Welcome to the Wolfire Blog! This is where we keep everyone up to date on our progress on Overgrowth and other new stuff. Be sure to subscribe to get the latest news! Also, be sure to check out the forums for even more up to date news - or get on IRC for up to the second updates.

The past two weeks in Overgrowth development

Add Comment! By David Rosen on April 20th, 2017

Beta 3 kept us busy these last two weeks, so this update came after two weeks instead of one. On the plus side, that means it's twice as big!

Here's all the things we've done in the last two weeks for the game:

Change log:
  • Released Beta 3
  • Worked on defining the proposed scope and timeline for Beta 4 (faster than the last one!)
  • Fix for bug with invisible characters on ATI video cards when GPU Skinning is disabled
  • Fix for Intel HD 4000 #DRY 0:71 ';' syntax error
  • Many many small fixes and quality of life improvements on new UI (many got into Beta 3)
  • Fix sound prioritization issue for music
  • Added support for overbright decals
  • Built new (post Beta 3) mods UI to allow display of more mods at once, and to display more info per
    • mod
  • Added prototypes of SSAO support and volume shadows as check boxes in debug menu
  • Removed detail objects from shadow render pass to improve perf
  • Added ability to configure perferred audio device
  • Added ability to toggle display of any debug text
  • Made bug particles receive shadows
  • Started some experiments on a new inline tutorial system
  • Started out a test on ledge auto-grab behavior
  • Made it easier to fall off "balance" flagged objects
  • Added several idle animations (not hooked up yet)
  • Improved detail objects/textures on several assets
  • Improved perf on some tree prefabs by combining them into a single object
  • Added several recently added assets to the spawner
  • Fixed some bugs with black sky textures (seemed to be triggered by using jpg instead of tga)
  • Fix problems with saving object tint weights
  • Improvements to snow shaders
  • Worked on improved path handling to try to resolve cache invalidation issues (w/ mods, etc)
  • Fixed some graphical glitches caused by water caustics
  • Did some experiments with geometry tesselation to add more detail to some objects
  • Improvements to swamp water visuals
  • Did some gameplay prototyping of challenging encounters
  • Added firefly visuals
  • Did some hacking on super secret [redacted] prototype
  • Some fixes to new collision painting system
  • Worked on some rendering and CPU perf improvements
  • Switch to using file change notifications to detect files for live update (Windows only)
  • Fix dupe packets bugs in TCP/IP scripting support after switching levels
  • Add hotkey to launch scenegraph (CTRL + F)
  • Support tree-based UI for scenegraph, toggable to flat list
  • Started some work on supporting true prefabs instead of just group "macros" that get pasted in levels
Work on new campaign levels:
  • Rebuilt the platforms on level one to make the path clearer
  • Did a detail art pass on Level one
  • Added new ambient sounds to several levels
  • Integrated several new music tracks into new campaign
  • Added new watery cave prototype level for the new campaign
  • Added improved environmental blob shadows to several levels new the new campaign
  • Added more detail object variety to the second level and farm level
  • Worked on a proposed remake/detail pass of the "rude awakening" pit combat level
  • Did collision painting on a few levels
  • Updated lighting on beach level
  • Made obstacles taller in in rat HQ level to allow more stealth opportunities
  • Gameplay improvements/bug fixes in night time slaver camp level
  • Small updates to ice cliffs level
  • Several tweaks and improvements to volcano level
  • Updates to watchtower level
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Overgrowth Beta 3 video changelog

Add Comment! By David Rosen on April 14th, 2017

Here is the new Overgrowth Beta video!

Don't forget that you can help support us, try out our beta (such as the one in the video), and chat with other people in early access in the Secret Preorder Forum by purchasing Overgrowth. If you'd like to see real-time news about Overgrowth, you can follow us on Twitter at @wolfire.


Be sure to watch it in HD!

The features highlighted in the above video are as follows:

Modding

  • Added Steam Workshop support (initially invite only)
  • Added new campaign/level/item pack mods types so modders no longer have to hack menus to make it easy for players to use them

Gameplay

  • Added back the Arena, Versus, and Project 60 prototypes as mods. You can enable them in the mods menu
  • Made water slow down characters and drown the player if head is under water too long
  • Updated walk and run animations, and gave distinct voices for non-rabbit species
  • Added ability to skip dialog by hitting enter
  • Made it easier to set enemies on fire
  • Made enemies in groups less likely to catch knives
  • Made spear always stick into target when thrown
  • Made dogs now throw weapons
  • Added options for changing game speed and enemy difficulty (experimental)

Editor

  • Added an experimental collision painting option (old collision preserved if you don’t use it)
  • Added "frame selected" feature to editor ("F" key), to focus on selected objects
  • Added “teleport to selected” feature to editor (Shift + “F” key)
  • Added editor/player camera FOV controls when in editor mode (+, -, and 0 keys)
  • Improved freeze button so that you can move the camera while game is frozen and moved freeze button to its own key (`)
  • Improved object selection when using object groups

Graphics

  • Visual overhaul for main menu, pause menu, settings menu, and mods menu
  • Added splash effects and screen space reflections support to water
  • Added heat distortion and lighting shader effects to magma arena, and fixed obvious tiling of lava
  • Added back terrain edge fade effect

Performance

  • Improved performance when full shadows are enabled (when “simple shadows” is not enabled)
  • Improvements to level loading performance

Bugfixes

  • Fixed “Error 0:71: ';' : syntax error” crash on some "Intel HD Graphics" GPUs
  • Fixed vignette effect when simple shadows are enabled
  • Fixed problem where enemies sometimes fell out of arena levels causing the level to be unbeatable
  • Fixed some causes of sound/music not working after a while
  • And many more…

Note for people with ATI GPUs: If your character suddenly starts disappearing, try enabling "GPU Skinning". To do this, return to the main menu, click "Settings" on the bar at the top, and check the "GPU Skinning" box. We already have a fix for this, and plan to hot-fix this soon.

These are just a few of the changes in this beta; you can find the full change log here.

Thanks as always for all the support! See you guys in Discord and the forums.

If you liked this video, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Also, feel free to support us by purchasing an early access copy of Overgrowth!

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The previous few weeks in Overgrowth

Add Comment! By David Rosen on April 7th, 2017

People have been asking us for more updates. We post on Twitter multiple times a day, but that doesn't reach our whole audience. This post will kick off a weekly wrap-up of our progress.

This week we've been working on new graphical features, bug fixing for Beta 3, and the new Overgrowth campaign levels. Here are some highlights from the previous few weeks.

First, we made a few gameplay changes:

We've also been working on improving some animations: We added an experimental collision painting feature in the editor: ...which lets you do things like this: The main menu UI has gotten a lot of work. I'm only posting one shot here, but most of it has been reworked: We also added several new graphical effects: We have also made a lot of progress on an all new Overgrowth campaign - Much more than we have screenshots for: Next week will have a few more details, and a bit less Twitter spam. If all goes according to plan, then next week we will also release Beta 3. See you then!
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Overgrowth Teaser Trailer

Add Comment! By David Rosen on March 30th, 2017

Here is a teaser trailer showing some shots of the new Overgrowth campaign we are working on:


Be sure to watch it in HD!

We're going to launch Beta 3 shortly -- one of the last updates before we release the new campaign and reach version 1.0!

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Overgrowth is in the Humble Freedom Bundle

Add Comment! By David Rosen on February 14th, 2017

We're proud to announce that Overgrowth is included in the Humble Freedom Bundle, a charity bundle to raise money for the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Rescue Committee, and the MSF (Doctors Without Borders). For just $30 to charity, you can get more than $600 worth of games and books!

For many gamers and game developers, we are currently seeing the biggest humanitarian crisis in our lifetime, coupled with the largest threat to civil rights in America. If you've been feeling powerless, or unsure of what you can do to help, here is your chance to make a difference!

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