Xenonauts-2 Version 0.16.0 (Public Combat Test) Released!

[Chris]

This version of Xenonauts 2 is a free public test build only available on GOG Galaxy, released free because it is still an early build and we don't yet think we can justify charging for it; full details on where to get the build can be found in this thread. 

This is our first update since the Christmas holiday and the changelog is a little thin, mostly because we're spending most of our time working on the strategy layer and the other types of ground combat mission that aren't currently in these public builds. We'll be announcing our plans for the strategy level soon but in the interim we thought we'd keep releasing combat builds. We've also recently got our build server working, but complications with that have made releasing this build a rather long and drawn-out process ... which is why this build has the main menu date of 23rd January rather than the 31st January.

We're expecting to release an updated build in two weeks, on Tuesday 13rd February. I've done some pretty extensive playtesting of the build over the past few days with all the build server errors we've been getting, so I feel I also have a pretty good handle on the major remaining gameplay issues. I think the combat is feeling pretty solid these days but there's definitely some weirdness to do with explosions and burst fire that has been identified, and we're now discussing how best to fix them. That should be either be this build or next one I think ... just depends on whether we can fit it into our current cycle!

CHANGELOG:

• Improved Loading Bar: The loading bar now shows a more accurate representation of the progress loading the assets.
• Destructibility: In the last build, objects could be visually destroyed but this had no gameplay effects. The game now updates correctly when things are damaged / destroyed (so you can walk and see through destroyed walls etc).
• Shroud Gradient: Our shroud shader has been updated so it now has a gentle gradient fade rather than a hard black tile edge. It still needs more work because it looks pretty terrible on diagonals, but we'll continue to develop it over the next few weeks.
• "Hidden" Shading: The visual effect that shows units that are visible but hidden or partially hidden by terrain has changed. Previously it was an outline, but now it is a colour-coded shaded overlay. This makes units much easier to see than they were before.
• Move Path UI: The UI for the move path and selection cursor has been updated to use 2D vector art rather than 3D. This needs quite a bit more work but is a lot sharper and more dynamic than the previous in-world UI was ... on Fantastic settings. On any other settings, it looks pretty bad 
• Hit Chance & Intervening Units: Intervening units now affect the accuracy calculation like they did in X1 - each intervening unit reduces the chance to hit by 25%.
• Crouch Button Toggle: The crouch button now has an "active" state that shows when a unit is crouched.
• Hair Colour: The hair colour of your soldiers should now update based on what is shown in their portrait. 

It'd be great if you guys could give this a quick test and let us know if you encounter any technical issues - given the way Unity packs code and assets up, there's always quite a few bugs that only exist in the builds of the game and don't exist when we play the game within the Unity editor, so it's quite difficult for us to catch them all in our testing!

[Max_Caine]

So a couple of things I noticed straight away. 

 

The loading bar. There seems to be a massive hang at the 90-100% stage. The level loaded, but when exiting to the menu screen it got stuck at 90% and I had to kill the whole process at Task Master.

Alien bullets stick around during a player death animation

There seems to be something odd about Pyson bodies and the outside concrete floor - there was a weird interaction whenever I swung the camera. 

 

 

[Spad]

Hello,

same thing here : I can play a mission but every time I quit it to the main menu the game is stuck with the loading bar at 90%... must alt+F4 because the game stay frozen.

Another thing: Is the save functionality implemented yet ? Because no file is created on my disk when I save my current game (No file in the list when I hit the load button and I did a search on my whole disk with the name I gave but nothing found)

Didn't go as far as Max_Caine, so I don't know for the others strange things he brings to attention.

[Chris]

Thanks, yeah - the game does freeze up at 90% after a public build mission. Well have a look at that for the next build. We're also focusing quite heavily on the explosions and the burst fire mechanics to stop the weird behavior with those, and we're making good progress on that.

No, save functionality is not yet implemented on the ground combat, just on the strategy layer.

@Max what do you mean about the Psyon bodies and the concrete floor?

[Max_Caine]

I wish I had taken a screenshot. What happened was a Psyon died on the concrete floor next to one of the military trucks. The concrete floor then had all kinds of weird shadows which were especially obvious when I swung the camera. I'll try and replicate it and take a screenie next time. 

[Chris]

Cool, I suspect I know what caused that. Did you kill him with some kind of explosive? The explosion damage decals sometimes z-fight with the ground, which creates a flickering effect as they appear and disappear as the camera moves.