Skyfear | Commits

Last updated May 14 2025

What is this?

A public document for a player’s information on the tasks that have been completed between builds in Skyfear’s development. The format is that the top-most items are the most recent, separated by statements where a build was released. (Prior to launch date, the tasks are separated by month.)

Want to play experimental builds?

If you own a copy of Skyfear, you can switch to the experimental branch by switching your Steam installation to that under ‘Betas’. (How To Activate Betas) It is strongly reccommended that you make copies/backups of your save data before switching branches.

Build 264 compiled May 19, 2025

Finished & placed Material group spawns
Improved debris particles on bolt impacts
Added projectile asset to Shroud activation to improve clarity
Increased player “shadow” size
Commit log format updated
Launcher script tested, audited, cleaned up
Launcher script refactored
Lessened the post processing dark vingette
Fixed some out-of-bounds exploits on Hollow
Fixed some out-of-bounds exploits on Chasm
Avatar camera movement smoothed
Avatar camera light increased slightly
Camera moved slighty over more, horizontally, and slightly higher up, and slightly farther back
Reticle made smaller overall
Fixed hitmarker position, which was out of place because of the reticle adjustments
Game chat moved to the top right
Adjusted Predator’s FOV change to 30, just solid 30
Renamed “Skins” to “Scales”, as I believe the usage of it in this game differs from what players expect from that term
Fixed yet another spore positioned inaccessibly
Finished new image sharpening filter; sharpening is applied over a radial gradient, with center screen being increased sharpening and the vingette of the screen being negative sharpening. this filter is optional.
Calculation of focus FOV and sprint FOV changed from a multiplier (1.3, 0.6) to an addition and subtract of 30 units
Camera FOV range adjust from 70-140 to 80-140
Camera default FOV set to 90 instead of 85
Tigthened the FOV max clamp on smooth camera function
Improvements to Shroud particle effects, much faster and more lively movement, and darker
Crown shader made less flashy (but still bright) over photosensitivity concern
Updated description of magic on HUD in the help menu
Geysers will now stop spewing if player is in the menu, keeps the menu experience focused
Wrote and began testing external launcher script
Improved visibility of Magpoint zone effect, made less chaotic
Remove in-game feedback menu; nobody was using it. It’s still useful, but I’ll bring it back later in a better way.
Improved doc generator script
Added CSS to website docs
Written and assembled preliminary launcher script for assessment on different machines
New option “Reduce Photosensitive Elements” will hide the lightning on Storm, bright damage flashing effect; with more effects to be assessed and included going forward
Conducted a camera position study…
Added some new effects on takeoff move
Photosensitivity option created in config class, and option added to menu
Added/finished adding crabs and clams to new map
Finished/improved clam actor
Created new actor that can spawn a group assortment of Material rocks, for used in Lairworld
Finished pyrite, magpoint and crown placement for new map
Finished spawns and navigational elements for ai on new map
Finished boundary elements for new map
Increased movement speed and trigger range of the shroud
Very slightly increased radius of all attacks to accommodate for some near miss issues
Distortion emitter added to magic impact effects, looks cool
Added more variation to the orientation of decals created by bolt impacts
Reduced amount of pterosaurs that can spawn from spores, intended to lower the total
‘Image Sharpening’ option renamed to ‘Sharp Lens Filter’
Film grain removed
‘Film grain’ option removed, as it apparently wasn’t even turned enabled in game, and I decided I don’t like it lol

Build 263 released April 27, 2025

FAQ updated
Slight adjustments made to global post processing - prepping for a filter update
Adjusted hard FOV limits
Slight increase to FOV ‘burst’ when sprinting
Hitting pterosaurs now gives you a hitmarker
Increased pterosaur’s attack range
Adjusted diving speed curve
Top speed when flying increased
Dragon diving pose slightly tweaked
Dragon will now tuck in its wings when firing, to avoid wings blocking your view
Hitboxes for player updated to better apply to current model, plus made slightly larger
Nametag pickup radius increased
Nametags made slightly larger
Updated Steam tags
Fixed an issue where selecting None on customizations didn’t remove lower jaw horns
Adjusted reticle position to be more accurate at more distances
Ability descriptions lengthened to explain them better
Blood Sight time increased slightly
Cloak time increased slightly
Few small audio fixes
Added dithering to moss shader
Fixed(?) spore vegetation spawning on mushrooms
Adjust more spores positions

Build 262 released April 18, 2025

Re-implimented Material “gemstone” pickups. Gems will be randomly spawned in the Lairworld (Lairworld only, not arenas) to be picked up for bonus Material
Widgets using Interact action should properly use Action Key name
Spore egg claim and ready up now properly attached to an “Interact” action
Adjusted attention settings for meteor landing sounds, sound design should vary by distance now + less harsh overall
Finished and implimented Set Action Key binding and Get Action Key Name functions
Reduced the cost of fusion bolts by half
Added more variation to spore veg spawn, and adjusted the values of the meshes chosen based on spore value
Added MeteorFrag instance spawn alongside Spore veg spawn
Adjusted background tint on various menus
Added PLAYSKYFEAR.COM, a website doc viewer menu
Added a progress % value next to spores stats, and reworded to align better with the widget elements that occur during delivery
Improved position and phrasing on post match return to warm-up timer. Many players were not seeing or understanding this mechanic.
Removed the logic of fading out the ESC MENU prompt in Lairword HUD; in attempt to make the Lairworld’s relation to the Main Menu more clear. The reason this logic existed is because a while ago, you could only open the Main Menu if you were on the ground and standing still. This was annoying to players so I removed it, but the ESC MENU prompt was made to fade away if you were moving. So now that’s been removed.
Move Discord button to the left with all the other buttons on Main Menu
Made pterosaurs slightly less noisy (again)
Slight improvement to game build tag widget
Created and published roadmap doc
Fixed spore vegatation and meteor rock fragments spawning in the air
Added shoulder cam to Basics widget
Added notes about vegetation generation in spores help page
Vegetation generated from claimed spores is now broader, brighter, more colorful, and properties determined by the spore’s value
Camera shake from roaring now uses camera shake intensity setting
Slightly increased bleed xp earnings from certain actions
Adjusted/improved meteor spawn sounds stero attentuation
Adjusted roar stereo attenuation
Your killer’s emblem added to death screen, next to their name
Slightly neatened up the layout of the death screen
Changed the way Network Status is showed in the server browser, to accommodate Main/LAN branches and to look nicer
Added K/D and overall accuracy stat elements to the backend
Added more bot “chat” content and adjusted it’s usage. Bots made slightly less chatty.
Added a “Manual Respawn” key. Press K to uh … send yourself to the afterlife and get respawned. Intended for situations where you’ve gotten stuck.
Fixed an oversight in the way that the “Time spent in battle” stat was being presented. It should now be presented as it was meant: Amount of time spent alive, during a valid battle session
How to Play menu can now be accessed from the Pause/Lobby menu
Increased amount of Material earned from killing pterosaurs in the Lairworld
Added melee damage to pterosaurs
Number of spores provided as already opened (upon new game) is now counted and subtracted from spores stats, to be more accurate and less confusing
Some informational text added to spore delivery widget
Adjusted the number of spores awarded for leveling up – spores per level has always been exponentially increased, but now it does so slower, and clamped between 1 and 3 per level-up. Basically: spores delivery will be slightly slower and more evenly spread out.
Removed V for spray as an alternative keybinding; all keybindings set up for 1 keyboard and 1 gamepad input
Increased delay for showing the options on the Post Game menu, and forced input to null until that appears. This prevents user from accidentally skipping the Post Game menu entirely by accident because they were trying to jump or fly.
Fixed an issue where pressing F on a spore multiple times before the reward screen appears would repeatedly subtract the Material cost
Slightly decreased volume of spore ambience sound
Tested menu arrangements including various new buttons, saved for later
Team Names set to Sun and Moon by default…
Made Team Names on scoreboard look a bit clearer, text-wise
Added Team Name to HUD, near the score and timer. Text will collapse if game mode does not use teams.
Various Discord server improvements
Further testing on sensitivity settings range…
Added extra visibility elements to server “Join” button
Renamed “Ok” to “Next” on Profile Create menu – bit clearer what’s happening now
Removed service rendev. time console printing
Increased the range of geyser blast sound cue, so you can hear it when you get launched
Improved positioning and color/visbility of Basic Controls widget
Clarified and simplified the Basic Controls widget text
Increased visibility of single (isolated) buttons, and added parenthesis around keybindings if applicable
Reworded Bots and Server buttons on Custom Game Setup menu to clearly mean “Settings”
Increased bots’ default intelligence setting from 45 to 50
Fixed an issue with Eden’s map image; new image used
Added UI elements to the server browser directing players towards Discord/Create A Server if browser has <5 results
Added spectator-like movement to customization camera, so user can not just orbit but move up/down/left/right, for a better look at their avatar
Created functions for translating Unreal’s action mapping struct
Expanded text chat window farther horizontally (we’ll see if this stays)
Fixed some of Wintertide’s spawn locations being way too far out
Expanded the range of sensitivity settings expanded
Removed more console string prints
Improved wording of Magpoint objective
Added more game tips & loading screen content
Increased the lighting values on Chasm, so you can see player skins better
Added a point light near customization camera so avatar is always lit
Decreased sway/increased speed on customization camera control
Sped up zoom lerp function for customization camera
Surrounded player names with <> brackets in more places, was inconsistent before
Added more combat tips
Added Geysers page to Help
Updated damage information in tail strike Help page
Fixed out of date Grid thumbnail image
Fixed more Spore positions, some of them were inside walls
Fixed Unnatural pro not ignoring collision damage, works now
Increased value of potential Material given by killing pterosaurs
Adjusted player count function used in server browser to be more lenient
Set region filter to ALL by default, for now
Increased size and visibility of the roar effect
Added option for speed on HUD
Added speed to HUD
Added option for raw Health/Magic values on HUD
Added Health/Magic raw values to HUD
Prototyped freeplay mode
Added more bot chat content
Improved respawn sec(s) counter text

Build 261 released March 14, 2025

GP added to online stat string construction
Regolith ambient sound slightly mixed better
Wintertide waterfalls sound lowered slightly
Crown network relevancy range increased & added more Force Net Update events
Several spores underground have had their positions fixed
Walking in air bug fixed
Magpoint’s description improved
Pterosaurs will now be silent and freeze when menus are open
Fixed scale of images in Spores How To screen
Increased single player earnings multiplier from 79% to 90%
Increased custom ruleset earnings multiplier from 29% to 59%

Build 260 released March 10, 2025

Server password-to-access dialogue fixed (event was just unhooked for some reason)
Several console print statements removed; more to go
Eden’s mysterious sky-leaves rendering glitch fixed
Fixed/renamed a few buttons with out of date terms
Storm’s lightning brightness reduced slightly
Storm’s rain particles reduced slightly
Volume and frequency of pterosaur screams reduced
Slightly decreased overal global post processing contrast
Melee animation getting stuck fixed
Melee range increased from 600cm to 900cm
Melee damage fixed; uses full 500 damage now instead of a radial falloff
Forced check if rolling when Take flight or Land is called, only continue if not rolling
Removed forced velocity addition in the Z direction when meleeing
Increased FOV option range from 80-100 to 70-140
Added option to bots setup: Chatty on/off, enables or disables bots chatting

Build 259 released March 5, 2025 … Game launched on Steam March 6, 2025!

Finished adding all skins, eyes, to unlocks data & placing spores
Fixed out of date map/mode lists for generate new battle
Fixed out of date wording on some spore elements
Removed print strings from several areas, need to do more
Fixed an issue where branches were creating and loading the wrong save data
Wiped online data
Moved data code back to 1, full ecosystem reset
Built function to estimate server ping based on available information, when the AdvancedSessionsPlugin doesn’t have a valid ping
Rebuilt and reimplimented death animation
Rebuilt and reimplimented running animation
Rebuilt and reimplimented walking animation

February 2025…

Branch load save data function
Reworded some controls UI elements
Tweaked ban screen messaging
Tested re-export/re-import character model assets
Adjusted global post processing contrast (increased)
Tested and fixed some walking movement issues
Tested and fixed some server travel issues
Fixed a spore delivery issue
Added Instance TTS to debug view (time to service in ms)
Removed testing elements from maps
Fixed claw mesh issues
Fixed some vertex-weight issues on character model
Added 7 new eyes
Added 15 new skins

January 2025…

Added animation and sound for melee
Finished Vote to kick feature
Improved sound effects on spawn and match intro
Added Code of Conduct to Help menu and Server browser screen
Reset Battle resets all PlayerState values, including now community/conduct features
Finished LAN branch build path and build affects on UX
Updated Release Cycle
Updated Content Guidelines
Updated Code of Conduct
Server browser network will now say LAN if LAN branch, Network status if Main/Expr
Added server and player count to server browser.
Added ping to server browser results.
Finished Report Player feature.
Finished Commend Player feature.
Finished Mute in Chat feature.
Brought back geysers in the Lairworld.
Finished Guardian Points impact on XP and Material delivery.
Resized Grid (map) geometry.
Culled/organized all notes to push back anything that isn’t absolutely critical for launch.
Cleaned up/disabled physics assets on character – UE4.21’s physics asset features at the time were very underdeveloped. might make everybody’s life easier if it just stays untouched until a better solution is found.
Cleaned up some runtime warnings being thrown from SeaLevel and Weather casts occurring too early sometimes
Rolling on ground now launches you into the air and puts you into a roll, transitioning you to flight automatically after. A quick get-away move.
Added ‘light up rocks’ to Eden, Hollow, & Chasm
Renamed ‘Dust’ to ‘Material’. This is final.
Verified there is no level cap - for now
Increase lifetime of ability frag collection emitter, looks better this way
Total level and guardian points (gp) displayed on Career screen
Created and implimented guardian point actions, actions that add/subtract conduct points.
Added ‘guardian points’ - a value that measures your conduct in mutliplayer.
Added ‘total level’ - a value that is a sum of your Spirit, Force, and Bleed, for simplicity in certain features or conversations
Added more encouragement texts
Created ‘LAN party’ branch
Kill confirmed widget repositioned
Particle ‘stick’ fx adjusted to stay longer
Fixed/finished debug “test menu” to make sure it nullifies any XP or rewards from the current battle
Reduced camera sway and increased body sway – responsiveness and snappiness feels improved, without impacting the smoothness of flight
Reworded a few in-game menu buttons
Improved save icon indicator visibility and text, and added to more places in the game loop where it should’ve been
Improved ‘lore’ text for maps
Added more server information to the in-game scoreboard screen
Adjusted default audio mix, music volume lowered
Improved/added to map and game mode texts
Added more loading screen text
Updated build branch type enum: Main, Expr, LAN
Updated/build number text functionality/format
Fixed some issues with XP delivery
Improved mixing on several sound fx
Adjusted default health and magic regeneration rates
Perk system re-work designed, but needs further assessment
Made ability frags slightly more visually distinct
Removed “MVP” section from scoreboard as it is not working properly and the cause cannot be found – plan to re-impliment or do something better with this later.
New map under construction…
Adjusted wording/names of some menu buttons

December 2024…

New/final application icon
Made ‘ENTER’ also used as text chat focus button, in addition to previously ‘T’
Collected new ideas/notes from various games
Adjusted ban screen to provide more useful/accurate information
Made sure publishing and main menu assets make the game’s scale and genre more clear
Added various flags to chat content
Added automatic reporting when chat flags are triggered
Improved text chat censoring and handling of strings
Fixed/re-implimented chat censoring options
Wrote a player Code of Conduct
Fixed an issue with spray attack collisions
Added more bot chat content
Conducted research regarding player/community toxicity
“Leave battle” button moved to bottom of the list in all variations of the in-game menu
Removed landing conditions requirement - you can now just tap space to land in all conditions. Previous implimentation to was to prevent exploitations that we never really ending up seeing, plus it was something that always had to be explained to players, and just felt off, and the latter implimentation is more enjoyable and responsive. So yeah.
New game mode: Instakill
In-game menu now has a listing of players in the current server, along with community related options: Mute, Vote to kick, Report, Commend
Fixed/re-implimented bug reporting in-game
Fixed/re-implimented text chat on/off option
Created assets for Practice Mode
Added new tab in Options menu for Debug features, only visible in Experimental builds
Debug feature: cheat menu (all XP and earnings will be nullified from the battle the moment this opens, even if you turn it back off)
Debug feature: show console logs on/off (this feature is ‘done’ but all console logging events have not been switched from Legacy Unreal to this custom feature yet)
Removed dirt mask post processing effect

November 2024…

Tweaked/fixed horns positions on player model’s head
Finished fixing issues related to ending battles automatically when lives run out
Fix an issue with the game clock in spectator view when paused
Created a set of ‘common’ servers for generated single player matches (still experimental)
Secured approval from Valve to launch under Early Access
Fixed a bug with spine cosmetic previews
Store page updates
Redefined main menu button names/descriptions
Testing Unreal export of skeletal meshes
Updated all help/guide screens

October 2024…

Performed a stress test on service component simulating 10,000 active players
Fixed issues with server browser player count
Fixed/finished implimentation of [experimental feature] single player sessions generated in the server browser
Improved server browser buttons / layout / animations
Fixed meteor brightness
Fixed issue where live limits being reached were not necessarily being considered to end the game early; now the game will automatically end if only one player remains with time left, so they don’t need to sit there
Added/finished bot chat [experimental feature]
Updated/fixed store page
Fixed/improved match kill feed text
Fixed in-game music. Now plays throughout battle with some delay between tracks
Made spore light taller for viewing at larger distances
Fixed an issue where sometimes a player name would be blank in the kill feed
Save data DNA now includes branch name
Improved teeth shader
Fixed waterfall loudness
Increased magpoint net relevancy square
Fixed level-up in Experimental branch not working
Improved roar and bolt fire animations
Changed amount of orbs that spawn from death now influenced by ability charge; the more your ability is charged the more orbs come out
Orbs now slightly slower, less travel
All axis based inputs now have a fixed max range that they are clamped to (for extreme cases)
Fixed issue where Magpoint would be stuck on ‘contested’ even when nobody is there, in single player
Spore eggs are translucent now: and have some visual asset inside to represent the contents inside. This gives the player more to inform their decision making, while not totally spoiling the surprise.

September 2024…

Reduced time to spawn spores when returning to Lairworld
Improved a few sound effects
Fixed some spawn points on Chasm that were messed up
Removed wind/airflow effect on ‘sprint’. This was the cause of some strange visual artifacts specifically on Eden, which made the game look very broken. Improvements to this effect were already planned for later, so I just removed the effect for now with the plan of re-doing it altogether later. As a result, the artifacts on Eden are fixed.
Improved ambient audio on all environments.
Brought back dirt masks in post processing. Might remove, might make it an option.
Fixed MORE issues with Cloak, when holding the Crown
Music is played during matches now generally
Made sure music plays on intro
Updated new save data creation per branch – now separate saves with different startup behavior
Create Exeprimental branch upload script/pipeline
On gamebuild tag, use universal build no. variable and build profile enum
On create save data, use build profile enum
Create/edit build profile enum variable
Create/edit universal build no. variable
Create warpath string format
Went over unlocks database and adjusted prices/details
Added ‘recycle’ of data to bots to help with handling changing of gameplay over time
Archived Epic’s physics asset documentation
Created upload scripts for exp branch
Added brand assets .zip to website
Created commit log asset
Created release cycle asset
Finished doc build scripts
Improved visibility/shadow effect on pterosaurs, bots, and players
Improved pterosaur shader, made it whitish gray
Fixed various bugs related to using Cloak ability
Re arranged Main Menu; Moved Loadout and Customization to main, moved Stats to Career screen
Cleaned up discord server and public URLs
Fixed various bugs on the customization menu
Created warpath data structure
Finished/fixed ability to select “None’ for tails, horns, and spines. Unlocked by default
Improved bots reaction to player attacks
Improved bots decisions regarding their interest over time
Renamed domination to “Magpoint” – to both distinguish itself more but also to be more accurate to the updated objective
Fixed/finished domination zone sphere blocking magic attacks
Removed ‘ticker’ in server browser. Will revisit this idea at a later date…
Cleaned up sys admin documentation in case I need help down the line
FAQ updates
Archived old discord channels
Created new spines
Created new skins
Created new eyes
Made sure clan tags are used in log statements
Cleaned up backend log messages formats and delivery
Fixed issues with ‘skin warble’
Fixed issues with death/respawning in the Lairworld
Fixed the math used in the Unnatural perk. That was bad. I was multiplying incoming damage by 0.2, not 0.8, in regards to its 20% reduction promise.
Revived feedback/request API resource & client menu
Store page touch-ups

August 2024…

Added more options to single player post-game: Edit battle and go again, have game randomly generate a new battle, or replay same setup
Fixed player name entries no resetting when defaults button is clicked
Added clan tag option
Verified bots can win games by themselves
Cleaned up / finalized title screen
Added server domain bypass option for testing
Added pyrite information to help menu
Reconfigured testing server
Changed domination - one zone only, magic cannot travel through barrier
Improved domination zone art assets
Make domination zone larger
Fixed crown position on player model
Patched newly found security vulns based on news from providers
Cleaned up all websites file storage, files, delivery, to reduce bandwidth load
Created content guidelines
Fixed crown holding text
Added tooltip for player region select
Set region in server browser to use player’s profile region by default
Made sure ‘hitflash’ effect fully restored on any new shaders
Updated spores page in the help menu
Started removing old debug printings
Added “letter to the player” on first game startup
Updated shroud description
Improved shroud art assets
Made shroud chase the first player it ‘sees’, making it more useful
Improved dust icon
Changed list button selected/unselected colors, made a bit more consistent with what players are used to
Improved bot difficulty setting impact over every mechanic
Adjusted position XP delivery element on HUD
Add “[BOT]” tag to bot names to make sure that’s understood
Improved visibility of domination HUD elements
Lowered bots difficulty minimum in the settings
Geysers temporarily removed. Decided these will be restored at a later date after more deliberation and testing…