Hey everyone!
It's been a super packed month, with a ton of new environmental stuff getting completed as well as a bunch of new concepts, VFX, and animations -- so let's get into it!
SCP-3199 Alternative Attack Animations:
As part of our ongoing AI overhaul, we wanted to design more attack animations and create attack patterns for the creatures so that encounters with them feel varied as well as give players an opportunity to learn how this creature will attack -- allowing you to predict and block or dodge accordingly. These new animations will seamlessly integrate with their existing combat animations and will give a larger breadth to the types of attacks they can do while also looking visually interesting since it's no longer going to just be a peck or swipe attack.
We are going to be doing a lot more with their AI this coming month too and we are super excited to show off how that is going!
WIP Save Station and Syringe Animations:
We've been working on doing the remaining animations for player interactable items and are excited to start on the player save station and medical syringe animations that will be a staple for players going through Site-113.
The syringe animation will play when players decide to heal or decide to inject other boosters/substances that they can concoct from things they find inside the facility, but players need to be careful since this animation opens them up to attack -- so doing it in the heat of battle is probably not a good idea.
The Save Station is a critical piece of equipment that will be used by players to save the game and also heal, with the potential for finding extra goodies if they look inside the bottom compartment. Players will find these scattered around the game and can decide to save at their discretion. However, these points aren't entirely safe, and you can be snuck up on while using them by creatures to get a fantastic scare!
For reference, below is how the Save Station looks in-game -- it's about to get its new UI but for right now we can see the idle animation!
New Environmental Props -- The Roads:
A critical piece of the infrastructure that exists within Chapter 1, as well as future chapters, is the wide road system that trucks and other vehicles use to carry creatures, supplies, and other critical things between the Space Hangars and the main Site-113 Dome -- which is where the vast majority of people are stationed and where the creatures and other spooky items are stored.
These roads are actually also part of a piece of massive environment which we haven't shown off yet but are nearly done with and are VERY excited to show off since it's extremely unique and we think will make for an extra special introduction to the game!
New Environmental Props -- Wheel-Mounted Transformers:
We have designed a new variation of the standard transformers that exist on walls and can be damaged to create an electrical hazard. Similar to their wall-mounted counterparts, they can also be damaged or found damaged and will be giving off electrical shocks which can be extremely devastating to both SCPs and ourselves -- so caution is advised whenever you come across these unstable pieces of tech. Players can also use their welders to shock these transformers which will cause them to either short-circuit or stop shocking things for a short period of time, allowing some time to run past them unharmed or lay a trap for an enemy.
For reference, while the wheeled variations will appear in singleplayer, they will be found most often in the multiplayer maps powering certain props and interactable items that players will need to use to begin the process of winning (depending on which side they are on). However, we will get much more in-depth into multiplayer plans as we progress throughout development.
New Environmental Props -- Cargo Crane:
For some of the more open and rugged sections of the game, players will be able to find and use certain cargo crane controllers to control and use the nearby cargo crane. These can be used (if it's powered) to open up new paths through the environment and allow players to find new loot or be extra sneaky when facing things inside Site-113. There is a fun little minigame that players will need to do on these to activate them, but we will show that off later once it's finalized.
New Environmental Models -- Cryopod, Cargo Lift, Pipes, and Generator Control Panel:
Something players will become very familiar with is the Yuki Cryogenics cryopod which will be a staple of the new method used by The Foundation to transport crew, creatures, and items to Site-113 from Earth. These cryopods are also equipped on ships to allow comfortable human transport and, once Chapter 1 launches, will be seen many times throughout the game!
One of the larger models made recently is the Cargo Lift which, one can imagine, is used to transport both cargo and people between levels of the interior of the facility. Like a lot of the things within the game, this model is actually interactable and can be interfaced with using that lift controller seen on the right of the top image!
Pipes and other electronics are pivotal to breaking up the walls of environments in-game, and we have since created a small kit of these items that can be used within the upcoming vent models as well as in many other places where some visual breakup is required.
However, the pipes seen here are not just for show and those seen fitted with the special red valve will, in most cases, be interactable. Pipes can also be an environmental hazard and can be found spraying hot steam, fire, and sometimes even caustic substances -- so keep on your toes around them and look around for the valve to shut them off!
Power in any large facility is essential, and Site-113's generator and power substations are broken up into different grids that expand throughout the entire facility. The generator systems used to power these grids can be interacted with through these stations, where players can find information about the system's power cores (which is another upcoming mechanic), overall status, and other information that can help players fix the problem and get those lights back on!
New VFX -- Cryogrenades, Fire Extinguisher, Chromatic Aberration, and Sparks:
As a big upgrade from the 2D sprite featured in the demo, we are excited to show off the newly created cryogrenade effect which is now 3D and fully in-world! This one looks great and has a ground and air explosion variation so it will look good no matter where your grenade explodes. This is going to be accompanied by a new cryo effect for freezing enemies too -- so look for that when we show it off.
Located around the game will be fire extinguishers, which can be destroyed and thrown at unsuspecting enemies to create a sort of makeshift cryogrenade. This can be especially useful in stealth situations where players want to sneak past more difficult enemies -- so grabbing a fire extinguisher to freeze them as you sneak past is a totally valid strategy! We can see the effect in the video above, and just like the cryogrenade this is now an in-world 3D effect that interacts with the environment and looks fantastic!
We have been testing a special new Chromatic Aberration effect which, instead of muddying up the first-person view like it's used for a lot of the time, will be used in-world to give a sort of "ethereal" effect to some objects and items that require it. This will be used to denote when things are impacted by mysterious forces too, so items with this effect might be worth checking out.
A small thing we have added is a cool spark effect to the melee weapon which will change depending on the material that is being struck, so expect wood to splinter, metal to spark, and rock to shatter as you swing your special melee weapon haphazardly at random walls and objects throughout the facility.
Welder V2:
The welder has gotten a huge upgrade recently and is replacing the older model that was a staple in the demo for interacting with the power boxes in the game. This new version retains it's usage as a core mechanic but has since been expanded upon, and can be used to power special equipment and also shock/disable things depending on the situation.
It's also the way the player will interface with the Fuse Boxes since the front has been modified to fit into them, which allows the player to charge each fuse as they are inserted -- so it's definitely an extremely useful piece of gear that will see usage throughout the entire game.
Tram Concept:
Slated to be featured as a sort of mobile base for players, the Tram will be used to access the inside of Site-113 as well as the means of traversing throughout the entire facility to access areas that have been unlocked (think of this akin to how Dead Space's tram works).
Players will be able to heal here and save their game, as well as create new things on the workbench. The Tram will also be able to visit already discovered areas so that, in most cases, players who want to uncover everything within each zone or revisit specific NPCs/vendors will have the ability to do so.
We are beginning on this model next month, so we are quite excited to showcase how it comes together!
Storage Room Concepts:
One of the newest environments we have had concepted out are the Storage Rooms, which is one of the main areas that give a great choice for players between combat and stealth depending on the playstyle they choose. Something that you'll notice is that there is some fleshy substance on the wall in the last picture, this is due to the proximity of this area to the large SCP-3199 nest -- which we will show off once it's done and we are very excited for new players to come across it!
Flesh!
Those who have played our demo know we are no strangers to using flesh in entire environments, and the SCP-3199 nest is something we plan on making quite unique through a wide variety of flesh assets and tillable flesh textures -- we really want this place to be disgusting to reflect the nature of SCP-3199 and to hint at what where the biomass for the flesh came from...
Communication Beacon and Floodlight:
A unique prop found throughout environments will be the Communication Beacon, which will hold messages from certain individuals that we can listen to when close enough to them. These beacons will also be a guide for players through darker or harder-to-see environments since they have a very bright blue light on top of them that can be easily seen from large distances.
The Floodlight is another unique prop that will be used to subtly guide players through the environment, whether this be by illuminating the vent that leads out or the fuse that needs to be grabbed, these will be extremely bright and help light up certain areas within an environment to keep things visible and hopefully keep players from getting too lost.
In-Game Posters:
Something fun we are doing (besides petting SCPs) is creating a large array of in-game posters which will canonically be used by The Foundation as workplace warnings and propaganda, but of course, as time went on inside the facility and things turned to chaos, it was only natural that these posters would be defaced as people grew weary and started getting less than optimal feelings about The Foundation and the events occurring within Site-113.
You'll see these posters in a variety of places and we may make them collectible to allow players to bring them with them into the Tram or player hub -- depending on how we end up structuring those areas.
What's Next?
October is going to be an interesting month, as we are currently working on the hacking mechanic, new NPC and will be working on bringing the AI up to a really good state to begin testing and polishing them. We are also going to be designing the last pieces of Chapter One which will allow us to start on the sequencing polish and sound design -- which is always a really fun piece that we LOVE to show off!
We are really excited about Chapter One since it features a ton of elements we have been dying to implement into the game like full cutscenes, additional characters, environmental storytelling, atmosphere building, and a ton more that are the core pieces that really turn a game into an experience.
We can't wait to share the progress with all of you and are eager to launch Chapter One into Early Access and then continue to build out the game to its official 1.0 launch!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT!