Remnant A Fleet of One

Alpha and Omega: Alpha Milestone Recap

WOW!

So two months of production sure as hell whipped by fast. Currently we're on the lonely production floor with most of the school having left for Christmas (HOLIDAY) Break and it's weird to look back and reflect back on the last sprint.

SO. Let's recap where we were at Milestone 2 (M2) and bring you up to speed.

So at M2 we had hit our objective of "Player Feature" complete. In-game every ability, weapon,and command had been implemented and was fully playable (with the exception of the railgun particle effects). Additionally we had seen a MAJOR content push on environmental art, user interface, player feedback, and in-game effects. Let's not certainly forget some major enemy A.I. boosts, the Battleship, Fighters, and Assassin ship saw some love and are now pretty compelling enemies to battle against.

So what happened from M2 to Alpha? Here's a quick rundown.

• MASSIVE A.I. OVERHAULS AND ADDITIONS - Enemies saw more in-depth behavioural programming. Assassin ships are smarter and faster, dodging Player fire and blitzing in for its lethal melee strikes (yes, the ship has melee).  The Battleship got a new weapon, a rail gun of its own, and if that weren't lethal enough it is now impervious to Player attacks, unless of course you can find its weak spot. We saw the addition of smart mines (mines that will momentarily track the player once tripped), the Inquisitor (the Fighter's younger brother), the Macula (an autonomous recon drone), and the addition of the monstrous final boss, the Liberty Shadow.
• NEW REDESIGNED IN-GAME HUD - After a re-evaluation of the former HUD, we recognized that the information we were trying to pass to the player was simply not getting across. After some help with our mentor (Derek Tam) we redesigned the in-game HUD with simplicity and minimalism in mind. We stripped out the unnecessarily elements and focused on what was most important. What we have now is a radial HUD surrounding the player displaying health and the overcharge meter and a simplified fleet management system.
• IMPROVED FLEET MANAGEMENT - After much thought and consideration, as well as feedback on the HUD, we modified the Drone Fleet. They're smart, faster, more capable, and now move as squadrons. We found this makes command over your drone fleet more intuitive without stripping out the core of its tactical nature.
• NARRATIVE AND CINEMATICS -  It's not all run and gun in Remnant; each level saw the treatment with the implementation of voice acting between characters, in-game cinematics, and branching dialogue (yes, we have a branching dialogue system a la Mass Effect/Fallout/Skyrim.) Thanks to our sound designers and friends we've been able to cast and record quite a number of characters, bringing the universe of Remnant to life.
• GUNS, GUNS, GUNS - This may be a little exaggerated, but who wouldn't be more excited? The Rail Gun was given its particle effect, making pulling the trigger on it give it the BOOM and KICK it deserved. Additionally we saw the implementation of the Tier 1 Overcharge. If you effectively use your drone fleet, you'll gain Overcharge for your Tier 1 weapon, effectively turning your blaster into a Turbo Minigun.
• CONTENT AND GAMEFLOW - Our theme for the Alpha Milestone was "Content" and "Gameflow" meaning we wanted to push ourselves to get a fully playable game state of the entire game in by Alpha. With the implementation of our front-end menu system as well as respawning and check pointing, we have a three level playable game from tutorial to 5-min vertical slice to final boss.

That's a quick rundown, we'll be unveiling some updated gameplay footage tomorrow before we're booted off campus for the break.

Also on a final note, we participated in a "Student Interactive" Competition for Digi BC last Thursday at EA where Remnant came in 2nd Place.

Happy holidays,

Team Foundry