Retroquad 0.8.6 Released (Patreon)

This version doesn't have fog implemented yet. The first release with fog actually working will be 0.9.0.

However, the rendering part of the fog implementation is fully done. Type "scratch4 1" in the console to test it using the color shading map of the brightness.

The colored dynamic light support is also fixed in this release. Only the E1M3 glitch (which also happens in the illusionary wall to the secret megahealth in the silver key room of E2M1) is left to fix in the colored lighting. Seems to be an issue with animated lightstyles.

Despite the impact of fog on the framerate being only a little over 5% now, the rendering performance of Retroquad in full HD with fog and all the other visual effects enabled is noticeably too low for me now, despite running on a 3.6GHz Ryzen 5 3350G. Multicore rendering is definitely a must have feature, and will be my priority by the end of this year.

I still have plans for other visual features such as crossfading textures and edge antialiasing, but they are not a priority for now. After fog is fully implemented, Retroquad will already have nearly all of the most commonly used visual features in Quake engines (custom particles being a notable exception, because Retroquad's particles will never be textured).

After multicore rendering is implemented, my focus will be on developing Retroquad towards creating a new game using it. This will involve features such as HD texture support for the JACK map editor, MD5 model support, HD texture support in the GUI, and anything else that the game will actually need. More bugfixes, performance improvements and anything else that contributes towards making the engine more robust will also be a requirement. Some engine limits should eventually be raised or removed too.

The focus towards creating a new game is because that seems to be the most realistic way for me to get rid of my debts for good. Selling 2 thousand copies at 10 dollars would eliminate the vast majority of my debt, after the 30% Steam cut. According to this article and their analytics, that means creating a game that earns more than 75% of the indie FPSs on Steam. It's a very difficult task and the chances are small, but it still seems more realistic than anything else I could do. The only other realistic possibility is if I manage to find a buyer for my late mom's house, but the housing market here is very slow and it should take years.