Directional overwatch was a system that I wanted to add into my game, but I didn't have the means and time to actually implement it.
I did decide to make it a part of systems present in the sequel, and here's how it looks in action:
I wanted it to look good in all angles, not only on the right ones. So I've decided to add rotatable weapons - knowing that it will break the pixel-perfectness.
What is more, having rotatable weapons made it easier to display projectiles, as they could be correctly spawned at the right angle (and yeah, they fly pretty fast and are barely noticeable at this gif's framerate).
Obviously, this came with a price: the weapons are visualised along with character hands, so there's a slight tradeoff in how realistic they are. But hey, at least I am now able to change the weapon visuals for every character model - and this opens up new possibilities.
So much for the visuals part. Now, about the upcoming alpha: I thought I might be able to release it before the end of the year, but I need to delay it. There is still a bunch of visual tweaks that I would like to do before it is out. Expect it to be released in January 2026.
Take care!