INDTRODUCTION
I decided to update the game how I used to this month. This resulted in a few errors so I will probably not do that again. Errors like "Levels going to the wrong levels" after rearranging the main menu was not the goal lol.
Overall, I think the game feels nicer to play. It's a more "well-done" game now. My work over the last year has definitely paid off.
..so this is everything new, fixed, or changed this month.
At the end of the change list is a bit more to read for those interested in the development of the game.
NEW MAP
Grand Hall Compressed was added by accident haha. This is a great take on the make "Grand Hall", it is a new Horde level for people who own the Map Pack.
NEW STUFF AND CHANGES LIST
* Starting with Quad, every map has been updated to fix spawning issues.
* Fixed the Depth of various objects not complying with Flood Depth.
* Slime have been fixed, (you know what I mean)
* Changed the visual effect for blood over buy stations.
* The Cursor is now green.
* Added Mouse Assist for fun. Also changes the mouse back to white when off (on by default)
* Fixed an issue with "Auto Aim" was not being saved.
* The mouse now is at the angle of your aim. Not that this was overlooked, it just looks better now.
* Hedge has had it's secret achievement fixed.
* Big Bois now have a death body. (Oversight)
* Flood speeds have been changed. Both Horde and Round based modes have better speed progression.
* Removed the stupid puzzle from Introdux because it was obnoxious.
* Changed the Absorber Noise.
* "Grand Hall" Map has had slight alterations.
* Fixed a spawn issue with Bombers that kills FPS.
* Potentially fixed an issue with over-spawning of Bombers which also killed FPS.
* Changed Money Colors.
* Changed the Drops of ALL enemies.
* Fixed Hedge scores not uploading!
* Fixed enemy-kill border for outside of the map on every level.
* Added a new Horde map that will also be a round map. It's just Grand Hall, but changed up because I was testing it to fix some stuff while fixing all maps for various reasons and thought it would be more fun if it was smaller. This is a DEAD+ map like all future maps will be. DEAD+ is $1 as it has been. Someone told me it was a good idea to change it to $5 because it will make it look "more credible".
* Updated the way music is done.
* The level menu has been rearranged to better suit the majority of players who probably like Horde mode more than Round levels. I also did this because the round based levels aren't even really done and I was tired of being taunted by the fact that I've had these levels out for 8 months and I couldn't get much done with them.
* Added "Stats" to the bottom of the options/esc menu.
* Changed "off" options color.
* Optimized the "Bomber" enemy a bit.
* Added a small art detail to the "Bomber" enemy where when they get close to instant-kill you they get "lower".
* Bombers now speed up to fuck up your shit.
* Potentially fixed shotguns interacting with explosions.
* Blue Flood Health has been altered to not be 1 shot kills with base level weapons.
* Removed the "Box" black border (looks cleaner ngl).
* Slater: Fixed the Blockade from crashing your game.
* Slater: Wrote the story for Slater and the basis for subsequent levels.
* Changed the coloring of some enemies.
* Fixed some exploits with Grand Hall (you sneaky sneaks).
* Added some hedges to Box.
* It is now more obvious what you need to do on Hedge.
* Fixed a ease-of-use issue when using a controller to buy items.
* The hitbox of "Health" is now bigger to easily buy-and-go.
* Fixed "Lava" over-hurting enemies and causing lag holds.
Why I do any of this
I make this game for the challenge. I think it is fun to work on. I believe in the community, however small, and I like making the game for those people.
Personal
I hope y'all are alright, I know I sure ain't.
DEADs Future
I have tried for a very long time to get other people on the project to help me with things like music, or advanced programming concepts I simply do not understand/do not have time to understand. This effort has just not worked out in my favor. I have a friend of mine who helps occasionally but he, as I, do not have the time.
I may try and fix performance issues with the game by removing features like "co-op" by changing co-op to all be on one screen, removing it all-together, or having it be a separate but equal build similar to how there is a "Bedrock" and "Java" version of Minecraft. I may also make a standalone camera that is just better in singleplayer and keep the poopmess that is the co-op camera for co-op.
I am actively disappointed in the round based mode of the game. I may remove the mode for a month at some point when I get the chance and re-do every level. I think I have mentioned this before. This would also come with a revamp to how the round-based mode is done, and new music.
The music part of getting someone to do it is such a painful experience as a lot of "musicians" are using a.i., are sad about a.i. and therefor lazy because they think it'll take their job (but that thinking will make it take the job), or they want to charge me 1000 dollars per track (I cannot afford that). Hopefully, one day, I will meet another musician that will do the tracks for a reasonable price. I am unsure why people think I have 1000 dollars. I would use FMA, or even find a licensed track I can buy but I prefer music made for this game rather than random music made for no reason.
Recently I have been playing Quake. I have never played Quake before because when I first was learning about the series when I was younger the only way to play was in a poor state, and over time I didn't care to play it.
In 2020 a ?remake? was put out on Steam, so I've been playing that with the recent Quake-Con sale that happened. It is a bit inspiring.
Why I mention this is because I, for a long time, have been trying to think of ways to make the round based levels stand out in their puzzle design but the only puzzle games I've ever really enjoyed were Mario, and LittleBigPlanet. Two Side-Scroller games that have puzzles that do not exactly apply to a top-down game.
The way that puzzles are done in Quake are very cool.
Doom is terrible btw, just throwing that out there again, sucky mf game. Duke Nukem is better (another game i've been playing and being inspired by).
I am wondering how to get the community more involved in the game. I want more discussions to take place in the Steam Discussions tab. No idea how prompt that.
Map Pack Rename and what even am I doing with it.
This Month, I renamed DEAD+ to "Map Pack" on the Steam Store pages DLC section.
The reason I did this is now unknown because I did it pretty early in the month with no write-up on why, and then a bunch of personal life stuff happened so... yeah. It's renamed for no known reason. Let me know how you feel about it.
I am thinking I may go further and either remove it and making all levels free, or having all Horde Levels Free, while removing the round based levels until I can remaster them with the new format I want to do and having the DLC be buying the round based mode for 5 dollars. (Obviously everyone who already bought DEAD+/Map Pack would not be charged as it would be under the same DLC)
Thank you for reading, if you thought this was a decent enough read please react to the post.
I have no idea what I am doing :)