Dreadshot Game State - Fall 2025
Good day, reader! Thank you for following the game's development.
This blog post will be different from all the previous ones, as I've decided to reboot the project.
What does a game reboot mean to me?
First, what do I mean by reboot? A game reboot is a rework of the core, fundamental aspects of the game in terms of gameplay and technical structure. The story, or more precisely, the main narrative, has not been and will not be affected.
This means that most game mechanics will be changed/reimagined/recreated from scratch from a technical standpoint.
Why did I decide to reboot the game?
The decision to reboot the game was made for several reasons that seem quite important to me.
The game's code architecture is incredibly bad. It so happened that Dreadshot was my first truly large project, and when I started working on it, my programming skills (even visual programming, which is primarily used in game development) left much to be desired. Over time, I learned to make the code better, more structured, more understandable, more optimized, and more scalable. But I also made mistakes, many mistakes, and this whole pile of errors has lingered until now. My task in relaunching the game is to rewrite the entire game code (or most of it) from scratch, improving its systemic structure and architecture, so that it can be expanded further.
Gameplay-wise, the game was too... generic. The game currently has a ton of mechanics thrown together haphazardly, but it lacks anything outstanding. Something that would truly set it apart from others. After thinking about this for the last month, I believe I've come up with a solution to this problem, in the form of a single key mechanic that will drive a huge portion of the gameplay. But I'll talk more about it once I implement it (hopefully in the next blog post).
This is a combination of the two previous points: the new fundamental mechanic I've come up with affects a huge number of existing mechanics from a code perspective, but the code itself isn't currently designed for this mechanic and needs to be massively reworked to accommodate it.
What's the timeline for the restart?
I can't say with certainty how long it will take me. I'm currently deciding on an approach to developing the new structure. This choice will determine how long it will take.
I can either create my own architecture from scratch, which will be entirely my own. It will take a fair amount of time to create such an architecture, and I'm not guaranteed to be able to make it as high-quality and scalable as possible given my skills. On the plus side, I'll be able to leverage existing code more extensively, and the system itself will be more intuitive for me.
I can choose the "industry standard" and use the GameplayAbilitySystem—it's an extremely large-scale system within the game engine itself that automates a huge number of processes. However, since it's so large, I need to study it thoroughly and learn how to use it. The hardest part is the learning curve, as some developers take 3-6 months, which is simply unacceptable in my situation.
I will most likely choose to create my own architecture, but at the moment no decision has been made.
What did I do in the fall?
The first half of fall was extremely productive (which can't be said about the second half, due to the school year and some personal issues). Here's what I did (the highlights are what's truly important for the game's future and will likely remain for the next year):
Improved game optimization
Fixed some bugs
Created an enemy spawn system
Updated the shotgun model and animations
Improved the game's lighting and visuals
Moved the rocket launcher to a new animation system
Worked on the game documentation
Worked on the concept for an improved interface
As you can see, quite a good job. Let's go over the most important and interesting points in more detail.
Created an enemy spawn system
The enemy spawn system was a lot of fun to work on. The gameplay concept is that as the player progresses through a level, they'll enter rooms where enemies will spawn at predetermined points. Spawns will occur in waves. The key here is to create a clear and optimized system, as spawning and removing enemies is a very resource-intensive operation, so it was important to me to eliminate any possibility of spawn lag. To achieve this, I use a special technique called Object Pool, which allows enemies to appear in the level as it's loading, and at the right moment, they simply teleport to the correct point and become visible. This eliminates lag during gameplay while still allowing for the ability to determine in advance where a specific enemy will spawn.
Updated the shotgun model and animations.
The shotgun was one of the oldest weapons in the game and was in need of an update. Furthermore, its model was too bulky for a mid-range weapon, so it was scaled down.
Old shotgun version
New shotgun version
I've been working on the game's documentation.
Until mid-fall, the game's documentation left much to be desired, as I was mostly keeping all my ideas in my head. Because of this, development was disorganized, and I often just did the first thing that came to mind.
For those who don't know, documentation is a series of text files that outline the entire content of a game: mechanics, descriptions, plot, technical implementation, and so on.
Currently, I'm working on documenting the gameplay specifically. I want to clearly define what I'm doing, to avoid moments where I'm doing something I don't even know what I'm doing. I think having everything written down on paper will give me a clearer plan and the tasks I need to complete.
I write the documentation using Obsidian, and it's perfect for my needs in terms of organizing the documentation file system. I can even visually show the current scope of the documentation without showing the actual documentation. Here it is:
A white dot is an existing file with information.
A gray dot is a non-existent file, but is referenced.
A yellow dot is an application (image).
A green dot is a tag that groups multiple files.
This documentation will only grow in the future, and I think I'll show you its growth in the next blog post, so you can appreciate the scale of the game on paper.
I worked on the concept of an improved interface.
The interface is a crucial component for communicating mechanics to the player. Since I was planning to introduce a completely new and global mechanic, I needed a way to communicate this mechanic to the player.
Additionally, I immediately took into account that the game is story-driven, meaning it will have dialogue, bosses, a speedrun mode, and so on. Therefore, I needed to consider the possibility of all elements being on screen at once.
And here's what I came up with:
It's worth noting that it's quite rare for everything to be on the screen, and it may only appear cluttered at first glance. In reality, in most cases, the screen will be missing a boss bar, subtitles, timer, and money counter, so keep that in mind.
By the way, I've moved all the most important data (HP, Stamina, ammo, current weapon) to one corner so the player doesn't have to flick their eyes around the monitor and can get all the essential information from one place.
And yes, this isn't a design, it's more of a layout of the elements. The design itself will look more futuristic, resembling the interface of some futuristic helmet. Accordingly, there will be more decorative elements on the screen, but in a way that doesn't overwhelm the player with information.
Conclusions
We're facing a very, very difficult period right now. Rebuilding the game from scratch is a very painstaking and lengthy process, which I'll have to go through myself. Honestly, I'm feeling low mentally right now; I'm exhausted because I see no progress in development, and that makes me sad. But I hope I can overcome this, and the project's future will be bright.
Goals for the winter:
Rebuild the game.
Implement the mechanics that will be decisive in the game.
Wishlists
As usual, I'll share with you the current wishlist statistics.
The game is currently on 7,232 people's wishlists, an increase of +622 people.
Thank you for your interest in the game; I'll try not to let you down! See you at the end of winter!
Vladislav ZenDev, 2025.
