{"data":{"id":20154,"title":"Squadron 42 Monthly Report: August 2024","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/SCW\/20154-API","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/20154","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/20154","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"None","images":[{"id":26651,"name":"STARCITIZEN_WHITE.png","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/y1f0boj8fak5rr\/source\/STARCITIZEN_WHITE.png","alt":"","size":73278,"mime_type":"image\/png","last_modified":"2021-02-03T06:54:29+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26651","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26651\/similar"}],"images_count":4,"translations":{"en_EN":"Squadron 42 Monthly Report\nAugust 2024\nThis is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We\u2019re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to.\n\nTO: SQUADRON 42 RECRUITS\n\nSUBJ: DEVELOPMENT UPDATE 09:04:2024\n\nREF: CIG UK, CIG DE, CIG LA, CIG TX\n\nFAO Squadron 42 Recruits.\n\nWelcome to August\u2019s Squadron 42 development report. Enclosed you will find details on the latest progress made across the campaign, including mo-cap updates, refined behaviors, and additional narrative content.\n\nThank you for your continued support of Squadron 42.\n\nSincerely,\n\nCIG COMMUNICATIONS\n\nAI (Features)\nThroughout August, AI Features focused on polishing existing functionality to improve level flow. For example, during \u2018buddy\u2019 sections where players are aided by AI characters, the team increased and improved the control mechanisms available to the designers so that they can increase situational awareness. This means that AI characters no longer automatically crouch and draw a weapon when enemies are nearby - this is now a behavior that\u2019s controllable by a designer who can determine the best place for this to occur.\n\nA new \u2018follow along path\u2019 task was added alongside the \u2018lead along path\u2019 task, allowing the designer to guide AI while simultaneously keeping up with the player. They\u2019re also improving tech to control when the buddy joins in combat to provide more level-specific situational awareness.\n\nAI Features also polished various reactions, including the \u2018first reactions\u2019 when NPCs respond to audio or visual events. While these behaviors had a solid base, some combat styles, weapons, and scenarios didn\u2019t play consistently. For example, when escalating from a low reaction to a high reaction. To improve this, the team developed a new AI test level called a \u2018test cell.\u2019 This is a Building Block setup with different character types, weapons, cover options, usables, etc. that allows the team to pick and mix different setups to produce consistent test scenarios. A particular combination can be exported as one \u2018cell\u2019 and imported into a single level where multiple test scenarios can be played simultaneously, allowing the team to quickly spot mistakes, fix them, and retest.\n\nThe test cell is also being used for cover-hit reactions, which have different animation setups per cover type, combat style, and weapon type. Going forward, the test cell will be expanded to provide more consistency across a wide range of areas.\n\nAI Tech\nAlongside small improvements and bug fixing, AI Tech worked on editor functionality to allow the designers to set schedule game tags and assign action areas directly to NPCs. Secondly, they worked on a Subsumption task and flowgraph node to enable or disable navigation cost areas and modify their costs.\n\nAI (Social Strike Team)\nThe AI Social Strike team spent part of August refining idle animations for desk workers. This work adds greater variety to the NPCs seated at consoles, significantly reducing noticeable repetition when multiple characters are positioned next to each other.\n\nThey then expanded the advanced animation set used for repairing and inspecting the Gladius and Hornet. These more advanced and realistic animations move away from basic motions, adding depth and believability to the repair and inspection activities.\n\nContinuing from last month, the devs made significant progress refining various interactions throughout the game. As part of this, numerous non-essential interactions were removed to prevent confusion about what can and should be interacted with. This clear delineation ensures that when something is interactable it serves a meaningful gameplay purpose. This step is crucial to maintaining intuitive game mechanics and enhancing the overall player experience.\n\nWork was also done to improve the cargo-handling AI. For example, the utility behavior for AI involved in cargo handling was updated to allow multiple AI characters (not using trolleys) to move cargo from the same pickup location to the same drop-off area. Previously, only one AI character could perform this action at a time, resulting in an illogical sequence of events. With this new update, cargo movement now appears more realistic and dynamic, adding a layer of authenticity to the environment.\n\nFollowing an art pass on cargo in the Shubin location, the \u2018cav\u2019 vehicle\u2019s AI was re-pathed. This update ensures that the vehicle\u2019s movements align perfectly with the new cargo layout\n\nFinally for Social AI, numerous smaller bug fixes and improvements were made across the campaign.\n\nAI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nIn August, the Game Intelligence Development team concentrated on delivering a clean and stable Apollo StarScript UX update. This involved adding support for higher icon resolutions so they stay sharp when zoomed in and straightening lines for a clearer read.\n\nDrag and drop was improved too. Now, when hovering, ports with a wider selection range are highlighted. The devs corrected the color and size of imported notes, added arrowheads to links leading to closed groups, and enlarged the hovering area and highlights on links and ports. Drop points were also added to links to identify the desired select line.\n\nAnimation\nLast month, the Gameplay Animation team worked on zero-g movement on surfaces, weapon first-selects and overheats, improved pickups, scene-specific player interactions, and numerous background animations for life around a key location.\n\nSignificant progress was also made on a number of Human enemy types. On the mo-cap side, the team supported gameplay and story needs with capture shoots and solved data. They also supported the Mo-Cap team so they can be even more efficient and knowledgeable on future shoots.\n\nThe Gameplay and Gameplay Animation teams then joined forces to use their expertise in re-targeting to get faster traction on some upcoming asset sets.\n\nThe team are currently working on the final facial-animation solves for SQ42 before pivoting to fleshing out background AI and improving high-profile story scenes.\n\nGraphics & VFX Programming\nAlongside ongoing stability and performance improvements for Vulkan, the Graphics team improved debug tooling for the long-term health of the dev experience.\n\nFor global illumination, support was added for high-gloss specular reflections, which builds on previous rough-specular work. The team also added live updates to GPU raytracing acceleration structures and began working on improvements to transparent objects.\n\nPerformance wise, the global illumination system now supports both temporal and spatial subsampling to accumulate the same visual result with fewer rays fired per frame.\n\nOngoing tasks consist of async creation and additional types of destructible renderer objects (such as gas cloud chunks) to reduce frame time spikes on the CPU.\n\nSQ42\u2019s main fire hazard system wrapped, with the team moving to bug fixes and design balancing. They\u2019re nearly finished with data conversion for better particle effect management, while various performance enhancements are in progress.\n\nNarrative\nToward the end of summer, Narrative continued working with Core Gameplay to refine the number of Galactapedia entries and identify where they will unlock. The aim for the next few months is to lock down the first half of the game from an entry point of view, which will enable the team to fully test the experience and make sure players receive an enjoyable number of entries.\n\nThe team also moved back to live production with pick-up shooting, which involved re-recording a handful of lines for a supporting character. Narrative also supported the Audio department in a \u2018walla\u2019 session.\n\n\u201cIf you haven\u2019t heard this term before, 'walla' is a low, persistent series of indecipherable conversations that go alongside our scripted scenes and dynamic conversations to make areas feel more populated.\u201d Narrative Team\n\nElsewhere, work continued on the in-fiction collectibles that the team is developing with outsourced artists. They also continued to regularly play through levels to review the implementation of the latest content to ensure things are triggering correctly and iterate on the overall flow.\n\nVFX\nLast month, VFX focused on polishing a selection of key scenes alongside Cinematics. They also continued to support the Design and Art teams with ongoing level work.\n\nWE'LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...\n\/\/ END TRANSMISSION","de_DE":"Geschwader 42 Monatsbericht\nAugust 2024\nDies ist ein Querverweis auf den Bericht, der k\u00fcrzlich \u00fcber den monatlichen Squadron 42 Newsletter verschickt wurde. Wir ver\u00f6ffentlichen ihn ein zweites Mal als Comm-Link, damit die Community leichter darauf zur\u00fcckgreifen kann.\n\nTO: REKRUTEN DES GESCHWADERS 42\n\nSUBJ: ENTWICKLUNG UPDATE 09:04:2024\n\nREF: CIG UK, CIG DE, CIG LA, CIG TX\n\nFAO-Geschwader 42 Rekruten.\n\nWillkommen zum Entwicklungsbericht f\u00fcr Squadron 42 im August. Anbei findest du Details zu den neuesten Fortschritten in der Kampagne, darunter Mo-Cap-Updates, verfeinerte Verhaltensweisen und zus\u00e4tzliche erz\u00e4hlerische Inhalte.\n\nWir danken euch f\u00fcr eure anhaltende Unterst\u00fctzung von Squadron 42.\n\nMit freundlichen Gr\u00fc\u00dfen,\n\nCIG COMMUNICATIONS\n\nKI (Features)\nIm August konzentrierten sich die KI-Features darauf, bestehende Funktionen zu verbessern, um den Ablauf der Level zu optimieren. In den \"Buddy\"-Abschnitten, in denen die Spieler\/innen von KI-Charakteren unterst\u00fctzt werden, hat das Team zum Beispiel die Kontrollmechanismen, die den Designer\/innen zur Verf\u00fcgung stehen, erweitert und verbessert, damit sie ein besseres Situationsbewusstsein entwickeln k\u00f6nnen. Das bedeutet, dass die KI-Charaktere nicht mehr automatisch in die Hocke gehen und eine Waffe ziehen, wenn Feinde in der N\u00e4he sind - dieses Verhalten kann nun von einem Designer gesteuert werden, der den besten Ort daf\u00fcr bestimmen kann.\n\nNeben der Aufgabe \"Entlang des Weges f\u00fchren\" wurde eine neue Aufgabe \"Entlang des Weges folgen\" hinzugef\u00fcgt, die es dem Designer erm\u00f6glicht, die KI zu f\u00fchren und gleichzeitig mit dem Spieler Schritt zu halten. Au\u00dferdem wird die Technik verbessert, mit der gesteuert werden kann, wann der Kumpel in den Kampf eingreift, um ein besseres stufenspezifisches Situationsbewusstsein zu schaffen.\n\nDie KI-Features haben auch an verschiedenen Reaktionen gefeilt, darunter die \"ersten Reaktionen\", wenn NSCs auf akustische oder visuelle Ereignisse reagieren. W\u00e4hrend diese Verhaltensweisen eine solide Basis hatten, spielten einige Kampfstile, Waffen und Szenarien nicht konsistent. Zum Beispiel bei der Eskalation von einer niedrigen Reaktion zu einer hohen Reaktion. Um dies zu verbessern, entwickelte das Team eine neue KI-Testebene, die \"Testzelle\". Dabei handelt es sich um ein Baustein-Setup mit verschiedenen Charaktertypen, Waffen, Deckungsoptionen, nutzbaren Gegenst\u00e4nden usw., das es dem Team erm\u00f6glicht, verschiedene Setups auszuw\u00e4hlen und zu mischen, um einheitliche Testszenarien zu erstellen. Eine bestimmte Kombination kann als eine \"Zelle\" exportiert und in eine einzelne Ebene importiert werden, in der mehrere Testszenarien gleichzeitig gespielt werden k\u00f6nnen, so dass das Team Fehler schnell erkennen, beheben und erneut testen kann.\n\nDie Testzelle wird auch f\u00fcr Deckungstreffer-Reaktionen verwendet, die je nach Deckungstyp, Kampfstil und Waffentyp unterschiedliche Animationen haben. In Zukunft wird die Testzelle erweitert, um mehr Konsistenz in einer Vielzahl von Bereichen zu gew\u00e4hrleisten.\n\nKI-Technik\nNeben kleinen Verbesserungen und Fehlerbehebungen hat die KI-Abteilung an einer Editor-Funktion gearbeitet, die es den Designern erm\u00f6glicht, Spielplan-Tags zu setzen und den NSCs direkt Aktionsbereiche zuzuweisen. Zweitens arbeiteten sie an einer Subsumption-Aufgabe und einem Flussdiagramm-Knoten, um Navigationskostenbereiche zu aktivieren oder zu deaktivieren und ihre Kosten zu \u00e4ndern.\n\nKI (Social Strike Team)\nDas KI Social Strike Team hat einen Teil des Augusts damit verbracht, die Leerlaufanimationen f\u00fcr Schreibtischarbeiter zu verfeinern. Diese Arbeit sorgt f\u00fcr mehr Abwechslung bei den NSCs, die an den Konsolen sitzen, und reduziert die auff\u00e4lligen Wiederholungen, wenn mehrere Charaktere nebeneinander stehen.\n\nDann wurde das erweiterte Animationsset f\u00fcr die Reparatur und Inspektion der Gladius und Hornet erweitert. Diese fortschrittlicheren und realistischeren Animationen entfernen sich von den einfachen Bewegungen und verleihen den Reparatur- und Inspektionst\u00e4tigkeiten mehr Tiefe und Glaubw\u00fcrdigkeit.\n\nWie schon im letzten Monat haben die Entwickler\/innen verschiedene Interaktionen im Spiel verfeinert. In diesem Zusammenhang wurden zahlreiche unwichtige Interaktionen entfernt, um Verwirrung dar\u00fcber zu vermeiden, womit interagiert werden kann und soll. Durch diese klare Abgrenzung wird sichergestellt, dass die Interaktionsm\u00f6glichkeiten einen sinnvollen Zweck erf\u00fcllen. Dieser Schritt ist wichtig, um eine intuitive Spielmechanik zu erhalten und das Spielerlebnis insgesamt zu verbessern.\n\nEs wurde auch daran gearbeitet, die KI f\u00fcr den G\u00fcterumschlag zu verbessern. So wurde zum Beispiel das Nutzungsverhalten der KI beim Frachtumschlag aktualisiert, damit mehrere KI-Charaktere (die keine Karren benutzen) die Fracht vom gleichen Abholort zum gleichen Ablageort bringen k\u00f6nnen. Bisher konnte immer nur ein KI-Charakter diese Aktion durchf\u00fchren, was zu einer unlogischen Abfolge von Ereignissen f\u00fchrte. Mit diesem neuen Update wirkt die Bewegung der Ladung realistischer und dynamischer und verleiht der Umgebung eine zus\u00e4tzliche Ebene der Authentizit\u00e4t.\n\nNach einem Art-Pass f\u00fcr die Fracht in Shubin wurde die KI des \"Cav\"-Fahrzeugs neu angepasst. Dieses Update stellt sicher, dass die Bewegungen des Fahrzeugs perfekt auf das neue Ladungslayout abgestimmt sind.\n\nBei der sozialen KI wurden zahlreiche kleinere Fehler behoben und Verbesserungen in der gesamten Kampagne vorgenommen.\n\nKI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nIm August hat sich das Game Intelligence Development Team darauf konzentriert, ein sauberes und stabiles Apollo StarScript UX-Update zu liefern. Dazu geh\u00f6rte die Unterst\u00fctzung h\u00f6herer Icon-Aufl\u00f6sungen, damit sie auch beim Zoomen scharf bleiben, und die Begradigung von Linien f\u00fcr eine bessere Lesbarkeit.\n\nAuch das Drag & Drop wurde verbessert. Wenn du mit dem Mauszeiger dar\u00fcber f\u00e4hrst, werden jetzt Ports mit einem gr\u00f6\u00dferen Auswahlbereich hervorgehoben. Die Entwickler haben die Farbe und Gr\u00f6\u00dfe von importierten Notizen korrigiert, Pfeilspitzen zu Links hinzugef\u00fcgt, die zu geschlossenen Gruppen f\u00fchren, und den Hovering-Bereich und die Hervorhebungen von Links und Ports vergr\u00f6\u00dfert. Au\u00dferdem wurden den Links Droppoints hinzugef\u00fcgt, um die gew\u00fcnschte Auswahllinie zu kennzeichnen.\n\nAnimation\nIm letzten Monat hat das Gameplay-Animationsteam an der Null-G-Bewegung auf Oberfl\u00e4chen, der Erstauswahl von Waffen und \u00dcberhitzungen, verbesserten Pickups, szenenspezifischen Spielerinteraktionen und zahlreichen Hintergrundanimationen f\u00fcr das Leben rund um einen Schl\u00fcsselort gearbeitet.\n\nAuch bei einer Reihe von menschlichen Gegnertypen wurden erhebliche Fortschritte erzielt. Auf der Mo-Cap-Seite unterst\u00fctzte das Team Gameplay- und Story-Bed\u00fcrfnisse mit Capture Shootings und gel\u00f6sten Daten. Au\u00dferdem unterst\u00fctzten sie das Mo-Cap-Team, damit es bei zuk\u00fcnftigen Drehs noch effizienter und sachkundiger arbeiten kann.\n\nDas Gameplay- und das Gameplay-Animationsteam haben sich dann zusammengetan, um ihr Fachwissen beim Re-Targeting zu nutzen, damit sie bei einigen kommenden Asset-Sets schneller vorankommen.\n\nDerzeit arbeitet das Team an den letzten Gesichtsanimationen f\u00fcr SQ42, bevor es sich der Verbesserung der Hintergrund-KI und der Verbesserung wichtiger Story-Szenen widmet.\n\nGrafik- und VFX-Programmierung\nNeben den laufenden Stabilit\u00e4ts- und Leistungsverbesserungen f\u00fcr Vulkan hat das Grafikteam auch die Debugging-Tools verbessert, um das Entwicklererlebnis langfristig zu sichern.\n\nF\u00fcr die globale Beleuchtung wurde die Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr hochgl\u00e4nzende Spiegelungen hinzugef\u00fcgt, die auf der vorherigen Arbeit mit groben Spiegelungen aufbaut. Das Team f\u00fcgte au\u00dferdem Live-Updates der GPU-Raytracing-Beschleunigungsstrukturen hinzu und begann mit der Arbeit an Verbesserungen f\u00fcr transparente Objekte.\n\nIn Bezug auf die Leistung unterst\u00fctzt das globale Beleuchtungssystem jetzt sowohl zeitliches als auch r\u00e4umliches Subsampling, um das gleiche visuelle Ergebnis mit weniger abgefeuerten Strahlen pro Frame zu erzielen.\n\nZu den laufenden Aufgaben geh\u00f6ren die asynchrone Erstellung und zus\u00e4tzliche Arten von zerst\u00f6rbaren Renderer-Objekten (z. B. Gaswolken), um Framerate-Spitzen auf der CPU zu reduzieren.\n\nDas Haupt-Feuergef\u00e4hrdungssystem von SQ42 wurde fertiggestellt, und das Team hat sich auf Fehlerbehebungen und Design-Balancing konzentriert. Die Datenkonvertierung f\u00fcr eine bessere Verwaltung der Partikeleffekte ist fast abgeschlossen, und verschiedene Leistungsverbesserungen sind in Arbeit.\n\nNarrative\nGegen Ende des Sommers arbeitete Narrative weiter mit Core Gameplay zusammen, um die Anzahl der Galactapedia-Eintr\u00e4ge zu verfeinern und festzulegen, wo sie freigeschaltet werden sollen. Das Ziel f\u00fcr die n\u00e4chsten Monate ist es, die erste H\u00e4lfte des Spiels in Bezug auf die Eintr\u00e4ge abzuschlie\u00dfen, damit das Team das Erlebnis vollst\u00e4ndig testen und sicherstellen kann, dass die Spieler\/innen eine angenehme Anzahl von Eintr\u00e4gen erhalten.\n\nDas Team ist auch wieder in die Live-Produktion eingestiegen und hat eine Handvoll Zeilen f\u00fcr eine Nebenfigur neu aufgenommen. Narrative unterst\u00fctzte auch die Audioabteilung bei einer \"Walla\"-Session.\n\nFalls du diesen Begriff noch nicht kennst: \"Walla\" ist eine leise, andauernde Reihe von unverst\u00e4ndlichen Gespr\u00e4chen, die unsere geskripteten Szenen und dynamischen Unterhaltungen erg\u00e4nzen, damit sich die Gegenden belebter anf\u00fchlen.\" Narrative Team\n\nAn anderer Stelle wurde die Arbeit an den fiktiven Sammelobjekten fortgesetzt, die das Team mit externen K\u00fcnstlern entwickelt. Au\u00dferdem spielten sie regelm\u00e4\u00dfig Levels durch, um die Umsetzung der neuesten Inhalte zu \u00fcberpr\u00fcfen und sicherzustellen, dass die Dinge richtig ausgel\u00f6st werden und der Gesamtablauf verbessert wird.\n\nVFX\nIm letzten Monat konzentrierten sich die VFX auf den Feinschliff einiger Schl\u00fcsselszenen neben den Cinematics. Au\u00dferdem unterst\u00fctzten sie die Design- und Art-Teams weiterhin bei der Arbeit an den Levels.\n\nWIR SEHEN UNS N\u00c4CHSTEN MONAT WIEDER...\n\/\/ ENDE DER \u00dcBERTRAGUNG","zh_CN":"Squadron 42 Monthly Report\nAugust 2024\nThis is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We\u2019re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to.\n\nTO: SQUADRON 42 RECRUITS\n\nSUBJ: DEVELOPMENT UPDATE 09:04:2024\n\nREF: CIG UK, CIG DE, CIG LA, CIG TX\n\nFAO Squadron 42 Recruits.\n\nWelcome to August\u2019s Squadron 42 development report. Enclosed you will find details on the latest progress made across the campaign, including mo-cap updates, refined behaviors, and additional narrative content.\n\nThank you for your continued support of Squadron 42.\n\nSincerely,\n\nCIG COMMUNICATIONS\n\nAI (Features)\nThroughout August, AI Features focused on polishing existing functionality to improve level flow. For example, during \u2018buddy\u2019 sections where players are aided by AI characters, the team increased and improved the control mechanisms available to the designers so that they can increase situational awareness. This means that AI characters no longer automatically crouch and draw a weapon when enemies are nearby - this is now a behavior that\u2019s controllable by a designer who can determine the best place for this to occur.\n\nA new \u2018follow along path\u2019 task was added alongside the \u2018lead along path\u2019 task, allowing the designer to guide AI while simultaneously keeping up with the player. They\u2019re also improving tech to control when the buddy joins in combat to provide more level-specific situational awareness.\n\nAI Features also polished various reactions, including the \u2018first reactions\u2019 when NPCs respond to audio or visual events. While these behaviors had a solid base, some combat styles, weapons, and scenarios didn\u2019t play consistently. For example, when escalating from a low reaction to a high reaction. To improve this, the team developed a new AI test level called a \u2018test cell.\u2019 This is a Building Block setup with different character types, weapons, cover options, usables, etc. that allows the team to pick and mix different setups to produce consistent test scenarios. A particular combination can be exported as one \u2018cell\u2019 and imported into a single level where multiple test scenarios can be played simultaneously, allowing the team to quickly spot mistakes, fix them, and retest.\n\nThe test cell is also being used for cover-hit reactions, which have different animation setups per cover type, combat style, and weapon type. Going forward, the test cell will be expanded to provide more consistency across a wide range of areas.\n\nAI Tech\nAlongside small improvements and bug fixing, AI Tech worked on editor functionality to allow the designers to set schedule game tags and assign action areas directly to NPCs. Secondly, they worked on a Subsumption task and flowgraph node to enable or disable navigation cost areas and modify their costs.\n\nAI (Social Strike Team)\nThe AI Social Strike team spent part of August refining idle animations for desk workers. This work adds greater variety to the NPCs seated at consoles, significantly reducing noticeable repetition when multiple characters are positioned next to each other.\n\nThey then expanded the advanced animation set used for repairing and inspecting the Gladius and Hornet. These more advanced and realistic animations move away from basic motions, adding depth and believability to the repair and inspection activities.\n\nContinuing from last month, the devs made significant progress refining various interactions throughout the game. As part of this, numerous non-essential interactions were removed to prevent confusion about what can and should be interacted with. This clear delineation ensures that when something is interactable it serves a meaningful gameplay purpose. This step is crucial to maintaining intuitive game mechanics and enhancing the overall player experience.\n\nWork was also done to improve the cargo-handling AI. For example, the utility behavior for AI involved in cargo handling was updated to allow multiple AI characters (not using trolleys) to move cargo from the same pickup location to the same drop-off area. Previously, only one AI character could perform this action at a time, resulting in an illogical sequence of events. With this new update, cargo movement now appears more realistic and dynamic, adding a layer of authenticity to the environment.\n\nFollowing an art pass on cargo in the Shubin location, the \u2018cav\u2019 vehicle\u2019s AI was re-pathed. This update ensures that the vehicle\u2019s movements align perfectly with the new cargo layout\n\nFinally for Social AI, numerous smaller bug fixes and improvements were made across the campaign.\n\nAI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nIn August, the Game Intelligence Development team concentrated on delivering a clean and stable Apollo StarScript UX update. This involved adding support for higher icon resolutions so they stay sharp when zoomed in and straightening lines for a clearer read.\n\nDrag and drop was improved too. Now, when hovering, ports with a wider selection range are highlighted. The devs corrected the color and size of imported notes, added arrowheads to links leading to closed groups, and enlarged the hovering area and highlights on links and ports. Drop points were also added to links to identify the desired select line.\n\nAnimation\nLast month, the Gameplay Animation team worked on zero-g movement on surfaces, weapon first-selects and overheats, improved pickups, scene-specific player interactions, and numerous background animations for life around a key location.\n\nSignificant progress was also made on a number of Human enemy types. On the mo-cap side, the team supported gameplay and story needs with capture shoots and solved data. They also supported the Mo-Cap team so they can be even more efficient and knowledgeable on future shoots.\n\nThe Gameplay and Gameplay Animation teams then joined forces to use their expertise in re-targeting to get faster traction on some upcoming asset sets.\n\nThe team are currently working on the final facial-animation solves for SQ42 before pivoting to fleshing out background AI and improving high-profile story scenes.\n\nGraphics & VFX Programming\nAlongside ongoing stability and performance improvements for Vulkan, the Graphics team improved debug tooling for the long-term health of the dev experience.\n\nFor global illumination, support was added for high-gloss specular reflections, which builds on previous rough-specular work. The team also added live updates to GPU raytracing acceleration structures and began working on improvements to transparent objects.\n\nPerformance wise, the global illumination system now supports both temporal and spatial subsampling to accumulate the same visual result with fewer rays fired per frame.\n\nOngoing tasks consist of async creation and additional types of destructible renderer objects (such as gas cloud chunks) to reduce frame time spikes on the CPU.\n\nSQ42\u2019s main fire hazard system wrapped, with the team moving to bug fixes and design balancing. They\u2019re nearly finished with data conversion for better particle effect management, while various performance enhancements are in progress.\n\nNarrative\nToward the end of summer, Narrative continued working with Core Gameplay to refine the number of Galactapedia entries and identify where they will unlock. The aim for the next few months is to lock down the first half of the game from an entry point of view, which will enable the team to fully test the experience and make sure players receive an enjoyable number of entries.\n\nThe team also moved back to live production with pick-up shooting, which involved re-recording a handful of lines for a supporting character. Narrative also supported the Audio department in a \u2018walla\u2019 session.\n\n\u201cIf you haven\u2019t heard this term before, 'walla' is a low, persistent series of indecipherable conversations that go alongside our scripted scenes and dynamic conversations to make areas feel more populated.\u201d Narrative Team\n\nElsewhere, work continued on the in-fiction collectibles that the team is developing with outsourced artists. They also continued to regularly play through levels to review the implementation of the latest content to ensure things are triggering correctly and iterate on the overall flow.\n\nVFX\nLast month, VFX focused on polishing a selection of key scenes alongside Cinematics. They also continued to support the Design and Art teams with ongoing level work.\n\nWE'LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH...\n\/\/ END TRANSMISSION"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":0,"created_at":"2024-09-11T18:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"1 year ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-07 23:08:10","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":20153,"next_id":20156}}