Hey everyone!
For those of you who missed the last announcement discussing my next project, Chaos Chain, you can find that here to get you up to date:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/CorrosiveStudios/announcements/detail/5246117291297561777
For those of you who already know of the new game, let's talk about equipment.
Equipment
has always played a significant role in my past games. Having the right tools for the job at hand is extremely important in my opinion, so I try to put that into the game worlds.
For Chaos Chain, this will still apply, but the system has been expanded and improved from my other projects.
First, as you can hopefully see in the image above, weapons have a pretty significant stat-line. A lot is taken into account and much thought went into how the stats function and what ratings each weapon was given. It may look simplistic, but each specific stat has a lot of factors to think about such as handling, ease of use, accuracy, speed, range, capabilities of fire modes such as semi, burst, and auto. The engine is somewhat limited, but I have done my best so far (still a lot of room for improvement) to make weapons feel unique.
Second, I've done A LOT of work on improving the combat system. I can't really show it off here right now, but something I'd like to mention is an EXTREME focus on sound effects and quick-flow combat. Weapons have unique sound effects and animations so you can tell what you are using compared to your enemies. I have improved the default battle sound system to include a variety of sound effects for each event so it's not always the same exact boring sound. There are several sound effects for each event like for example an evasion/dodge has multiple sounds of its own and then there are special sounds for bullets missing or a melee weapon hitting someone. I personally think that sounds make or break a game - especially when you're hearing the same ones over... and over... and over.
So far, I have around 50 or so weapons which are mostly melee weapons and improvised weapons, but I have a handful of fictional (based on real) firearms across a variety of different archtypes including pistols, PDWs (personal defense weapons), SMGs (submachine guns), shotguns, assault rifles, battle rifles, carbines, sniper rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers, special weapons, and even some exotic weaponry. Not all of these are ready yet, but that's the weapon archtype/class lineup I'm going for. Like in my first game, Waste Walkers, firearms will allow for different ammunition types such as full metal jacket, hollow point, armor piercing, buckshot, slugshot, and birdshot, and even more are planned to be added. Depending on your preference, the different ammunitions will provide different bonuses.
Armor is the same way - they have a lot to take into account. One flaw of my previous games in my opinion is that armor resistances were very minor. A 5% here, maybe a lucky 15% there, etc. The idea was to stack up on resistances you favored with your combination of chosen gear. Most of the time, the numbers didn't add up enough to actually make any significant impact. That will NOT be the case here. The equipment slot system is more straight forward, but each slot has a specific purpose. Armor is armor. It should feel like it. In the above picture, you can see the current (subject to change) stats for the ballistic vest. The resistance percentages are high enough by themselves to actually protect you from different damage types, but they may be bolstered even more by accompanying gear in other slots such as the head slot for headgear or even the accessory slot.
Theoretically speaking, if your punk has 8 health remaining and an enemy thug stabs you with a shiv for 10 puncture damage (lucky roll) and you have a protection (armor) value of 2, a toughness of 4, and a 25% puncture resistance, you'll only take 3 damage. The detailed math: 10 damage - (2 protection - 4 toughness) * .75 = 3. That's pretty helpful. Taking a third of the dealt damage because of having decent armor instead of the full amount just kept you alive. A leather jacket (armor 1 with a puncture protection of 5%) would have left you dead in the street. The differences between armor types should no longer feel minimal.
That's all for now, I'll have more information soon!
Thanks for reading!
-Eric "Corrosion" Plasencia