Monthly Development Update March 2025

This month’s MDU for Warped Universe is the biggest one yet. We’ve got a massive amount of updates to report and are so excited about it. From the start, our lead game dev and President, Scott Brown, has always said the first year is the hardest in development. Creating the foundation and core game loop takes the longest and can seem slow from an outside perspective. But once that loop is finally created, the fun truly starts, and the pace picks up exponentially with content, polish, and all the fun extras. We’re on that tipping point now. As you can see, the MDU is massive, reflecting that change in pace.

Among our many exciting updates, we had our first live showcase and playtest at the Sui Gaming Summit at GDC2025. Sui invited Warped Games to have a booth at the Summit, and Warped Universe was up and running for everyone to jump in and play. The team worked around the clock to get the game loop in top shape for this event, and it paid off. The event was an absolute success, with hundreds of people stopping by from start to finish to check out the game, play it, and engage with the team.

If you’ve followed along the whole time, you’ll definitely see some major milestones in this update.

GAME DEVELOPMENT

Season Zero Demo

• Improved level transitions in between game modes
• Added many assets to the 4K planet turn-based map
• New main menu
  • Logs into Beamable account automatically from Epic
  • Shows current character customizations with idle animations
    Nanite optimizations
• Hint System implemented to show keys / controls dynamically based on hint type
• Added even more starting health for player
• Designed new character helmet with Sui logo, material call outs on back for glow and water caustics material
• Added remaining Keyboard Mouse icons
• Updated stats on starting player and void equipment

Changes made from Player Feedback at Sui Gaming Summit

• Removed movement penalty to shooting accuracy
• Made both zoom and crouch improve accuracy
• WIP on weapon accuracy system
• Changed so you cannot select hexes you can’t move to in turn-based Space
• Fixed zoom in turn-based space explore map
• Fixed ability descriptions in turn based for auto generated weapon skills

Nexus Station

• Nexus Station improvements
  • Cleaned up lighting effects around Nexus Station
  • Added more perimeter assets
  • No longer fatigue while sprinting in Nexus Station
  • No longer show combat related HUD UI on Nexus Station
• Added new music to Nexus Station
  • Randomly picks music
  • Plays mission music when in the mission map area
• Extensive work on mission map
  • Added Nexus Station to system map object to show station above the planet it’s printing
  • Edited starting planet and some of the asset materials for a cleaner look
  • Updated material for discovered hexes
  • Work on projection materials above map system
  • Added percent complete to mission UI
  • Added decals for facility markers on planet maps
  • Facilities now have three states on planets, decal only, decal + hologram, fully rendered representing not started, incomplete and complete states
  • Replaced Solar system sun with new FX and materials to allow different visual states depending on current light vs gravity balance
• Artifractal Core table
  • Changed camera in Core Table level from regular camera to cinematic camera allowing better depth of field when table is in use
  • Created decals and assets for the six Artifractal Core rarities
  • Core inner pieces have a unique color per rarity
  • Made Core outer material more like white Echo armor
  • Nyzrak decals added to Cores
  • Work on Artifractal Core VFX
  • Added character and ship previews to Artifractal Core previews
  • Added weapons to Artifractal Core previews
  • Created UI to display Items hooked up in Artifractal Core table
  • Cleaned up modifier text in Artifractal Core table UI
• Next up… the Sparks Table, already underway

Gameplay loop

• Added space missions real-time and turn-based, can be accessed from explore system object
• Work on Space explore mission map both real-time and turn-based versions
• Added different mission descriptions based on system map object type
• Made the mission complete screen follow the same visual style as the planet mission screens
• Added new way to interact with mission objectives in turn-based missions
• Changed Power and Precision to function differently
• Updated names and descriptions in turn based attack UI to recoil and dodge
• Added crit hit and crit damage modifiers
• Added some more modifiers for light / gravity balance support based on current light vs gravity conditions

Character Itemization and Customization

• Added Void cosmetics
• Experimented with Aura customizations
• Created Psi and Scoped helmets
• Added new display objects for 3D UI representations
• Made adjustments to Echo cloak cloth materials
• Added loadout component for ships and characters
• Pass on flavour descriptions for all items
• Set up more configuration options for character customization
• New shield and ship cannon models
• More armor sets added
• Lots of ship refactoring

Engineering

• Beamable version updated
• Added Epic DevAuthTool

Web2 / Web 3

• Continued work on Web3 flows
• Setup mono repo for future scalability and maintenance which includes:
  • Warped Games app
  • Portal app
  • UI library
  • Other shared packages
• Deployed portal app and APIs to dev environment and contracts to Devnet
• CI/CD setup for automated contract deployment and services configuration
• Added Epic login feature to Beamable accounts
• Added Game Vault feature to Beamable accounts
• Added Koju currency to Beamable inventory system with on-chain integration
• Awaiting final compliance and legal onboarding with XSOLLA payment platform

Business & Marketing

• Attended the Sui Gaming Summit during GDC in San Francisco
  • Presented Warped Universe Season Zero for the first time at our own booth at Sui Gaming Summit
  • Constant playtests with attendees with positive feedback
  • Warped Games CEO Adam Straney joined a panel on stage to discuss the topic: What will catalyze Web3 adoption in gaming?
  • Collaborated with Iceyyy Gaming to document our first ever Warped Universe playtest
• Featured on SuiPlay0X1 advertising (pre-order yours now)
• Began planning/booking for Sui Basecamp in Dubai