DarkSwarm DEVLOG

[jonaz.dk]

08/17/2023 7:07 PM
TLDR;
Devlog update: New interns. Working on flexible meta-game, enemy 'spitter', music, VFX, weapons. Expanding hub, character design, new missions. Swarm development ongoing. Thanks!


So I think it is finally time for a devlog! Most of the time, I am very busy working on and directing the game and have not had the time to sit down and write my little devlogs for quite a while now!! Better late than never! I've also been busy with wedding preparations coming up this very Saturday! I got kidnapped at work last Friday for the bachelor party.
Just before the summer vacation, we delivered our first milestone - the local co-op build of Ghost Ship. And it was approved! In total, there are 4 milestones planned in the current budget with a delivery at the end of each. We also conducted a small survey on DarkSwarm. It was very helpful in focusing on planning out features for Milestone 2. Thanks to everybody who took the time! Much appreciated!

To celebrate the delivery, we took the team boating with our CEO, Ox, at the helm. It was a super cozy sailing trip in the sun with drinks around the canals and harbor of Copenhagen.

Summer vacation passed, and we got back to the office about 2-3 weeks ago, depending on what you did. Back at the office, we were greeted by our new super awesome Swedish interns! They are all super skilled and also super nice! Like really!
For the last couple of weeks, we have been working on a lot of new things for the progression and design around the whole meta-game. It's a pretty large and flexible system, and hopefully really cool and fun. Think a bit like outfitting your character with LEGO brick-like mods for armor, abilities, and individual weapons on a grid where you have to consider the size of the mod. A grid you expand as you level up your gear/character. The mods can be pretty much anything you can come up with, but starting out simple with stat boosts. And later, there will be more specific rules and features connected to the mod system. The whole thing is still early in the design phase.

There's new online code that sort of works and converting the local prototype mission system to online. We also looked a bit into using Perforce instead of GIT for version control, but the price tag was a bit iffy. So for now, we are staying with GIT. (I was always happy with GIT anyways)

A new enemy type is in the works. Just call it 'the spitter' for now. It will be a ranged enemy type spitting nasty goo stuff at the players. Progressing really well!

There is new music in the works from our musician. It sounds really good so far!

There has been some VFX work on the flamethrower and cryo gun, looking really sweet! Lots of new work on weapons, abilities, and haulables. Some really cool stuff is going on there.
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We expanded the mothership 'hub' to accommodate 3 contracts to choose from at the teleporter pads. It works like a voting system. Among some other prototype things like a bridge to a mockup dropship and a mock-up shooting range. We will see if it makes it into the game eventually... no promises!

Modular character work on the assault class is also looking really good so far!

More level design modules for the interior levels.

A new sub-theme for the interior levels has begun in a medical bay theme.

And a new mission type has been started - a planet-based conquest / wave defense type mission. Possibly with turret/wall building in the future. Still very early days on that.

Work on putting the really big swarm in the game as well. It has been on the back burner for too long.

That's it for now, I think! Probably forgot some things as well.

All systems are full steam ahead!! We will be keeping very busy for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for your time!
Jonas

UPDATE: Forgot to mention we had an excellent meeting with the tech heads at Ghost Ship Games focused around the architecture of setup around making a online co-op game

Summer boating trip


Game Director getting kidnapped from work


New enemy type in the works!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... Test_2.mp4

Assault class character in the works


The team is growing! (Maxed out the room now)


More team!

[jonaz.dk]

Also there is a few 'newish' screenshot in a recent steam news post
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2303200/allnews/



(Temp art assets.. we'll make it real alien goo good)


Pew pew!


Fall 2023 Roadmap

[jonaz.dk]

Long time no see! We have been busy making the game! And devlogs is kind of time consuming.

I also got around to tone done the more colorful scheme as that was my original intention.

This was a recent test scene getting closer to the mood I want in the game. Also sporting proper volumetric fog with shadow casting through the fog.

[jonaz.dk]

Oh my! It’s been a while since the last devlog!

There has been soooo much happening, it’s hard to keep up almost!

2024 was AWESOME! A lot of cool and needed things made it into the game. A big overhaul on the UI and a proper mission objective system and minimap to guide the players along.
On the more flashy side we got heaving weapons up and running like you might have seen a few of in the newer trailers. Flamethrower, cryogun, gas grenade launcher..

2024 also meant two trips for our new and expanded team. A trip to Gamescom in Cologne, Germany and to Unreal Fest in Prague in the Chez Republic. Both was an absolute blast!

2025 just got started with a noticeable increase in GPU performance optimizations. Future updates will push things even more, especially on the CPU side.
The game now runs nice (around 60 fps) on the SteamDeck as our low performance target while looking good at the same time.

The new Procedural Level Generation system is also really starting to shape up for generating maps in outdoor environments.
The first outdoor map that is receiving the PLG treatment is the desert planet of Tendraal. A deeply infested and contested planet exploited for mining operations by the giga-corporations fighting for dominance over it’s lucrative resources. The DarkSwarm has infested the planet causing a lot of trouble for the corporations. Trouble that lends itself perfectly to owning corporation ‘Death On Demand’ bringing death to the DarkSwarm... for a price.

The next planetary biome in the pipe will be a polar opposite you could say. More on that later.

A looking ahead there will be more work on progression systems, better enemy spawning systems, perhaps a new enemy type, supply drops, a new interaction system, load out and results screens.

There has already been made ‘great strides’ on the new animation system (I hope this is the last time we rework the animation system). Snappier controls, the roll is much better now and the general dynamic feel of the character movement with turn in place animation with proper foot and hand placement on the weapons.

Playtesting is quite regular also having new people come into the office a play the latest builds from time to time. Always great to see the game with fresh eyes and hear their screams and yelling when things goes. Internally we of cause do multiple playtests every week.

We are also gearing up for the large local gaming event Copenhagen Gaming Week taking place next week. Drop by our booth if you are in the area!

And as always it is an immense pleasure to work with an amazing team and create the best game we can. I have have the best job ever! <3

Cheers!
Jonas out!

[jonaz.dk]

February/March Devlog time!

As always, we’re keeping very busy making an awesome game for you guys!

Recent Updates

Updated Audio Systems! (No fancy name yet… but we should call it something cool!)
Our amazing audio team has been refactoring some of the early audio implementations. The system was a bit unwieldy moving forward, and they’ve learned a lot since starting as interns here. Now, they have much more control over audio in a hierarchical way.
New updates include audio work for player actions, such as using 2D stereo for weapons and hits, and 3D-placed audio for environmental sounds around the player.
Oh, and we heard the new LMG sound last week… it sounds super juicy!

The New Roll!
I almost forgot to mention the new roll included in the latest Patch 21 for the @pretorians. It’s now less overpowered and doesn’t have some of the weird old behaviors where you’d roll strangely against walls.

More People on the Team
Over the past couple of weeks, we took a trip to Sweden to meet some new talents who will be joining the team as interns in late May. More people = more cool stuff for the game!

Project Genesis
Our huge refactor of the core game systems is going well! This will be a major improvement for the project, benefiting CPU performance, new feature implementation, and overall maintainability.
Incoming improvements include a new global interaction system and asset management systems—things that may not be immediately visible to players but are super important for the future of the game.

New Biomes in the Works
Two new planetary biomes, Chryos and Spora Prime, are in development. By the end of Milestone 5, we should have three planetary biomes in total, all while refining our latest asset workflows.

Procedural Level Generation
Work continues on our new outdoor procedural level generator, and things are looking promising! Our playable desert environment, Tendraal, is already running in PCG, and we expect Chryos and Spora Prime to take shape in PCG soon. Several experimental approaches are in progress.
Interestingly, it turns out that a similar PCG system could be feasible for generating indoor levels as well. We’re looking to replace our initial early plugin-based solution, which wasn’t the best choice long-term.

New Enemy Type in the Works
A first iteration of a new, larger, more co-op-focused enemy is in development! However, we probably won’t see its full design in action until we implement a new enemy AI system. For now, only a basic, watered-down version will be available.
The design and artwork are in progress, and I’m personally modeling this nasty bugger. I’ve named my new pet the Panzerex.

Progression and XP Designs
Our game designer, Sune, and I have been working on XP/leveling and progression systems. We’re not expecting the full implementation for this milestone. Only a smaller version of the intended design.
We’ve been looking at DRG for inspiration on progression and leveling.

Skins support
We have been doing some early stabs into supporting skins on weapons and player characters. Real good stuff! All sorts of shiny or less shiny things and textures. Weapons and characters can potentially receive wear, dirt and such from the environment after use.

Gunnar’s Genesis Guns
A new weapon system called ‘GGG’ (Gunnar’s Genesis Guns) is in the works! This is a complete revamp of the weapons system.
The old system worked but had some issues. We don’t want "fine"... we want excellent!

The new system will feature:
- Height-based enemy targeting
- Better aiming/targeting (e.g., standing on a tall outpost wall and raining death on the swarm below)
- Even better performance
- A more robust system for adding new features and easier maintenance going forward
Earlier, I did a hack… since I’m not a "real programmer"… and while it worked, it wasn’t as performant as it could be. Now, we’re building the real system.

Epic Online Services (EOS)
We’ve been discussing the possibility of implementing Epic Online Services (EOS) in DarkSwarm. We know this might be a concern for some players, so we want to hear your thoughts.

The Good Stuff:
Crossplay support when DarkSwarm eventually launches on consoles! Playing with friends across platforms is always a win.
As a small company, supporting one online system instead of two is better for us as developers.
- If we use EOS, we get a small discount from Epic, reducing their cut from 5% to 3.5%.

The Concerns:
Could impact our reputation.
We want to ensure that the implementation doesn’t make it feel like any less of a full Steam game.

Clarifications:
- EOS will be **optional** for Single-Player and LAN Play.
- **No installation** of the Epic Launcher will be required.
- DarkSwarm will **NOT** be an Epic exclusive.
- EOS login will be **prompted once** for online play, but you **can revert** it in the options.
- EOS will **not** be added retroactively.. it will launch alongside the implementation.

We will, of course, listen to player concerns!