Hey all! It's been a while since I've updated Run For Your Life. I wanted to make a little (jesus I talk too much) blog post going over some of the upcoming features and plans, now that I've been able to resume work on the game. Shifting back into full-time work as a cook has been an adjustment to say the least, but I think I've hit a good balance!
Some of the features already completed or in progress:
User Control Mapping
This took a bit more work than I was initially expecting, but switching to the new Unity Input System has been awesome. You'll be able to rebind all the controls for either gamepad or mouse-keyboard for both players, and it will automatically save for future play sessions.
Swappable Abilities
As I continue to add abilities, you'll be able to set which abilities are active in a run (Slot 1 or Slot 2), allowing for some fun combinations.
Directional Aiming
Previously, the player could attack North, South, East and West. I've now added a much more precise aiming scheme, as well as the ability to hold an "Aim" button. This locks the player in place and a crosshair appears, showing where you're currently aiming.
(Early test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku6uW62HUSI )
This makes attacking with projectiles and abilities a lot more precise (and fun!). It also opens the door for twin-stick style aiming, though I'm not certain I'll go that route. If there's a demand, no problem! But as this is a melee-focused game, I feel like it's unnecessary.
"Faketime Shadows"
Just a fun little camera trick, this crudely replicates real-time shadows. As with everything, I'll continue to refine this, but I like the initial results.
(Early test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25aC6vUbNRc )
Improved AI
I'm constantly thinking of ways to make the enemy AI a little bit more interesting, and specifically on the green cyclops "Seekers", they have some random wandering added to give the player a bit of breathing room (as long as you're not in it's direct sight). I'll probably adapt some more enemies to use this for balancing, as it adds a bit of tension. As well, I've modified the Shadow AI to be a bit more brutal, but it will teleport out of view after a random duration. Definitely spooks! Probably the biggest change though, is that the purple "Hulk-dudes" are now able to smash objects and barricades out of position, where previously they could only damage them. This definitely ramps up the threat on these guys and will make barricades a more complicated situation.
More Level Environments
I think games like this demand a pretty high amount of diversity with settings and interactables, so I've been chipping away at some new objects and environments. In addition to the Lab / Office / Hospital settings, I've got the initial work done on: Desert, Alien Planet, Spaceship, Haunted Mansion settings either completed or well on their way. The next release will probably see all the current levels replaced with new ones, as I recognize playing the same 3 levels over and over has probably been a drag.
Here's some test footage of the mansion setting, with about 30x too many enemies: https://twitter.com/GutsPuke/status/1350950361864024065?s=20
Local / Steam-Play Coop
I actually removed co-op functionality from the game for a while, as I knew switching to the new Unity Input System would require a lot of re-working on scripts. As of today I think I've just about finished everything needed to bring Player 2 back into the game. Player 2 can now be equipped with their own cosmetics and weapon, just like Player 1.
Okay cool, but when's the update?
I really want to release these new features, but more than that I want the next release to have a substantial amount of new content. At a minimum I'll need to have 5 new levels completed, possibly a new Endless map as well. With a lot of heavy work out of the way, I think a realistic schedule is by the end of next week.
As for things beyond, I don't want to set unrealistic goals, but I'm determined to atleast give true Multiplayer my best effort. The game-mode would be a timed match, with somewhere between 8 - 16 players in a large map, with one player randomly selected to be the monster. One single hit from a monster turns a player into a monster as well, and so on. The long-term plan is to have separate items which players can equip prior to a match, say for example "Guaranteed to not be the first Monster" (Would create a dummy / AI monster instead; if all 8 players used this item, they would start the round with 8 monsters instead of 1), and so on. Players will be able to customize both their human and monster abilities/cosmetics. That's getting ahead of myself - Multiplayer integration is a whole new beast, and I'm not even certain I'll be able to pull it off, but I definitely want to try.
Alright, that's my thousand word essay on why I love coffee, have a good one yall ! <3
-Alex