Hi everyone!
I’ve been working on a shooting system overhaul that aims to make the gun-play more engaging in The Ember Guardian. Before officially implementing these new gun mechanics in the demo, I would love to get some feedback on what you think about them. Demo Update 0.9 is now available on the beta branch and you can opt in to try it out! Feel free to tell us what you think on our Discord and/or socials.
How to access the 0.9 beta
Open Steam and go to your Library
Right-click The Ember Guardian Demo and select Properties
Go to the Betas tab
Select the beta branch in the drop-down
Steam will then install the patch
Aside from the shooting changes, I’ve also taken this chance to implement a few fixes and optimizations. You can see the full patch notes down below.
0.9 Update notes
Shooting system overhaul
New accuracy system: The reticle has brackets showing your weapon’s accuracy zone.
The aiming point moves within this zone to reflect shot precision, and your shots will always land precisely where the point is located. No more aiming straight at a small creature and missing because of random weapon spread!
The accuracy of your weapon reacts to the following statuses : walking, running, exhausted, crouching, shooting and taking damage.
You now also feel the difference in weapon weight with their reticle point following the brackets at different speeds.
Reloading simplified: Adding a clip from your belt to your weapon is now automatically performed when trying to shoot with an empty clip. This behavior can still be turned back to manual in the settings.
Weapon Jams: Shooting now has a chance of jamming your weapon, initiating a QTE to repair it. Weapons have different QTE lengths.
Two new weapon upgrades added: Field Reliability Mod (reduces jam probability) and Quick-Clear Lever (reduces the amount of inputs in jam QTEs
Weak spots: hitting a creature's weak spot now deal increased flat damage.
Critical hits: are now also possible when not hitting a weak spot.
Added damage numbers: turned on by default, but can be turned off in the settings.
Hunter AI improvements
Hunters can now take over another hunter’s assigned animal if they are closer to it than the current hunter.
Hunters can now shoot incoming creatures during dawn
Added RNG to the Hunter's shots during night attacks
Spanish localization is now available, thanks to an awesome community member !
Balancing
Unlocked the Max Stamina upgrade in the demo !
Decreased double arsenal mastery price (10 -> 5 green gems)
Decreased Shotgun & SMG prices (8 -> 2 red gems)
Decreased Weapon swap time upgrades by 1 gem
You now recover stamina much faster when standing still
Removed shotgun focus blast damage nerf : full focus blast damage 80 -> 120
QOL
Added a new video tip for Gun Jamming
Added a new video tip for weapon management when buying a new weapon
Changed tip description from "To open backpack" to "To display backpack"
Changed tower description in the Gem Merchant's shop to specify damage & range upgrades are specific to the hunters
Character menu (tab) is now closeable with the ESC key
Bug Fixes
Bullets should now bounce way less often when landing.
Wind sounds are now affected by the SFX volume setting
Fixed the Demo Completed Video Tip panel layout
Fixed a bug where the hub chest would stay open if the player exits its trigger area while the opening animation is running.
Rolling when crouching now plays the rolling animation
Fixed the "?" over the hunter's head being reversed when they flip
Fixed hunters shooting at dead target during night attacks
Fixed a bug where crawlers would stop moving while crossing bridges when attempting to jump
Tweaks
Added torches/lights to the wild emberling camps
Moved the "holding orbs" indicator from the hunters to not overlap with status indicators
Bullet collision when standing close to a barricade is more permissive.
Hub Chest sound level reduced
Moved the Chest & Backpack UI layers behind the shop UI
Changing weapon panel now has a background, an outline and empty weapon slots
I hope you enjoy this new update beta. Tell me what you think on The Ember Guardian socials!