Neo Scavenger - Game Development Updates

Blue Bottle Games has a few more updates for Neo Scavenger. I found the following two the most important ones this week so let's get started with the updates.

The first update is about the new Beta Update.

Beta Build Now 0.9922b

Since it has been relatively stable, I've just finished updating the default builds to 0.9922b on all sites. The "test" links are no longer necessary, and have been removed for now. The major changes to watch out for include:

• Loot frequency changes.
• New t-shirt design winners and duffle bag items.
• New item sound effects.
• New Game Over screen.
• ATN now more strict with its services.
• Mod-merging is supported (see included readme.txt and modding forum)
• Several bug fixes in both modding system and vanilla game.

As always, if there are any issues with the new build, let me know on the forums!

The second update is about gas masks, immunity, poison, and sound effects.

I've already mentioned gas masks, and I finally got those working today. One of the trickier things about gas masks is that they don't take electricity or other discrete items as charges. Rather, they slowly wear down a charge over time and use. I.e. their filters get worn out, and eventually need replacing.

This required a change to the discharge system, so I added a new charge profile field called "bDegrade." Items using a charge profile with this set to true will deduct item durability from the charges, rather than whole charges. Hence, the air filters in the gas mask will gradually approach 0%, and once they do, the gas mask stops providing benefit.

Related to this feature is the concept of immunity. For the gas mask to be useful, it needs to stop certain conditions from being applied. This is pretty easy to simulate in encounters, but almost impossible in regular gameplay. Since exploring hostile environments can be done on the map, and combat may include disease or toxins, I needed to add a special way to block conditions.

This turned out to be pretty easy, fortunately. I just added a new creature field called "SetImmunity," and conditions can add/remove IDs to the list the creature should be immune to. For example, the nanorobotic medkit not only removes gastroenteritis, but it can prevent the virus from incubating while the dosage is still active.

I also started working on another hazard which ties together the new gas mask with the existing Great Black Swamp area. Since the swamp is meant to be doused in toxic exfoliant, it makes sense that areas of that region should have dangerous atmospheric conditions. I'm hoping to make the gas mask useful in these cases, as well as in protecting against airborne diseases (which some creatures may be carrying in the future).

I think I've got the toxic fume effects figured out, and I've started codifying them. As part of this change, I separated the abdominal pains from poisoning so that other conditions could share the symptom. And as a result, poison is now a hidden condition. Players can still see the visible symptoms (abdominal pains, diarrhea), but it won't say "you have poison stage 2" anymore. Similarly, this new airborne toxin is likely to cause variable symptoms, but won't warn the player "you have exfoliant poisoning." The player will have to recognize that the headaches, vomiting, and other symptoms are an issue.

Finally, I took inventory of the remaining sound effects that were missing on items today, and organized that for Paul. He recently sent a new batch of sounds for some plastic items, berries, mushrooms, and such, and I hope to have those hooked up soon.

More information.

Cant seem to find when this game is gonna be released. So far it is a weird game which i happen to like, alot. Anyone an idea what the release date is gonna be?

Since the game is being reworked, there is probably no release date. The developper will keep trying this and that, brings them to release state and will stop when he has nothing left to implement or run out of money. He is also responsive to players' feedback.

One indicator though: the story line. The more it nears completion, the closer to release the game will be.

Originally Posted by ChienAboyeur
Since the game is being reworked, there is probably no release date. The developper will keep trying this and that, brings them to release state and will stop when he has nothing left to implement or run out of money. He is also responsive to players' feedback.

One indicator though: the story line. The more it nears completion, the closer to release the game will be.

You have an idea how far the story line is complete?

The game was released a while ago as alpha and you can buy it from Desura or Steam (and it was on a humble bundle deal as well).

The longest playthrough (out of the many that ended up with me dead) that I enjoyed was for 4 hours and I did not yet complete it, so I don't know if the story is complete.

You have random encounters with NPC that you have control over how they end up, and you have to survive the harsh environmental conditions (which were modelled to great detail) by scavening and learning and upgrading your skills.

Great little gem and is very atmospheric. My only gripe is with the user interface, which requires some time to get use it.

Indeed the UI needs some time to get used too. So far i am enjoying the game.

It's a great game. I get the feeling he was or is thinking of a mobile release for the UI, with its drag-and-drop skills. Took a little getting used to, but I think it actually works pretty well.

Originally Posted by ikbenrichard
You have an idea how far the story line is complete?

The main story line only runs that far (which is far from explaining what is going on) and scattered around the map, there are various elements of storyline, implemented in advance, some known to be important.
As long as they are not including in the story line or removed, completion wont be close.

Another point is the length of completion time the developper wants it to.

@ ChienAboyeur

Ok, then i am just gonna enjoy the game as it is for now. Seems good enough to play some.