Hey everyone! I am back with another update! As I have done before, I’m going to forego the normal sections since in this post I want to also discuss the goals moving forward for Pacific Fury’s Development.
Firstly, what was done since the last update, I have spent a good bit of time working on our projectile motion/targeting. This was a particularly interesting system to get going. Originally, I expected this to be easy since our physics system handles the motion internally; however, it turns out that calculating angles, velocities, and distances while also maintaining historical accuracy was a bit of a challenge. As it stands now, the choice I have made is that range is historically accurate, with velocity and angle of firing being fudged slightly. I think that this fits in with our goals for the game, while still making sure to deliver an authentic experience. Part of the challenge was making sure that the ranges were represented with barrel elevations (firing angle), since I would like to eventually have trails behind our shells. Doing this would have made the calculations far more intense, and I predicted that it would cause lower performance given the large number of units expected in a game. This choice may change, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it. So far, all the code is complete, in the engine, it just needs to be tied to the firing logic. Thankfully this code already takes into account movement of units and should be able to be used for ground to air combat. This took me much longer than expected to get working, and I think that it is going to be a very good solution, but again, please let me know your thoughts.
Because the above mentioned calculations took longer to get going, I haven’t linked it to targeting just yet, but as stated before, it can already handle motion, so there won’t be anything more to do than add a few lines of code to an already existing and tested base.
Alright, that is all that’s been done, but I’ve got two awesome announcements that I’m very excited for as they pertain to the future development of PF:
Announcement 1:
I have started working! I am officially making a paycheck and will very shortly (within a month) be getting our artists moving forward! It took me a lot longer to get a job than I expected, and it certainly impacted our development this year, but moving forward we will have more funding than we ever have before thanks to it!
Announcement 2:
We have a new developer! I have a friend who has agreed to help work on the engine! This is going to allow me to work on new features, while she works on refactoring old code. Eventually she will also be with me in engineering new systems and pushing our engine development forward! Another benefit will be that even when I am busy, we have another person who can continue development!
Now that we have more funding than ever before, with a larger team than ever before, I have high hopes for 2023 in terms of PF development. With that being said, our engine is nearly at Milestone 2 completion. As soon as the before mentioned features are implemented, all that will remain is a adding torpedo support, sensors, refinement, and any bug fixing. Of course, we fell behind doing the Milestone 2 assets, but rest assured, those are the very next things to be made. The Milestone 2 goal is 4 new ships (2 cruisers, and 2 destroyers) with the ability to wage war between them. So far in we have most everything for waging war, and one cruiser. The current plan is knock out the destroyers, then get the US cruiser (feel free to guess which one that will be). As it will take longer to make the assets than for us to finish the engine development, we will take the difference in time and refine our engine systems, train up the new developer, and begin working on bases and terrain. Of course, those will also need assets, but we can begin working on their base code.
My current goal is to have all of Milestone 2 done in 2023, as well as to extend our development team by another person for visual effects. I have already confirmed support for flipbook effects, and I want to get us a full suite of explosions made to prepare us for all future development.
Finally, I want to thank you all again for joining me in this journey. I have had and will continue to have a lot of fun working on PF and on its engine. I feel blessed to be a part of this community, and to have had the opportunity to meet with so many unique individuals. I truly look forward to the future of our community and of this game.
I do not think that I will post an update for December due to the holidays, but I do plan to get our new developer rolling in that down time. Of course, I am always available on Discord, email (sometimes I miss those) and on the steam group. Please feel free to hit me up with questions, comments, concerns, or just to say hi. I wish you all a happy holiday season, and a happy new year!
Sink Them All!
Let the Storm Begin!
God Bless!
WWJD
