This time, I actually understood what the developers were talking about.
Hello store managers! It’s me, Lynn, and I’m back with another update of Keen Mart: F.A.R.P. Simulator, our supermarket simulation game that’s currently in development. Thank you to Vmagery Studio for letting us come in, distract the team, playtest the game and get an update on its progress!
My last visit to the studio was about me making sense of this new world I had just stepped into. This time, I have a more substantial update on character bug fixes, how auto-save issues were tackled, and how we managed to untangle the UEFN traffic jam.
Keeno Development
In my previous update, I was introduced to Keeno, Keen Mart’s friendly robot mascot, who plays an important role of guiding the player through the game.
Keeno’s model has come a long way. After days of feedback, multiple iterations and four days of intense focus, 3D Keeno is finally taking shape and is now closer to his original 2D design. His front tray is now functional. His chubby appearance is starting to feel properly huggable. All that’s left are his decals and his multitude of expressions, which will be up to our new graphic designer (who also visited the animation studio for the first time that day!).
NPC Traffic Control
Just like how any film isn’t complete without its background actors, a gaming experience isn’t complete without its non-playable characters (NPCs). So naturally, fixing NPC behaviour became a priority.
One of the biggest bugs was their pathfinding. As Keen Mart is being developed in Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN), it uses Fortnite’s AI navigation pathing system. However, while the default system is designed to be as easy as possible for developers, it didn’t fully work for our game. Hence, the team had to manually define the NPC movement using Verse, a custom programming language that tells the game what to do.
Navigation wasn’t the only challenge. NPCs were also blocking doors or getting stuck when they couldn’t find the products they wanted. Both issues were solved by reprogramming their behaviour logic. How? According to the developers who fixed this, if NPCs can’t find the product, they simply leave the store. Or better yet, if they get stuck for too long… they disappear. I guess not every customer gets what they came for, but at least they no longer block the entrance.
Turns Out I Can’t Just Press Save
Over the last few weeks, a huge chunk of the developers’ time was focused on backend stuff, mainly finalizing the save system.
When I first heard about it, I thought the save state simply meant saving the entire game in one exact moment — like taking a snapshot you can return to later. As a cozy gamer, I’m used to traditional in-game saves and occasional auto-saves mid-game. It was interesting learning that there’s so much more to just “saving a game.”
If anything, it wasn’t as simple as that. Every single shelf had to be manually saved instead of relying on the automatic system. This means developers had to store the state of each object individually, not to be confused (like I originally was) with the player saving the game itself. This isn’t just a UEFN thing, but it becomes more visible because much of what gets saved has to be manually done.
Of course, saving the data is one thing. Getting everything to load back consistently was another issue.
During playtests, the team started noticing a consistency issue. Despite being in the same server, certain events would appear on one developer’s screen but not on another’s. After looking into it, they realised too many systems were hooked up to the player spawn event and were being triggered all at once in a single frame. Hence, when tested in the public version, only a random subset of events were actually firing.
Simply put, too many things were happening at once, so not everything triggered for everyone.
The fix? Instead of connecting everything to one node, they added an extra node to split the flow of execution in half. They essentially rerouted their pathway to eventually reach the original node. It is an extra step but somehow it works with UEFN.
Getting Ready for Opening Day
The good news is many of the major bugs have been resolved. Saving and loading of the game is stable. All major characters have been input into the game. Keeno is almost complete, only missing final touches like decals and expressions. There’s just one minigame left to finish, so most of what remains is just a lot of polishing.
The team’s getting busy ahead of our beta release. Keen Mart: F.A.R.P. Simulator is a step closer to our next milestone.
And yes, I mean busy.
Don’t forget to follow XZVStudios on Instagram for updates as we continue developing the game! I hope this update fascinates you as much as it fascinated me while learning more about the world of game development.
Till next time, store managers!
– Lynn
Explore the World of Qu-1
The game is currently scheduled to beta release at the end of the year. So, if you’d like to explore the Sentinels Universe or learn more about the Siege of Qu-1 (Yes, the siege happening while you run your supermarket), check out the links below or enter the island code in Fortnite!
Fortnite Island Code: 3019-3995-5833
Fortnite Island Link: http://play.fn.gg/island/3019-3995-5833
Discord: https://discord.gg/f9Emd43VNW
Website: https://xzvco.com/portfolio/siege-of-qu-1/
Disclaimer: Gameplay footage and screenshots are not final. Final product may vary.