War of the Worlds - 20 Minutes of New Gameplay (Development Update)

(Exclusive discord development live streams & early access to videos)

In this month’s development progress video we go over the latest features implemented as well as many changes and improvements made to many other aspects of the game. I love to hear your suggestions and ideas to improve the game and make it more immersive.

Improvements to the machines include new forcefield effects, completely reworked and redesigned tentacles that sway with the tripod, can pickup and toss vehicles, work more reliably, and look and run smoother.

The environment has gotten a big touch up. Volumetric fog and lighting has been improved to obscure the distance for mystery of what lies ahead and to unload unnecessary objects and areas for performance optimization.

Military AI has been added that engage the tripods whenever they approach, they will also pursue and do their best to delay the advance of the machines. The military die out as the days pass so their presence is more felt in the first 2 days.

A lot of work has been done on Immersion. New dynamic weather including rain, storms, snow, and more. The weather particles are collision based and won't clip through buildings, the weather SFX is audio occluded to sound muffled when inside and louder outside. Distant lightning storms can be seen which are delivering more aliens. Distant off-map battles can be heard and seen.

There's a ton to go over so be sure to check out the whole video!

0:00 Intro
1:05 Weather Effects
3:00 Forcefield
4:50 Distant Screams & Cries
6:45 Destroyed Battlefield
8:23 Military Vehicles
10:15 Distant Battle
13:40 Battle Close up
16:40 Tentacles picking up vehicles
17:09 Captured
19:09 Driving + New Neighborhood
20:37 Probe
22:40 Procedural Red Weed
24:08 Car Heatrayed

[jeany]

The very distant silhouettes of the tripods sell the feeling that they're coming, I LOVE that

[lostintechnicolor]

You’ve really captured the most terrifying aspect of the film: that you’re not safe anywhere. Even if you think you found adequate shelter.

[freighttrain]

The segment where the Tripod probe was investigating rooms in the house is REALLY technically impressive.
I bet that was not easy to code.

[ikelevermann]

20:44 the sound when the aliens shut of the engine of the tripod is fantastic. The eerie silence after that is scary

[cardinal]

This looks INCREDIBLE! Suggestions:

1. Apart from red vines growing, more and more land needs to turn red like in that one horrific scene near the end of the movie.

2. Maybe some sort of footprints from tripods? There is currently no sign after a tripod has walked by, leaves the impression that they're very light

3. The 8:00 scene looks a little iffy imo, I think that's because the smoke and explosions are clearly visible through the fog, contrasting in a weird way

4. Gunshots from the vehicles sound a little weird when close up! Sounds like knocking, I literally turned around and looked at my door lmao

Thank you for doing this for the community, this videogame has been a dream of mine ever since I saw the movie.

[Neillan]

This actually looks *incredible* can't wait for the full release!
This is a perfect concept for a survival game, that's for sure.

[toffeefeathers]

21:00 Jesus Christ that is completely horrifying, I’m SO glad you added this feature, experiencing this would be indescribable, even the sounds are perfect!!

[jasongraham]

12:50 I love how he got shook when the death machine looked his direction lol I got scared thinking he was about to get obliterated! This is quality content being created here folks

[lilahdog]

This game really drives home the horror of an alien invasion. Hiding in abandoned buildings, seeing the flashing light of the heat ray outside and knowing the danger is nearby.

[EpitomeTTV]

This looks great so far! I have a few pieces of feedback.

1) All super loud noises that you want a delay for depending on distance should have a delay set to 1 second per in-game mile.

2) (Probably already planned) As the days of the week go on, you see less and less military and other NPCs until on the final couple of days, where you are the final survivor.

3) Tripods should only notice your gunshots if there is not a louder audio source closer to them. For example, it wouldn't make sense for them to be engaging in a fight with the military and then you shoot someone a couple hundred yards away and they turn their attention towards you.

Other than that, all I can really say so far is that for an in-dev/pre-alpha build, this is really shaping up well. Only real constructive criticism I have is probably something that you're already working on, which is a lot of the sound effects sound pretty low quality. But I'm just assuming they're placeholder.

[gojiratitanus]

I don't know what you guys would think, but a detail that would be perfect for the red grass is that it has bioluminescence, that it shines an intense red color, so that the sky is dyed a bloody red tone. I say this because behind the scenes of the film, in the production design, they put red LED lights on some areas where there was red grass.

[Ahandleofrum]

Just the other day I was thinking how great of a setting War of the Worlds would be for a survival game. And here we are! Looks awesome!

[cherryrook]

Seeing the Tripod annihilatie the military in the distance and then everything becoming quiet besides its engine sounds gives me that terrifying feeling i had when i first watched the movie as a kid long ago. Great work !

[bobb]

The sounds from 12:50 to 14:00 are amazing, Just the lights from the tripod lunking towards you and the sounds making it really feel like you're there. The Probe segment was done fantastic aswell.

[natheria]

Also i would recommend adding tv or radio broadcasts in the early stages to keep you informed. they might not be on for long but it will also build the lore and immersion too.

[RavenVI]

11:20 I love the effect that when its complete darkness, the only visibility you have of the distant tripod is the silhouette from when its forcefield lights up. Genuinely looks terrifying.

[anthonythefirst]

15:44 I love how the tripod was all like "Meh you guys aren't fun anymore". I absolutely love all the new features btw, amazing stuff truly!

[TheTigerz]

At 20:37 I was literally just thinking, “hmm he should make it to where they prove the house and stuff” and WHAT DO YOU KNOW if this game ever becomes big and is released to consoles or something omg they would be my dream to play this. You are doing amazing work and please never stop I beg of you

[renegadepyro]

I love how you have story mode, and then for those sandbox game lovers like myself, you have a survival. You’re making one hell of a game

[deediedededoe]

A really cool feature would be distant tripod horns that actually come from wandering tripods so you know not to go a certain way