Game Beats
A lethal virus has infected Treasure Island,San Francisco. It is up to Captain Winter, a U.S. Army soldier working with the Center for Epidemic Research and Control (CERC), to stop the mysterious and deadly Pangu Virus from spreading to the mainland. The Cepheus Protocol is an independently developed top-down RTS inspired by XCOM, Company of Heroes, and Parasite Eve.
In Cepheus Protocol, you will make decisions that will force civilians to either rally behind you or attack you outright. How you decide to combat the virus is entirely up to you. You can fire bombs and leave no trace of human life behind or you can try and save everyone at the cost of your squad's safety. The game features a full day and night cycle and will adapt over time to make the Infected more dangerous as the days progress. The Infected will mutate and adapt to the player, creating a challenge at every turn.
You will control fully customizable teams that you will send into the infection zones to do CEDA Missions, help civilians, or just seek out Patient 0 . You will lose men if your arent careful and be forced to train and recruit from your player base. Each solider will be unique to a point with randomly generated traits and skills allowing you to tailor them with specific tactics.
You will have to use all the tools in your arsenal and research the plague to discover its origins. You will use your knowledge to cure it to stop the virus before it causes everything to spiral out of control. You will hunt Patient 0, a unique carrier with special abilities that gets stronger as the days progress. You will be confronting and fighting her over a span of main missions and side objectives riddled across the island.
What's that Sound? O, its just a Juggernaut no big deal...
Dev Update #10
Concept
Maik worked on the Juggernaut one of the most dangerous enemy variants in the game. Easily able to wipe entire squads effortlessly if your not careful.
Level Design
Satya caught up after being sick for the past week.
Joel worked on refinement of the right island
Joel worked on some main menu concepts we're still experimenting but a final approach is starting to formulate.
Jacob worked on further refinement of his district
Nigel worked on optimization of shaders and various VFX such as this.
Thad worked on finishing up Jacobs zone on the right right while hes on vacation.
Animation /Programming
Myself and Clara mostly clara worked to get the animations implemented and starting debugging and getting them implemented. There still some details missing like upper body recoil + some bolts moving but its getting there over the next few days.
Over the weekend i worked on a target acquisition system so the AI weren't as aim botty as they were in previous builds. They now require time to actually look at their target and build an internal meter simulating them aiming to engage their targets.
AI will actually aim and wait for the perfect shot to ensure they maximize their damage.
I also added a system relating to how they handle turning left and right adding a Interpolation between their switching between targets. Again this is all incredibly wip and simply the first implementation of the system.
Hive Mind AI
I added the first steps in a Hive mind that orders the infected around as you cause more and more commotion on the game-map .Infected will now attempt to surround the player and flock across the entire map in groves once you start to rack up kills as you are enraging Chelsey(patient 0) well simulating that aspect of the story in this play session i cleared out the base and by the time i attempted to head into the forest on my way back to the city, the Hive mind had ordered the city mostly emptied and charged into the nearby forest trying to find me and spreading out a good distance to attack on multiple fronts if i was still in the area. Also added it so the infected will randomly run about when they are issued move orders by the Hive mind like they are being directed by another force once you start causing a big commotion I.E starting to get enraged.
Programming/Build Additions Cont.
Derek worked on a dynamic formation system for trying to keep squads in formation over vast travel distances.
He experimented with Nav Proxy actors for doors but we're still debating if this is the best way to approach this.
He made switching formations even more painless allowing them to instantly reform on a simple key-press instead of having to reissue another move order.
Preview visualizations and more bug fixes to units and how they occupy their formations when the location is blocked/invalided.
Recruitment
Currently we are seeking talented individuals in the following roles. It should be noted the project is post launch compensation and we are incredibly willing to work with any individuals schedule that might be interested. Feel free to send me an example at with your reel.portfolio and/or website.
- 3DMax Animators
- Prop Modeling
- Character Modeling
- Concept Artists
Email : recruitment@halcyonwinds.com
Community Discord Server
We started a Discord! Join it and support the game we're still turning on the lights so it will be more filled in over the next few days!
