Devstream #66 aired on January 8, 2016, @1pm EDT
Devstream 66
With the Second Dream behind us and a new year ahead now is the perfect time to reflect and plan for another year of incredible content! Improvements to in-game lighting, Sorties and the Focus System are all incoming, and Devstream 66 is all about laying out the groundwork for our first major adjustments of 2016!
If you want to see any of the action as it happened live be sure to check out Devstream 66 on YouTube here. This Devstream in particular shows off a lot of incredible behind-the-scenes content from The Second Dream including bloopers, and is worth a watch if you're looking for a good laugh.
Steam Workshop
Six new Warframes have been added to the Steam Workshop, and our second round of submissions will be selected mid to early February. Keep an eye out for future announcements about Steam Tennogen in Warframe's news and Forums!
Convention Attendance
A new year means a new convention season! Here's what conventions the team is currently planning on attending:
- PAX East
- GamesCom
- PAX Prime
- EGX
- NYCC
- Forest City CC
- PAX Aus
- TennoCon
TennoCon will be our first Warframe-based convention, taking place in July. This special convention will be exclusively focused on Warframe, and we'll be hosted locally in London, Ontario. We will provide everyone with more information as we get closer to setting a firm date!
Design Council - Archwing
Design Council members are now tasked with working on our next Archwing set! This Archwing will have a support-based / healing focus, so if you're a Design Council hop in the forums to propose a power-set for the next Archwing!
PBR Lighting Improvements
Since the introduction of PBR players have made us aware of a few instances of poor-looking textures that have popped up throughout Warframe. Some would think these textures are a result of the PBR not functioning correctly, but the real culprit here is Warframe's lighting FX!
We've been working on a new lighting system that will smooth over these visual issues in addition to make all our textures appear to be more refined and realistic. The release of this new lighting FX will be gradual, but you can see the kind of effect this change will have in these screenshots below:
Nezha on Console
It's our goal to have Nezha submitted to PS4 and XB1 for certification by January 21. As always we'll let you know on a proper release date once the build have been approved and is ready for launch!
Sortie Rewards and 'Endless' Mission Adjustments
We're looking into the current state of Sortie rewards and what can be done to improve the reward experience. Our most recent ideas focuses on providing players with 'tokens' upon the completion of each Sortie Mission, which would then be redeemable at a vendor for different gear.
Evergreen rewards such as Core Packs or Legendary Cores would still be provided as a reward for completing Sorties, but tokens would let players purchase the specific weapon part rewards that players are looking for.
Sortie Defense, Interception and Survival Missions are going to be adjusted to add more variation in gameplay from the normal Mission types, including but not limited to changes such as:
- Sortie Defense will be cut down to a 10 Wave cycle.
- 'Bailiff Defense' adjustments will mean players must protect a moving target in Defense Missions, instead of the usual static objective.
- Survival Interception Cryotic requirements will also be trimmed down.
- Rare event weapons would be included as a purchasable item in the future.
Tenno Rapier
The Tenno Rapier will be available in our next Tenno Reinforcement on PC, complete with a fancy two-hit charge attack and some very dismissive bullet parrying animations!
Kavat Customizations
Kavat's haven't been introduced in game yet, but that doesn't mean we can't fantasize about what it will be like to dress up our fancy murder-cats. Here's some armor concept we're currently working on, planned for release in Update 19 alongside Kavats!
The Focus System
We've received a lot of fantastic feedback regarding the current state of our Focus system, and we have plenty of changes on the horizon to make Focus gain more interactive and fun.
- We're working on an adjustment that will implement radial Focus gain, to make Focus acquisition more cooperative.
- Pickups will drop that will increase Focus gain for a limited amount of time, and players can choose when to activate these boosted gains.
- These Focus booster drops will only appear in Missions, and cannot be obtained otherwise.
- Any Affinity gained will contribute towards Focus gain.
- More Operator customizations are soon-to-come.
The Second Dream's Future and Bloopers!
- Quest replay for the Second Dream is critical to us, and we're currently working on implementing a means for players to experience The Second Dream again at their own leisure -- in addition to being able to replay older quests!
- We would like to include multiple cinematic Quests similar to the Second Dream in scope throughout the year.
- This particular Devstream features some fun bloopers and interesting behind-the-scenes facts on the Second Dream. Be sure to check out our Devstream on YouTube to get the full breakdown of The Second Dream's bloopers delivered straight from the team!
General Cleanup and Feature
- A new random feature will be added to the Arsenal, including a Randomize button in the Arsenal Loadout will attach random customizations you own, and will create a random loadout from Warframes and Weapons you own!
- 'World building' is a huge goal for 2016, including featuring more life in Relays and highlighting some NPCs of those affected by the conflict that's spread across the Solar System.