Hello all.
We wanted to upload this update last Friday, alas, technical problems didn't allow for it. But here it is now.
But what does it bring to the game?
NEW EQUIPMENT
This update brings in the second to last content injection, which is the third level set of bodyparts. 20 new bodyparts are now part of the game (although you might have to unlock them if they weren't unlocked already).
This means the last piece of gameplay related content to wrap the content creation process are the new weapons for level 3. We have just started working on them, and with any luck they will be included in the next update.
BUGFIXING
We also did a thorough round of bugfixing. We have tackled:
- Copgore getting stuck. We rewrote Copgore behavior to try to fix this once and for all. In our tests, it didn't reproduce, so we think it's fixed. Let us know otherwise.
- Improved several encounters with Slash.
- Mouse sensitivity (camera) is now exponential, so it should be easier to configure for a wider range of devices.
- Reduced errors in pool cleanup.
- Shields should no longer block while not equipped (this was happening).
ONGOING PROGRESS
Other than this, we started doing preliminary work on preparing the console ports, which means a lot of the code has been cleaned in preparation to shift the game to Unity5. Unity5 provides better performance, but we have discovered the screen effects (ambient occlusion, bloom) are of higher quality and therefore more demanding. We are considering implementing several different quality effects to try to address the biggest range of systems we can.
And we are starting on the console port because our to-do list is getting very small.
This is what remains for what we call 1.0:
- Integrate the last 25 weapons.
- Gameplay pass to level 3.
- Music for level 3 (3 tracks).
- Illustrated cutscenes at the end of each level, bridging story beats and telling the 2 endings (drawn, but not yet integrated).
Which is quite some work, but not that much anymore!!!
Hopefully, by August this list will be crossed, and the game (at least the main experience playing as Heart) will be done!!!! It's been a long way for us to get here, and we are very excited to finally see the end in sight.
After this we still won't be finished. We need to keep polishing and bugfixing while we finish the console ports, and bring into the game 3 special player characters, plus a high-score, endless mode. So you should keep seeing improvements to the Steam version of the game until December at least.
Thanks for sticking with us!!!
Juan