We want to give you all an update on what we’ve been working on since the playtest, which includes the memory leak, tracers, and vehicle physics. Plus we’ve got a new “ricochet” detail that we want to show off.

We found that audio was the main cause of our memory leak in our last [c]playtest[/c]. We have been using Unity’s audio system and up until this point it has been working. However with Operation Overhaul’s amount of sounds we implemented and how they interact with each other, the system overwhelmed over time as more audio was played and cached. To remedy this, we have made the decision to switch everything over to FMOD Audio engine. Regarding the bullet tracers, we completely reworked them and are continuing to optimize them.

Our sound designer MF_Kitten can give a little more detail on why we made this decision:

When we started the audio side of the overhaul, we were doing our best to work within the constraints of the Unity audio engine. This included designing and programming custom playback systems for gunshots, explosions, HRTF spatial audio, etc.

The limitations we had with Unity audio finally hit us in the face during the first public playtest. The internal playtests with the team simply could not uncover the strain that 254 players worth of audio would put on player systems! We were profiling performance and watching closely, and indeed audio WAS the memory leak problem that slowed down all the playtesters' machines! (Yes, it happened to my PC too)

So the decision was made to leave Unity's default audio system behind and bring in some serious horsepower.

FMOD is a third party audio engine that has been used in many amazing games, from indie gems to heavy-hitting AAA. It's incredibly well optimized and well thought-out for all the specific gaming needs and scenarios that modern gaming requires.

After looking through the data from the playtest and deciding to implement FMOD, we worked hard and fast to get all the audio ported over and we’re making great progress.

We are making sure we leverage the power of FMOD to deliver a satisfying, immersive, and most importantly, CLEAR audio experience. We love the chaotic unpredictable pandemonium that is Battlebit, but we want to make sure the audio calls extra attention where our players actually need it, while making sure non-critical sounds hang back when they need to.

Even though the Unity’s audio system worked very well for us in the past, we needed something better suited for the demands of Operation Overhaul. We’ll be continuing work on the audio system until we have things working smoothly and ready for the performance playtest. We’ll also be adding in and refining distant gunshot sounds as well as vehicle sounds which we’ll be ready to share at a later date.

Another point of feedback from players in the playtest, and even in the current live build, is the vehicle physics. They can feel floaty and are pretty hard to control overall. It’s no doubt that vehicles play a major part in Battlebit transporting players and being used to assault and defend objectives, so we want to make sure we address this and that vehicles get the attention they need.

Vehicles will now feel like they have weight to them rather than zippy and floaty. This will be an iterative process and take a few passes, so we look forward to hearing your feedback on how it feels in the next open playtest.

WIP

We mentioned earlier how tracers had added to the performance issues, and while we were reworking the old visual bullet system, we found a curious opportunity to add a new particle effect with no performance impact. The new bullet impact sounds felt sort of off without an accompanying visual effect so we took this opportunity to implement a visual ricochet. This is purely a visual effect, bullets that ricochet will not damage or harm you. Each surface also has its own chance to ricochet with steel being the highest chance and dirt having almost no chance at all.

WIP

In addition to all this, we are still sorting out other smaller issues regarding the build as well as fixing things regarding player feedback from the previous playtest. We are working towards a performance playtest to ensure we have completely fixed the memory leak. So if you haven’t already, make sure to join our Discord[discord.gg] and select the “Performance Tester” role under the “Channel and Role” to be notified when the performance test happens. Thanks everyone, and stay tuned, we are excited to get something playable in your hands soon!

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