Aye, sir. From now on, I’ll start a series of posts with a focus on my single-handed development of Distant;Breakoff. I already used to have a record of this over at DeviantArt, but that’s mostly bitching about me not being able to program and not having anyone else to do it for me. That has changed already, as I mentioned some time ago. Other posts that are not made in this vein will have another name. These posts in particular will be tagged with #game dev and #distant;breakoff for easy finding.

On to the progress. I’ve been implementing basic character movement mechanics, such as running, crouching (smooth crouching, not the pile o’ shit function you get by default with UE4) got the default mannequin in as a placeholder for the character model, its animations actually work without doing any tweaking, I just had to point it to the animation blueprint. Good thing it does. Also started working on weapon mechanics. I’ve stopped working on menus, since they really aren’t fundamental to get working right now.

I probably won’t have a public version in some time. Optimistically speaking, I could have something by the end of summer. But there is still much to be added to make this playable in the way that I want it to be.

I’ve been busy with academic business, plenty of exams came my way lately. Thankfully, this weekend I have some time to myself, and to work. I’ll probably spend the 31st all night up and working, not that I was going to go out anyway. So, I’ve been doing more work on animations. I have to get that shit done, so I can focus on texturing later. But I’ve got one big problem with importing animations from Blender into UE4, they don’t loop properly in the engine. And that is essential to get a decent walking animation, and any kind of looping animation, really.

This is a slow slog, I can’t believe I’m still having faith and following through.

Today, it’s the day that finally, it is possible to actually create a server in Distant;Breakoff and load a level. I always thought of this step (connecting main menu and playable levels) as fundamental. And it kind of is. The code to find other servers and join them is in place, but I’ve yet to try that. I also need to implement server options, such as changing level and server name, among others. Then comes resuming work on making every function run silky smooth on every client. After this part, workload is probably going down hill, except for the implementation of accounts, though. I have no idea how that’ll go, it’s probably going to be done locally for the time being. Apart from those two, there’s implementing the first gamemode, Free for All, something basic. And that would wrap up the first public release, it would be ready to be playable. Sort of. There’s still six weeks left free of obligations for me, so there’s some time left.

I’ve already written down two dev logs with the wrong number. I don’t take to blog maintenance too well. I’ve been working on some important systems like spectating pawns, handling death, its respective rewards and a pre-match timer. After completing that and account trouble, the first public build of Distant;Breakoff will be ready for some public previewing. Most likely, it could be finished before September rolls around. If I don’t slack off too much, I could have it finished even before the next week peeks its head, but I like to take my time and polish it some more. When I do reveal it, I plan to set up a Patreon as well.

- Fixed the spectator pawn not actually spawning after the player character gets killed. This made the game unplayable, by not being able to move, look around, or access any menus

- Added a status text to the server list menu

- Fixed another bug where the player could not uncrouch and unprone if he was inside of an objective volume. It’s an invisible box where, if you had the objective (in Missing Target, for example) and went into it, the round would be over

- Fixed a bug where the text that indicated whether or not the round was in progress was misleading, and when spawning was attempted, the spectator pawn would move to the location of the player start, and not actually spawn

- Fixed another bug where, after spawning, running was only doable by tapping the running key twice and not once

I have a clue as to the reason for the server list not working on a networked environment. Apparently, there’s some sort of region locking going on with test Steam IDs. This could be the key. https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/78300/steam-some-players-cant-find-my-server-others-can.html

I haven’t changed anything in the server list logic, so it should be pretty much the same. This game uses the Steam online subsystem, and it needs Steam running on your end to use the master server functionality, to find other people’s servers. Make sure you’ve opened the right ports, as well. Here are some details. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8571-GLVN-8711

Here’s the link to the .rar, just unpack the folder wherever you’d like and execute the .exe. Windows, 64-bit only. https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgq5ta75zg75dud/D%3BB%20Pre-Alpha%200.55.rar?dl=0

First public release is up for grabs here! https://www.dropbox.com/s/4erxl1wehxfob81/WindowsNoEditor.rar?dl=0 Just download the file, and unpack the WindowsNoEditor folder wherever you want. Run the .exe inside the folder.

Current features include:

- Functional multiplayer framework, complete with map, player slot and gamemode selection when creating a server. Server list for finding servers is a thing, as well. It works with the Steam online subsystem

- Weapon and inventory system are in. Shooting, reloading, dropping and picking up weapons are a thing

- Proper movement, walking, running, crouching, crawling, and even movement speed reduction according to weight of inventory items

- Graphics and resolution options

- Placeholder player character mesh is in place, with plenty of animations, camera attached to head bone

- Free for All gamemode, Missing Target is only partially done

- Fixed some version texts

- Fixed the “Resume Game” button not, well, actually resuming the game

- Instead of using the “Get Player Controller” function, which points to player index 0, the UI scripting uses the “Get Owning Player” function as a reference when using certain functions.This may avoid possible trouble with widget ownership

There is a chance of servers not actually being created when you hit the “Create server” button. When that happens, the main menu will overlay on top of the server creation menu. You should close the game and try again until you manage to do so. If you succeed, a loading screen will pop up. I’m looking into that issue right now. I’ve also gotten wind that joining servers doesn’t work as well, but I have yet to experience that.

Link to .rar. Download the file, unpack the folder wherever you’d like, and just run the .exe inside it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vrbwq3i2m2pcyzj/D%3BB%20Pre-Alpha%200.54.rar?dl=0

I’m still stuck with networking. I might have to redo many functions to accomodate the chance of fluid execution, since it’s currently a trainwreck. Hell, I even went as far as to post a question to the UE4 answerhub. This is the link, by the way: https://answers.unrealengine.com/questions/271955/replicating-animations-aim-offset-and-setrelativel.html If anyone could lend me a hand in there, that’d be much appreciated.

This day was spent modeling, doing some level and weaponry stuff. Crunch time is ahead, I know I must. I’m also debating whether I should include another, more exotic mechanic. Probably some sort of augmentations, it’s 2060 after all. I don’t feel like this game diverges much from the trend in the genre.