Howdy everyone! Despite the awful period that is Covid-19, Big OOF Games have still been hard at work developing Trenches. Over the last couple of weeks, we've spent a lot of time going through the game with a fine-tooth comb and fixing up every little bug and issue thats constituted to lower performance and high network lag. The good news is, we've made major strides in our tests! So what are some of the major changes in this update? [b]PVP MODE[/b] The PVP mode now has a full gameplay loop! Players are tasked with capturing territory by constructing Command posts; once built, the regions can then be fortified with a variety of defenses and production buildings. If a team can destroy all enemy Command posts, they will win after a short period of time (the enemy team will be able to construct another Command post during this time, but will be visible to all players) [b]Owen SMG[/b] We've added a new SMG to the roster, this one comes from our very own homeland of Australia (The Owen SMG is the only 100% Australian designed and manufactured gun of WW2). We decided to give the Owen a much slower fire rate than their real-life counterpart to give the machine gun roster some variation. The Owen SMG can be crafted from the munition factory. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35438430/156d80f6156506fcc72959ad831b8d68166fdbac.png[/img] [b]AUDIO[/b] We've been working with an incredibly talented audio engineer to finally bring the quality of sound to a higher standard! Currently a couple weapons and explosions will sound a LOOOOT nicer, as well as some more subtle effects such as footsteps and ambience. Over the course of the next couple months, we should see a massive change is the sound quality! [b]Biplane[/b] We've finally given a mesh to the planes! Currently we're still in the super early phases of implimenting planes, so expect many bugs. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35438430/4638d426d271ac63a2a4f04811737519cf47f2ee.png[/img] [b]Major network fixes[/b] Over the course of development, we've created a lot of small networked elements that've slowly piled up into a LOT of unnecessary network traffic. We're in the process of ironing out as many of these as possible. As of this build, you should encounter a LOT less network lag or connection issues (also way less framerate issues) There's still plenty to do on this front, so expect to still encounter lag here and there. [b]SNEAK PEAK[/b] We've also been working a bit on the upcoming cosmetic customization! You can see a cheeky sneak peak at our new French character model (keep an eye out as we'll be uploading sneak peaks now and then) [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35438430/93584a13512807168d816199c46dcf2a3aa3f2ea.png[/img] [b]Detailed Changelog[/b] - Added some UI to warn a player's team that they have no territory and are about to lose. - When a player's team is about to lose a game over countdown begins, and their positions are marked for the enemy to see. - When a loss timer expires, a post game screen appears and shows the player leader board. At which time a small on screen 30 sec timer starts that restarts the map on expiry. - Fixed discord menu link to be unlimited users, unlimited timeframe. - Fixed spline on sandbags - Added Blockades (above ground trench walls) - Added LoDs to a BUNCH of assets that were missing them (this should improve performance a fair bit) - Map camera improvements. It's a lot less buggy, but we're still finding and ironing bugs. - You can now open and close the map while mounting a tank or emplacement. - At the end of a map session, players successfully travel with the server to a new game. - Tank turret no longer spams shells. Needs property tweaks, but otherwise works well. - New build progress indicator for when placing and constructing defences etc. This is set up with states that I can later use to test building upgrading and repairs on stuff. - Removed old 3D text on buildings while building. - Seem to have inadvertently fixed a lot of hammer bugs. Not all. - Client-sided the blueprint planning placement of structures so that there is no lag when planning where to place a building. - Optimised net code on a lot of various actors for less network lag. - Aim down sights now instant on clients. - Added conditions to the build menu to disable and mark red the structures you cannot build while in a territory your team doesn't control. A step towards telling people why they can't build sometimes. - Fixed a game breaking bug, where players would teleport across the map based on the lodding of the server player. - Fixed interaction with production buildings. - Removed 3D text on players and added a proper 2D text that only appears when you look at someone. - Added a red indicator on enemy players when in LOS. - Fixed up some server logic for hosting. - Fixed some buildings not loading on clients. - Patched hot bar and inventory not showing on start for some clients. - Added Owens SMG to munition factory - Fixed crouch hit collider (players collider for being shot was below their waist when crouching) [b]Known bugs[/b] - Network response on some objects and actions is still a bit slow - Survival mode is still super broken - Players are launched above mountables when they disembark - Long load time on launch - Spawning will occasionally drop players into the map (press M if this happens) - Spawning will occasionally require a couple clicks in order to spawn [b]WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON[/b] Our biggest priority right now is polishing the existing systems, so we'll most likely be focusing on network stability for a while, alongside tweaking a couple features to be more functional. Once that's sorted, we'll be focusing on adding a couple things that can deform the terrain! (artillery, tanks, planes, etc) If you wanna get in touch with us or report a bug, head on over to our Discord, where we're super active: https://discord.gg/ns7QZp6 We recently hit 1000 members! If you'd like to help support us while we work, we've also go a Patreon and Ko-fi Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TrenchesWIP Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/trencheswip Thanks again for joining us on this awesome journey of development, we genuinely appreciate all of the feedback and helping hands we've had along the way! More to come soon! - Big OOF Games