Wasteland 2 - Upgrading to Unity 5

Couchpotato · February 27, 2015

inXile has posted a new post-funding Kickstarter update for Wasteland 2 that has information the developer will be updating the game engine to Unity version 5.

We recently released the sixth major patch for Wasteland 2, which added Steam achievements for Mac and Linux, cleaned up some issues that were sitting on our lists, and included another pass on text and localization to make sure even the finest details are polished as best they can be. You can read the full patch notes here.

Part of the newfound freedom we’ve gained from being an exclusively crowdfunded company is that it allows us to offer a high level of post-release support. While this is normal practice for an active multiplayer game, we believe that the ongoing improvements to the single player experience in Wasteland 2 are worth the time and money. The game truly continues to be a passion project for the team here at inXile.

And we’re not done yet…

If you've been keeping a close eye on things, you might have heard tell that we're looking at doing some more balancing and improvements of Wasteland 2 in the future. We have expanded our original plan and decided that this is going to be a part of something much larger for all our fans.

In pursuit of this goal, one task we're working on right now is migrating the Wasteland 2 codebase from the Unity 4.5 engine to Unity 5, which will enable some new possibilities for us. A major benefit of moving to Unity 5 is that 5 will include many of the tools from Unity 4.x Pro. We relied on many of these tools during our development (like creating and building navigation meshes), and they will be available to modders without having to pay thousands of dollars for a Pro Unity license. There is no doubt that this migration will allow us to release better tools for modding to our community in the future.

So what’s the “something bigger” that I teased earlier? Let’s just say that the Orange County lifestyle might be getting to us as the game will be receiving a facelift. Unity 5 offers physically based shading, which is already starting to look amazing in the scenes we’ve touched up.

As well as visual improvements, we have quite a few quirky tricks up our sleeves. The character system is getting perked up and will include some new elements to modify gameplay. Of course, more details will be released in the future so stay tuned!

More information.

Couchpotato · February 27, 2015

Sounds good to me as Unity version five has many improvements.

basharran · February 27, 2015

Now I definitelly will wait with my second playthrough.

Ripper · February 27, 2015

I can't fault them for their level of support. Upgrading to a newer engine after release is pretty extraordinary.

Toff · February 27, 2015

Anyone else having a bug that thinks the mouse is trying to go left so drags the screen that way into the unexplored darkness? Can't move the mouse when it happens but a quick save and then a load game fixes it until it happens again.

Couchpotato · February 27, 2015

I remember that bug as it happened to me every time I played the game for more than few hours. As you said it was always fixed by saving, and re-loading the game.

Paul · February 27, 2015

Amazing stuff. I played for 50 hours, got into LA and abandoned the game because it was simply too long and I wanted to play something else. Didn't go back to it and did not plan to (I watched the ending on youtube).

But with all these updates, I will most likely finish it myself. Good thing I did not delete my saves.

Carnifex · February 27, 2015

Hmmm I know roughly about as much this kind of change as I do about particle physics.....namely, not much. I wonder, will saves will carry over to the upgraded version?

Ripper · February 27, 2015

Carnifex said:
Hmmm I know roughly about as much this kind of change as I do about particle physics…..namely, not much. I wonder, will saves will carry over to the upgraded version?

It's hard to say. The upgraded engine doesn't necessarily obsolete existing saves, but when a mere patch sometimes requires starting a new game, an engine upgrade certainly could.

azarhal · February 27, 2015

So many games moving to Unity 5...most be a major improvement over version 4-4.5.

rjshae · February 27, 2015

This migration does make me wonder whether they have an expansion in mind. Or perhaps a sequel.

Couchpotato · February 27, 2015

azarhal said:
So many games moving to Unity 5…most be a major improvement over version 4-4.5.

Well the following link explains why it's better for game designers.

Link - http://www.studica.com/blog/unity-3d-announces-unity-5-mean-game-design

Unity also released a video that explains the new features.

Link - http://unity3d.com/5

bjon045 · February 27, 2015

Awesome news that they are adding perks. But how long am I going to have to wait to play this for the first time?

rune_74 · February 27, 2015

Carnifex said:
Hmmm I know roughly about as much this kind of change as I do about particle physics…..namely, not much. I wonder, will saves will carry over to the upgraded version?

Shouldn't be an issue as Shroud of the avatar just did the changeover with no issues in this regard.

Sacred_Path · February 27, 2015

The character system is getting perked up

quite the perky announcement

rjshae · February 27, 2015

The terrain speedtree integration sounds interesting. Perhaps they mean tree/grass roots are aligned with the ground? Or is it something else?

Humanity has risen! · February 27, 2015

I don't understand why they spend so much time and resources on the game, at some point you have to let go.

Archangel · February 27, 2015

Humanity has risen! said:
I don't understand why they spend so much time and resources on the game, at some point you have to let go.

Probably at this point their reputation is best thing they have. Also if they have some new people, best way to let them train on Unity is on a product that has no release date

fatknacker50 · February 27, 2015

Humanity has risen! said:
I don't understand why they spend so much time and resources on the game, at some point you have to let go.

You make that sound like it's a bad thing. Try telling Limbic that, oh wait.

Morrandir · February 28, 2015

rjshae said:
This migration does make me wonder whether they have an expansion in mind. Or perhaps a sequel.

That was my first thought as well. My guess would be an expansion.

Won't do another replay, would play an extension or sequel.

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