Letter from the Producer #10 Vehicle AI & Map Update Progress Week 3

Where other zombie games in the genre have asked "How will you die" (Project Zomboid), Cepheus Protocol dares to ask "How will you survive". Giving you the tools of a recently created new branch called CERC its now your job to tackle how to handle the spreading Pangu Virus. We are dedicated to continuing to work with our community to keep refining Cepheus Protocol till its a true gem.

It should be noted that while we embrace critical feedback it should be given in a manner that is respectful and conductive of actually having a conversation. I.E Don't say X is Bad fix it. Say X is bad because of X,Y,Z . Then we can start to have a meaningful conversation. It should be noted naturally all suggestions cannot be implemented but we will keep them in mind for a possible addition in the future depending on scope budget etc.



The Development update video linked above will have further details. After all of this is implemented we will convert all current vehicles to this system and implement the Abrams, MLRS and Bradley to officially start the CERC/Doctrines card outlined here.

Development Update from Jun 13, 2024
https://youtu.be/6zz49hElQa8?t=1032

[h2]What is Chaos Vehicles?[/h2]

https://youtu.be/-lkEOEEKYD0?t=63

[h2]What is Chaos Destruction?[/h2]

https://youtu.be/u3ktiewcLpo?t=32

Note: we will not be allowing full destruction but like mentioned in the last update on Youtube partial destruction in the terms of street lights, fences, walls etc. Preplaced assets in the world to make areas like the center park in Treasure Island far more dynamic so vehicles and explosions can affect the world.



[h2]Calypso Update (W.I.P) [/h2]
Is being updated to support the Carrier and newer gameplay mechanics. We expect the new map on experimental sometime next week. Around July 17th


[h2]Open World Update [/h2]

It should be noted that within the next 2 weeks after we release the newly revamped Calypso i will be tasking my level designers/modelers with the complicated task of expanding the map and adjusting/removing some of the fictional islands we invented earlier in development because we had a "design" limit of how large the maps could be. More details here!

The plan will be that while the programmers are working on the CERC/Doctrines/DNA Research card(New vehicles etc) they are getting the map ready for our 1.0 release and coop at the end of 2024 - going into early 2025. Treasure Island, Angel and CO will be "play" islands while the main meal is San Fran North. A new landmass that is 5x the size of all current content in the game that we've been slowly building in secret.

At this time we will explore and R&D underground "subway tunnels" but i cannot give any further news on this. We need to see how doable it is.

The first picture is a crude example of the new layout ->
The second is the total planned map size for when we deem the map "done". More details to follow around Halloween on that aspect for unmentioned areas.






This week we converted the system over to the Cerberus to see where the system would fail understanding larger vehicles of mass. We identified several points where our logic needed to be even more dynamic to take into consideration values that change between wheels like Friction & overall Vehicle Mass.

[h2]Day 15[/h2]

Been porting variables in prep for getting other vehicles onto Chaos Physics - the goal, to reveal weaknesses in the current pathfinding AI so that it can be improved to handle other vehicle setups.

The Cerberus here has extra mass that the system's not used to handling, so it tends to overshoot turns due to assuming the brakes would function like with the Ajax.
Still, progress! Take a look!

https://youtu.be/v336INWMThM

[h2]Day 18[/h2]

Vehicle AI Update: Basically it allows quicker/easier roll out of new vehicles so we don't have to hand test each vehicle as much!

Bit of progress - some of it behind the scenes. Figured out some math for dynamic brake calculation, and started (though not done yet) on 'earlier turning' logic.

Differences are minor at first, but good enough so far that the 'getting frazzled by the bench' from the last round didn't occur here.

Step by step!

https://youtu.be/4jEp6iepIgg



We will continue to convert the most complicated /varied vehicles over to the system and further refine the math/calculations as we go to ensure each vehicle handles optimally. We believe that the Ajax, Cerberus, Evacuation Busses and the Abrams will provide us enough varied data to then focus on porting over the RTS elements to this new class/system and get an experimental out with all current vehicles then get the new ones in. We thank everyone for their continued support and patience.

if you want to consider supporting us check out our patreon or Discord pledge system everything helps!