Paxitium Devlog #1: Network Conversion news

Welcome to our very first devlog of our upcoming survival co-op game called Paxitium! About 2 weeks ago, we have posted an update video, which you can check out HERE. The purpose of these dev logs are to inform viewers on what he have changed through the past week. We plan to push these updates out weekly, including some added features and improvements in general.

This week, we were unable to get a massive amount of work done, but we did manage to finish converting all the net-code to a new networking engine (switched from Photon to Bolt Engine). This will allow for player-hosted servers, as well as dedicated servers in the future, improving overall workflow and maintainability. The heavily reduced bandwidth and advanced interpolation algorithms will also result in smoother multiplayer gameplay. This also allows LAN discovery for easier identification of servers hosted in your very own network.

Regardless of the massive amount of time it took out of this week, we were able to improve several things. First, we improved the steering to behave more realistically, and takes far more time to reach the maximum turn angle. This makes the car less mobile unless if you slow down when approaching corners or sharp turns. The steering wheel also rotates more realistically in revolutions, as opposed to just tilting it 45 degrees.

We have also started working on our first island in the actual game (you might have seen this already in the images section), featuring a massive tower in the middle to serve as a unique monument. It is HIGHLY work-in-progress, and is planned to have a lot more objects, villages, and enemies to populate the empty space. Some screenshots of the scenery are down below.

In addition to a new map, we have also successfully added looking up/down animations. Each of them being different depending on the item you are holding (none, one-handed, two-handed). Here are some GIFs.

As mentioned before, the Bolt framework conversion drained up most of the time that could be used to develop new features. However, converting to Bolt was a necessary choice, since it will provide improved reliability, bandwidth optimization, and local co-op. We apologize if this week doesn't have many changes to show, but keep in mind there were many revamps under-the-hood.

Full changelog:

• Rewritten multiplayer from Photon Cloud to Bolt (took up most of the time).
• Added a new and first island to the main map.
• Day/night cycle is more accurate and optimized, using internal server time to synchronize rather than events.
• Started to rework floating origin system (to avoid floating point graphic issues)
• Started improvements on whole AI system using RAIN.
• Steering is much more advanced and takes time, requiring vehicles, such as cars, to slow down when making a sharp turn. Bicycles have a faster turning rate, therefore, easier to control.
• The server is able to ban/kick people through the console based on account or their remote IP.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed what you saw, and we will see you in next week's devlog! We are aiming to complete the floating origin system, and a new AI system by next week.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin - Luton Studios