Monthly Development Update April 2025

The Warped Games team had a packed April as we prepared for Sui Basecamp, the annual gathering for everyone involved in the Sui ecosystem. Mysten Labs, the creators of the Sui Network and one of our partners, invited us to showcase Warped Universe at the event on the upcoming SuiPlay0X1 handheld device. Since both the hardware and software were brand new, and our game was one of the first native titles on the platform, we had to quickly adapt our development process. Warped Universe had previously been optimized only for PC, so we shifted focus to ensure it ran smoothly on the handheld and was fully playable for live demos at the event.

To get ready for Basecamp, the team quickly shifted focus to optimize key aspects of Warped Universe with lighting being a top priority. Our developers built a flexible system that dynamically switches between baked and real-time lighting based on the device’s performance. This means the game now looks great and runs smoothly whether you’re playing on high-end hardware or a lower-spec handheld device like the SuiPlay0X1.

While this shift changed our development roadmap a bit, it was something we’d need to tackle eventually. Getting it done early has already proven valuable, and we’re now in a much stronger position with a more optimized, platform-ready version of the game.

While our core dev team was deep in optimization work, our artists were exploring some exciting new directions. With the core gameplay in place, one thing became clear: our enemies needed more visual punch. We wanted players to feel a strong urge to fight back the moment they saw them. Our concept artist, art director, and design team collaborated to overhaul enemy visuals from the ground up, creating a range of new designs that are striking, intimidating, and deeply tied to the game’s atmosphere. The new enemy lineup is in, and they look absolutely sick.

On the game design front, we made big strides with the Sparks system, our core mechanic for upgrading and enhancing equipment in Warped Universe. While the system had already been functioning behind the scenes to support gameplay, its visual presentation hadn’t yet caught up. Over the past month, our team brought it to life with new textures, materials, animations, lighting effects, and VFX. The result is a much more immersive and visually exciting experience that makes upgrading gear feel impactful and rewarding as players progress through their missions.

All in all, April was a month focused on leveling up the player experience across the board, from making sure the game runs smoothly on all devices, to enhancing the thrill of upgrading gear, to giving enemies a more striking and menacing presence. Each improvement helps solidify the foundation as we continue building out the Warped Universe.

GAME DEVELOPMENT

Player Characters, NPCs and Items

• New Void enemy and weapon assets
  • Designed and implemented new Void model
  • New Void enemy skeletal mesh
  • New material for Void inner body
  • Added new Void character class
  • Added random enemy difficulty and modifiers
• Designed new ship cosmetics for Season Zero battlepass tiers
• Completed base set of over 80 items
• Complete statistics pass on all items
• Item details toggle to show base modifiers and all modifiers
• Added attack speed modifier
• Added dodge modifier
• Loadouts now save and load from server

Nexus Station

• Star System objects now know their Sector ID, and Sector ID shows in descriptions
• Star System now has all facility data
• Planet facility locations now data-driven not random
  • Many new types of text styles and tags for what facilities can do
• Ship now rotates in customizer
• Sparks art visuals are completed
  • Corrected scaling of Sparks inner pieces and VFX for each type
  • New material instance for each type and rarity
  • New or revised textures for D6, D8, D10, and D12
  • Added mesh LOD for each spark rarity and corresponding crust
  • Added new icons for Sparks
• Work on Sparks table
  • Sequence layout pass
  • Asset placement on table
  • Improvements to table lighting
  • VFX improvements
• Added sounds for the portal, planet printer, and terminals

Mission Maps

• Added system to allow particle emitters for each ship equipment piece
• Void weapons have enough ammo to not reload anymore
• Both character and ship weapon projectile visual effects and colors (i.e. bullet trails) now consistently reflect their actual damage type
• For projectiles with multiple damage types, the effects and color will vary depending on damage rolls - Taste the rainbow of death
• Damage display text above the enemies now match the color of the major damage type

UI

• Turn-based ability icons are now selectable to support playing with controller
• Improved mouse cursor for turn-based actions
• Added auto aim / soft targeting to realtime shooter mode for better controller support
• Added damage types to health bar to show resistances or weaknesses to those types
• Balance work - added 10x modifier to health for players in realtime
• Cleaned up mission start UI, added loadout selector
• Inventory preview system that shows 3D items in UI display
• Added loadout selector to inventory menu
• Added icons for all items
• Added item sub-type filtering to inventory UI

SuiPlay0X1 Support

• Gamepad controls for turn-based: zoom / rotate / pan
• Optimized lighting with both simple baked and raytraced to support a wider range of systems
• Added callback on light settings to allow for dynamic changes while playing

Web2 / Web 3

• Continued work on Web3 flows
• Continued working alongside Beamable to integrate Web3 functionality including Koju, Game, and Personal Vault
• Batch minting system built out
• Began final scoping document for MVP and beyond
• Collaborated with game devs on internal asset technical design
• Fixed contract CI / CD issue with versioning
• Fixed contract CI / CD issue with dependencies
• Updated cosmetic contract attributes
• Elaborated consolidation of battlepass and store cosmetic contracts

Business & Marketing

• Updated cosmetic contract attributes
  • Focused on increasing Wishlists for Steam and Epic
  • Frequent Steam posts filled with lore and gameplay descriptions
  • Creating new content and clips for Tiktok and Instagram
  • Warped Games CEO Adam Straney holding discussions on various Reddit threads
• Hosted Warped Talk Q+A #12 on Discord
• Released content made in collaboration with Iceyyy Gaming from Sui Gaming Summit
• Attended Sui Basecamp in Dubai to showcase Warped Universe on SuiPlay0X1