The Lost Archives #15: A lot of internal changes and rework

Hello all, you may or may not have noticed we changed this channel from weekly updates to monthly. This is no cause for concern however, we just believe you guys would get much more out of these updates with a monthly schedule. That aside we have been very busy rewriting a lot of code, again! This time, the focus was on making things easier for us going forward. One of the biggest reworks was how NPCs manage tasks pathfinding. It is now much more easier to work with, which should help us start to introduce the 16 types of units that will make up the different classes of the game. We already have 2, builders and doctors, but when we started on implementing doctors, it got rather complex due to sloppy code in very important parts of the game. But the good news is that most of this has been addressed, and it will continue to be addressed until we can effortlessly implement NPC behaviours like a piece of pie.

On the same vein as NPCs, I have added some artwork to illustrate NPC backstories in a fun little way. An in-game screenshot should be below. Currently backstories are shared by all classes, but soon we will have to have different backstory presets for each class, as it doesn’t really make sense for builder or janitor to be a super genius, or a scientist to be brain-dead, however there may be a few surprising stories thrown in there, just wait and see ;).

One thing I wanted to say is that I thank all of you for your patience, I know progress may seem slow, but we are trying our best! We have awesome plans for the summer holidays which mostly consist of 9 hour days, every day, for the whole summer. It sounds a bit crazy, but hopefully push the game forward to a playable state by the end of summer. We both love this game, and the idea behind it, but there’s also a part of us that want to finish it so we can explore more ideas in the future, plus exploring the realm of post release content and expansions.

Anyways, before I go, I thought it would be cool to inform you guys of the upcoming classes in the game:

• Subject (this is the code word for anomalies that need to be contained, varying in size and hostility)
• Cavies or Convicts (These are people who are used as guinea pigs to run tests in the facility, they can also be used to do laborious, mundane or dangerous tasks to avoid putting non-disposable personnel at risk.)
• OSS or On Site Security (These people act as general guards of the facility, dealing with any misdemeanour from staff and possibly anomalous entities alike)
• PG or Prison Guard (These people are directly responsible for handling convicts and keeping tabs on them)
• OSTF or On Site Task Force (Later in the game you may be able to acquire OSTF personnel. These people are highly trained personnel who reside on site and deal with the most extreme situations without needing to call in the SRRT)
• SES or Specialised Engagement Squad (The SES is used when a extremely hostile anomaly needs to be secured outside the facility and brought back or if an anomaly is sighted and needs to be contained)
• SRRT or Strategic Recontainment Response Team (The SRRT come onto site if a containment breach has been ongoing for too long and enough damage has been done to the facility. Calling them in is a last resort and once they are in the facility,you are only given a few minutes to deal with the situation before the nuclear warhead is detonated)
• ITF or Interdimensional Task Force (The ITF can be acquired when inter-dimensional travel is researched from a dimension hopping anomaly. They are useful when a dimension hopping anomaly escapes to a different dimension, or when something needs to be recovered from another dimension. They are a subset of the Anomalous Space-Time Unit)
• NTTA or Non-linear Time Traversal Agents (Field agents which have the ability to time travel once time travel is researched. They can be used to recover things from the past or future. You can go back in time onto your own site to recover something, or in the future)
• Field Agent (Field agents are used to re-contain anomalies outside containment before needing to call in the big guns, i.e. the SES)
• Scientists (Scientists is the general group of staff who deal with research and study of anomalies) Scientists have specialisations in many different fields, but it doesn’t affect experiments and research. More just for show.
• Janitors (Janitors are essential at keeping the facility clean which helps increase the beauty, his helps units stay happy and helps avoid mental breaks)
• Builder (already implemented) (These units are the first you get in the game and construct all the blueprints you place down)
• Cooks (All the on-site staff need to be fed in order not to starve. Cooks make food at their workstation which can get served during eating hours. )
• Doctors (70% implemented)(Doctors reside in the infirmary and tend to any major or minor injuries units may have.) Specialisations include General Practitioner, Surgeon and Psychiatrist.
• Administrator (The Administrator is the head of the facility and governs all its runnings. If the administrator dies the game is over. )

That’s quite a lot of information! And a lot of work for us (-, - )…zzzZZZ. We are hoping we eventually get to the more exciting aspects of this game, but we are still making our way through the sludge right now. Since I’ve been going on for way too long, I think it’s time to end this here.

Thanks for reading, if anyone did….ಠ_ಠ

The Team,
Plasmarc Studios