SPEARHEAD: Breakthrough DevLog 07
Following the rather chaotic events from our previous devlog, there's an important announcement we'd like to share. The real estate issue has finally been resolved, and our programmer has recovered from the accident and returned to work. We hoped that would be the end of our bad
Following the rather chaotic events from our previous devlog, there's an important announcement we'd like to share.
The real estate issue has finally been resolved, and our programmer has recovered from the accident and returned to work.
We hoped that would be the end of our bad luck...
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
After extensive internal testing, we reached a difficult conclusion: we can no longer continue developing the game with our current engine.
Every new feature introduced more bugs than we could realistically fix, and the project eventually reached a point where continuing development simply wasn't sustainable.
More importantly, we realized that the current engine would become a major obstacle not only for the full release, but also for long-term updates and post-launch support.
Because of this, we've made the following decisions.
The current build has been completely abandoned. Development will restart in Unity 3D.
All existing art assets will be kept.
Every line of gameplay code will be rewritten, while making much greater use of external assets.
We'll take advantage of Unity's 3D technology and rendering pipeline to improve enemy AI and map optimization.
In short,
Spearhead: Break Through is no longer being developed on the original 2D build.
Instead, development has restarted from scratch using a 3D engine.
We understand that this news may be worrying.
After all, we've already spent nearly three years on this project.
That's exactly why we decided to make this change now—so development can move faster, become more stable, and give the project a stronger future.
With that said, here are some of the changes you can expect.
Development Changes
• Our team has grown.
A new developer has joined the project.
He's one of my closest friends and an experienced 3D game developer.
From now on, Spearhead: Break Through will be developed by a team of three.
• Existing art assets will remain.
Our current artwork won't be replaced.
This helps shorten development time, and honestly, we don't feel there's any reason to change what already works.
• Maps are being redesigned.
Previously, maps were long, winding paths with very few hard barriers.
Aside from enemies rushing toward you, players could generally move through the entire level without interruption.
The new maps are divided into larger combat zones separated by doors.
Opening a door reveals the next area, where enemies may already be waiting.
Whether you choose to fight them or move on immediately is entirely up to you.
This structure dramatically improves both enemy AI management and the effectiveness of the Overseer system.
And just to avoid any misunderstandings—
This does NOT make the game a roguelike.
We're simply dividing each map into independent combat spaces.
• A brand-new Overseer system.
The Overseer Mk.3 has been retired.
Because the map structure has changed so much, the old system no longer fits the game.
The new Overseer is much simpler—roughly one-third the size of the previous codebase—and significantly more efficient.
Instead of constantly monitoring everything at once, it analyzes the results of your previous encounters, including:
- your combat performance,
- current inventory,
- remaining health,
- reserve ammunition,
and uses that information to determine the difficulty and item placement of upcoming areas.
More Changes
• Some game calculations will now be handled by the GPU.
In the previous Spearhead, as well as the current 2D build, almost every gameplay calculation relied entirely on the CPU.
With the move to Unity 3D, some of those calculations will instead be processed by the GPU, resulting in significantly better performance.
As a side note, before abandoning the 2D build, we experimented with a similar optimization technique.
The result was impressive—we saw performance improve by nearly four times.
• Enemy AI is being completely redesigned.
The old AI, which primarily relied on overwhelming players with large numbers of enemies, is being retired.
Instead, we're developing enemies that fight more intelligently.
They'll make active use of cover, spread out across the battlefield, and coordinate their movements to pressure players rather than simply rushing forward.
• Vision-blocking shadows are being removed.
Objects and walls will no longer cast shadows that block the player's view.
During testing, these shadows didn't provide the tactical or psychological impact we had hoped for.
Removing them also frees up additional processing resources, allowing us to spend performance where it matters most.
• Weapon durability has been redesigned.
The weapon durability system has been removed.
Instead, firearms will only malfunction under certain weather conditions.
• Devlogs will now be published every three months.
Starting with the next update, development logs will be released every three months instead of every month.
This gives us enough time to focus on larger, more time-consuming features.
Because development priorities change frequently, we've also decided to remove the "Next Goals" section from future devlogs.
Too often, unexpected circumstances forced us to change our plans.
Q&A
Q. Is the game becoming fully 3D?
No.
Technically, yes—the game is now being developed entirely in a 3D engine.
However, the presentation remains the same.
While the technology, assets, and systems are all powered by Unity's 3D capabilities, the game will still look and feel like a 2D top-down shooter.
The game's visual style isn't changing.
Only the engine is.
Q. How much longer will development take?
During our tests, systems that previously took around three months to build in the old 2D version were recreated in just five days using the new engine.
Many other features have also been progressing much faster than expected.
We estimate it will take roughly one year to rebuild the game to match the amount of content that existed in the final 2D build.
The first six months will focus on rebuilding the core systems.
The remaining six months will be dedicated to gameplay content and networking.
Q. What if this version also fails?
If that happens...
Long before Spearhead existed, I had two other game concepts.
One was Project Ruby, a dark fantasy open-world RPG.
The other was Project Sapphire, a 2D side-scrolling action game.
I've never publicly introduced either of these projects before.
Only design documents and prototype builds were ever created.
If—even after all of this—the new 3D version of Spearhead still fails because of our own limitations...
We'll return to those projects instead and finally share them with everyone.
Since neither project requires online multiplayer or networking, development would move considerably faster.
One Last Thing
Finally,
We will never ask for your financial support.
We won't launch a crowdfunding campaign.
I made a promise to everyone after failing to finish the updates for our previous game.
This project is my responsibility, and I'll see it through myself.
So please—
Don't worry about supporting us financially.
Just stay with us, and watch this journey through to the end.
Oh, and one more thing—
We've also made some emotes!
Feel free to use them however you'd like.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n8Kdex7LUaQCqFuyM6LtmaLUltIEtjyP/view?usp=sharing
here`s Stalker!
