Month: December 2021

Another year comes to an end and it’s time for some statistics!

This year we managed to…

• Start alpha testing phase 1 containing the 1st day of the military service. 103 people have activated the game on Steam and started testing. Thanks for all the constructive feedback so far!
• Do nearly a thousand Git commits!
• Build a great core (engine) for future service days (days 2 – 7 are almost ready and launching soon for the alpha testers!)
• Get great new team members!
• Launch 1st proper teaser video of the game (and also some other content on our YouTube channel).
• Increase our Steam Wishlister count from 1 812 to 7 471 (meaning +5 659 wishlisters during 2021!)
• Sell over 400 copies of the game on Indiegogo! Thank you all for believing in us & in Finnish Army Simulator!
• Get over 1 800 subscribers on our YouTube channel!

What will happen in January 2022?

• We are getting a new intern to improve the balancing of various things like player attributes & skill tree.
• We will release more content for the alpha testers.
• The development will focus more on content creation instead implementation of core game engine features.

And here is the changelog for December 2021!

• [CODE]: All NPC actions (movement, interaction, wait etc) can now be chained properly.
• [CODE]: NPCs can follow each other and/or player and also separate properly from each other.
• [CODE]: Items can now be queried in code more easily enabling capabilities for dynamic item related tasks.
• [CODE]: We now have the identity of the NPC that is currently occupying an interactable object.
• [CODE]: WIP: Implemented support for NPC interactions with sinks & toilets (i.e. taking a shit).
• [CODE]: Implemented a “hive mind” that controls NPCs during free time. NPCs are now able to do various activities on their own semi randomly, resulting in a humanlike behavior.
• [CODE]: Improvements to the military drill (“sulkeisjärjestysharjoitus”) logic.
• [STORY]: Wrote a lot of new dialogue & events for days 2 – 14. Added most of the stuff for days 2-7 to the game. Still needs testing, animations & filling some missing gaps here and there.
• [AUDIO]: Added footstep sounds.
• [ART]: Created a new barracks building model & use that instead of the old one.
• [ART]: Human model keeps improving.
• [SCENE]: Added missing colliders for some of the buildings. Also indoors.
• [SCENE]: New sand roads added & NPC paths tweaked to use them instead.
• [DESIGN]: Started designing various attribute effects for different core mechanics & service tasks.
• [BUG]: Lots of bug fixes & improvements to 1st day features based on alpha testing feedback.
• [BUG]: Many other improvements regarding some core mechanics (hovering objects, locking doors, identifying objects, UIs etc).

Closed alpha testing has begun! Happy testing all who have been granted the access!

Be on lookout for possible alpha access giveaways on social media! So please go ahead and subscribe below!

• [FEATURE]: NPCs make “human sounds” (fart, burp, etc) in idle state.
• [FEATURE]: Platoon lists for headquarters (1st day).
• [FEATURE]: Show latest changes in the main menu & pause menu.
• [FEATURE]: New steering navigator for NPCs. It can move a group of NPCs using cohesion, separation and velocity match forces.
• [FEATURE]: Stack (“pinkka”) & bed making (“punkka”) V2!
• [FEATURE]: Weapon disassembly & cleaning mechanics.
• [FEATURE]: NPCs can finally go to sleep!
• [FEATURE]: NPC dissolving support V2.
• [FEATURE]: Show game status on Discord (Rich Presence).
• [FEATURE]: Credits screen.
• [PROGRAMMING]: Alpha testing preparations (in-game limitations, tutorials, player assists etc).
• [AUDIO]: Lots of new voice-overs.
• [AUDIO]: Some new music tracks.
• [ART]: Lots of improvements to the human model & equipment.
• [ANIM]: Some new animations during dialogues.
• [LOCALIZATION]: Lots of missing English translations done.
• [DEVTOOLS]: Automation for build configuration.
• [BUG]: A HUGE LOAD OF BUG FIXES AND OVERALL QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS.