SCUM - Development update #108

Hey there, everyone! You know how it goes. New week - new dev update on your favorite hardcore survival game!

Our code wizards have been hard at work on a variety of things, ranging from the very technical, such as researching rendering performance and optimizing post-processing, to the very specific, like the headlamp, armband, and turrets. As for the upcoming features, work has also progressed on the new NPCs, and significant strides have been made with the implementation of the quest system and its corresponding user interface. The encounter system is also being further tweaked, with a greater focus placed on the basebuilding encounters. Last but certainly not least, it goes without saying that bug fixing also made up a significant portion of last week's workload.



The level design team is doing their part regarding the quest system as they are setting up quest books and quest boards on levels. Apart from that, work has also continued on several POIs such as the castle, quarry, and prison interior, as well as new distant LODs for the Tuđman bridge and the weapons factory. River banks are still being polished, new basebuilding wall concepts were explored, and much bug fixing and even optimization through asset cleanup has been conducted.



The animation team has been working on the foliage and tree canopies, as well as creating new pushing animations for bikes and the quad. Work has progressed on the new trailer and the end credits, bugs were squashed, and preparations are being made for the Halloween update.

The rest of the art team has been hard at work on the new malfunction UI assets, the RPK and AKM rework, and the texture polish for the improvised rifle. Turrets have undergone texturing, and new lights for the sports bike and the tractor have been developed. Also, the TEC-1 quest items that we mentioned last week? Well, take a look at them yourself at the end of this section.

The soft surface art team continued their work on the new female inmate clothing items and textures for the armband. They've also made significant progress with the garbage ghillie suit, and the masks and materials for the school bag. Additionally, we saw some high-poly screenshots of some interesting tribal-looking characters and their weapons...

As promised, have a look at the rough models for the TEC-1 jammer and relay items that will be part of the new quest system:





As with last week, the sound team’s work has continued on sound designs for the turret and for the quests.



The QA team has been testing new features and ensuring that cheaters are not running amok on the game’s servers.



Our game designers have been setting up the functionalities for the headlamp and the new push functionalities for the dirt bike, RIS, and the cruiser.


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And now, it is time for Q&A:

• First off, shout out to the great franchises that you've mentioned! As for the turrets, dropships, sentries, etc., they are closely tied to the dystopian, near-future theme of the game. There's a literal implant in the base of your character's skull that can reanimate dead prisoners. The turrets themselves are added as an additional means of protecting your base from the dropship and other players when you are away from it.

• We completely agree with you, and you'll be pleased to know that the team is actively working on the quests (missions) and that we'll have them ready for the upcoming update. The update is going to be quite significant, and we can't wait for it to see the light of day! NPCs are coming with the 1.0 version.

• We completely understand your point of view, and you are mostly correct. However, since the majority of SCUM's in-game systems are greatly intertwined, a fix for an issue today might be compromised by the addition of a new feature or a rework of an existing feature tomorrow. Also, we want to push out these new features as soon as possible so we can release them, test them out internally and with the community, and modify/fix them so that they work properly when we hit 1.0. Make no mistake, we aim to fix the issues that have persisted and introduce a host of optimizations that will make the game run as smoothly as possible.

• We're aware of these occurrences with inadequate puppet spawns, and the team is actively working to fix them. As for the puppets phasing through geometry, it's a more complex issue, but we'll also get that sorted out.

• The inventory rework is on the table, and we'll have that sorted out in one of the upcoming updates.

See you next week!

Fratman