4A GAMES STUDIO UPDATE
Hello again. It’s been too long since our last major studio update, and it’s an understatement to say… A lot has changed.
The lives of all Ukrainians changed on February 24th 2022 with Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. The past months have seen normality ripped up and replaced, and we’re still trying to figure out what it means to keep on living and working when our home country is at war.
But despite the hardship, we’re standing as strong as we can. Today we want to share some perspectives with our community and the wider industry about living and working during wartime, and let you know what this means for 4A Games and our current projects in development.
LIFE DURING WARTIME
While 4A Games is an international company, with studios in both Kyiv, Ukraine and Malta, the vast majority of our team is Ukrainian. Most of our Ukrainian colleagues have been working from the Kyiv office or their homes in the city, but some work remotely from other parts of Ukraine and Europe.
A year ago, some people would recognize Kyiv as the name of our capital and where the studio was born. A few might have heard of Odesa or Lviv. Now the names of many more cities are known – Mariupol, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson to name a few – scenes of some of the most dangerous fights, and the hometowns of many of our employees.
Everyone has been affected. Some of us have lost homes to bombings. Some have joined the Armed Forces to defend Ukraine. Colleagues, friends, families have been injured. A number have lost their lives. Though, there is one thing Ukraine is not short of right now – it’s our heroes: those who protect our country at the fronts, those who help them, and those who against all odds work with passion and fierce dedication to keep our projects going and support the country's economy.
As a company, we’re doing everything we can. We provide financial and logistical assistance to the team scattered across Kyiv and beyond. We’re also proud to support and amplify personal efforts of our staff who are volunteering, making donations, delivering medical supplies and food, and a lot more – most of all those who are fighting on the front lines.
Life has got far more difficult lately – sometimes the office in Kyiv is unreachable, and power and water can be a luxury. But regardless of all these circumstances, we continue to work, and work hard. 4A Games was founded in hardship and adversity, and our culture has taught us the true value of dedication, perseverance, and hope.
This may be a bleak read for some but rest assured – the spirit and resolve in the team, as well as across Ukraine, remains strong as always.
And of course, it helps that we have something to look forward to – so let’s talk about it.
OUR CURRENT PROJECTS
We continue to work on them. They will be ready when they’re ready as we continue to channel all our passion, best efforts, and craft into them. Just like you we’re really looking forward to the day when we’re able to share more info on them. The goals for our projects that we posted in our last update remain the same.
The next Metro game is also changing for the better. And not simply because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We’ve never hidden the fact that the Metro series has always carried a strong political and anti-war message. Yes, we’ve always wanted to entertain and immerse you in our post-apocalyptic world but there’s also been a bigger story to tell. And the war in Ukraine has made us re-think what kind of story the next Metro should be about. All the themes of Metro – conflict, power, politics, tyranny, repression – are now part of our daily-life experiences. So, we’re embracing them and weaving them into the game with a renewed purpose.
It’s the most important thing for us right now.
We also need to manage our expectations – as for our Kyiv studio and Ukraine-based personnel, it’s now being made under the most extraordinary and horrifying of circumstances. Some days start with our morning stand-ups and a coffee. But some start with air-raid sirens and missile strikes. Some days we take the Metro to work but other days we’re forced to shelter in it. Each day we try and live our lives with as much normality as we can muster, and yet we’re dealing with power and water cuts, families who need re-locating, friends and colleagues volunteering or being called to the front. Our “new” normal… it isn’t normal, by any stretch of imagination. It’s life during wartime, and it inevitably shapes the games we make.
We don’t have more news on these projects at the moment, but we have been working on something else that is close to our hearts and yours. We’d really like this year to be better than the previous one, so we’re starting it with a Metro surprise for you.
INTRODUCING EXODUS SDK
We’ve heard your requests for things like mod support and, to be honest, we always wanted to do this, it’s just never been realistically possible until now. Over the years, we’ve seen so many Metro mods or themed levels created with other engines, but now we give you a chance to fulfil all your Metro wishes in the very engine where Metro was born.
We’re thrilled to pull back the curtain and release Exodus SDK for you all to play with for free! To run it, you just need to have Metro Exodus (2019) or Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition installed on your machine. This isn’t just simple mod support – we’re giving you our full Editor as it was the day we released Metro Exodus, with the ability to create standalone content run from a basic executable. We’ve integrated Mod.io support, so it’s really easy to manage and share your content. If you also know visual script, our Visual Script Editor leaves the doors wide open with possibilities, so get creative! Along with some tutorial levels and as an example of a fully featured, shipped level, we’ve included a full unpacked Metro Exodus sandbox level for you to tear apart using our tools. Feel yourself a 4A Games team member – we’ve provided you with everything our Designers, Artists, and Animators have access to!
There are a few things to note in the EULA (boring), but the main stuff you must keep in mind includes this – you can’t use it for commercial purposes, share it behind a paywall, or sell anything you make with it. We’re not looking to enter the engine licensing business, this is purely something meant for the community, and we hope you get inspired to create some really wild things.
We’ve been building this engine since the studio opened in 2005, and it’s seen a lot of iteration and improvement over the years. It’s still not perfect, and we continue developing it daily, but we’re really proud of our team’s efforts and we hope that you’ll enjoy getting your hands dirty with it.
Documentation, tutorials, and additional information can be found in public documentation.
SDK FEATURES
SCENE EDITOR
The Scene Editor is the main tool you use while working on a level. It is mainly used for adding and manipulating all kinds of objects, from NPCs and weapons to patrol points, restrictors, and proxies.
MODEL EDITOR / VIEWER
The Model Editor allows you to change collision properties, textures, materials, add locators and texture presets, edit animation tags and other animation properties.
NAVIGATION
The Navigation Mode allows you to create/edit the navigation mesh (aka: AI map) of the level. This is required for the AI (enemies, friends, etc.) to move through the level.
PARTICLES
The Particles Mode allows you to create/edit particles in the game.
TERRAIN TOOL
The Terrain Tool allows you to edit terrain for your level. Valleys, mountains, caves, uneven or sloped ground, etc. You can easily modify both shape and appearance by using a range of tools.
WEATHER EDITOR
The Weather Editor allows you to create weather presets to use within weather volumes. There are several options to adjust: Skybox, Sun, Clouds to Post Process, Snow/Water Levels, etc. You can create different types of weather, Day/Night Cycles, or Modifiers.
CAMERA TRACK EDITOR
The Track Editor is used for creating cutscenes, camera spans, camera shakes, and screen effects.
VISUAL SCRIPT
The VS (Visual Script) Editor allows scripting complex gameplay features and AI behavior without writing a single line of code. The main advantages of visual scripts include their simplicity and clear visual feedback to the user. Their logic is founded upon so-called events which are produced in the scripts by specific triggers, and further processing of these events.
HOW TO GET EXODUS SDK
You must own a copy of Metro Exodus (2019) or Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition on Steam, GOG, or Epic Games Store, and have it installed on your PC.
Download Exodus SDK as a Tool (for Steam) or Additional Content (for GOG and Epic Games Store).
Then:
Steam: you will now be able to access Exodus SDK as a Tool and launch it from Steam.
Epic Games Store: find sdk>bin_x64 folder in the Metro Exodus game folder and launch Exodus_SDK.exe.
GOG: you can launch Exodus SDK from the launcher (Additional Executables → SDK).
3. Make all you want and share your fantastic creations with the world at Mod.io!
4. Learn how to use the tools by reading up on the public documentation.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
OS: Windows 10
CPU: Intel Core i7-4770k or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: GTX 1070 / RTX 2060 / AMD RX VEGA 56
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 31 GB (in addition to 70.1 GB for Metro Exodus (77.95 GB with all DLCs) or 79.6 GB for Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition)
THAT’S ALL… FOR NOW
To our community, thank you very very much for your ongoing support. It might feel strange to look forward to a videogame knowing what you now know about the circumstances in which it’s being forged, but this is our reality, our challenge. And we’ll overcome it like we have all the others in our past.
Until next time.
- The 4A Games Team