next »

[sk2k]

Great. I hope you can release a new public build soon.

[MinskWorks]

Development Update

#2 GDC 2015 Build

About time I shared the systems I've been working on the last couple of months.

As the current build contains a lot of first go's at the systems I've introduced, the build feels more like work rather than play. This is something that should be amended once I've better justified the dirt / fuel conflicts.

No tyre changes yet, I'm currently upgrading to Unity 5, and what this means is practically everything with the car is broken and needs to be reworked to accommodate Nvidia's physics engine update. It's painful and will take longer than I can afford but It's something that I've committed to doing now. Once this is done, I'll be focused on getting in more locations to drive to and adding in a new car storage inventory system and tyre changes.

Anyway, links below:

PC : https://www.dropbox.com/s/eoaceem01ctb9zp/Hac_GDCBuild_017.rar?dl=0
Mac : https://www.dropbox.com/s/ttync8vtwgjbfwq/Build_017_OSX.app.rar?dl=0

Also, there's a landing page for the game now : http://www.hacgame.com/
Also, also, Chris Priestman did a thing on it over at Killscreen : http://killscreendaily.com/articles/hac/

As always, thoughts, gripes, suggestions all welcome.

Thanks,
Greg

Edit:
Also, might be of use :

[CraigSnedeker]

Whoops....

[MinskWorks]

Ha, yeah saw that happen a fair bit at GDC. In the rush to get this thing together, I gave barriers mesh colliders. When I've got more systems in and start building towards a full game, I'll rebuild the motorway barriers to use primitive collisions.

So a little bit about Unity 5 and it's use for driving games.

I've reverted back to Unity 4 because Unity 5 features a PhysX update that reworks the way unity deals with physics. Cynically, and obviously not the case, but the update seems to remove or break everything that Hac relies on for physical interactions. There's no longer the ability to use mesh colliders as triggers (so I'd lose steering wheel interactions) and the wheel colliders make the Laika (Trabbi like car in Hac) unusable. All 3rd party scripts and hacks broke - which I was prepared for - but having a car that drives like turd with unpredictable collisions isn't worth any of the nice new features in Unity 5.

I lost a day to pissing about with this yesterday, and the swap between versions meant rebuilding a lot of stuff. I've got to go back today and fix the new inventory system with the car storage - which makes a lot more sense now than in the GDC build - and by Tuesday (I'm at an event Monday) I'll be back on track to adding tyre simulation and building more of the world.

So yeah, If you're making a driving game, read through this first : http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/unity-5-wheelcollider-component-is-unusable.307099/

[John2s]

PC version unavailable.

[MinskWorks]

Back up, sorry about that.

[John2s]

Back up, sorry about that.

Thanks!

[MinskWorks]

Development Update
#3 Border Control & Scenery Generation

So with Route Generation working, I've now built the first hub area you'll be arriving at in Hac. The border control into the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (Česká a Slovenská Federativní).

As I've mentioned before, Hac is set during the summer months of 1990. A period in history I'm intrigued to explore. Following the fall of Berlin Wall in late '89, Czechoslovakia, like the many living the experiences of the time, entered a period of upheaval and drastic political change. This period is most commonly known as the Velvet Revolution.

The consequences of this transitional period brought an end to 41 years of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and the first democratic elections in the country since World War 2. Thus, Czechoslovakia became the precursor to what we now know as two seperate countries; the CSFR.

Whilst this brief history lesson would be detrimental to the experience of a video game if delivered in the same monotonous manner, I do feel that knowing the going's on around the time period when building a game set during a historical event is essential in creating believable environments.

I'm holding off on detailing too much at the moment. The work flow is rapid enough that I can avoid grey boxing and build intuitively, but I don't want to go into too much detail till I've done blind tests, so I make sure I'm not creating additional work when players start getting lost in at motels, etc.

Above you're seeing a new feature to the route generation I've added; scenery generation. This is my attempt to try to break up the repetition of the generation, and to give identity to specific regions.

You'll notice that the image starts with residential scenery, then delves into an industrial region the closer the player get's to the area known as the Black Triangle.


Things I've added recently:

• Rebuild the Boot (Trunk) Inventory, the storage in-car now works using the 3d inventory tetris of the storage containers found throughout the world
• Built CSFR border crossing
• Built Motel
• Added Scenery Generation
• Added Industrial Region Scenery
• Added German Residential Scenery
• Built the Laika User Maintenance Manual, not yet in-game this document works as an instruction reference for using the car
• Bug Fixes, Collision issues mostly

I'm unsure if I'll be adding another public build here, I've got to start considering building the project into a marketable product. I'm considering Kickstarter but I'm unconvinced, anyone have any experience using this?

Thanks again any questions fire away,
Greg

[JobLeonard]

This looks interesting. following

[Christian]

For Kickstarter advice, you might want to talk to some of the devs on the forums here. I know the devs of Rain World, Heart & Slash, Ghost Song, moonman, Interstellaria, Parkitect, and Sunset have had successful campaigns. The devs of Slain, Halcyon 6, and FreezeME are in the middle of campaigns right now and the dev of Machiavillain is preparing for one in April

[Superb Joe]

at long last you get to scratch the itch racing games never allowed: a virtual yugo

[MinskWorks]

Thanks so much for those links Christian, really big help.

Cheers JobLeonard, hope to keep you interested.

@Superb  Joe Ha, After working for so long with the Formula 1 license, I'm all for playing with shitty cars.

[Christian]

Hope it helps. I'd definitely back a Kickstarter for this. It's such a cool concept

I'm surprised, considering how many devs here have done campaigns or are planning campaigns, that there isn't a Crowdfunding Guide stickied in the Business section. I'm sure something like that could be pretty helpful nowadays

[gimymblert]

Suscribing

[GlaDOSik]

So I keep watching this thread and now my country is in Hac. Nice. I'm not sure if it's intentional but the red part on flag should be where the white is. Anyway, if you want some help with translating some Czech/English stuff, just ask.

[MinskWorks]

Nope, just checked in-game and the UV's wrong, causing it to mirror the image vertically... Sorry about that I really should have spotted it. Hope it didn't cause offence! Fixed now. I've also swapped the flags over into each other's country. I think that works better.

Yeah, any help would be great I'll keep you in mind for that, thanks so much.

Edit : Same for the DDR flag too, oops.

[MinskWorks]

Development Update
#4 Colour (color)

Hi all, So I've started to work on getting the colour composition right in Hac. I'm shooting for something that matches the washed-out, bleeding-vibrancy / low-saturation of photos taken during the time-period. At the moment Hac resembles something of a stale colour palette. It's bright and cheerful, but it doesn't help sell the time period, or give a sense of mood. Today I'm working on amending that.

Below are shots of the same scene with different colour comps applied. They are, in order of appearance : Anne, Bob, Ivan, Josh, Julia.

Anne - Probably my favourite for characters, though the environments don't appear much different from default.


Bob - Low saturation, with low vibrance. Looks grim, like it's about to rain, I'd prefer more vibrancy.


Ivan - This one was the wildcard approach, I don't feel it works.


Josh - Didn't like this one at first, but with lighting adjustments I think it could really work.


Julia - My favourite for environments, but the characters appear too flat (skin shades match clothes shades).

Anyone have any thoughts on these? Or any experience with getting the colour composition I'm after? I'm going to keep working on it for now, I've got an AI update I'm working towards but which isn't quite ready for explaining just yet.

Thanks,
Greg

[MinskWorks]

Development Update
#5 Car Inventory Management



“He who wishes to travel happily, must travel light”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, whom obviously didn’t embark on his journey’s in the luxurious comfort of a Laika 601 automobile.

Though filling your car with sentiment and supplies before a grand journey can be an exhilarating experience, space is limited in the Laika 601, and it’s up to you to pack your belongings sensibly. A good rule of thumb for packing is to first find the big things their place, then small things will slot into the remaining space.

Avoiding having the player drop all their items into the boot/trunk of their car with buggy physics simulation, I've decided to build a 3d inventory-tetris of sorts into Hac.

I've still got to figure out a way to translate available space to players without resorting to UI as a crutch. I've tried some mesh rendering for available space but it's all too jarring. I might try something subtle with weight applied to the car, but if necessary, I'll have the uncle give advice on space.

As it stands now though, I can see players getting frustrated / confused as to why they can't fit a sleeping bag in the boot/trunk of their car when it's already 75% full. And justifiably so, I've not actually done anything to clearly translate the available space in the car, this is something I need to figure out.

Thanks,
Greg

[CraigSnedeker]

I'm not really feeling the color schemes to be honest. I'd just go with a low-contrast look while keeping the normal colors.

Love the updates so far!

[bbtombo]

So I'm making a list of any potential items that you'd take with you on a significant road trip, and wondered if any one had any suggestions?

So I have the essentials: Maps, sleeping bags, food / water, cash for tolls, car jack, spare tyre, etc but what about personal trinkets?

What kind of items do you like to take with you when travelling?

I want the start of the game to be that, the essentials are packed into the car, and you then have the opportunity to take a certain amount of items along with you on the journey. The items you choose to take will, at certain points, allow you to interact in unique ways.

I want to make sure I don't overlook anything.

wallet, cigarettes, lighter, extra clothes, toiletries (toothbrush/paste, shampoo, etc.) glasses, handkerchief, watch, swiss army knife? Just off the top of my head.