Q1/2025 - Zone Nine Nihilation

Gameplay Mechanics & Combat

Weapon Handling:

• We added realistic weapon recoil and tweaked it several times so guns feel more impactful.

• We adjusted how fast weapons fire.

• Guns now have detailed stats like how far they shoot effectively and how well they pierce armor.

• We improved the reloading system, adding quicker ways to reload using a radial menu and an auto-reload option.

• We changed how the game detects where bullets hit to make shooting more accurate.

• We updated how punching and melee weapons work so they feel consistent, and gave the Machete new attack combos.

• Fixed bugs where equipped melee weapons didn't look right.

Armor & Damage System:

• We did a major rework of how damage and armor function.

• You'll now see an Armor bar on the UI, and broken armor pieces can sometimes be dropped.

• We added mechanics so armor can actually break during combat.

• We built a detailed system where different body parts have separate armor, affecting how much damage you take depending on where you're hit.

• Added Weak Points on enemies (and maybe players) that take extra damage.

• We kept tweaking the math behind damage calculations to get the balance right.

• The game now recognizes different surface types (like metal or wood), affecting how bullets interact with them.

Movement & Character:

• Added camera shake effects during certain actions to increase immersion.

• Added and improved the Sprinting ability.

• You can now take damage from falling too far.

• Fixed issues where the camera could get stuck during climbing (mantling) or after dying.

• Stopped dead character models from weirdly rotating towards the camera.

Survival & Status Effects:

• Introduced several negative effects that can impact players: Poison, Bleeding, Slowed movement, Cold, Exhaustion, Blindness, and being Stunned.

• We created visual indicators for these effects (like a green tint when poisoned) and systems to manage them (like how being exhausted affects your stamina or ability to sprint/punch).

• Implemented a Food, Drink, and Supply system (what used to be just "Food" is now "Supplies"). Added lots of new consumable items.

• Added animations for using items and made sure you can't spam them instantly (cooldowns).

Other Mechanics:

• Implemented Air Drops that appear on a timer, bringing supplies.

• Added a command to let players drop spare ammo for teammates.

• Improved how players interact with items in the world.

Weapons:

• Melee: Fire Axe, Machete, Katana.

• Firearms: Add & update stats for several guns like: AKM, a basic Pistol, Deagle, G18, Uzi SMG, Vector SMG, Saiga12K Shotgun, Benelli M4 Shotgun, M4A1. Updated stats for several guns.

Enemies:

• Zombie Wolf: Added this new enemy type with its own unique behaviors.

Items:

• Consumables: Added tons of new items for survival – Potatoes, Meat, Water, Noodles, Steak, Sugar Cane, Holy Water, MREs, Golden Star Balm, Petfood, Cat Eyes Pill, Instant Noodles, Stimpack, and XCapsules. More detailed information about these consumables will be announced in future Dev Log entries.

Name	Description
Dirty Water Bottle	+ water
Water Bottle	+ water
Soda Can	+ water
Energy Drink	+ water
Sugar Cane	+ water
Mineral Water Gallon	+ water
Bag of Dog Food	+ food
Potato crisp bag	+ food
Military Meal Bag	+ food
Thigh Steak	+ food
Instant Noodle	+ food
Military Bandage	+ health
Stimpack	+ health
Med Kit	+ health
Speed	+% speed
X Capsule	+% speed
Cat Eyes Pill	Night vision
Strong Whiskey	+% damage
Rocket Pill	+% damage
Zombie Blood Pack	Invisible to normal zombies
Viagra	-% stamina consumption rate
Holywater	+% health regen. rate
Golden Star Balm	Immune to cold weather debuff

• Gear: Helmets, various Bags/Backpacks (Military, Tactical, Camouflage) with different looks and inventory space, Gloves, and Boots (Sneaker, Tactical, Trekker, Military) that affect movement speed.

• Traps/Deployables: Toxic Smoke Bomb, Grenades.

  • Future plan: Bear Trap, Mine Trap, Alarm Bomb

• Other: Added Rarity levels (like Common, Rare, etc.) to items.

AI Development

Development Log - Q1/2025 - AI Development

Core Behavior & Algorithms:

• Overhaul & Refactoring: Undertook a comprehensive overhaul of the AI systems. Completely rebuilt the core AI codebase from the ground up, focusing on creating a more modular, efficient, and extensible system. This refactoring allows for more complex behaviors, easier adjustments, and improved overall AI performance. Cleaned up old or unused AI logic to improve performance.

• Spawn Logic: Improved how the game decides where and when to spawn AI enemies, including making them better at analyzing their surroundings to find good spots.

• Decision Making & Combat Logic: Significantly improved the combat logic for both enemy bots and AI companions. Reworked the fundamental decision-making flow for the default AI. Established a clear priority system for AI decision-making: Highest Priority: Current HP% (survival), Medium Priority: Aggression & Retaliation settings, Lowest Priority: Pursuit Duration.

• Attack Algorithm & Strategy: Developed and implemented a foundational attack algorithm for bots dictating target selection, combat engagement, and weapon utilization. Gave the AI basic attack strategies.

• Aggression System: Implemented a comprehensive system for dynamically adjusting bot aggression levels. AI behavior varies based on their aggression level.

  • Settings (Player/Enemy Bots & Zombies): Distinct aggression settings ("Coward," "Default," "Aggressive," and "Always Attack") implemented for both enemy bots and zombies, with varying attack probabilities depending on the target type.

  • Dynamic Adjustment based on HP: Aggression levels now dynamically adjust based on the bot's current health percentage during combat (increasing above 100% HP, decreasing below 70% and further below 30% HP).

  • Retaliation & Fleeing Behavior: Implemented nuanced retaliation and fleeing behaviors when attacked, influenced by the selected Aggression setting and critically overridden by current HP percentage (e.g., Coward bots are more likely to flee, Aggressive bots to retaliate, but low HP significantly increases flee/retreat chances for all).

• Pursuit Logic: Added logic so AI might chase players for different amounts of time, dependent on their aggression setting (Coward: 10-15s, Default: 30-40s, Aggressive: 60-90s, Always Attack: effectively infinite). Pursuit ceases immediately upon target elimination.

• Recovery: Adjusted how quickly AI heals or recovers after being hit.

• AI Director: Added an "AI Director" system to help manage AI behavior dynamically during gameplay.

• Data-Driven AI Creation: Made it easier for development to create different AI types using data tables.

• General Improvements: Made many general improvements to AI decision-making.

Commands & Control:

• Command System Implementation: Implemented a text-based command system allowing players to issue orders via in-game chat. Integrated a new system (ConvoAI) that could allow for more advanced chat interactions or potentially voice commands (development in progress). Each command selected from the radial wheel also automatically triggers a corresponding message in the in-game chat.

• Available Bot Commands: Players can now give AI teammates commands including:

  • Take Cover (Temporary): Orders bot to find nearby cover.

  • Hold Position: Commands bots to maintain their current location or designated nearby point, prioritizing defense.

  • Retreat: Orders bots to fall back to the team's spawn point. Retreating behavior is influenced by aggression settings.

  • Attack the Boss: Orders all bots to prioritize attacking the designated boss enemy.

  • Attack (General): Increases bot aggressiveness to the highest level for 1 minute, causing them to actively seek and engage enemies. Improved how this command works, including linking it to the new ConvoAI system later on.

  • Attack a Specific Location: Orders bots to move towards and engage enemies at a player-designated spot.

  • Request Supplies (Need Ammo / Need Food): Triggers ammo or food/drink requests. The closest bot with the required item will respond and move to the player to drop it.

  • Assist Me: Commands bots to move to and remain near the player, providing close support and acting as bodyguards.

  • Free Move: Reverts bots to their default autonomous behavior.

• Command Response Fixes: Addressed and resolved persistent issues where bots would occasionally fail to respond to player commands promptly or reliably, including fixing bugs where AI would stop listening to commands after respawning. The command response system has been significantly improved for consistency.

AI Stat Recording & Behavior Personalization:

• Player Stat Recording System: Implemented a new system tracking key player performance metrics (Accuracy %, Items Used/Picked Up, Headshot %, Distance Moved, Reaction Time Under Fire, Movement Frequency, Movement Range, Consumable Usage Frequency/Threshold, Aggression Metric).

• Bot Behavior Personalization Based on Stats (Future Implementation): Recorded player stats will be used to create dynamic stat profiles for bots, influencing core stats (HP, Stamina, Aim Skill, Action Frequency), aggression/retaliation, movement patterns, and consumable usage to mirror different player archetypes and dynamically adjust bot settings for a more personalized experience.

Bot Behavior Settings & Customization:

• Bot Stats Settings: Introduced customizable bot stats: HP, Stamina, Aim Skill (Easy, Medium, Cheat), Action Frequency (Slow, Medium, Frequently), Drop Quantity (Few, Normal, Many).

Bot Action Capabilities:

• Full Range of Player Actions: Bots are now capable of performing a comprehensive range of actions mirroring player abilities: Movement (walking, running, sprinting), Combat (shooting with recoil, melee planned), Traversal (jumping, vaulting, crouching, sliding, prone).

AI Systems Integration:

• Integrated the new ConvoAI system, potentially enabling advanced chat interactions or voice commands.

AI Companion Enhancements:

• Environmental Cover Utilization: Enabled AI companions to intelligently identify and utilize environmental cover during combat.

• Improved AI Animations: Polished and enhanced AI companion animations for smoother, more realistic movements and actions.

Realistic AI Companion Interaction:

• Teammate-Like Behavior: Designed AI companions to behave and interact realistically as teammates.

• Text-Based Command Integration: The text command system serves as the primary interface for intuitive player communication and coordination with AI companions.

Maps & Environments:

• Added a brand new map, complete with a working mini-map.

• Polishing the look of the maps and making the mini-map easier to use.

• Added new ground textures, moss, objects like wooden pallets and light posts, and invisible walls to control player movement.

• Did some work rebuilding the underlying landscape data.

• Marked Points of Interest (POIs) on the maps.

• Added specific locations where supplies spawn.

Features & UI/UX

Communication & Social:

• Added an in-game Chat function early on and improved how it looks and works.

• You can now see markers for your teammates on screen and on the map.

• Added a quick ping system using a radial menu to communicate with teammates.

• Worked on the ConvoAI system for potentially better AI chat or voice interaction.

• Added an indicator for when a player is currently "Talking".

UI (User Interface) & Interaction:

• Implemented a radial menu for giving commands to AI teammates.

• Developed and improved the Map & Mini-map screens, adding features like zoom/pan and better layer visibility. You can now press Escape to close the map.

• Inventory: Updated the look of the bag inventory, the weapon display, added rarity indicators, improved the quickbar (items can stack, slight delay when equipping), added slot locking, better item descriptions, organized items into subcategories, and fixed issues with dragging and dropping items.

• Added UI elements for status effects (like the Armor bar and screen effects).

• Updated the small display shown when reloading weapons.

• Improved the pop-up when you look at an interactable item.

• Added and updated a Scoreboard.

• Started building the UI for the game lobby system (screens for finding games, joining custom games, picking teams, etc.).

Online & Session Management:

• Made adjustments to the game's main menu system.

• Added support for Epic Online Services (EOS), likely for features like friends lists or matchmaking.

• Began the technical work needed for players to host and join online game sessions, including custom matches.

• Made a temporary fix for the Team Deathmatch game mode settings.

• Set up initial configurations for how matches run.

Graphics, Audio & Effects:

Visual Effects (VFX):

• Added a green screen overlay when poisoned.

• Created specific effects for the boss (like explosions from its feet, web look, poison smokes). Fixed problems where these effects didn't show up correctly for all players online.

• Added visual effects when players or objects get hit.

• Added trails behind thrown grenades.

• Added screen effects for various statuses.

• Added lens flare and rain effects.

• Made the Poison screen effect fade in and out smoothly.

• Added camera shake when certain projectiles explode.

Audio:

• Used the MetaSound system to create more detailed gunshot sounds (like for the AK47).

• Added specific sound tags for the boss's flame attack.

• Make it so different sounds play depending on where you hit an enemy.

Animation:

• Brought in a system to make character animations blend together more naturally based on player actions.

• Used an advanced animation system mainly to make the boss's legs move realistically over uneven terrain.

• Made it possible to play separate animations for the upper body (like aiming while moving).

• Added many new animations for actions like taking fall damage, using items, melee attacks, and general survival actions.

• Added specific boss animations.

Rendering & Materials:

• Added new textures for the landscape.

• Created specific material looks for items like rain, MREs, petfood, etc.

• Updated how the game handles bullet impacts on different surface types.

Core Systems & Engine

System Architecture:

• Organized the Map System into its own module for better management.

• Did a lot of code cleanup and reorganization ("refactoring") across many systems (AI data, bot management, player character code, behavior logic, item tagging, enemy structure, weak point system, effect naming) to improve efficiency and make the code easier to work with.

• Started using Data Assets more, which lets us easily tweak game balance values (like weapon stats) without digging into complex code.

• Made extensive use of the engine's Gameplay Ability System – this is the core framework that handles what characters can do (abilities), how it affects them (effects, stats), and the rules governing these interactions (tags, cues).

• Moved the logic for the command wheel to the player's controls.

• Experimented with different ways to handle damage calculations in the code (using both visual scripting and C++).

• Wrote core C++ code for the new Body part Armor system.

Plugin Integration:

• Added several pre-built toolkits (plugins) to the engine to help with: advanced animation, AI conversation (ConvoAI), fluid simulation effects, and online services (EOS).

• Fixed issues where different plugins conflicted with each other.

Optimization & Cleanup:

• Regularly removed unused code, assets, and AI logic to keep the project tidy and potentially improve performance.

• Cleaned up the project's file structure.

Bug Fixing & Polish

• As always, we squashed a lot of bugs and polished existing features.

• Fixed problems related to AI behavior, commands, status effects, inventory, damage math, weapons (reloading, melee visuals), menus, maps, traps, boss abilities, physics glitches, online synchronization issues, game stability, and crashes.

• Improved the look and feel of maps, the mini-map, command inputs, attack commands, the team selection process, and various menus.