Lacuna Passage - Devlog #48 - The next phase of Lacuna Passage development

This past month has been hectic, but we are finally back with a focus on Lacuna Passage.

Some of you had concerns about TIMEframe being a distraction for us last month so this month we want to talk about all the tangible ways that it has positively impacted our continued development of Lacuna Passage.

Demonstration of the Song Seed Music plugin used in both Lacuna Passage and TIMEframe

First and foremost has been the refinement of our dynamic music system, Song Seed. We have been building Song Seed over several iterations in the last year or so specifically for use in Lacuna Passage. The demo we previewed at PAX East was the first public implementation of our dynamic soundtrack and it worked really well for us, but there was still a lot that needed to be done. We realized a long time ago that this system would be very beneficial for other developers as well, so after PAX East we began working harder on the public version which worked well with the timing of our updated release of TIMEframe. Music is a huge part of TIMEframe so we were able to use it as a real-world test of the system. In fact, in addition to our own implementation in TIMEframe, we have just opened up a beta test of the Song Seed Unity plugin. So if you are a Unity developer interested in helping us improve this tech that will be a big part of Lacuna Passage please let us know (and check out the example video above). Soon after testing we will be releasing the plugin on the Unity Asset Store at a modest price. The proceeds from this will all be funneled straight into Lacuna Passage development as well.

Another benefit of working on TIMEframe that cannot be stressed enough has been learning the ins and outs of Steam integration. Lacuna Passage has always been our priority, but it has also been our first foray into commercial game development. We had no experience with integrating with Steam until now. After working on TIMEframe we now have a much firmer grasp on what that integration requires. Store page setup, game package installation, authentication, achievements, trading cards, cloud saves, DLC… the list goes on and on. We have used TIMEframe as our test bed for these features and this has given us invaluable experience as we now implement many of these features in Lacuna Passage. We are now looking forward to a tentative release date of June 30th for TIMEframe which will give us even more experience in running an active product and managing customer relations. Once again, all the proceeds will directly benefit Lacuna Passage development. (And as a reminder, all Lacuna Passage Kickstarter backers will be receiving a free copy of the game and the original soundtrack).

Last but not least, we have been experimenting with new features that have been added to Unity in versions 4.6 through 5.0. We have not updated Lacuna Passage past 4.6.2, but with our work on TIMEframe we have had a chance to see how these more recent updates might affect Lacuna Passage. The new user interface features in Unity might drastically improve the way that we handle the rendering of the datapad for example. There have also been several performance enhancing changes that could positively impact our open-world memory management. We have been able to evaluate these new features in TIMEframe on a smaller scale without any disruption to our Lacuna Passage project management. It would have taken us orders of magnitude more time to even test these options in Lacuna Passage itself.

These are only a few of the most direct benefits we have experienced while working on TIMEframe, and as we move forward into this next chapter of Lacuna Passage development we feel much more confident in our ability to deliver on our original promises. Game development is not a straight path. There will always be bumps and detours, but we work extremely hard to ensure that every decision we make benefits our ultimate goal of delivering the best Mars exploration narrative experience that we possibly can. Over the next few weeks we will have more regular updates with the art and design of Lacuna Passage.

Lacuna Passage - Devlog #37 - Song Seed, Saving, and Physics

The last few weeks have been very busy for us on the systems-side of development, so let's dive right in.

Song Seed Unity Plugin Progress

We are inching ever closer to the release of our Unity plugin, Song Seed. We did a short introduction video for the plugin in a standalone post a few months backs. Since then we have been hard at work, adding new features, ironing out bugs, and beginning to create the documentation.

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Example of Song Seed documentation diagrams

We should be close to doing a beta test for Song Seed, so if any Unity developers are reading this and are interested in helping us test it, please contact us.

Any music loops should work with the system, but our composer for Lacuna Passage, Clark Aboud, is currently working on some custom loops packs specifically designed for Song Seed which will also be available on the Unity Asset Store soon.

Saving and Loading in Lacuna Passage

NOTE: Saves no longer function as described below. We have made save files accessible in a save folder.

Lately we have begun tying our background gameplay systems into a central saving and loading feature that will be fairly unique in Lacuna Passage. To prevent players from manipulating their save data to "cheat" the survival randomization we will be utilizing a save system that deletes your save every time you reload the game. When you quit it will create a new save.

This effectively creates a form of "permanent pause". When you quit the game it's more like you are putting it on pause and when you restart the game it's like resuming it again. You cannot choose when you save or duplicate/copy your save files. Every time you die you will have to start over from the very beginning. If that sounds punishing, don't worry. Dying is a huge part of Lacuna Passage and each time you restart it will be with a new wealth of survival knowledge (in fact, taking notes is strongly encouraged). Each playthrough will be an opportunity for you to improve on your previous run.

Above you can see a very simple demonstration of loading in the player's previous position and rotation. A bunch of other things (including survival stats, time of day, and weather) are also being reloaded in the background. Now that the basics are in place we can extend the saving and loading as we fill the world with more content.

Physics Items

We haven't really touched upon many of the different types of items you will be able to interact with in Lacuna Passage. Obviously we will have things like food items which will need to be collected for survival, but those are small enough to fit in your suit pouches. So what about items that are too large to fit in your suit, but are still small enough to be carried? Well, you will have to carry them... with physics!

As you can see in the images above, a small number of items in the game will need to be physically carried. These items will often be necessary for certain survival challenges so keeping note of their locations around the Foundation Base will be critical. You won't be able to just pull them up from a menu, so don't lose them. I'm sure you can envision a survival scenario that might require the above fire extinguisher. Other examples might include an emergency generator or a power drill.

Also, it's really fun to throw them around :)

If you have any questions about this month's devlog just let us know in the comments!

If you're still reading... here's a sneak peak of some more progress on the Greenhouse Spencer has been working on since last month...

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Make sure to check back for the art devlog post coming on the 15th to see more!

Lacuna Passage - Devlog #30 - The Power of Unity Plugins Round 3

We are making this a semi-regular segment as we continue to use all the great tools available on the Unity Asset Store to complete Lacuna Passage. Check our previous posts for more plugin recommendations:

Round 1 and Round 2

Physics To Animation Tool - by Drunken Lizard Games

We actually experimented with using this for the rebuild of TimeFrame that we are putting together in our free time, but now we are considering using it in Lacuna Passage as well. It's a great way to "capture" a physics event and replay it exactly the same every time. In the past we have had to use complicated animation exports from 3ds Max or just let our physics events react differently every time with Unity's physic simulations. Not only is this a simpler process, it also greatly improves your game's performance since it doesn't require physics calculations.

Mega Scatter - by Chris West

I have been using this plugin in tons of great places. Most notably, for mass-placing rocks around our Mars terrain. This is another very polished plugin from the makers of MegaFiers, the Unity mesh deformation system. The scattering options are extremely customizable and their user support is excellent. The only downside we have found is that large scenes start to present scattering issues including slow down, but this system is perfect for scattering objects around medium and small scenes.

Shader Forge Beta - by Joachim Holmér

We already mentioned this one in a previous post back when it was still in Alpha, but now it is in Beta and available on the Asset Store officially. I can't say enough good things about Shader Forge. The developer is extremely active in improving this visual shader editor and we use it for all the shaders in all of our projects now. This isn't just a tool, it's an investment in the quality of your game's art. If you come up with an awesome shader you could even put it up on the Asset Store yourself!

VPaint: Advanced Vertex Painting - by Valkyrie Entertainment

This plugin is super useful when combined with Shader Forge. We are working on some shaders that utilize vertex colors for texture blending and with this vertex painting tool we can experiment with these blend settings without having to swap back and forth between Unity and our 3D modeling applications. As usual, some of the best plugins are the ones that save you time and VPaint is no exception. 

Lacuna Passage - Devlog #19 - The Power of Unity Plugins Round 2

Back in April we posted about some of the Unity plugins that we are using to create Lacuna Passage. Since then we have started using even more plugins that have further eased our development workflow. Here are some of our favorites.

Terrain Composer - By Nathaniel Doldersum

I wish we had access to this tool from the start. Terrain Composer allows you to do some pretty incredible things to generate and tweak your terrain directly in Unity without the help of external tools. We still utilize a few external tools like World Machine, but Terrain Composer helps in handling some of the more repetitive menial tasks. This is an extremely powerful tool for those who take the time to learn it.

ats Colormap ULTRA Terrain Shader - By forst

We talked about our terrain shader in our previous showcase, but this is much more than just a shader now. The updates made here have drastically improved our terrain creation workflow, especially now that it is fully compatible with Unity 4.X. The new editor interface for setting up your terrain is super intuitive and automates many of the steps that were originally mostly manual. In my honest opinion Unity needs to make these kinds of terrain tools the default. When combined with Terrain Composer you have everything you need to make the most believable worlds possible in Unity.

Highlighting System - By Deep Dream Games

We are using the Highlighting System to help the player identify some objectives and highlight key objects in the environment. The effects are fairly uniform, but you can change colors and overlay/blending methods to suit your needs. There are plenty of provided example scripts to get you started with whatever highlighting functionality you might need.

Mega-Fiers - By Chris West

Mega-Fiers… What can I say about Mega-Fiers that you haven’t heard already (seriously, they do an awesome job marketing and demonstrating this plugin). Well, in case you don’t know, Mega-Fiers is an extremely powerful mesh deformation plugin. If you need a mesh to bend, twist, wave, squish, or anything else, then look no further. I first used Mega-Fiers when working on TIMEframe to create the slow-motion blowing banners in the city. I was able to animate the banners in 3ds Max using physics simulations and export the vertex animation data for use in Unity. The result is a smooth, incredibly detailed cloth-like animation that would not have been possible with the Unity cloth animation tools. We are excited about the possibilities for Mega-Fiers in Lacuna Passage.

NGUI - By Tasharen Entertainment

There is a reason that NGUI has become almost the default for creating user interfaces in Unity. It is undeniably better suited for the task than the built-in Unity GUI tools. We recently began work on converting the datapad GUI over to NGUI and we are very happy with the results. Fewer draw calls, manageable layer depths, texture atlasing, and more. I can’t imagine using anything else. Once you try NGUI you don’t go back.

Shader Forge Alpha - By Acegikmo

In our last plugin showcase we mentioned some great hard surface shaders; however, since that time we have made the plunge into creating shaders of our own. I had used the node-based Strumpy Shader Editor for a few years, but that plugin seems to be defunct now and not supported correctly in Unity 4.X. Luckily Shader Forge appears to have picked up the mantle. They are still in Alpha, but we have been testing the Alpha version to create new shaders for Lacuna Passage and we are blown away with the results. Plugins like Shader Forge go a long way in closing the visual gap between engines like Unreal and Unity. Keep an eye on this one and snatch it up the minute it hits the asset store.

Lacuna Passage - Devlog #9 - The Power of Unity Plugins

One of the things I love about Unity is the immense amount of community support it has garnered. There really is a wealth of resources at your fingertips. The Asset Store is an excellent place to find some of these resources and we have utilized several packages quite extensively while creating Lacuna Passage. This week I thought we might share some of our favorites.

Ultimate FPS Camera - by VisionPunk

I can’t recommend this script package highly enough. If you are creating any first-person game at all then you owe it to yourself to at least check it out. This package adds some incredible dynamic camera movement that makes everything feel much more organic. And if you are making a shooter then you will have some excellent customizations available for any kind of gun-play you can imagine.

Unistorm - by Black Horizon Studios

I’ve had to make some fairly significant changes to the Unistorm scripts to get exactly what I was looking for, but they were an excellent starting point and still serve as the backbone for the day/night cycle in the game. There is decent documentation to help you along also.

GlareFX Dirt Lens Effect - by Red Dot Games

You might argue that these effects are a bit cliche now after seeing them in games like Battlefield 3, but they fit perfectly in a game like Lacuna Passage. We always want the player to feel somewhat trapped and enclosed in their stuffy space helmet and these glare effects go a long ways towards achieving that. They have some great customization options that allow you to make the effects as bombastic or as subtle as you desire.

Hard Surface Shaders Free - by Bruno Rime

If you don’t want to bother with writing your own shaders for metal or plastic, then no worries. This shader pack has you covered. I originally considered using them as a placeholder until we completed our own, but there really isn’t anything else I need. If you want even more out of your shaders there is a Pro version on the asset store as well.

ats Colormap ULTRA Terrain Shader - by forst

This shader is absolutely instrumental to the look and feel of Lacuna Passage. The terrain in the game is one of the most important visual elements and this shader makes a world of difference. With the improved terrain materials system in Unity 4.0 the shader is easier to use than ever before. I described more about our terrain creation methods in a previous devlog.

Probuilder 2.0 - by SixBySeven Studio

Most of my level design experience was gained in Hammer Editor and the Unreal Editor so Brushes and BSPs were a huge part of my prototyping workflow. With Probuilder I’m able to get some of that familiarity back and quickly generate graybox test environments directly inside of Unity. Probuilder is honestly flexible enough that I can see how some projects might utilize it for their actual game geometry and not just for testing.

Playmaker - by Hutong Games

Last but certainly not least is Playmaker. I don’t think Lacuna Passage would be possible without it. I’ve never been a strong programmer, but Playmaker allows me to create game logic quickly and easily. Almost 90% of the game will be done entirely in Playmaker and the other 10% is mostly just hooking it up to our other plugins and miscellaneous scripts. For example, we wanted to have the colors of our dust particle effects managed by the Unistorm day/night cycle so I simply inserted Playmaker global variables into the Unistorm scripts with very little effort. This visual scripting system is incredibly powerful and I think it would be a mistake for even master programmers to overlook it.