The 'big update' is now uploaded and ready to go. To sum up the main changes are as follows: Graphics: Major updates to the game graphics with new buildings, textures lighting etc. Equipment: Addition of the bolt cutters and shotgun breaching shells give you access to previously
The 'big update' is now uploaded and ready to go. To sum up the main changes are as follows:
Graphics: Major updates to the game graphics with new buildings, textures lighting etc.
Equipment: Addition of the bolt cutters and shotgun breaching shells give you access to previously inaccessible areas such as railway lines and even some rooftops.
Health: One shot kills have been removed and a health system has been introduced. NPCs will take a few hits to take out depending on weapon choice, whilst the player can now take a few shots before being floored.
Toughness: With the new health system comes a new skill to be upgraded. Toughness will increase the player's health, allowing him to take more shots before being killed.
Bail and Checkpoints: Every 5 levels you will reach a checkpoint, if you are killed you will have to start again from the last checkpoint, but if you are tasered and arrested you will be given the option to pay bail and restart your current level.
Finally, it was promised in the last post that controllers would be supported in this next update, unfortunately this will take a little longer to implement due to the need to reconfigure the various pause / stats / equipment menus - so watch this space, a future update coming ASAP will support this.
Hope you enjoy and welcome your thoughts / feedback or any bugs to be fixed!
The 'big update' is now uploaded and ready to go. To sum up the main changes are as follows: Graphics: Major updates to the game graphics with new buildings, textures lighting etc. Equipment: Addition of the bolt cutters and shotgun breaching shells give you access to previously
The 'big update' is now uploaded and ready to go. To sum up the main changes are as follows:
Graphics: Major updates to the game graphics with new buildings, textures lighting etc.
Equipment: Addition of the bolt cutters and shotgun breaching shells give you access to previously inaccessible areas such as railway lines and even some rooftops.
Health: One shot kills have been removed and a health system has been introduced. NPCs will take a few hits to take out depending on weapon choice, whilst the player can now take a few shots before being floored.
Toughness: With the new health system comes a new skill to be upgraded. Toughness will increase the player's health, allowing him to take more shots before being killed.
Bail and Checkpoints: Every 5 levels you will reach a checkpoint, if you are killed you will have to start again from the last checkpoint, but if you are tasered and arrested you will be given the option to pay bail and restart your current level.
Finally, it was promised in the last post that controllers would be supported in this next update, unfortunately this will take a little longer to implement due to the need to reconfigure the various pause / stats / equipment menus - so watch this space, a future update coming ASAP will support this.
Hope you enjoy and welcome your thoughts / feedback or any bugs to be fixed!
Over the last couple of months I've been working on some big updates to Walking Heavy. Updates to the graphics, updates to the gameplay and the addition of some new equipment. This next big update is due to land on Steam very soon, so I thought I'd give a quick preview of what's
Over the last couple of months I've been working on some big updates to Walking Heavy. Updates to the graphics, updates to the gameplay and the addition of some new equipment. This next big update is due to land on Steam very soon, so I thought I'd give a quick preview of what's to come.
Graphical Updates:
The first thing you'll notice when you launch the game will be a total overhaul of the game's graphics. Whilst the visual style remains the same, all of the building sprites and ground textures have been updated and refreshed to provide a stronger sense of place and more variety across levels.
Roof Access:
Amongst the new buildings, the most noticeable are the brutalist tower blocks. These 10-storey concrete monoliths act as great vantage points across each level, allowing you to see over the tops of surrounding buildings and use the sniper rifle to take out your enemies.
New Equipment:
The revamped shop menu includes some new tools of the trade which will change the way you approach each level. The bolt cutters for example will let you cut through mesh fencing and illegally cross the railway lines - useful to avoid police contact at railway crossing pinch points.
Improved Laser Functionality:
The laser attachment for guns draws a nice red line which acts as a visual aid for aiming, but let's face it - it's actually pretty useless (and the laser can miraculously shine through buildings). Well now the laser attachment not only draws a red line which stops short at solid walls, but it also unlocks auto-aiming, which is pretty awesome. Of course this now means the laser will become the most expensive upgrade to each weapon, ahead of the silencer, so consider buying it now whilst it's still cheap!
Controller Support:
Exactly what it says on the tin, the game will now support controller input.
And that is that for now, as I'm working on this game solo in my free time I can't give an exact date for the update to release, but it shouldn't be more than a week or so - watch this space.
Over the last couple of months I've been working on some big updates to Walking Heavy. Updates to the graphics, updates to the gameplay and the addition of some new equipment. This next big update is due to land on Steam very soon, so I thought I'd give a quick preview of what's
Over the last couple of months I've been working on some big updates to Walking Heavy. Updates to the graphics, updates to the gameplay and the addition of some new equipment. This next big update is due to land on Steam very soon, so I thought I'd give a quick preview of what's to come.
Graphical Updates:
The first thing you'll notice when you launch the game will be a total overhaul of the game's graphics. Whilst the visual style remains the same, all of the building sprites and ground textures have been updated and refreshed to provide a stronger sense of place and more variety across levels.
Roof Access:
Amongst the new buildings, the most noticeable are the brutalist tower blocks. These 10-storey concrete monoliths act as great vantage points across each level, allowing you to see over the tops of surrounding buildings and use the sniper rifle to take out your enemies.
New Equipment:
The revamped shop menu includes some new tools of the trade which will change the way you approach each level. The bolt cutters for example will let you cut through mesh fencing and illegally cross the railway lines - useful to avoid police contact at railway crossing pinch points.
Improved Laser Functionality:
The laser attachment for guns draws a nice red line which acts as a visual aid for aiming, but let's face it - it's actually pretty useless (and the laser can miraculously shine through buildings). Well now the laser attachment not only draws a red line which stops short at solid walls, but it also unlocks auto-aiming, which is pretty awesome. Of course this now means the laser will become the most expensive upgrade to each weapon, ahead of the silencer, so consider buying it now whilst it's still cheap!
Controller Support:
Exactly what it says on the tin, the game will now support controller input.
And that is that for now, as I'm working on this game solo in my free time I can't give an exact date for the update to release, but it shouldn't be more than a week or so - watch this space.
The train drops me off in Tynewich. It's raining, like always. As the train leaves I cross the tracks immediately rather than exploring on this side, a superstitious act I repeat every mission because it worked one time. It works again and I find my target quickly. He wears the d
The train drops me off in Tynewich. It's raining, like always. As the train leaves I cross the tracks immediately rather than exploring on this side, a superstitious act I repeat every mission because it worked one time.
It works again and I find my target quickly. He wears the distinctive red of a drug supplier carrying a new substance called HYPE. There's a police officer walking in the same direction, so I casually trail both. We pass ugly council houses and the visibility circle around me pulses in and out like a heartbeat, growing larger every time I step from a pool of shadow into the light of a streetlamp.
Finally the target and the police officer separate. I follow the red man until a particularly dark shadow shrinks the visibility circle around me to almost nothing, at which point I opportunistically whip out my pistol and shoot him. The police officer immediately rounds the corner, having not gone nearly as far as I hoped. I sprint back toward the train, hoping for one of those moments where it arrives just after I cross the tracks, cutting off my pursuers. It does not, and there are now three of them on my tail.
This is Walking Heavy, a top-down game of stealth and assassination set in grimy gangster Britain, in which you're a hitman brought out of retirement to clean up the streets (although you can also raise a bit of money on the side buying and selling drugs). It's the creation of solo developer Gregory Oldham, who released it on Steam last year to the kind of quiet response that greets so many indie games. I asked him about why he made Walking Heavy, and how he feels about it the two years he spent on it.
PC Gamer: So many of the best stealth games have been first-person or had tight views that limit what you can see. What inspired you to make a stealth game with a godlike top-down perspective?
Gregory Oldham: I’m an architect by profession, so any kind of orthographic projection is my gig, I particularly appreciate the simplicity and beauty of isometric graphics in videogames as I grew up playing The Sims, Age of Empires 2, Command & Conquer, et cetera on PC, so isometric graphics are what I know and love.
I originally had so much more planned for Walking Heavy. My original train of thought was an open-ended criminal sandbox based in the UK
As Walking Heavy started life as a real-time isometric crime strategy game (I was thinking Gangsters: Organised Crime 2, but based in a contemporary UK) I never thought of it as a stealth shooter until much further on in the development when I was forced to abandon a lot of the grander ideas I’d had for the game in favor of actually finishing the project.
That’s how I landed on this combination, and once I started to add the mechanics which allowed it to become a stealth game (shadows, the visibility circle, et cetera) I started to like what I was seeing.
I appreciate the stealth circle, the way it pulses as you pass through streetlights and shadows. It seems more visually appealing than, say, giving vision cones to the cops. Where did you get that idea? Did you try alternatives?
I knew that visibility cones would be ugly with potentially so many police on screen at any one time, so I was looking for a ‘catch-all’ type solution. First I didn’t have any visual cue in place for how visible you were, the idea was that you would eventually get used to the visibility distances—but I soon realized this would be far from ideal. So I decided to try physically representing the variable which dictated visibility distances as a circle with variable radius as a debug feature, and I liked how it looked so it became a permanent feature.
It feels like a very focused game, all about recreating one experience. You walk up to someone, shoot them, leave. This one set of actions repeated with relatively little variation. Obviously most games can be boiled down to one repeated sequence, but Walking Heavy feels pre-boiled, like the summary of the core is almost the whole. What is it about this experience that appeals to you?
I originally had so much more planned for Walking Heavy. My original train of thought was an open-ended criminal sandbox based in the UK, however as just one guy developing the game after work and on free weekends I had to scale it back massively to stand a chance of finishing the project.
So after a while I started to envisage something which still embodied sandbox, open world and RPG elements—but would play out like a casual/arcade-style experience, where the player repeats one process over and over on increasingly different levels whilst earning more money to purchase better guns and equipment to adapt the way you play.
With the online leaderboards and purchasable weapons/gadgets the idea is that players will be incentivized to keep playing to unlock new items and dominate the top spot on the leaderboard (currently Level 103, held by one of my work colleagues!).
This said I haven’t abandoned everything I had in store for the game originally, I’ve simply got it to a point where it was ready for release—I’m still working on new content and plan on adding much more to the game—the next update will feature new building types and rooftop access.
I really wanted to make something which could capture the feel of grimy British council estates, bathed in orange argon street lighting and swept by torrential rain showers.
It's focused but there are extra modes like Rampage. Is that one specifically inspired by the old-school GTA games?
The title of rampage mode is indeed a homage to GTA, and I guess the gameplay is too! I put rampage mode in as a departure from the stealth gameplay of the main career which punishes players for going loco, instead rewarding players for their ability to mow down hordes of pixelated police-men, and providing a chance to earn more cash to spend in career mode. The idea is that the two modes are polar-opposite in gameplay style, but are closely linked as you will need to play career mode to buy better weapons for rampage, and rampage can provide some extra financial support to afford the weapons.
The dialogue reminds me of GTA London, but also of Guy Ritchie movies, of English gangster stories in general. What made you choose that setting?
I chose to set Walking Heavy in England quite simply because that’s where I’m from (Manchester) and I really wanted to make something which could capture the feel of grimy British council estates, bathed in orange argon street lighting and swept by torrential rain showers. I was also able to have fun with the level names, creating an English town name generator from a list of prefixes and suffixes (although this occasionally gives some interesting place names).
The dialogue became a side-effect of this decision. I had a laugh writing it and took the piss a bit. Anyone who knows their English street slang will see all sort of dialect from Cockney to Scouse thrown in, so where in the UK the fictional city is supposed to be, I’m not even sure myself.
Basing the game in the UK also influenced the decision to give the majority of police tasers as most of our police don’t carry guns. I feel like this works in favor of the game as it allowed me to introduce different types of enemy so there is a difference between the main police carrying tasers who deploy swarm tactics, and the rarer armed police who can take you out from a distance.
I keep getting tased by cops around corners I didn't realize were there. Why do you hate me, Greg?
Two words: Infra-Red Goggles. If you can save up the ten grand price tag they’ll solve all of your problems.
I didn t intend at the time to create a finished game and release it on Steam.
The soundtrack's very atmospheric. How did you track down a composer, and what did you request?
I originally threw a load of tracks by Burial in as placeholders—I wanted a soundtrack which would capture the grit and brutality of the urban environments being created in the game. Eventually a friend put me in touch with a friend of his who makes his own electronic music, VHSX (check out his Soundcloud), we had a chat about what I wanted to achieve and he fired across a few tracks he’d already created and they were ideal.
You've been making Walking Heavy for two years. Has it been anything like you expected?
Not at all, I decided to learn game making because I just wanted to learn computer coding as a bit of a side project, I didn’t intend at the time to create a finished game and release it on Steam. But I found the process of creating the game so rewarding and addictive that it ended up snowballing into what it is now.
The process wasn’t easy though, I came up against serious optimization issues and basically had to re-invent the way I was doing things, which meant restarting the project a total of five times before I got it right. Even now I reckon there’s plenty of code I could do with streamlining. If I hadn’t been enjoying making the game so much it would have been shelved after attempt two or three for sure.
How was the launch? Are you satisfied with Walking Heavy's reception?
My launch was at best mediocre, I was so busy trying to juggle my day job and finish the game that my marketing strategy was pretty lackluster. I created a website, set up all the social media accounts and posted a few bits but never managed to make a success of it. In the end I decided I’m not a marketing whizz, nor did I have a budget to pay a marketing whizz to do the job for me, so I just crossed my fingers and hit release.
Whilst the game isn t officially an alpha release I still feel like there is much more I can add.
As such the download figures have been pretty low, but of those who have played I’ve received positive feedback, so I can’t complain about that.
How much of the game is in the demo? Do you think it's been worth making one?
The demo lets you play the first five levels. The idea is to hopefully draw a player in enough to get them to spend £3.99 on the full version, or not if they decide they don’t like it. The demo was very little extra work on top of the finished game and I feel it’s only fair to let people try before they buy.
What are you working on now?
More content for Walking Heavy. Whilst the game isn’t officially an alpha release I still feel like there is much more I can add. I hope to release a few more updates before moving onto another project. Currently I’m adding more building sprites to add some visual variety to each level—some of these buildings will also give you rooftop access, allowing you to snipe targets from afar and over the tops of other buildings. Hopefully this release will drop in the next couple of weeks.
The idea is to keep adding elements which enrich the gaming experience. I’m hoping to eventually add vehicles, more side tasks and better AI aimed at giving the different targets randomly generated routines to assist with their assassinations.
Do you have advice for new players?
I’d recommend putting a skill point or two into your connections stat early on, you don’t want to find yourself without ammo and searching for the one ammo supplier on the entire level.
Whilst all of the stats have benefits, speed and marksmanship are probably the most rewarding places to put a lot of your points—marksmanship in particular if you want to start dabbling with longer-range weaponry like the M4 and sniper rifle.
Finally I’d recommend investing in a silencer early on, it’ll save you a lot of grief from the police.
It has been an interesting month since releasing Walking Heavy - listening to people's feedback and opinions, fixing bugs which have arisen and adding new features to make the game both more accessible and challenging! But this is the big update I've been working on since release
It has been an interesting month since releasing Walking Heavy - listening to people's feedback and opinions, fixing bugs which have arisen and adding new features to make the game both more accessible and challenging!
But this is the big update I've been working on since release and sees the addition of two new features - Rampage Mode and Lie Low.
So first off Rampage Mode - this basically introduces an entirely new mode of gameplay to Walking Heavy, which also ties into career mode. As the title suggests 'Rampage Mode' is less about stealth and tactics and more about putting your gunplay skills to the test against hordes of police - the more you take out the higher your score - and the more they keep coming!
Rampage Mode unlocks after level 5 and all of your skills and equipment carry over from career mode, so the more you progress here the easier you'll find rampage (tip: the shotgun is very useful here). Of course your rampage score will be logged on a brand new leaderboard, and a percentage of your score is paid to you as money which you can spend in your career - so you can earn some extra on the side.
Next up: Lie Low. This is a feature I've been toying with for a while now and I've finally settled on making this unlockable after Level 10. Lie Low basically lets you trade in all of your money, drugs and ammo to start the game over from Level 1 - but you can keep all of the skills and equipment you have bought / upgraded.
This might sound unthinkable to some of you - but personally I've always really liked it when games give you the option to go back to the start where you might have struggled initially to beast through the easy levels with your new-found skills. This option will also be useful if you're struggling to level up and feel like you need new skills or a certain piece of equipment to reach the higher levels. Whether you choose to use it or not - it's now in there.
And that just about sums everything up for now. Once again I've fixed some minor bugs which have been picked up on - and as always whilst I make every effort to release any new features bug free, if you come across anything weird let me know and I'll get it sorted!
It has been an interesting month since releasing Walking Heavy - listening to people's feedback and opinions, fixing bugs which have arisen and adding new features to make the game both more accessible and challenging! But this is the big update I've been working on since release
It has been an interesting month since releasing Walking Heavy - listening to people's feedback and opinions, fixing bugs which have arisen and adding new features to make the game both more accessible and challenging!
But this is the big update I've been working on since release and sees the addition of two new features - Rampage Mode and Lie Low.
So first off Rampage Mode - this basically introduces an entirely new mode of gameplay to Walking Heavy, which also ties into career mode. As the title suggests 'Rampage Mode' is less about stealth and tactics and more about putting your gunplay skills to the test against hordes of police - the more you take out the higher your score - and the more they keep coming!
Rampage Mode unlocks after level 5 and all of your skills and equipment carry over from career mode, so the more you progress here the easier you'll find rampage (tip: the shotgun is very useful here). Of course your rampage score will be logged on a brand new leaderboard, and a percentage of your score is paid to you as money which you can spend in your career - so you can earn some extra on the side.
Next up: Lie Low. This is a feature I've been toying with for a while now and I've finally settled on making this unlockable after Level 10. Lie Low basically lets you trade in all of your money, drugs and ammo to start the game over from Level 1 - but you can keep all of the skills and equipment you have bought / upgraded.
This might sound unthinkable to some of you - but personally I've always really liked it when games give you the option to go back to the start where you might have struggled initially to beast through the easy levels with your new-found skills. This option will also be useful if you're struggling to level up and feel like you need new skills or a certain piece of equipment to reach the higher levels. Whether you choose to use it or not - it's now in there.
And that just about sums everything up for now. Once again I've fixed some minor bugs which have been picked up on - and as always whilst I make every effort to release any new features bug free, if you come across anything weird let me know and I'll get it sorted!
For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a few updates to Walking Heavy, which are now live. Firstly the help screen accessed from the pause menu has been given a major facelift. Previously this simply showed a rather basic list of controls, this now gives a comprehensiv
For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a few updates to Walking Heavy, which are now live.
Firstly the help screen accessed from the pause menu has been given a major facelift. Previously this simply showed a rather basic list of controls, this now gives a comprehensive list of all controls as well as other vital information to understanding the game - such as a guide to the friends and (mainly) foes you will come across in the boroughs.
Which brings me to point number 2 - additional enemies have been added who will appear at various stages in the game. These include the SOCA agents (like British FBI) who will recognise you on sight even if you're yet to break the law on a level, and hitmen who will disguise themselves among the crowd and ambush you when you least expect it (you didn't think you could bump off all those suppliers without getting a price on your head did you?).
The bug which caused the game to crash on completion of the tutorial level is fixed, so if you've been experiencing this issue I hope you decide to play on.
Finally, the eagle eyed amongst you may notice a couple of new additions to the main menu - Lie Low and Rampage Mode. These will be coming very soon and will add some new gameplay aspects -
Lie Low - This will give you the opportunity to play through the game from the start, whilst retaining your skills and inventory. I don't know about you but I find there's something very satisfying about going back to the earliest levels which I once struggled on to blitz through them with a set of superior weapons and skills.
Rampage - Ever just want to let off some steam and have a huge shoot out with the police but don't want to use all of your ammo and muck the level up? Well rampage mode will let you do just that, providing free ammo and hordes of enemies to gun down, whilst you compete for the top spot on the rampage leaderboard! You can also earn some extra cash to take back to career mode on the side.
So that's all for now! Expect to see more updates and the additional game modes landing by the end of the month.
For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a few updates to Walking Heavy, which are now live. Firstly the help screen accessed from the pause menu has been given a major facelift. Previously this simply showed a rather basic list of controls, this now gives a comprehensiv
For the last couple of weeks I've been working on a few updates to Walking Heavy, which are now live.
Firstly the help screen accessed from the pause menu has been given a major facelift. Previously this simply showed a rather basic list of controls, this now gives a comprehensive list of all controls as well as other vital information to understanding the game - such as a guide to the friends and (mainly) foes you will come across in the boroughs.
Which brings me to point number 2 - additional enemies have been added who will appear at various stages in the game. These include the SOCA agents (like British FBI) who will recognise you on sight even if you're yet to break the law on a level, and hitmen who will disguise themselves among the crowd and ambush you when you least expect it (you didn't think you could bump off all those suppliers without getting a price on your head did you?).
The bug which caused the game to crash on completion of the tutorial level is fixed, so if you've been experiencing this issue I hope you decide to play on.
Finally, the eagle eyed amongst you may notice a couple of new additions to the main menu - Lie Low and Rampage Mode. These will be coming very soon and will add some new gameplay aspects -
Lie Low - This will give you the opportunity to play through the game from the start, whilst retaining your skills and inventory. I don't know about you but I find there's something very satisfying about going back to the earliest levels which I once struggled on to blitz through them with a set of superior weapons and skills.
Rampage - Ever just want to let off some steam and have a huge shoot out with the police but don't want to use all of your ammo and muck the level up? Well rampage mode will let you do just that, providing free ammo and hordes of enemies to gun down, whilst you compete for the top spot on the rampage leaderboard! You can also earn some extra cash to take back to career mode on the side.
So that's all for now! Expect to see more updates and the additional game modes landing by the end of the month.
It's nearly been a week since release and I'd like to thank everyone who has played so far! So I've uploaded a new build which I've been working on this week - no major additions (yet), but a few bugs have been fixed and some gameplay elements tweaked following some useful feedba
It's nearly been a week since release and I'd like to thank everyone who has played so far! So I've uploaded a new build which I've been working on this week - no major additions (yet), but a few bugs have been fixed and some gameplay elements tweaked following some useful feedback from players. So what's new?
1. Police behaviour - wonder why the police tasered you on sight before you'd even had a chance to break the law? Well now the police will only chase you if they see you commit a crime (including having your gun drawn), if a witness reports you, and once you have taken out the target. This should give more scope for exploring each level and getting your bearings without getting zapped at every turn.
2. Grenades - £200 seemed a bit steep don't you think? Well you'll be pleased to know grenades are now half price.
3. Power Generators - If you hadn't found out yet, chucking a grenade at a power generator plunges the level into darkness. This was a permanent effect, but now the lights will come back on after 1-2 minutes (can't make things too easy now).
4. Bug fixes - general bugs have been addressed which I have found in some higher levels, I won't bore you with the details but they're sorted.
5. Fullscreen - I'm aware there is a bug surrounding full screen mode which seems to happen to some but not others where pressing ALT+ENTER to enter full screen results in a black screen - but this doesn't affect windowed mode. I am working on getting this sorted but if you are looking for a temporary workaround I found that running the game in Windows 8 compatibility mode solved the problem. I am looking for a permanent fix to this though and it will be sorted!
That's all for now - I have got plans for a big update very soon with a couple of new features planned, so watch this space!
It's nearly been a week since release and I'd like to thank everyone who has played so far! So I've uploaded a new build which I've been working on this week - no major additions (yet), but a few bugs have been fixed and some gameplay elements tweaked following some useful feedba
It's nearly been a week since release and I'd like to thank everyone who has played so far! So I've uploaded a new build which I've been working on this week - no major additions (yet), but a few bugs have been fixed and some gameplay elements tweaked following some useful feedback from players. So what's new?
1. Police behaviour - wonder why the police tasered you on sight before you'd even had a chance to break the law? Well now the police will only chase you if they see you commit a crime (including having your gun drawn), if a witness reports you, and once you have taken out the target. This should give more scope for exploring each level and getting your bearings without getting zapped at every turn.
2. Grenades - £200 seemed a bit steep don't you think? Well you'll be pleased to know grenades are now half price.
3. Power Generators - If you hadn't found out yet, chucking a grenade at a power generator plunges the level into darkness. This was a permanent effect, but now the lights will come back on after 1-2 minutes (can't make things too easy now).
4. Bug fixes - general bugs have been addressed which I have found in some higher levels, I won't bore you with the details but they're sorted.
5. Fullscreen - I'm aware there is a bug surrounding full screen mode which seems to happen to some but not others where pressing ALT+ENTER to enter full screen results in a black screen - but this doesn't affect windowed mode. I am working on getting this sorted but if you are looking for a temporary workaround I found that running the game in Windows 8 compatibility mode solved the problem. I am looking for a permanent fix to this though and it will be sorted!
That's all for now - I have got plans for a big update very soon with a couple of new features planned, so watch this space!
With 2 days to go until release the final build is now live. Some bugs have been identified and fixed, and I have added some updates which you can now try out in the demo. To sum up... - Day Night Cycle: This is actually a feature which I coded in some time ago and 'disabled' for
With 2 days to go until release the final build is now live. Some bugs have been identified and fixed, and I have added some updates which you can now try out in the demo. To sum up...
- Day Night Cycle: This is actually a feature which I coded in some time ago and 'disabled' for permanent night time gameplay - but now it's back. Every level will begin at the stroke of midnight and you will now have 7 hours of darkness (equating to 7 minutes in game) to hunt the target before sunrise. Once the sun is up it's not game over, but shooting the target in broad daylight isn't so easy!
- New gadgets: The balaclava has been replaced with a radio alarm clock which allows you to start each level at 9PM with an extra 3 minutes before sunrise. The factory has been replaced with a power pack, giving vastly extended battery life to the NVGs, IR goggles and drone. I have replaced the balaclava and factory as I was never fond of either!
- Leaderboard: The leaderboard will allow players to rank their progress against others, giving you a ranking based on your level. I'm currently holding spot 2 at level 4 - pathetic. Note, as the demo is only playable up to level 5 the leaderboard is a full version feature only.
- Full Screen capabilities: Windows shortcuts now give you the freedom to switch between windowed mode and full screen.
- Steam screenshots: It came to my attention that the Steam screenshot function wasn't working - well now it does.
- Bug fixes: Random crashes when retrying a level? These are no more, however if you notice anything untoward whilst playing let me know - whilst I endeavour to iron out every last bug there's always the odd one which slips through the net!
That's all for now.. I'll post again on Friday when I release Walking Heavy at 4PM (GMT) - exciting stuff!
With 2 days to go until release the final build is now live. Some bugs have been identified and fixed, and I have added some updates which you can now try out in the demo. To sum up... - Day Night Cycle: This is actually a feature which I coded in some time ago and 'disabled' for
With 2 days to go until release the final build is now live. Some bugs have been identified and fixed, and I have added some updates which you can now try out in the demo. To sum up...
- Day Night Cycle: This is actually a feature which I coded in some time ago and 'disabled' for permanent night time gameplay - but now it's back. Every level will begin at the stroke of midnight and you will now have 7 hours of darkness (equating to 7 minutes in game) to hunt the target before sunrise. Once the sun is up it's not game over, but shooting the target in broad daylight isn't so easy!
- New gadgets: The balaclava has been replaced with a radio alarm clock which allows you to start each level at 9PM with an extra 3 minutes before sunrise. The factory has been replaced with a power pack, giving vastly extended battery life to the NVGs, IR goggles and drone. I have replaced the balaclava and factory as I was never fond of either!
- Leaderboard: The leaderboard will allow players to rank their progress against others, giving you a ranking based on your level. I'm currently holding spot 2 at level 4 - pathetic. Note, as the demo is only playable up to level 5 the leaderboard is a full version feature only.
- Full Screen capabilities: Windows shortcuts now give you the freedom to switch between windowed mode and full screen.
- Steam screenshots: It came to my attention that the Steam screenshot function wasn't working - well now it does.
- Bug fixes: Random crashes when retrying a level? These are no more, however if you notice anything untoward whilst playing let me know - whilst I endeavour to iron out every last bug there's always the odd one which slips through the net!
That's all for now.. I'll post again on Friday when I release Walking Heavy at 4PM (GMT) - exciting stuff!
I've been hard at it the last few weeks testing, bug fixing and adding all sorts to the game to make it ready for a release of the first playable demo, which I am pleased to say will be available from tomorrow! The demo will let you preview the first five levels of the game a mon
I've been hard at it the last few weeks testing, bug fixing and adding all sorts to the game to make it ready for a release of the first playable demo, which I am pleased to say will be available from tomorrow!
The demo will let you preview the first five levels of the game a month ahead of its release as a 'try before you buy' type offering - however bear in mind that every level in Walking Heavy is completely procedurally generated and no two play-throughs will be the same - so what will your experience be?
I've been hard at it the last few weeks testing, bug fixing and adding all sorts to the game to make it ready for a release of the first playable demo, which I am pleased to say will be available from tomorrow! The demo will let you preview the first five levels of the game a mon
I've been hard at it the last few weeks testing, bug fixing and adding all sorts to the game to make it ready for a release of the first playable demo, which I am pleased to say will be available from tomorrow!
The demo will let you preview the first five levels of the game a month ahead of its release as a 'try before you buy' type offering - however bear in mind that every level in Walking Heavy is completely procedurally generated and no two play-throughs will be the same - so what will your experience be?
OK, so the store page has been live for a few days now and I feel it's time to open some discussions about the game... Firstly if you're reading this you will hopefully know a little bit about Walking Heavy already and perhaps have checked out the screenshots and announcement tra
OK, so the store page has been live for a few days now and I feel it's time to open some discussions about the game...
Firstly if you're reading this you will hopefully know a little bit about Walking Heavy already and perhaps have checked out the screenshots and announcement trailer - if not be sure to visit the store page and our official website at walkingheavy.co.uk - if you have any questions, feedback or even suggestions for what you would like to see in the full release, drop me a line I'm always keen to discuss my work!
Secondly I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has wish listed the game so far, I really appreciate the show of interest!
So what's next on the agenda? Well with a 20th October release date fast approaching I'm being kept very busy smoothing out rough corners, as well as trying to get the word out to as many potential players as possible. In the next week or so I aim to get a fully playable demo of the first five levels up on here so you can get a taste for the game yourselves, I will also be adding plenty more gameplay vids and screenshots too, so watch this space!
OK, so the store page has been live for a few days now and I feel it's time to open some discussions about the game... Firstly if you're reading this you will hopefully know a little bit about Walking Heavy already and perhaps have checked out the screenshots and announcement tra
OK, so the store page has been live for a few days now and I feel it's time to open some discussions about the game...
Firstly if you're reading this you will hopefully know a little bit about Walking Heavy already and perhaps have checked out the screenshots and announcement trailer - if not be sure to visit the store page and our official website at walkingheavy.co.uk - if you have any questions, feedback or even suggestions for what you would like to see in the full release, drop me a line I'm always keen to discuss my work!
Secondly I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has wish listed the game so far, I really appreciate the show of interest!
So what's next on the agenda? Well with a 20th October release date fast approaching I'm being kept very busy smoothing out rough corners, as well as trying to get the word out to as many potential players as possible. In the next week or so I aim to get a fully playable demo of the first five levels up on here so you can get a taste for the game yourselves, I will also be adding plenty more gameplay vids and screenshots too, so watch this space!
