V0.26 Dev Progress - (UPDATED 7/09)  

Greetings Friends,

As we approach the end of May, work continues steadily on v0.26, the next version of the playable Keep the Peace prototype. Earlier this month, I'd announced a May 29 release date for this version, which was a delay from our earlier targets. Unfortunately, this has again proven to be unrealistic, and the new version won't be ready in time for the end of this week. I previously shared some detail about why this version is taking so long (as I try to rebuild virtually every part of the game with code that doesn't suck =D) but I reiterate that I'm still extremely committed to making this new version well worth the wait.

In addition:

(1) I'm looking at how to get you a playable version of these updates as soon as possible, even if not everything is 100% complete. This way you can share your feedback as soon as possible.

(2) In the interest of full transparency, I want to keep you as up-to-date as possible on how development is progressing, even if I'm unable to nail down an exact date that the update will be ready.

With that in mind, I've prepared this list (see below) of work that's going into V0.26, along with an estimated completion level for each item. I will be updating this every day, Monday to Friday, around 6 PM ET, until V0.26 is released. We'll also continue to post development updates for Alpha Team members describing in more detail the work being done. I'm going to hold off on announcing a new release date for now, lest we end up just missing yet another, but will do so as soon as I can feel a little more confident about it.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to let myself or a member of our community management team know, here or on Discord. And thank you for your ongoing patience and support!

V0.26 In Progress (as of July 9)

7/09 - Doing a slightly early update today because I'll be out of the office later, but things are looking good to finish the curved roads and road pathfinding today. I also finished setting up most of the templates for new road types needed for the new map.

7/07 - Finalllly solved another major issue I was struggling with with the road system. Just a couple things left: need to finish up support for curved roads and reimplement road-based pathfinding, but that should be done by Thursday. Hoping to have some screenshots to share over the weekend.

7/03 - Happy to report almost finished what needs to be done for the road system and hopefully by the end of the weekend can move on to other things.

7/01 - It's Canada Day here, so taking a small break, but will be back tomorrow Friday with more updates =)

6/30 - Been battling an issue with the road system but hopefully am close to having that figured out so work can progress again on the map. All I can say is, I'm glad I paid attention in algebra class.

6/29 - Note: I just posted a larger update here, but this is within the Alpha Team section of the site, so you'll need to be logged-in to your Alpha Team account to view it. Small updates will continue here starting tomorrow!

6/22 - Fixed a few lighting issues, added a couple more lightbars/LEDs, a couple default paint schemes for the existing vehicles and the new SUV.

6/19 - More UI progress on a bunch of things across the board (see below)

6/17 - Finished the unit creation rebuild.

6/16 - Realized over the weekend that there was a way better way to design the new unit creation system so spent yesterday and today overhauling that, again >.<  Almost done. =)

6/11 - A couple more UI updates to get unit and incident lists in the main window working again, plus more road system work.

6/10 - Testing and some bug fixes. Started working to finish up the new road system so that I'll be able to shift focus to the map in the next couple days.

6/08 - Finished a few random things that were still needed on the unit page (e.g. being able to copy previously made vehicles, and being able to actually assign officers to units) and the ability to sort lists of candidates, officers and units (e.g. based on officer skills).

The New World
Tools & Components
100% - New terrain textures
100% - New vegetation system (for trees, bushes, grass, etc.)
100% - New level-of-detail + static batching / map optimization system
100% - New river system
60% - New structures/places (residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, parks) - models & textures
35%-40% - New props, fences and other small details
85%->95% - New road building system
40%->80% - New road types

New Map
100% - New terrain
20% - Road layout
20% - Building & prop placement

The New UI
100% - New colour palette, font styles, button & window templates
100% - Officer / candidate management screens
100% - Unit management & unit creation screens
75% - Main window UI (info bar, unit & incident lists, selected unit & incident details, tooltips, etc.)
65% - New map icons for officers, units, suspects, etc.
50% - Rebuilt systems for interacting with units and issuing orders
25% - New main menu & options menus

New Game Systems
100% - New officer skills system
40% - New missions / patrol system
20% - New system for risks / consequences from officer activities

Rebuilt Game Systems
75% - Rebuilt incident generation system
50% - Rebuilt incident outcome system and local/global variables (perceived security, approval rates, etc.)
35% - Rebuilt suspect / officer detection (i.e. vision & hearing) system
25% - Rebuilt suspect / officer artificial intelligence systems
60% - Rebuilt equipment systems
0% - Rebuilt ambulance / tow truck NPC AI
0% - Rebuilt saving / loading system

Miscellaneous / Technical
100% - Updated game engine
100% - Updated third-party tools
100% - Reimplement original vehicles & equipment + add new full-size SUV
75% - Fix Custom ELS