Hey everybody, Technically this isn't the first weekly update, as I posted one a few months ago, I'd like to not really count that one and it went over movement and required mechanics all games need. This week I'll be going over polishing the office, starting on some models, and polishing the closed beta we would like to post soon. We did alot this week from updating the rendering engine, to starting on the AI for the animatronics.

Where Have We Been?

I honestly feel horible almost abandoning this project without saying anything. But with so much progress being made so quickly I think it'll stick this time. I had to stop working on the game for a while as I just didn't have the time between school and other issues. Modeling takes a while, scripting takes a while, and animating takes a while. I have a lot of more time now and more of a plan on what I want this game to end up as.

What Has Changed?

Well, to start off, the rendering engine has been completly changed. Orginally we were using something called URP, which is much more optimized than others, however this meant it only supported a max of 8 lights, adding more turned out to be difficult and we gave up, now we are running HDRP, the game not only is able to handle more lights, but it even looks 10 times better.

Before:

After:

We adjusted the scaling of some objects and the character itself as well, for the office we have plans to add a vent on the wall left to the monitor, and add improved filing cabinets on the back wall to the left of the monitor. In the final version you can expect things to be much darker and the flashlight is super important to gameplay, without it the game is pitch black. You may also notice we switched the positions of the monitor and the phone, this is to make the camera system easier to access and the phone more highlighted in the office, we also implemented lights on the phone that switche from green to red if the phone is being used, while there was a green light on the phone before, it didn't mean or do anything. We also completed a rough draft of the door system, and are now able to copy and paste it to speed up the process hopefully. Finally for the aesthetics part of the game, we plan to remap the textures, as there are some major inconsistencies with the scaling.

The AI of Fred (Our Animatronic Placeholder) has been changed to be more threatening and deadly, and work on the jumpscare animation is to be started. He now has a bigger range of vision and will pathfind around objects to get to the player, we also plan to make his vision a cone, and make it so he can't see through walls. Work on the animatronics models is being started, and I started working on a better placeholder for Fred, so I can animate him and finish the jumpscares.

Again, this is not a model that will be used in the final game, and it is being put together extremely quickly.

Future Plans

The whole point of these weekly updates are to show you guys we are actively working on the game, and how close we are to completion, as well as to get feedback on what we can change and make better.

I would like to fill the rooms up better with random decorations and filler objects, as well as make more animations and record some custom sounds for the game, I can't be completely sure when the beta will be ready, but most likely in the next few weeks.

Final Words

The point of this game is to try new things and experiment with sound design and mechanics so I can create something even better in the future. So thank you to everyone who has helped in the past, @ThePlayer25 and @tymek09 as well as the other people who helped so long ago. Can't wait to update you guys again next Friday!