Devlog #18: A scrap M4, hands on the wheel, and drag and drop

This round covers 21 and 22 October. We added a second scrap rifle and made car lights actually light the road. The driver now holds the steering wheel properly, and the inventory finally does what everyone tries first: you can drag things around.

The scrap M4

We built a second scrap rifle, an M4 put together from six home-made parts:

• The parts: receiver, barrel, handguard, magazine, grip and stock. The barrel is a length of pipe with a nut and a home-made front sight. Only the receiver started life as a real gun part.
• Crafting: you craft the parts at the workbench and fit them together, the same way as the scrap AK.
• Loot: M4 parts turn up next to the scrap AK parts. All six can come from big crates, and bandits can drop the barrel, magazine and grip.
• Moving parts: the bolt cycles when you fire.

Lights that light things

• Real light: headlights and the light bar now throw real light onto the road and anything in front of you. Press L to switch them on and off.
• Repaired wrecks: a wreck you repair by fitting its missing parts gets working lights again. Before, its lights stayed dead for good.
• Tail lights: they only come on with the headlights. The brake lights still work on their own.
• Brighter lenses: the headlight lenses are brighter, so you can see they're on from outside the car.
• No more glowing windows: car windows no longer glow at night.
• Clearer wreck prompts: the door prompt on a wreck tells you what it needs, for example "car needs 1 wheel, 2 engine parts".

Hands on the wheel

In third person, drivers looked like they had no arms. The arms were hanging down into the seat. Now:

• Grip: both hands hold the steering wheel, in first and third person.
• Steering: the wheel turns when you steer, and the hands turn with it.
• Full lock: the hands only follow part of the turn and slide round the rim for the rest, so your arm doesn't cover the windscreen.
• Every car checked: we tested this on all the drivable cars, driving straight and at full lock in both directions.

We also checked where the driver sits in each car. Ten cars were right. In the van, one hatchback and one sedan, the driver had sunk into the seat with the wheel up at his chin. Those three now sit you higher.

Drag and drop in the inventory

The inventory now works the way you'd expect:

• Taking things off: drag armour or clothes off your body and drop them in your bag.
• Putting things on: drag an item onto a body slot to wear it.
• Hotbar: drag guns and tools off the hotbar or onto it. Taking a gun off the hotbar also takes it out of its holster.
• Hotbar stays visible: it now stays on screen while the inventory is open, so you can see where you're dropping.
• Drop highlights: while you drag, the spot under your cursor lights up. Green means it will go there. Red means it won't fit, for example a pistol over the vest slot.

Smaller things

• Options menu: restyled to match the rest of the game's menus.
• Building pieces: they now show their name when you look at them.
• Loot window: restyled, and it updates more smoothly.
• Car armour recipes: they work now.
• Driving: cars get a little help staying upright.

Not finished yet

• Drag and drop online: we haven't tested it in multiplayer yet. We also haven't checked how the hotbar looks over the pause and death screens.
• Old station wagon: we couldn't get into it during testing.
• Sports cars: they all spawn as wrecks right now.
• Packaged build: drag and drop isn't in the packaged build yet.

What's next

• Website and Kickstarter: the site is getting fresh pictures and an updated game page, and the Kickstarter page comes after that.
• More M4 parts: forged and military versions.