I would be lying if I said this was planned from the start - it was not. I initially considered the weapon system complete and the available player weapons sufficient. However, while testing levels and balancing weapons, it became clear that Fire and Plasma weapons were somewhat redundant. Functionally, they differed only by projectile color, speed and damage, and that was not enough to justify their existence.
At the same time, I realized that the game already has a fully implemented weapon status system, which was being used by only two weapons: Corrosive and Shock, both dropped exclusively by bosses. This meant that no standard, player-accessible weapon applied a status effect at all.
This led to the following changes:
All Fire-based weapons now apply a Burning status effect.When an enemy is hit, it ignites and takes damage over time (DoT). Additional hits increase the DoT intensity but do not extend its duration—unlike Corrosive weapons, which apply a consistent DoT that can have its duration extended through repeated hits. So the more times you hit an enemy while they are burning the DoT will deal a lot of damage.
All Plasma-based weapons now use a stacking Plasma Overcharge mechanic. Each enemy type—normal enemies, mini-bosses, and main bosses — has a different stack threshold. Once enough stacks are applied, the enemy detonates in a Plasma Overcharge, damaging nearby enemies as well.
At this stage, the system is about halfway complete. The effects are fully functional but currently apply only to enemies — not yet to the player or defenders. Further adjustments are expected, and all Fire and Plasma weapons will need to be rebalanced, along with updated descriptions.
P.S. This will be the final addition to the weapon system and weapon list, and the last major change before work begins on the new demo.