This time round, this is not an announcement for a new demo version, so it's a bit of a different format!
We're now pretty busy with improving the game and adding content!
Here's an overview of what we're working on:
- run save/load system
- seeded runs
- harpoon carriage
- improving UI
- new illustrations
I'll go over these in more depth but first of all let me mention that every change which relates to the general and overall quality will make its way into the demo eventually! We just want to make sure that the new features are stable and won't cause issues for existing players.
All of the above mentioned are now deployed on our Playtest steam version of the game, there is a limited number of available slots and if you want to join the playtest, visit our discord, we've got instructions and commands ready for you there!
Save/Load Sytem
This one is just exciting. We've been working on this for a good while, and knew it was going to be an important feature for the game!
The way the system works is very straight forward, whenever you finish an encounter, your progress is saved. Whenever you turn the game on, and the game finds a saved run, you get a confirmation dialogue:
Also when you're in the pause menu, we added this message that pops up, to ensure the save/load system is communicated:
Seeded runs
Infomation and an input box can be found next to the start button and in the pause menu, also at the end of the run, so that if the seed was good, it can be easily copied.
Having created the save/load system, meant we also had to link everything up with seeds, there is more work that needs to be done here, as the seed at the moment is only used for map generation itself, however fights and player options aren't yet. Wer're working on that next!
Harpoon Carriage
Alright, this is the first new carriage we've worked on since releasing the demo. There was a ton of balancing and reworks of cards as well as modules, so we wanted to hold off on implementing our designed new carriages, to best ensure that when a new carriage is indeed implemented, it's instantly fun and strategically deep!
The harpoon carriage currently has 9 cards, due to us testing out multiple ideas! They've all been illustrated and are now being heavily tested.
The entire idea behind the carriage is that it, in one way or another, moves enemies toward the tracks or the carriage itself. There are a couple of surprise cards, my personal favourite is the one that deals damage to the enemy unit and pulls the train in the direction of said unit.
Improving UI
This is something we do all the time. We notice papercuts and small issues that could be made better or nicer, so here's a couple of standout things we've changed so far.
better info
Contextual infomation used to only show up in the top left corner, we've revamped this across the board, so that wherever possible, the information pops up right there!
Merged modules and cards screens
The screens for modules and cards in the starting screen have been merged into a single screen, meaning that you can now manage you run card and module options from a single screen.
Better cards overview
Before selecting a carriage, one of the most important pieces of information is the carriages card loadout, we've implemented a brand new screen that gives you exactly that (including smooth animations, super proud of those)
Better visuals for Save Slots
The game offers 3 slots, these allow you to play 3 different setups and have up to 3 different saved runs at any one time, we've improved the slot selection screen to better communicate the active one, as well as the game doesn't instantly go into the run start screen when a new slot is selected
Side notes
- We're visiting gamedev conferences with the game! (Digital Dragons (Krakow), GameAccess (Brno) and others, depending on which ones pop up and where)
- There's a massive amount of work that's gone into the audio of the game, stay tuned for a future Developer update!
- Our discord community is slowly growing and it's super exciting to see, join us!
- We've hit 12k wishlists! This is utterly surreal and we're just baffled, excited and motivated.
- The development continues, cheers!
If you haven't had, give the game a play!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3350900/Fogpiercer_Demo/
That's it for this quick developer udpate, have a good one peeps!