Exanima 
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Coffee Diary - April 2024Apr 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWe've been testing the many changes to the game and our engine with insiders this past month, which especially considering the extent of the changes to engine code, has gone very smoothly. It all seems very stable and we didn't really run into serious issues, though some proved tricky to fix. Insiders are always very thorough and meticulous, uncovering minute flaws and obscure little problems. We've done a few patches already, with many fixes and improvements to things both new and old. We do still want to try to make a couple of improvements and additions for the full update, but things are in a pretty good place already so we're thinking to update the public test branch within the next few days to get things tested by more players and on more hardware. This basically includes physics engine improvements, some cloth physics, 64 bit, updated terrain system and assets, golems area graphical overhaul, a big expansion of the catacombs and a few other bits and bobs. The physics are working better than ever, with more improvements we made during testing, and the performance increase is big, giving us a lot of headroom for more upgrades, new features and richer content. We are currently looking into some very interesting further core improvements we might be able to make, but it's a bit uncertain still and we are trying to move on to other things. There have also been general performance improvements, and better loading times too. One of the features we're actively working on is the late game "save system", which is something that ties into the content and the player needs to discover and interact with, and comes with a few other additions. To support this we need new interaction mechanics, which we're implementing through a "placement zone system" which will support many things, like socketing items into elements of the environment, snapping objects into logical positions (e.g. torch in a holder, bar across a door) and just triggering all sorts of events when a particular thing or type of thing enters or is placed in a specific location. This opens up a bunch of new gameplay elements and interactivity. The concept is fairly simple, but the physics and persistence of the game do introduce a few complications, and we're going for a very versatile system, with core features that can be useful for other things too. We did the thing again, where we invested in big core technologies and features for the future of the game, but we're wrapping this up now and moving on to gameplay systems and content additions. A lot of what we did here will be invaluable for some future content, and we like to tackle the most difficult problems first. The role system will be our next major focus, but we have a long list of features and additions to suit everyone's taste. Best, Bare MettleCoffee Diary - March 2024Mar 4, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThis has been a month of mostly wrapping things up and getting them ready for a release. There have been a lot of important core improvements that affect the entire game and content, so we want to get the game in testing and updated before moving on to other things. This includes the switch to 64 bit and optimisations to many parts of the engine, the overhauled terrain system and all related assets, improvements our physics engine and important new features, a complete graphical overhaul of the golem area, a huge rework and expansion of the Catacombs map and a few other smaller, but still important improvements. It's a lot. Most recently we've been working on improvements and additions to our physics engine. These are things we've been wanting to do for some time and are extremely important for the future of the game. The core physics improvements are immediately obvious in gameplay, they make weapon interactions feel and function better in combat, they solve many problems and we're already noticing how they allow us to do more with level design and interaction. Last month we released a video where we showed what was basically a prototype version of new cloth and soft body features. This is something we hope to use extensively for things like clothing, plants, those creepy fleshy growths, sheets of paper and generally the many things that should be soft, flexible, floppy and squishy. This would allow a new level of immersion and interactivity. Dynamic physical interactions are at the core of Exanima's gameplay and immersive world, and this is something we want to extend to every part of it. The key breakthrough we demonstrated in our video was a performant way to do polygonal collision on deformable bodies. While it's great that we're able to do realistic interactions between cloth and things like weapons, this provides a versatile solution for all sorts of soft bodies beyond cloth, where simpler methods could be considered sufficient. Since the video we've further improved our model, stress testing it and making it very functional and stable under many conditions and applications. We can drape cloth over objects, hold objects in nets and sacks and do all sort of tricky things that require a very stable and accurate model. Performance is of course a major concern, we identified good, fast methods, but we still had to optimise what we showed then. We knew our prototype implementation could be made roughly 10 times faster, and we joked about making it 20 times faster, but that's what we did. Then we optimised it even more, and made it 40 times faster. This being physics, This being physics, it means a bigger performance budget for more cool things. Another important optimisation was making deformable bodies that aren't currently doing much and actively interacting with anything, or visible, or casting a visible shadow etc., go into an idle state where they cost virtually nothing. This is ultimately what allows us to have a huge number of these comp...Coffee Diary - February 2024Feb 7, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsFor this month's diary Madoc made a video again. We mentioned previously how we hoped to use more performance for more and better physics, and this is the result of those efforts. This gets a bit technical, but we think real time physics isn't a very widely understood topic that needs a little explaining. These are some very significant improvements and additions to the game's physics that support a lot of things in terms of gameplay, world building and our development process. They make the very foundations that drive everything in the game better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9-ihvHJdJE Best, Bare MettleCoffee Diary - January 2024Jan 1, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsLast month we mentioned we were migrating our entire engine, game and tools to 64 bit, as we really don't need to support 32 bit anymore and this gives access to practically unlimited ram and many big optimisation opportunities. This was a massive undertaking as our engine uses a lot of very low level (close to the hardware) code and we also took this opportunity to improve and optimise many core systems as we reviewed so much of it. You may be wondering, the game already runs great, why optimise it further? First off, these are not rendering optimisations, as that's GPU territory, but in terms of everything else, and especially physics, these optimisations are extremely important. Unlike graphics which just runs at different framerates and different settings, physics always works in the same way, and for this to work and be any good in the first place, it must always do exactly the same thing at exactly the same rate. This means better performance isn't a matter of higher framerates and better settings, it's simply a hard limit on what we can do with the game. Physics in Exanima isn't just for show, every element of gameplay, every interaction, every motion and outcome is a direct result of physics, no exceptions. Character motions are driven by virtual muscles and are made dynamically, even the slightest collision can completely change outcomes, everything has physics, everything is fully persistent. We never use simple shapes like boxes or cylinders for collisions, but always accurate representations, even when objects have complex shapes that are notoriously difficult to simulate. All of this detailed simulation is expensive, which puts limits on things like how many characters we can have, how many objects, and just generally how detailed and accurate the simulation can be. Greater character density is an important requirement for what we have planned for the game's conclusion, but we also want more physics interactions to add gameplay elements and improve immersion which was the main goal of our fully physics driven approach. This includes things like cloth physics, plant physics, soft bodies, animated tentacles and water to name just a few. This huge migration is now complete and we've also done lots of low level optimisation and a slew of improvements, especially to our tools. We've been using and testing things for a while now and it's all very solid and very fast. The results have exceeded our expectations, with physics performance being doubled, and collision performance specifically almost tripled with room for further improvement. Collisions are particularly important, because while things like character and other motions are expensive, they have a fixed cost, but collisions keep scaling as more objects are involved and the game doesn't place any restrictions on what you can do. Most recently we've been working on cloth physics, which is really the technology which drives cloth, hair, vegetation and soft bodies, so this is a big impo...Coffee Diary - December 2023Dec 4, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsTERRAIN IMPROVEMENTS Last month we briefly mentioned we wanted to improve terrain and our tools. There are more improvements we could make, but this quite large body of work is done now. There's a lot to cover that's not easy to explain, so we recorded a quick video to show it better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijko1HMvXRg There's a lot here to help us push development forward and very obvious visual improvements that you should be able to see first hand in game soon. STONEWORK TOOLS Basically all of Exanima's stonework, the walls and floors, are designed and created inside our tools. We generate very detailed 3D models with all the individual bricks or tiles, and then do a whole series of things to convert this into in game assets. This allows us to make very specific stonework with a very consistent style and results. This process and the quality of the assets has improved over time, but so far we've been limited to regular or simple geometric patterns. Now we've made new additions to these tools that allow us to generate irregular and more "organic" stonework as well. This allows us to make a wide variety of new types of floors and walls using the same methods. This is actually a really important addition to our tools and there's lots of things we plan to do with it. You can already see one of these irregular floors we created in the terrain improvements video. 64 BIT When we started developing our engine it was still important to support 32 bit systems, but at this point it certainly isn't. So we decided it's finally time to make our engine and Exanima 64 bit. This means access to way more memory and more modern hardware features for low level optimisation. The memory has mostly been an issue in our development tools where we work with many millions of polygons and many high resolution images, but with the most recent update we started to feel the limits in the game too. More optimisation is also something that we need for new features and content we plan to add soon, but this is a different path to more performance that should remove the need for that, while also multiplying with it when we eventually do it. Essentially we get to kill two birds with one stone, this had to be done eventually. Moving to 64 bit isn't usually a big problem, but everything in our engine is made by us, and it uses a very large amount of assembly code. This is code that deals directly with hardware level instructions rather than a more concise and human friendly language that a compiler converts to hardware code for you. The reason for using assembly is because we can write much faster code than the compiler. However it's very difficult to work with, and code written for 32 bit won't work in 64 bit. These 64 bit hardware features provide some great optimisation opportunities, and so does working alongside a 64 bit compiler that is based around the same more modern hardware features in general. Madoc has been working tirelessly on new 64 bit versions of our cod...Coffee Diary - November 2023Nov 6, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsHey Exanimates, Welcome to our first monthly coffee diary. Until now we posted a weekly dev diary on the forums, talking about what we're working on and how development is progressing. We're switching to this monthly format now, and going forward we should be able to make these more interesting and maybe include media when appropriate. Keep in mind that we are always careful with spoilers and we prefer it if you experience things in game, so we can be a little secretive. We have just released a huge update, so we've been pretty busy just getting feedback, making improvements and fixes. We're still tracking a couple of issues, but the game now seems to be in the best shape it has ever been. This is the time in the cycle when we properly assess our next major development goals and work on things like systems and tools to support our workflow. At this point though our roadmap is mostly things on a small or medium scale, mainly gameplay features and content rather than major engine or tool development. Our one bigger goal and focus for the next major update is the "role system". We'll likely talk about this more in future diaries, but for now we'll give you a basic introduction. The role system is very broadly what gives characters identities, behaviours, relationships, memories and interactions. Characters might have hundreds or even thousands of active roles, acquiring new ones all the time as they experience things, meet other characters and engage in activities. Roles are often situational, such as "person in shop", through which relational roles like "customer - shopkeep" can be acquired. Any NPC can acquire these roles, they will remember the experience, be able to relate information about it and so on. There's quite a lot more to it, but we won't get into all the details. It's a powerful system that is mechanically quite simple, but requires us to gradually add more and more roles to make the AI smarter and understand more things. We already have a version of this in the game, but with only a few placeholder roles that rigidly script behaviour, not at all how this is supposed to work. Exanima's AI is so far almost purely driven by emotional states and personality traits. This alone is almost enough to model a wide range of behaviours, but the roles are another layer providing much needed context. Essentially the intelligence to guide the emotions. Roles should not override core emotional responses, but rather just nudge them in the right direction and ultimately be driven by them. This sort of thing is our true passion, we want to create a believable world, and to us that's all about how it behaves. We originally didn't make our game physics based because we wanted awesome combat, that was really a gigantic detour from our true goal, driven by feedback. The physics is there because we want things to be truly interactive and less artificial, everything should behave in an organic way rather than according to a simple set of rules and predefined...Exanima 0.9Oct 13, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsEXANIMA 0.9 It's finally here, our biggest and grandest update yet. We go deeper still into the underworld on the heels of a recent disturbance to discover its source. Explore a huge new area to discover its secrets and face formidable foes therein. Unlock new powers as you traverse redesigned locations and seek out hidden places and new and updated items. New gameplay and storytelling mechanics and a slew of improvements provide the best Exanima experience yet. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/a203677e7ac836be33ecba10fb3e5bcc2f3dd568.jpg FORCE THAUMATURGY The Force thaumaturgy domain is here adding a variety of new powers that change how you approach the game. Force is all about physics which is Exanima's forte and we've worked hard to make this something special not just in terms of physics, but also effects, AI interactions and all those things that give Exanima that extra depth and unique gameplay. With Force introduced there are now very meaningful build choices. Both domains are accessible, you can specialise in either one or be a hybrid, more skills are implemented and come into play both in terms of requirements and making the most of Force, with the balance of combat and mental skills also being more important than ever. The thaumaturgy UI has been updated to support all this and other new mechanics. An important mechanic we're introducing is Potential for the scaling of powers, which while still not complete, already provides new story elements and objectives, and will support more build variety and strategic elements. There is also a new Mind power unlocked through the Revelation skill technique. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/5de3a18f2a091927e77541aff6a7d67f26663530.jpg LOTS OF NEW CONTENT A huge new area is included in this update, the largest one yet, packed with new and unique features and taking advantage of how our engine has evolved to support more complex environments. This is an important area in terms of lore, progressing the story and featuring some special new encounters. The first 3 levels of the game have received a big overhaul, with lots of unique features, details and many new secrets to find. New items have been introduced as early as the first levels, and many items throughout the game have been completely overhauled and adapted to our procedural system. The procedural systems itself has also been updated and improved, important new materials have been added giving new variety to all items. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/3e26eb7175b6717c42e6377aefea4c738716d96f.jpg NEW 3D DYNAMIC PATHFINDING We've developed an all new pathfinding system to improve movement, AI, support more complex level design with more verticality and layers and more interactions with the environment. This new system is dynamic and 3D, based on the actual shape of objects, this means for example a table is a completely different obstacle when flipped on its side, or could even be used as ramp. You can walk on any surface and create new paths that even the AI can...Exanima 0.8.4Jul 17, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsSince our last update we've made some major improvements to core gameplay systems and many incremental changes and additions based on feedback and our own goals. There's also some nice late content additions for arena. Our next update is entirely story focused, so we wanted to wrap all this other stuff up and get these very important changes out now. The highlight of this update is the most major changes to combat yet, as well as some smaller, but still very important ones. The combat is faster, more responsive, more solid and realistic, many lingering quirks have been properly addressed. These are transformative changes and we're excited for what it brings to the combat and what it allows us to do going forward as we finalise more skills, itemisation and gameplay features. We've been through a lot of major development hurdles, making our own engine, tools and complex unique game systems, exploring with players the implications of these fundamentally different approaches and how we can make the most of them. With the game being in uncharted territory it's hard to imagine a time when it won't seem like things should or could be improved, and constant community feedback and requests ensure our to-do list is always growing. The major content goals for the game are now few however, and our road map to 1.0 includes a whole lot of gameplay and quality of life additions, many of which we've now covered here. We will continue to improve the game after full release, but it's good to check some of those boxes. NEW COMBAT MOVEMENT SYSTEM Movement and footwork are the foundation of the entire combat and probably the single thing we've iterated the most on. Making the movement physics driven, reactive, somewhat realistic and responsive to the player all at the same time is something we've always battled with, without a clear idea of what might ultimately be possible. For a while now we've been trying to figure out how to fundamentally change the movement so that it's not limited to a fixed step pattern and returning to stance before moving again. If characters could move freely and without pausing the combat would be much more dynamic, faster paced and responsive. Our plan looked promising, and we decided this was too important and had to be attempted. These things don't always work out, we've a hit a few dead ends in the past, but this was a huge success on many fronts. You can now change direction, cancel movements or continue moving without waiting for the previous movement to complete and without pausing between steps. There is also more granularity to how far you move based on inputs. In order to support this we had to also work on the dynamic footwork and animation systems, making for better balance, control and cleaner animation under all conditions. These changes combined offer a level of control we previously didn't think we could achieve. This is a massive change for combat, with huge implications. We have also had to do significant work on the AI t...Exanima 0.8.3Dec 19, 2021 - Community AnnouncementsThe game has undergone extensive changes and received many updates on the beta branch over the past year or so, but it's finally time to bring it all into the main branch again. There's really a lot to cover here even if we just focus on the big stuff, so please bear with us. ITEMISATION CHANGES Exanima for all its physics and realistic approach to armour and weapons is still an RPG, itemisation is important, and loot is the carrot in a game with a lot of stick. But the usual approach of ever increasing tiers with unlikely bonuses has no place here. So what can we do to keep us interested in finding new items, to make them feel special and us invested in them? We have been finding ways to make items as unique and mechanically interesting as possible while remaining grounded in reality. Procedural methods and detailed properties to guide them allow us to do that. This has big gameplay implications, and can also be leveraged in many ways to create a much more realistic and immersive game world. PROCEDURAL WEAPONS {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/a308759df6746d99bd63bb1caf0832f7ee712213.pngFull size image Every weapon that was previously a fixed item like "the poleaxe" is now being replaced with a "factory" that can generate a certain type of poleaxe. This is a large collection of different hafts, langets, bolts, axe heads, rear spikes, top spikes, guards and queues which can be randomly combined to make a unique poleaxe with unique qualities and features. This alone can generate sometimes billions of combinations for a single weapon, but that's just the start, there are also variable deformations. The same haft type can vary in length and thickness, spikes can have varying lengths, curves and tapers, an axe head varies in the angle, curvature, width and length of the blade and has different hole patterns cut into it and so on and so forth. These things give every weapon a unique shape and characteristics. These have important implications with physics, both in terms of collisions and inertia (how the mass is distributed), which is very noticeable. They all handle and behave differently. That's not all. Each item is made and textured with unique generated materials. Different parts of the same weapon might be made from different metals, woods etc. The quality of those materials also varies, and so does the condition. All these weapons are generated from the same one handed falchion factory: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/5d5625861230dc5805ac95d081d997177b52d87a.png Full size image The end result is that there are practically infinite weapons, each has its own characteristics and varies in quality, condition and appearance. Part of our objective was also to make weapons more realistic, and indeed the new weapons both look and behave much better. This already makes weapons so much more interesting, but there is a lot we can do now. We are working on giving each weapon different grips and orientations it can be used in, giving more purpose to its unique features...Exanima 0.8 ReleasedApr 1, 2020 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/a4ac49f9c964e35609745255be7fc61d630c388f.jpg EXANIMA 0.8 Exanima 0.8 is out, and it's our biggest update yet. The thaumaturgy system is here, the largest content addition to date, new creatures, new features and many improvements. Thaumaturgy is the last major system we needed to make Exanima's planned content work and make it feel like a complete game. It's Mind now, Force is next. Mind is by far the most challenging form, and with the gameplay systems, mechanics, UI, controls etc. done adding force will be a blast! :# We do still have some big items on our roadmap, like multiplayer and to a lesser extent ranged combat, but none of that is needed to finally start making Exanima feel like a complete game with purpose and structure, to take advantage of the foundations we've been building and improving. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/eda3bc8c010f35673b221a905c0fe1ab4e27b34b.jpg MIND THAUMATURGY Thaumaturgy is here, and we're starting with Mind. This adds a whole new dynamic to the game, new tactics, strategies and builds. Mind is all about influencing and controlling the actions of others, necromancy and more. Our concept for thaumaturgy is not just a collection of abilities that do very specific things, but a way of interacting with the world. It encourages creative problem solving, situational use and synergies. You should also pay close attention to the world and its characters, not just what your own abilities do in isolation. With thaumaturgy also come the Insight and Concentration skills, with 16 techniques in total. We did run into some last minute issues, so note that one of the core powers and some mods and minor mechanics aren't currently working. We decided to patch those in over the next few days rather than keep you waiting. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/8614037/27b4978d5eb2dbc02204e0527d7eb3f8dc97a1e7.png ANIMATION IMPROVEMENTS We're not quite done with improving things. Our physics driven character motion has come a long way, it works well and in the hands of a very experienced player it can look very good. It will realistically always feel tricky and look a bit silly for a new player, because you have such direct control over how your character moves. At this point we only have a few specific things we want to improve. In this update we're introducing a sort of better "AI" control over how tense each virtual muscle should be at any time. This creates generally smoother motion, removes a lot of jittery moments and improves physics interactions with characters. Importantly, it also offers a bit more control over motion using physics. As we've tightened up the animations over time, they lost a bit of their physics feel, and this brings some of that back. We've also improved how characters negotiate uneven ground, stairs etc. Characters are better at remaining balanced under harsh conditions in general, resulting in less tripping and generally more responsive control when in difficulty. NEW FIRE EFFECT SYSTEM With new featu...Exanima 0.7.3 ReleasedJul 13, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsWe're still working hard on the upcoming major update which includes mind thaumaturgy and two new areas, but we wanted to do an intermediate update and make many improvements to the core gameplay experience. We do also have some small but noteworthy content additions. FLAILS! https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/771722041466457671/66128F5A54CA083D400B77E97EE2F6C3BEE0F8CB/ We've heard again and again how much you want flails, so we've added... Surprise mechanics! Just keep opening those Happy Player Boxes and maybe, eventually, you'll get a flail! What..? Don't you people have credit cards? Jokes aside, flails didn't exactly come cheap to us, with a surprising amount of issues to overcome with physics, animation, inventory functions, world interaction, blood decals, sound mechanics, damage, parrying, combat AI... Oof! But they're a lot of fun so we think it paid off, and along the way, touching on all these systems, we've paved the road for other upcoming features and mechanics. In arena, set that merchant to look for adept weapons and you should have one in no time. They can also be found in the main game mode. DIVINATION You can now find Diviner's Decks. The cards expose various elements of the lore through the beautiful art of Burgzaza, but can they also expose what the future may hold? Keep an eye out for cryptic messages in future release notes... https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/8614037/cf6d1ec7538cb8d849583e81eecea8e7a085ffb6.jpg Changes in Exanima version 0.7.3: Flail weapon Diviner's Decks New encounter type in newest area The proctor has a fancy new sword (yes, changing grips is on the way) Improved hair physics Characters can no longer initiate attacks while in a weakened or staggered state Improved weapon sticking and penetration mechanics Improved character striking motions on successful hits Improved character balance on uneven ground Removed a cause of frequent tripping during locomotion Improved dynamic and rapid recovery from tripping during locomotion Greatly improved stagger and impact response during locomotion Smoother transitions into and from locomotive states Smoother recovery from staggers Fixed some AI being overly passive / peaceful Fixed AI almost never fleeing Characters are less reluctant to position themselves in tight spaces in combat Improved mechanics for staggering from shield blocking Shield blocking speeds are now correctly dependent on weight and stamina Improved various shield combat motions Various small animation and combat tweaks Improved keyboard running controls Improved arsenal and shop window loading times Fixed characters sometimes becoming stuck in a crouched position Fixed keys not working after being carried to another area Fixed equipped unique weapons sometimes transforming into other items Fixed occasional discoloured and black icons Many content fixes and tweaksDaily Deal - Exanima, 25% OffJun 12, 2019 - AnnouncementToday's Deal: Save 25% on Exanima!* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time Exanima 0.7.2.1 ReleasedMay 18, 2019 - Community Announcementshttps://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/8614037/7cee38a5e7a327c35b1a69c4fa8549b9668f667e.jpg GRADUAL ASYNCHRONOUS TEXTURE LOADING In an effort to fix some issues with loading heavier zones we've been making some fairly big changes to how our engine handles loading content. Textures are now loaded gradually in the background after a new zone has loaded. Peak RAM and video RAM usage are greatly reduced, and loading times are improved. While doing this we took a thorough look at loading performance, and found various ways in which loading times can be further reduced, by a lot. We will likely implement and roll out these changes over the next few updates, and hope to eventually see some very fast load times. This should help make the late game feel more like one big area rather than a set of distant locations. CHECKPOINT AND SAVING ZONE CHANGES The way saving works when changing zones has been improved. The game would previously save and load on the transition zone, forcing you to immediately enter the next zone when reloading, and effectively producing a double loading screen. Now when loading you will appear just before the entrance, and can choose whether to enter the next zone or not. In the case of checkpoints, you'll be able to continue playing on the current zone, then create a new updated checkpoint when entering the next zone again. COMBAT MOTION UPDATES The muscle changes in 0.7.2 have affected many motions in unpredictable ways. We're gradually looking what's changed and hearing feedback, reviewing the motions and updating them. Two handed and one handed weapons have been updated to correct unwanted vectors and things have been smoothed out and refined. This, as with all animation and combat related things, is an ongoing process, so keep giving us feedback. List of changes in version 0.7.2.1: Asynchronous texture loads reduce resource usage and loading times Improved zone change saving mechanics Adjusted many combat motions to new muscle systems Improved and optimised numerous assets All things skeletal got some visual upgrades Scales finally have physics! Player placement of articulated bodies now works correctly Improved subsurface scattering shaders Updated some creature materials and textures Fixed many headers preventing texture detail setting from working correctly Fixed some double doors being difficult to open Fixed some shadowing issues with night vision Fixed some weapons sometimes not rendering correctly Fixed tokens sometimes spawning later than when they're useful Fixed becoming stuck when climbing the collapsed entrance on level one Numerous content and small bug fixes Exanima 0.7.2 ReleasedMay 6, 2019 - Community Announcementshttps://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/8614037/779e16ffe41af729b38b2c1fd55384ea37369b4f.jpg UNDER AND BELOW The crossroads has received some changes, and while you're there look out for dark tunnels... A large new area features an all new environment, new creature types, new items and takes advantage of various new level building and engine features. We won't spoil anything, but we hope you enjoy the atmosphere and different pace of gameplay we've introduced here. This also reveals important aspects of the game world. This level represents the final core set of assets required to complete the game, built using new tools and overcoming various development challenges. This is the first of multiple of its kind, which will begin to play an important role. In coming updates we'll be adding more features, mechanics and creatures to the body of content we're introducing here. DIALOGUE PART TWO In the last update we introduced a very basic version of our dialogue system. Since then we've been expanding its functionality to support future content. We want to create a dialogue system that integrates seamlessly with the rest of the game and feels dynamic, rather than being a separate mode. The idea is that you can talk while doing anything else, discuss what is happening as it happens, point to things and say something about them, or ask someone to interact with them, converse with multiple people at once, join or leave conversations that are already under way, use contextually appropriate dialogue, even in combat, and generally treat dialogue as a functional and natural part of interaction, just like in real life. Some of this doesn't have a role in Exanima yet, but the core functionality is now all there. We will soon be introducing more NPCs, and new mechanics that will take full advantage of the system. In this update we have added new dialogue with Derrin, using new scripting, role functionality and AI system interactions. There's a lot of moving parts to making the dialogue feel spontaneous and dynamic, so we'll be keeping an eye on this and refining the mechanics for more dialogue to come. Note that you may not experience all dialogue on every playthrough, as the conditions can be complex. Our dialogue authoring tools have also received big upgrades, allowing us to more easily create and modify large complex dialogue structures and automate common scripting tasks, which can all be quite difficult and daunting! MUNDANE ITEMS Those that have followed us more closely may know that our priority is to create a believable and immersive game world. Everything we do, from physics to itemisation is with that goal in mind. In this update we introduce a huge number of "mundane" items. These are items that do not often have a practical use for the player, but help create the setting and tell a story. We design our environments to have practical purpose and reason, accurately recreating real world locations, devices and processes. Now ...Exanima 0.7.0Jul 10, 2018 - Community Announcementshttps://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/937196050275277301/8B48BB94CEC8B9FAA2CCD7A05D4EB86FD0D410D6/ NEW AND IMPROVED CONTENT Two new levels have been added to the game, featuring all new content, and also music. With these maps we've pushed for a new level of quality, detail and variety, taking advantage of new engine features and development tools. The first 3 levels of the game have also undergone extensive changes and improvements, an updated tileset and a lot of all new exclusive items. Over 130 new items have been added across the game, including new item types like bevors and hats. We've also remastered or replaced many assets to better fit the game's current level of quality and aesthetics. COMPANIONS https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/937196050275283390/EDA4D3D59A8F21C8DDC1137B7C510DCFCC17A6D2/ In this update you can meet your first potential long term ally. This provides a whole new dynamic and a fresh way to experience the game. This was an important first step for the NPC interactions to come. With Exanima's inherent complexity, creating a competent companion was not simple. He is an asset to any player, and we will continue to make companions smarter and more self-sufficient until they feel almost like equals. We will expand on possible interactions, and importantly dialogue, which we can also use to better expose the story and lore. Your companion will gain experience and learn new skills, much as you do. They will also learn to fight better, become more confident and undergo some other changes in their character. DIALOGUE SYSTEM Dialogue makes a first appearance in this update. We are still only using dialogue in a basic capacity, but it will soon become a much more prominent and important feature in the game. Our goal with dialogue is something fully real-time and interactive. It is not a separate mode of interaction, but a part of it. You can talk while performing any action. Dialogue can have practical applications, you can point at something or someone, even while walking, and say something relevant. Tactical applications during combat can also be part of the same dialogue system. People can randomly witness the conversations of others, and perhaps join in, or simply learn something. There are countless applications, it is an implicit part of the world and how you interact with it. NEW DYNAMIC BALANCER https://steamusercontent-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/937196050275299142/3C653DC2E71E921E4BCDB3664C755F6F1C5F84D2/ You may have noticed that Exanima's world has been suspiciously flat. Our characters have not been good at moving or keeping their balance otherwise, and when characters lost balance they'd flop like a sack of potatoes. This is no longer the case. The "balancer" is what has allowed characters make dynamic movements in combat and stay upright. This was overhauled to deal with more difficult ground, such as stairs or rocky slopes, and it is now active all the time, not just in combat. This new balancer does more than ...Exanima 0.6.5.4Feb 7, 2017 - Community Announcementshttp://dl.baremettle.com/Exanima0654.png This update features a large number of improvements, largely based on recent feedback and to balance recent changes. We've also finalised some features that had been incomplete for some time. Cumulative changelog from 0.6.5.3 to 0.6.5.4: Increased parrying speed Increased impact mitigation for many armour types Item quality now affects trade values Exceptional items now come in all colours and variants Reintroduced superior soft leather goods Correct lacquered materials for all quality levels Match prizes substantially increased Added dynamic brightness adjustment for darker arenas and weather Reduced output lag and improved visual accuracy of simulation results This was already good, but now it's even better! Improved cursor tracking accuracy during rapid player movement Fixed weapon masses being calculated incorrectly and inconsistently Improved two handed sword overhead attacks Added many new items to early story content Redesigned many early story encounters New undead voices Fixed torch easily getting caught in the environment Fixed cloth collisions not working Added a warning when entering manager in a match Added colour coding to fighter names in match view Many fixes, tweaks and performance improvements Best, Bare MettleExanima 0.6.5.4Feb 7, 2017 - Community Announcementshttp://dl.baremettle.com/Exanima0654.png This update features a large number of improvements, largely based on recent feedback and to balance recent changes. We've also finalised some features that had been incomplete for some time. Cumulative changelog from 0.6.5.3 to 0.6.5.4: Increased parrying speed Increased impact mitigation for many armour types Item quality now affects trade values Exceptional items now come in all colours and variants Reintroduced superior soft leather goods Correct lacquered materials for all quality levels Match prizes substantially increased Added dynamic brightness adjustment for darker arenas and weather Reduced output lag and improved visual accuracy of simulation results This was already good, but now it's even better! Improved cursor tracking accuracy during rapid player movement Fixed weapon masses being calculated incorrectly and inconsistently Improved two handed sword overhead attacks Added many new items to early story content Redesigned many early story encounters New undead voices Fixed torch easily getting caught in the environment Fixed cloth collisions not working Added a warning when entering manager in a match Added colour coding to fighter names in match view Many fixes, tweaks and performance improvements Best, Bare MettleExanima 0.6.5.3Feb 1, 2017 - Community Announcementshttp://dl.baremettle.com/TheMaw01.jpg We released 0.6.5.2 as soon as we could, and we promised more updates soon. This update includes the second outdoor arena and various improvements that didn't quite make it into 0.6.5.2. More is on the way. We've made some changes to how characters tense their arm muscles during attacks. This was done in response to some long standing concerns about attacks being weak and difficult to control under some conditions. The change has corrected these issues and made swings generally faster and more predictable. It has been in beta testing with very positive feedback so far, but may still require some balancing. Changelog from 0.6.5.2 to 0.6.5.3: New outdoor arena: The Maw Increased the strength characters put into attacks First functional cloth physics Wind effects Sandals added, four different pairs Made shields a less popular choice for NPCs Fixed a bug giving some containers a very low capacity Fixed various terrain rendering issues on Intel HD Graphics Fixed lacquered metal rendering (only new items for now) Rolled back to non adaptive VSync for non Nvidia hardware Various fixes and tweaks Best, Bare MettleExanima 0.6.5.3Feb 1, 2017 - Community Announcementshttp://dl.baremettle.com/TheMaw01.jpg We released 0.6.5.2 as soon as we could, and we promised more updates soon. This update includes the second outdoor arena and various improvements that didn't quite make it into 0.6.5.2. More is on the way. We've made some changes to how characters tense their arm muscles during attacks. This was done in response to some long standing concerns about attacks being weak and difficult to control under some conditions. The change has corrected these issues and made swings generally faster and more predictable. It has been in beta testing with very positive feedback so far, but may still require some balancing. Changelog from 0.6.5.2 to 0.6.5.3: New outdoor arena: The Maw Increased the strength characters put into attacks First functional cloth physics Wind effects Sandals added, four different pairs Made shields a less popular choice for NPCs Fixed a bug giving some containers a very low capacity Fixed various terrain rendering issues on Intel HD Graphics Fixed lacquered metal rendering (only new items for now) Rolled back to non adaptive VSync for non Nvidia hardware Various fixes and tweaks Best, Bare MettleExanima 0.6.5.2Jan 28, 2017 - Community Announcementshttp://dl.baremettle.com/arenanights.jpg HEADING FOR COMPLETION In the past months we've been trying to break free of the endless cycle of improving core features and instead focus on adding what's needed to finish the game. This includes quite a few things, but the really crucial ones are terrain, dialogue and thaumaturgy. Those are what we need to continue and complete the story. Adding terrain was a late decision. We had an incomplete terrain system, and we thought to get it to a state where we could use it for some outdoor arenas. Since then everything's been hugely improved and optimised to support larger and more complex maps, many more dynamic lights and objects, more detailed and realistic graphics and physics, and many other features and improvements. Our terrain wasn't just incomplete, it was fundamentally outdated, it could never support all the things we've come to rely on. We could have maybe worked around these limitations, but it would have been a waste of time. We had to completely redesign and redevelop it. Knowing we had to go back to the drawing board, making an improved and complete terrain system that could also support all these advances, we thought we should take it a step further. Rather than build our engine around two types of environments, we could try to adapt everything to work in the same way, make a unified system that could seamlessly integrate terrain and modular environments. It would take a lot of work, not only to develop the terrain system, but also to abandon the comfortable constrains of highly segmented and flat environments. The payoff was clearly huge though, it opened up many exciting possibilities for future level design and visual variety. After much head scratching, prototyping, developing and refining we finally succeeded. We have a fully functional integrated terrain system with all the bells and whistles. We have our first outdoor arenas, we're preparing to release new story content with it and we will also be adding it to existing content. http://dl.baremettle.com/cavely.jpg WHAT'S NEW IN 0.6.5.2 Version 0.6.5.2 features the new terrain system in the form of arena matches that take place outdoors, with variable time of day and weather conditions. Many new items have been added, some important new features and a host of critical or required changes. There's more content and additions that are very nearly ready, but this much has made it through testing and seems stable enough for you to get your hands on it. We'll be releasing some more updates shortly. While we've tried to avoid spending time on improving things, a few improvements snuck their way in as we worked. There's some notable upgrades to combat physics and animation, and in adapting things to bright sunlit settings we've made some nice enhancements to lighting. Changelog for 0.6.5.2: Terrain based outdoor arenas Time of day and weather system Many new items, including: Brigandines New shields, including kite shields Many new footwear item...
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