Legacy System Cleanup Progress Update
So… Let’s get right into it. In the interest of transparency:
On November 2nd we stated that we needed some time to do a vast project cleanup.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/979640/announcements/detail/4483989494757851395
Based on feedback and internal assessments, we’ve prioritized auditing our development tools and refining our workflow to maximize efficiency. Today, we’ll provide an update on our progress, share what remains to be done, and highlight the efforts of other artists on the team.
While we’ve made significant strides, we estimate that this initiative will extend into next week. Our goal is to tackle as much as possible before returning to work on Doctrines and polishing the Driving AI. Several tasks remain, some of which will be completed by the end of this week, while others will follow after Doctrines are finalized and we transition into DNA Research.
One major achievement is the development of a brand-new ability system, inspired by Fortnite’s Gameplay Ability System. We’ve created a streamlined, lightweight version designed specifically for an RTS game. This new system will enable rapid implementation of current and future abilities within the Doctrine tree, significantly improving development efficiency.
We are now polishing this ability system while addressing issues from the Unreal Engine 5.5 update and tackling ongoing code cleanup tasks. Our team is committed to ensuring everything is in excellent shape before moving forward.
We appreciate your patience during this time of refinement. While delays can be frustrating, we’re confident these changes will result in a more robust, efficient workflow and pave the way for exciting new features.
Unreal Engine 5.5 came out a few weeks ago and we’ve been implementing Nanite Skeletal meshes amongst a few other features. Basically would make rendering high detail characters very cheap so we can easily push triple A quality levels of characters in terms of mesh quality.
- Nanite Skeletal meshes
- Chaos Physics improvements (Driving/ General Physics)
- Megalights
- Niagara Improvements(Better Birds/VFX overall)
- RHI/Render improvements
- A brand new Day/Night system implemented at the Engine Level
- Mutable Customizable Characters and Meshes
- Overall Stability/Performance improvements
Over the past month, we’ve been prototyping and revamping data loading from a level design perspective while working on a new map, ‘Bay Area,’ to replace the current one. Progress has been slow as we await fixes from Epic Games for a few issues related to HLOD generation in Unreal Engine 5.5.
https://youtu.be/wma6nrORqzo
https://youtu.be/2sE9MW26mDU
https://youtu.be/T0QUqORdgic
https://youtu.be/9a2imirPssU
As part of our proposed rework to the Doctrines and addressing community feedback we’re going to be finishing up the CERC Doctrines tree over the next week or so. Then move into Vehicle AI driving polish/general bug fixes going into the XMAS sale.
CERC Doctrines Flow chart:
New AJAX variant – it buffs Medics within its radius and provides passive healing in a small area while stationary. 
Smoke launchers on vehicles as a defensive item
New Generators:
- Small: Generates 75 power
- Medium: Generates 150 power
- Large: Generates 300 power
Radioman Mesh Update
As the final character to revamp we updated the “base” Operator pending a total audit of the Operator system around the AI/LT cards with a finalized mesh. Michael is currently out for Thanksgiving visiting his family this week and when hes back he’ll get started on doing the final Infected Standard meshes.
Operators will have 2-3 outfits per variant.
Outfit 1
Outfit 2
I’ve added a new tab to our Roadmap page on Notion, making it the best place to track known bugs and any additional information needed to address them. I’ll be logging bug reports from the Steam forums and Discord as they come in, assigning report numbers to each for easy tracking
Preview it here. You’ll start seeing it populated in the next few days!
I’m considering adding a community suggestion tab where players can view suggestions made by others, see their status (approved, rejected, or pending), and track an ETA for implementation if approved. It would have a layout similar to the bug reporting section. What do you think of this idea?
We are working on redoing localization for the entire game as well for the next big update going into Experimental heres a first look at simplified Chinese.
https://youtu.be/enBD4phe0mY
We determine which languages to implement by referencing the Steam Hardware & Software Survey.
All of the supported languages will be revised by the XMAS sale.
- Simplified Chinese
- Korean
- German
- Japanese
- Russian
- Spanish – Spain
- Portuguese – Portugal
- French