Full Keyboard Support & More!

Hey, it’s SnakeF8!

Shortly after pushing out the last update, someone told me that Soldiers’ Descent needed keyboard support to better the player experience. Although I planned this feature for later, I take feedback very seriously, so I deviated from the glidepath to add this! In turn, there might also be partial controller support which I want to refine later.

Keyboard Support!

Technically, keyboard support is a part of the UI rework point on the glide path, but keybinds are such an important feature that improve the user experience. Alongside Unity's eventsystem library, I had to modify its source code to make mouse clicks equal keyboard inputs. I was thinking I could just implement the Event Trigger component but NOPE! I had to write some code to get everything to smoothly transition from one button to another. When I tested it, I noticed how fast navigating the UI became, so I’m very satisfied with the final result. Unity’s input system works with both keyboard and controller, but I haven’t tested the controller part fully. Within the next hotfix, I will plug in my controller to provide 100% support, and there will be a key rebinding menu within the settings soon.

Dex Has A New Sidearm!

To test the new pistol animations, LT Dex can now equip the new M1911 (currently using a placeholder texture). This was a part of a set of features I was working on before SirDiesALot told me a playtester wanted keyboard support. Originally, I planned to animate and implement different weapon animations for this update as a part of the animation rework. The rework will add and refine animations to prepare for additional weapon types planned to be added to the game. Because I added the framework in this update, all I need to do now is animate, but there *might* be an animator that will be on board soon. I may delegate this rework to this new person if he joins the team so in that way I can work on more technical features.

What to Expect in The Future:

Version 0.3.5 may take awhile to come around, but I don’t have a ballpark to go on this time around. Next major update will have a cinematics system added for cameras. So far, I have yet to use Cinemachine because I am a little bit worried about bloating up the project. However, if I absolutely need to import it, I will since it’s so well documented.

Before 0.3.5 is out, there will be a few hotfixes to fine tweak UI navigation, keyboard support, and fix any bugs documented.

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Patch Notes:

• Added Dex pistol animations
• Added M1911 (Placeholder textures)
• Changed arena weapon models to be instantiated instead of replacing the mesh models and materials
• Reworked animation system to allow different animations for different equipped weapons
• Removed AR rifle from spawning pool because it is not fully implemented
• Certain buttons that couldn’t be highlighted can be highlighted
• Interacting, dialogue skipping, and advancing are now all the same key (By default “space” or “enter”)
• Added full keyboard support
  • Added partial controller support