The May report for Squadron 42 highlighted advancements in AI development, including improvements to NPC behaviors, interactions, and combat scenarios. Additionally, progress was made in gameplay animation, social team efforts to create a lively ship environment, narrative tasks, and technical developments such as volumetric cloud rendering and flight tech design.
The May report for Squadron 42 focused on AI content development, with improvements made to background management, NPC behavior, and interactions. New Lookout technology was introduced to enhance visuals when NPCs look at the player, adding realism to character interactions. Pathing adjustments were made for scripted walkers in Stanton to avoid critical scenes, and greeting dialogues for NPCs post-workouts were improved for a more realistic experience. Idle times between interactions were decreased to make AI more responsive, and facial animations were added to enhance dynamic conversations.
AI features were refined to ensure consistent behaviors across different combat scenarios, with improvements made to perception reactions, cover use, and combat elements evaluation. Work began on allowing NPCs to understand when cover is being destroyed or unsuitable, preventing them from using unsuitable cover. Ship AI functionality was enhanced, with improvements to NPC behaviors when using elevators and pushing trolleys. Gameplay animation saw developments in player interactions, combat AI polishing, and motion capture flow refinement.
The social team worked on creating life animations to give a living, breathing feel to the ship environment. Motion capture supported gameplay and story elements, including a shoot for a new enemy class and animations for various characters. Gameplay story polishing included character interactions in different chapters, such as fist bumping, turret button interactions, and new animations. The narrative team focused on tasks for Squadron 42, reviewing playthroughs, writing galopa entries, and developing collectibles scattered throughout levels.
A new test bed was developed to test dogfighting combat experience and ensure correct triggering of wild lines for various pilots. Volumetric cloud rendering R&D saw progress, with enhancements in texture filtering, ray marching steps scaling, and temporal render mode development. Flight tech design integrated new AI flight behavior and improved combat scenarios and encounters. The VFX team supported art design and cinematic teams, finalizing camera positions to match effects in cinematic scenes. Overall, progress was made in various aspects of development, from AI enhancements to narrative and technical improvements.