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Hello everyone, Apologies for not updating each month for the last few months. I had a lot going in my personal life. It's all settled down now, and so it's business as usual. Don't worry I never stopped working. Solarsplace and myself have worked on a lot of things, ranging from
Hello everyone,
Apologies for not updating each month for the last few months. I had a lot going in my personal life. It's all settled down now, and so it's business as usual. Don't worry I never stopped working.
Solarsplace and myself have worked on a lot of things, ranging from code, to level design, to game balance, and new features.
Code
I've rolled up my sleeves began coding a bit, to help resolve some of the smaller tasks in the code.
I wrote some new code that updates the animation frame rate based the size on screen, reducing CPU usage. We fixed how the AI spawns so it doesn't unhide via behavior, it now does it in the AI code. Reduced behavior thrashing, minor optimization and cleaning AI functionality.
Added support for what I like to call World Animations, like enemies sitting down or puking etc This means that the AI doesn't turn towards the player while awakening from these states.
AI now doesn't revert back to it's awakening animation if it was staggered or stunned while not in combat.
And multitude of minor fixes and tweaks across various behaviors, timings etc of how the AI behave in game.
Fixed how enemy projectiles behave so they don't arc.
Most of the weapon and projectile code has been finished, we've got some cool new projectile behaviors now.
Game Design
Here is a short video showing off some of the upcoming things for episode 1. Some of the captured footage is from test maps.
Difficulty selection inside of E1M1 has been completed. When you enter the Hall of Fate, you will choose your path, which determines how difficult the game is. There is a secret optional difficulty hidden in the level somewhere.
Difficulty selection hallway, left is easiest, right is hardest.
More enemies
I've rebalanced the game a bit so enemies have fewer health points, left their damage about the same, and added more enemy spawners to the levels, mostly affects episode 1 levels, as episode 2 already has a fairly dense enemy setup. Enemy engagements are also a bit longer in pockets of various episode 1 maps.
Enemy Updates and changes
Retchid now has a total of 30 unique enemy archetypes so far, not including minor variations like the Hunter Abyss Stalker or Hazmat Human.
The general Melee Human that runs up and punches you has now changed to be a slumbering fodder focused enemy, but can spawn in larger numbers. Their brains have started to calcify, so their humanity is dwindling.
Episode 1 will now include:
Bodi Gorn Bodi Gorn Spitters Torso Humans (a torso that drags itself along the ground), Tool Guy, a Melee Human variation, an enemy that wields various tools to hit you with, that does more damage than a regular punch Chainsaw Guy, 'nuff said Bile Human, an enemy that explodes dealing toxic damage when taken enough damage
Weapons
All the weapons are almost finished, just a few alt fires left.
A new melee weapon created for your enjoyment, a chainsaw. This can be found in episode 1 in a secret area. It has a general swipe attack, and the alt fire is a hold down and massacre until you run out of fuel.
The Map Device
You guys had been requesting a map for some time, so that whole system has been built now. The map device is found in E1M1. The map system is quite simple and light in terms of optimisation and functionality. I went for the design where you can have the map open, and walk around, just be aware of your surroundings while looking at the map....
I had never made a map system before so it was a most excellent adventure. It was satisfying to solve some of the technical hurdles (saving the revealed map progression to a data file and reading it on load for example) that I often went to bed at 2am....
Art and Level Design
Art
All the core gameplay animations for enemies have been completed. Additional animations for world animations are still needed though where it makes sense.
Some Episode 1 enemies got an minor overhaul on their animations and additional attacks.
Most of the weapon visual effects are now finished like the AWX summoning micro solar systems that spawn rogue meteors to wreak havoc on enemies.
All enemy effects, materials, models, weapons are now finished
The game is a bit more gory, with more decals and gibs. Gibs got a bit optimised since you can explode quite a few enemies at once. Mostly a draw call reduction.
Finished making all the art work for the map and I am now going through all the ep1 levels and drawing all the layouts.
Level Design
E1M1 starting section got an overhaul/extension to include setting up the tone, and tutorials for the player.
Here is Gary, banging on the window to get your attention...
Almost all enemies now have a brief 10 second intro cinematic. It's to introduce you to them, and give you a bit of 1 on 1 time to get to know how the new enemy works before everyone else joins the part. Larger gameplay puzzle solves have a small camera demonstrating the cause and effect moment of solving the puzzle.
Episode 1 got a minor lighting, detail, particle update to bring it inline with episode 2 and 3. And any areas that lacked in detail got a little bit of love.
Enemy placement has changed slightly in some areas, new enemies have been sprinkled in.
Some security zones now come equipped with ceiling mounted mini-guns that can be turned on and off, and used against enemies. The mini-gun doesn't care who it's filling with lead.
Over all in the last few months, we've done hundreds of changes, fixes, improvements.
Gross Abyssal mass has grown and is blocking some doors... likely a relation of Shoggoth. I hope it doesn't manifest in to a self thinking walking destructive enemy...
What we're working on
There is about 15 code tasks left for Solarsplace, and well, probably a hundred or so tasks left for me in terms of Level Design, code, animation, tweaks, adjustments etc.
Solarsplace is working on a few things like tapping in to the save system to make an auto save that will trigger in the level in specific places. I'll make sure auto-saves are optional, that you can disable in the main menu. They won't work on Hard or Oblivion difficulty.
And also the weapon/suit upgrade system. We already track which upgrades you have, we're just wrangling the code to support enabling them correctly and cleanly when you find them.
I've been chipping away at building the infrastructure for the online subsystem which tells Good Old Games or Steam when you got an achievement. For Steam at least, I want to support Stat tracking, Achievements.
All of these new things I want to push in to a patch, I am just weighing up what features we can leave out for the moment, like achievements, or autosaves etc as I'd love to get this update out for you try and it and let me know what you think.
Hello everyone, A small update on what Solarsplace and I worked on this month. We'll have more specific details next month with some new and updated gameplay of updated levels in Episode 2. AI Solarsplace managed to get the bulk of the AI work done for all enemies! There are a fe
Hello everyone,
A small update on what Solarsplace and I worked on this month. We'll have more specific details next month with some new and updated gameplay of updated levels in Episode 2.
AI
Solarsplace managed to get the bulk of the AI work done for all enemies! There are a few little kinks left work out in some of the enemies, but over all it's a great milestone to hit in development.
Animation
Almost all the gameplay animations are done for the enemies. There are just a few tweaks I want to do to some of them. That's a total of 16 new enemies coming (not including variations) for Episode 1, 2, and 3 on top of the existing 11 enemies.
Level Design
Work began on fully fleshing out the layout for E1M8 (ep1 secret level). Secret levels are smaller levels compared to the main levels. Their focus is to give you a unique little side experience.
E1M8 is the water reservoir for the entire complex, and some of the newly malformed denizens of the TEC have been broken the machinery to disrupt water supply around the facility. You have to solve a few puzzles to restore functionality to be able to exit the level.
Stay tuned for next month's update, where we'll show new and updated gameplay in the levels.
Hello everyone, Before we finished for a Christmas break last year I pushed out a patch that replaced most of the human animations with updated staggers, stuns, attacks, walks, deaths, etc you can read about the notes here if you missed it: For January myself and Solarsplace work
Hello everyone,
Before we finished for a Christmas break last year I pushed out a patch that replaced most of the human animations with updated staggers, stuns, attacks, walks, deaths, etc
you can read about the notes here if you missed it: https://steamcommunity.com/games/1419060/announcements/detail/538873641933211628
For January myself and Solarsplace worked on several different AI from Episode 2 and 3.
Code
Solarsplace worked on bringing a few AI to life, Sisters of the Cosmos, Flameborne Knight fixes, and began working on the Evoker of the Yith, and also refactoring a good portion of the melee behavior code so they are more responsive and attack more often if close enough. Over all it's a smoother experience.
Animation
I managed to get the majority of the animations done for 6 enemies this month. Which is all their deaths, staggers, stuns, pain, attacks, walks, jumps etc, about 250 animations in total. Along with most of their VFX and technical setup in the editor, like making sure their dismemberment works and all the bits and bobs all function properly.
Sister of the Cosmos
Sisters of the Cosmos are great beings who were held in high regards by the Old Great Ones. But their failure to raise the Old Great Ones kin, has led them to have their eyes removed, and carry the Great Ones fetus's with them for eternity.
If you damage the cosmic fetus, she will enrage and unleash a devastating attack.
Evoker of Yith
The Evoker of Yith is a cowardly type enemy who calls up enslaved beings to its bidding. By squeezing the Abyss Word, it'll let out a screech to the beyond to call upon Deepones to come and kill you. (at the time of filming the AI wasn't quite ready and missing its attacks).
Deepones
The Deepones are small beings from a distance universe, that the Abyssals had ravaged and enslaved them. They are summoned by the Evoker of Yith, armed with a spear, they will hunt you down in packs of 4-5.
While they are very fragile, letting 5 surround you will not make your day.
Flameborne Knight
A incredibly during being, who fell in the battle against of the Morsgoroth beings (the Episode 3 entities). Risen from the flames of Morsgoroth, they are a slow slumbering, tanky enemy with a multitude of attacks.
Gorgonops
A native reptilian like creature of the planet Morsgoroth. A fast agile beast that can gain on you quickly and dodge incoming attacks.
Models
I finished the last few remaining weapons for the Deepones, Evoker of Yith, and the Sister of the Cosmos.
Hello all, This patch focuses on improving the enemy engagement experience with improved animations as the focal point and saving/loading bugs. Since the newer enemies have higher quality animations, it left a difference in quality between the Episode 1 enemies and the Ep2/3 enem
Hello all,
This patch focuses on improving the enemy engagement experience with improved animations as the focal point and saving/loading bugs.
Since the newer enemies have higher quality animations, it left a difference in quality between the Episode 1 enemies and the Ep2/3 enemies. A few bug fixes, and under the hood for me, a better skeleton/rig in Blender to work with, so I can easily add animations to existing enemies.
For example in the upcoming level improvements, enemies will have more idle animations instead of mostly just standing around, like leaning on stuff, interacting with things, puking up stuff etc.
The animation changes to staggers and stuns does leave enemies more open to attacks, so it does make the game a bit easier, I'll tweak the balance of the game once all the content is in, and do remember, you will choose your difficulty path in E1M1.
I also got a little overzealous with CPU asset optimisations which led to save loading bugs, I tested these thoroughly today, they should be resolved while still maintaining the optimisation.
Patch V0.85 changes:
Moved all human enemies to a new Blender rig which makes animating and retargeting motion capture a breeze About 300+ Human Melee, Human Pistol, SMG, Shotgunner, and Chaos Mutant animations updated Added additional attacks for some enemies Added additional awaken animations for some enemies Enemies have more stun animations, rather than just the 1 Some enemies when stunned will let off their fire arms in a panic Made sure various states could be interrupted with stuns and staggers Fixed human enemies not playing their stagger animations properly, being overwritten by the pain animation Fixed Mi-Go's pain animation slots and state checking so combat teleport plays the animation correctly Medical Human Pistol enemy has a different texture color to help differentiate it from the melee medical human
Fixed enemies standing around when a save had been loaded due to skeletal mesh being disabled and the movement component disabled on spawn(this does require a new level save to fully resolve as the data only triggers on a new death, not existing death) Fixed some scripted objects not hiding properly on save load in E1M3 Fixed dead body scripted events not triggering due to disabled skeletal mesh Some dead bodies scattered throughout the levels were missing their stumps, now they are more stumpy Minor optimisations for LODs of dead bodies, turning of shadows on materials don't need it from afar Disabled the collision of the pick up key icon
Enemies sometimes drop their respective items: Medics can drop mini health packs Pistol enemies can drop some SMG bullets SMG enemies can drop SMG bullets or some armor Shotgun Enemies can drop shells or some armor Mining Laser enemies can drop batteries Rocket Launcher enemies can drop some rockets
Main menu level got some minor visual improvements
Added version number on the main menu to help with keeping track of builds across different store fronts
Hello everyone, For November I continued the work on the remaining animations for the new enemies and Solarsplace continued working on the AI code. Code We found a few little quirks in the code that were cleaned up like enemies that shoot ranged projectiles like energy/fire balls
Hello everyone,
For November I continued the work on the remaining animations for the new enemies and Solarsplace continued working on the AI code.
Code
We found a few little quirks in the code that were cleaned up like enemies that shoot ranged projectiles like energy/fire balls just always target you no matter their facing direction, they now follow a linear target from their origin of creation.
This will make the game a bit easier on its own, to avoid the projectiles, so I'll make a pass to make them a bit faster, so it's over all the same but fairer to the player.
A bug was found that, I *cough* introduced when improving the hit feedback on the enemies with the Pain animations(simple reaction animations that played on any damage). This bug basically overwrote the stagger animation, so it kinda played a few frames of stagger, then the pain animation. I have fixed it locally and it'll go out in a patch soon.
Stagger is basically a state for the AI when they have received significant damage, it interrupts almost any other state, giving the player a bit of combat relief.
Animation
This month was challenging for me initially, I spent about 1.5 weeks trying to make the motion capture work for what I wanted, and in the end I eventually nailed a good process from the motion capture performance data (lost so many calories moving about) to in game animations on the enemies.
Here I am capturing idle poses for the Toahuggoa's (Giant Toad) animations.
The thought process was to have better quality, and more movement on the enemy, I wanted enemies to stagger in to physics objects and so on, but still take about the same time to create, which is always hard to do.
To do this I made a generic character in Blender where I imported all the motion capture performances and cleaned up all the key frames (motion capture data based on the quality of the suit/cameras can provide decent data but can be full of noise and oddities).
Over the course of another 1.5 weeks I went through about 150 mocap animations of deaths, staggers, stuns, melee attacks, etc and made it so it was a template that I could then easily import on to another bi-pedal enemy type, this wouldn't really work on things like Nub-Yeg for example.
When I started work on the Bile-Human I hand made a few animations like the walk cycle, and imported the needed mocap animations. It was pretty fast to put together 35 animations, they still needed some adjustment like foot and arm positions and so on.
Here is the master file with currently 190 animations that can be used and adjusted easily on any bi-pedal character.
This last week or so I worked on the Legion Knight, Bile-Human, and started the Flameborn Knight's animations.
Here is the Bile Human, a fairly week but deadly addition. Once it takes enough damage it'll start releasing toxic gas and explode.
Can be utilized against other enemies as well.
The Legion Knight is a very defensive archetype. Out in the open it's not too hard to bait out an attack and strafe around to get an easy kill. But, in a tight spot, can be very tricky to deal with so you're gonna need to figure out some tactics.
The Legion Knight is also hard to stagger, but very vulnerable to stuns, with a long recovery time.
Hello all, Zombie here with the October update, giving you a brief run down on what we did and are doing. Code This month Solarsplace worked on the Toahuggoa (a giant toxic toad for episode 3) The Gorgonops class has been updated. A new function was made so that via blueprint we
Hello all,
Zombie here with the October update, giving you a brief run down on what we did and are doing.
Code
This month Solarsplace worked on the Toahuggoa (a giant toxic toad for episode 3)
The Gorgonops class has been updated.
A new function was made so that via blueprint we can force a stun on an enemy, good for specific things like Nub-Yeg's stun attacks and scripted events.
Some enhancements and fixes to the existing AI code base, for example AI weren't always facing you when attack so they would missing with their projectiles.
Art
This month I finished the models for the remaining enemies, some vfx, bug fixes, and began the animation work.
Nub-Yeg
Nub-Yeg is the enemy that Shoggoth will spawn during the boss fight. Right now it's using the Abyss Stalkers as place holder enemies.
A wandering mass of eyes and flesh, reading to unleash powerful projectiles as it gazes upon you.
A flying enemy type, with a large field of view so you'll have trouble getting the drop on this guy. But its weakness is that when you stun it, it'll vomit every where, damaging anything around it, including enemies and environmental destructibles.
Deep Ones
The Deep Ones are called upon to aid the Evoker in combat, they are small melee enemies that are quire fast, but have very little health. If not dealt with you could be easily surrounded.
Animation
Last week I started working on the animations for the enemies. I got about 100 new animations done and all the required AI setup that's needed to get all the animations working smoothly.
I also got all the tech work flow and hardware setup to create motion captured stuff for the game. So I'll blending the hand made stuff with motion captured work so it feels consistent across the game.
Nub-Yeg puking after a stun attack.
The Dholes (in a test map) all be alerted to the player
Here are some samples from the Charybdis, a flying enemy type from Episode 3.
Hello everyone, Zombie here with a brief over view of what we worked on in September. Code Solarsplace worked on bringing life to the Flameborn Knight Bile Human, Bodi Gorn, and a few misc fixes here and there. Art This month I managed to get the high poly sculpts, low polys, tex
Hello everyone,
Zombie here with a brief over view of what we worked on in September.
Code
Solarsplace worked on bringing life to the Flameborn Knight Bile Human, Bodi Gorn, and a few misc fixes here and there.
Art
This month I managed to get the high poly sculpts, low polys, textures, some rigging, and some block out animations done for a few enemies.
Remnant of Shoggoth
The Remnant of Shoggoth are offshoots of the boss from E1M7, Shoggoth. The roam the halls of Episode 2 unleashing strong ranged attacks and producing fog around it's area. The model is finished with a rig and basic animations.
Dhole
This Eldritch Growth eating maggot got a bit of a touch up and the texture work completed. You'll find these enemies in large groups chowing down on the Growth around the facility.
Evoker of Yith
The Evoker of Yith is a weak enemy to fight against directly. the Evoker squeezes a Beyond Worm (which will let out a odd sound so you'll know) to make a call to the Beyond to summon Deep Ones to its aid to defend it.
If left unchecked, can summon quite a lot of helpers, so you're best to deal with the Evoker as soon as possible or you're be quickly out numbered.
Legion Knight
The Legion knight has its weapons and model all completed and is ready for skin weighting and animation.
Toahuggoa
The Toahuggoa is a large poisonous Toad like creature who lives in the swamp levels of Episode 3.
The model was already completed along with the rig and weighting. But I wanted to give it a bit of color and bring it in line with the quality of all the other enemies in Retchid.
Gorgonops
An enemy that was inspired by the Prehistoric creature of the same name, a very fast strong enemy that you'll encounter in Ep3. It has no eyes so your Shotgun stun alt fire has no effect here.
Flameborn Knight
These Knights were a part of the Great Ones army, who fell during the battle against the Morsgoroth (the inhabitants of Episode 3). The lava on Morsgoroth has strange life producing qualities that can't be explained..... Over time the Knights became rejuvenated and were born anew.
Strong melee attacks along with devastating are damage. A very dangerous foe.
Hello everyone, Zombie here with August's developer update on what we got up to. General update On the weekend I pushed out a patch that added all the remaining maps to the debug menu. Once all the remaining enemies are all completed I'll work on bringing each map in to the main
Hello everyone,
Zombie here with August's developer update on what we got up to.
General update
On the weekend I pushed out a patch that added all the remaining maps to the debug menu. Once all the remaining enemies are all completed I'll work on bringing each map in to the main progression loop so you can enjoy them as intended.
On the code side of things Solarsplace worked on bringing the Bile Human to life. He created a nice bit of code to handle the exploding aspect of this enemy.
The Legion knight's shield code was also completed.
Art
This month I began work on finishing the hi/low-poly, rigging, and texture work for the remaining enemies in the game.
Sisters of the Cosmos
The Sisters of the Cosmos are incredible beings that were charged with caring for the Great Ones Unborn.
Under Sisters' care the Unborn all died. The Great Ones took their sight, and burdened them to forever carry about the Stillborn as a reminder of their failures.
Throughout the TEC facilities, the Sisters roam around in pain and agony.... be careful when you engage them as they will enraged to protect what they have left.
Here is the Zbrush sculpt
In game shot (she is missing her Stillborn at the moment).
Bodi-Gorn
Bodi-Gorns are a mutation of dead humans. Sometime after death, the head has a small chance to mutate in to a Bodi-Gorn where it sprouts crustacean type features.
They are fairly slow, as they have to drag a head around, but they can catch you off guard while fighting against other enemies.
Here is the Zbrush sculpt(the head wondered off)
In game shot
Bile Human
The TEC is a company that prioritizes profits over safety. Which means some workers became infected with the toxic sludge that is processed in E2M3 - Toxic Refinery.
This enemy is slow and weak, but upon death will explode, dealing toxic area damage to all and everything nearby.
Here is the Zbrush sculpt
In game shot
Legion Knight
The Legion Knights are defense focused beings and part of the Great Ones armies when they invade Galaxies.
Wielding a shield and a spear, they can be tough to deal with and require a tactical approach. The shield posses the power of the Darkest Great One.
If you shoot the shield too much it'll absorb the energy and release a projectile that can deal dark area damage.
Only the high polys were done.
Remnant of Shoggoth
After beating Shoggoth (the boss of episode 1) its remains formed in to the Remnants of Shoggoth, and they are pissed off about destroying the original form.
A tanky, fat, slow moving enemy at shoots large projectiles. Once it sees you though, it'll distort reality and make the world foggier and darker around itself. So you will want to prioritize taking it down, otherwise you could be easily out numbered and not see what's attacking you.
Hello All, I'm Zombie, the main developer who does all the level design, characters, weapons ,animation, textures, models, design, (essentially all the content in the game) along side Solarsplace who works on the code side of things a few times a week. I'm changing up the present
Hello All,
I'm Zombie, the main developer who does all the level design, characters, weapons ,animation, textures, models, design, (essentially all the content in the game) along side Solarsplace who works on the code side of things a few times a week. I'm changing up the presentation of Steam updates going forward to be directly from me instead of from general company perspective, as it's easier to write specifically what we're doing.
Today I went through all the levels in Episode 2 and Episode 3 to make sure the golden path can be completable, so you can see the finished art work for the levels.
The gameplay is still in a block out form. What that means is there isn't much in terms of objectives, signage, and feedback on completing puzzles. All these things I'll do once I've finished bringing all the remaining enemies to a completed state.
Today's patch includes new levels, hundreds of new textures, thousands of new models and all sorts of various assets:
Episode 2 levels: E2M4, E2M5, E2M7
Episode 3 Levels: E3M1, E3M2, E3M3(was already there but is now updated), E3M4, E3M5, E3M6
E2M4 - TEC Mining HQ This facility contains corporate and industrial areas for the Mining staff to use.
E2M5 - Mineral Mines The mines are some of the original areas created on Titan, they are constantly expanding new areas, and they seamed to have to discovered something while drilling....
E2M7 - Ruins of Amaganth The ruins of the Morsgoroth, an ancient race of warriors from another galaxy have built an ancient temple just under the surface of Titan.
E3M1 - Bastion of Cinders A a large temple surrounded by lava, you'll have to use your wit to in solving the puzzles to get through this level.
E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways A temple built on a lake of lava. The exit is hidden deep under the lava, you'll need to progressively lower the lava lake and work your way down to find the exit.
E3M3 - Trial of the Neophytes Neophytes use this compound to test their strength against all sorts of traps and hazards, for those that overcome the trials will become stronger warriors.
E3M4 - Palace of memories Here in the Palace of memories, Morsgoroth can channel their thoughts as they communicate through the blood mist to contact old fallen warriors.
E3M5 - Temple of the Bygones Ancient areas of Morsgoroth civilization that have overgrown deadly fauna and flora. It also is place where they honor their dead.
E3M6 - Palace of the Great One This palace is relatively new to Morsgoroth, it was built to honor the Great Ones of the Abyss who control their civilisation.
A small additional thing I made was a little icon that shows you when a key/mission objective item is nearby, and this can be seen through geometry.
Please let me know what you think of the art in the new levels are added to the Debug menu.
Hello all, In the month of July while surviving the heat waves we got more code work done and more environment art done for the levels, in fact, all the environment art for the levels is now completed! Work will now move on to finishing the remaining enemy models, animations, sou
Hello all,
In the month of July while surviving the heat waves we got more code work done and more environment art done for the levels, in fact, all the environment art for the levels is now completed!
Work will now move on to finishing the remaining enemy models, animations, sounds, particles, and then we'll circle back to the levels to polish up all the encounters, balancing, and final optimisation.
Code
This month we updated the the leap attack logic to use root animations for smoother transitions in to and out of the leap attack, this will affect all enemies.
The Dhole enemy was completed, a small eldritch critter that bites your lower regions.
Work also began on the exploding archetype enemy. This blubbering toxic enemy explodes on death of any kind. It is quite slow and weak, and is very susceptible to the stun from the shotgun, so you can tactically kite them to where you need and explode them against other enemies.
Level Design
E2M7 - Ruins of Amaganth
The ruins part of the level was the last part that needed work and a few additional props for the researchers to use on site.
The temple has a main hub chamber with 2 sides and a central vertical area.
The right side has a large open space with moving platforms that you have to use to progress.
The left side is a combat focused heavy challenge area with many traps and perils.
The top part of the central chamber leads to the final boss fight for E2M7.
E2M4 - TEC Mining HQ
The TEC Mining HQ level is a mix of corporate areas, industrial areas, and extensive outside spaces to explore. A lot of the spaces also have small side access areas that if you explore before diving in to the combat of a new area, will give you the advantage, so keep your eyes peeled.
The main objective to is get the power restored to the crane controls which makes it go back and forth to specific platforms allowing the player to cross and progress through the level.
Hello everyone, For the month of June work progressed on the levels (only 1.5 levels left!), and AI code. With some miscellaneous work done here and there. Code The Legion Knight's work has been completed, all its mechanics are all implemented. Work will begin on the Dhole next,
Hello everyone,
For the month of June work progressed on the levels (only 1.5 levels left!), and AI code. With some miscellaneous work done here and there.
Code
The Legion Knight's work has been completed, all its mechanics are all implemented. Work will begin on the Dhole next, which is a small maggot like creature that you'll encounter in small swarms.
Level Design
E2M5 - Mineral Mines
Work on E2M5 was completed. This level is where the TEC began in their mining operation and where the stumbled upon the Morsgoroth Temple of Amaganth.
Once they had discovered the Temple, they built a small temporary research area so scientists could work while the engineers worked on a permanent lab (which is E2M6).
The objectives for this level are to find some explosives to blow a hole open to access the large drill which is then used to drill down in to the ground, opening a way to the exit of the level.
This is the first area you see after taking the large freight elevator down to the mines.
The large structure in the central chasm is somewhat of a hub that connects a lot of the different paths throughout the mines.
The main large drill the player has to use to drill down in to the ground.
A side area that also houses a storage area and a Rec-Room. The mining equipment elevator is also connected to this space.
Various mine shafts and corridors
The area that contains the explosives needed to blow open the rock.
The temp Labs
E2M7 - Ruins of Amaganth
This level is WIP and is about 2/3's completed. The level begins with a small cave system, leading to the Temple of Amaganth. The TEC didn't really do a great job in terms of safety so you have to watch your step and not fall in to many of the chasms throughout the level.
Traps and puzzles lie in wait inside the Temple.
This area is about half through the cave system.
Here is a small area that contains a small sub-station and a make-shift PDA Save Station room.
Here is the first time the player will see the Morsgoroth Temple. Be prepared the Morsgoroth are extremely powerful foes.
Hello everyone, This month AI progressed well, the Legion Knight is now being worked on, and art wise the environment art for Episode 3's maps is finished and work began on the few remaining Episode 2 levels. Misc Features Over the course of the development of the game we've alwa
Hello everyone,
This month AI progressed well, the Legion Knight is now being worked on, and art wise the environment art for Episode 3's maps is finished and work began on the few remaining Episode 2 levels.
Misc Features
Over the course of the development of the game we've always listened to feedback and tweaked, changed, or added things within the realm of the design scope of the game.
We wanted to outline a bunch of things that are coming with the Ep2/3 update that is coming in the future:
The Map
This is something that has been requested a few times, so we're happy to say we'll get a map implemented for you guys. It is a 2d hologram map device you switch to, we felt it was important to keep it in game and not just some UI pop up, that way you can still move about while holding up the map, and also see anything that's trying to murder you.
It'll do all the things you would expect a map to do, show your location, important nearby objects like Key Doors, room names which will match the room name on your HUD.
In Ep1/2 in 1 of the security stations there will be a map machine you can download the map from to reveal the entire map. In Episode 3 we don't have security rooms, so you'll find portable satellite TEC equipment that will scan the level and then upload that data to your map.
Collectatorium
Once you have finished the game, we'll have an unlocked menu option to load in to the Collectatorium. This map will have on display all your collectibles, from Cat Magazines, Eldritch Relics, and Neurological's radios.
It will also display all enemies with a small info panel telling you some lore about them.
We were going to have a menu for this but, we thought it's more fun to move around and check stuff out in first person.
Steamworks Features
Steam related things like Cloud Saves, and Achievements (we already have a good chunk of the back end made) will be added to the game towards the end of development.
Achievements can be done on any difficulty. Which leads us to...
Difficulty
While Retchid has always been intended to be a challenging shooter, it's what we like to play, so it's what we build, we will have difficulty selections in game.
There will be an Easy, Normal, and Abyss modes. With various things turned on and off, and AI having various changes depending on the mode. We'll expand on this once we lock it down.
Autosaves
In Easy and Normal modes (with the option to disable it completely), we'll have autosave triggers placed around the levels between save rooms at specific points in the level progression.
For example when you progress far enough to access the elevator shaft in E1M6, or before the boss fight in E1M7.
Enemy Drops
A small feature that has been on the to do list for a while, is enemy drops.
Enemies will drop either ammo or armor, depending on the type of enemy it is. For example Pistol guys will drop ammo for SMG, or Shotgunners might drop some armor, or shotgun shells.
Code
The Chaos Spawn became feature complete, it's just awaiting VFX/Animations/Audio.
The work on the Legion Knight began, focusing on its shield mechanic. It can attack with a melee weapon, block your attacks, and if you remove its head, it'll get pissed off and large tendril will come out of the neck and will attack you with that as well. Fairly medium speed, weak enemy over all.
When the Legion Knight is blocking, if you shoot it with any projectile it'll build up a charge, continued shooting at the shield while in the block state will eventually release a projectile in the players direction.
The design is basically meant to throw a bit of a wrench in to the gameplay and focus your skill for a moment.
Level Design
E3M5 - Palace of the Bygones
This map got its final temple area finished and various tweaks optimisations completed.
E3M6 - Temple of the Great One
This is the final level of the game, where you will face off against a Great One, who overseas the Morsgoroth planet, making sure they obey the will of the Abyss.
This level has all the environment art completed, we really burned the midnight oil this month focusing on getting as many maps done as possible.
in E3M5 you will encounter poison swamps, puzzles, lots of secrets, and side areas to explore.
This central structure is where you spawn, in the middle of the map.
The path to the Lava Key
The Entrance to the Middle Temple, which has the Lava Door.
The Poison Swamp area.
The path towards the final temple and the final areas of the map.
E2M5 - Methane Mines
This week work began on E2M5, an underground mine which also is the entrance to the secret Lazarus Labs (E2M6), which then leads to the underground Morsgoroth Temple Ruins (E2M7).
Hello everyone, This month work continued on E3M5, and more coding continued for the new AI enemies. E3M5 - Palace of the Bygones Most of the the environment art is completed for E3M5, just the final details of the Tombs and the final temple room which houses the exit. This is th
Hello everyone,
This month work continued on E3M5, and more coding continued for the new AI enemies.
E3M5 - Palace of the Bygones
Most of the the environment art is completed for E3M5, just the final details of the Tombs and the final temple room which houses the exit.
This is the first swampy area you come to when you come out of the small temple.
A small side with the life pool that leads to a secret area, it's the same liquid in the life fountains the player can use to restore some life.
This is the secret area that leads to a small room of Knowledge, you will need to find the Blood Key to access it.
This is the split path that leads to the Lava Key and the final area of the map.
The Tombs of Once were, where dead Morsgoroth go to be cremated and stored in boxes and placed in walls around the tombs so their memories can be honored for aeons.
Hello Everyone, A big thanks to everyone for their continued support and feedback on the game. We're taking notes of all your feedback on all things across the board (we also have some small additional features coming down the pipe too especially for those that have really enjoye
Hello Everyone,
A big thanks to everyone for their continued support and feedback on the game. We're taking notes of all your feedback on all things across the board (we also have some small additional features coming down the pipe too especially for those that have really enjoyed the game spending dozens of hours on just episode 1 - we'll talk about this a bit later). Once we get to the final stages of development art all the art content is made we can focus on getting that feedback in the game.
Due to your support we've been able to buy better software and hardware so we can make the game even better. We recently purchased some motion capture equipment, we're going to use it to create lots of new animations once our artist has finished all the level design/environment art/enemy models/etc
For the month of April we finished work on E3M2, began working on the environment art for E3M5, and started to get the remaining enemies coded.
Coding
The Chaos Spawn is now in game, moves around and attacks the player. The Chaos Spawn isn't too hard on its own, but when mixed in with other enemies or in a swarm, it can be very challenging and requires a bit of thinking on how to approach them.
They have 2 ranged attacks, 1 is a short-to-mid ranged acid vomit, the 2nd ranged attack is a mid-to-long range spit that leaves acid bile on the ground that stays around for a few seconds, so you'll need to watch your positioning.
Chaos Spawn are the next steps in evolution for the ELDNA process. Humans working at the TEC Facility on Titan were exposed to a work enhancement drug that would allow workers to perform better and for longer hours.
It turns out that the changes to the DNA kept mutating beyond expectations....
Environment Art
For E3M5 the atlas sheets were revised to have a bit of an older style compared to a more contemporary style of the Morsgoroth areas (E3M1/2/3/4 are the modern areas). E3M5/6 are meant to portray an older part of their society.
The sheets are rotated for the screenshot.
More vines were made to have a broader range of different parts to use inside E3M5/6. About 60 vine models were made using the new vine atlas sheet.
Trees were made for E3M5/6. The trees were made to help create a moodier environment. Zbrush and Blender was used to create the trees, using zspheres and some sculpting.
The trees were made by building modular parts, this way it's far less time consuming to build more trees, all that is really needed is to build a trunk base in zbrush, and then use the modular branch models and textures to create the finished tree.
A new material was also made so the trees have a good slow sway to them.
Level Design
E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways
The remaining art work on E3M2 was completed. All the vfx, additional level design logic was all placed in the level.
The main temple has a central large lava pit. The goal for the player is to lower the lava, and then proceed down to the newly revealed area, completing more puzzles, to eventually reveal the exit. Lowering the lava will give the player access to a few side areas and secrets, so make sure you explore to find upgrades and secret areas.
E3M5 - City of the Bygones
E3M5 is the first level of the older areas of Morsgoroth. It's mostly dark and swampy, dilapidated buildings, with man eating flora, and giant amphibious type creatures(Toahuggoa, we'll show the enemies after the level design is finished as their animations/textures need some polish).
This level also contains the Dead Chambers, a place where the Morsgoroth bury their dead. A very tight labyrinth with a few twists and turns which leads to the Lava Key.
Hello all, Spring time has arrived, and so has the Steam Spring Sale where Retchid is now 20% off. What is Retchid? For the uninitiated, Retchid is a gory, atmospheric first person shooter that challenges you throughout without holding your hand. The first episode currently avail
Hello all,
Spring time has arrived, and so has the Steam Spring Sale where Retchid is now 20% off.
What is Retchid?
For the uninitiated, Retchid is a gory, atmospheric first person shooter that challenges you throughout without holding your hand.
The first episode currently available in early access contains 7 hand built non-linear levels with some light puzzling, shortcuts, collectibles, and secrets.
Use the PDA to read about what was happening at the TEC complex, track your objectives, statistics, weapon/suit information, and read about the collectibles you find.
Fight against various life forms ranging from humans to creatures from the abyss using various weapons like the ARC-Tool, SMG, Shotgun, TEC-Nade Launcher, and the Mining Laser, which discoverable upgrades scattered throughout the levels (not 100% fully implemented yet).
Future Content
The Team has been hard at work on Episode 2 and 3:
E2M1 - Garbage Disposal
E2M2 - Sub Station
E2M3 - Toxic Sludge Refinery
E2M6 - Lazarus Labs
E3M1 - Bastion of Cinders
E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways
E3M3 - Blood Pits
E3M4 - Palace of memories
Check out some of our recent dev updates on upcoming additions to the game:
Hello everyone, In February the environment art for E3M4 - Palace of Memories was completed. Work also began on E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways. Code Some code was also worked on, fixing a bug where if an AI was instantly killed, would not alert nearby enemies of their death. (who k
Hello everyone,
In February the environment art for E3M4 - Palace of Memories was completed. Work also began on E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways.
Code
Some code was also worked on, fixing a bug where if an AI was instantly killed, would not alert nearby enemies of their death. (who knew the dead don't talk).
E3M4 - Palace of Memories
Here are some of the caves that are below the Morsgoroth infrastructure the player will navigate through.
Once you have arrived in the central area, you will need to navigate to this Teleport room which will give you access to Titan's Teleportation Lab, inside the Lazarus Lab.
Once inside the labs you'll use the Teleporters the TEC Scientists have been studying, to teleport back to the Palace, which will give you access to other areas.
Here is a little look at the secret pathway to the secret level - E3M8 - The Black Vault.
The temple that is visible from most of the level is where you need to go, to exit the level. But you will need to release the blood locks to open the gate.
E3M2 - Temple of Hidden Ways
E3M2 is a temple sitting on a lake of lava, which also flows throughout the level. You will need to solve some puzzles to figure out how to lower the lava, which will reveal more of the level and make your way down to the exit.
The Abyssals have enslaved the Morsgoroths thousands of years ago, which had an impact on their way of life and culture. To preserve their remaining culture, they hid pathways to various temples and cities away from them. This level has one such hidden path way, hidden beneath the lava, which you will use to transport to E2M3/4 which demonstrates their warrior culture.
This area is the spawn room for E3M2.
The starting section of the level is a small temple that is only accessed via floating platforms.
Once you have access to the floating platforms you can take an optional detour to this combat arena.
The entrance to main temple.
Here is the central hub for the level (unfinished art) which has 2 side areas, and 2 levels of lower areas that are revealed once the lava is lowered.
This is the area on the Northern side.
The Southern area.
This is a secret area that is only accessible once you have progressed in lowering the lava in the central area.
Hello all, In January E3M4 - Palace of Recollection was worked on. It was almost all finished before the update, just a few rooms in the last area of the map need working before E3M2 will be worked on. With E3M4 you'll play through a level that has a good amount of vertical comba
Hello all,
In January E3M4 - Palace of Recollection was worked on. It was almost all finished before the update, just a few rooms in the last area of the map need working before E3M2 will be worked on.
With E3M4 you'll play through a level that has a good amount of vertical combat and challenges to overcome.
For a brief moment you will return to Titan via teleportation. The player will go through a small portion of the TEC secret underground Lazarus lab that connects to the back of E2M6. You'll end up in a small section of the Teleportation labs where the TEC were researching how the Morsgoroth and the Abyssals could move through space and time.
Here is the Tower of Strength, where the Morsgoroth train and hone their physical strength.
The Tower of Cunning is a place where the Morsgoroth refine their dexterity.
A secret pathway, that connects to a small room that unlocks a path to the secret level - The Black Vaults.
The Central area of the level which connections the left and right towers.
Here is the entrance to the temple which houses the exit of the level.
Retchid is 20% off for Steam's Winter Sale! Make sure to pick up a copy if you haven't taken the plunge yet, and gift it to your friends too! We update on development progress every month, so check out our latest update here:
Retchid is 20% off for Steam's Winter Sale! Make sure to pick up a copy if you haven't taken the plunge yet, and gift it to your friends too!
We update on development progress every month, so check out our latest update here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1419060/view/595135124815742114?l=english
Hello everybody, The team wants to thank everyone for their support over the past year, it means a lot to us to see how many folks are enjoying Retchid. The November and December update is combined in to this update due to December being a shorter work month. We managed to finish
Hello everybody,
The team wants to thank everyone for their support over the past year, it means a lot to us to see how many folks are enjoying Retchid.
The November and December update is combined in to this update due to December being a shorter work month.
We managed to finish off the art work for E3M1, E3M3, and begin work on E3M4. Some extra textures were made for the exterior facades, and work on the skybox was completed for Episode 3.
Art
This is one of the Episode 3 sky textures, we used polarized coordinates on a hemisphere mesh.
For the back ground terrain we used JangFX's new GeoGen to make the terrain, which is a chaotic rough terrain with lava coming through it.
Using JangFX's GeoGen we made 4 planets to use in the skybox.
Level Design
E3M1 - Bastion of Cinders
E3M1 was mostly completed in October, it just had a few rooms and the skybox left to update.
The exterior for E3M1 was updated with the new skybox assets.
The exit room for Episode is a portal room.
E3M3 - Trial of the Neophytes
E3M3 is where the Neophytes are tested, they must overcome various physical and mental obstacles as they make their way through the different areas. If a Neophyte completes the trial, they are then given the privilege of choosing which path to hone their skills. becoming strong warriors for the Morsgoroth.
An exterior view of E3M3.
An arena where the player must fight against a new enemy introduced here, the Gorgonops, a fierce quadruped.
Giant swinging axes the player must avoid being hit by.
The Bronze Door room.
The relaxing area, where Neophytes who completed the trial come to celebrate.
A connecting room to various paths.
A challenging room with deadly pits and lava shooters.
E3M4
Some block out shorts of E3M4. The ground work for the detailing just began.
We hope everyone has a good holiday and a new years. We can't wait to have you all get your hands on the new levels, and fight all the new enemies with new weapons!
