What have we been up to?
The month of October was a blur. We spent much of this time responding to all the comments and reading as much feedback as possible, both good and bad. Things have been returning to a more normal state, so we’ve been able to spend much of our time focusing on our vertical slice. Our screenshots have shown some of this, and we’ll begin discussing that and our progress update. We also have linked a couple of news articles, videos, etc.
What are we working on now?
Refinement of the Bow Mechanic
Since the trailer and the last newsletter, the bow has come a long way. When we first put the bow in, we had in mind that we wanted it to be completely realistic and shoot with an accurate amount of physics. After implementing it this way, we quickly learned how hard it was to aim, especially in a quick-moving combat scenario. Since then, we have revamped the way the bow works, making it a much nicer experience even in this early point of development. The aiming reticle has changed; during the time of the trailer, it used to be a line that showed part of the trajectory the arrow was going to take. It is now a circle that lets you know how accurate the shot is. The circle shrinks as you pull the bowstring back, and you can even pull back to an overdraw which takes a couple of seconds more but will make the circle shrink to a much more accurate shot.
Moving around makes the shot less accurate, and the circle will grow, as is seen in most modern FPS and third-person games. Standing is still the way to get the most accurate shots. A simple addition that made a huge difference was the addition of trail effects to the arrows when shooting the bow. These trails let you see very clearly where your arrow went so you can adjust your aim or, if you want, try to retrieve your arrow if it hasn’t broken from the shot. While we’re happier with it now, we intend to be continually tweaking the bow much more before release.
Vertical Slice Update (In Progress)
- Day/night cycle - Review
- Campfire system - First Pass
- Resource system - First Pass
- Expanded exhaustion system - Rough
- Improved bow/arrow controls - Review
- Enemy/player interaction and stealth - Started
Wait...what does “In Progress” mean? What does any of this mean?
Typically, in a development environment, you can have several measures of “done.” Every studio does this differently, and for ease, we’ve come up with a ranking of 4 status updates for now. As we progress further in development, we intend to get more formal with our representations of “done.” Especially as our quality bar gets higher.
For now, we’ll go with this:
Started < Rough < First Pass < Review
Started = Code/Art/Design has begun
Rough = You can see or test the results in the game
First Pass = Feature is checked in-game and available but has bugs
Review = Feature is completed and ready for the team
review to decide what the next steps are. (i.e., further polish)
Want more content?!
We’ve had a very global response, and it’s been amazing. Below is a couple we liked this month. Some are done in Brazilian (Portuguese) and German.
Google Translate only goes so far for us. If anyone is up for translating them, please get in touch with us at press@nomatterstudios.com.
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Interesting Articles:
Gamer Dame
https://gamerdame.wordpress.com/
YouTube responses:
Fiaspo Games (Brazilian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzDl2THyF4w
Rocket Beans TV: Game Plus (German)
https://youtu.be/d4jMZaKaJiA?t=885
Got questions/inquiries?
Feel free to send them to press@nomatterstudios.com.
We’ll do our best to answer them.
Thanks again for your support,
Brian, Tim, and Chien
-No Matter Studios
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