THE SIGNAL
The front door got rebuilt. The title screen, the first time you dial in, and Darrell's video all got a full pass. Anyways, more things:
New trailer + screenshots
There's a brand new trailer and a fresh set of screenshots up on the store page. Everything in them is the game as it is right now, including the new intro below. Go take a look, and if you like it, sharing the trailer helps me out more than you'd think. Your call.
The title screen is corroding
The picture is breaking down. Dead blocks eat in from the corners with a green decode fringe, and broken pixels flake off the damage and drift away. It creeps in and pulls back on its own.
New look for the text: DARRELL3D.EXE stays phosphor green, everything else is clean white, and it's all a lot bigger. It was tiny on big monitors.
The menu cursor follows your mouse now. The "use arrows" hint is gone. Nobody was using the arrows.
It says 56K now. You were never on a 33.6K modem. My bad.
New look for Darrell's video
All of Darrell's video is regraded: cyan shadows, hot pink highlights, deep blacks. It finally matches the rest of the game.
The death clip gets its own grade: the color drains out to a dim, faded amber. It's supposed to feel bad.
NEW: Dialing in
The first-time intro was a wall of text explaining the game. Now you actually dial in.
You connect to the board for real: the modem, the carrier, a locked node, a bypass, all in a proper terminal with a live ONLINE clock running at the bottom.
A live feed opens on Darrell. He's facing away. Then he turns around and looks at you.
He has two lines for you, not eight. You'll figure the rest out.
Your handle types with real key clicks.
Then you're patched into his live feed: a chase cam opens on the run with your handle on the CO-PILOT LINK, and the HUD comes online.
HOLD SPACE TO SKIP, bottom right like a normal game. It only shows up when you touch something.
Gore
Skeletons and the lich now crumble into aged bone dust, tan and ochre, instead of white. The Body Pillow bleeds hot pink now.
The Wraith's ectoplasm is a deeper cyan.
You're just going to have to trust me on this one. I play-tested the "white blood/bone dust" and now I can't unsee the problem. You're welcome.
Patch icons
New art for Alucard, New Floor New Me, Not Today, Second Wind and True Grit.
That's everything for tonight. Feedback welcome. Have fun punching stuff.
Darrell's Part-Time PR Team,
Fun Adjacent