Guns and Ammo Update
This update aims to add some skill based play to the game by making some big changes to gameplay, including a rework of all the guns, limited ammo, dynamic weapon spread, partner rescue events and enemy rebalancing.
The demo has also been updated to include all the latest additions and changes. All the changes can be seen below in the update notes section.
Weapon Changes
All weapons now have a bigger kick to them, with the shotgun and SMG getting some extra changes to make them feel more like power weapons. The trade-off for this is the power weapons now have limited ammo, making them useful for certain situations rather than constant use.
The pistol retains its unlimited ammo and has the smallest max spread of any gun along with a damage buff. The SMG had it's fire rate boosted but can reach its max spread quickly over rapid fire. The shotgun had a big damage buff along with an extra pellet being fired with every shot, firing a total of 4 pellets over a wide area, making it very useful for close up crowd control.
Ammo
Ammo for the power weapon can be filled up by shooting ammo pickups (floating bullets) around each level. Currently each stage only has 1 ammo pickup so use the power weapons wisely.
Dynamic weapon spread
Dynamic weapon spread was added to the game to make the guns feel rewarding if used right along with bringing some fairness to the guns by removing the random spread patterns and instead using dynamic spread. The old spread system meant a bullet will randomly hit a spot in an area around the crosshair depending on the fixed spread value of the gun. The new dynamic spread means firing a gun longer or quicker will increase the spread of the gun over time, making the bullets less likely to hit at a longer range. Spread is reduced and gradually resets to its base value when the gun is not being fired.
The pistol starts of with 0 spread, meaning the first shot will always hit the centre of your crosshair. Rapid fire will increase the spread but to a very small value.
The SMG start of with 0 spread but will quickly rise to a large area of spread the longer the trigger is held down. Burst firing at longer ranges will help a lot with spread control.
The shotgun has a fixed spread, meaning no matter how fast or slow you shoot, the spread is always the same.
Partner Rescue Events
Partner rescue events require the player to save the other player before they are attacked by enemies. Saving the other player will result in bonus score.
In multiplayer, one player will be knocked down and temporally lose control as they are attacked, during which the other player must save them. In solo play, the player will rescue a character representative of the 2nd player.
Green Blood Setting
The green blood setting makes the blood...well...green. This applies to blood on the enemies, blood impacts and bullet holes on flesh. Blood in the environment, such as stains and drips, remain red. This is still an experimental feature so expect more work to be done on it in the future.
Online Leaderboards
Leaderboards are still in beta phase and will be ready for the 0.4.0 update. Although the leaderboards aren't viewable in this update, scores are being collected for each level with the addition of a Overall leaderboard score if you complete every level in one sitting.
Trello
You can follow the progress of Dead Containment by visiting the Trello page here. The page is updated regularly with what I'm working on, what's planned in the next update and the state of reported bugs.
Bug Reports
No one wants bugs in their game and I try to my best to squish any I see. However, if you do find any bugs that I missed then please post a report on the official bug report thread here.
Update Notes:
- Added partner rescue events.
- Added a green blood option.
- Added ammo pick ups in each level.
- Added partner rescue event in level 1.
- Added partner rescue event in level 3.
- Added dynamic weapon spread.
- Added detailing to level 1.
- Added detailing to level 2.
- Added detailing to level 3.
- Added a faded overlay over the HUD of dead players.
- Added a sound cue when trying to fire a gun with no ammo.
- Added a reset keybinds button to the settings menu.
- Changed the score counter to show unused digits in a shaded colour.
- Changed the loading screen images.
- Changed SMG and Shotgun to use limited ammo.
- Changed weapon balance for all guns.
- Changed level 1's lighting in the basement area.
- Changed lobby level's background.
- Changed car shaders for more accurate reflectivity and roughness.
- Changed water splash particles for bullet impacts.
- Changed water sounds for bullet impacts.
- Changed water shaders.
- Changed the speed of birds to 2/3 of original speed.
- Changed the health of birds to 1/2 of original health.
- Changed the FX of pickups once collected.
- Changed interactive objects to give points when shot.
- Changed how particle effects render to increase performance.
- Changed explosion FX.
- Changed the camera to ignore enemies that are dead instead of waiting for them to dissolve.
- Changed reload mechanics so guns can't be reloaded when the magazine is full.
- Changed the settings menu buttons and sizing for better accessibility.
- Changed the enemy spawns along level 2's bathroom route.
- Changed the SMG sound to include a tail and extra bass.
- Fixed cinematic black bars in cutscenes not hiding gameplay UI.
- Fixed bullet holes not showing on background enemies when shot.
- Fixed low shadows setting removes all world shadows.
- Fixed game doesn't end when boss kills both players.
- Fixed dead players guns are visible after changing path.
- Fixed Level 2 - Enemies stop out of camera when attacking on the truck depot steps.
- Fixed Level 2 - Enemies stop out of camera when attacking in the tunnel.
- Fixed Level 2 - Sunset cycle not triggering.
- Fixed Level 3 - Backdrop invisible outside the boss elevator window.
- Fixed headshots on birds not counting.