- Apr 22, 2024
Hello Everyone, and welcome to the new website for Cyquential AI and Psychophrenesis! It's great to finally have a platform where I can inform everyone about up and coming announcements, and I look forward to sharing new game updates here.
Previously, I did all of the updates and announcements for both projects all inside discord, which as you can imagine, was cluttered and required people to have a discord account in order to stay informed. This should hopefully solve both of these problems. However, all the information on devlogs is still in discord. As a result, I am just going to paste the past devlogs here, so that non discord members can see some of the previous history for the game's builds.
Psychophrenesis Build 2.5.1.1:
Fixed bug causing duplicate inventories to exist for each player
Fixed bug causing the first inventory slot to not be selected on spawn
fixed bug causing survivor npcs to get stuck at 0,0,0
fixed bug causing players to enter physical animation when pressing q
fixed bug causing the elite soldier to knock the player over when choking out
Fixed bug causing the game to crash when another player started spectating another player
added 'next and previous' buttons for spectating other players when dead
swapped ragdoll model for the old character design to be the previous more flimpsy version
fixed lots of bugs with non physicalized inventories bugging out
Improved player commander walk, run and arrest speed significantly
improved walking animations for soldiers slightly, and converted 1d blendspace to 2d blendspace for default state tree walk cycle
Fixed Elite Sniper and Soldier incorrectly targeting already dead players
Fixed bug causing AI SpawnHelicopters to stop movement in client games
Psychoprenesis 2.4 - the last big technical build
This update mainly contains a bunch of bug fixes, and improvements to existing systems, as we get ready for metahumans and
full story dialogue
New reworked Tutorial - with narrated guiding that shows players how to use tools
major gameplay balance Tweaks to Pursuit AI system, as previous version was way too strong
-Reinforcements no longer spawn at the start of a pursuit
-Reinforcements now do not spawn as frequently, at a rate of around 16 extra seconds
-decreased reinforcement spawn count of all pursuit levels by 1-2 soldiers depending on the specific level
-Helicopters now spawn more frequently at higher pursuit levels
-Reduced cooldown and strengthen hit radius of player punch ability
On tranq guns and rifles, police and soldiers now have a togglable ability switch to real bullets, depending on the use case
Soldiers will now switch to lethal when they are fired at with another gun, and will take cover as well. They will try not to kill the player, however,
and will swap off lethal mode when the player is significantly wounded
The new Gamemode, verses, has also been reworked and now partially supports factories, and gives the commander a tranq rifle
at the beginning of the game
AI now uses the AIPerception Teams interface
Fixed lots of bugs with the Commander selection system
Vehicle AI have been integrated into the game, as well as player driving!
-features a preliminary damage system
works just like the regular AI, but they cannot damage the player, but has better sight range, and cannot perform human abilities (like arresting)
-will spawn in higher pursuit levels, and also if the player is in possesion of a vehicle
Reworked Item Progression Slightly
order of mining tools has been switched
Added New Items:
M4 Tranq
5.56 rifle round
Iron Knuckles
Brass Knuckles
Loot chest now contains bullets
Weapons now use the rifle rounds, instead of having their own seperate bullet counter
The Part finder is now an actual mesh and has a button that lights up when it beeps
Upon obtaining part finder, a tutorial screen now shows how to use it
Added new map - HomeBase
A theoretical concept that will act as the player's home base, still debating on whether to utilize it
- Huran City - The final destination of the survivors, where they will go to try and rescue Danya
Updated to Unreal Engine 5.2, which fixed a number of issues and improved the physics engine
Reworked interaction system to an interface system that uses a sphere collision component as the base, instead of a widget component
Reworked drivable vehicle component to make it more universally integratable to different vehicles
Soldier dialogue has more implemented categories, as well as an implemented calling system
Fixed bug causing client side ragdolling to not move, which fixed another issue within the arrest system not being able to execute in multiplayer
Temporary turned off players being able to flail in ragdoll, which was a cool gameplay feature but was causing bugs within the arresting system
Tweaked the max velocity needed to cause the player to ragdoll, which will cause players to ragdoll less when walking around
Water will now do damage to the player, if they go underneath the surface
Psychoprenesis 2.4.2
-Fixed issues in the cutscenes caused by migration to the new dynamic system from the previous
Fixed a bug causing players to be unable to get into the vehicle again after getting out (for real this time)
-Fixed an issue causing clients to be unable to remove the parking brake in multiplayer
tried to fix issues with players not being able to restart the game properly, for the 5th time
Soldiers no longer hesitate when faced with survivors repeatedly hitting the limits of weapon ranges
Increased the maximum distance needed to start the arrest process from 40 to 80, in an attempt to fix a very werid multiplayer bug where soldiers could not arrest certain players (still unresolved issue, this is just a temporary fix because the problem is very confusing and hard to test)
fixed issues with soldier path finding on werid slopes
switched from simple collision to a custom collision implementation for safe houses, in order to allow pathfinding and for soldiers to be able to see through windows
Danya will now more closely follow the player in mission 2
Updated Mission 2 Objective to Survive for 3 days first before finding parts (thinking about switching mission 1 to do this as well, to only be survival)
Building parts now only allow you to place them on the ground
lots of general refactoring, and migration to more c++, to lighten up heavy blueprint dependencies
Some more balance changes to soldiers (changes really so small that they are not worth mentioning), started implementation of level 6 and level 7 soldiers as well
Psychoprenesis 2.4.1
-Added Small Cutscene for Tutorial and swapped around ordering of things; added missing extra audio files
-The Rock and Part Finder are now added to the player's hotbar at the start of the game, instead of the back of the inventory
-Fixed issues associated with AI weapons not being loaded with any ammo
Improved Path Finding for AI by reducing the Tile Count and increasing tile size
As a temporary fix, AI that are gaurding specific parts will now teleport to that part, instead of having to walk to the destination
Added multiplayer functionality for vehicles
-Fixed an issue where players could not get back into car after getting out
Added New Items:
-Basket
-Stick
-Fixed an issue where animation montages associated with items would not play due to invalid skeletal mesh
Added combos for the player (player can now do a follow up attack after kicking)
Fine tuned elite soldiers to more smoothly takeout players
When executing a forward tackle, an actual animation now plays from the soldiers (affects levels 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Psychophrenesis (New Working Title) Devlog 2.2.3 - The last of the version 2.2
Added Helicopter AI to MilitaryPursuitSystem
Swapped items from regular replication to Unreal's Gameplay Ability System
Reimplemented Placeable items and fixed bugs within previous system
Added Furnace Item
Testing work on VehicleAI in CitySample
Added a retreat function to SoldierAISystem
-In higher pursuit levels, soldiers with a lower pursuit level will retreat back to base an despawn to make way for higher level troops
level 3 behavior tree now has proper flanking integrated
collisions are now implemented for soldier meshes, making tackling and arresting look much more realistic and scary
player ragdoll recovery time while wounded is increased, not only through annimation but also in total time
soldiers will no longer try to punch players when they are wounded, and will try to arrest them instead.
Fixed bug causing soldier control rig to continue to try and grab players after a sucessful tackle had been made
Fixed bug causing players to be unable to acess thier inventory in multiplayer (UWidgetInteractionComponent* was turned on)
Fixed level4 behavior tree not targeting correctly
(Note: The previous name of the game was called Lydian Arcenzia. Perhaps we should still go for this original name? I'm not sure which one is better)
I'm very proud to present Lydian Arcenzia Devbuild - 2.2, an update that has taken a long time but adds a lot of content
Cleaned up Soldier Arresting - fixed lots of bugs, hand movement now slowly moves, corrected rotations
Implemented Soldier Tackling
Added K9 Unit
- Comes with an Officer and a leash
- Cannot alert HQ on it's own
- Can track player's scenet - hiding is impossible
Added Level 3 Soldier
Very Similar to level 2, except they can tackle
Added cutscene for when Being Spotted by the Soldiers
Added CutScene for if there are detected hallucinations at the end of the night
Implemented Physical Hallucination System
Hallucinations can accidentally leak into the physical world!
Hallucinations look the exact same as physical objects, and indistinguishable except for a very occasional flicker or noise
If detected before nighttime, must take a schisophrania medication to cure. Otherwise, it will fuel the master hallucination and give them a severe speed boost that will end almost any game within minutes
However, if there are no hallucinations and the player takes a dose, they will experience fatal consequences.
The Master Hallucination also will now follow players during the daytime after day 1, but at a very slow speed, unless a physical hallucination is present (which will cause them to do the same thing but very fast)
The Master Hallucination can now attack with Error Message attacks that cover the User's Screen
Added new map - but unnamed yet
consists of multiple heightmaps
The main menu has recived a slight makeover
Started Implementation for saving and loading games
After you quit, the current game will be saved
can be resumed as both single or multiplayer
Psychophrenesis (New Working Title) Devlog 2.2.3 - The last of the version 2.2
Added Helicopter AI to MilitaryPursuitSystem
Swapped items from regular replication to Unreal's Gameplay Ability System
Reimplemented Placeable items and fixed bugs within previous system
Added Furnace Item
Testing work on VehicleAI in CitySample
Added a retreat function to SoldierAISystem
-In higher pursuit levels, soldiers with a lower pursuit level will retreat back to base an despawn to make way for higher level troops
level 3 behavior tree now has proper flanking integrated
collisions are now implemented for soldier meshes, making tackling and arresting look much more realistic and scary
player ragdoll recovery time while wounded is increased, not only through annimation but also in total time
soldiers will no longer try to punch players when they are wounded, and will try to arrest them instead.
Fixed bug causing soldier control rig to continue to try and grab players after a sucessful tackle had been made
Fixed bug causing players to be unable to acess thier inventory in multiplayer (UWidgetInteractionComponent* was turned on)
Fixed level4 behavior tree not targeting correctly
Lydian Arcenzia Devlog 2.2.2 - Finishing up 2.2
When sanity gets super low, the entire map is englufed in darkness via MaterialParameterCollection
Implemented Meelee combos for player survivors
Soldiers have been split into 3 distinct tiers within the level system:
Police Officers: Lightweight Officers that are the first to arrive and can perform basic arresting, as well as tackling and tasing
FBI: Medium level troops that are scary in groups. Can deploy Kronos shots, front side tackles, and gas grenades
U.S. Military: Top Level Troops, can punch and engage in meelee combat/take downs, fire long range tranquilizers, and are fast.
????? Secret Force: Special abilities to be revealed. They will function more as a boss. They are slow, but if they catch up with you, they can deliver game ending blows
Added Level 6 Soldier, and Level 7 Soldier (U.S. Military)
Fixed about 5-10 bugs relating to proceedural physics based soldier arresting system, is now much more flexible and can maintain joints
Refactored and Fixed bugs with Soldier Pursuit System, is now much more solid as a state machine
Implemented Searching: After reaching a point of investigation, soldiers will continue to look around for any possible patients
Implemented Sprinting UI
Reimplemented Collectable Parts UI
Fixed but causing pursuitUI to not properly be replicated in multiplayer
Integrated player levels into the UI
fixed bug causing player levels to not display properly
Implemented next mission switching
Lydian Arcenzia Devlog 2.2.1
We're about 1-2 weeks behind schedule, but that's okay
Switched from DirectX11 to DirectX12
Added Support for Hardware Raytracing and PathTracer
Synced head lipsync annimations to normal character annimations via annimation blending in annimation graph
Added a plugin that can convert CSV facial annimation data from live link into realtime curves that can be saved as annimation assets
Implemented Pursuit Start Cutscene - tracks soldier that last saw you
Implemented Hallucination Visual Cutscene - shows hallucinations that existed during the day that you didn't catch
Added Level 3 cop: similar to level 4 soldier, but will attempt to tackle you instead of engaging in meelee combat
Level 4 soldier is now armed with a tranq rifle instead of a mr. incredible based pistol
Increased mr. incredible pistol clip count to 4
refactored AI weapon systems by seperating out spawn code into distinct choosable classes for weapons that a soldier will spawn with
lethal weapons are supported with a bool that determines the type of bullet that spawns from the weapon
Implemented Tranq dart:
-Will knock players unconcious for 8 seconds
refactored reinforcement requests from soldiers
request list for specific amounts is no longer implemented in c++ as a string to class hashmap, and instead now just directly called through an array based lookup table
refactored communication system: now implemented through Instanced Data Classes that are created in the editor
all categories are now stored in a seperate USTRUCT instead of being induvidual variables in the gamemode class
This is to prevent corruption within the reflection system, and to allow multiple soldier characters to exist without having to recreate variables
finished Sequential Step Puzzle
Created part door for puzzles - holds a part, will only open after a puzzle has been sucessfully completed
Refactored abilities: punch, sprint, and mental health inquiry are all now moved into Unreal's Gameplay Ability System (GAS)
Implemented with Enhanced Input System
Sprinting now correctly zooms the camera in and adds camera shakes synced to footsteps
Fixed lots of bugs, but most importantly:
fixed an issue with ragdoll recovers destroying existing physics joints from different actors (i.e. soldiers physics joints would be broken when trying to arrest a player)
Prepped for vehicle AI support by creating simple roads with Unreal Engine's default MassTrafficVehicle and MassAI Plugin