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BEWARE - devlog 2023/2024
🕑 Added 2024-04-26 17:46:10 +0000 UTC
Hello everyone, hope you're all doing fine, despite the high petrol prices. Here's an in-depth account of what I've been working on since the release of BEWARE v013:
At the beginning of July 2023, I started research and preparations for NPC behaviour, locomotion and animation. After analyzing all possible options for achieving more natural-looking motion, I started testing a solution that enables mixing classic animation clips with ragdoll physics and variable skeletal stiffness, with pretty good preliminary results. Then I moved on to face animation and lipsync which will be especially important for the in-car passengers. Unfortunately I had to purchase a used iPhone 11 which has a depth camera on the front side. This basically enables capturing face expressions via an app and transferring them to a character inside Unity3D. This new tech also opened the door for some motion-capture solutions, so again, more research and testing. And finally, the depth camera makes it possible to scan objects and convert those to 3D models. I tried to scan my son's face but he would always start laughing, ruining the result. Better luck this year, I hope...
My vision for the NPCs, especially the passengers, is something that feels real rather than looks real - and there are enough cautionary tales to avoid (ME:Andromeda being one of them). So basically, Imagine the kids in the car, bouncing around, jumping from seat to seat, reacting to the dangers present and past, while interacting with each other and us, the driver.
Towards the end of August it became clear to me that the NPC-related workload would take longer than I had hoped for - so I decided to postpone that for summer 2024, and since I'll need to record reference and motion-capture footage outside, this made even more sense. I thought I'd work on something that won't take that long, for the v014 update. Oh the irony.
But first I took a one month break from the digital world. Meaning I spent September with pen and paper, first writing down the story progression from beginning to end and defining all the interactions that will convey the player's experience. In parallel I began writing bits of dialogue and monologue for the NPCs, which felt somewhat weird, because I've never done that (my past films being all with no dialogue), but in the end I got into it and enjoyed the process. Finally, I interjected these writing sessions with drawing the final designs for the models that are currently still placeholders: the refinery pokey cars, the bus tourists, the "goons" and sketched designs for a new type of enemy car and some maintenance non-humanoid robots.
Beginning October, it was back to the computer. For years I've been wanting to have birds in the game (since 2013, to be precise) - but not just birds flying around in the sky. I wanted birds that would land and take off when scared, so I purchased a solution on the assetstore, took the time to understand the code, then modified it so it would work as I imagined, tweaked for better performance and made my own bird models and animations. By mid-November I had a working system with the possibility of hundreds of birds at minimal performance cost. At that point I could have released a v014 update (or rather v013Birds), but I felt that it wasn't enough new content to justify that.
So I decided to tackle the next task on the to-do list, the surface coal mine. v008 Preview had shown that it was too heavy, performance-wise, and the truck's AI behavior left a lot to be desired. To make it short: I created a much better performing and versatile navigation system, re-wrote the truck AI and "hacked" Unity's in-built local avoidance to be usable with vehicles, which was especially tricky on the narrow paths at the start of the mine. In v008 there were 16 trucks driving around - now the system can handle 32 trucks. It's somewhat overkill to have 32 of them on your tail - just one is already intimidating enough - so I'm thinking of making half of them not chasing the player but still being able to detect and alert the others.
I've also added water splashes, water dripping FX and the trucks leave tracks in the dirt behind them. Since I felt the mine area itself looked somewhat too bland, compared to the other regions of the map, It was a good time to refine the environment, adding bigger rocks and some crushed cars scattered around the area.
I also added multiple fixed tire tracks from all the trucks driving around - this helps a bit with player orientation and makes it easier to know where the road is, thus allowing to drive faster. These were done manually by driving a truck around all the paths and recording the tracks geometry + pressure-based vertex color.
The trucks now also have a limited field of vision which makes it possible to stay undetected while driving behind them. There are still some minor fixes to be done there but by mid-march I had finalized a stable and predictable system for the coal mine area and visuals that correspond to the final vision. So I could have released v014 back then - but no. Driving around the area, I had to add one more thing that greatly increases the immersion: proper sound.
For a couple of days I searched the internet for high quality audio recordings to purchase, like the sound of tires rolling on gravel, wet asphalt, car wheels hitting puddles at speed, skidding sounds, wind buffeting and other sounds. Then I re-used and modified some of the code I had already written for the versions prior to the switch to VPP and it really makes the driving experience much more intense, in a good way. I just couldn't find a good transmission whine sound - I'll try to record the gear whine in my Jazz and see if it fits.
Which leads to the last task I've been working on these past four weeks: the engine sound. This has always bugged me... Years ago I recorded the real thing, with a good recording device and microphone, but in-game it doesn't sound like the real thing. Stable RPM loops @ 1000, 2000,3000,4000 and 5000rpm. Many people online write that simulating engine sound by cross-fading these in-game will sound like crap. And I found it very hard to find any kind of advice on the internet except that some specialized sound studios make a living doing this the right way and definitely won't share the secret sauce. Understandably.
In the past I've tackled this again and again, and always ended giving up for lack of progress. Often, being stubborn is a curse, sometimes it's a blessing. This time I did not give up and I've been trying anything to make the engine sound authentic. Analyzing the soundwaves from youtube onboard videos, manually drawing into the sound curves of my recordings, juxtaposing isolated loops of specific frequencies, shaping via volume envelope. And it's been a fascinating learning experience, and... every week I was getting closer. Sometimes it was just a seemingly crazy random idea that produced unexpected results but also, often those ideas that felt like it should solve the puzzle did not deliver at all. And then, three days ago, I finally stumbled on the missing piece, having learned through all that journey what keywords were substantial: "separating the tonal elements from the noise elements of the recording".
I'm not there yet, but very close indeed. All fingers, toes and tentacles crossed. So that's all I've been working on. Probably failed to list everything but these were the main tasks. Oh yeah, I found a way to have dynamic raindrops also on the side and rear window, without affecting performance. Once I'm done with the engine sound, I'll start preparing the v014 release. This means I'll also have to add a new camping ground close to the mine entrance to start from (there's already a rudimentary spot on a hill above it). So that's all for the dev side of things.
On a personal level, I guess mid-life came knocking on my door last year and I've gone through some mind transformations - one of them is shielding myself from the outside noise and algo-driven outrage inducing programming - and just concentrating on finishing BEWARE.
There was this thing last year where the unity suits had probably the most idiotic idea I've ever heard of - demanding fees % based on the number of installs of each game made with unity3d. Some decadence was to be expected since the company went public, but still it made me somewhat sad I had chosen that game engine. For the record, when I first downloaded unity v3 in late 2010 - it was still run by a bunch of passionate nerds from Denmark, who wanted to democratize game dev, or so they claimed.
Also, more often now, I remind myself that I should be thankful. For many things, and particularly for being to able to do what I love. I'm also wearing reading glasses now - my eyesight went downhill this last year. Nothing tragic though. So that's it - hope you're all OK! Here, everything is roughly 75% more expensive. I assume it's similar in your parts of the world, so hang in there and keep on trucking. Wishing you all the very best,
Ondrej
Comments
Pixintendo
No, because that's one of the main points of the game. :)
Tanner Hepp
is there a way to make the ground not as slippery
Konrad Fletcher
I'm not surprised its taking this long tbh, this is an absolutely massive project for a 1 man development team to take on and its a miracle he got this far in the first place. but i definitely dont think its abandoned - he always comes back when we least expect it. Just wish he wouldn't advertise "Monthly Updates" on the patreon if he wants to leave longer between the devlogs.
Konrad Fletcher
Hey does anyone know how to get the logitech g920 + manual gearstick working for v013? if i select the G29 preset everything works apart from reverse gear lmao
Byriii
Is there a way to make this game work with both a wheel and pedals?
Jay
Thank you for doing what you can! I will keep supporting you!
Pixintendo
Well, honestly, I will be very sad if there is no new version this year. A few weeks ago, I dreamed that I received a notification that the new version was out. Of course, by the time I could have checked, I had woken up. In addition, I have had the same recurring dream several times recently that this game takes place in my place of residence and its surrounding areas and cities. I don't think I'm addicted to Beware at all. :D
therickman
Hello, can we expect the next update for this year ? Thanks.
Pixintendo
Ondrej, I know that many people don't like it and are sick of it, but is there a way to make the camera bounce adjustable? As far as I can see, there is still a very slight, barely noticeable bounce, I assume you could adjust this with a slider in the menu, or maybe turn it on and off. Unfortunately, what I was able to achieve with the mod was a fake bounce, because it only moves the camera vertically, but there is no sense of depth, that is, the forward and backward bounce that was still present in the older versions.
Holden Cross
Hype train for the next update! Don't know when it'll come out, but there's sure to be a -flock- of new content.
aucraz
Can't wait for the next update!! If you need, I have some original soundtrack, that would fit into this games world, let me know i'm @aucraz everywhere :)
RockyDangerBuff🔥
Is their anyway to play the older versions, it says that the links have expired?
Pixintendo
Read my comments that I replied to Marco Panaia above you. In short: the new, more advanced NPC animation is not yet implemented.
Josh Jones
enemies dont exit cars after ramming me off the road anyway to fix this?
Pixintendo
I think you misunderstood what I said. Ondrej didn't plan to stop goons getting out of the car, it's just not implemented in the newer Unity versions yet, because he wants to develop a new, more advanced animation system for that. In older versions, you get a more complete gaming experience, but these are more like placeholder solutions. Yes, v007 is currently the last version where you get the most gameplay in a single map, including goons. There were separate versions after that, but they no longer contained the goons and the initial map, only showing the remaining pieces of the map with some car chases. Starting with version 011, the game runs in a completely new Unity version, with new car physics, better graphics, and the entire map in a single scene, but the rest of the game (NPCs, story, etc.) is not yet implemented.
Marco Panaia
This would make 007 the best working version with exiting goons, correct? If there is a better version please lead me in the right direction!! Which post does Ondrej say he stopped implementing the exiting goons?
Marco Panaia
ahh thank you! i will download 007 version then! I wondered why the goons didn't exit the vehicle in the newest of versions. I believed it to be the real shock value of the game.
Pixintendo
This is not entirely true. Goons chase you in several older versions, the last such version being 007. Starting with version 011, Ondrej ported the whole game to the new Unity version (this is where the many separate maps were merged for the first time), and since he hasn't yet managed to implement the more advanced NPC animation, the goons don't get out of the car because of this.
Marco Panaia
I love the game! but can someone tell me why the goons only exit the vehicle in the 0.0.0 version and not the latest versions?
Tommy Stivers
Yeah 75% is about right unfortunately. Everything is skyrocketing. I am glad to hear you're doing well, and I'm looking forward to your next demo!
nathan dimartino
coming along well keep up the good work.
GalaticFIre
I remember seeing BEWARE on youtube back in i think mid 2019 and i instantly fell in love. And in early 2020 i got my first PC and one of the first games i got on my PC was BEWARE. And ive been following this game ever since. This game will always have a special place in my heart <3.
Shoshana
I’m super excited for the birds and the audio changes! I’m not unsubbing no matter what, so take as long as you need for updates!
Pixintendo
I'm glad for the informative post. I think you should never regret choosing Unity long ago. If you are also someone for whom the programming part is the most difficult, and this hinders the progress of the project the most, then you have made a very good decision to choose Unity. Although there are alternatives, Unity is still one of the easiest engines among hobby and indie game developers. I know everyone mentions Godot, or there's the lesser-known Flax Engine (I think it's the most similar to Unity), but as soon as you start to dig deeper into learning it and not just mastering the basic functions, you'll soon realize that it's still better stay with Unity. This is due to the fact that Unity has the largest knowledge base, tutorial, asset tools, and community. If you have a specific problem, you will most likely find it in Unity, while with other engines you would be stuck in the problem. I approx. I've been learning Unity for 1 year (thanks to Beware, because it got me interested in the whole 3D), and at the moment I don't feel that the engine will die in the near future, there are simply too many things built on it, and too many games are made with it. They may have disappointed many existing game developers, but there will always be new ones to fill in the gaps. Maybe many people don't use it yet, but it's a fact that since ChatGPT appeared, it's much easier to learn scripting for Unity if you ask smartly and break the problem down into parts. I think everyone wants to get answers to most thing in the shortest possible time, and to progress with learning and to reach the skill as soon as possible, when the focus is no longer on scripting, but on the actual structure of the game and the creative part. If I ask ChatGPT about less well-known or smaller game engines, I get a lot of wrong answers. This also proves that Unity has the largest and most mature knowledge base from which AI can provide useful information. As far as I know, the original Runtime Fee was changed afterwards, but since you are using an older version of Unity anyway (that is, not the latest LTS), it will not affect you by default. The only downside to the older versions (if I'm not mistaken) is that the annual income limit for the free version is still $100,000, while the newer versions have raised it to $200,000. As we know, in the case of the game, it was already a huge break when you had to port it to the 2019 version, so for now, the project in its current form seems to be the safest.
Court Duvall
Ondrej, thank you for making my favorite game of all time. I've gamed for 40 years. I will support you as long as you want. <3
Eva Novotny
Great job🗽
TōkËtin
very nice to hear back, all work is good work, hoping for easygoing days!
istvanmatetorok
Wishing you the very best of luck and resilience to tackle the challenges. 💪
Marcus Campbell
I'm so glad to hear tour doing good! I was starting to get abit woried that the project may have been abounded
