Hi!

We decided to show you a tad bit about the process of how Shockwave: Land of the Blind is being created. Let’s get right into it!

Thinking of it, the whole enthusiasm is over the top. The thing with game development is that the end product is exciting, but most parts of creating it simply are not. However, there’s also some fun stuff that we want to show you guys.

We’ve worked on a couple of important topics last month, out of which most weren’t that exciting:

• Programming AI.
• Programming other stuff.
• Bugfixing.

Out of these things, programming AI is surely the most interesting. Shockwave will be a stealth game, so we had to ensure that the enemies adapt well to the gameplay. You’ll most likely not experience huge gunfights in the game, as the main character will be armed with a pistol, and you wouldn’t want to be noticed or to try and fight, as this is pretty much a death sentence. Because of this, the enemies in Shockwave will generally have a couple of characteristics that will make for engaging gameplay. The enemies will be:

• Avoidable - as in the real world, you’ll most likely want to avoid most encounters, and the game's AI will allow for that. Shadows, unorthodox passing, and stealth are your best friends.
• Cunning - once they realize you are in their area and identify you as a threat, they will do their best to eliminate you and will try to hunt you down. They will be relentless, aggressive, and determined - just as enemies should be.
• “Human” - your enemies will behave like people, not always noticing everything, wandering here and there, maybe even neglecting their tasks occasionally. “Perfect” robotic enemies wouldn’t make the game fun. Facing off against what feels more or less like another human being will provide a decent level of excitement and challenge.

We hope that the foundation of these pillars will provide an exciting gameplay experience.

Programming isn’t the only facet of creating the game, though. Our graphic designers and animators got to make some cool assets lately. One of them is this bomb suit:

While it is based on real-life sapper equipment, it isn’t 100% accurate. The reason is that real bomb suits are often licensed, extremely expensive and rather not shown off too much - the companies that create these want to keep their workings and technology secure. On the other hand, we are strongly inspired by what seem to be trends in the industry. The most striking elements of the design have to be the huge armor plate in the front and the helmet with a visor; both are a must in such equipment.
We realize that Shockwave is a simulator; however, it is also a game, a piece of entertainment. Because of that, we decided that the gameplay feel and the freedom of exploration are more important than trying to achieve as much realism as possible. As you can see, the bomb suit is rather heavy and uncomfortable, just as in real life. It restricts movement and is uncomfortable, our consultants said. After all, it’s a tool made for a specific reason, serving its purpose well. That’d be no fun in our game if you could barely run, so here are some animations that show some movement options. Not the most realistic, but sacrificing that little bit of realism for entertainment and gameplay value seems like a good choice, we reckon :)

Please let us know your thoughts about the AI design, the bomb suit model, and the animations. We’ll appreciate your feedback. Also, are there any specific topics you’d like us to cover? We also want to let you know that we’ll have some neat promo and educational videos up soon, so you’ll learn more about what this game is supposed to be about 😄

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2056750/Shockwave__Land_of_The_Blind/