The development team behind Squadron 42 is focused on polishing NPCs, combat AI, animations, sound, and visual effects, enhancing everything from NPC behaviors to in-game audio for a more immersive and cinematic experience. As the single-player campaign nears completion, with a focus on fine-tuning and optimization, resources are starting to shift towards advancing the Persistent Universe aspect of Star Citizen.
The video provides an update on the development progress of Squadron 42, the single-player component of Star Citizen. The AI content team has been improving animations for hangar deck and utility crew NPCs, making their tasks like repairing and inspecting ships more visually polished. They’ve also added reactive behaviors for NPCs, ensuring smooth animation transitions, and introduced a new medbay scenario where a sleeping patient is regularly scanned by doctors as part of the medical behavior system, suggesting further integration of medical gameplay in the broader Star Citizen universe.
The AI features team has focused on combat AI, enhancing enemies’ ability to adapt to the player’s actions, adjusting damage rates and weapon cooldowns for a more challenging encounter. They’ve also been refining the collision avoidance system and NPC cover usage. A comprehensive test level for combat AI is under development, which will also affect the Persistent Universe, indicating a symbiotic relationship in AI updates between the single-player and multiplayer components.
The animation team is working to improve combat animations and interactions with the environment, including weapons handling and malfunctions. They are also working on facial animations for story cutscenes and ambient NPC interactions. The audio team has been polishing sound effects and designing new audio assets for more cinematic experiences. New audio tech is being created to enhance the overall sound experience in the game.
The gameplay features team continues to polish the character customization system, which includes a wide variety of cosmetic options. They’re also working on in-game navigation markers, labels, and starting to develop a Squadron 42-specific user interface that evolves as players progress through the game. The game’s narrative aspects are also being honed, with efforts focused on integrating animations and audio into the actual gameplay to ensure an immersive storytelling experience.
Finally, the visual effects team is collaborating with the cinematics team on cutscenes and polishing effects for various game locations, including weapon and gadget effects and dynamic fire effects. The overall tone of the update suggests that Squadron 42 is in the final stages of development, with the emphasis now on polishing and optimization. It’s indicated that as Squadron 42 nears completion, resources are beginning to shift towards the Persistent Universe, which may result in accelerated development for the broader Star Citizen project.