Contents

August Update

This time I focused on Training game mode and game performance.

Maps

A new map was added: Dungeon. It is an easier version of Training Box:

This map is painted by Kesha Astafyev

Training Mode

There are new options in training mode:

  • Start Crates - defines initial number of crates.
  • Crates to Keep - number of crates that is being maintained by spawning new crates.
  • Wait for First Pickup - used in easy training mode to give new players some extra time to get acquiainted with controls.

It is now also possible to catch crates mid-air.

Camera Motion

Camera is more intelligent now. It tracks all action and tries to position itself so that most important things are present in the frame.

Colored areas highlight various points of interest that are being tracked.

/posts/20200831-august-update/camera_motion.png

GPU Performance

GPU performance was considerably improved. Frame time was reduced by 40% in some cases. Crate Before Attack is not a demanding game but this make a big difference for owners of laptop with integrated graphics that are often fill-rate bound. This was achieved by joining multiple passes: clear/sky/terrain into a single pass.

/posts/20200831-august-update/merged_passes.png

Bugfixes

  • Play Again button at the end of the match now works as one would expect.
  • Fixed crash in Script Editor.
  • Fixed rolling sound not stopping if game is interrupted at a wrong moment.
  • Fixed desync at the beginning of the game.
  • Fixed graphics batching bug that would cause mines to disappear if present in big amount.
  • Fixed multiple UI bugs with scrolling and clipping.