Thursday, April 12, 2012

The big game changer

This update is taking a little longer than usual, as there are some big gameplay changes coming. Namely:
  • Doors will only open / close when you use them
  • Ammo will no longer be unlimited
  • You will be able to melee enemies to knock them back
  • Ammo pickups
  • Embiggened (which is totally a word) viewable area around the player
  • Quick look left and right
  • Enemies will no longer simply drain health on contact, but take a chunk out every time they attack
  • Enemy health will be lowered
Prior to v1.3.6, the game had a more arcade style feel. With unlimited ammo, there had to be a lot of enemies to make the game challenging, and the simple health drain attacks meant distance was key to survival.

With the new update, there's going to be some rebalancing necessary as the game transitions into a more realistic gameplay style. This also means that the current levels will need some reworking to include the ammo pickups.

I'm also prototyping a new "greyed out" system that will show areas that you have explored instead of it just being all black. It won't be in this update, but it is coming. It's a tricky thing, as the old rouge / RTS fog methods don't work with this type of view. I'm inventing a whole new method that, as long as it works, will be very cool to see in action!