[2022] Week Thirty-Two Update | Time Pressure

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

Icarus' missions have always had a time limit - but can you race against the clock to complete a multi-stage mission in under three hours? Week Thirty-Two introduces a new multi-stage, time-restricted mission which incorporates some of our original design intents with a ticking clock, alongside improvements to mission pacing and engagement to raise the stakes, and get the heart racing.

Alongside this new mission to sink your teeth into, we’ve made an array of improvements to our UI/UX and building pieces, along with adding deep ore mining veins to Outposts as part of our plan surrounding their development. Jump in and have a read!



Three hours only for Abyss: Research
Here’s your mission briefing:

Abyss: Research

// OPERATOR: Group 15
// BIOME: Ring Lake
// BACKGROUND: Unique ore deposits discovered on Ring Lake
// MISSION: Extract and research unusual ore. Monitor effects on environment
// TERMS: Initial scans detect unstable material. Proceed with caution
// TIME LIMIT: 3 hours

The Abyss: Research mission starts at the Ring Lake in the Styx terrazone, unlocked after completing the Zephyr: Expedition mission.

Of course, missions on Icarus don’t always go to plan. We’re continuing to experiment with more varied mission types and, for the first time, this mission includes an Optional Objective. If you reckon you have enough spare time to complete this extra request (to discover a way for prospectors to handle the new Abyssal Oxite safely) then you’ll gain additional Exotics as your reward.

Beware! With only three hours to complete the mission the risk of running out of time - and your character and all your gear being abandoned on the planet surface - is high. If you want to play it safe you can always purchase Insurance, which offers lower rewards but a guarantee that your character will be rescued if you run out of time.

Originally posted by author: One of the advantages of Icarus' session-based missions is that we can continue to vary and experiment with mission structures - such as shorter durations or optional objectives.

Over the course of developing Icarus we learnt a lot about how players respond to time limits. Originally we launched with a real-world timer, which was unique and not a common game design choice. The threat of permanently loosing your character and gear if you missed your deadline certainly motivated people, but when it took players by surprise returning to the game a week later, well, that it seemed unfair. In response to your community feedback, in April we changed our timer to a easier-to-understand in-game timer, although the penalty is still the same.

We also heard that some players missed the time pressure and the harsh permadeath-like penalty. So, just as we have a choice of difficulty settings, we plan to offer a choice of varying length missions. That should cater to players who like to take their time and prepare before setting out as well as those who love to recklessly race ahead.

However, we haven’t changed the time limits of any of our existing missions at the moment, so we don’t upset any of your missions-in-progress.

Jake Dodunski - Project Lead

Deep Mining Ores in Outposts
The addition of the entire 64 km2 Olympus map as a permanent Outpost has proven very popular, and we are continuing to add features to Outpost mode. From this week you can now find Deep Mining ore deposits through all the Outpost maps, providing another way to gather large quantities of materials with a Biofuel-powered or Electric Deep Mining Drill.



Key fixes
We’ve made a range of key fixes this week that improve the UI experience for our players, along with some fixes and balances to the constructibles.

You’ll now be able to hide quest UI when in a prospect by pressing numpad 7 (this can be hot-keyed if you wish), and we’ve also adjusted the critical hit numbers on screen to read out the exact damage delivered rather than ‘20x’ which required more quick math than we had intended. We’ve also made some changes to armors impact from storms:

• Fixed the damage type of many tick damage sources to no longer cause damage to armor, notably storms. This means the damage taken from storms will no longer be prevented by armor, but armor will still provide exposure resistance. This means you will take more damage to your base health, but your armour will not deteriorate

We’ve also implemented some fixes to our constructibles and their interactions with deployables and weather elements.

• Fixed an issue where Concrete Items Crafted in the Cement Mixer would recieved the 'Reinforced Glass' Stats unintentionally
  
• Reduced Water Consumption on Glass Bench from 1000 to 250 - Upping Water Consumption on Cement Mixer from 100 to 250
  
• Added the long awaited Glass Floor buildable
  
• Fixed an issue with deployables losing shelter if they were placed on a Frame and then a Floor was placed on top of the same Frame, overlapping the deployable

Changelog v1.2.7.98644

Added
• Added Mission: ABYSS: Research.
  
• Fixed tagging on ABYSS: Research items.
  
• ABYSS: Research, added area indicator for first objective. Fixed multiplayer objective tracking.
  
• ABYSS: Adding item icon for Environmental Monitoring Station in D_Itemable
  
• ABYSS: Research, fixed monitoring station balloon interaction. Rescaled pacing on optional objective.
  
• Mission fixes for ABYSS: Research, rewards are available, tooltips fixed, multiplayer progress shows properly, recipes updated.
  
• Configured ABYSS: Research dialogue, descriptions, timer and rewards.
  
• Corrected Feature Level and Added Talents for ABYSS: Research
  
• Implemented final core gameplay for ABYSS: Research, pending polish.
  
• ABYSS: Research mission framework in, pending assets and tree toppling.
  
• ABYSS: Research, additional content. Pending finalization, testing and polish.
  
• Initial setup of ABYSS: Research mission.
  
• Added Glass Floor Pieces.
  
• Adding Deep Ore Deposit spawn points to outposts 1-5
  
• Added a keybinding to show/hide the Quest UI (Numpad 7 by default)
  
• Adding new mission Items Partially Digested Enzyme, Biological Contaimment Power Source, Enzyme Containment Unit
  
• Adding new Session Flags for Enzyme Containment Unit
  
• Adding new functionailty so creatures can add items to their contence based on session flags
  
• Add unique screenshake and muzzleflash effects for each projectile weapon (Pistol, LeverAction, BoltAction, Shotgun). Weapons now project light when muzzle flash plays.
  
• Moved a bunch of Debug logic into a separate function in BallisticBehavior Base. Added some Trajectory debugging.
  
• Tweaked notifier in Pistol reload montage so that it finishes the animation before allowing the next shot to take place
  
  
  Fixes
• Fixed the damage type of many tick damage sources to no longer cause damage to armor. Notably storms.
  
• Fixed issue with deployables losing shelter if they were placed on a Frame and then a Floor was placed on top of the same Frame, overlapping the deployable
  
• Fixed the crash which would happen by closing the game during an active weather event
  
• Map Icon for scanned Exotic deposits will now persist between sessions
  
• Resasving Inventory and Quests Datatables as there was unsaved changes when committed files related to the new Missions
  
• Fixing KillCam Damage numbers so they display the actual value dealt and not the artifically inflated values
  
• If a prediction triggers a KillCam, the damage will guarentee a kill on hitting the target
  
• Kill cams will only guarentee a kill on hit if the target is the same as the one in the KillCam predicted - this means, if a boss or other creature gets in the way after a KillCam prediction has occured, the boss or other creature will not be insta-killed if it is not the predicted target"
  
• Fixing issue where Concrete Items Crafted in the Cement Mixer would recieved the Reinforced Glass Stats unintentionally
  
• Reducing Water Consumption on Glass Bench from 1000 to 250
  
• Upping Water Consumption on Cement Mixer from 100 to 250
  
• First pass of audio terrain zone FMOD implementation. Base pass on Narrow, Medium and Wide canyon delay. Removed blend sends from quad delay.
  
• Cleaning up bad file commit in source art Script Folder as per request
  
• Improve reflection audio debug - create new log category and use it to activate visual debug too. Code review tweaks to audio reflection system. Remove deprecated reflection system from BP_PlayerEnvironmentalAudioComponent.
  
• Attempted fix for Floor Torch Niagara effects not enabling on rejoin of a Prospect
  
• Spam left clicking does not consume stamina
  
• Fixing issue with Sprinting while under the effects of BaseStaminaActionCost_+% costing no stamina
  
• Adjusting audio for updated geyser effects. More intensity and additional bonus splash at the end. Adjusted play rate to fit updates better
  
• Additional FMOD quad delay parameters which set weighted averages of left and right strength results. Will be implemented to pan delay channels away from adjacent cliffs etc.
  
• Adjustment to geyser audio volume and burst rate to match with intensity better
  
• Adding in geyser burst audio and blueprint functionality. Will require looped Niagra effect (coming soon)
  
• Audio terrain zone heatmap functionality. Allows us to set up heatmap gameplay textures to define zones in each terrain for audio-specific purposes. PlayerEnvironmentalAudioComponent samples the map and uses the results to set global FMOD parameters defined in a new datatable - this can be expanded to include other functionality. Have included a WIP test texture but havent assigned it in D_Terrains - audio team will test drive before we commit to using this.
  
• Minor ProjectionComponent refactor. Projection widgets should now have their fade in/out distance set by component only. Fixed some projection widgets not fading in and out correctly. Hunting blood trail direction indicator now stays visible as long as player is near (as long as trail has been interacted with previously). Slightly increased range at which you can see other players names. Added name widget to mount. Removed player name when riding mount
  
• Small adjustments to the quad delay (reduction by about 2db and slight eq tweaks) for better subtlety. Also adding biome specific impulses
  
• Fixed issue causing glass angled roof pieces to have incorrect materials when destroyed.
  
• Updated Dry Run: Expeditions map markers to use the latest systems. This fixes a bug in the old implementation. Fixed the location registration of the cave objective.
  
• Set up new convolution reverb routing based on biome group. This is a starting point to give us more flexibility around how different areas broadly defined areas will sound - further tweaking to follow.
  
  
  Future Content & Art
• Added recorder component to Mounts. Mounts are now tied to a CharacterID owner/tamer. Mount names can be edited by their tamer and serialise for reload. Added saddle item to be used with mounts, you can only ride a mount if has an equipped saddle. Improved mount tooltip. Mount interaction is now done through the Character instead of the attached saddle. Added native mount base class. AIcarusCharacters now support Recorder classes and orchestration event binding in blueprint
  
• Added interface for interacting with mount inventory and equipment. Added ability for mounts to be named (only on server currently). UMG_DarkTitlebar is now localization friendly. Everything that was referencing UMG_DarkTitlebar should now be linked correctly to our string tables. UI Stat displays now support non-player targets. Mount AISetup now has Developer feature level.
  
• Added Mission: FLATLINE: Research - locked?
  
• Adding new Mission FLATLINE: Research - Where prospectors will need to stabilise a damaged biological containment unit
  
• FLATLINE: Research is playable from start to end
  
• Locked FLATLINE: Research behind Development feature level
  
• LC Cave Entrances 01 02 - first pass
  
• Created Swamp Cave 01 template and stalagmite stamps
  
• Added SW_Cypress_Var3
  
• Added SW_Cypress_Var2
  
• Added SW_Cypress_Var1, including first pass of chopped tree BP
  
• Created A New Test Level, To Play With New Assets And Block Out Concepts
  
• 2nd pass on Swamp Macro 03
  
• Fixed Random floating lily pads on Blue/Red/Yellow Quad, Styx
  
• Submitted asset SM_DCO_StatueGrizzly_Bronze to the project, created amterial and added textures
  
• 2nd pass on Swamp Macro meshes 01-02
  
• Updated compression on the wooden roof RMA map to match reflectivity to other wood pieces.
  
• Fixed random lily pads floating on map in Green Quad, Styx
  
• SW Cliffs - temporarily swapping out incorrect LOD materials
  
• First pass on SW cave entrances
  
• Added a new destructable mesh for the dropship made from the crashed dropship debris assets.
  
• Second pass on swamp macro 5, tweaks to master SW rock shader and tiling textures
  
• Improve grass types allowing them to appear farther in the distance. Fix SM LOD distances do they swap out sooner to improve perf.
  
• Added more cliff stamps for volcanic biome
  
• Made swamp cliff stamps for new DLC biome with SW Rocks
  
• Create cliff stamps for new Volcanic biomes
  
• Made cliff stamps for Swamp biome with new SW rocks
  
• Updated blackberry bushes with damaged leaf textures and tweaked LODs
  
• first pass on small swamp rocks
  
• First pass on Medium swamp rocks
  
• First pass on LRG swamp rocks
  
• DCO_StatuePolarBear_Bronze mesh, textures and material
  
• Added temp collision and LODs to Swamp Macro meshes
  
• LC Large Rocks - mesh, textures, materials added
  
• LC Medium Rocks - meshes, textures, materials added
  
• LC Small Rocks - temp LODs and collision added, material tweaks
  
• LC Cliffs - temp LOD and collision added, material tweaks
  
• Added Terrain 018 as a test map for artists
  
• Delete prototype assets for swamp water
  
• Added swamp surface function and required extra MFs and textures, changed MA_UniversalWater to include option for swamp
  
• Removed the flickering from the arrowhead plant bilboard shaders
  
• Updated flax plants bilboard shader to remove two sided flickering
  
• Added 3 variants of the arrowhead plant to the project.
  
• First pass on swamp Macro meshes
  
• Submitted the asset SM_DCO_StatueScorpion_Bronze to the project, created material added textures