September 2, 2018 – GROUND BRANCH

INTEL UPDATE #002: Keep’Em Coming

Update (September 9): Due to technical issues with the migration to Unreal Engine 4.20.2, the next Build Updated was delayed to early this week.

It’s time for another Intel Update, where we let you all know what we’ve been up to since you last heard from us. Cut to the chase, you say? A new Build Update is scheduled for this upcoming week, and we’re spilling some of the highlights below:

Unreal Engine 4.20.2

We’ve upgraded from Unreal Engine 4.18.2 to 4.20.2. Along with the numerous bug fixes and underlying improvements, this gives us access to a new networking feature that will help with online play.

Scope glitch fix

We’ve finally pinpointed what was causing the scope glitch, which seemed restricted to nVidia 10xx series GPU users. No more weird squares popping into view when aiming down magnified sights!

AI suppression

Our resident bot master Phil “zoombapup” Carlisle has worked some new suppression code into the AI programming that makes enemies capable of sensing incoming fire from distances and locations where they can’t see the attacking player: They will now take cover and return fire in more contexts, and their reaction is partly mitigated by how much suppression players put on them. These new suppression settings will also be accessible and editable via the AISettings.ini file.

Controls and key bindings

The Controls screen has been reworked to be more intuitive and accessible: More bindings are now exposed and editable, some were given their own independent key, and others were rearranged for future features. For instance, tapping Reload will now result in a tactical/retention reload, while double-tapping will perform a speed reload; holding Reload is being reserved for an upcoming menu that will allow the player to do a mag check, among other related actions. We’ll keep updating control schemes and making them increasingly more configurable as we go.

Earlier this week: AI squad commands

Those who follow our Twitter (or @zoombapup) got a sneak peek of Phil’s work on squad AI commands—door stacking and room clearing, anyone? Phil will be making a little demo video for those interested in the tech side of AI programming, and that will be posted in our social media channels sometime in the upcoming week. Follow us and don’t miss it!