Development Update #1

Hello everyone!

As promised, this is the first development update for Haunted: Attack of the Dead Men. It's been a very busy month for me, but despite that I have still had a decent amount of time to work on the game. Hopefully what I am going to talk about is enough to keep you interested!

To start with, let's have a look at what I see when I start the first level now.


I said "when I start" because this is what the game looks like in "developer" mode. I give myself a number of "cheats" to make development and testing easier, and one of those is unlocking all the weapons.
As you can see, there are two more numbers in the status bar - the new weapons. Let's go through them in order.

Grenades

Grenades (or Granate in-game) are a classic weapon in FPS games, and the German-style "stick" grenades are also a classic. There isn't a whole lot else to say about this weapon - just toss it and enjoy.



From a development perspective though, this was a surprisingly big change. Up until this point, all of the weapons in the game had identical logic - each would spawn a "bullet" object when fired, and this bullet is the same for all weapons (and for enemies too). The only difference was how much damage each one did, which was determined by the weapon that fired it.

Now though, there are more projectiles, which means new logic for creating them, and how they interact with the environment. These changes lead nicely on to the next weapon, which was a much bigger endeavour...

FLAMMENWERFER

That's right. As some of you may have found by looking at the keybindings menu, there was always going to be a Flammenwerfer (flamethrower in English), and, well, here it is. This was fun to make and I hope you will all find it fun to use when it's available!


This weapon has a few supporting additions as well. First of all, notice how the head changes in the status bar when it is equipped...

Those empty, uncaring eyes are enough to terrify even the dead

Not only are the flames reflected in the gas mask, he will look a bit maniacal whenever the weapon is fired!

But while the player character is enjoying himself, the Russians certainly aren't. They will try to run away if you chase them with the Flammenwerfer...


...But if you manage corner them with it, they will also fight like hell until they manage to get out again, so be careful if you corner one of the tougher enemies.

New Levels

As I already mentioned, the new weapons aren't the only changes I've made so far. I have also begun working on two new levels - Maps 5 and 8. It may seem strange to skip past 6 and 7, but the truth is that level design is hard. It's probably the hardest part of making a game, and since I've already set a target to release the game by the end of next year I won't have much time to ponder what to do for each level. This doesn't mean I will rush to create each level, but it does mean that if I have an idea for a level, it is better to start working on it immediately - that way I can think about what I want to do with other levels while I work on that one.

Anyway, here are some screenshots of the new maps!


Map 5



Map 8

As you can see, they are a bit empty at the moment. I don't yet have a clear picture in my mind of what map 5 should look like, which is why I started working on map 8 instead. Once the general layout is done (+all the assets required), filling the level in with enemies, items, and other scenery generally happens quite quickly.

So what is it I have in mind for map 8? Well, here is one of the reference images I have been using for it. This can be a little teaser for what I will cover next month...


That's all for now!

Thanks for reading, I will see you again next month for the second development update!