LionsArt
Lionsart is a small Polish independent development team focus on creating Penkura (Science-Fantasy game project), assets and technologies.
Lionsart is a small Polish independent development team focus on creating Penkura (Science-Fantasy game project), assets and technologies for future updates, projects and tutorials.
16/09/2022
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 12
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 11.1, 11.2, 11.21, 11.3, 11.31, 11.4, 11.41, 11.5, and 12.
In this patch, we are introducing three new core systems to the game, a new building "Monorail", and a small push with the storyline.
But first of all, this is the last big patch before opening the first part of the new level the "Dying Forests of Karenos", which will leave a massive mark on our journey. Before that, we will release a few small patches, that will polish up our core systems, and add new content behind the scene (in case anyone will wonder why those tiny patches will have over 400+mb each, with very few changes).
Back to the current patch. As mentioned above we are adding three new core systems, one of them is the Code Override system, specially created by one of our in-game characters code override system will allow players to open up locked containers and doors those doors and containers will have a yellow indicator on them to showcase that the door is locked and may be open by a password OR code override system.
Another core system that we are introducing in its early stages is the character creation system.
In Penkura body reconstruction and Neurocores are key elements of the world setting. We are introducing the first stages of manipulating those key elements. Players will be able to create their characters by setting their chromosomes and manipulating their DNA to create a more suited host.
Even though the system is in its first stage of development, it already shows what direction we will take with the entire character creation feature.
Lastly on our list of important systems implemented to Penkura, is our bug report feature introduced in Midway Patch 11.5. Something that we worked on for some time now, it's fully built into our game, mail system, which will directly send player reports and even screenshots of the game to our official Penkura Mailbox. We think that this is a very important system for our Early Access game which will allow players much more direct communication with us the devs.
We also want to mention that we will slowly start to add new voices to our project, for a long time now, we wanted to add much more lore to the game, but with it, we didn't want to bombard the player with dozens upon dozens of pages of text. We will deal with this problem by just, adding those dozens upon dozens of pages of text but with them most of the time a full voice-over, for those who are too focused on watching their back for dangers but also want to know what's happening in the game world.
Lastly, we want to mention the Monorail building, this is one of the main buildings players will use to travel vast distances, Midway Patch 13 will be the one that will fully activate this building and allow players to travel to the new sector.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com, over and out.
24/07/2022
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 11
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.61, 10.7, 10.8, 10.81, and 11.
In today's patch, we are introducing a new building, the "Medbay" the biggest structure player is able to build. Medbay is one of the main constructions that each base should acquire as soon as possible. Used to spawn players in a safe, locked location, far from any danger, and in the upcoming patches, we will also introduce a compendium of medical information that players will be able to fill up with scanners, healing systems, and a medical lab.
In this patch, we also introduced a massive amount of easy-of-life upgrades to the game buildings/systems and code improvement/optimizations to more complex parts of the game.
Few examples of those changes/improvements, RTS energy, and hydrogel view screen will now showcase a much more precise energy/hydrogel state of each building and it will properly update itself each second.
By player request, we also introduced inventory/storage content tagging. From now on, players are able to sort items by category type. Icons of each category are also added to MMC, and Items Detail window. We also extended the number of categories within the game, to make item sorting a bit easier.
Another easy-of-life improvement is an overall change in Growbed UI and Plant placement. Rather than manually drag and drop each seed on the proper slot, Growbed UI will now self-update with each seed container the player possesses and allow swift plantation by simply clicking on the proper seed container and pressing on each open growbed slot.
The next major patch is the Monorail station where we will introduce one of the main transportation systems for the player, and a lockpicking system needed for future adventures.
The monorail station patch will be the last major patch before the release of two new biomes, "The Dying Forest of Karenos" and "The Swamps". A small work-in-progress preview of the upcoming biomes can be seen below.
Please note, that new biomes are also new levels within the game, with their own content, base building locations, missions, gameplay elements, flora, and fauna.
More detailed information can be found in the link below.
LINK ---> https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/739720/view/3417686819596586278
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com, over and out.
19/04/2022
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 10
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 9.1, 9.2, 9.21, 9.23, 9.24, and 10.
In this patch, we are introducing Atmo-Growbed which is used to grow and harvest flowers and mushrooms, for bio-chemical creation. We also changed how Blue-Repository works to make it more user-friendly, and with the introduction of the new structure, we are also adding 18 new items and a new game mechanic.
Atmo-Growbed required for the creation of the entire plant and mushrooms growth system. From now on all pickable plants/mushrooms will have at least three stages of development (Seedling, Maturing, Developt). Each mushroom and plant will grow at its own specific speed requiring a different amount of Hydrogel. In the future, the environment will also have an effect on plant growth, and even completely halt its development if placed in a harsh environment.
From now on we plan to make a small tutorial/presentation videos of each major change in the game to not only present how the game is developing but also to help new players with the game mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utbFCFRyfVw
We are also changing how Blue-Repository works in our game, from now on players won't have to unlock the Repository to inset new Data Storage. Data Storage will now automatically install itself the moment they are inserted into the Blue-Repo (simulating installing new software to base Neurocore). After which it will automatically affect all buildings/machines with the programmed changes.
The next major patch will focus on another building, the Medbay. Allowing players for setting up their own spawn point, healing, bio-item creation, and more.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com, over and out.
Atmospheric Growbed update. ▶ Penkura 0.2.0 MW 10 (Midway Branch) Update.▶ Penkura is available on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/739720/Penkura/-----------------------------...
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 9
In this patch, we are introducing a new building, the Ore Refinery. Ore refinery was one of the most problematic buildings added to Penkura, it required us to change how we manage the entire UI in the game. Rather than doing simple copy-paste, inventory to storage, and vice versa system, we wanted to test something new.
Thanks to that, we created a new communication system for our game that allows us to transfer large quantities of data between UI, buildings, and game systems (such as save and load). We are from now on able to add much more interactivity to the game, not only through UI but also on the buildings themself.
With Ore Refinery three new items are added to the game which are, of course, Metal Bar, Noble Metal Bar, and Heavy Metal Bar. By adding those new items we had to change the blueprints of many items, those changes aren't of course final, and we plan to add much more items thanks to the Ore Refinery.
The addition of new components increases the time needed to create some of the items and all of the buildings, because of that Ore Refinery is designed to drastically lower those time requirements. The player will be able to melt 3 stacks of ore at the same time and even change the speed of bar creation (with the price of additional energy).
We also added some requested quality of life improvements in the RTS and CCC system.
We have changed how player connects buildings to each other, making it much easier to control, and we added a proper construction list view in the CCC with total resources requirements for buildings.
This should make planning players' actions a bit easier.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 8
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 7.1, 8.
In this patch, we improved two major Penkura introduction vehicles, the Antarctic Transporter, and Gemini Tram, both of which are important to create a proper atmospherical setting. We also drastically improve M.M.C with player-requested changes and like always minor performance improvement.
Because we are slowly working on a proper game intro, that will provide much-needed answers to some of the questions about the game setting, timeline, events surrounding the player, we started to improve older assets, and even add new ones just to smooth out the transitions when starting the game.
Player no longer will start their game talking to an unknown voice, from an unknown place.
Other major changes are made in M.M.C, because of the requests made by some of the players, we completely changed how the user manipulates his materialization queue.
Proper dragging and merging functions are now available in M.M.C and a completely new window that dynamically updates by the machine and player interaction with the information of all the material requirements needed to fulfill the materialization queue.
We are also pushing our planned items and building updates by one week, balancing out all the items and buildings in the game will take a little bit more time.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com, over and out.
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 7
In this patch, we are introducing a new dialog system, special effects, a more "personal" appearance of Sara, improvements to all buttons, switches, and visual updates to Command Center and Med-Bay.
We felt that before we can introduce new even bigger dialogs in Penkura, we had to rewrite our dialog system. In the first rendition, it was designed with somewhat cumbersome features that slow down our development.
Now not only we can add much longer and more complex dialogs, but we can even insert exit points for players to "halt and save" conversations before making drastic decisions (very useful for the future feature). Of course, visual improvements and "fell" of using the system are also improved.
Next on our list are special effects. There are few "special encounters/events" in Penkura that we felt aren't a proper representation of the situation. For the last week, we added particle effects, sounds, lights, and everything else needed to make a proper "impression". To not spoil the future events, we will showcase one of the first problems the player will encounter. Tirix Power Plant power fluctuation, in the first rendition it was just a red alarm without any sounds or effects, now it showcases proper power discharges, sound effects, and light flickering.
Now, graphical updates, besides visually updating Med-Bay (which will soon become a buildable structure) and Command Center, we decided to finally give Sara some major appearance changes. In the older version of Penkura, Sara was just a simple Box labeled Neurocore, later on, we added an Avatar that showcased our concept art of Sara. But because Sara is one of the key NPCs of the game, we finally gave her some deserved attention and completely visually change her into what we originally imagen her to be.
Lastly, we want to talk about Buttons and Switches, a simple thing, but unfortunately in our first rendition, sometimes players didn't even know that they could be pressed, or inform us that they provide too little information. From now on, all buttons in the game will have a holographic display, representing exactly what they are affecting, how they are affecting it and most of all, they will change their look depending on the situation. This should make every interaction with machinery much easier.
We plan to release the next patch in 7 days, it will contain 3 new items, a new building, and rebalance of buildings and craftable items.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com, over and out.
13/12/2021
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 6
In this patch, we released our own Lions_Path system (Pathfinding and Cell generation System).
While creating the next zone for the upcoming patch 0.2.0, we notice that some test players with weaker machines started to struggle when loading their game, and because of the complexity of the map, NPC (AI) started to get stuck in corners that they thought they could maneuver around.
We did our best to find the best possible solution but in the end, we only had two options.
Increase even more the resolution and complexity of the Unreal build-in navigation system (which will fix most of the problems) but drastically increase load time, memory use, and affect overall performance, or, build our own navigation system that would work together with the build-in Unreal system.
After a few minor tests, we decided that the player experience would be degraded way too much with the first option.
Two weeks after, Lions_Path was created, and more precisely seventeen systems that work together to generate a cell-based navigation system, with a pathfinding solution, used by bots, and NPCs. Below there is an image taken directly from the engine, to present the amount of calculation that is made while loading the level (that is Lions_Path alone).
Because 99% of the calculation is done asynchronously while loading the game and the system uses basic cells, players should notice lower memory use, faster load speed, and fewer mistakes made by bots when moving very long distances. That 1% calculation left, is the path created with the use of the cells added by Lions_Path. Because only a tiny portion of the calculation is done when the bot requests navigation, the current most difficult and complex path ((distance of around 2km (1.24 Mile)) is generated on our test machine in 0.21 seconds.
We did extensive testing of Lions_Path before the release, to make sure players will experience as few problems as possible, but because of the complexity of the system, we still need to keep an eye on bot movement and their behavior.
Until any problems arrive, we are going back to work on the next zones, new missions, and dialogs.
More information on the zones, and missions next week.
In case of any problems, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 5
In this patch we recreated the entire map system, converting old fashion 2d images, into full-fledged 3d holographic representations of the entire map. With this map, the player will be able to exactly tell his and his bots' position, caves, and underground bases will be holographically projected directly onto the map, and thanks to 3d view of the map, the player is able to determine the height and slops of the map.
With the new map, we are also introducing an exploration system, players will now have to uncover the map piece by piece to see all its ins and outs, something that was asked since the beginning.
The main reason for this change is as always ease of development and long term time save. In the process of developing Penkura, we made alterations to the map in more than dozen of patches. While developing the new map the same problem appeared again and again. Too much time was wasted on the constant alteration to the 2d map, which was of course needed.
The new system will save much-needed time, as any changes made to the game level will be directly translated into the holo map, saving us time in the long run.
Besides the map system, we also made changes to how character is affected by in-game physics, speed, ground friction, slop angles, in short, player character should feel less "floaty" but the bots thanks to their anti-grav engines, should have much more freedom when moving.
Creating 3d map while translating player camera on a 2d plane, and then converting the 2d position of 2d plane on to 3d environment while raytracing from secondary camera on a angle was a complex endeavor, that is why if any developer is interested in the process of creating this system, please feel free to contact me directly via our Discord server (link below), I will be more than happy to provide few tips, and present the system in more detail.
In case of any problems with transferring the save to the new system, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
Till the next Dev-Com over and out.
05/10/2021
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 4
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 3.1 / 3.2
In this patch, we heavily upgraded our weather and atmosphere system. In Penkura weather and atmosphere was always very important, the weather already affects solar panels, wind turbine but thanks to the added upgrades we will start to introduce proper dangers from natural sources.
Changes made to the system affect the lighting within the game, clouds, and fog will now change the light intensity, making some nights very bright and some pitch black. Because of that, we made nights a little bit shorter, nights will now start at 21:00 rather than 18:00.
As mention above we made heavy changes to the fog system, it will change its color depending on the time of the day, current weather, cloud intensity, and most of all, light itself. Light will now pe*****te the fog simulating volumetric fog.
Performance of Penkura was and will be always important, because of that we do our best to find a compromise between the features of the system, it's not always possible but, extra steps allow us to take advanced features of complex systems, while still keeping GPU/CPU usage to an absolute minimum. Light coming from the sun will now affect fog density based on its angle, this will "simulate" fog changes very similar to those that normally would happen in volumetric fog. Simulation is not as perfect as proper volumetric fog but, we drastically lowered the system requirements to do so.
Thanks to that, players with weaker PC will still be able to enjoy Penkura on maximum settings.
The entire system above is fully automatic, and it's very easy to adjust for new biomes making our work a bit easier, while also speeding up game development. The system can be easily balanced in the future in case of nights becoming too dark, or whether to aggressive.
In case of any problems with transferring the save to the new system, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
With this release, we are going back to work on the Monorail station, which will connect the player with new levels, additional missions, dialogs, and player-requested changes to UI.
A small tutorial on how to access the Midway branch is available in the link below.
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357998690
01/09/2021
Dev-Com
Hello, world! Midway Branch of Penkura is now updated to 0.2.0 MW 3
Patch notes are a combination of patches MW 2.0.1 / 2.1 and 2.2.
As mention in the previous patch notes, we spend the last few weeks creating an improved new version of the save system.
I'm more than happy to inform you that not only the system works as intended but it also provides more freedom than we expected. From now on, we are able to implement dozens of minor content improvements that will greatly increase interaction with the game world, items, buildings, AI.
To provide an example, we were never able to save a user interface that is not part of the level when the game starts, as all data is reset or changed on the next activation. Currently, we can save an icon state, in a UI of a machine that is part of a building, that is part of a base, that is part of a controlled dome, that is part of a level, which none of (besides the level) exist on initial load, with a press of a single button. In short, it will save us weeks of work and dozens of possible logistics errors in the future.
As we promise a few months ago, we will always do our best to make sure that players won't have to start from scratch each time a major change is coming to the game. That's why we spend a week creating a secondary system that will translate the already made saves into a new one. Players will just have to load the game as nothing was changed, but from now on, each time they save, a new save slot will be created in a new save window.
This system will be also used in the future, to hopefully find and eliminated any possible errors that we overlooked.
In case of any problems with transferring the save to the new system, always feel free to contact me here on Steam in Sub Forum "Midway Branch of Penkura"
Link ---> https://steamcommunity.com/app/739720/discussions/4/
or contact me personally on Discord.
LINK ----> https://discord.gg/2ukYHQm
With this release, we are going back to work on the Monorail station, which will connect the player with new levels, additional missions, dialogs, and player-requested changes to UI.