Programming

INTEL UPDATE #002: Keep’Em Coming

Update (September 9): Due to technical issues with the migration to Unreal Engine 4.20.2, the next Build Updated was delayed to early this week.

It’s time for another Intel Update, where we let you all know what we’ve been up to since you last heard from us. Cut to the chase, you say? A new Build Update is scheduled for this upcoming week, and we’re spilling some of the highlights below:

Unreal Engine 4.20.2

We’ve upgraded from Unreal Engine 4.18.2 to 4.20.2. Along with the numerous bug fixes and underlying improvements, this gives us access to a new networking feature that will help with online play.

Scope glitch fix

We’ve finally pinpointed what was causing the scope glitch, which seemed restricted to nVidia 10xx series GPU users. No more weird squares popping into view when aiming down magnified sights!

AI suppression

Our resident bot master Phil “zoombapup” Carlisle has worked some new suppression code into the AI programming that makes enemies capable of sensing incoming fire from distances and locations where they can’t see the attacking player: They will now take cover and return fire in more contexts, and their reaction is partly mitigated by how much suppression players put on them. These new suppression settings will also be accessible and editable via the AISettings.ini file.

Controls and key bindings

The Controls screen has been reworked to be more intuitive and accessible: More bindings are now exposed and editable, some were given their own independent key, and others were rearranged for future features. For instance, tapping Reload will now result in a tactical/retention reload, while double-tapping will perform a speed reload; holding Reload is being reserved for an upcoming menu that will allow the player to do a mag check, among other related actions. We’ll keep updating control schemes and making them increasingly more configurable as we go.

Earlier this week: AI squad commands

Those who follow our Twitter (or @zoombapup) got a sneak peek of Phil’s work on squad AI commands—door stacking and room clearing, anyone? Phil will be making a little demo video for those interested in the tech side of AI programming, and that will be posted in our social media channels sometime in the upcoming week. Follow us and don’t miss it!

That’s all for today. Stay tuned and, as always, thank you for your continued support!

A new build… oh my!

Lots going on with Ground Branch these days and as we get ready for Early Access we will be releasing more frequent builds to get the most testing possible. So build 1020 for client and server is available now. We also are down to our last 70 crowd funding pre-order keys and once they are gone you won’t be able to play Ground Branch until the official Early Access release. So tell all your friends and lets get then sold!

So, for the new build there are a few very important items to cover……

1018 is finally here!

Go to Steam to get the latest update of Ground Branch.

We continue to improve the overall usability and player experience with Ground Branch. Online stability has been greatly improved as we are now starting to refine the gamemode systems that will allow us to polish up existing gamemodes and more rapidly introduce new ones to try. As with the previous public build, the overall Ground Branch experience continues to improve greatly.

1017 Ground Branch update is ready!

Go to Steam to get the latest update of Ground Branch.

ps

The main focus of this release is stability and performance and therefore a lot of “under the hood” non visual work has been done. While still a work in progress, the online experience has gotten some much needed love and is now much more stable and reliable. Overall performance increases have been achieved with the move to Unreal Engine 4.15.2 combined with reworking some core game systems. Still lots of work to do in these areas, but the current Ground Branch gaming experience feels much better than previous builds.

 

A.I. cover node work

We have been making good progress with the Ground Branch A.I. and Phil has put together a small video showing how he is developing the cover node system for them to use.