Hey everybody! RF Project Lead Korzodin here, with some progress on a horror-themed map! I also bring news about the Early Access release date, new ways you can stalk me while I work on RF, and some additional planned features that I'm pretty sure some of you will appreciate! Let's get down to it:
E1M7: Surge Protection
Noah finds his way to the Blackwater Power Plant, a massive underground geothermal / nuclear power plant with it's own crystal mine. He's on the trail of the city governor, who carries an important key and chose to flee to the mines and probably die in a really inconvenient spot. What a jerk!
It's fine. Noah is armed to the teeth. The lights are out and the power is failing, but the darkness isn't hiding anything he can't handle... right?
Theatrics aside, horror is hard to design when the player can move at the speed of light and dump out damage at a similar rate! We had to get psychological, and come up with with a concept completely foreign to the player; enemy variety something the player doesn't want to shoot.
Also, crystals and mushrooms! They radiate light, and other things that might cause some long-term problems. Don't worry about it.
Early Access Release Date
Gonna just rip the bandage off quick here, we've chosen to delay the Early Access release date. We were rushing, we were making mistakes, we wouldn't have enough time for testing. I know Early Access likely has some expectations of roughness, but I want to make damn sure that what we release to the public is stable and fun.
We definitely still plan to release EA this year. We'll announce a solid date once we're feature complete and testing.
Dev Streams
I stream Relentless Frontier development on Twitch! Check it out:
https://www.twitch.tv/korzodin_rf
Whenever I do level design, sound design, or graphic design, I stream my work on Twitch. I've been streaming for a couple of weeks now, and I think I've got this "streamer" thing figured out. I typically stream on weekdays, from 6 - 10pm PST. Drop in and say hi!
Discord Server
We have a Discord server! Join up here:
discord.gg/fp59DpxEkV
I post rougher progress shots here, and I'm pretty open to any questions or discussion. Again, drop in and say hi!
Future Plans
A quick list of planned features (that will probably be in our next progress post):
- Toggle-able weapon upgrades! When you get a weapon upgrade, you can toggle it on/off to suit your needs. Some upgrades have added power/utility with an added cost or some other side effects, so we figured being able to toggle these would be pretty helpful.
- Interactive Data Logs! If you're curious about what's been happening on Ross 128b while Noah was away, you can get some extra lore by reading tablets, computers, TV screens, etc. Some of this stuff might also hint at secrets and alternate routes! Alternatively, you can totally ignore these and just shoot stuff and jump around! You don't need to read any of these to progress.
- Voice Acting! Yes, we're still planning on having our main cast voiced! We've got some VAs in mind, but if you're interested in pretending to be murdered in a recording, let us know! (DM me on discord, twitter, steam, etc)
Anything else you're interested in knowing? Ask in the comments!
Peace,
- Korzodin