Transmission 1.0

Project Apparition Development Log

This will be the first of many developmental updates for Project Apparition, as we progress, the media that comes with these updates will increase but for now, for this early stage in development, it will be more text than anything else.

We started development about 7 months ago, juggling between the project and life has been difficult, but when there is a will there's a way, most of our spare time goes into the project.

What we want to achieve with PA is no small feat, it requires a huge amount of proprietary code, it requires a solid foundation, that has the ability to evolve and be expanded on but also be sustainable and efficient. This has meant for the past 7 months I have intently focused on the games framework and have little to show in the way of consumable media. We hope to explain where we are at.

PA will be a server authoritative game. But what does that mean? The easiest way to explain is to look at MMO’s, and how they operate and deliver content. Most games like ours, match based multiplayer games are usually served with a host/client system whereby one of the players hosts the game content from their own PC/connection and the other players send and receive game data from the host. We do not want to do it this way. It means hacking, cheating and griefing is much easier without developing very complex anti-cheat systems and or hiring a large team to handle violations.

Since PA will provide a persistent space of play, with statistical tracking, leaderboards and rewards we need to make sure we have full control over the game, to protect others from online harm and to make sure the game is fair and rewarding for upstanding and committed players.

Where I am at with the underlying framework to deliver the former is as follows;

• The logic to find and connect to servers is done, PA works with multiple servers that seamlessly move players between them when joining others.

• We have the code down to enable multiple authentication types for player connections and account linking. Default is Steam.

• Lobby management works, players when connecting are assigned their own apartment lobby, this becomes their space. When they close the game, the lobby is open for another player to join. Lobbies are a default scene, which then player data is applied to when they are assigned.

• We have implemented a functional content management system that loads graphical elements only on clients and not on the servers, this enables our servers to be super lightweight and be able to process useful data and not be bogged down by content it doesn’t need.

• We have our own player controller, built specifically for PA. At the moment it has the baseline functionality you would expect from a controller. It has two modes of speed, walk and run.

• Character customization is working, body/head sliders for figure, can change hair, change colors for hair and eyes. Players can choose clothes as well for their characters. This is all working, however, it is in a very basic state with a lot of work to be done adding clothing and hair.

• Player hands and a basic set of equipment are working, we have chosen to have a separate arm rig and camera for the first person hands, so we can have a field of view that is more suitable.

• We are still working on the equipment system, but in a very rudimental way, players can pick-up and drop equipment.

• We created our own object type for PA, HauntObject, nearly every item within a haunt is interactable by the ghost or player, this is the base object that enables us to easily create and add functionality to new items, furniture or devices as and when we need.

• We have started work on the first Haunt, Lakeside Cottage, a secluded farmhouse, we are currently in the process of hauntifying it but it’s nearly ready for a full showcase.

• The ghost system is still mostly within a planning stage, we have incorporated ghost movement and manifestation though but are not ready to showcase it yet because we are still locking in our initial ghost models.

The main focus right now is getting everything tied together, to a stage where we can launch and finish a mission cycle, then we can go in and start adding content and spookiness. I really lament the fact that we cannot show you more in the way of media, but its very important that we get a solid foundation down, because when we do its gonna be awesome!

Thankyou for reading, till the next time!