Vapourware Sui Generis + Exanima Early Access

[Technomancer]

19/7/21

We're still working on another intermediate beta branch update, but it's almost ready. The focus here is on the new item and loadout management systems, which gets a bit complicated and has had a few more refinements made. We need all the features to be complete to switch over to the new system and convert existing saves (without items being lost or duplicated!).

The new arsenal serves as a full item collection view even for items that are in use or have been placed somewhere else. Items in the arsenal are highlighted and/or faded when used in loadouts or worn and placed in the environment based on context. This means you don't have to manually remove items from one character to assign them to another, and you can place items in the environment or wear them, but still have access to them for match loadouts.

We've also been looking at reports of poor performance for some hardware configurations and game environments, which we believe we can solve with a new high performance global illumination mode, it would sacrifice some detail for a lot better performance on lower end systems.

There's a few other features and improvements and a bunch of new procedural weapons in this next update which should be any day now. There's a few other things with which we've made a good progress, so we're quite likely to drop another small update or two on the heels of this one.

Oh yeah, here's a procedural greatsword:


Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

26/7/21

Yep, we're still trying to get this beta update released. Things got kind of nightmarishly complex with the new item management, the same item can now appear in various different contexts at the same time, so we have multiple virtualised instances of multiple real instances of the same item and some pretty complex interactions and usage cases. Converting existing saves to this new system proved problematic, largely because old saves are riddled with invalid copies of items and all sorts of weird issues that need to be cleaned up. Converting old instanced weapons to the new unique procedural weapons under the new system also introduced new problems to solve.

We have finally figured it all out and we're just putting some final QoL touches and testing some things now. It's taken a little longer than expected, but this all really represents a massive QoL improvement for arena and managing those ever growing collections of procedural items and expanding roster. We wanted to be thorough and create a good future proof system.

We've converted most user interfaces to the new system now too, with basically just the match board, which is currently getting a big update, left. Some of these new UIs are still a little WIP and we might not include them right away.

With this beta update we're getting pretty close to wrapping up the core arena overhaul, so we'll be looking at fixing any remaining issues and things like item duping glitches which can lead to problems. You can help us by reporting any problems and also just giving us your feedback. As always the best place to do this is our discord server.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

The update is out, no patch notes yet.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I don't see anything new on steam. Is it on beta branch?

 

[Technomancer]

I don't see anything new on steam. Is it on beta branch?

Yes. This update added procgen for zweihanders, axes, daggers and poleaxes. And arena aresenal inventory overhaul. Also, some previous procgen weapons got updated with new procedural elements.

 

[agris]

Technomancer have they implemented procedural fraying of leather pommel grips yet?

 

[Technomancer]

Technomancer have they implemented procedural fraying of leather pommel grips yet?

No, but they added procedural

Spoiler

your mom!

 

[Technomancer]

Exanima 0.8.2.2 - Beta Branch
The new beta branch version has been live for a couple of days, but we've been working through issues with the help of our Discord community to get everything working properly before announcing it.

One more update to the beta branch and one more major step towards the complete arena overhaul. In this version we have overhauled the item management and arsenal system, with lots of improvements and support for new features. There's some pretty major functional changes here so we wanted to be able to test this properly in the beta branch with existing saves before the final release.

We've also updated a lot more of the user interface, introduced a bunch more procedural weapons and made various other improvements. There's a few things in the works that we want to patch in over the next week or so, but at this point we mostly just need to update the match selection system and introduce all the other new arena content besides weapons.

Changelog for version 0.8.2.2:

• New arena item management systems
  
  
• Arsenal now has 5 tabs per category
  
  
• Persistent manual placement of arsenal items
  
  
• New large dedicated arsenal screen
  
  
• Used and removed items remain in arsenal and are highlighted
  
  
• Arsenal items can be placed in environment and still used in loadouts
  
  
• New loadout screen
  
  
• Simplified loadout inventory with single large box
  
  
• Equipped loadout items are highlited
  
  
• All loadout item placement is persistent
  
  
• Updated hire screen (WIP)
  
  
• Updated trade interface
  
  
• New edge alignment correction in attack motions
  
  
• Experimental changes to weapon mass mechanics (feedback please)
  
  
• New procedural weapons:
  
  • Greatswords
    
    
  • Pole axes
    
    
  • One handed axes
    
    
  • Horseman's axes
    
    
  • Horseman's hammers
    
    
  • Daggers
    
• Many new procedural mace variants
  
  
• Full automatic conversion of old weapons to procedural versions
  
  
• Fixed being able to lose skill progress without an explicit prompt
  
  
• Improved wet surface effects
  
  
• Fixed outdoor lighting on minimum shadow quality
  
  
• Numerous small improvements and fixes

 

[Technomancer]

2/8/21

We've released a new update to the beta branch just before the weekend, we've done a few hotfixes already and we're working through the last couple of issues with the new systems now. We're also actively working on replacing the last bits of legacy UI and finishing a few other things to follow up with small additional update very soon. If you have any issues with the current beta build please help us out by telling us about it, the more detailed information we have the quicker we can solve them.

At this point we're looking at a revamped match system and some changes to NPC equipment to move an overhauled arena with a bunch of new content into the main branch. There's still a few other important updates we want to do to the arena and the game in general in the short term, but with the core systems in place we can finally take this important step.

We've covered a lot of major weapon types with the new procedural weapons now, at this point, especially with a save wipe coming, we're looking at focusing on lower rank weapons, as well as making some adjustments to rank availability and the general pace of arena progression. The lower rank weapons will also have a large impact on the early story content.

As always have a great week and check back for more news soon.
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

9/8/21

This week we did another patch and some hotfixes on the beta branch. There have been some improvements to the new item management system based on feedback and some improvements to attack motions. Notably, we applied a similar approach to what we used to correct edge alignment to also keep overheads on target, these are now more accurate and will follow the cursor as you swing. More of the user interface was updated to the new style too.

We've been doing more work on the new user interface since, adding more functionality and elements like scrollbars, we can now also update the character creation and continue screens which is all that remains.

We are working on some of the lower rank procedural weapons now, some of which presented us with some new requirements for the system with interesting applications. We've done quarterstaffs and we're moving on to various hafted weapons and simple polearms.

The focus right now is on updating the match system. There's a few new match types, and we've split them into standard, specials and tournament. Standard matches can be configured and played at any time, specials refresh daily like in the old system and tournaments are multiple match events that appear once a week. You will have more choices and freedom to play the matches you want.

We are also reviewing weapon ranks, general balance and progression and updating how NPC equipment is selected. When we developed the new procedural itemisation system we included various features to generate outfits and assign items in a more coordinated and intelligent way, so now we're wanting to take advantage of that, but also touch on various other parts of how characters select and use items with other applications.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

16/8/21

We're still working to complete the arena update, with some good progress made. The new match system that allows you to configure and run the standard match types as you like is done, along with some general changes to the match board that now looks like this:


New Match System
This is the new match board for the arena mode. Matches are divided into Standard which you can configure yourself and run as much as you like, daily Specials and the weekly Tournament.


There's a few new match types we're adding too, and some changes to how some of the current matches work.

We're also replacing more weapons with new procedural ones. We have 6 more procedural weapons ready, with more in progress. We're covering more low end and improvised weapons now, so we've also added new procedural materials like coarser woods and iron and some simplified procedural descriptions. We've made a few more general advances with procedural weapons that give us even more flexibility with how we use and adapt components for different weapons and more variation in general.

We've also replaced more UIs, and have now covered all in game interface controls and elements. We can update the last remaining user interfaces now and call that complete. We still need to hotfix some item management systems and do another round of testing, so we'll almost certainly do another beta branch update in the next few days.


Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

23/8/21

We have the new match system ready for another beta update, which includes several new match types. There's 13 base match types now, and a few more for when we drop the main update with tournaments. That's quite a few, and there have been various changes to mechanics and what kind of match setups are allowed, so we redesigned the whole system into a more flexible framework. We've had a lot of fun testing the new matches and we really see some potential here with some further additions to the arena mode down the line.

At this point we'll be buckling down to introduce the new arena content and tournament system for the main update. Although these are the main things missing now, we are also looking at getting at least a first basic version of our AI tactics system up and running, we think making higher rank opponents more challenging will make the arena a lot more fun and add a lot of value to all the different match types.

The beta branch update is just about ready to go, we should be releasing it later today or tomorrow. There's quite a lot of new procedural weapons, mostly at the low end. We've also been catching up on some bug reports and as always we'd really appreciate your help in identifying any remaining issues.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Grotesque]

they should make a Diablo 1 clone, with minimal story/dialogue, with an emphasis on immersion, procedural dungeon, atmosphere, ingenious encounters, co-op etc.

they promised a full fleshed storytelling RPG a la BG, they should make an immersime Diablo clone.

Just approach Matt Uelmen to do the OST and you're gold!

 

[Technomancer]

they should make a Diablo 1 clone, with minimal story/dialogue, with an emphasis on immersion, procedural dungeon, atmosphere, ingenious encounters, co-op etc.

You are probably joking but that will not fly. Madoc is not too keen on Diablo gameplay, in fact I saw him banning a few people not long ago because one of them aggressively demanded diablo induced elements, like best quality attainable for every item type regardless of common sense. This game is closer to Ultima in spirit. They prefer crafting levels by hand because you can use environment storytelling and give life to the world. And they already have a talented composer who is with the team since the beginning.

And co-op is planned. Same for "encounters".

 

[Grotesque]

they should make a Diablo 1 clone, with minimal story/dialogue, with an emphasis on immersion, procedural dungeon, atmosphere, ingenious encounters, co-op etc.

You are probably joking but that will not fly. Madoc is not too keen on Diablo gameplay, in fact I saw him banning a few people not long ago because one of them aggressively demanded diablo induced elements, like best quality attainable for every item type regardless of common sense. This game is closer to Ultima in spirit. They prefer crafting levels by hand because you can use environment storytelling and give life to the world. And they already have a talented composer who is with the team since the beginning.

And co-op is planned. Same for "encounters".

if so, then Star Citizen will surely come out before it

 

[Technomancer]

Update is out. New match types are in as well as procgen for low-tier weapons. Iron shod quarterstaff was moved to aspirant tier. Proper patch notes tomorrow.

New match types are:

1. Brawl - pugilism version of Fray
2. Reserve - you have 3 teammates and opponents have 3, you do 1v1 battles until one team loses all fighters
3. Valiance - 1v2, opponents are 1 rank lower than you
4. Valour - 1v3, opponents are 2 ranks lower than you
5. Captain - you and 2 hirelings fight 3 opponents, your hirelings are lower rank than you

 

[Technomancer]

Exanima 0.8.2.4 - Beta Branch
Another beta branch update with some important changes to the arena and new procedural weapons. The biggest change this time is the new match system and several new match types. We've also added a lot of new procedural weapons, we've been focusing on low rank and improvised weapons, but not only.

Changelog for 0.8.2.4:

• New match system
  
  
• Standard match types can be fully configured
  
  
• Daily Special matches change after each match played
  
  
• 5 new match types
  
  
• 13 New procedural weapons:
  
  • Quarterstaves
    
    
  • Iron shod quarterstaves
    
    
  • Short spears
    
    
  • Long spears
    
    
  • Cudgels
    
    
  • Metal Bars
    
    
  • Four types of tool hammers
    
    
  • Sledgehammers
    
    
  • Hatchets
    
    
  • Wood axes
    
• Several improvements to procedural weapon system
  
  
• Updated more user interfaces
  
  
• Updated arena help system to reflect all the changes
  
  
• Fixed several item management bugs
  
  
• Various small fixes and improvements

As always let us know how you get on with this beta. We're pretty close to closing this beta phase and going back to the main branch now which will also wipe current arena saves. We'd like to get everything working smoothly before that happens.

Thanks and have fun,

Bare Mettle

 

[Pink Eye]

I like the new matches. Nearly lost a 1v2 due to game spawning me with no pants or armor.

Brawls are super fun too. Complete utter chaos.

Now 1v3s on the other hand are pure excitement! It takes a while to find a friggin' match though. I kept doing duels over and over till one popped up; as doing normal matches causes the special ones to refresh. Anyways. Here's what it looks like:

Spoiler

I'm just happy I finally got the stupid fight. Thought I'd never get it.

 

[Technomancer]

30/8/21

We've had a productive week with the new beta release which people seem to be really enjoying, followed by many important bug fixes for the new arena mode and the game in general. We mentioned last week that we'd like to make some improvements to combat AI to make the new matches more fun and engaging, and this seems especially important for the tournaments, where significant prizes are involved.

The last few days we've been working on the AI, we're building a framework for the tactics system, but before we start really introducing tactics we wanted to establish a better baseline. Right now the AI has some very exploitable behaviours that we're tying to fix. We've tested a couple of early builds with Insiders, but we've had some important breakthroughs since, things look quite promising.

The tactics system is something we came up with to make the AI less predictable and to give it more personality. The idea is that every NPC has a repertoire of different tactical behaviours and actions (e.g. different positioning, feints) that they alternate between and use in combat. Every time an NPC gains a skill they also gain a tactic, growing their repertoire and developing their own unique fighting style.

We've got a few more procedural weapons almost ready to go and we'd like to test out some AI improvements so we'll likely update the beta again very soon.

Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ctrl+f velvet:
Nothing.

 

[Fenix]

How to play the game?

 

[Fenix]

I played it fir two days.
Went to main game immediately, survived to explore big chank of first floor (found npc) - before, when played for first time 3 years ago, died at 1-2 zombies, that's after dozens hours of arena.
Character manageability was definitely improved.
Decide to do arena - did everything there except beast (main died in low lvl Doubles fight, tried to level some shmuck lmao).
Decided to to game again - turned out, arena's exp useless in main game. Absolutely.
Worst enemy - stools, tables, carts. Darkness.
Lost half hp due stumbling and stucking in a cart.
Learned this calming power, only to found out it doesn't work? or need manual aiming?
How to play the game? I feel I could fly to the moon on my butthurt.
I made tall fatso, I assumed bodymass useful for blows?
Should I make tall dystrophic if it will ease interior proplems?
How to play the game?

 

[Technomancer]

6/9/21

We're working on a few things at the moment, including a bunch of new procedural weapons along with a number of improvements to the system that provide more variation, more detailed stat modifiers and some better proc materials. We're in the process of finalising various new assets for the arena, we're overhauling the last parts of the user interface such as the creation screens and we've also been making some adjustments and improvements to some attack motions.

The focus however has still been on AI. We identified various flaws in the AI and made a bunch of improvements, but despite our efforts we found it was still trivial for an experienced player to beat it and just completely control the fight. We really want fights with the most skilled AI to be more dynamic and engaging so we're not giving up yet. We've been trying to really break down what allows a player to completely dominate the AI and we think we have a good idea of it now, but it's quite complicated.

Combat in Exanima doesn't boil down to just a well timed input, and a player can predict what will happen well ahead of time, see openings long in advance and engage in a series of actions to prepare for and use that opening. You position, turn to prepare a swing, begin swinging, turn with the swing, step as your weapon gains momentum, change direction, turn steps into dashes etc. All these actions have to be independently timed and they can each be adjusted or cancelled. This for the player is a simple and fluid process, but for the AI the amount of anticipating, planning and coordination required is a very difficult problem.

We are not trying to make some flawless unbeatable AI, but we need to do something about it being totally defenceless against simple, but very well timed repetitive player actions. The tactics system should help in making the AI less predictable, but now we have a detailed breakdown of the flow of combat that we are using to correct the AIs most important mistakes. This is also very useful in designing the tactics themselves.

We should have some upgraded AI ready for testing very soon, along with various other improvements and of course a fresh batch of procedural weapons. Here's a screenshot of some of the new weapons:


Even More Procedural Weapons
Halberds, bardiches, two handed swords, spiked clubs and two types of spiked maces are confirmed for the next batch. More on the way.


Have a great week!
-the BM team

 

[Technomancer]

How to play the game?

Just play more. You are experiencing something that you have never done before so you have to learn this game from scratch, common gaming experience helps very little. I started from the same spot, stumbling on everything and getting killed by zombies. Now everything is trivial. You can get there too if you commit.

I made tall fatso, I assumed bodymass useful for blows?

It does, max fat may be too much. Helps mostly for two-handed weapons which is the easiest way to play.

Learned this calming power, only to found out it doesn't work? or need manual aiming?

Yes, those are psychic powers so you have to manually aim them at heads.

Darkness.

You need to plan in advance and fight where there is light. Eventually, you will find solutions that don't require holding a torch. If you got caught off guard in the darkness and can't escape in time but can't wield torch because your hands are busy with something two-handed or a shield - drag and drop the torch on the ground to create a light source. You have little experience so it is not recommended. Escape should always be an option. Enter combat mode and use the right button to run away, hold SHIFT at the same time to sprint, which will make you run much faster.

Worst enemy - stools, tables, carts; How to play the game?x2

Stop flailing and learn to move more accurately, watch your steps, watch your swings. Zombies do not block. They swing their weapons wildly but they can't instantly follow an attack. Step away from their swings and counterattack while you have an opening. Try using reach weapons - this gives you an advantage. Plain metal bar is good enough. When you want to hit someone, don't just hold attack button. Your timing is very important but your cursor movement is even more important. If you drag the cursor while swinging with the direction of your strike this will amplify force and you can knock people down that way. To do an overhead to finish downed people left click + hold left click. Use Left to Right swings, they have more power in them.

Lure enemies to corridors or in places where there is less trash. When you don't know how to fight very well just having space behind you to step back while attempting counters should help. Don't fight several foes at once. When zombies see you attacking another zombie they will usually join the fight.

You can find an early sword in the kennels hidden in the barrel. Even though it is a short weapon its sharpness makes it an upgrade over improvised weapons. If you can't use it effectively yet stick with billhook. Balance is important on weapons, makes actions faster. Heavy-hitting but slow weapons like sledgehammers and axes are generally not good in inexperienced hands because if you miss - you open yourself for a counter for too long.

Never encumber yourself. This will get you killed. Your encumbrance should be zero or half a pip. Without plate tanking damage by wearing lots of low-grade crap won't work. Encumbrance slows you down severely so fighting becomes much harder. Shields weigh a lot so they require player skill and in-game specialization to lower their weight. Armor weight reducing skills should be your priority if you want to fight, don't start without one.

Finally, you can avoid fighting. You gain most of xp for room exploration and inspecting items, especially books. Fighting gives you little experience. Zombies are generally not aggressive. If you don't bump into them, provoke them by swinging your weapon and don't stare them down, they will leave you alone. Use Calm and retreat if you angered them. Some rare zombies are frenzied and will still attack you on sight, you can try to calm them but it will not last. Later you can level up your psionics to dominate or ressurect corpses to fight for you or possess foes to never risk your own body in combat.

 

[Fenix]

Stop flailing and learn to move more accurately, watch your steps, watch your swings.

Lmao. Like, I played more, yesterday I got lost at second level.
After labyrinth at first floor I wanted to slowly strangle devs.
After second level I dunno if I want to continue.
As for moving more accurately - movement is simply a shit, no discuss.
To come into toilet is hard fucking task, same as to come out of it.
You can't come close to walls, as you will stuck because of that thing that is at lower part of wall.
And there is always not enough space - I fougth in classroom at second floor/level, and my @ stuck with his ass in the desk, and start swimming in it.
Movement controls are just bad.
All my problems in game is from that - except huge levels where I got lost. and assholes devs that could put something under other item, so I forced to move everything.

Never encumber yourself. This will get you killed. Your encumbrance should be zero or half a pip. Without plate tanking damage by wearing lots of low-grade crap won't work. Encumbrance slows you down severely so fighting becomes much harder. Shields weigh a lot so they require player skill and in-game specialization to lower their weight. Armor weight reducing skills should be your priority if you want to fight, don't start without one.

I would follow that, if only not problems with movement. This low grade armor helps vs everything except 2h axes - those deal red damage often anyway if hit. Anyway, I took 2 skills that reduce encumberness for that, going for 3 too. Using bardish now - simply love it, not the best weapon, but I like it.
But I pumped taumaturgy skills - have 5 already. It's my priority.
Also Calm saved my hide, when I was defeated and zomby staed above me. Usually they could land a couple of hits before I could get up, but with Calm I survived that.

I wait for Force update - I remember, they promised it will have LIGHT FUCKInG SOURCE!
Instant pick.