley. - First pass at an attempted fix for ultra wide aspect ratio monitors and UI scaling.

[ 2024-09-05 01:11:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=x1NhYpik95c;full][/previewyoutube] This is it, this is everything for the story and the game mechanics. Nothing else will be added unless there is demand enough for it. It has been almost 4 years since I started development. It's been pretty crazy all throughout and what's awesome most of all is that it's finished. This is by far the largest project I have ever taken on and have completed and I'm pretty excited just to be able to say it's done. While this update is the last major update it should be noted that smaller updates with bug fixes and balance changes will be released. I'm not abandoning the game but I will be moving on to working on other projects. If you would like to follow those please feel free to hop in the Discord and hang out with the team and the community to stay up on what's going on behind the scenes.
Now for the patch notes.

New Player Experience

One of the most important changes coming to Frontiers Reach is a revamped new player experience. It took quite a bit of time and multiple play sessions to gather the feedback that went into this and there may be more tweaks that need to be made but this new intro to the Frontiers Reach universe is designed to get you better acquainted with the game mechanics and universe. [previewyoutube=97LtCNsuUIs;full][/previewyoutube] While the original tutorial mission will remain, 3 additional tutorial missions are being added and Instant Action is has been split into Planet and Space modes. Two of the three new missions are hyper focused on a set of mechanics. Basic Flight Training is for introduction to flight and the starfighter instrument panel. Basic Combat Training is for familiarizing the player with the concepts of aerial combat. Combat Scenario #1 is a new scenario focused on fighter combat. Combat Scenario #2 is the original tutorial mission on Tom Uul with some tweaks to streamline things a bit. In each of these missions you will fly a different starfighter in a different environment with different weapon loadouts. The goal here is get players acquainted with the idea of flying different starfighters for different missions.

New Capital Ship Damage Models

Damage models for capital ships have always been either bare minimum or non-existent. When Act 3 launches those days are over. Every capital ship in the game will have a new damage model all new effects. [previewyoutube=C2SPLV7StU8;full][/previewyoutube]

Major Performance Changes

Numerous fixes and tweaks to performance have yielded a significant increase in performance across the entire game. Getting this increase took a lot of trial and error and analysis of the game as it was running. One of the biggest problems was the sheer amount of particle effects being used in the game in ways that were supposed to be performant but proved otherwise. The biggest performance hit of which was engine plumes, especially for large capital ships with lots of engines. By changing out the old engine plumes which were run by Unity's Shadergraph for VFX with a simpler customized solution using some old school tricks I was able to get back about 40 FPS and finally achieve something in Frontiers Reach I have wanted since the start. Flying a starfighter in large fleet battles. [previewyoutube=aT1e8NnMD3M;full][/previewyoutube]

New Engine Version

The version of Unity that Frontiers Reach is built on has been update to Unity 2023. I was going to wait a bit longer to do this but in the pursuit of trying to get as much performance out of the physics engine as possible I discovered that Unity 2023 increased support for multi-threaded physics. Additionally the previously highlighted issue of Unity 2022 not supporting Wayland on Linux should now be fixed. Wayland support was added in a much earlier version of Unity 2023 but was still experimental at that time. The version I chose for this update is a more recent version of Unity and should have all the issues hammered out. If you experiencing something on Linux that seems like it may be Wayland related, please don't hesitate to let me know as soon as possible.

Bug Fixes & Tweaks

- Joysticks of all types should now work with Frontiers Reach. - Increased the number of options for setting up throttles to the players liking. - Added inverse options for look controls. - It is now possible to change the time of day through the scenario script. - Hooked up city lights to day time controller. - Altitude warning has been lowered again. - Ladder and compass UI when in first person mode has been trimmed back to be less obtrusive. - Added sound effects for lock on. - Added sound effects for weapon switching. - Added new Radar Warning sound effects. - Adjusted fog on Frontiers Reach to be less intense. - Moved cave waypoint in Mission 1. - Added fighter spawns to mission 3. - Adjust spawn time for mission 5. - Modified AI on Mission 11 set piece to ensure it works properly on initialization. - Updated waypointer positions on Mission 13. - Tweaks to fighter AI to keep them from getting stuck underground. - Fixed ground vehicles going off trail on the New Karachi map. - Increased lift factor for all fighters to make flying at lower speeds easier. - Fix for missile lock angle allowing missiles to do 180 degree turns to hit targets. - Fixed AI losing track on player when assigned through script at long ranges. - Fix damage VFX on mercenary carriers. - Added hit SFX on some destructibles on the Utsukushi Ringu map that did not have them. - Fixed character interactions in the galley (improvements coming) - Fixed the cursor not working when gamepad was used on the warmap. - Fighters should no longer get stuck under the terrain on planetary missions. - Modified cooldowns on some tertiary weapons to keep some fighters from deploying their entire payload. - Modified tutorial message UI elements to keep them from overlapping other UI elements - Toggled off idle thrusters in Bleakers Folly Station. - Fixed Ajagar ace fighters SFX. - Fixed some vehicles moving around maps during warmap scenarios when they should have been immobile. - Fixed some destructibles in warmap scenarios not registering hits. - Fixed some destructibles in warmap scenarios not registering damage. - Tweaks to the warmap to change how is updates the visuals as the warmap data updates. - Fixed an instance where the warmap would not properly display the defcon level of a node, or would go into "Stand Down" status before it was intended to do so. - Fixed a bug that could cause the end of the game to not load properly. - Fixed a bug that could cause dialogue for characters in the galley to not load properly. - Fixed several instances of destructibles on some warmap scenarios not registering hits and/or damage. - Fixed an instance of double loading of dialogue for the main story elements in the CIC. - Fixed Land to Reload not working when using Mouse and Keyboard. - Added the ability to cycle through potential targets. - Added the ability to camera track a locked target. - Added 2 flight modes to the game, Tight and Loose. Tight feels more like flying a simulator, and Loose feels more like playing a game. - Fixed a bug that could cause the NPCs to rapidly repeat their dialogue. - Changed Unity Splash screen to dark mode - Fixed boundary mesh not rendering. - Fixed missing collider on commsat dish. - Adjusted bomb sight range. - Normalized wingman audio. - Added a welcome screen for new players. - Fixed Caldero landing cutscene. - Fixed a bug that could cause the menu system to break when completing a mission if that mission was completed using a player madeloadout. - Fixed waypoint marker in tutorial mission #1. - Added fighter select for instant action. - Added the ability to skip dialogue in tutorial mission #1 - Spaced out rings in tutorial mission #1. - New voice over for tutorial mission #2 - Updated galley conversations. - Changed selection indicator for Galley characters. - Touched up cannon VFX. - Touched up destructible explosions. - Refactored some target acquisition code for better performance. - Increased base resolution for clouds in all levels that have them. - Reset all primary light sources in levels. - Tweaks to clouds on nebula levels. - Updated graphics settings to use newer HDRP pipeline assets.

[ 2024-07-27 13:51:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Home Stretch is here!

Hello! It's been a while.

If you've been following along with the changes to the experimental branch or have peaked in on the Playtest that went live last week then you may already know some of this stuff. By the way, if you haven't already I'd like to invite you all to join the Discord server where you can get access to the experimental branch if you already own the game.
All of the story content is currently in Frontiers Reach. The most recent build went out to the experimental branch this morning. This includes a bunch of new cutscenes that will play upon completion of certain missions. With that, Frontiers Reach is now story complete and the game will go into service mode where the story content additions to the core game will stop, but bug fixes, performance tweaks, and balance changes will be made as they are needed. Any additional content and features will be added on an "as demand for them increases" basis. Below is a list of all the changes coming in the very near future.

Story Additions

The last act of Frontiers Reach adds 4 new missions. 3 of which you must choose from as the final ending for your journey through the Frontiers Reach universe. Each of these endings is unique and has a different set of consequences for your crew and your character. Assuming there is enough demand I could see adding stand alone DLC that continues the story along each branch of FR1's ending.

New Player Experience

The new player experience is done and functioning as expected. However I expect there may be tweaks or additions as more people get their hands on it. Frontiers Reach is a pretty complex game and there are some things I've deliberately left for the player to explore on their own so they can develop their own skill set with those mechanics, like the RCS system.

New Engine Version

The version of Unity that Frontiers Reach is built on has been update to Unity 2023. I was going to wait a bit longer to do this but in the pursuit of trying to get as much performance out of the physics engine as possible I discovered that Unity 2023 increased support for multi-threaded physics. Additionally the previously highlighted issue of Unity 2022 not supporting Wayland on Linux should now be fixed. Wayland support was added in a much earlier version of Unity 2023 but was still experimental at that time. The version I chose for this update is a more recent version of Unity and should have all the issues hammered out. If you experiencing something on Linux that seems like it may be Wayland related, please don't hesitate to let me know as soon as possible.

Bug Fixes & Tweaks

- Joysticks of all types should now work with Frontiers Reach. - Increased the number of options for setting up throttles to the players liking. - Added inverse options for look controls. - It is now possible to change the time of day through the scenario script. - Hooked up city lights to day time controller. - Altitude warning has been lowered again. - Ladder and compass UI when in first person mode has been trimmed back to be less obtrusive. - Added sound effects for lock on. - Added sound effects for weapon switching. - Added new Radar Warning sound effects. - Adjusted fog on Frontiers Reach to be less intense. - Moved cave waypoint in Mission 1. - Added fighter spawns to mission 3. - Adjust spawn time for mission 5. - Modified AI on Mission 11 set piece to ensure it works properly on initialization. - Updated waypointer positions on Mission 13. - Tweaks to fighter AI to keep them from getting stuck underground. - Fixed ground vehicles going off trail on the New Karachi map. - Increased lift factor for all fighters to make flying at lower speeds easier. - Fix for missile lock angle allowing missiles to do 180 degree turns to hit targets. - Fixed AI losing track on player when assigned through script at long ranges. - Fix damage VFX on mercenary carriers. - Added hit SFX on some destructibles on the Utsukushi Ringu map that did not have them. - Fixed character interactions in the galley (improvements coming) - Fixed the cursor not working when gamepad was used on the warmap. - Fighters should no longer get stuck under the terrain on planetary missions. - Modified cooldowns on some tertiary weapons to keep some fighters from deploying their entire payload. - Modified tutorial message UI elements to keep them from overlapping other UI elements - Toggled off idle thrusters in Bleakers Folly Station. - Fixed Ajagar ace fighters SFX. - Fixed some vehicles moving around maps during warmap scenarios when they should have been immobile. - Fixed some destructibles in warmap scenarios not registering hits. - Fixed some destructibles in warmap scenarios not registering damage. - Tweaks to the warmap to change how is updates the visuals as the warmap data updates. - Fixed an instance where the warmap would not properly display the defcon level of a node, or would go into "Stand Down" status before it was intended to do so. - Fixed a bug that could cause the end of the game to not load properly. - Fixed a bug that could cause dialogue for characters in the galley to not load properly. - Fixed several instances of destructibles on some warmap scenarios not registering hits and/or damage. - Fixed an instance of double loading of dialogue for the main story elements in the CIC. - Fixed Land to Reload not working when using Mouse and Keyboard.

[ 2024-06-17 21:40:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Act 3 of Frontiers Reach along with the reworked new player experience is now live on the experimental/test branch. [previewyoutube=MPOnL4qIfek;full][/previewyoutube] If you would like to contribute to the testing phase, please join the community Discord to get access. https://discord.gg/J3T9YH75XD

[ 2024-05-25 11:31:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a while since the last update so I thought it appropriate to do a blog. First and foremost I would like to say that the third and final act of the main story for Frontiers Reach is now in production. Voice actors are recording their lines, and once those lines are in I will proceed to begin scripting the missions into the game. If all goes well, Act 3 should launch some time in June. But getting voice actors recorded is just the tip of the iceberg for what's coming in Act 3. Since signing the publishing agreement for Frontiers Reach, work has admittedly slowed down on the third act, however this is not because there was no work to do. Quite the contrary. The past few months have actually been very productive as the publisher has facilitated access to a small group of testers who have provided critical feedback for Frontiers Reach that has influenced the games accessibility and quality. If you've kept up with playing the game since February then you likely have experienced some of these changes, but know that more are coming and in this blog I will detail some of those changes.

New Player Experience

One of the most important changes coming to Frontiers Reach is a revamped new player experience. It took quite a bit of time and multiple play sessions to gather the feedback that went into this and there may be more tweaks that need to be made but this new intro to the Frontiers Reach universe is designed to get you better acquainted with the game mechanics and universe. [previewyoutube=97LtCNsuUIs;full][/previewyoutube] While the original tutorial mission will remain, 3 additional tutorial missions are being added and Instant Action is has been split into Planet and Space modes. The two of the three new missions are hyper focused on a set of mechanics. Basic Flight Training is for introduction to flight and the starfighter instrument panel. Basic Combat Training is for familiarizing the player with the concepts of aerial combat. Combat Scenario #1 is a new scenario focused on fighter combat. Combat Scenario #2 is the original tutorial mission on Tom Uul with some tweaks to streamline things a bit. In each of these missions you will fly a different starfighter in a different environment with different weapon loadouts. The goal here is get players acquainted with the idea of flying different starfighters for different missions.

New Capital Ship Damage Models

Damage models for capital ships have always been either bare minimum or non-existent. When Act 3 launches those days are over. Every capital ship in the game will have a new damage model all new effects. [previewyoutube=C2SPLV7StU8;full][/previewyoutube]

Major Performance Changes

Numerous fixes and tweaks to performance have yielded a significant increase in performance across the entire game. Getting this increase took a lot of trial and error and analysis of the game as it was running. One of the biggest problems was the sheer amount of particle effects being used in the game in ways that were supposed to be performant but proved otherwise. The biggest performance hit of which was engine plumes, especially for large capital ships with lots of engines. By changing out the old engine plumes which were run by Unity's Shadergraph for VFX with a simpler customized solution using some old school tricks I was able to get back about 40 FPS and finally achieve something in Frontiers Reach I have wanted since the start. Flying a starfighter in large fleet battles. [previewyoutube=aT1e8NnMD3M;full][/previewyoutube]

Branched Ending

While Act 3 is set to be significantly shorter than the previous 2 Acts of the game, Act 3 differs in more ways than just length. In this third and final act, players will be presented with 3 choices for how to end the story in Frontiers Reach.

Option #1 - Survival :

Rally the fleet of survivors for one last battle to break through a blockade to reach the designated departure point to begin your journey outbound and start a new colony elsewhere in the galaxy.

Option #2 - Victory :

Give the order to the fleet to prepare for combat and assault an asteroid base where the Sol Confederacy has setup a base to continuously pump out warships.

Option #3 - Revenge :

Lead the fleet in a desperate bid bring down officer responsible for killing one of your crewmates and exact revenge.
That's it for now. Till next time pilots!

[ 2024-05-11 13:39:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fix for pause menu breaking. - Fix for cinematic screen rendering behind some UI elements.

[ 2024-04-05 13:34:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed issue with mouse not being entirely accurate when clicking. - Added a quit button to the main menu tutorial. - Lowered altitude threshold for the Altitude warning. - HUD colors now save on a per mission basis, resetting when you load into a different mission. - Added support for multiple different types of color blindness filters. - Modified how third person target indicators work for better accuracy. - Fixed an issue with the camera not resetting after an ejection.

[ 2024-03-28 16:25:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today is an important day! Given everything that the games industry has endured the past couple of years, and of which seems will continue well into 2024, I am fortunate enough that I get to make this announcement. Frontiers Reach has officially been picked up for publishing by TheGamePublisher.
When I first started work on FR back in late 2020, I was renting a room in a friends basement in North Carolina after my college roommates packed up to move out of state to be with their families. I would eventually join my family in Arkansas but I was still working out some things before making the move. Eventually I ended up in Colorado to help a friend, and then out to Illinois to help another friend before moving back to Arkansas in mid 2023. And I continued to develop the game throughout. I've learned a lot since 2020. A lot about making games, working on code, doing artwork, networking with people across the globe, the list goes on. Additionally I've gotten the opportunity to work on projects of varying scale and importance as during this time I've kept up working a day job. With all that said it has been my aim to establish Blind Alien Productions as a studio creating games with a unique visual flare and gameplay concepts not often explored; if at all. Between the Frontiers Reach series of games that I've been planning for the better part of a decade and those titles not yet announced to the public, the future is bright so long as I and the other BAP team members keep the ship upright and moving forward. And with this new relationship in place I've been able to get some much needed feedback from a small group of testers and have a path forward in getting this game and future titles out to a wider audience. Now for the patch notes!

MAJOR CHANGES

REWIRED Input System

- A completely new system for managing control inputs has been added to the game with the previous system being completely removed. This new system is much more robust and even allows for setting up custom controllers like toggle switch boxes. The goal here is to give the player greater control over how they setup their inputs.

New Cockpit Art

- All existing starfighters have been updated to include the latest and greatest artwork with special attention given to bolts and riveting.

New Glass Shader

- A new glass shader has been added to the cockpit for each fighter that includes smudging and scratches on the glass. This new rendering method also includes overhauled rain effects on the glass which will change direction relative to the motion of the player's starfighter. Some additional work will be done on this before it's where I'd like it to be. [previewyoutube=l7OdjJxlMp4;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks to Targeting Algorithms

- Both target leading and gun trailing targeting methods have been updated and are now deadly accurate. The Aim Assist difficulty feature has benefitted from this greatly and should now help less skilled players to complete missions when turned on alongside target leading.

Major Performance Improvement

- Refactoring of code and tweaks to the physics engine have yielded a nearly 30% increase in overall framerate on my hardware as well as greater consistency in frame rates. Still unsure how exactly this will pan out on other machines.

Mission Tutorial Additions

- A number of additions have been made to in-mission tutorial hints that should help to better explain how the user is expected to interact with the game. This includes a tighter integration with the REWIRED Input System to display key and controller bindings when appropriate. Additionally there is now a tutorial message log in the pause menu that will store tutorial messages that were previously displayed on the screen. This will allow players to pause the action and review tutorial steps whenever they choose.

Main Menu Tutorial

- The main menu now has a tutorial that is available when the player creates a new character. This is initiated with a button in the bottom left hand of the screen and will walk the player through the basics of navigating and interacting with the Heliosiren. [previewyoutube=JFuoSt_rJhM;full][/previewyoutube]

Main Menu Cleanup and Formatting

- Modified numerous UI elements to affect better readability. Everything from coloration to sizing has been tweaked in some way to make the entire thing easier on the eyes.

Mission Briefing Formatting and Editing

- All main story mission and side mission briefings have undergone formatting and editing for better readability. Voice over performance to be added later when capital enough is secured for recording.

MINOR CHANGES

- Fixed a bug that was causing enemy ground vehicles to drive in the wrong direction during the tutorial mission. - Added a new sound effect to simulate debris hitting the hull of the player's starfighter when flying through the explosion of another fighter. - Fixed the EM Field countermeasure behavior so that it will function properly. - Fixed a bug that could cause cutscenes to not play when triggered. - Fixed a bug where the loading screen would not trigger at the end of a mission. - Modified how the pause game functionality was working to ensure it would not interfere with some processes of the game. - Simplified and cleaned up distance readout on target tags. - Cleaned up wording and backend for general controls settings. - Added the ability to swap roll and yaw control on mouse flight. - Fixed some RCS thrusters not firing when roll functionality was engaged. - Changed loading screen images. - Removed Screen Space Global Illumination (was too grainy). - Changed sound effects for 20mm and 30mm cannons. - Fixed aliasing on some textures. - Instant Action mode no longer has a respawn limit. - Fixed damage decal placement on F-42 Mermidon - Modified hull damage sound effects for better audibility. - Updated TrackIR integration. - Added a toggle to the config menu for TrackIR look control. - Fixed camera shake not working (must disable TrackIR in the settings). - Removed time limits from missions since player has fuel and respawn limits. - Fixed a bug that could cause some control settings to not be applied on respawn. - Fixed a bug where the player could get stuck in the hangar when they should have had a mission ending. - Countermeasures type is now accurately displayed on the cockpit instrument panel. - Fixed a bug that caused the killboard to be resized improperly. - Tweaks to how lift is calculated for movement at lower throttle and speeds. - Tweaks to AT-15 Shepherd to affect better handling. - Tweaks to engines and how they are affected by the selected engines equipped. - Added 4 new paint patterns. - Adjusted sizes on paint pattern textures to reduce their memory footprint. - Refactored code for faster performance during key points i.e. respawn and loading. - Finishing a WARMAP mission will now send you back to the WARMAP after closing the killboard.

FUTURE CHANGES

There are 2 key areas that I aim to get a better handle of for the game as I begin prepping for the home stretch on Frontiers Reach. First and foremost is that of terrain. In the past year I've learned that Unity's terrain tools are horribly inefficient for use during runtime and that in general developers are encouraged to convert their Unity terrain into regular old mesh objects. As such I've been able to hunt down a means of doing this so that not only will the game get a much needed performance boost, but also a nice bump in detail and quality of the terrain mesh. Below are two images comparing the current terrain to the target terrain. Current terrain in its arguably low poly glory.
The target for the new terrain.
The second major change is going to be particle effects. This is another area that if executed properly should increase both visual fidelity while also increasing performance as it will involve moving away from the old CPU reliant particle system in Unity to a more robust GPU reliant particle system that Unity has provided with their new VFX Shader Graph.

CLOSING

While it's back to work to finish out the third and final chapter of the game before moving onto workshop features I should like to hint that there is a new feature that is being worked on behind closed doors. Something I've had on my mind for the better part of year that a recent release in the games industry has encouraged me to go ahead and move forward with. And this is something that I've had someone volunteer to work on. If you remember when Frontiers Reach was just a large portfolio project, then you'll remember my original goal. While that goal was more or less sidelined, I've continued to find people who are interested in pushing their limits and who are willing to contribute. I will dispense with the details in the future. For now, I'll see you on the frontier!

[ 2024-03-22 13:20:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a bug that could cause the mouse to flicker in and out of view when trying to do keybindings for Joystick and HOTAS setups.

[ 2024-01-11 21:20:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update adds additional support for Gamepad in the form of a cursor that should make interacting with the UI much easier. Additionally the tutorial messaging system has been updated. - Tutorial messages will no longer pause the game being displayed. - Tutorial messages will now read inputs from the keybindings. - Additional tutorial hints have been added to various missions in Chapter 1/Act 1.

[ 2024-01-09 21:27:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a bug that could cause side mission rewards to not be given.

[ 2023-12-31 01:30:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is a small update that adds the new player wingman voice over along with various tweaks to when NPC voice over is triggered during gameplay. This update also redeploys the Frontiers Reach Demo which was previously removed because of how Unity was planning to structure their future pricing model. That pricing model has undergone some changes and as such the demo has been tweaked and redeployed.

[ 2023-12-23 22:30:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=blCbG8Az1Zw;full][/previewyoutube]

Frontiers Reach Chapter 2 is now live!

For a thorough look at everything that has been added to the game please refer to the past updates in conjunction with the trailer above and the patch notes below. This was a MASSIVE update to the game. Perhaps the single largest update to FR ever. Below is a list of bug fixes, tweaks, and other additions not listed in the prior updates. - Conversation box in the CIC will now flash the blue button to indicate that a new conversation is ready to progress. - The WARMAP now has a news ticker and text box that will tell you what your next objective for Chapter 2 is. - Cutscene cinematics will now play at key points in your journey, there are currently only 2 with plans to add more. - Post mission scoring has been update to include a host of new enemies. - New holotable maps for both previously added and new levels. - Reworked AI for better difficulty scaling across the entire campaign. - Added voice over for Lancer Squadron and made tweaks to when they will join a WARMAP fight. - Added weapon slot names to the HANGAR menu. - Modified rendering visibility for numerous UI elements to include the waypoint indicator. - Adjusted tunnel runs on the Frontiers Reach and Bodenga maps to reduce difficulty. - Changed how the Helm menu displays locations. It will now only show a location if you have a mission there. - Reworked vessel rescue missions. - Tweaked the Shuriken Ultra player fighter to better affect it's performance during gameplay. - Wingman artwork has been update with additional wingmen being added. These new wingmen will be award when you've completed a side quest chain without breaking it. - Tweaked capital ship voices to reduce volume and repetitiveness. - Numerous tweaks to artwork to affect better performance across all levels. - New weather VFX have been to added both the Poseidon's Throne and Astraeus Slumber maps. - Added 4 new side quests chains for a total of 14 additional side quests that can be obtained through conversations in the GALLEY. -

[ 2023-12-15 16:01:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Voice over recording for Chapter 2 is complete! All of the missions are scripted into the game. The next 1 to 2 weeks will be spent bug testing the game and getting media ready for release alongside the update. A new trailer is coming alongside cleaning up and updating the store page. A LOT of work went into this update from myself, the voice director, and all the voice actors who contribute to the project as well as some new voices not previously heard in the game. One of the biggest additions to chapter 2 is the side quests. If you're not careful you could miss them, so make sure you visit the GALLEY throughout the story in chapter 2. These new side quests play out over a series of missions and are played on both familiar and unfamiliar areas of the game. Some of them are playable on locations that only host that side quest so be sure to take in the sights while you're there. I can't really show off much in this update since doing so would spoil all the story missions I worked on. From this moment forward it's all testing and bug fixing. I appreciate the patience everyone has exercised while I got this together. This is hands down the biggest update to FR in it's entire life cycle. One thing I can mention though is that everyone should see a significant uptick to performance in the update. I've tweaked as much as I can on the graphics without degrading the visual quality and there has been a noticeable increase in performance on my own machine so far. See you in the sky soon pilots!

[ 2023-12-04 01:01:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

The next big leap for Frontiers Reach is about to land in the next two weeks. All of the main story voice over is done and ready to go into the game. Scripting out the missions has begun and is coming along nicely. Additionally the systems needed to finally tie in the WARMAP to chapter 2 are complete and the fleet status screen will be making a comeback.

Chapter 2 Status

Fleet Status

The primary idea behind the fleet status is to keep informed of how your effort to build the expeditionary fleet is going. When you answer a distress beacon on a space mission this screen will be updated with the type of vessel you rescued and how that affects your fleet readiness status. While there isn't really a way to lose the larger sort of over arching game that the WARMAP presents the building of your fleet will play a vital role in how you end the game.

WARMAP Tweaks

Some additional bugs have been fixed on the WARMAP as well as tweaks to the experience of the WARMAP. [previewyoutube=ZLi9Y88DE8M;full][/previewyoutube]

Weather Effects

Lightning bolts and sound effects have been added to the Poseidon's Throne map in preparation of some additional scenarios to be played on that location. [previewyoutube=l2R3j7puDzo;full][/previewyoutube]

Cockpit Artwork

More of the early game fighter cockpits have been updated for better visual presentation with tweaks to the hull meshes for each of them. [previewyoutube=f_o8MRAkQNc;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=6VlQwvAwtMI;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=XW2icKUP5eY;full][/previewyoutube]

The Future of the Frontiers Reach Series

When I started working on Frontiers Reach I had a bigger project in the back of my head. One that would require more work and an expanded scope of features to realize. As the end of Frontiers Reach draws near I will begin to slowly transition into working on the next title in the series. [previewyoutube=paKIexAHqiM;full][/previewyoutube] So what is Mercenaries of Frontiers Reach? Back in 2015 I started working on Frontiers Reach as an intellectual property. That work looked very different from what we see in FR today. The goal was also quite different. In fact, at that time it wasn't even a flight game. And Mercenaries of Frontiers Reach aims to take a step in direction. My intention for MoFR is to have a 3 player PvE game where you can fly and fight in the skies of alien worlds. From low orbit after you launch from the carrier Fortunes Favor all the way down to the surface of a planet. While the play areas will still be constrained I've already done some experimental work where these contained areas are as large 80x80 kilometers squared. Resulting in a total horizontal play space of about 6400 kilometers. And that's ignoring the additional 80 kilometers of vertical play space to get up to space and back down to a planet. And this will include a mostly seamless transition from space to planet and back again. Once your in a planets atmosphere you will have the option to fly around and contact control towers to get missions while in flight, or to land at an airfield and get out of the cockpit to talk to locals, get into gun fights with enemies, or explore deep caverns in the surface of nearly each planet that I have planned. And when it comes to enemies, you won't be fighting the Sol Confederacy anymore. Gone are the days of organized government in the year 2278. In MoFR the frontier worlds are ruled by numerous factions all reaching for power of their own kind. But in the midst of this power vacuum a new enemy does indeed rise. The Vir. Pronounced Veer The Veer are a species of humanoid biomechanical aliens that have existed on the galactic stage for thousands of years. So old is their empire that they have numerous mausoleums. Graveyards the size of moons where in they bury their emperors along with their cadre; that they may rise again in times of great need. If you've been paying attention to the lore and getting to know the characters of FR, then you already know of one of these mausoleums. When the Vir come on to the scene it will be up to you to unite those factions you can to bring as much of the human race to stand against the alien onslaught. But that is another story for another time. For now, I must return to wrapping up Frontiers Reach.

[ 2023-11-20 02:33:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last week no update or blog was posted. Part of this is because a lot of work was done/going on and so I opted not to post one. That said, this weekend I have things to talk about.

Chapter 2 Status

Voice Over

All of the voice over for the main story missions in Chapter 2 is done recording. It is even cut up and I will begin working on scripting the missions into the game. My hope is that I can get this done in the next 2 weeks and have it fully deployed and in your hands ready to play.

Progression

The mechanics that will dictate how you progress through the main story are now working as expected. With this comes a couple of key new elements to the WARMAP.
The first of these comes in the form of a WARMAP news ticker which will cycle through updates to the WARMAP in a text form letting you know who has won what battles. Additionally, there is not an objective ticker. This will let you know what your objective is in the grand scheme of things. As you can see in the image above the system requires you to win 2 battles to progress to the next mission. In this new mission setup, you are required to engage with the WARMAP in some capacity in order to progress the main story. Some of these story missions will be "Distress Beacon" missions where you will rescue vessels in distress to add to your fleet. There are 7 instances of the missions scattered throughout Chapter 2 and you will want to be careful which distress beacons you answer the call for as there are 3 types of missions and each type will reward a different vessel of size and power.

Side Quests

For Chapter 2 there are going to be 4 side quests. Writing is done. All that is left is to get the voice over recorded and missions scripted. These side quests are completely optional but will unlock new experiences and wingmen for you to obtain if you accept them.

Artwork

Among some of the last pieces of artwork to be added/modified in Frontiers Reach is the cockpits. Below is a short series of videos highlighting some of the work that was done to this end in the past 2 weeks. [previewyoutube=4FuYu0-xquA;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=0jrj9f9O9dw;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=-Hfq476fqhc;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-11-05 00:40:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fix to Brigade Carrier cables.

[ 2023-10-24 11:13:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a few weeks since the last update so this one is fairly substantial. I'm putting this one out before voice over recording starts back up again and the work to get the first campaign put into the game really begins. The past two to three weeks have been mostly small updates and touch ups while writing for side quests has also gone on. This announcement will be part recap and part new stuff.

The Nemesis System

Perhaps the biggest addition to the WARMAP is the nemesis system. This system has a chance to spawn a nemesis enemy squadron at almost any time during a WARMAP scenario. It is currently using some place holder audio but character dialogue for the nemesis squadron is in the queue for recording. Your nemesis, Lancer Squadron.
--------------------------------------

Third Person UI

A new Third Person UI is now available and can be toggled on/off at will. This UI provides a minimal amount of information to the player but should be more than enough to help with fighting and flying in the third person perspective.
--------------------------------------

New Weapons

Two new weapons have been added to the game that use a completely new type of guidance system. The new guidance system is a Semi-Active guidance system and requires to the player to keep their selected target within the radar fan (ring of dashes surrounding the reticle) in order guide the missile to the target. Internal Weapon - Lazerov SAG-40 Morning Star - The Lazerov SAG-40 Morning Star is a semi-active guided high power missile that is considered a main stay in most arsenals. While less of the missile is carried due to its increased size, it also packs a harder punch than standard guided missiles.\n This is a semi-active guidance weapon that will require the user to keep the target in the radar fan till the missile impacts. Heavy Weapon - L&M Quantostorm S-AG Q-201 - The Lochland & Masters Quantostorm Semi-Active Guidance missile is an area denial weapon with a quantum cracking warhead that will toss around any enemy that it fails to destroy, and it destroys a lot. As it is a semi-active guided missile it requires the user to maintain the target within the radar fan. --------------------------------------

Tweaks to Countermeasures

Countermeasures have been tweaked to be more responsive. Additionally the descriptions for countermeasures have been updated to better explain each one. It should be noted that the modules in the outfitting screen aren't necessarily better than each other and that price balancing still needs to be done. Each of them is designed to be different and not necessarily better. --------------------------------------

Terrain Shading & Optimization

Additional tweaks to terrain optimization have been made across the board that should make planetary levels run faster. This also includes tweaks to how textures are rendered on the terrain by exerting better control over what details are visible based on distance from the camera. [previewyoutube=__m6BWbk53Q;full][/previewyoutube] --------------------------------------

Controls Updates

The FullSim control scheme now includes keybindings for the camera. There is also now a keybinding setup for Vertical Trim control that is available for all control schemes. --------------------------------------

General Fixes and tweaks

- The SA-50 Atlatl has had its cockpit camera position adjusted for better visibility of the radar instrument. - The Armored Colum scenario has been fixed to keep the scenario from breaking at key points and to allow for better timing of enemy spawns. - The Sol Confederacy Brigade Carrier has been touched up with some new artwork additions to the lower bay doors and interior. Additionally some parked vehicles have been added to both the upper and lower bay interiors. [previewyoutube=kwGcYlPz6eM;full][/previewyoutube] --------------------------------------

Physical Box Sets

If you've been following in the Discord then you might have heard that I've been working on physical box sets for Frontiers Reach. While I've managed to put together a few simple boxes for giving away I've also been working on something a bit more intricate for sale on the Frontiers Reach website. Below is a preview unboxing of what I am calling the "Black Box Set" [previewyoutube=zxTv017YEic;full][/previewyoutube] -------------------------------------- That's all for this update, the next update for Phase 2 might be a while still yet. The audio director who is getting all the recording done is currently out on vacation but is expected back in the next week or two. Writing for side quests will continue along with further quality of life updates and additional content as those things are made ready for release.

[ 2023-10-21 13:12:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Work has continued on Phase 2 of the WARMAP! Most of this work right now involved getting voice actors recorded and trying to script all of the missions in to the game. However some additional tweaks, touch ups, and additions have gone in this week. Primary among them is the addition of 2 new guided weapons and a new guidance type for them. As well as a new user interface for the third person perspective.
This new TPP user interface is styled using all of the existing UI elements but is kept as minimal as possible. It provides just enough information to give you what you need to fly and fight in the third person camera. With all of the writing and some things getting intense with my day job and real world events, I have not had the opportunity to work in the engine as much as I would have liked. That said, work on Frontiers Reach should pick back up in the next week or two. Phase 2 of the WARMAP updates is likely to be the longest and biggest leap forward for the game in some time. As such I would like to give you a preview of what is coming in the future. - Chapter 2 Chapter 2 contains 15 missions that are played out on the WARMAP. These missions will consist of both story missions and the old "Distress Beacon" missions that are getting a rework in the following weeks. - Side Quests. There are 4 side quests currently being worked on that will be at least 3 missions long. Each side quest will end in a Black Site and reward the player with a new wingman to take on missions. - New Weapons. As of right now there are 2 new weapons with a new guidance type. This new guidance type will require the player to keep the target within the radar fan in order to track the munition to the target. If the target falls outside of that radar fan, guidance will be temporarily lost. Putting the target back inside of the radar fan will start tracking again. This should allow for some interesting play with the weapons. Additional weapons types are in concept. - New Enemies. While Phase 1 got the F-107 Broadbill heavy fighter and ZQ-53 Mizrak drone, Phase 2 will be introducing another new enemy. This new enemy will follow you throughout the WARMAP. Every mission you play in Chapter 2 will have a chance to initiate and encounter with the all the Lancer Squadron. A group of aces specifically tasked with hunting you down and blasting you out of the sky.
Last but not at least I have something I'd like to say with regards to real world events. If you live in that region of planet Earth historically known as the Levant. Please be safe and strive to find accurate information.

[ 2023-10-15 10:59:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weekend there is no update. The reason for this is because Phase 2 of the WARMAP updates is about to start and I it will take some time get the first update put together for Phase 2. That aside this announcement is specifically for covering some of the work that was done this week, and that which is to come.

Frontiers Reach - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 of the story for Frontiers Reach is well underway. Voice over is currently wrapping up recording for the main story missions and the first side quest for chapter 2 is wrapping up writing. Chapter 2 is going to be a major step forward for the WARMAP. It will include story missions to play on the WARMAP as well as new missions that will have the player fighting to rescue vessels in distress. Each vessel you save is added to your fleet of ships and will progress the story. I don't have anything to show off for chapter 2 yet, but most of the work right now is prep work before going into scripting the missions into the game. What I will say though, is that new characters will be met in this next chapter with the return of some older ones.

Sides Quests on the Frontier

As I mentioned earlier, the first real side quest for Chapter 2 is wrapping up writing and about to go into voice over recording! With this side quests comes a new addition to the game. Sol Confederacy Black Sites. Black sites are secret installations run in remote locations throughout the frontier worlds. Each side quest will end with a black site. And each black site is its own level with a complex structure that will require the player to participate in a large battle to complete the side quest. The first side quest will have the player working with one of the new characters being added to the game. The first of the black sites is featured in the video below. [previewyoutube=Ga2B5_ay29s;full][/previewyoutube]

The Weeks Progress

Additional player feedback has been received as well as a continued effort to refine and improve the game. On the list of things to do right now there includes new weapons types, additional 3rd Person UI elements, and more controls for the fighter like trim controls. Below is a short video of an explosive charge that has been made for one of the new weapon types. [previewyoutube=7sbLf8nE_58;full][/previewyoutube] To help balance these weapon types out a bit more a new type of guidance system is planned called "Semi-active". Semi-active guidance munitions will require the pilot to keep their locked target within the radar fan indicators used by guided weapons. If the target falls outside of those indicators the munition will lose tracking until the target is put back into the radar fan. That's all I have for this announcement. Till next time!

[ 2023-10-08 23:10:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed another bug that could break landing sequences.

[ 2023-10-01 21:40:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed a bug that could keep the player from landing at the end of some story missions after they crashed during mission.

[ 2023-10-01 18:17:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Phase one of the WARMAP updates has been completed. With this a new game mode is now available on the WARMAP. This game mode is called Skirmish and is available on Republic held nodes that are in Stand Down. Additionally control inputs have been touched up with new keybindings being made available on the rebinding menus and several small artwork fixes have also been made. So what is Skirmish? Skirmish is a new game mode that is built as a long form play mode for Frontiers Reach. It allows a player to choose a Republic held node on the WARMAP that is currently in Stand Down and to roam the sector on that node freely. As the player roams the sector, the Scenario Manager (a core piece of code that runs the game when you're flying) will randomly select from a list of events to initiate. Once the event goes live enemies will spawn into the map and begin an assault. Where the enemies spawn and the targets they engage will vary depending on that event triggered, and the map that you are playing on as each map is rigged differently. Skirmish is available for play on both space and planet nodes. Skirmish mode can be ended at any time by requesting to exfiltrate from the sector that you currently in. Be sure to check the rebindings menu to determine what the exfiltration key is for each control scheme. Reworked Control Schemes. Control schemes have been touched up with a focus on Gamepad controls. By default the Select button on the gamepad is now used as a modified to allow the A, B, X, Y, buttons to be used for other function. Additionally Hold, and Multi-tap functionality now exists for some bindings that previously did not have them. And last but not least, the control schemes have been adjusted to hopefully reduce the likelihood of different pieces of hardware fighting each other priority. Artwork and Bug Fixes. - The HF-22 cockpit texture has been fixed and should no longer have rain showing up inside of it. - Tunnels and caves should now show reduced ambient lighting. - Tunnels and caves should now disable ejecting from the cockpit. - Collision checking has been adjusted to make it more likely that if you run into something you will actually blow up. This was done to reduce the likelihood that you will get stuck in a cave or tunnel and be unable to eject.

[ 2023-09-30 15:47:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Phase one of the WARMAP updates continues with further tweaks and scenario additions. First of all is the tweaks to the menu for the WARMAP. This update finally realizes the intended functionality of the WARMAP by randomly selecting 3 scenarios for each Defcon level; which actually have more than 3 scenarios but this will help reduce the likelihood that players will try to grind one specific scenario and hopefully reduce the likelihood that players will get bored with the number of available scenarios.
The scenarios on the WARMAP are intended to feel more like sorties in a much larger operation where in you, the player, are being tasked with a single objective, or a small set of objectives to complete that push the war effort on that node as opposed to pushing forward a story narrative. More story missions are indeed coming and I'm currently working with some folks to get the voice acting done up so that I can move into scripting those missions as soon as possible. This weeks update also includes 2 new scenarios : - Mining Rig Defense : Defend a vessel in space as it conducts asteroid capture operations. This scenario is only available on space nodes, but is playable on all of those space nodes for each faction, with availability of the scenario changing from one DefCon level to another depending upon who owns the node. [previewyoutube=0_MpuQ3iWJw;full][/previewyoutube] - Armored Column : Assist a small team of Republic Special Forces who have managed to pin down an armored column moving mobile SAMs through a chokepoint. Then exfiltrate the SpecFor team from the sector. This scenario is only available on Independent or Confederacy held nodes. This update also saw some tweaks to terrain textures and the additional of large flora, or trees, on some maps. None of these new tree additions have colliders on them so you don't have to worry about crashing into them but you may find that they provide an extra layer of challenge with regards to positively identifying targets outside of your radar range and obscuring your vision when those targets are closer.
Last but not least, the debacle with Unity's pricing model seems to be more or less over not completely undone. As such the pricing for Frontiers Reach and future Unity based games will be coming back down although not to the original 20 USD price tag. I will try to enact this as soon as possible.

[ 2023-09-24 16:39:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weekends update is the first of a series of updates that are being made to touch up the WARMAP. As such various tweaks and fixes have been made to it.
First and foremost is that the WARMAP refresh rate has been slowed down. It will now refresh every 6 seconds instead of every 3 seconds. To balance this out the Sol Confederacy AI has been modified to be a bit more aggressive on the WARMAP. In addition each node now has a Strategic Value. These values will be changed in the future but what this means is that you will receive a small amount of salvage relative to total number of nodes held and the value that each node is worth. Right now Strategic value is only applicable to the player. This will eventually be propagated to the AI bots rolling dice over each node that if one side takes a node of strategic importance it will get a significant bump in its resource pool for fighting across the entire map.
Also, the WARMAP has been updated to refresh the mission selection menu when the defcon level changes. [previewyoutube=o-XmAfKJ-Xk;full][/previewyoutube] There are now 2 new scenarios available on the WARMAP. TRAIN ASSAULT - Both independent and Confederacy held planetary nodes have a train track that supports a scenario where a train will enter the sector enroute to a location to delivery supplies or sensitive equipment. Your objective is intercept and destroy the train. PROPAGANDA SATS - Both Independent and Republic held space nodes have propaganda satellites that are heavily armed and armored that play an audible message on loop. You're objective to search for and destroy them. Last but not least this update brings a couple of small fixes. - fixed a bug where some particle effects were blown out. - fixed a bug that could stop the player from respawning.

[ 2023-09-17 16:13:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

If you haven't heard the news, Unity Software has recently announced that they will be implementing a per-installation fee to either developers or distributors after January 1st, 2024. This change in licensing prices was also executed with a changed to their Terms of Service which aims to enforce their pricing changes on Unity games launched in the past, and those that are currently in-dev. While I have no issue with Unity Software wanting to generate more revenue in their streams, I do have an issue with the manner in which they have aimed to achieve this. With a per-installation fee of the Unity Runtime, this means that I, or possibly Steam, will be charged every time a Unity game is installed on a new machine. And there has been some discussion that it will be every re-installation as well. Unity has not exactly walked this back, and any attempt to get them to elaborate on this has yielded more questions. Additionally, in order for Unity Software to determine the number of installations on a per-user/per-device instance, they will have to make tracking software of some kind an embedded part of the Unity Engine. They have also stated that developers will have no visibility into exactly how many installs Unity is tracking on their end. Meaning no website where developers can login to monitor the number of installs that are currently live. In order to offset the coming changes and to encourage users to genuinely consider if they went to spend the money on the game I have gone ahead and raised the prices on all Blind Alien Productions end products to around 60 USD. While it was my hope for BAP to keep it's titles in the 10 - 20 USD range, the coming changes to Unity's pricing plans have forced me to anticipate 2 possible scenarios : 1 ) Users installing one of our games on multiple devices means we will charged for each install on each device. 2 ) Unity miscalculating the number of tracked installs and sending a bill that is too high and not refunding the studio till a month or two later. While I and other developers have enjoyed years of working with Unity, this move specifically and the manner in which it was executed has burned up a lot of trust. And if Unity Software actually moves forward with this pricing model these changes will be required to ensure that enough revenue is generated to cover the cost of multiple installs per user and miscalculations of fees. It should be noted that future BAP games will be launched on a different engine in order to return to lower priced titles for our players.

[ 2023-09-14 00:58:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Added sound effects to the main menu UI. - Added the ability to compare starfighters in the hangar. - Added "Role" as descriptor in the starfighter information. - Tweaks to numerous VFX. - Reset the scroll boxes to their appropriate positions...again. - Added an angle check and vocal warning to the the landing system.

[ 2023-09-02 01:35:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Modified UI elements for better visibility. - Tweaks to cannon firing rates and overheat values. - Added the option to switch between gun trailing and target leading aiming methods. - Tweaks to Target trailing algorithms for better accuracy. - Added boosters animation for take-off. - Smoothed out landing sequence. - Fixed some lighting issues on the hangar bay for missions 1-4. - Fixed texture issues on some asteroid installations. - Stability fixes for the main menu. - Changed how throttle control works when using gamepad. This will affect how flying on planets with different gravity affects your craft.

[ 2023-08-26 02:34:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed some minor shader issues.

[ 2023-08-20 14:28:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Updated the engine to Unity 2022.3 from Unity 2022.1 Beta and includes an update to HDRP 14 from the previous version of HDRP 13. This update includes several graphical and performance fixes. Please be on the look out for anything that might seem broken. They changed some things as far as how graphical settings work so I some issues may persist. Additionally, please ensure you have Nvidia PhysX drivers installed and updated even if you use AMD hardware. Unity runs on PhysX and having the drivers can make a BIG difference.

[ 2023-08-14 00:50:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update comes at a weird time. But it is an important update/announcement. First and foremost I would like to announce that Frontiers Reach now officially supports TrackIR and the game is listed on their website. To celebrate this specifically, I have a trailer to show off this feature in action. [previewyoutube=Y4RzISYw5BM;full][/previewyoutube] On top of this there is now a Kickstarter running for Frontiers Reach!
The aim of the Kickstarter is to raise money for a marketing campaign and to hopefully hire on some specialized talent, specifically artists, to help provide some extra flare in key areas of the game. More about the effort can be found on the Kickstarter home page for the game. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/854860955/frontiers-reach Last but not least I have continued the effort of getting the game polished up and am close to being ready to begin work on implementing Chapter 2 of the story. Below is a list of fixes, tweaks, and changes for this update. - Frontiers Reach has a unique ID for TrackIR and should be visible in their software with its own profile. - More tweaks to bullet physics to increase hit rate. - Fixed a physics bug that caused rain VFX to interact with colliders leading to a MASSIVE performance hit. - Continued the effort to optimize physics by cleaning up and simplifying collision meshes. - Fixed a bug that was causing some volley fired weapons to not record their ammo counts correctly. - Fixed a bug in the settings menu that was not storing texture resolution size.

[ 2023-08-08 00:57:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed a bug that caused the Heliosiren to not keep moving during player respawn. The siren will now stop all movement until after the player has launched/respawn and will continue its movement once the player has launched. - Lowered gravity on the Bodenga map to make the tunnel run easier. - Replaced a number of explosion VFX with newer 3D effects. - Added a ping indicator to cannon rounds when you hit something. - Tweaked bullet physics to increase hit rates. - TrackIR is now fully integrated into the game for Cockpit mode. Expect to see the game listed on their web page and in their software in the near future.

[ 2023-07-31 09:00:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Tweaks to collision meshes and rigid bodies to affect overall better performance, especially on planets. - Cloned the setting menu button to the Profile Selection menu to allow the settings to be accessed when on that menu. - Fixed a bug that added gravity on a level that did not need it and adjusted gravity on another level entirely. - Fixed a bug that caused Capital ship voices to not play when they should. Expect more tweaks to this in the future as well as more voices.

[ 2023-07-15 18:04:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Frontiers Reach now has Aim Assist. This small addition will attempt to automatically aim your cannon rounds at the lead marker so long as you have an active lock and your fighters nose is within 8 degrees of the lead marker.

[ 2023-07-09 23:47:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a bug in the rebindings menu.

[ 2023-07-08 21:53:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update focuses on balance changes geared towards slowing down combat slightly to ease the gameplay some.

[ 2023-07-08 13:12:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is a small update that includes more performance fixes and a new control setting for a more Arcade like playing experience. The Arcade Flight Mode is now on by default and does two major things. First is that it will make some attempt to automatically roll in the direction that you are turning in. Manual roll control may still be required to wrangle the fighter in the direction you want it to go in. Another aspect of this mode is the Auto Roll Leveling that will take over if you are not actively turning or inputting roll commands. The new Arcade Flight Mode is best used with Mouse & Keyboard or Gamepad. As a side note, I fully expect the players to spend some time getting their flight controls setup. Working solo with no team to test and give feedback I simply do not have the time and resources to account for every single control scheme for everyone out of the box. So here I have chosen to rely on user customization for the controls. As such, the keybindings menu is available on both the main menu between missions and the pause menu during missions. Last but not least, the resolution bug is now fixed and the resolution drop down box should function as expected.

[ 2023-07-03 00:48:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Additional tweaks have been made to code running under the hood that should speed up performance during gameplay.

[ 2023-06-24 12:53:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update focuses on performance optimizations and a couple of bug fixes. Over all performance should increase for everyone. However for AMD users I highly recommend turning Vsync off entirely.

[ 2023-05-27 11:39:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Added a new control scheme to the game. - The "Full Sim" control scheme currently supports Rudder Controls. However I have only been able to test this with the TurtleBeach VelocityOne rudder pedals. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have issues. Also, because of the way the VelocityOne rudder pedals are registering with Unity's input system I had to implement a USB power switch on the rudder pedals so that they would behave like a gamepad on the main menu. Still trying to pin this one down. - I have done some work to try and address the resolution bug with no luck so far. Will keep working the issue, but for now please make sure to double check your resolution settings before closing out of the settings menu.

[ 2023-04-30 22:51:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update contains a host of tweaks to various aspects of the game to slow down the gameplay slightly and to decrease difficulty.

[ 2023-03-25 12:25:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Added deadzone defaults for all joystick configs. ( Defaults were a quick add. Working on custom sliders for these later down the road.)

[ 2023-03-08 00:11:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Added anti-aliasing dropdown to settings menu. Slightly increased HUD element sizing. Tweaks to targeting computer to affect better lock-on behavior.

[ 2023-03-06 13:19:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a bug that could cause the old depth of field setting to become active.

[ 2023-03-04 18:36:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tweaks to Flight Model - Added torque to the flight model (I left it out think it would make it easier, apparently it just made it strange feeling). - Modified drag and angular drag across the board (Should fee driftier). New Weapon - Cruise Missile : A missile capable of locking a target well outside of normal radar range. Fixes - Added V-sync toggle. - Fixed a bug that caused the aim scope to not function properly. It should now be useable with every weapon. - Fixed a bug that caused a pilot push through the model of one of the fighters.

[ 2023-03-04 03:23:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

With the game departing Early Access I feel confident enough to saw that all of the core elements are here, tested as best as I can test them with limited resources I have, and ready for you to dive into the first act! With that said, there will continue to be updates and additions to the game for the foreseeable future. For now sit back, relax, and enjoy the release trailer! The update should already be playable. [previewyoutube=q_Iq51HoOww;full][/previewyoutube] In addition to the video, an article written by Skyward Flight Media covering some details about the game and its development can be found below. WE all hope you enjoy the game and look forward to working with all of you over the next few months to hammer what bugs may remain while all the remaining content additions are implemented. https://www.skywardfm.com/post/frontiers-reach-release-day-interview

[ 2023-03-01 14:43:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

This hotfix contains a number of fixes that were made during prepping the update for the demo which is now live.

[ 2023-01-29 09:30:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weekends update focuses on fixing a number of key issues and bugs in the campaign missions of Act 1. There are additional WARMAP changes coming but the next update for Frontiers Reach will not be until March 1st. The March 1st update will be the release update. At that point everything should be polished up and ready with the entire 1st act playable through up to unlocking the WARMAP. That update will also see a number of architectural changes on the back end to help organize data and clean things up. I will also be looking to lock down when certain things are available. Meaning some fighters and weapons will not be made available until certain story based milestone have been reached. In addition to the update this weekend I have something else to share. One of the games composers has created a song which is now in the game as a part of this update. This song is available to listen on his YouTube but I have also linked here for you to view. [previewyoutube=ZOQWIxkjG-k;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-01-28 17:05:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

FIXES - Fixed several issues that hindered player progression through the campaign. - Fixed a critical issue in WARMAP scenarios requiring destruction of settlement/station defenses.

[ 2023-01-22 14:55:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

FIXES - Fixed a bug on Atarashi Ie map that could stop completion of a couple of scenarios. - Fixed a critical issue on Maunga Ahi node that broke the entire map.

[ 2023-01-21 20:31:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weekends update is the first update of the new year, and it's a significant one! In addition I've started a new contract job. Work on Frontiers Reach will slow down a bit, but the March 1st release date is still a go! I'm taking on the contract because I need the additional funds to help pay living expenses in my new location. It's a fair bit more expensive than my previous living arrangement but is more stable. That aside, everything is in place for the release. While I expect there to be bugs and negative feedback I also feel confident I can address anything that comes up and will spend the days immediately following release watching the social platforms for the game to ensure I catch as much as possible. [previewyoutube=0yS5M7TEjp0;full][/previewyoutube]

PRIMARY NOTES

Warmap Scenario Overhaul

- This is perhaps the bulk of the changes for this update. Many of the scenarios have been touched up in one way or another. New scenarios have also been added. And what scenarios are made available and when they are made available have changed. For instance, each faction now has faction specific scenarios. Incursion - A new scenario! Available only on Confederacy and Independent nodes, this mission requires the player to enter a sector, travel to a town/station and to destroy all of that town/stations fuel tanks. This scenario along with others takes advantage of a new tool I've added to the scenario manager. This tool allows a town/station to be set as the mission or objective Focus at random and for that Focus to be checked against objective requirements. Spec Ops Hunt - A new scenario! Only available on Republic and Independent planetary nodes. Three teams of special operations forces have landed in the sector using DG-11 Manta drop gliders. Find and eliminate them. SAM Killer - A new scenario! Only available on Confederacy and Independent held planetary nodes, this scenario requires the player to hunt down and eliminate 4 sites containing a new enemy launching a new type of missile. The Sol Confederacy M-535 Jaguar Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher. Squadron Ambush - A new scenario! Only available on Confederacy and Independent held nodes. The Sol Confederacy has stationed a group of fighters at a town/station in the sector in preparation of a major assault elswhere. The Republic has requested assistance in ambushing and destroying the fighters while they are on the flight line waiting to start their mission. Orbital Missile Complex - A new scenario! Available only on Confederacy held space nodes, this mission requires the player and their wing to stop an orbital launch facility from launching a guided interplanetary ballistic missile. Patrol Sector - Now only available for Republic nodes. This scenario has been modified to focus on moving through the level and stopping small incursions. Gather Intel - Available for all factions but varying in spawns and difficulty depending on who owns the node. When played on a Republic node, it is akin to free flight having no enemy spawns at all. Extraction - Only available on Independent and Confederacy held nodes. This scenario along with others takes advantage of a new tool I've added to the scenario manager. In this case, the tool allows a Town (mechanical term for how the game handles stations/settlements/bases) to be set as a Focus for the scenario for spawning too. Doing this allows spawn points to be randomly set at the beginning of each mission as each town has its own spawn points for NPCs. Escort VIP - This is now called Cargo Escort and is only available on Republic and Independent held nodes. It has also been adapted to use the new focus system to randomize spawns where using that tool makes sense. HuntVIP - Now called Takedown, this scenario exists for all factions and has been adjusted in a number of ways. Key among them is that the Republic version of this scenario features a new enemy variant and is not timed like the others despite following a similar format. Furball - This is now akin to a proper wave based combat mission where the player, their wingmen if they brought any, and some friendlies spawned into the map and take on increasingly numerous wave of enemies until a final round with an elite target. Sector Battle - This mission is available for all factions but differs depending on who owns the node. When a node is own by the Republic, a Confederacy task force enters the map and begins to wreak havoc on friendly towns/stations until the flagship is destroyed. When a node is owned by the Confederacy or Independents, a Republic task force enters the map and the player is expected to defend the flag ship until all town/stations are destroyed. Bomber Escort - Bombers now have ability to engage ground targets with guided bombs. With this new capability the mission will be structure differently depending on which faction owns the node. On Republic and Independent nodes the bombers will be sent on a path towards outside the map. On a Confederacy owned node the bombers will be set on a path to bombard every settlement. Bomber Intercept - This scenario is basically the opposite of Bomber Escort. However the old mercenary bomber is no longer used and the Sol Confederacy now has a proper bomber in the form of the B-39 Tiger Shark Variable Altitude Bombardment Platform. Heirophant Attack - This fight has had it's F-88 spawns reduced in count as well as vital components. This was part balance and part optimization. Nothing else has changed. Fleet Fight - Now only available on Confederacy and Republic held space nodes. Nothing else has changed.

NEW ENEMIES

- B-39 Tiger Shark : A new bomber for the Sol Confederacy. This bomber will now actually engage targets on the ground.
[previewyoutube=WKiQUGnao0Y;full][/previewyoutube] - M-535 Jaguar Mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher : Has almost double the range of a regular launcher and deals 3x the damage.
- F-88 Make Ace : An ace variant of the F-88. Has a much more aggressive behavior pattern and red paint markings.

OTHER CHANGES

- Briefings and First Mates Notes for the WARMAP scenarios have all been updated. - Modified WARMAP logic. This is a simulation change that affects the Republic only. When Republic commanders take actions on a node their logistics chains are now calculated with regards to the DefCon condition of their adjacent allies. Nodes in Standown will now give a 1.1x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes. Nodes in DefCon1 will now give a 0.9x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes. Nodes in DefCon 2 will now give a 0.8x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes. And lastly nodes in DefCon 3 will now give a 0.7x modifier to their logistics bonus to commander actions on the node and in adjacent nodes. The idea here is to encourage the player to work the frontline nodes down in DefCon to ensure logistics chains are at their maximum bonus so that commanders in adjacent nodes have more impact when they take action. - Many of the WARMAP scenarios have had their access to mid mission resupply changed. - Most of the WARMAP missions are now voiced. The only ones that do not have voice over are the distress beacon missions as I am still working on those. - Adjusted some audio based instrument warnings. - Adjusted Hit, Miss, and Collision warning text for all fighters. - Modified camera distance for the EF-18 Kruk. - Continued optimizations on artwork. Targeting most critically affected areas first. - Republic bombers will now engage targets on the ground.

FIXES

- Fixed an issue that could cause floating point math errors depending on how the currency system of a country is managed at the OS level. - Fixed performance based issues with lighting in Bleakers Folly and other locations. - All missile and rocket munitions have had their engine power increased. - Greater accuracy in munition collisions with terrain and other objects. - Target marker text should now correctly render over top of things.

[ 2023-01-21 16:55:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixes - Adjustments to thruster animations and VFX. - Tweaks to a few scenarios to control spawn count to reduce performance impact of having 60 NPCs in scene fighting each other. (More changes coming) - Fixed a bug that caused multiple engines to be active some fighters.

[ 2022-12-31 11:24:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy holidays from Frontiers Reach!

This weekends update brings a host of changes to the game. And since it is the holiday season in various regions of the world, let's get down to business and go over the update goodies!

Changed how the player fighter is spawned into the hangar

- The player will now spawn and the fighter will be aligned to the carrier deck. The rig for launching and landing will also get aligned in this process meaning fighters will now have their wheels touching the hangar deck during launch and landing and even when respawning. [previewyoutube=TMR5TyiwyuI;full][/previewyoutube]

Added new artwork for the Radiator, Radar, and Fuel Injector modules

- New artwork has been added to visually represent these modules on the fighter. Planning new modules to be added in the future.

Added basic TrackIR integration. Expect changes in the future

- This is a quick and dirty integration designed for testing. Still waiting on feedback from the team that works on TrackIR before finalizing the integration. [previewyoutube=sM7O5FgTVNo;full][/previewyoutube]

New conversations and characters in the Galley

- Around 20 conversations have been added to the GALLEY. These will pop up at various points throughout the main campaign. Some of these conversations are with characters not previously seen in the GALLEY. More coming in the future.

Significant tweaks to how the Radar behaves

- In this new setup, the radar visual in the cockpit will track general positional data. No targets will be marked until they are within the radars range fan for establishing an active lock. At which point the target box will become active. Establishing an active lock will allow the radar to provide additional information like object type and distance. Once an active lock is established, that lock cannot be broken until the target has fallen completely out of radar range. [previewyoutube=vO8q8e4uN4k;full][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks to how countermeasures behave

- Lifetimes on countermeasures have been changed. Flares are in the middle, chaff the longest, and the EM field the shortest. With this change comes a failure chance for each countermeasure that is deployed. Flares have the highest failure rate, with chaff in the middle, and the EM field having the lowest failure rate.

Fixes

- Fixed extraction mission on Khatir. - Fixed missing collision mesh on orbital stations in Bodenga Low Orbit level. - Tweaked physics and render engine settings to affect better overall performance. - Modified tunnel terrain on Frontiers Reach Sector 42B map to make the tunnel run on Mission 01 easier at the end of the tunnel. - Fixed bullets colliding with countermeasures when they were not intended to. - The compass indicator overlay will now automatically toggle off when on space missions. - Optimized bullet behavior. - Compass indicator will now toggle off when on space missions.

[ 2022-12-23 12:38:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is a small patch that fixes some minor bugs. - Fixed a critical issue in the Special Assignments list that would cause duplication of mission buttons. - Added 3 new Special Assignment missions for the new Festival of Renewal Seasonal Event. This event is free to participate in and is geared towards helping to fill out the lore and provide an opportunity to earn some low stress salvage. This event will automatically popup any time you play the game in the month of December.

[ 2022-12-09 19:38:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed and issue that caused the mission list at the holotable to not refresh under very specific conditions. - Updated credits.

[ 2022-12-03 14:07:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

This Friday I am releasing the full first campaign which is now 25 missions in total. This campaign spans the bubble of human habited space and should help familiarize additional mechanics and characters. This might seem a bit much, but it's important for what comes after. The WARMAP in this new setup will have more of a smoothed out introduction into normal play with the WARMAP being more of a sandbox you can play with in some senses.

Nerfed turn rates on all NPC fighters.

- All NPCs, enemies and allies alike have had their turn rates nerfed slightly to make all engagements easier.

Touched up all smoke and explosion VFX.

- All VFX have been touched up. More touch ups and additions in the works.

Fixed a few bugs on the WARMAP that caused some levels to not load properly.

- A few nodes on the WARMAP did not load appropriately. This should now be fixed.

Added new Great Tower Assault and Fleet Battle scenarios.

- Great Tower Assault and Fleet Battles have been added to the WARMAP. Great Tower Assaults are to Independent Nodes, what Brigade Carrier Assaults are to Confederate Nodes. Fleet Battles are basically the same, but for space only nodes.

Great Tower Towns

- In the Frontiers Reach Universe, Great Towers are basically old school central defense posts. These have been added as a town to each map and are used in the new Great Tower Assault scenario.

Added instant action

- Instant action which will randomly pick 1 of 3 fighters and then randomly pick 1 of 5 maps to play the Instant Action scenario in. This scenario is pretty fluid but does have hidden objectives to be complete if the player so chooses.

NPCs now have flare countermeasures

- Some NPCs now have flare counter measures and use them at chance upon missile detection.

Numerous Artwork Optimizations

- The process of combining mesh artwork in various places throughout the game has begun. This will more or less seal the deal for numerous assets and level and render them unchangeable unless under the most dire of circumstances.

Gravity and Flight Change

- How gravity affects starfighters at lower speeds has been changed and should make it easier to fly at lower speeds and through tighter spaces.

Touch ups, Tweaks, and Bug Fixes

- Numerous bugs and tweaks have been made to the main campaign missions to better tell the story and to smooth out the experience. More are in the works.

[ 2022-12-03 00:55:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

All of the core systems are in place and working together. From here on the goal is to expand and refine while producing content for the game. [previewyoutube=WxbOzLgQ61A;full][/previewyoutube]

FLEET STATUS MENU

- Fleet status screen is going in this weekend. This will be functional and tied into the warmap and missions so when you complete missions to rescue vessels in distress they will be added to your fleet. This will be tracked in the FLEET menu. This fleet will not be present during missions; rather it will be rallied at a location in the game universe for reference later down the line. Below is a list of fixes - Modified Mission_01 tutorial messaging slightly. - modified the flight model so that under 75% throttle, gravity will begin to be felt but in a gradient relative to your velocity. - RCS system will now work even when the throttle is at 0%. - HUD color swapping has been added to all starfighters.

[ 2022-10-29 19:29:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a bug that caused all new characters to be set to veteran

[ 2022-10-16 13:52:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Kicking this one out early to get ready for a week of IRL business. Fixed - HOTAS controls should now function as expected. - Control rebindings should now save and load as expected. - Control rebindings are now available in the pause menu when on missions. - Some HUD colors are now toggleable. - New controls added to control bindings menu. - Fixed bug in config menu. - Reworked weather effects for extreme worlds. - Added a new tutorial to the main menu. - Added an option to toggle whether a new game should start at the beginning of the main campaign or at the end. - Worked wingmen into all warmap missions. - Fixed a bug that caused the paint menu to not appear.

[ 2022-10-13 20:35:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixes : - Fixed control bindings not saving and loading properly. - Fixed pitch invert not working.

[ 2022-10-08 16:41:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Todays update is pretty routine. Further expansion and refinement of those things already in the game. However I have news to accompany this update. As of yesterday I am now, technically, unemployed. I have my staffing agency looking for new work and I myself with be doing groundwork on this front as well. Until then though I am back to working on Frontiers Reach full time! While it was interesting working at a major corporation, I experienced many of the negative stereotypes I expected to experience and have experienced at previous jobs. Which killed any desire I had to remain working there. The manipulation. Not talking about critical issues. Dancing and tip toeing around peoples feelings and egos. Irrational behavior based entirely off of misconceptions about what other people have said. The list goes on. I have absolutely zero interest in dealing with such things. But enough of my complaining.... We have updates to cover and a game to keep building. Level Set Dressing - The past month I got started on set dressing the planetary levels with towns and villages. Some levels even got some new environmental features. This effort has been primarily focused around planetary levels so far but will eventually be extended to space levels.



New Starfighter - Last month was apparently Starship September, so I ran through a new design process with the community to create the Yankowics EF-18 Kruk. It's an agile, but lightly armed and armored electronic warfare platform. In terms of gameplay balance this means it has the highest radar range of anything in the game right now.
[previewyoutube=uadEgsO1iww;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=UUEqvjAWF9g;full][/previewyoutube] Experimentation with AI Generated Imagery - This past week, I took some time to look at AI generated imagery. I'm hesitant to consider it art in the way I consider the work of Rembrandt or da Vinci to be art. But I do find it to be an outstanding tool for idea generation. In this, I find a tool that is perfect for communicating better with existing artists. While none of the images you will see below are images I would consider for final products, they are great resources for handing to a character artist. This is what we would call a Moodboard. A collection of images that best describe an idea without actually creating it. Leaving things open to interpretation and extrapolation on the part of the artist who is tasked with using it. This should bring out the best of both worlds.

[ 2022-10-01 12:13:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Rebalanced fighter cost to make them a bit cheaper across the board. - Minor tweaks to setup tools for naval units on planets that have water. - Minor tweaks to AI to keep them from flying in circles.

[ 2022-09-17 16:31:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

More tweaks, bug fixes, and quality of life updates.

[ 2022-09-10 15:45:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed credits screen blocking the controls menu.

[ 2022-09-04 18:01:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is a small patch that adds some new music that was finished up this past week by the composers I have been working with. You should check out both of them. Lucas Ricciotti @musicvsartstuff This update also adds some new things to the game that are WIP but should be functional. Bugs may be present on some maps but I also managed to fix a number of small bugs along the way. Also a trailer for you to enjoy. https://youtu.be/WaOYAdBTZFg

[ 2022-09-04 14:26:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

General cleanup and tweaks.

[ 2022-08-28 22:47:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixes: - More fixes for rockets. - Smoothed out launch sequence a bit. - Addressed progression errors in mission 02. - Added the respawn mechanic back into the game to ease new player acclimation.

[ 2022-08-28 15:49:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed - Rockets not firing from primary hardpoint. - Rockets and bombs not exploding when they should.

[ 2022-08-28 00:50:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update is more of a patch to fix up some bugs that appeared in the midst of all of the work getting the WARMAP up and running. However, it does add something new. A single planet only scenario template that is only available on Sol Confederacy owned nodes. More below. Physics & Ballistics Tweaks - Modifed the accuracy of the physics settings in engine and increased the accuracy of bullets and improved the behavior of missiles. More of your cannon rounds should hit now. Level Tweaks - All planets are now marked as planet in the engine, resulting in appropriate behavior for managing gravity. Space missions no longer have gravity. New Scenario Template - Brigade Carrier Assault - Any node that is a planet owned by the Sol Confederacy will have a this new scenario template. This scenario is an assault on a Sol Confederacy Brigade Carrier. A large landing craft capable of holding an entire Brigade Combat Team with full support assets and support them in the field for an indefinite amount of time so long as logistics are not cut off. Bug Fixes - Fixed a bug that caused some scenario templates to not be turned off by the scenario manager. - Fixed a bug that would cause missiles launched by the player to detonate early. - Fixed a bug that would cause some levels to break as a result of duplicated infrastructure left over from testing.

[ 2022-08-27 22:51:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weekends update marks a significant leap forward for Frontiers Reach. This leap comes in the form of the WARMAP.
The WARMAP takes almost two years of planning, work, experimentation, and feedback from friends and team members past and present, and incorporates it all into what I am hoping is a cohesive vision of an infantile, but galactic civilization at war with itself. Currently the warmap will be available at the HOLOTABLE from the moment you start the game. This will break some things with the story if you're starting a new character but allows you to completely skip the story altogether for the sake of expedient testing. It will get locked behind a mission in a future update. I also saved the data separately so you wont have to make a new character to play the WARMAP. You can dive right in with an existing one. I do however recommend a fresh install as this most recent updates adds a lot and changed some under the hood things (MAJOR lighting update). Save your character file in another folder before doing so if wish to use the same character. Now on the WARMAP there is a total of 37 playable nodes each with either a space map or planet map. Each node gives off passive influence when owned by a faction (Republic or Confederacy). These factions are represented by 2 bots. The 2 bots fight each other using different strategies. And deploy commanders to all the nodes to either defend or attack. Republic Bot: - Has lots of commanders who can hit really hard, but often fail to achieve significant victories. - Uses multiple thin supply chains in support of commanders. Each adjacent node boosts the logistics support commanders can receive when they succeed in defending/attacking a node. - Very heavy on the defense. Does not give up worlds easy. - Commanders are buffed by the total number of worlds the Republic has in its ownership. Confederacy Bot: - Has few commanders who command high tech fleets that achieve small decisive victories in a systematic approach. - Uses a thick supply chain. A single adjacent node is enough to get the full supply chain bonus but this means they don't stack supply chains. - Holdfast. Offensive and defensive capabilities ensure the Sol Confederacy does not yield ground often. - Sol Confederacy Commanders can affect independent nodes. [previewyoutube=KozEHgfTyrM;full][/previewyoutube]

Playing the WARMAP

- To play the WARMAP you must travel to a node that is in DefCon level 1 or higher. As you complete missions on the node, a portion of your salvage score is calculated towards the influence levels of the node. If you complete a mission with 10,000 salvage score, then you will score 2500 influence towards the current node when you revisit the WARMAP and it finishes its initialization. This process is manual right now but will likely be automated in the future to ensure you return to the WARMAP after every WARMAP mission. As you complete missions and tip the scales towards the favor of the Republic, the DefCon level of the node increases. This increases passively over time if one side or the other is influencing the node. Faster if both the Republic and Confederacy are directly connecting to the node. Right now all missions are unlocked. In the future, the list of available missions will change based upon the DefCon level.

WARMAP missions

- There are 9 standard templates in the game now. These 9 templates range in difficulty and scope but are playable on every single level/map. There is also 1 template that is currently available only on planets. More on the in the list below. Also, there is no dialogue voice over for these new missions yet. There will be in the future.

Standard Templates

Patrol Sector - Move from waypoint to waypoint and engage any enemies you encounter. Gather Intel - Operatives friendly to the Republic have set intel drops in the area. Collect as many as you can find before you run out of fuel. Extraction - A Republic operative has been made and is requesting extraction. Locate them and protect the transport sent to retrieve them. Escort VIP - A cargo vessel is transporting supplies to the next sector over. Provide escort for them as they move. Hunt VIP - A vessel carrying assets of strategic importance is moving through this sector. Intercept and eliminate them. Furball - Assist the Republic in a major air battle involving only fighters. Sector Battle - Assist the Republic in a major battle in the sector involving fighters and capital ships. Will eventually accomodate ground and naval warfare where applicable. Bomber Intercept - Mercenaries have been hired to bomb targets in the next sector over. We've been asked to intercept at this location. Bomber Escort - The Republic is using modified cargo vessels as bombers and will be moving a small contingent through this Sector. Escort them and keep them safe.

Planet Only Template

Defend Survivors - A vessel has crash landed in this sector. Locate it and provide air cover to the survivors.

Radar Updates

- The radar has recieved several improvements. Better lock on behavior when launching guided munitions. Friendlies and loot drops are also now visible on the radar.

Ground Warfare

- This past week I was able to make a lot of great progress on ground warfare units. A small snippet of this progress is visibile in the Defend Survivors mission and I'm working on compiling a video montage for later.

The Scoreboard

- I'll admit. This is going to be broken for a couple of weeks. I need to rebalance the entire thing with consideration to the WARMAP. Just a heads up here.

New Paint Patterns

- New patterns for paint schemes have been added. I also plan to add the ability to change color layout masks in the future.

New Fighters

- The last 3 fighters I have made something of an independent creative effort and have not done the usual community voting. I may do this again in the future if I feel like the designs are getting too similar, or in this case, we hit 6 fighters in Gen1 and that is about all I'm willing to tolerate at max for a single generation of playable fighters so I decided it was time to step up to Gen2 and start taking design inspiration from the mid 1950s to mid 1960s. Some very interesting designs were made during this period. I highly recommend looking at the experimental research platforms.

1) Lochland & Masters F-67 Hoplite

- A dedicated dogfighter with extreme maneuverability and two powerful engines. Has four cannon hardpoints in the nose.

2) AgGuerAero AT-15 Shepherd

- An agricultural platform converted for combat duties. Great for scouting and ground support.

Sky and Lighting Overhaul

- The cloud and atmosphere rendering plugin I've been using got a major update recently and has since been updated in the game. This has led to a number of optimizations but on the plugin side, and on the project side that should speed things up and give better frame rates across the board on planetary levels. More optimizations to come.

MORE levels, LOTS more levels

- The WARMAP saw the expansion of the games environment from 20 story missions across a handful of worlds to over 40 new locations in the game. Many of these new levels are pretty bare bones, but all of them accommodate the new missions for the WARMAP.

[ 2022-08-21 16:31:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

The past few updates I've kind of slapped things together and kicked it out the door and didn't really spend much time on patch notes. This time is different. [previewyoutube=97IAjmRCSTc;full][/previewyoutube]

The entire 1st campaign for the main story is currently in the game and playable.

- The first campaign is a linear story. It is intended to introduce you, the player, to the Frontiers Reach Universe, some of its characters, and get you familiar with concepts in the universe. There will no doubt be some changes to it before the finalized campaign goes live with official release.

Wingmen will accompany you throughout parts of the campaign.

- Blitz and Izzy will join you at certain points in the story as you progress through the campaign. In the future, Blitz and Izzy will accompany you on story missions while you'll have the option to take wingmen on non-story missions. These wingmen will be available to recruit in the BERTH aboard the Heliosiren when that room is finally made available in game.

Complete overhaul of cockpit artwork for every starfighter.

- Every starfighters cockpit has been completely reworked. The artwork for the individual instrumentation has also been updated.

Changed how the Aim Scope works.

- The aimscope will now track locked targets or when using bombs it will track the bomb sight instead. In the case of the bomb sight, this should make using bombs in cockpit mode easier. I will try to work on visbility of the aimscope visual in a future update.

Radar Improvements.

- Significantly improved the reliability of the feedback from the radar concerning incoming missiles. Now only those missiles that are locked on to you will trigger an incoming alert.

There is now a proper lead marker for use with cannons when locked on to an enemy.

- Frontiers Reach has been without a proper target lead marker since this whole thing began. That has now changed. Though there are some instances where it seems to be off i.e extreme vertical intercepts where you and the enemy are facing each other. To get the lead marker to show up, you need only to lock onto an enemy. That will let the targeting computer know you want to track lead on a target.

Reworked control schemes.

- Control schemes have been added for Mouse & Keyboard, HOTAS, Gamepad, and Keyboard only. I highly recommend unplugging any device you do not wish to actively use while playing to avoid conflicts. Highly recommend calibrating any joystick/HOTAS setup before going into the game.

Complete rebalance of launched weapons.

- Another pass on weapon balance has been made and should yield a noticeable difference in how each weapon functions. Expect further changes in the future.

Rebalanced all starfighters to include enemy and friendly NPC's.

- Various tweaks and adjustments to the pathfinding/collision avoidance technique have been made to achieve a more consistent and sensible navigational behavior pattern. Randomness is still a thing though.

Adjustments to affect how well the AI performs in the heat of combat.

- Not quite a total rebalance, but various parameters of the AI have been changed with the aim to achieve better behavior in the heat of combat. Let me know what you think.

Craft cost deduction on shootdown has been reimplemented.

- The cost of your starfighter will once again be deducted from your salvage pool when you get shot down. This will require you to manage your salvage input/output and may require you to take on missions or use cheaper loadouts if you run low.

Damage decals and destruction models have been reimplemented.

- Each starfighter has damage decals and fiery particles effects to better indicate damage state in 3rd person. Additionally, all starfighters have simplified destruction models.

Last major add is the games very first 2nd Generation Starfighter

- Where 1st Gen is inspired by the post-war/inter-war period of 1945-54, 2nd Gen fighters are inspired by those fighters from 1955-65. These fighters are intended to be better than 1st Gen fighters in their roles. This should be expressed in the balance.

Many other small changes.

- Added text indicating when to use the ESC key to skip sequences or messages. - Tweaks to 3rd person camera for something slightly more drifty. - Small tweaks to UI elements. - A lot of little things have changed to affect better performance and visuals all over the place. - Tweaks to how some buttons function on the loadout screen. - Data for pilot homeworld and prior profession is now stored in json. I had a good month this past month. I got a lot of artwork done in a crucial area that had desperately been needing an update and some key features added that have been left out of of the game till now. So it begs the question...

What is in the months to come?

Over the next month or two I aim to get the following in to the game : - Wingman management for non-main story missions. - Wingman orders i.e. follow, weapons free. - Reload and Re-arm mechanic for some mission types. - Additional scenario rules for more mission types. - Lots more missions. - More characters in the GALLEY. - Foundational work for a dynamic campaign. - TrackIR support. I'll see you around pilots!

[ 2022-07-30 04:08:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update contains more quality of life tweaks, some balance changes, and our first seasonal event! In a similar fashion to the last update, this one encompasses changes where I focused on getting more of the story done. However, I'm on the home stretch and wanted to get an update out this weekend. My reasoning for this is simple. The next update will be official beta. The game will still remain in Early Access but I'll be moving into the beta stage. This beta will include the ENTIRE first campaign. That is 20 missions in all ready to be played from start to finish. Changes pending of course. There will be tweaks and adjustments and maybe even additions and removal before official launch but the beta is a pretty important stage for testing and review. Another thing that will be happening is that I'll begin work on Campaign 2. Campaign 2 is significant because campaign 2 will affect a major change in how the game is played. Where C1 is focused on a linear story that aims to introduce the player to the Frontiers Reach Universe, C2 is intended to be a revenge story that takes place across a dynamic campaign played out across the war for frontier worlds on a galactic map aboard the Heliosiren. I've already started initial design work and have some ideas but it will be some time before this is ready. For now I leave with you more imagery as I enjoy a holiday on my side of the globe and then head back to work. Stay safe out there pilots!


[previewyoutube=x-fvNWw1OP0;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=t7xioeSicvA;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=G5s4fSnNYoM;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2022-07-03 23:40:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

The update this time around has a lot of data and assets that have been added but are not yet ready for play. Part of this is because it is all story relevant data that will become available after the release of the main story, which isn't necessarily the same date as the official release of the game. I intend to do a supercut of the story, and to test as much as possible and make adjustments where needed. That said, this update is heavily focused on quality of life issues. The most visible being the UI. I had a pretty rough couple of months so not much got done and much of what did get done between hours working the day job is relevant to the story. Additionally I've update the demo for the game to ensure it is on par with the current experience. That said, the demo contains all of the same content as the base game on the main branch. However, unlike the main branch the Demo will be permanently locked to chapter/mission 7. So many little things have been added or changed that I highly recommend hopping in and checking it out. Otherwise here is a bunch of pictures and video from the past 2 months.




[previewyoutube=65HumRoTKuk;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=E5GXVawN0As;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=tqtZgO8KAdw;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=MuKPkN3ZpeI;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2022-05-29 00:53:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed an edge case where starfighters were again not spawned facing the correct direction. - Fixed collision of wheels on OA Mk 11 Shuriken Ultra.

[ 2022-04-10 01:20:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

I must apologize for not getting this out yesterday. I ran into some issues in the real world that required my attention. That said, better late than never. This weeks update covers a host of fixes and another performance optimization so lets dive right in. - Fixed a bug that caused starfighters to spawn oriented in the hangar facing the wrong direction in some instances. - Fixed a bug that would cause starfighters to float around freely after spawning in the hangar on space missions. - Fixed numerous typos in updated starfighter descriptions. - The Oshiro Armaments Mk. 11 Shuriken Ultra is once again flyable. - Cloud and atmosphere rendering has gained an additional performance boost as a result of an update by the developer. - Added new and more loading screens with new text descriptions. This update was more about fixing up some edge cases and smoothing things out a bit. From here on, it will be a little bit before the next update is out.

[ 2022-04-09 19:43:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy April 1st! If you celebrate the Day of Fools, then happy fooling. I however do not celebrate this holiday or very many others for that matter. So today I am releasing patch notes for what is probably the biggest and most complete change to the game in some time. For those who might be seeing this update as their first notification in a while, I am indeed back to working on the game alone and have decided that it really is better if I keep it this way for the most part. I will hire people to fill the gaps on an as needed basis. Additionally, I've decided to return to the original plan of gearing the project as a story driven live service type of game that players will only ever be required to pay 20 dollars for. No other fees or costs will be charged to you for this game throughout it's life span. However, I should make it clear that other titles are planned so this games content releases will eventually slow down before coming to a halt and shifting towards community created content. There is no doubt in my head that this can be done. In fact, it's not only been possible the entire past year but the system that I started building back in late 2020 is now more capable and robust than ever before. But you'll get to dive into it on your end if you go digging in the games files so for the time being, let's get into the patch notes. [previewyoutube=qT8c8_2EAic;full][/previewyoutube]

- Overhauled Flight/Combat System

The entire system for flight and combat, as well as many subsequent systems has been overhauled. Much of it from the ground up. The enemy fighter AI has been a key component of this. Capital ships not so much but there are some big changes planned for capital ships and their behavior in combat. The highlight of all of this, of which has also been the primary focus, was getting the cockpit instrumentation into an acceptable state. There is now an abundance of feedback coming from the cockpit instrumentation and if at first you feel a little overwhelmed, then I did my job. The original inspiration for the cockpits comes from Cold War fighter jets which are rich with instrumentation. But the audio cues you will recieve from that instrumentation will help ensure your eyes are not glued on it. [previewyoutube=opgGLfLf1ow;full][/previewyoutube]

- NPC Chatter and Character Dialogue

There is now a system to assign a voice to NPCs as they are spawned. The number of voices is extremely limited right now but will be expanded over time. If you're interested in participating you can join the Discord for more information.

- New Game Modes

There are now two new game modes available to play with more on the way. These new game modes are replayable missions that can be engaged with at any time and will help you net salvage points. Scavenge Missions - Find cargo crates hidden in various places throughout a level. Swarm Missions - Fight wave after wave of enemies on a level. (currently supports only 4 waves for testing purposes)

- Complete Rebalance of Weapons

Weapons have been completely rebalanced with cannons now doing the damage they should be doing. Additionally the weapon slots have been reorganized some. The internal weapons bay now supports a large number of missiles or rockets, ensuring you have plenty for each missions. However, a limitation on the light hardpoints, and heavy hardpoints has been imposed. Not only will they no longer reload outside of you landing to reload, but bombs will be relegated to heavy weapons only with smaller versions of bombs being mounted in larger quantities. [previewyoutube=ulNNnmludoA;full][/previewyoutube]

- The Story

I've been a fan of story driven games since I was young. In fact, a game without a story is quite difficult for me to enjoy. There's something about having an adventure that I love and have since my days of messing around with a certain role playing game maker software that was released in 2003. As such the entire story has been overhauled. This time the story is a bit closer to what I had in mind originally. I've done as much as I can to expand this new universe through text but you should know that I am planning to do animated shorts in the future and currently have some character work under way to make these shorts a reality.

- The Plan Moving Forward

It is my intention that Frontiers Reach will recieve regularly scheduled story driven missions as weekly updates. That was the original plan when I first started and it will be the plan I am to assume now. This will of course require some constraints to ensure it can be done without a lot of crazy load lifting, but I've done as much as possible to make my tools as flexible as possible so that I can do an array of interesting things. For those who may have concerns over this part of the game, I can assure you it is already working and that the biggest hurdle is actually coming up with content to script into the game. It is my hope that much of this content will be in the pipeline and/or in the engine waiting to be deployed ahead of schedule to allow for wiggle room if needed.

- Concluding Notes

I want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with this thing through thick and thin. I know it probably hasn't always been good, and it probably hasn't always been something you like. But this is the risk developers take when making a game, especially when that game doesn't exactly fall into the mainstream appeal. So my metric for success has to be different out of necessity. And what is that metric? 1) Was the game completed? 2) Did the game evoke the experience that was intended? 3) Was new knowledge obtained? Those three, and especially the last one, are of greater value and importance to me right now than anything else. Without those three things right there, even if you get all the money you could ever want, you don't really have a game and no room for future growth.

[ 2022-04-02 01:58:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

This release is for public testing. Feedback will be gathered with another release and official patch notes the following weekend.

[ 2022-03-26 01:48:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello. It's been a while. If you've been following the other platforms I post on then you've gotten a glimpse of what I've been working on. Nothing is quite ready for release just yet, but I'm posting today to share with you everything I've worked on. What you're about to see is no doubt a LOT of work in a short time, but it highlights an important aspect of brand of development. Which is that I can get a lot more done when I'm not trying to manage a team on top of everything else AND a day job. That said, let's get into the details of what's on the horizon for Frontiers Reach and why the heck I'm not ready to release an update yet.

Flight Mechanic Overhaul:

The flight mechanic has been completely overhauled. This should eliminate some of the crazy spinning that could be experienced in the previous one. The most important feature of this overhaul is on the developer side. It's been drastically simplified to make it easier on my end to create and publish new starfighters. This new flight mechanic however feels a bit more like a traditional space game however, and less like an arcade aerial combat simulator though elements of that still survive. Below is some earlier test footage from a scene specifically setup to test the new flight mechanic in a combat environment. [previewyoutube=6GjquUKgF8s;full][/previewyoutube]

Weapons System Overhaul:

Stripped down and streamlined for ease of development was the goal on this one. Not much has changed aside from how it works on the developer side. These changes will make it easier to introduce new and interesting weapon types into the game. The biggest change of which is the ability to swap out warheads to allow for interesting weapon types but we'll get to that in future updates. Another significant change is the elimination of cannon ammo. From now on players will have unlimited cannon ammo but will have to balance that with thermal load on the craft.

Cockpit View Overhaul:

Believe it or not, I still have more I want to add and some tweaks I would like to make to indicator behaviors before I'm ready to call this done but it is in a state that is pretty darn close to completion. Below is an image and a breakdown of the different gauges and indicators. 1 - Boresight Scope : Not much has changed here. I'm researching some methods of increasing overall rendering efficiency. Eventually this will be setup with drift and lead so when the player puts the crosshair on something the rounds are hitting it, if it's in range. 2 - Fuel gauge : The resources have been simplified. You will use fuel as you play and the use will increase when you engage afterburner or RCS. This is something of a soft time limit as it can be refilled if you request a reload from the Heliosiren. Eventually the fuel icon will flash as fuel gets low. 3 - Thermals Gauge : Anything you do outside of normal operation of the craft will generate additional heat. Eventually the thermal icon will flash as the craft runs hotter. 4 - Throttle & Speed Gauges : This pair of gauges will show you the current throttle position and speed in meters per second. The blue light on the throttle readout indicates the afterburner state. The blue light on the speed gauge is a low speed warning indicator. 5 - Health & Damage Indicator : Indicates the health state of the player. Right now there is a red bar that indicates health percentage. The starfighter graphic doesn't do anything currently but I'm thinking either of changing the color to better communicate the current state or to show off damage hot spots. Right now the players health is unified. Meaning getting shot anywhere deals damage to the craft as a whole rather than to individual components. I am as yet undecided as to how granular I want to get with player health. 6 - Ammo Gauge Cluster : One of the more complex gauges on the instrument panel to read. This shows current weapon selection, current weapon ammo, current weapon state, and the reload time if it has one. Right now all reload times are the same but that will be changing. 7 - Wayfinding Arrow : This arrow indicator tracks the current target. However in the future it will also be used to indicate direction to waypoints and change color based upon what it is tracking. 8 - Angle of Attack & Gravitational Orientation Indicator : This gauge is one of my own design but is actually quite simple to read. The inner circle will drift showing the crafts true direction of travel with the arrow accentuating it. The blue arrows indicate the direction of gravitational pull. 9 - Mission Information Panel : Displays information relevant to the current mission objective. 10 - Radar : The radar has been completely rebuilt and now supports a true refresh rate and is affected by the module system in terms of range. 11 - Countermeasures Indicator : Indicates the current state of the countermeasure module that is current equipped. 12 - Rotation Control System Indicator : Indicates whether or not the rotation control system is currently active.

Starfighter Shading Overhaul:

Starfighter coloring is now fixed and will blend the way it is supposed to. Most of the strange coloring issues are now gone though there are still some here and there that need to be addressed. The biggest change is in general cleanup of how the paint layers blend with one another and how wear and tear is blended into the paint layers. This overhaul also includes the addition of rain effects on the hull of the fighters which is tied into the starfighters rigid body physics to help simulate some semblance of relative velocity. This effect is achieved through blending normal maps and adjusting the clear coat value on HDRP materials. Pristine Paint
Worn Paint
Rain FX
[previewyoutube=wToX_oxR7eM;full][/previewyoutube]

Scale Overhaul:

Environments and other assets have been touched up for scale across the board. While most things are supposed to have a larger than life appeal to them, various assets and environment pieces have been rescaled. This was partly done to get the game back to operating within the range of scale that Unity's lighting engine prefers. This should yield overall better looking shadows in most instances as well as a bit of a performance boost. [previewyoutube=OeEKNdVg0-8;full][/previewyoutube]

Environments/Levels Overhaul:

One of the goals behind environments/levels in Frontiers Reach is to create spaces that are rich with interactivity and interest, and it is certainly a challenge when your resources for interesting environment pieces are limited. After all what kind of things do you put on a remote world with little in the way of human civil infrastructure? Well, I've got some ideas and the content below isn't even scratching the surface. Most of this is still work in progress so I don't have much to show outside of the one level as this method of level design inherently takes more time and thought for the layout. Some things are also dictated by the needs of the story. [previewyoutube=4UZGJ3ks6ww;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=jcBR5sfGmT4;full][/previewyoutube]

Module System Overhaul:

The module system is now integrated into each starfighter and will have real affects on the performance characteristics of your fighter. This overhaul also includes the addition of the new Q-Field Emitter animation. This will play a small animation on the Q-Field Emitters when the player is boosting. The intention behind the module system is NOT to give you more powerful modules and climb a power ladder, but rather it is to give you different capabilities. In this way each module, even when of the same type, affects the craft differently. [previewyoutube=DcB9rG5Raww;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=h8jO6WVjyu4;full][/previewyoutube] [previewyoutube=tSWLwIcJc6k;full][/previewyoutube]

Camera System Overhaul:

This new camera system is stripped down and simplified from the previous version. The mouse control for camera look has been simplified somewhat too. The biggest change is mostly in just how it works and is a change that is best experienced. It will be ready in the next update. For the time being, camera locking to horizon is not an option. This is partly because I'm sticking with the space game feel and locking the camera to player rotation with smoothing and dampening.

Scenario Management Overhaul:

Oh boy, this is the big one. Previously I built something called the Mission Manager that drove all of the missions through a very simple and rigid data oriented system. That system has since been refactored and the data model along with it. This new system and data model will be expanded over time as it is based more on rules established for the environment, or level, rather than trigger zones and events; though those things do exist in the levels but are leveraged in other ways. The biggest advantage of this new system is just the depth to which it both interacts with the level and analyzes the level for conditionals. A great example of this is a new component I call the Town Controller which works as a subordinate component of the Scenario Manager. This is a simple bit of code that keeps track of all of the destructible pieces of a town each time an event is thrown. And when the Scenario Manager wants to know if a town has suffered damage to it's fuel tanks then it simply asks the Town Controller for that information. This change of course requires that all levels be rebuilt and all missions be rewritten/scripted in the new data model.

The Story Overhaul:

Last but not least there is the story telling overhaul. I've actually begun working on the official story. The story that will actually be released. The next update should include a small selection of missions, likely the first 5 or 6. But this isn't just a story rewrite. There is more to this than just a rewrite. The Galley is also in the process of being overhauled and I'm trying to get more character artwork done through a contractor on Fiverr before I can fully realize the system I have in mind for character interaction. I'm not sure how long this will take so I'm hesitant to say when exactly the next update will be available. I need at least 2 to 3 more characters for the Galley to make it really come together as a system that can be experienced before releasing anything else. I do however have a test image below. Still working on lighting.
Last but not least, Frontiers Reach is essentially funded from here on out. I can't go into the details of exactly why this is because it involves my personal health but the end result is one in which the financial future of Frontiers Reach is irrelevant as to whether or not it makes money.

[ 2022-02-04 14:10:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

As much as I tried, I couldn't help myself and proceeded to get some work done on levels and art. Happy holidays and see you in the new year. [previewyoutube=CbhAj8qJWPo;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2021-12-24 17:30:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, my name is Scarlett Toney. Weve recently had a shake up in the team. One for which I assume full responsibility. When I started Frontiers Reach, I was alone. It was well into the pandemic lock downs, and I was renting a room in my bosses basement after having lost my apartment because I simply couldnt afford it and did not want to sit around racking up debt under the eviction moratorium. Much of the core infrastructure you play with in FR was actually built by myself in the 1st three months of development. The AI, while not perfect and definitely in need more work, did the job I needed it to do and a recent tweak has made it even better. I wasnt too concerned initial as the game was being built for portfolio purposes since my real work is all under NDA. The initial intention behind Frontiers Reach was to create a story driven sandbox experience that would be near infinitely scale-able. To achieve this I chose a data driven solution that would define simple conditions for a player to achieve within a data model. The system would then check every other frame to see if the player was within or had achieved the conditions defined by the data model. When the condition was met, the objective would be considered complete and the system would then load the next objective in sequence contained within the data model. This data model is simple enough that it can even be constructed with a 2D interface built right into the game and I plan to eventually build one. And for the record, that kind of work is precisely what I do in the real world. Connect external data to runtime applications and make it do real meaningful things for people on the digital side and vice versa. Im attempting to take those lessons learned in the corporate world and apply them to Frontiers Reach. Aside from the story I wanted to tell within it, it would be a completely player driven and expanded retro science fiction sandbox. A library of voice over, music, sandbox style levels, and starships of all classes would be at your finger tips. But this would all have to be built up slowly over time. Especially voice over and my plan originally was to use an AI generated voice over and possibly tie it into the game so players could generate their VO for missions if they wanted(profanity filters applied of course). This AI would be the main narrator and drive you through missions. Almost like the AI was telling the story to someone else. The biggest reason I chose this structure is because as much as I love a certain science fiction intellectual property now owned by a certain mega media conglomerate, I wish they would approach fan created content differently. And so Frontiers Reach was also born out of a desire to set a different precedent than those who came before. Rather than smacking the fans on the wrist, I want to give them the tools to tell their own stories right in the game. The team however did not want to do this. They wanted to create a very cinematic experience, with lots of heavily scripted sequences. And the programmer I was working with wanted to abandon the data model I built all together and re-engineer the whole thing to use Unity Editor side tools to setup the missions. Even if we could save the data out to the file format we needed, this would have required we build two sets of tools. One for ourselves, and one for the players, and would have extended our development time and scope well beyond our ability to manage things. We started missing deadlines, voice actors werent showing up when we needed, we had a writer just quit all of a sudden. It was already falling apart as we became a chaotic concerto with no conductor. And this is where my responsibilities as a leader overtook me. I simply dont have the experience or the time and focus to manage a team of 10, that should be more like 20, and a project being over taken by scope creep. 3 weeks from what was supposed to be our kickstarter launch and we were adding completely new features and re-engineering existing systems. So I decided that before we got ourselves into a really sticky situation and owe a whole bunch of people a whole lot of money, that Id just pull the plug on it as a team venture more or less and go back to my very clearly defined scope where Im pretty much a dictator about the scope and direction. It was manageable for one person and would have been great if I had been able to get the team on board in the manner I had envisioned with each member being responsible for a section i.e gameplay, creatures, characters. This would have been similar to the art-house environment that the founders and I fostered when we were in college together only in a Discord server. And I was paying for a lot of things just to host this space for us to create without having to worry about things like deadlines and investors. The team will still work together in various capacities but I think the time has come for me to take the reigns again and start unifying and solidifying the experience a bit before adding anything new. Ive also got a major infrastructure change Ive been meaning to work on for scenario management that should yield some interesting results and a couple of starfighters that have been neglected. Well see what comes in the days/weeks ahead. Till next time pilots, stay safe and Ill see you out on the frontier! We'll be back to work on Frontiers Reach after Jan 1st. I've got an apartment to get moved into and would like to spend some time this Holiday with friends and family as much as can remotely.

[ 2021-12-16 12:36:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

The past week has been extremely stressful. Deadlines have been missed internally and we've come to a point where the focus of earning money and creating something cinematic has overburdened the project beyond what the team is capable of. All of this is the result of leadership not being experienced enough to manage a team of this size effectively on top of having a day job. We're going to hold development, cancel the kickstarter, and drop the games price drastically to refocus efforts. Development will resume in a few weeks.

[ 2021-12-09 10:09:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have entered the final month before the launch of our kickstarter campaign and the release of what we intend to be a highly polished version of the game. As such we've continued our efforts to refine existing mechanics as much as possible and and are working on wrapping up all of our major systems additions. One of the major systems coming into this update is the completion of the artwork integration of the module system. Each module now has a description, and some have visible artwork. Eventually all of them will have visible artwork of some kind and will affect performance parameters of various aspects of your fighters. This also is accompanied by the first implementation of the Quantum Flux Field being visually represented in the game. We're still looking to change it but want to experiment with this one a bit. This past month also saw a bunch of artwork for starships get done that will not be made available until demo release. We've got to get them all rigged with the new AI which is still in progress. But let's get one with the patch notes. - Module system artwork is fully integrated into module system and will display both in hangar when setting up a fighter and when on mission. - The hangar now supports a camera position bar that will allow the player to change camera position when outfitting modules. Future plans to expand to all hangar submenus. - New loading screens and descriptions. - New music for Frontiers Reach Patrol mode. - Major performance optimizations allow for the game to now be played in 4K on some video cards. (We tested on a Sapphire RX 580 8GB card running 4K at 20 FPS with 2 monitors) - Completely new space station artwork additions for some levels. - Major changes and additions to some levels. - Tweaks to starfighter performance and handling. - Complete revamp of lighting for bridge and menu environment. - Complete overhaul of the Galley which now includes a kitchen and dining area. (To be filled out with characters at a later date) - Completely new camera system for the bridge and main menu area. Now consists of better transitions between areas. - New opening cinematic. With that we're off to continue working on the game. There may be some things broken here and there so expect us to deploy hotfixes to address any critical issues that may come up.

[ 2021-12-04 03:11:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=ic8_glSBW_0;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2021-11-27 18:45:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

On the hangar controller updates. First Friday of the month and as such, it is update time! A lot of new things and we're going to get right into it: - New loadout system Save, load, and modify. The new system takes all of our previously constructed elements for managing your starfighter in the hangar to include paint jobs, and unifies them into the new loadout screen. When you save, it will now be displayed with its cost along the top side menu. - New Helm menu A new menu has been added for changing planetary locations. This new menu is also accompanied by updated lighting and transitions during the warp travel. - Completely overhauled input system now supports three main control schemes. Generic joysticks are supported in theory but we've had some difficulty getting it to recognize a HOTAS setup properly. More updates to come. - Completely overhauled mouse and keyboard flight system. Part of the input system overhaul was due to this right here. So much had to be changed in the input system to make mouse flight function the way we wanted, that we had to completely rework the entire thing. That said, the new mouse flight system may feel familiar to those of you who have played other flight games. - New module outfitting updates and menu screen. This new screen is merely a preview. We have a LOT more to get done on the module system. Nothing too heavy a lift for us, just a lot of little things and some small but significant additions like a new camera system to zoom in on the modules as you work on them. - Completely new Turret system. This new turret system still has some kinks in it, but it's got a pretty awesome feature set that we're excited about since it allows us to setup turrets in just about any configuration and not have turret artwork intersecting into their own structure or ship hull. - New bullet system. Though not fully integrated, and more changes are planned, this new bullet system is far more accurate than the previous one, using more tools for precise detection. - New missile system. Missiles can now lead and chase targets and are much more accurate but will lose their tracking completely if they over-shoot their target. No more lasso missiles looping around until they hit something. - Numerous tweaks to camera system to compensate for changes and additions in the mouse flight mode. - Completely new countermeasure system. As part of the module system, countermeasures have been added to the game as a whole new mechanic that will eventually accommodate three different types of defense. Currently we only have flares, which will dot the sky behind the player with enough flares to disrupt a dozen missiles. Eventually a chaff module will be added that disperses a disruption cloud behind the player, and finally an EM field that will project a disruption field around the player as they travel. - Completely overhauled hangar system for landing and reloading. Much of this work is foundational. Still lots to wrap up here, but it's all essential work for the future. Some of which are the new AI, wingmen, new reload sequence, and mid-mission weapon swapping. - Numerous changes to the flight model to affect feel, performance, and play. This required rebalancing several parameters on fighters to adjust performance. - Fixed another edge case that was causing missile warning cones to not go away. While this weeks update does indeed break some of our levels, we're in the process of getting a bunch more artwork overhauled and new stuff added before our next update on December 3rd. Rest assured all levels will be restored to full functional state and some, hopefully many, will be completely reworked with a whole host of additions added to them. Additionally, we're beginning work on the first set of missions that we aim to build with the quality in mind for the final product. A lot of this is being focused around preparation for the launch of our Kickstarter but will ultimately play into a better experience for everyone in the long run. We also want to take this time to give everyone a brief run down on our schedule the next month and our contingency moving forward. November 22nd - team will review over the period of a week. November 29th - Decision will be made on whether or not the demo is ready for Kickstarter prime time. December 3rd - Launch new demo and Kickstarter. Contingent timeline in the event that demo approval is not met on November 29th. December 3rd - Demo release as usual. January 7th - Demo release and Kickstarter launch. For the sake of getting this out the door, we're only allowing ourselves one opportunity to push the dates back! There will not be a second delay in release. Oh, before we go, you will need to make a new save file. We added a whole bunch of small changes that we didn't go into because they were parts of the large changes listed above. These smaller changes required adding a number of additional parameters to the players save file.

[ 2021-11-06 01:30:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

We regret to inform you that this weeks update is cancelled. But not without good reason. We're doing this to restructure our schedule a bit so we can get through some major integrations and prep the final demo before going live with the Kickstarter. This will also allow us to really focus in on development and artwork production without worrying if the game will be ready by the weekend. While our release schedule is going to change you should still expect to see screenshots, video, and artwork hitting our social media accounts as we continue to work. To accompany this announcement we want to layout a list of things that we're working on. - More damage models for starfighter NPCs. - Unity DOTS integration (we're looking at this to solve some performance issues and to increase capabilities. still speculative). - Original music (Our composer is working on preparing small sampling of the music he is composing for the title as a whole) - New sound effects for starfighter engines and weapons. - New enemy AI (there is a lot going on with this new AI and it is capable of a lot of things the current AI is not it's a big integration though and will need to be handled very carefully over a period of days). - New module system with completely new artwork to accompany it. - New countermeasures as a part of the new module system. These new CM's come in three forms. Flares, Chaff, and an EM Field. Flares - Launches a series of flares in a pattern across the sky that disrupt missiles that get too close. Chaff - Launchers a cloud of disrupting debris behind the player as they travel. Any guided munitions that enter the cloud will be disrupted and veer drastically off course. EM Field - Deploys a large disruptive field affects missile tracking causing them to veer off target drastically. In some cases missiles have been known to self destruct from short circuits. - Q-Field visual effect and module. In the Frontiers Reach Universe, faster than light travel is not achieved by warping space around the ship like most other sci-fi universes. No, in Frontiers Reach we get around with what is known as Quantum Field Manipulation technology, sometimes called quantum flux fields, Q-fields, or Quantum Bubbles. Regardless of the name, Quantum Field Manipulation technology operates on the same principles across the board. To understand QFM tech we must first understand space in the Frontiers Reach Universe. In the FRU space time is a kin to a liquid, so thin and viscous and all encompassing that it takes enormous amounts of energy, or mass, to affect it in any meaningful way. But what if you could create a spacetime void? A space so empty that not even spacetime itself could exist? Well that's what QFM tech does. In much the same way that a torpedo uses a bubble of air to push water out of the way as it travels at high speed through water, a starship in the FRU uses a spacetime void bubble to push spacetime out of the way as it travels. In the FRU traveling this way you can reach speeds of up to 1 to 2 lightyears a day depending upon your size and mass. Most starfighters can hop around the interior of a star system quite comfortably if they don't have to engage in any serious fighting. Capital ships like long haul freighters, ferries for small vessels, and other large ships can travel roughly 15-20 lightyears before needing to refuel. The hulking megaships known as Interstellar Carriers can travel up to 100 lightyears before having to refuel. One of the things we want to do with this is visualize the Q-field affect in some way. Right now we're playing with distortions in the Unity HDRP and have had some really cool effects. But we've had some difficulty getting them to work exactly as we need them so we're exploring a few different options. - New Mouse flight model. The model we've chosen may seem familiar to some of you. - Major overhaul of the hangar and mid mission reloading mechanic with a UI that will allow player to swap some equipment/weapons when they've landed aboard the Heliosiren during a mission. This also includes some visual changes. - New ambient noise backgrounds for Heliosiren interior. - New Helm menu interface for selecting planetary locations that also gives additional information on the chosen planet. - Loadout system that will allow players to setup, save, and load different loadouts. - New character art and dialogue system changes (this will likely take affect later as we're still working out our full list of characters and only have portraits right now). - Support for more languages. It's difficult to say when exactly all of these things will be available in the game. Some are already in. Others haven't even been started on. Assuming we can actually get all of them in on the new schedule, which is partly why we reworked it, Frontiers Reach should be a fairly more refined and deeper game to experience.

[ 2021-10-24 00:36:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes bring few changes. One of our key team members for developing the game has taken a full time position and our updates will be smaller as a result until said developer is in a position they can more easily work around their full time employment. That said this developer is also the person who funds quite a bit of the games development so were looking at acquiring some new tech to ease our development so that we can get more done with less time spent doing it. One thing we want to be sure to communicate. Weve done some testing with the control schemes for for custom rebindings and we feel confident that we have a way forward with regards to establishing a means that player can configure any controller/keyboard/joystick setup they choose. Also, please know that while our time table is going to slow slightly, we will continue to push an update every week. Were also thinking about moving our deployment day to Saturday. However, were here for patch notes. - Fix for RCS systems roll, pitch, and yaw speed so as to make RCS mode much more manageable. - Added new animations in holomap for two missions as a visual test as well as the infrastructure to build a system to play them. The briefing video that went out with last weeks update has been removed. It will be replaced at a later time. - New paint job preset added, Tuskegee

[ 2021-10-16 01:17:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes encompass yet more preparation for a major update coming in the future. One centered around AI and Reloading. Additionally we have a number of small fixes, additions, and a couple of small changes that affect the game in a big way. - Adjustments to thrust vectoring animations. - Expansion of explosion models for each fighter to include all player controlled starfighters. - Added debris explosions to Vo-33 Ostriye and Mark 6 Super Kunai enemy NPC fighters. - Added preview art of coming changes for holo table. - Fixed issue on the Jadha map kept player from being able to launch into the level. - Changed music for Jadha missions. - Adjusted lighting to address issues on Jadha Sector 42F map. - Fixed no spacing on planet button names at the holo table. - Adjusted portraits in main menu to affect better visibility. - Added backend support for video playback as a part of mission briefings. - Modified aiming reticle to increase target visibility when aiming and increased its size. - Added in RCS and Stall mechanics into flight model. -Stalling- -Vectoring requires a minimum speed both in atmosphere with gravity and in the vacuum of space. -When in atmosphere, airbrakes work the most pointing up and not the least pointed down. -When stalled, your nose will push itself down when gravity is a factor. -When stalled, torque applied to the craft is severely reduced as vector control is a factor of forward speed. -RCS- -The RCS thrusters can be activated on controller by holding both triggers down. -RCS greatly increases the torque you can apply to the craft with a cost to speed. -While RCS is activated, you have no control over the direction your aircraft travels. It continues as a ballistic object. -RCS can be activated while stalled to regain control of your craft. -Ending RCS comes in the direction of travel results in control being regained instantly. -Ending RCS facing the opposite direction to the direction of travel will result in control being lost until your engines can correct your forward speed. -Ending RCS in any other direction will lead to slower recovery they facing the direction of travel. -Holding boost before ending RCS and continuing to boost after will allow for near immediate correction of travel direction even when ending RCS facing the opposite of your direction of travel.

[ 2021-10-08 17:53:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees more artwork updates and several fixes for lighting and shadow issues. Of the artwork changes made the Heliosiren has finally been optimized to infinity and beyond giving us back some more FPS as we continue to reduce draw calls across the experience. Weve also taken some time to get some new engine art into the game as a preview of the coming module system update. Still much to do before it is ready but this is a taste. This week also marks the first of the month so weve also updated the demo. - Numerous additions and tweaks to Heliosiren artwork. - Numerous changes to lighting on the Heliosiren. - Tweaks to cockpit glass refraction to avoid refraction blow out in some instances. - More performance oriented art changes to Heliosiren. - Added camera cuts when in paint mode. - Added thrust vectoring animations.

[ 2021-10-02 00:52:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed blown out portrait on main menu.

[ 2021-09-26 16:35:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed an issue with missile sounds continuing to play when they weren't - Added the Action Camera as a selectable camera mode when pressing down on the left joystick or hitting F5 - Slight performance fixes on a few levels.

[ 2021-09-26 15:12:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes are small. Mostly because there was a lot of focus put towards getting some artwork squared away for a major back end update coming in the months ahead. The biggest portion of this update is part one of a major overhaul of the artwork for the Heliosiren and its interior. This overhaul will continue into next week and possibly into the following week as there are a lot of changes going on in the back end to accommodate a much more robust scenario management architecture and level design tools. These tools will be vital on the road ahead and must be thoroughly fleshed out before we can really start to scale up. - Part one of the Heliosiren artwork overhaul. - Fixed an issue that caused missiles to continue playing their sound effect for thrusters even after they had exploded. - Various tweaks to shader parameters to effect over all rendering. - There is now a pilot posed in the cockpit of each fighter. This pilot is not currently animated but it is planned that there will be an IK rig integrated with arms and legs responding to player input accordingly.

[ 2021-09-24 17:55:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed bomb reticle. - Added currently selected cannon name to label text. - Added currently selected starfighter name to label text. - Updated starfighter cannon names to include slightly more information.

[ 2021-09-18 17:31:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed the bombing reticle so that is no longer egg shaped.

[ 2021-09-18 15:15:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update focuses on bug fixing, quality of life adjustments and additions, as well as a few visual tweaks. Though some bugs still remain, we have gotten a lot fixed and polished up. Still a lot of work to do though. We're working on a complete refactoring of the AI which includes various new module systems, like a more robust counter measure system that gives the player more control over how they use countermeasures, and the type they can take into combat. Additionally we working on a complete overhaul of the reload/repair sequence and how it functions within moment- to-moment gameplay. - Reworked the character creation screen. - Fixed lighting issues with character portraits on the bridge. - Made Heliosiren waypoint marker pop up when requesting a reload. - Fixed issues with warp mechanic not showing the correct skybox on the bridge. - Fixed an issue that caused to the ship to warp even though it was already at the target location. - Fixed warp animation still showing ever so slightly in the background. - Minor tweak to mouse sensitivity. - Swapped out several skyboxes that used the new sky system for the older skyboxes as the quality of the new sky system when it comes to some space missions isn't quite where it needs to be. - More artwork optimization tweaks. Disabled texture LOD on various textures throughout the game to claw back some performance. - More tweaks to cloud performance and rendering. - Added sphere indicator to bomb reticle. - Adjusted camera shake on warp. - Fixed ammo counts when no light or heavy weapons are equipped. - Weapon labels will now change when the weapon is changed to show what is in that slot. - Cloud settings slider has been reimplemented into the settings menu. - Fixed engine trails continuing to play when game is paused. - Mission time tracking has been fixed and will now account for the time spent paused. It will also countdown instead of counting up. - Adjusted internal weapons bay weapons costs so that they are free. - Fixed button in load-out panel that did not cycle backwards through the internal weapons bay list. - Removed numerous older assets that were no longer needed in various scenes. - Added more foliage to the Frontiers Reach Sector 17 map.

[ 2021-09-17 16:24:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Missile warning IFF fixed. - Control sensitivity has been re-implemented with mouse sensitivity increased for pitch and yaw. Looking to add more to the list before the night is out. - minor adjustments to HF-22 turret to help facilitate more appropriate function. - Fixed audio issue with HF-22 engines. - Fixed render order issue that caused crystal formations in asteroids to not render in cockpit mode. - Added some set dressing to the Bleakers Folly Asteroid Station.

[ 2021-09-12 18:29:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes are small as we've been working on cleaning things up in house such as getting store front imagery updated, updating our website, and making all sorts of preparations for the Kickstarter. However the updates this week are by no means insignificant. - Added new incoming missile detection to the radar. - Updated our cloud and atmospherics rendering tech with the latest from the dev team behind the technology. - Rebalanced all the cloud render settings. - Numerous minor changes to artwork across some levels. - Reverted opening cutscene skybox to older version.

[ 2021-09-10 15:27:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed issue with attitude indicator not displaying correctly. - Removed shadow rendering on bombing reticle. - Various balance tweaks to enemies and enemy munitions.

[ 2021-09-03 23:20:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update focuses on interface updates and further integrating the new weapons system into the UI. We've also worked on immersive features like weather effects. As usual this update also includes a some bug fixes. - Integrated weapons into UI even further to show the currently selected weapon. In first and third person mode, this change is shown as yellow highlighted text. In cockpit mode this change is shown by different colored lights on the ammo indicator. - All weapons and their current ammo count can be seen regardless of the view mode. The exception to this is in cockpit mode where only the currently selected weapon has it's ammo count shown. - Rain effect for cockpit glass. This effect is turned up and down based upon various conditions. - Camera shake added for effect when flying through clouds. - New attitude and compass indicators for the cockpit and first person view. (This is an experimental method we're attempting to develop as part of the immersive VR experience we have planned for the future) - Added new warping effect to the bridge when players are switching between planets at the holotable. - Fixed an issue that could stop weapons UI elements from updating.

[ 2021-09-03 16:51:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed an edge case where missiles were still pushing the player around and not applying damage. - Fixed starfighter model in loadout screen not updating artwork in some cases. - Made balancing tweaks to missile fire rate to compensate for their improved reliability. - Cleaned up old assets.

[ 2021-08-29 18:04:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed 20mm cannons for F-42 Mermidon - Fixed IFF tag sizing issues on some destructibles. - Fixed camera getting locked after respawn. - Fixed missiles bumping into the player but not exploding. - Fixed IFF tags on enemies that had them marked as friendlies.

[ 2021-08-29 15:41:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fixed artwork bug with Lochland and Masters F-42 Mermidon.

[ 2021-08-28 14:58:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

-Fixed an issue that caused some starfighter to break on certain loadouts. - Fixed starfighter weapon audio. - All ammo readouts should be visible and update during gameplay. - Minor balance adjustment on enemy.

[ 2021-08-28 02:49:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update marks a significant version leap for Frontiers Reach, as a whole new weapons system has been integrated into the build. This new system has a robust set of dev tools which allows for a much wider range of weapons choice. In addition, numerous bugs have also been fixed. Rather than my droning on though, let's cut right to the meat of it. - Completely revamped weapons system that allows up to 3 types of weapons to taken into missions. - A complete rework of the load-out screen that now allows for more advanced player-customization. - Cannon selection is back. (Requires additional tweaks to be fully realized but artwork is working) - Internal Weapons Bay added to each starfighter, can currently equip one of two types of munitions. - Light External Hardpoints added to each starfighter, can currently equip one of seven types of munitions. - Heavy External Hardpoints added to each starfighter, can currently equip one of five types of munitions. - Ammo counts have been increased across the board. - Added proximity warning for obstacles in players flight path. - Numerous bugs, like reliability of missiles impacting targets, have been fixed as a result of the new weapons system. - Controller inputs and schemes have been adjusted to accommodate the new weapons system and ease of use by the player. Expect hotfixes as we hammer out the particluars.

[ 2021-08-27 22:59:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update is another small one with a focus on bug fixing, minor tweaks, and artwork replacements and additions. We're also beginning to wrap up work on weapon and targeting changes, and have made some minor revisions in preparation for updates to those systems next week. - Fixed information boxes on the load-out menu. - Replaced the station artwork for Keller Station and added no models to be used for expanding existing and future space station art. - Replaced cockpit glass shader in the hangar when selecting a starfighter at the load-out screen. - Fix to tutorial messaging system so that players do not accidentally skip portions of it. - More tweaks to starfighter performance. - Reduced accuracy of enemy starfighter cannons slightly. - Adjusted engine VFX to reduce its visual obstruction when the game is paused. - All new cloud rendering setup on the Astraeus Slumber map. - Increased health for the Ajagar ace pilot. - Fixed enemy marker color for capital ships and adjusted render order to show up in cockpit. - Fixed location marker render order to show up in cockpit. - Doubled ammo count for all starfighters weapons. This is a temporary fix for ammo count until the new weapon system is in place.

[ 2021-08-20 17:20:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update is rather small with a focus on more performance changes to increase FPS across the board. We've also updated the demo to include the latest changes. - More optimizations to artwork across the entire experience. - Removed rearview cam in cockpit mode to increase performance.

[ 2021-08-13 16:09:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Though it may seem small, this weeks update sees a host of optimizations to artwork and other changes that were quite involved from a programming standpoint. Chief among them is the artwork for buildings and settlements. These new assets have been streamlined for rendering by combining appropriate meshes and implementing LODs. They are also much more detailed than the previous settlement buildings but are still using the same kit-bash as everything else. We've also added refractions and a new normal map to the cockpit glass. The new map is for now a preview, as we'll be implementing a new system for cockpit glass that will handle everything from dents and scratches, to rain moving across the windscreen. - Added 10 new building types that have been completely integrated with LODs and a unified renderer. - New cockpit glass and artwork. Refractions added to some glass objects. - Tweaked enemy starfighter accuracy to reduce their near perfect aim. - Tweaked performance parameters for all starfighters reduce their performance profiles to make them harder to fly and slightly more unique in how they fly.

[ 2021-08-06 15:55:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

On July 2nd, we released the our biggest update yet, and with it a new chapter in the story of Frontiers Reach was opened. Since then, we've fixed numerous bugs, addressed a number of performance issues, and incorporated two redesigned starfighters. We also released an animated short, updated our store front, and released a new gameplay trailer. And for this weeks update, we're releasing a slew of new animated set pieces with a focus on the Frontiers Reach Sector 17A location. We also changed the artwork that we're using enemy and environment loot drops. Last but not least we fixed a few bugs regarding menu navigation with controller this update, but are still tracking down some of the most critical.

Frontiers Reach: Operation Fallen Eagle - Part 1

Operation Fallen Eagle is a three part machinima series set roughly one year before the events of the game. It is designed to tell some of the backstory about how the war was started. Two more episodes to come. [previewyoutube=FohmMAzsOJs;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

New Gameplay Trailer

[previewyoutube=GzL_BU6LVks;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

Updated Starfighter Customization UI

While the convenience of the color picker we had originally cannot be understated, we needed something much more user friendly. We may look at redesigning this in the future or at least expanding it. [previewyoutube=XL997zDbRbk;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

Environment Animations Montage

A short montage of all of our environment animations that were completed this week. We'll have tweaks and audio additions in the future so keep an eye and ear out. [previewyoutube=ZReCCbtUmQQ;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

[ 2021-07-30 16:50:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks updates fixes a number of bugs, and makes a number of tweaks. We've also update the demo. We've also redesigned and reintegrated and a starfighter that had previously been removed. We still need to work on it's turret functionality but it is otherwise flyable and ready for play. - Fixed Scoring Screen not closing when you hit the close button. - Filled out information on targeting tags. - Fixed camera visuals when using see through cockpit mode that previously left some things still visible. - Fixed thruster on Vo-38 Vektor not working. - Fixed navigational icons not appearing on HUD. - Adjusted application render settings for better performance frame to frame. - Adjusted menu on bridge for better flow between sections of the ship i.e. Loadout, Holotable. - Fixed glass issue in the social room. - Added warning noise to enemy missiles. - Fixed velocity ring showing up in aim scope of Mermidon. - S-27 Wildboar now has a destroyed state. - UI sliders on the loadout menu to have the proper positioning so that text boxes are readable. - Fixed weird sounds being played when firing primary weapons. - Changed bullet impact and graphic for enemy fire. - Adjusted wear and tear on Vo-38 Vektor. - Cockpit health indicator should now show the appropriate color. - Minor fixes to controller navigation on the Bridge menu interface. - Complete redesign and integration of HF-22 Nujoma's Shield starfighter. - Fix to F-42 Mermidon radar for third person and see through camera views.

[ 2021-07-23 17:46:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and my team. I won't get into the names of everyone, as most are not on twitter or reddit and the ones who are may wish to keep some level of anonymity; or at the least, may want to make themselves known at a later date. I will let them introduce themselves as they please. My name is Scarlett Toney, aka Soliloquis. I am the lead developer and principal artist for Frontiers Reach as well as the co-founder of Blind Alien Productions. I started developing Frontiers Reach under the title Pirates of Frontiers Reach back in September of 2020. After solving the AI issue, I was able to get a bunch of custom artwork into the engine and release a stable if not rough game on to Steam. It was enough to pitch the game to potentially interested parties as a demo, and I could set a fair price so that only those actually interested in supporting the project would spend money on it. I also handed out a number of steam keys and ran a few campaigns to help generate interest in the project. I've managed to do a lot considering I started this whole thing with $500 in the bank, and while I was in the process of filing for unemployment. Since then I've joined forces with the programmer who is responsible for the flight mechanics in the latest iteration of the game. I'm not sure how many of you have had a chance to dive into it, but I've caught myself getting sucked into playing around more often than I should. We've also added a character artist who is working on the design of our characters with me, and our writer, who we added a few months ago. Our character artist is a very talented young lady early in her career as an artist, and we love to see here work. In contrast, our lead writer is an older gentleman who has 20 years of experience, and has published some thriteen sci-fi novels. Aside from being old, he is also our resident comedian. Recently we've also added a composer to our team who is extremely talented. I'm really looking forward to showing off their work here very soon. Additionally, our new composer has introduced me to a sound designer. I am talking to him right now, and hope to bring him aboard. So, what is Frontiers Reach and who in the heck is paying for all of this? Well, if you've purchased the game, thank you! No seriously, thank you. We are at our core, storytellers and it is our desire to entertain in that capacity. But we also want to be story-listeners. I swear I'll get to the part about the money Frontiers Reach is an Arcade Space/Flight Combat game inspired by the games, movies, and books of the 1990s favorite content from our childhood, and from our own personal life experiences. The story is set 200 years in the future, an alternate history timeline thats yielded a very different future: Humanity has colonized hundreds of stars with the help of an AI and its awesome abilities. But humans will always be humans no matter how far we stray from home; and so our story begins on the eve of war between the newly founded Republic of Frontier Worlds and the old, corrupt Sol Confederacy of Planets. Lore-wise, I started work on Frontiers Reach sometime around the beginning of 2015. Back then I wasn't sure what shape it would take and the lore timetable was a bit different; it was also mostly just notes and sketches. The aesthetic of the universe was different too, though many of the same themes of old and rusty starships remain. Around the start of September 2020, I got wind that a certain Star Wars game from the N-64 era was being remade with the UE4 engine. It got CnDed into non-existence. Needless to say I was upset. So I resolved to finally make Frontiers Reach into some kind of arcade flight combat game in the vein of the above mentioned Star Wars project. But I had played so many other flight games over the years that had things I loved: Freelancer, Freespace, DarkStar One, Crimson Skies, Jane's WW2 Fighters Then I met the now lead programmer who happened to be a lifelong Ace Combat fan, and before he started on Frontiers Reach, he was working on his own flight game, and he was about 6 months ahead of me programming-wise. Back to the money. When it comes to who is floating the bill for development and production, well, that would be us. We're all dedicating our time to create this new universe out of a shared desire to make something uniquely awesome. Save for those people who have purchased the game, all other money has come out of my own personal finances. Oh, and there was a $30 contribution by the lead programmer to help purchase the new cloud tech that we hope you're enjoying. The rest of it is all hard work and dedication, and staring into a screen late into the night. But this new universe will not be ours alone. Our aim isn't to just to tell you a story or feed you a bunch of generic content. Remember what I said about being story-listeners? Well, one day soon, we aim to expose some of our development tools for community use, and integrate the game with Steam Workshop. Players will be able to share missions and maybe even coordinates for secret places in the galaxy that are otherwise inaccessible if you just play the main story. We've got a lot of things wed love to do that we're not quite ready to talk about and I feel like I've already written a wall of text. But maybe this wall of text is letting you all know what we're up toand thats a good thing, right? Let us know. We're going to keep developing and pushing to get our toolset up and running for the official release. Once we go into release, our feature set won't expand much. We'll switch over to production mode and work on delivering content that moves the main story along, on what we hope is a consistent basis. What that release schedule for new content looks like is admittedly difficult to pin down at this time. We've got a lot of the groundwork laid down for this already, but we need a more robust system that allows for greater ease-of-use and we're just not there yet. Well, I feel like I've gone on long enough, so I'm going to stop here. Please do not hesitate to ask questions or suggest features that you think would be interesting to have. If it's something we think can get done within reasonable effort alongside our development goals, we'll definitely take a look at it. Until next time though, fly safe!

[ 2021-07-20 01:24:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an issue that caused the menu to become stuck in an animation loop after completing a mission.

[ 2021-07-16 23:24:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update adds some new artwork, tweaks cloud rendering performance for better overall FPS, and adjustments to post effects rendering. This update gets us closer to wrapping up fixes and integration of the latest systems into the game. - Tweaked bloom for less blurring. - Tweaked DoF to reduce its blurring effect. - Added contact shadows to post effects to get small shadows in key points. - Adjusted cloud rendering on Frontiers Reach to affect performant FPS rates. - Adjusted cloud rendering on Frontiers Reach to affect performant FPS rates and added high altitude clouds. - New orbital station artwork for Bodenga Low Orbit. Will be propagated through other levels as appropriate. - New space elevator artwork for moon and large asteroid maps. - Integrated engine artwork into throttle control to animate engine drive plumes in accordance with player input. - Fixed health for floating platforms on Astraeus Slumber level so they can actually be destroyed.

[ 2021-07-16 17:30:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

So we're back on schedule with our weekly updates. These will be small for a while as we clean up and refine everything from the last major update. As such, this week covers a small number of changes to the rendering quality, and a couple of mechanical fixes. - Reduced instances of missiles not destroying targets. - Fixed issue with reflections and lighting in the Heliosiren hangar. - Adjusted and added post effects for better presentation. These are performance heavy right now; we recommend turning some of these off if you are having trouble with the frame rate. We will implement more controls in the future for more nuanced customization, and the rendering output for lower-end machines. - Fixed a bug that could cause the voice over audio to cut out entirely when cycling camera views. - Major performance overhaul of the Frontiers Reach and Astraeus Slumber Planetary Locations. - Adjusted flight mechanics for space flight missions.

[ 2021-07-09 19:13:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update, or months rather, is a big change for the game.

There are still some issues to solve, but we're working on them as the team and our community testers find things. We've had a lot of movement this past month with 3 of our team members making major geographical relocations. But you've all been waiting for something other than a team update, so let's get right into the key points:

HDRP Upgrade

- A majority of the past month was spent getting Unity's High Definition Render Pipeline integrated into the project. This has lent us a significant advancement in the visual presentation of the game. From volumetric and true physically based lighting, to deeper control over rendering layers and greater mesh rendering optimization, the HDRP is quite a leap for the project.

Expanse Clouds for Unity

- As part of the update to the HDRP, we picked up a plugin that is responsible for rendering the skybox, the atmosphere, clouds, nebulae, gas giant rings, basically anything and everything that you might want in a sky. The cloud technology is of particular note because it is fully volumetric and is based on some of the most advanced techniques for rendering to date. We're working closely with the team developing Expanse, Three M's Creative, to test and expand on this toolset and look forward to the future of our work together.

New User Interface

- We have a new user interface and not just graphically. This new interface is far more streamlined than the previous and should allow for easier flow and understandability on and between menus. All of the configuration settings that are exposed in the configuration menu are working. Additional controls for the new cloud system are set for development in the future.

New Combat Interface

- A complete rework has been done of the combat interface and how it functions. Players have more control over the targets that they can lock onto. An auto target selection system has been implemented to select next closest target upon current target death. New target info tags have been implemented; to be integrated more fully in the future. New graphics for the 2D interface. This is a rough implementation, to be improved in future releases.

Updated Camera System

- The camera system has been update to include a new minimalist mode for the combat interface that will show only the 2D gauges and information. The player may also now track targets by holding down the target switch key/button.

Major Overhaul to Controller Support

- The game is now roughly 90% complete in terms of controller support. Some issues may crop up in rare cases, but the controller is now useable both in the menus and in gameplay. The only menu that has not seen real controller integration is the Configuration Menu. A mouse and keyboard will still be required. This expansion of controller support also extends to using the keyboard for menu navigation.

New Systems Computer Mechanic

- The systems computer keeps track of how much health, fuel, energy, and heat your ship has. Run out of fuel and you'll drop like a rock. Run out of energy and you'll eat through fuel. Run too hot and you'll take damage. Take too much damage and, well... you get the idea. This new systems computer gives the player a better idea of how they are performing in their starfighter and challenges them to manage their resources in the heat of combat. Things are pretty relaxed right now, and all the starfighters are mostly the same; but in the weeks to come we'll be tweaking and balancing them all to effect their performance profiles.

New Ammo System

- When you go out on mission you will be limited to a specific amount of ammunition. When on mission, if you get too low on ammunition, you can request a reload from the Heliosiren and make a landing. This ammunition system is pretty simple right now, but will be expanded upon in later updates in terms of functionality and it's importance to gameplay.

Massive New Environments

- All of the environments have been scaled up. The play boundary expanded. And the number and diversity of the models present for towns and frontier capital ships increased. This new scale drastically changes how the game plays and is much more in line with how we want the player to experience the game.

Integration of Redesigned Vo-38 Vektor

- The starfighter previously known as the SF-38 Vektor has been redesigned, renamed the Vo-38 Vektor, and integrated into the custom paint-job shading pipeline.

New Cockpit Interior Gauges

- Cockpit interiors have been reworked. New models for the gauges have been made, new lighting has been set, and the glass shading reworked. The throttle and control stick are now animated when in cockpit view.

New Engine VFX

- Using Unity's new VFX graph, we've put together a brand new engine drive plume effect. We're still working on full integration of the effect into each starfighters system to achieve full visual control with relation to thrust amount and vectoring.

Completely new Skybox Artwork

- With the powerful toolset of Expanse Clouds for Unity, we've completely reworked every skybox in the game. We've still got a lot of work to do in the area, especially with regards to how skyboxes will change on the bridge of the Heliosiren, but for now we hope you enjoy the artwork.

[ 2021-07-05 19:15:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've also implemented a completely brand new sky and atmosphere rendering system that has an impressive set of tools. We'll be working closely with Three M's Creative, the developer of Expanse, to bring it to it's fullest realization.

[ 2021-05-27 17:06:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

This past week we recently picked up a brand new piece of Technology for rendering atomsphere's in the game. I has us so excited we can't contain ourselves and have elected to move forward with updating the game to Unity's HDRP render pipeline to take advantage of this new tech. We've attached some images below to show it off. We'll be back online before the end of the month to have the next update ready for play testing and look forward to seeing what all the players have to say about it.


We also have a more complete version of our galactic map to show off finally.
We hope this has you excited. We're sure excited to finally be making the lead to Unity's HDRP and are looking forward to the release when it is ready which we are hoping will be the end of the month. Till then, fly safe pilots!

[ 2021-05-13 20:52:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

In this weeks update we bring more changes to artwork with a number of new asteroid models that will be used in space environments. Additionally a host of fixes have been made to minor things that where affecting gameplay on a wide scale. Behind closed doors our lead programmer did a bunch of development and testing on expanding the core mechanics for the player. These new mechanics include a more robust collision detection system and resource management for fuel and weapons. - Fixed issue that caused the third person UI to not show up. - Fixed an issue that caused primary weapons fire from the player to not affect capital ship vital components. - Fixed an offset of the S-27 Wildboar main cannons. - Fixed an issue that had the UI elements rendering in the aim scope. - Fixed an issue that caused the new UI elements to interact with NPC starfighters and capitalships. - Fixed an issue that caused missiles locks to persist even after the target had been destroyed. - Fixed cannons artwork not showing up on some starfighters. - Reimplemented crash collisions. - Added ability to hit Escape to bring up the configuration menu when on the bridge of the Heliosiren. - Fixed an issue that would stop the player from being able to rebind keys properly. - Fixed bug that could cause terrain to fall below acceptable resolutions for visual presentation. - Fixed a bug that caused the Boost button and the secondary weapons fire button to use the same default button for controller. - Replaced the Keyboard only configuration with the HOTAS configuration (We will revist the keyboard only configuration as soon as possible). - Fixed a performance bug that was the result of a keybind not working properly(This resulted in the removal of mouse look for mouse and keyboard functionality, we will revist in the future). - Added warning tone and markers to missiles. - Added catapult launch and capture animation. (This may later be used to increase difficulty of landings.)

[ 2021-05-07 19:46:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

This month's first update is a big one. We have new artwork, new game mechanics, and are prepping for a host of changes to come in the weeks ahead. Redesigns of existing starfighters are on the board as well as integration of existing starfighters into the new paint job customization pipeline. New starfighters, new worlds, new weapons, and new enemies are also being planned. To begin the ground work for this, we've stripped out the old primary and secondary weapons system to make way for a completely new weapons systems that includes an array of new types of weapons and an ammo system. Much of this is still in development but in this update we've released a preview version of this new weapon system. Custom key and axis bindings have been a requested feature for some time and in this update we've finally been able to get them integrated. Currently we support a rudimentary mouse and keyboard scheme, a joystick scheme that should work for generic joysticks, a controller scheme, and keyboard only scheme. We've also integrated a HOTAS scheme but that is still in testing as we've had some trouble with it on some HOTAS configurations so key and axis rebinding is quite ready for that but you are welcome to give it a try if you like. Over the next few weeks we aim to get back to our regular update schedule with a focus on artwork. At the end of the month we hope to introduce the next phase of major mechanical updates and bump up the version number of the game from 0.3.x to 0.4.x. We've also updated the demo this week and will be updating that on a monthly schedule. - Fixed a bug that would cause the resolution setting in the config menu to revert to a very low resolution that would break the UI. - Added new secondary weapon system that allows for multiple different secondary weapons to used in a mission. Currently supports dual lock, sidewinders, and multi-lock missiles. - Added new tertiary weapons system that allows for multiple different tertiary weapons systems to be used a once. Currently only supports small and large bombs. - Added a host of new sound effects to accompany the new weapons systems. These new weapons sound effects are a rudimentary implementation and will be refined in the next update. - Added new intro music and new music for the mission on Frontiers Reach. - Completely new HUD system that is part of the new weapons systems. Each type of weapon has it's own reticle for aiming and locking onto enemies where applicable. - New controls have been added for switching between secondary and tertiary weapons. - Completely new artwork for human settlements. This artwork has been worked into the Frontiers Reach map and is in the process of being added to several other maps. This covers just about everything we've gotten done in the past two weeks. We'll post hotfixes over the next couple of days as needed so please do not hesitate to report bugs on the forums. For now, fly safe and we'll see you out on the frontier!

[ 2021-05-02 01:59:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

The past two weeks have been pretty crazy on this end of the internet. Our lead programmer has found themselves with a sudden and fortunate and sizeable block of time that they were able to allocate to the development of the game and the result has been a boat load of progress being made on the game mechanically as well as the implementation of custom key and axis bindings (FINALLY!!). This has left us with a lot of testing to do. We're also preparing to begin our pre-launch campaign on Kickstarter. As such we've decided to cancel this weeks Friday update so that we can allocate time to test all the new integrations and to prep a new version of the demo. We've also got a bunch of new artwork being created. This new artwork is being put together as a massive kitbash set that will be used to construct human colonial/industrial settlements across the entirety of the game. One of the key points of creating this new artwork is a massive optimization play to increase the performance consistency across the entire game as well as to allow us to expand level and environment designs in a way that would not have been possible. This new artwork will also allow other members of the team to contribute to the pool of art assets in a way that will keep uniformity of the aesthetic regardless of who is making it. On the A.I. front progress is coming along amazingly. I can't say too much just yet, but the tool set our lead programmer is working on in an isolated testing and development environment is quite impressive and it is lightyears ahead of what is currently in the game. I personally cannot wait to get it in to the game. One last thing I would like to bring up is about custom missions/scenarios. Our lead programmer is a long time fan of the ARMA series of games and is using the Zeus toolset as inspiration for our scenario toolset. Currently we're primarily focused on getting everything working for the single player experience first and foremost. We will begin looking at expanding this toolset to multiplayer if and when we can get to implementing multiplayer into the game. We've had a few discussions about how to approach multiplayer and have some ideas about the kind of multiplayer experiences we'd like to have both in terms of Player versus Player and Players versus Environment. May 1st is the date. The date we intend to launch the latest version of the game and the date we plan to start the Kickstarter pre-launch campaign. There you can get a detailed breakdown of what the future of Frontiers Reach is intended to look like, and join the discussion around that future. While reaching our funding goal is priority, it will not be the end of the games development if we do not reach that goal. While it would be nice to be able to to focus on the game and pay the team for their time and hard work, we all went into this knowing we may never make any money at all and that our primary goal is the creation of an awesome experience that can share with people across various boundaries. We'll see you in the skies pilots, and fly safe out there!

[ 2021-04-22 10:13:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed issues with weapon systems not working at all. Tweaked flight physics slightly. Tweaked AI turn rates slightly. Decreased missile lock on for player's seeker missiles.

[ 2021-04-18 01:30:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed an issue with the wildboar shader that caused it to render improperly.

[ 2021-04-17 12:01:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update builds more upon last weeks update and adds some new features. The biggest feature add is the new paint job customization of the S-27 Wildboar, and the F-42 Mermidon. Along with this feature is the ability to save and load paint jobs that can be applied to any of the starfighters. With that said, we've currently disabled all other starfighters from being able to be flown until we've gotten the new updates to the flight system and the camera system propogated throughout the game and each starfighter integrated with the new custom paint job shading system. - Added new custom paint job system with support for the Kruger Interstellar S-27 Wildboar and Lochland & Masters F-42 Mermidon starfighters. - Paint jobs can be saved and load onto any starfighter that is currently hooked up to the new shading system. - More updates to the flight mechanic to give it more of a dynamic feel and to add in additional flight features. - Flight mechanic will now compensate for having variance in atmopshere to include no atomsphere. - Updates to camera system. It is smoother and supports additional features we will be enabling in the near future. - Major updates to the input system that now supports generic controllers and joysticks and will switch on the fly during gameplay. Much of this work is foundational work for custom key and axis bindings.

[ 2021-04-16 21:37:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fixed a small bug that caused player starfighter to fail launching after crashing and pressing the reload button in the middle of spawning. Fixed bug that had secondary fire and decelerate on the same key/button binding.

[ 2021-04-10 15:19:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've deployed a hot fix to address an issue with the third person camera when configured from the settings menu.

[ 2021-04-09 16:20:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

This week we have a completely new camera system, have made massive optimizations to the new cloud rendering system, and have made more progress on getting the planetary maps scaled up. We've also laid the foundation work for a starfighter paint job customization as well. Additionally there is a lot of new artwork for the RNV Heliosiren both in the model that is seen during missions and on the bridge between missions. This weeks update in conjunction with ground work laid last week mark the release of our 0.3.X version of the game up from 0.2.X. While the patch notes may seem small a lot of artwork was touched up and optimized to get the experience in a better state over all. - The Frontiers Reach Sector 17A planet location map has had major optimizations done to the artwork in an effort to test new tools for optimizing planet locations. - Massively scaled up planetary maps. Play area is now 75km2 in Unity Units which is roughly 1 Unity units to 1 meter. - Implemented first iteration of new camera system with look controls for gamepad and joystick. - Major optimizations to cloud rendering system. - Major optimizations of Heliosiren model that should reduce the impact on game performance. This also includes a new animation for the hangar door that includes visible mechanical components. - The RNV Heliosiren now sports a graphic on her hull to give the carrier some personality. - Completely new artwork for the bridge of the Heliosiren. - Fixed a bug that would allow players to enter the reload and rearm sequence despite being in the initial launch sequence.

[ 2021-04-09 13:43:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees a huge shake up in art, flight mechanics, and the launch sequence players will go through at the begining of each mission. This new launch sequence should over all see significantly fewer instances of launching into the hangar door and a general smoother experience across the board. We've also updated to Unity 2020 to try and solve some issues with linux builds. - Integrated newest version of cloud rendering system. - Integrated new flight mechanic into the game that is physics based and much smoother than the previous one. - Completely new launch sequence at the start of each mission with some ground work laid for more accurate and higher quality audio presentation. - Most starfighters now have a cockpit closing animation as a part of the launch sequence. - Added new landing sequence with easier landing and audio alert prompting a landing confirmation when the 1 key is pressed or left on the D-pad. - Added the ability to request a landing to reload and repair with the 2 key or down button on D-pad. Starfighter will immediately relaunch afterwards. - Collision impact force checking has been reimplemented for those collisions that fall within the angle check. - More backend changes to better handle how friendlies are spawned into the map. - Tweaks to AI to adjust for the inclusion of the of the new flight mechanic. - Performance tweaks to AI collision avoidance. - Added new mission info panel to the redesigned S-27 cockpit. Will be added to newer redesigns as they are completed. - Previous 3rd person camera system has been stripped out and replaced with a fixed camera until some issues regarding camera jerk have been solved. Aim is to eventually move to cinemachine camera. - Major overhaul and upscaling of the Frontiers Reach Sector 17A map. This map is the future of the game in terms of scale. It contains a new terrain texture upgrade that eliminates visible tiling of textures. - Rudimentary mouse flight setup for the new flight mechanic. Improvements are planned for future versions.

[ 2021-04-02 16:58:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees a major overhaul of the combat interface and a number of bugs fixed to facilitate a more seamless experience with how waypoint markers are handled between objectives and key locations. The new interface cuts out several of the previously used bracket graphics around key targets that can be shot at, and instead uses an outline that changes color based on whether or not the object is in line of sight of the camera. Additionally, a number of bugs have been fixed and various optimizations have been made. A number of backend changes have also been implemented in preparation of future expansion and streamlining of the mission manager in the effort to continue laying the ground work for future customization. - Integrated new outliner UI for enemies and targets that can be shot by the player. - All new graphics for the 3rd person interface, more in line with the retro look that the art team is trying to achieve. - Fixed a bug that caused multiple waypoint markers to appear on the 3rd person UI. - Waypoint markers are now colored based on the intended target: locations are in yellow, enemies are in red, and friendlies are in blue. - Multiple tweaks to the AI to affect minor improvements. - Adjusted weapons heat for longer trigger squeezes. - Small fixes to Mission Manager to address how waypoint markers are handled when changing from one objective to another. - Complete redesign of the Kruger Interstellar S-27 Wildboar. - Tweaked thrust speed for secondary weapons munitions. - Updated main story and mission info files for spell checking. - Minor adjustments to how the main dialogue box works in the CIC when aboard the Heliosiren between missions. - Minor adjustment to graphics API availability on linux deployment of the game. - Players will no longer relaunch after receiving a mission failure. - Cockpit post effects will now activate on spawn and respawn. - Changed starfighter collisions from impact-rated to angle-rated collisions that accounts for velocity. Anything less than 90 degrees from direction of velocity will result in total destruction, anything over 90 will result in minor damage. - Backend changes to how player-controlled starfighters are loaded during missions. - Backend changes to how enemy starships and scripted munitions are loaded during missions. - Minor adjustments to background terrain to improve performance and visuals. - Minor change to map boundaries for better visibility when flying too high. - Updated holomap with more consistent graphics. - New loading screens made with latest visuals. - Loading screens now have lore and info on them. - New lore entry on the Steam Discussions.

[ 2021-03-26 15:40:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're in the middle of a big shake up in the User Interface and how it works. This is taking more time than expected. Additionally, the lead developer spent quite a bit of time working with our writer, getting our website up and running, and talking with a 2D character artist to get them onboard for work on characters. We also have more relocations going on within the team. We apologize for the inconvenience and look forward to getting this into your hands next week.

[ 2021-03-19 19:38:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

WE ARE BACK ONLINE! This weeks update is a bit small compared to past updates. We've gotten a new member on board and are getting them up to speed. We've had a bit of a shake up in team responsibilities to better spread work out around the team. And we had a bunch of artwork upgrades for skyboxes. Small tweaks have been made to enemies to decrease some of the difficulty and make the game more playable. We're looking to get back to our regular schedule soon, but most of the team is still working day jobs so progress is slow across the board.

[ 2021-03-12 16:28:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks Friday Update will be canceled. We're trying to wrap up a few major pieces before getting them out to the team, one being a massive shake up in the artwork. Time was also spent getting a new team member onboarded and a team member is currently relocating and so much of the time the past week has spent on people and not the game. However we have a number of things to share story wise that were create in the heat of conversations and artwork updates. That being said, I won't keep you waiting and I'll just photos from everything that happened this week.

This slice of the Galactic Map is a 100 lightyear radius from Sol and it shows what we have so far. We'll be getting it filled out as we get the story written now that we have a dedicated writer.

These planet shots are from the new skyboxes we are implementing. They will be present in the sky when you take missions in high or low orbit depending upon where the mission is.

This image was generated using some conceptual models that were put together to help envision the Privateer fleet of the Republic. these models likely won't show up in the final game as we want some with better quality and more time spent on the design, but the idea is the same. A ragtag fleet of starships thrown together and heavily modded at the last minute in a desperate attempt to rally a defensive force in the name of the frontier. We're really looking forward to coming months. We're still trying to get custom key and axis bindings made into a reality so that is on the horizon, just difficult to say when since everyone is still working day jobs. That aside, AI and flight mechanics are due for a rework. Again, difficult to say when this will happen but it is on the board and sitting at a high priority. Stay warm and stay safe out there. Till next time!

[ 2021-03-05 18:23:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes a pretty small. I as the studio and company lead have had a number of meetings with the team and outside clients this week so not much has gotten done that can be put into this weeks update. Additionally, I am looking at relocating in the next month and have to start preparing for that. However I have good news that custom key and axis bindings are coming along and should be ready for deployment very soon. Aside from that, a number of art additions and level improvements/changes have been made to the Frontiers Reach map which can be accessed in the Patrols menu. We're holding off from making too many additions or changes to the levels just yet as we're looking to acquire some new tech for terrain rendering and if it does what we think it will do we will need to make some vast changes to the levels with the new tech in consideration. - Possible fix for issues with resolution not being applied accurately from the settings menu and on startup. - Addition of new artwork to Frontiers Reach map. This artwork will eventually be used to fill out frontier towns across a number of different world maps. - Rebuild of under ground barnstorming area with some things to blow up inside of it. - Fixed audio bug that excluded some turrets from audio filters. - Fixed bug that caused multiple cameras to be spawned when they weren't needed. - Adjusted particle effects for damage states.

[ 2021-02-26 15:40:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

- Fix for mission UI that had some elements completely off screen when playing on ultra wide displays. - Fix for slow tracking missiles.

[ 2021-02-20 01:09:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix #1 for 0.2.021921 - fixed bug that made first campaign mission unplayable. - Fix for post effects not working properly.

[ 2021-02-19 20:18:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees a host of art and performance changes as well as some tweaks to enemies to speed up the pace of the game a bit. We're still working on custom key and axis bindings and hope to be getting our hands on some new terrain tech to reduce how much we're spending on it in terms of hardware resources. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Reddit to get the news on what's going on with game throughout the week. - Enabled Texture Streaming. - Player Callsign that is created on character creation will now show up when the player is addressed in conversations instead of just "pilot". - Removed mushroom tree model from Frontiers Reach map to increase performance until a better solution for tree rendering is found. - Implemented dual camera system to address issues with flickering shadows. - Reworked a number of story dialogue entries and added two new characters to interact with. - Fixed opening cutscene starfighter model missing. - Fixed minor bug that disrupted story flow when loading a new profile. - Added more detail and some lighting to Volkov Heavy Industries Mining Vessel NPC as well as fuel tanks to kill requirement. - A number of skyboxes have been changed to improve visual quality. - Improved visual appeal and quality of clouds and nebula on a number of levels. - Rework of Post Effects for better overall visuals. - Adjusted health levels on enemies to lower over all time to kill. - Rework of Starliner capital ships to match gameplay complexity of other capital ships. - Minor touchup to hangar bay artwork to prepare it for new launch sequence. - Fixes on the Mar De Sangre campaign mission to address issues with patrol paths. - Minor tweaks to both menu and mission User Interfaces to facilitate functional use on ultrawide monitors.

[ 2021-02-19 15:51:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix addresses some performance issues and a couple of bugs. - Removed instance of multiple non-functional buttons on the Observation Deck. - Removed instance of audio replaying when cycle camera views. -Removed mushroom trees from Frontiers Reach map to improve performance. We will replace this in the future.

[ 2021-02-15 18:37:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks patch notes contain a slew of minor adjustments and a couple of new features. The RFV Heliosiren is now equipped with an Observation Deck and is the hangout spot for NPCs that are key figures to talk to when not on mission. It isn't always in use so be sure to check it out every mission. Missing a conversation with a character could mean missing out on getting a new Sortie mission. Additionally there is a new camera system that has been added. While it needs a bit of work still we look forward to seeing the pictures you all take with it. In the background we have prioritized custom key bindings so that each player can configure their controllers and joysticks. Not sure how long exactly it will take to get done as I'm still getting a sense for how quickly team members are working and everyone's availability is spotty. Some of us are still working other day jobs, but we'll get done! It's important that I mention you will absolutely need a new player profile for this update. A number of changes and additions were made to the player profile structure and what information gets saved. I apologize for the inconvenience. - New UI background graphics to increase visibility of the interface. - Font change on the interface and across other UI elements. - Adjusted terrain quality settings to allow for lower quality to be selected on lower end hardware. - Added new alert graphics to UI. - Added new camera rig for camera swapping on the fly during missions using the F1 key. - Adjusted scroll boxes to allow for faster less tedious navigation with the mouse wheel. - Updated intro cinematic text. - Added ability to select a character image in the new player creation screen. - Added a new NPC social space where the player can visit to talk to NPC characters that are aboard the RFV Heliosiren. These interactions with NPC's can potentially give the player access to new sorties which will eventually have unique rewards in some cases. - Every turret in the game has been touched upon and the turret behavior has been refactored.

[ 2021-02-12 17:52:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update is a significant change in the games architecture as it sees the expansion of levels completed and the beginning of major moves in terms of level design. Additionally more refinements have been made to the Mission Manager to increase it's robustness and prep it for custom missions. This is yet another big step in the proper direction and it opens the game up by a significant margin. - All map locations have been restructured into different locations and scaled up for implementation into the new level and mission management system. - Multiple maps are now available for patrol missions. These maps will unlock as players progress through the campaign. - Each planetary location now has multiple deployment zones at varying altitudes. For the time being these are used by the dev team only, but will be exposed on the custom mission editor. - Each mission now has a time limit that the mission must be completed in with a timer on the 3rd person UI. Additionally there are 5 and 1 minute audio warnings to let the player know when time is getting critical. - The F-135 Solarhawk is now flyable on any map once it is unlocked. - Changed UI color for 3rd person mode to white for better visibility. - Terrain resolution is now adjustable with the general quality dropdown in the config menu. This is best reserved for machines that absolutely need to reduce poly count. - Massive over haul to the Longreach Class of Frigates making them much more difficult to take down. - Fixed a bug in the terrain quality controls that kept the auto-quality controller from doing it's job appropriately.

[ 2021-02-05 17:43:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees the implementation of Linux support! Yay! We have successfully tested the game on Ubuntu, Mint, and Pop Os. We've also added some new quality settings to the config menu and have continued the effort of laying the ground work for larger levels and custom missions. - Linux support for Ubuntu, Mint, and Pop OS. - Fixed a couple of graphics issues that were unique to Linux machines and that should also bring up quality on Windows machines. - Added new Cloud Quality control slider to control the quality of cloud rendering. Lower is better. - Added settings toggle for cloud shadows rendering to enable/disable cloud shadows. - Added settings toggle for cloud volumetric shadows rendering to enable/disable cloud volumetric shadows. - Added settings toggle for ground fog rendering to enable/disable ground fog rendering. - A number of maps have been expanded in size in a much larger effort to prepare the game for moving to a more modular format.

Roadmap of Current Priorities

This week we're also publishing our roadmap. I will include more details about it below the image. One thing I will ask is that every keep in mind that some of the roadmap features are things that are being built into the architecture of the game. This means that while the affects might not be immediately visible they will lend to a greater gameplay experience down the road.

Refactoring of AI

One of the first tasks on the roadmap is the refactoring of the enemy AI. With this we're looking to smooth out the combat and make the combat less wonky. It is difficult to say how long this will take so I don't want to make promises we might not be able to keep in terms of timelines or to put too much stress on my team and risk burning them out.

Large Modular Levels and Missions

Right now we have a structure that assigns one mission to one level. We're working on a much larger system that will allow for multiple missions to be assigned to one or more maps. This allows us to grow the game exponentially, use larger more heavily designed levels for those missions, and to create levels that can be revisited over and over and that will serve as common points of interest for players to visit and share stories in.

Refactoring of All Player Mechanics

Once the AI refactoring is completed, we'll be doing a pass at the player mechanics to get them smoothed out and to bring them in line with the AI refactoring. This is like all of the high priority tasks is something I cannot put a concrete timeline to. However, refactoring will likely include some mechanical changes as we've got a few ideas for how expand the player experience in a few different ways. I'll go into more detail those when we get closer to them.

Rework of Story and Narrative Backend

We want to add some truly robust story telling mechanics to the game but we don't want to get bogged down too much with relying on voice actors to be constantly present to get things done. As such we're exploring some interesting ways to get this done. Additionally we want to a means through which the player can interact with characters more directly with the ability for character interaction aboard the Heliosiren to drive gameplay.

Dynamic Art Pipeline for Starfighters

Starfighter customization is an important feature but we've yet to really start on it. We want your starfighters to feel like the retro-futuristic space hotrod of your dreams. From tweaking performance parameters to change how a starfighter feels to swapping patterns and colors and even decals to change how your starfighter looks. If you're gonna be a space pirate, you need a custom hotrod starfighter to go with it.

Mission Builder with Workshop Integration

One of the reasons the lead developer started this project was to enable the story telling potential of gamers by giving them the tools to tell their own stories in a science fiction universe they know and love. Unlike other intellectual properties and the creators behind them, we don't want to stand in the way of community creation and instead want to make an effort to support it. This feature is still a ways down the road though but rest assured it is a key feature that we absolutely want to implement.

Weekly Episodic Missions

One of the things we've tested behind closed doors and on limited streams is the ability to rapidly create story driven content. This is not something that we speculate we can do, this is something we are already doing. But before it is ready for prime time we've got a lot of refinement and feature expansion to get done. One thing I will say is that in order to make this system work we have to avoid some conventions that other game embrace. One of them being fully voiced dialogue. The moment we choose to include voice over other than our computer generated narrator our entire time table expands and this goal will become unachievable, so we will be sticking to text based dialogue for most cases. We hope that this paints a good picture of the game moving forward and ask for your assistance in finding bugs and testing the games mechanics. Till next time, fly safe!

[ 2021-01-29 12:45:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update blog is small as I've had to spend some time on projects that are not this game. However, this update brings the first pass at an implementation of the user interface for 3rd person mode. And the release of a new starfighter. I also spent more time getting the team up to speed and managing team taskings. Additionally, this past week saw more time and effort put towards laying the foundation for future updates and while that is reflected in this update, the core of that future expansion will not seen in this update. This period of refinement is pretty big shift in how the game is structured and it may take some time before it is ready for public release. - Added new starfighter. The Lochland and Masters F-135 Solarhawk. The new starfighter is locked until you get to mission 11 as it is not fully integrated into every mission. - Added new large environment to patrols for testing purposes. This environment is foundation that will be used to construct all future levels. It is quite large in comparison to the previous levels and sufficiently more diverse. There are also multiple set pieces which are still in the process of being cosntructed. While it is currently setup in the patrols section of the game, it will eventually play host to many missions and provide much greater replayability. - Added new user interface for 3rd person perspective while on mission. This UI will likely see changes in the future. - Fixed a bug that would cause enemy AI to get stuck searching for the player at the players last known position.

[ 2021-01-22 16:33:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees some visual touch ups and additions. Chief among them is some new cloud artwork. Additional some experimental changes have been made to work out just how big we can make a level. We trying a small expansion for now but are looking at something much larger in scope. -Tweaks to launch sequence to reduce instances of launching prematurely or launching into walls. -New artwork for frontier settlements. -Major optimizations for aim scope and radar rendering as well as for cockpit view. -New clouds for all the levels that currently use clouds. -New starfighter instrument artwork. -Fix for an instance where lock on based munitions wouldn't actually lock on. -You can now adjust the calibre of the cannons on your starfighter in exchange for more salvage. These new cannons options will affect the rate of fire and sound that is played when you fire your primary weapon. -Rework of several textures in the game to add dirt and grime to make them feel less clean and new. -Tutorial level is now larger as a result of experimenting with some methods to increase level size. -Redesign of the Kruger Interstellar S-27 Wildboar. -Heat management for guns is now implemented with it's own gauge in the cockpit. -Caldero Patrol map added to the game to test out lighting and begin the process of building out the level. -Added new Colonyship artwork to a number of levels.

[ 2021-01-15 19:54:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

This weeks update sees the another starfighter added and the begining of the balancing act that will become the starfighter and stats grids. These grids will be used to determine the roles and in some cases the aesthetics of each starfighter to be made from here on. -Introduction of starfighter and stats grids into the games conceptual side. This is not something that will be seen in the game but is instead used on the developer side and in community polling to define roles for starfighters and to balance their parameters in the game. All starfighters have been balanced in accordance with this grid. -Added new starfighter Oshiro Armaments Mark 11 Shuriken Ultra. -Added new dynamic camera positioning system that detects the average amount of space that is available around a starfighter and adjusts the camera distance and height in realtime from the players starfighter as they move through the environment. -Added turn speed boost when throttling down and turn speed debuff when at maximum throttle. Using your afterburner currently has no effect on turn speed as you have to be at full throttle to use it and get a debuff for doing so anyways. -Added mouse pointer clamp to keep the mouse within a 250 pixel radius around the screen center to make mouse control much more manageable. -Added new artwork for starfighter cannons. -Adjusted collision damage when impacting enemy starfighters and terrain. -Module data is now saved to a json file for easier management and the list of modules is updated based upon what is in the JSON file. -Module cost is now calculated into the over all cost of your starfighter. -Added a starship cost counter to the bridge menu of the Heliosiren that updates as you change components on your starfighters. -Vast portions of story mission data such as audio files and objectives are now stored in JSON and the Resources folder and are loaded by the mission manager on an as needed basis. This is also the first step towards laying the ground work for a custom mission builder for future workshop integration. -Optimizations of radar and aim scope rendering. -New skybox images for some environments. -GPU Instancing now running on terrain meshes and a number of other terrain optimizations and improvements. -Rework of post effects. -Addition of new post effects options in the config menu. -Added Level of Detail culling to several models in the game to improve overall performance. -GPU instancing has been expanded to a number of shaders to improve performance. -Implemented new particle explosions across the entire game. -Implemented new projectile graphics. -Reworked damage states for player controlled starfighters. -Began redesigning the first mission level as part of a greater movement towards overall better quality and diversity on maps for greater dev side reusability and extended playability.

[ 2021-01-01 23:36:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy holidays to everyone out on the frontier! This weeks update brings a mix of visual improvements, optimizations, and rework of how enemy AI starfighters behave in the heat of combat. -Complete visual redesign of the Heliosiren menu interface with a different color scheme. -Complete rework of the NPC starfighter behavior when dog fighting and winged, AI should feel more aggressive and evade when the player is behind it. Should also yield fewer instances of flying around each other. -Added new bullet mesh for cannon projectiles and added particle effect trail with a new unique particle texture. -Reworked the engine trails particle effects with a new unique texture. -Major optimizations to terrain mesh and added sliders for terrain quality control to the config menu. -Added new controls to the config menu for post effects controls. -Added new crash sequence for when the player is shot down that works for both third person and cockpit view. -Made adjustments to the in mission menu so that if the player hits the exit key/button it will apply the adjusted settings. -Added new landing sequence for mission endings. Player's ship will now have control overriden upon entering the hangar. -Added loading screens to the main menu when starting missions. -Added a button to the config menu for changing pilot profiles. -Adjusted lighting in the load and outfitting menu hangar space to make it easier to see the starfighters. -Continued level design and development of key features for patrol missions. The Frontier's Reach patrol mission as a result has some new stuff to check out. -fixed a small bug that would keep the reticle from changing colors at the appropriate times.

[ 2020-12-25 12:36:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

The patch notes for this update may seem small, but rest assured a LOT went into this update. I got an obscene amount of work done this week to bring cockpit views to each starfighter, but the work has yet to stop. Tweaks to how each starfighter flies and feels will inevitably need to be made and I'm definitely willing to take feedback from anyone willing to give it. - Integrated Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick controls for Yaw, Pitch, Roll, Primary Fire, and -Secondary Fire. Throttle and all other controls are still tied to the keyboard. - Integrated new cockpit view system that can be set in configuration menu between missions. - Overhauled the artwork and added cockpit view for all of the existing player flyable starfighters. - Major optimizations across the board to increase game performance. - Added new sound for the Volkov Heavy Industries SF-38 Vektor Starfighter. - Added accuracy parameter to all turrets. (Still testing so may not be super noticeable right now). - Adjusted health on both gun and missile turrets to reduce their time to kill. - Adjusted health on fuel tanks to reduce their time to kill. - Tweaked Yaw, Pitch, and Roll speeds on some starfighters to accommodate new cockpit views and joystick control setup.

[ 2020-12-18 23:24:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

This Friday's update sees the addition of a major new feature, the module customization system. This system allows players to equip up to 3 modules on to a starfighter to tweak it's performance or to add additional functionality. MAJOR FEATURE ADDITION Added new module system that allows players to tweak various aspects of their favorite starfighters and to add additional functionality. New modules inluded are as follows: --Radiator: Cools starfighters faster when not boosting or shooting. --Hardened Armor: Reduces incoming damage from enemy fire. --Counter Measure Launcher: Automatically launches counter measures when it detects missiles that are too close. --Enhanced Fuel Injectors: Increases starfighter speed across the board. --Quantum Field Emitters: Increases Yaw, Pitch, and Roll speed. Reworked loadout menu to include new outfitting menu for module customization. Added new buildings and starfighters to score board. Added brand new starfighter NAM HF-22 Nujoma's Shield. Adjusted reticle graphics for better over all visibility in the game. Added new sound to the SF-38 Vektor. Unlocked all playable starfighters so players can experience them from the beginning (for now). Changed salvage amount for new players so that players testing don't have to worry about salvage costs. Fixed some lighting issues in the heliosirens hangar bay. Added audio warning when player enters map operational boundary. Renamed a capital ship to help fill out a manufacturer's line of ships in the lore.

[ 2020-12-11 16:03:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

ITS FRIDAY!!! And at Blind Alien Productions that means it is time for the weekly release. As it is that the game is still in early access these updates are going to focus more on mechanical additions and refinement rather than content updates. Weekly content updates is schedule for after official launch, so please bear that in mind. Right now I am working on a plan for moving the loadout menu into the hangar of the Heliosiren and want to eventually setup module slots for each ship. I've posted some information about it in the discussion boards. Additionally I've added a lore forum to the discussion boards. this forum will be used to house much of the supporting lore for the game until I can get something resembling a wiki put together in the future. These are the following changes that have been made this week. More to come in the future. -Integrated Xbox controller setup using Unity's new input system and laid the ground work for more controller configurations in the future. -Integrated object pooling for performance considerations. -Added hit indicator sound for confirmation when player cannons hit target. -Touched up particle effect for player cannons to help accentuate when player cannons hit target. -Reworked configuration menu to allow for better management of settings now and in the future. -Added new settings controls for controller and mouse setups. -Added new in mission pause menu with limited settings control. -Added new accuracy parameter to NPC enemies to reduce their laser point precision as it was not very realistic and caused some difficulty issues in gameplay balance. -Tweaked thermals management for all ships to be a bit more noticeable. -Added new Flight Leader SF-33 Ostriye starfighter that is harder to take down and has a high percentage chance of loot drop on kill in patrol map. -Added more artwork and destructables to the Frontier's Reach Patrol map. -Added new launch sequence to mission start and player respawn. -Switched unity project from 32bit to 64bit this will mean that a 64bit version of the game will be in the next update. -Adjusted pause game controls to allow for more control over when it comes up and to ensure it acts appropriately. -Reworked and added more detailing to hangar interior. -Added new mouse cursor art. -Reworked collisions on some capital ships to allow for better and more accurate collisions. -Added target markers to capital ship engines. -Adjusted music on a number of the story missions to add more audible diversity. -Adjusted cloud density and coloring on some levels. -Added audio alert when player hits playspace boundary. -Various balance changes to NPC starfighters to facilitate better navigation performance in the games levels and environments.

[ 2020-12-04 17:54:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

I want to apologize for the delay. I had to run into town this and handle some things in office for a company I do contract work for. Additionally I had to wait on Steam to finalize the review as they were on what is likely a much deserved weekend for them. Big thanks to the team at valve for all that they do in keeping this place up and running. But what am I saying, you all likely want to play some spaceships and that's what we should do. The game should now be live or should be in a few minutes. Remember to check your config settings going into the game to ensure you get a decent experience. Have fun and fly safe I will be hosting a stream soon on twitch at www.twitch.tv/soliloquis.

[ 2020-11-30 20:33:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

This update includes a number of fixes, tweaks, and additions. Mouse controls are now functional in the config menu and will be carried into missions. A new type of mission has been added and time based missions are now possible as well as a new type of mission location, Extreme Worlds. These extreme worlds will play havoc with the thermals of your starfighter. Oh I forgot to mention, thermal management is now a thing more than ever before and has been more tightly integrated with audio alerts signaling when you're at 50% and 80% heat capacity. There is lots to explore and check out here. One I'm particularly excited about is the new assault mode for the NPC ships that sees them behave more appropriately when engaging ground targets capital ships.

[ 2020-11-23 02:17:50 CET ] [ Original post ]