DEV BLOG

April 19, 2024

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As a extremely small development team and by the term "small", we are talking about one person, the battle between time resources and the ability to efficiently provide updated context to the game's development cannot be understated. The decision to allocate entirely all of my available time to just exclusively improving and adding to the game was difficult as some of my support may wane in the process. This decision was necessary as the scope and direction of the game was too large to focus much attention to promotion until the game was in a much more completed state from the goals I originally set forward. Much of the discussion and updates I provided during this process were to a small, but supportive community of supporters and testers through my official Discord channel as it was much easier to communicate directly and faster to those actively participating in testing. I would like to personally thank all of them for the feedback and support during this time.

 

Although the amount of time between updates to this dev blog has been extremely significant, so have the improvements to the game.

 

After finally setting out a period of time to create some updated information about my game Phase Line: Raider Assault. I want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the significant additions and improvements that have been incorporated over the past year.

 

Lots of updates

 

Over the course of the past year, I have managed to push upwards of 20 new major updates for the game to the Steam client platform for testing. Looking back at the older posts, it is hard to discern what may have been listed or mentioned in the dev blog, so I'll give and outline of where the game is and some major aspects to those additions to bring everyone up to speed and hopefully won't miss anything.

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Newest Game Mode: Phase Line

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-The newest flagship mode for the game labeled "Phase Line" was created and added as conglomeration of most of the features and mechanics added to this date.

 

- This mode is a battle between two large teams that compete for control over a flag situated in the center of the map which becomes the front line of the battle field.

 

- There are two opposing phase lines in which either team must bear control of the flag and move the front line to their respective phase line.

 

- Once the phase line is reached, a capture objective appears and the team which bears the flag must capture the objective to win the match.

 

- If the flag bearer is eliminated and the flag is dropped, the capture objective is removed and the flag must be picked up again, moved past the phase line in order for the team to capture the objective once again.

 

- As long as the team is in control of the flag, the capture objective can be taken by anyone on that respective team.

 

- If the team manages to move the flag all the way to the enemy phase line and then relinquishes control of the flag to the other team, the newly controlled flag must be moved to the opposite side of the map and the same rules apply.

 

- Each team is provided two command trucks that serve as the main lifeline of the teams. The trucks can spawn a finite amount vehicles and outposts with munition caches and Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers. The trucks can be used to strategically move troops back to the front line, offer new vehicle spawns and or defensive or offensive outposts to support their team's effort.

 

- Players are dynamically respawned a distance behind the frontline respective to their team and the position of the flag bearer or frontline to ensure that the battle rages on.

 

*This mode is designed to be played with a tandem combination of offensive and defensive team strategies with both foot soldiers and land vehicles such as tanks and other armored vehicles. The failure to work as a team effectively can be quickly realized when your team gets mopped from bad strategies and judgement calls.

 

 

Loads of new additions and features

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- 18 drivable aircraft, vehicles, tanks and boats have been added to the game

 

        - F-18, F-15, A-10, C-130, B-52, AH6, AH64, UH60, KA52

        - M1A1 Abrams, T72, HEMTT with trailers

        - MRAP, Stryker- Light Utility Truck

        - Landing Hover Craft- Battleship, Racing speed boat

        - Many more vehicles are planned for addition

 

*Most of the vehicles have either all or a combination of unique armor profiles, weapon arsenals and damage, ammunition, speed and handling characteristics, reloading, refueling, airlifting, trailer towing, passenger support, fast roping, sky diving and other capabilities.

 

- The small attack helicopter(AH6) is at the present time the most versatile aircraft in the game. It boasts a combination of rockets, miniguns, can carry passengers, allows passengers to fast rope or sky dive off the helo. Additionally, it can be reloaded with extra rockets, ammunition and be refueled either by refueling stations or portable fuel barrels.

 

- The AH64 helicopter has a free look camera that allows the pilot to fire from a fixed position during a hover or movement in any direction with the onboard cannon. It also offers a plethora of unguided rockets and it very maneuverable and fast.

 

- The UH60 is a unique helicopter in the game as it is the first aircraft added that can airlift the Light Utility Truck, offers passenger support and fast roping and players can also sky dive from this aircraft. It is planned to add a whole host of airlifting configurations.

 

- The F-18, F-15 and A-10 are also unique additions to the game as they offer unprecedented speed, agility, missiles and cannons. Offering nearly realistic speed in game was a challenge as the aircraft can quickly travers large areas in minimal time. The F-18 has some known issues and may or may not be removed or replaced soon. The F-18, F-15 and A-10 offer in-game speeds of up to 900 MPH, a whopping 1,400 MPH and 600 MPH in-game top speed respectively!

 

- HEMTT is the only truck with towing capabilities. Presently it can tow the patriot missile system and radar trailers and will soon incorporate many other trailer towing capabilities. The missile trailers and radar should soon have additional functionality, but are currently working only as a proof of concept.

 

- The M1A1 and T72 both boast unprecedented armor and each have unique tank round damage, reloading speeds and fire extremely devastating and projectiles.

 

- The landing craft, boats and battleship are a work in progress and are currently only drivable. There are plans to soon offer new battleship variants that will include a whole arsenal of weapon systems and capabilities.

 

- The Light Utility Truck can carry passengers, has tremendous maneuverability, and like all of the other land vehicle variants, can carry munitions crates to anywhere on the battlefield. Players can simply load and unload the crates at their will at anytime.

 

- Stryker and MRAP variants offer armor, maneuverability, crate and passenger transport abilities, and .50 caliber remote weapons systems.

 

- Lastly the B-52 is currently the only aircraft in game that carries tactical nukes. This aircraft and weapon system is a work in progress, but if you find yourself under this thing then chances are you will soon wish you were in another aircraft in the air taking this one out before it wrecks the players on the map.

 

- A massive 1,400 square mile open world- Of course these new vehicle additions wouldn't be complete without the ability to have a vastly expansive area to explore, drive and fly at extreme speeds.

 

- This map offers nearly 2 dozen large conquerable islands each with a runway and vehicle spawning systems.

 

- There is a work in progress mode that will allow players to compete to capture the islands and free-roam the vast landscape at their will.

 

- It is intended to expand this mode into persistent servers that will incorporate inventory, lootable items, unlockable achievements and various other challenges as well as players to freely navigate to other massive server maps with their looted possessions.

 

 

 

- A multitude of improvements to character controls and movements

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- Many of the character systems in place have been debugged, improved and other movement capabilities have been added since previous updates to this blog.

 

- Characters can now sprint, jog, walk, crouch, prone, roll left and right in prone, dolphin dive and climb pretty much anything. Players can also sky dive out of any aircraft above a certain distance and either manually deploy their parachutes or auto deploy them near the ground.

 

- Player characters now can use the AT4 to destroy large vehicles and aircraft without being completely unmatched in an encounter with aircraft or armor. Additional projectile systems are planned to be added soon such as a homing missile system for moving aircraft and vehicles.

 

- The character improvements, adjustments and additions will continue as development progresses.

 

 

- Maps, modes and community controls

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- There are now 5 different game modes across seven different maps with more maps and modes planned in future updates.

 

- These modes include Phase Line, Domination (1,400 sq. mile open world), Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch and Elimination.

 

- Players can now vote out toxic players from matches and have more control over the game experience as a collective effort. More improvements and expansions to this system are being developed to improve the player experience.

 

- Player weapons- To more accurately match the larger maps, the player weapon systems now utilize a hyrbid weapon system that takes into account ballistics at larger distances from the previous hit scan system that was used much earlier on.

 

- There are still many improvements and overhauls to the player weapons that will take priority in major updates soon that will offer more weapon customization flexibility, variety, realistic ballistic trajectories, ammo inventory and many others.

 

- There are currently over a dozen different weapon variations with customizable optics and suppressors with different sound profiles. As included in previous updates, each player weapon offers unique damage profiles on specific parts of the player bodies.

 

 

- Focusing ahead

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- Although there are still many things that can and will be added and improved in the near future, most of the major feats and goals are now in the game. We have dramatic mobility, every vehicle is drivable and most of the basic foundational tools are now in place to offer a tremendous player experience moving forward. Without overstretching further, it is now my intention to improve, expand and polish this foundation and get the game out there to start playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 26, 2023

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The game is now standing at the 0.1.1 update.​ There are a few mild, but important adjustments that have been made as well as some improvements to some gameplay areas in this update. Here are some of the fixes we should expect to see tonight and into the weekend:​

 

- Another map has been added.

 

​- Some fixes and areas have been addressed with the key binding setups in-game and in the main menu that we hope should see resolve some of the previous issues that have been encountered. The controls has been an area of focus on the previous updates since the last updates.​

 

- Some noticeable changes have been made to the newest map addition in the previous update. Players should expect to see an increase in framerate performance and additional cover and concealment as well as corrections to some of the objects in the level.​

 

- The look speed controls on mouse and gamepad minimum and maximum values have been increased to allow a much wider range in control depending on different resolutions. We hope this will accommodate all players across the spectrum on a wide variety of monitors and setups.​

 

- A new control setting addition has been added to the controls menus to allow players to invert gamepad and mouse pitch controls in-game and in the main menu.​

 

- The current update setup should temporarily lock out the ability to bind gamepad bindings so we can isolate issues with the current setup and move forward more effectively on the tests. A dedicated binding setup will be added in the next update.

 

​- The M81 firing rate has been further decreased and the recoil has also been increased to help balance gameplay.​- Camera clipping has also been addressed and we should see a massive improvement on this issue on this update.

 

​- There have been some modifications to boundaries, collision and some objects on some of the maps to smooth out gameplay in a number of areas. More modifications, additions, features and improvements will be added to the game controls with an emphasis on gamepad support in-game on the next update as well as a number of other areas so please stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 30, 2023

 

 

 

The long awaited 0.0.7 update has finally arrived!

 

This update will feature some major changes to the game and its functionality across a large spectrum of different systems that currently existed in-game as well as some entirely new systems that should dramatically improve the gameplay loop and provide a more balanced and enjoyable experience for all players in lobbies and on the battlefield. This update will go live on the Steam Client Application for download sometime shortly before or after this writing. This hope is that this update will bring us on par to release Phase Line: Raider Assault to Steam Early Access in the very near future! Below is a list of the changes, improvements updates that will be included. More changes, fixes and updates will be added to the newly added game modes and other systems in the game in subsequent updates.

 

- The user interface has been completely refreshed and overhauled.

 

- A new map has been added to the game lists.

 

- An entirely new swimming mechanic/system has been added to the newest map addition and will accompany any newly added maps with water features in the future.

 

- A new round-based elimination game mode is now available. It will include multi-round matches where players will have to actively combat enemy teams to eliminate the opposing team to obtain victory.- All game modes now include a map voting feature when entering lobbies after completed gameplay.

 

- "Dolphin" diving or diving into the prone position animations and systems from sprinting has been implemented and will now allow players to dive into cover more expeditiously than the previous mechanics.- Some of the SMG's range has been reduced to more balance gameplay.

 

- Key bindings have now been implemented for players who wish to have a more custom play experience. These key binding selections can be accessed from the settings menu in the main menu.

 

- Movement mechanics have been updated to offer a much smoother gameplay experience. Players can now sprint multi-directionally instead of the previous sprint direction of the mouse cursor.

 

- New crouching animations have been added that offer a negligible cosmetic effect while crouching.- The screen shake while sprinting has been completely removed from gameplay.

 

- Motion blur now has an option to disable inside the graphics settings menus.

 

- Falling damage has been slightly reduced to better match the speed of the gameplay. (more improvements will come in future updates)

 

- The heavy sniper hip fire accuracy has been reduced to more accurately portray the inaccuracy of firing while moving.

 

- Tracer rounds are now fully replicated across all players which should provide better tracking when taking firing from distances.

 

- The spawning system has been overhauled. It is expected to fix all improper spawn locations, offer protections from spawn camping on respawn game modes and provide more balanced gameplay.

 

- Animation glitches that occurred intermittently when going into crouch from prone quickly should be resolved.

 

- A spectating system has been added to elimination game modes for team mates to spectate fellow players after being eliminated during matches while they wait for the next round.

 

- Updated audio has been added to rounds that impact near players.

 

​- A ready up system has been added to more quickly rotate between games.                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2, 2023

 

 

 

There should be a new update in queue on the Steam app available for download for our 0.0.5 alpha game version for tonight's test. The last test we had showed some pretty ugly bugs that hopefully tonight will prove to be resolved. There have been a number of fixes and improvements that have been added to this update. Here are a few things that players should expect to see on the 0.0.5 update:​​

 

- There is now a "user settings" page in the main menu that will allow players to edit their username.​

 

- Clan tags! You can now add or edit clan tags in the user settings page as well. Additional functionality to this feature will come in future updates.

 

- Updates to some of the information displayed during gameplay such as the kill feed and kill cam screens should reflect the new changes from the user settings functions.

 

- Spawn system has been updated. Previous tests showed some issues with spawning with players falling through the floor. This should be mitigated on tonight's update.

 

- Players should see some improvement on the climbing system when trying to traverse small and various different elements in the game level. There will be more updates and improvements on this system in the future as well.

 

- Some issues were detected that were inadvertently causing players to be kicked from games and unable to join that should be resolved on this update as well.

 

- There were a moderate number of server-side fixes and updates that should mostly go unnoticed by the players themselves but should improve the gameplay experience. Thanks, and play hard!

 

I would also like to point out that the ability to rebind keys is a paramount addition in the works for players that are keen to laying out their own player controls and should be expected very soon in a future update. Additionally, I'd like to note that there are a lot of other game modes, features and maps that will become available as soon as we iron out the issues experienced in our testing so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 27, 2023

 

 

 

Update In-queue ​We were able to address some relatively moderate sized issues over the weekend with Phase Line: Raider Assault and makes some decent updates. The update should be live on the Steam client ready for download, and I am preparing the servers to go live with the changes we made over the weekend for play testing.​

 

Here are some of the fixes everyone can expect on the next update:​​-     

 

Some or all of the camera angles have been reworked to enhance the player's experience, as well as reduce clipping and artifacts while in scope or optics​.

 

- A target "validation" icon has been implemented to the player's crosshairs to show whether or not the player's weapon will be effectively hitting the target on the player's reticle​

 

- Addressed some issues related to the HUD elements remaining on screen.​- The player character's footstep audio has been increased slightly due to players reporting that they cannot hear other players approaching at close proximity

 

​- Some lighting adjustments and additions have been made to the Cauldron map to increase visibility for a better play experience.

 

​- Visibility has also been increased in the Ice Front map to better facilitate a more engaging gameplay experience​.

 

- Some menu issues reported during opening menus resulting in the player firing their weapon while navigating menus has been address and should be resolved

 

​- Some issues with spawn points drifting on Team Deathmatch games has been addressed​- The HUD elements have been slightly reduced and reworked to increase the visual presentation of the HUD elements​- The kill feed now has some additional display information about player eliminations​.

 

- Some of the rocks were reported in Delirium Jungle as being able to walk into have been resolved​- The kill cam will no longer leave players in their special optics upon their elimination

 

​​​We will continue to make adjustments improvements and updates as we progress in development. The maps and levels are still a work in progress but are coming along and our play-testers and upcoming community can look forward to positive changes there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 25, 2023

 

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​We had a successful public playtest the night of March 24th and received some valuable feedback! We've managed to work hard overnight and into today to implement some quick updates to some of the game's functionality to address some bugs that were reported on our Discord Server during the playtest.​ Some of the issues below have been addressed and will be available to test on the servers we will be bringing back online this evening. Some of the changes we can expect to see include:

 

​​- Snipers and shotguns are no longer able to be "spam fired" and there now is a delay between firing.

 

- M81 sniper now has reduced accuracy when firing at the hip and will only produce 100% hit accuracy on targets while aiming and in scope.

 

- User Interface volume now has an adjustment section in the audio menus while in the main menu, lobby and in-game.

 

- Crouch delay has been fixed.

 

- Camera should no longer be locked after respawning for the brief period reported in prior testing.

 

- HUD elements remaining on screen after player death has been addressed and *should be resolved.- Additional efforts have been implemented to potentially resolve buggy menus during level transitions and menu operations. 

 

​- Servers are currently down for maintenance while we make these updates to the game. They should come back online once the updates are complete later this evening.

 

​- We are addressing a number of other issues reported during the last test, but in order to commence testing this evening, we are pushing the updates we have available now and will continue working to implement other fixes on the next patch. Thanks!

 

 

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