Hello, whatever time you see this, I hope you are having a good day, today we bring the first Dev Update of the year, there are several advances that I would like to share some details about, as well as some screenshots to show them. Without further ado, let's get to it.
Some elements seen in the screenshots may not be finished.
ENVIRONMENT
Now the entire main story will occur within the same map (scene), unlike the original plans, which was to divide the story into more than one scene.
As a technical consequence, much more optimization and resource management work will be required, but I believe it is the best decision to be able to make several of the systems already implemented work better.
In addition, I have dedicated myself to expanding the map and adding more areas of interest that motivate the player to explore and discover secrets or find useful objects.
For this, both the available objects, collectible objects, the weapons available and the variety of enemies to face were expanded.
Something that should be highlighted is that even though it is a desolate town, it will be a living place in a certain way, due to the activities to do and the places to explore, in addition to the fact that the player will be able to come across with enemies roaming around the town or lurking around the surroundings.
Likewise, I added many more details to the environments that were already built, both interior and exterior, new details were added such as wet surfaces, scuffs, decorative objects, structures, vegetation and optimized additional lighting.
VOICES
We aqcuired a system that uses Artificial Intelligence to generate realistic voices, this is even cheaper than hiring voice actors, although adjustments will have to be made and some additional work.
NARRATIVE BACKGROUND
Regarding the story, I have worked on improving its lore and making it feel bigger than it would seem, for this, I wrote multiple text logs that the player can find while exploring, these logs will be divided into several categories to address themes specific to both the main plot and the lore.
I also plan to take advantage of AI voice generation to include “recordings” that further expand the narrative background.
To represent this, I worked on adding specific panels for each type of log in the game interface.
NEW MECHANICS
New mechanics were added to the gameplay, such as new ways to navigate your way through new areas or to obtain items by solving specific puzzles and mechanics.
There will also be small sections (similar to a dungeon) called “Challenge Zones”, in which the player will have to fight enemies and solve puzzles to obtain rewards such as resources, coins, upgrades, new weapons and discover new documents that reveal more about the background of the story.
Another new mechanic that is being worked on is the implementation of the wear and tear of the player's weapons due to their use, so they must use a workbench to repair them using specific resources.
Improved versions of weapons will no longer require repairs.
An additional mechanic to mention is the navigation system, which will make it easier to navigate the map, it is planned to implement a compass system on top of the player's camera and a panel of places of interest (Important sites of the story, safe rooms, Challenge Zones, etc.), which when selected are highlighted on the compass and facilitate their location. I also hope to apply this to special items like supply boxes.
The following are the Upgrades that the player can acquire by spending the coins found in the environment. Each upgrade will have three unlockable levels.
- Ammo Finder: Improves the chance of finding ammo items.
- Survival Instinct: Improves the chance of finding medical items.
- Improved Resupply: Improves the loot from supply boxes.
- Scavenger: Improves the chance of finding resources.
- Enhanced Taste: Improves the coffee machine.
- Effort and Reward: Increases rewards for completing Challenge Zones.
Some changes were made to safe room items to accommodate different difficulties, as well as have a more consistent overall balance.
In each Safe Room, there will be 3 special objects, which are:
- Typewriter: Used to save player progress.
- Coffee Machine: Restores a part of the player's health, but this value can be increased by purchasing upgrades. In order to use the coffee machine, a cup of coffee is required, which is a special item, for balance reasons.
- Storage Chest: Used to store the player's items and retrieve them in another chest.
DIFFICULTIES
There will be 4 difficulties available to play: Easy, Normal, Survivor and Nightmare, each difficulty will have changes that will modify the challenge when playing, such as increased health and damage of enemies, less player stamina, reduced efficiency of upgrades, restrict the use of certain items for the player on high difficulties, etc.
There is also a difficulty planned for a future DLC called "Inferno."
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
Currently there are 10 fully functional weapons, without considering upgraded versions (9 base and 1 for a future DLC), but I plan for the base repertoire of available weapons to rise to approximately 20 weapons, not counting upgraded versions, among which will be pistols, submachine guns, melee weapons, thrown weapons and projectile launchers.
Several of these weapons can be acquired naturally as you progress through the game, while others will be unlockable through in-game currency, special Challenge Zone rewards, and Supply Boxes.
The weapons currently available are:
- Knife
- Axe
- M1911 Handgun
- G18 Handgun
- M37 Shotgun
- MP7 SMG
- Tactical version of the M1911
- M9 Handgun
- PT-9M Experimental Pistol
- Makarov Pistol (Future DLC)
ENEMIES
So far there are 4 types of enemies available:
- Common Tormented: Common experiments that "The Mind", the group behind the Bakerville Massacre in the main story, performed on the townspeople.
- Spotter: Great detection capability and faster movement speed. Greater persistence to hunt the player. This enemy has a great ability to see the player at longer distances than other enemies thanks to the torch he carries, he also has greater hearing ability, so he can detect the player even without seeing him, and once this happens, It can be difficult to lose or get rid of, although it does not have much physical resistance and can be easily defeated.
- Axeman: Increased movement speed. Deals heavy damage to the player. This variant of the Spotter carries an axe to attack the player, which makes him more lethal but retains the low physical resistance of the Spotter variant.
- Butcher: Increased health and damage resistance. Reduced range of vision. Deals heavy damage to the player. This experimental abomination has a circular saw implanted in its right arm, with which it can deal a lot of damage to the player, in addition to resisting greater amounts of damage, so headshots do not apply additional damage. However, because he possesses only one eye, he has a reduced range of vision.
GRAPHICS AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS
Introducing Envira Enhance, a library of advanced graphics solutions for Unity 3D.
It is made up of 3 components: Pulse Illumination, a high-fidelity enhanced lighting system, Quantum Volumetrics, a volumetric lighting system, and ShadingWorks, a set of high-quality shading solutions.
Months ago I met some guys in a Discord group who study graphics development, and in the conversation I told them about my game project, it was then that they offered me to try preliminary versions of their projects, and after a while of testing them and giving them my feedback, we reached an agreement to market them through the Unity Asset Store, this to raise awareness of both my game and its creations.
So we organized to sell them collaboratively and they were improved for better functioning.
These resources will be freely licensed at the time of purchase, so anyone can implement them in their projects.
This is our own system of graphics tools that you are using in conjunction with others for the visual aspect of the game.
Multiple improvements to the graphics were implemented, such as better rendering of the characters' skin and other materials using the “Subsurface Dispersion” technique, better texture resolutions, and improved post-processing effects.
To optimize the loading of game data, especially textures, the use of “Texture Streaming” was implemented, which when enabled, allocates a specific amount of customizable memory for streaming, and starts loading textures on the hard drive when they are really needed.
Another technical aspect that I would like to mention is, for example, the implementation of FMOD, a dynamic music and audio system that adapts sound parameters, in this case music, to different situations within the game. This system is in the process of implementation and early testing.
Filters and effects were added that can be applied to the player's camera to customize the visual appearance, some examples are a black and white filter, an effect that simulates an old television, another that simulates a VHS recording, among others.
They will be available for free in the base game, although more will be added in the future.
New image scaling technologies were also implemented: AMD FSR 3 and NVIDIA DLSS (both still without Frame Generation).
POSSIBLE RELEASE DATE
In recent months I have received multiple questions about when The Bakerville Case could be released, and the truth is that I did not have a date in mind yet, but seeing that development is progressing without problems, and it is also something that I have thought about In recent days, it could be that by Q3 2025 the game would be released in Early Access, and from there I plan to add the next content and work on future expansions of both story and additional modes.
It may seem like an overblown release window, but considering all the changes I've made and all the features, implementations, and additions I've made and still need to make, plus it's just me working on the project, I feel like it's a stretch. date that can be taken more seriously to deliver a product in optimal conditions and with the expectations that I want to achieve so that the people who play it like it even in Early Access.
FINAL CONCLUSION
I've been wanting to talk about the latest I've been working on for this project for a while, but I wanted to have some solid progress and some work done so I could present it.
Therefore, that would be all for this occasion, when there is some essential progress that is worth mentioning, I will be sharing it here, see you next time.
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- Kevin