Hey there everyone! Over the last week, we have been working to bring to you the newest, and one of the most important zones, to the game as well as introducing a sweet new weapon and cleaning up some of the underlying subsystems.
Inventory Overhaul:
In this video, you can see that we will be using a system called a jigsaw inventory, which means that inventory management will be a core feature that you will take with you throughout the game. You will have to ensure that certain objects you wish to pick up will fit in a slot within your inventory, otherwise, you will have to sacrifice something in order to pick up a larger object. You will notice that objects can only fit into their designated hotbar slots on the bottom, so you will have a quick way to organize the resources you use most without being able to assign invalid resources to a particular slot.
This system is a great way to also aid in player progression since you will be able to upgrade this throughout the game to accommodate more and more resources, so it's going to be a mechanic that players will more than likely wish to upgrade consistently as they play. It will also force players to prioritize taking only what they actually need with them throughout a level since you will be able to store resources in certain areas -- namely The Hub which is in the last section of this post.
It's also in this inventory tab that you will see your health, suit power, and oxygen levels, as well as any status effects your player may be experiencing, so overall it's a very critical place to take a peek at every so often to check on your status.
Personal Codex:
Because environmental interaction within the game is something that is incredibly important since your character and your AI will be missing a lot of critical information about what happened to this facility and what creatures actually inhabits it (which you will find out more about as you play) the usage of terminals is going to be essential to get additional information about who and what you are dealing with into your codex. However, this codex will also facilitate playing various audio logs found across the facility and will be able to log emails you find on terminals that contain pieces of information that may become useful to you as you venture into the darker and more decrepit parts of Site-113.
The codex will also house the schematics that feed into the crating stations around the map and will allow you to craft specific items and ammunition as long as you have found the recipe for it and have properly logged it into your codex. One of these codex recipes will be for the highly experimental Railgun, which we will talk about next.
The HSER Railgun:
The crown jewel of Site-113's research into hypersonic weaponry, the HSER Railgun is a beast of a weapon with the ability to fire a specialized kinetic round that has been charged with negative gluon particles. This effectively gives the round the ability to cause tremendous damage to anything the round hits, with an especially large amount of damage being done to organic targets.
However, this weapon comes with a fatal flaw --- ammunition is not only extremely limited but it also is extremely hard to craft since a lot of materials go into crafting such an advanced projectile. It is therefore highly advised to only use this weapon when dealing with massive threats since wasting the precious ammunition for this weapon can be the difference between life and death when facing the particularly dangerous enemies that will exist within the Military Zone and R&D. This weapon will accompany the special Flamethrower and other interesting weapons, which will have their models shown off in future videos, along with in-game usage.
The Hub - Blockout Introduction:
In this video, we have a walkthrough of the newest zone to be added to the game, which is The Hub. It is in this zone where you will be maintaining most of your resources and will also be able to traverse to nearly every single section of the facility through this location since all the facility tram routes connect through this area.
The Hub is slated to be a large and densely packed environment that will allow for customization of some of the aspects of it to suit your tastes as a player. This will also become an area that will be in multiplayer since it's planned to allow those hosting the lobby to introduce other players into their hub to see what they have customized and show off their achievements. Those who donate as well will have the opportunity for a lot more customization that will make their hubs stand out a lot so they can show their support of the project. Players can obtain a higher level of hub customization through donating on either Patreon or Kickstarter when it launches, with the links to both being below.
This image is the original concept image for The Hub, and you can see the design and details have been coming together in the blockout version. The finalized version of this environment will closely mirror that of this concept, so you can expect this zone to be rich with detail and will feature a lot of interesting parts that will allow for a lot of interaction and exploration.
However, getting too comfortable in this zone can be dangerous since there are many events in the facility that can take this otherwise safe area and turn it into a death trap, so always watch your back and keep an eye on events that are happening around you as you progress throughout the facility.
Next Week:
We will be talking about SCP - 610 and how that will play into the game, as well as introducing some of the new drones that will exist around Site-113. We will also be showcasing the holo table that will exist within The Hub and other parts of the facility and will play a big part in how you traverse the zones and gain information about the entire facility.
Consider donating by supporting us on Patreon and Kickstarter:
https://www.patreon.com/hststudios
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hststudiosllc/scp-fragmented-minds