v1.4.2: Fest enhancements

S.E.A. » Devlog
2 years ago by shiftBacktick
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The latest S.E.A. update brings another vertical slice of enhancements to prepare it for Steam Next Fest. Enjoy new engine sounds, experimental changes like surface strafing, and various tweaks and fixes.

Spoiler Warning

This build also includes experimental changes to underwater gameplay. Terrain is now revealed on collision as another way to interact with it. Scan results are now communicated in a timed sequence to improve their clarity. And strafing has been enabled on the surface to maximize freedom of movement. I'd value your feedback on these changes.

What’s upstream

For a limited time starting June 16, this build will be available for download on Steam as a demo. Please join me on Sunday, June 20, on the shiftBacktick Discord Server to discuss the state of the game and its future. Throughout the festival I may go live with an impromptu livestream.

Please dive in and let me know what you think!

v1.4.2 changes

  • Audio
    • Reduced default compass volume by half
    • Reworked engine cues to be more responsive to input
  • Graphics
    • Adjusted splash screens to show off new star effects
    • Draw nodes consistently across draw distances
    • Fixed drawing on resize when graphics disabled
    • Increased default draw distance to maximum value
    • Increased film grain refresh rate
    • Prevented periodic GPU crashes when tracers enabled
    • Rendered tracers for sun, moon, and stars
  • Movement
    • Allowed strafing on surface
    • Improved mouse turning and sensitivity values
    • Prevented haptics while game is paused
  • User interface
    • Added confirmation screen before starting a new game
    • Renamed motion blur setting to tracers
  • Miscellaneous
    • Updated documentation to reflect changes
    • Updated desktop builds to Electron 13 (Chromium 91)
Spoiler Warning
  • Graphics
    • Adjusted exploration node coloring
    • Improved background color depth transitions
    • Limited maximum number of exploration nodes drawn
  • Movement
    • Allowed surfacing regardless of vertical velocity
    • Doubled normal underwater speed
    • Improved underwater collision detection memory usage
    • Remembered collisions as exploration nodes
  • Scanning
    • Added binaural processing to scan results
    • Attenuated reverb while scanning
    • Improved load times for games with many scans
    • Reworked scan results cue for directional clarity
    • Voxelized scan collisions
  • Simulation
    • Simulated speed of sound of current medium
  • Treasure
    • Added musical instruments as possible junk
    • Expanded munitions with new adjectives and nouns

Files

SEA-html5.zip Play in browser
Jun 05, 2021
SEA-win32-x64.zip 79 MB
Jun 05, 2021
SEA-linux-x64.zip 74 MB
Jun 06, 2021

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ironcross322 years ago

There's an issue with this version where upon performing a scan that returns a lot of results, the sounds will cut out harshly, stay out for a few seconds, then come back. When they come back, the stereo field seems kind of wrong.

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shiftBacktick2 years ago

Thanks for the report. That’s a known issue in every build released where the audio process enters and attempts to recover from a bad state. I’ve tried everything except completely replacing one of my favorite sounds, which I will have more time to address after this event is over.

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shiftBacktick2 years ago

I should add that before v1.3.0 the game would completely crash at this point. I wrote an automated script that would attempt to replicate this bug with a very low success rate. It helped me identify the issue and a path to eventually recover the audio process. It’s not perfect but a step forward. With the new content in the pipeline I have an opportunity to replace the treasure cues with something more stable.

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