Missions, Missing Docks, and Masks...

I'm going to start off this update with something a bit personal that inspired just one of the side missions you will encounter in Peace Island:  

If you were not aware, I'm a big fan of sea glass.  So much so that I accumulated quite a bit, over the years.  For example, this was the result after a year's collection in 2014:

As you can see, out of 15 pounds of the stuff, Red & pink, by far, are the most rare at less than a dozen shards.  Believe it or not, back in the days before the arrival of the Coronavirus, a shard of red the size of a quarter could go for well over 200 USD, if it was smoothly worn.

However, there's another level, beyond that.

Putting on a sun hat and searching for sea glass on a sunny day is one thing.  It's another thing entirely to roam the beaches during those rare nights when low tide coincides with the waning moon, UV flashlight in hand, searching for the "God Tier" of sea glass: Uranium Sea Glass.

Since the days of the Roman Empire, uranium was used to dye glass.  While I have occasionally encountered pieces of uranium glass that are white, blue and orange, the element typically was used to dye glass a particular shade of green.  The heyday of this use (at least in the USA) was in the 1930's, when department stores would give out free glassware to entice shoppers to simply show up, in hopes they might buy a pack of gum on the way out.  Hence, this glass is commonly known in the USA as "Depression Glass."  It is very common to still find pieces of this in thrift/antique stores, worldwide.

It glows brightly when hit by UV light, because that frequency tends to upset the uranium atoms within, creating what is called a "Photon."  This is when an electron "skips orbits" as it were, which knocks another electron out of place, which we perceive as green light.

About 80 years ago, some families in Portland Maine apparently disposed of their broken depression glassware by tossing it into the ocean. I have discovered a VERY small number of beaches that will yield up TINY quantities of this sort of glass, shattered and worn smooth with time - and they are always found OPPOSITE of Portland's beaches.

Now- I'm not going to spoil anything by giving story context, but rest assured: You will encounter this phenomenon in Peace Island.  Whether or not you choose to pursue it, will be entirely up to you, of course...

We are VERY close to being able to release that "Unintended Alpha" I have been mentioning.  It's all ready on the PC side, and slow but steady progress is being made, bringing the Mac side up to parity - but there's this...

One - Damned - DOCK...

That just refuses to show up in builds.  It's REALLY annoying, because the prefab functions as it should in any other context but the main exterior scene, and it's apparently not just on our end here at PI HQ.  Other folks working on the game have reported it on their ends, as well...

While we've been working on figuring that out, I found time to finalize the trails on the northern part of the Island, and got the biomes adjusted to fit the revised terrain.

However, there remain some out-of-place ground lights, and bits of "Flying Grass" that I am still finding here and there...

IN OTHER NEWS:

- Work on the new NPC system is proceeding, and it looks like the first NPCs- the Geese - are finally being integrated, even as I type.  (As this is to be a comprehensive system, I do not believe we will be able to include it in the "Unintended Alpha.")

- The new player controller is getting better, by the day.  Getting things JUST right is an incremental process that is an ongoing collaboration.

- We integrated a larger-scale in-game map that allows for more precise icons, displaying your location(s) within the game world (although, as you can see, we need to add a bit of anti-aliasing to make them look less "chunky.")

- Work on the "second pass" of the first mission of the game is underway.  We pretty much have the mechanics and structure done - It's now all about making the location look a bit more "Homey."

- And I spent a bit of time cleaning up the vegetation masks.  These are the in-game prefabs that ensure that grasses & trees don't sprout out of homes or park benches.

Each time I do this, I am reminded of all of the work that went into the making of this game.  I mean- look at this point:

That is one point out of hundreds of points- each one hand-placed and repeatedly refined, to ensure everything was JUST SO...

...on a single mask in a network of over a dozen that span the entire island...

All of this was just ONE PART of ONE PERSON'S job - his total efforts just being a small part of a much greater whole, with dozens of systems working together, in amazing synchronization.

I've never been part of anything so humbling, yet so personally satisfying.

FINAL NOTES:

- We will update again in two weeks, or whenever we have the PC version of the "Unintended Alpha" ready to post - whichever comes first!

- Shipment of premiums hit a two-day snag, but will resume, tomorrow.

- We have placed approximately 300 out of the 450 in-game name placements.  Work on this continues to be slow, but it continues.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR SUPPORT, PATIENCE, AND CONFIDENCE- IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US!