Development Update #7

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the seventh development update for Haunted: Attack of the Dead Men. In this update I will go into a bit more detail about the changes in the v1.2.0 update and their significance for future levels. I will also talk about how Map 5 is shaping up and what my plans are for it.

Anyway, let's start by going over the biggest addition in v1.2.0 - corpses! These were definitely missing before, and they serve to emphasise the horror element of the game. It also didn't really make sense that after a large battle between Germans and Russians, there was no evidence of any Germans being there, other than the player character. I really enjoyed making these, so here's some examples of my favourites!


Enjoy your meal!


Some morbid decoration


Is he pointing to something...?


A warning perhaps...

All this effort served a secondary purpose, however. These sprites (and the 3D model that they were created from) are not just going to stay dead. They will also serve as the basis for two new enemies, who will make their debut in the mini-boss fight in Map 9. Stay tuned as I will be talking more about this in a few months time!

That wasn't the only big change in v1.2.0 though. I covered the addition of signs last month, which have also decorated the demo levels, but most of the rest of the update was focused on improving Map 3. Map 3 has probably received the most criticism out of all the demo levels, and I don't think that criticism was unreasonable. It was quite hard to make out where to go, and I didn't notice this because I already knew how to navigate it and what to look for.

So, what have I done to fix it? Well, the first thing was to apply the new terrain texturing technique from Map 6 to it, so at least the ground isn't just green everywhere. But there was still a lot of green in the scenery, especially the bushes, so I adjusted those as well. I have some before and after screenshots to show how this changed things:









Players were also finding it frustrating trying to get through the hedges to find the brass key. This was much more of a problem before I made the bushes larger in v1.1.3, as before then it looked like you could jump over them which was not intentional. To try and make this more interesting I added more entrances and exits to the hedge "maze", and I also placed some extra items to act as a "guide" of sorts. I haven't had much feedback on these changes so I hope they have helped make Map 3 more fun.

Finally, a less prominent change in v1.2.0, but still fairly important, was adjusting the brightness of pickups. Here's an example of what I mean:



As you can see, in this dark corner of Map 3 it was quite hard to see these pickups as they blended in to the dark background. Now though, they easily stand out - this should help me with placing bread crumb trails in future, as I can be more sure that they will be noticed.

Well, that was a lot about the changes in v1.2.0. But what about Map 5? I will start this section off in the usual fashion, by referring back to the handy map:


This fort is quite a distinctive shape I think. There is a sort of pentagon in the middle, surrounded by what looks like a couple of outer walls and a road. It isn't easy to work out what was actually there though - Osowiec fortress was partially demolished twice since the infamous battle in 1915, once when the Russians abandoned it and again when the Germans occupied it during World War II. This means that the reference images available are of a very limited area, mostly around Fort I - so we may never know exactly what Fort III once looked like.

So, I once again have to fill in the gaps with some imagination, and this time I chose to make it look like a Gothic-medieval castle. You might remember, all the way back in the first development update, some early screenshots of this level. Well, since then I have a few more...










Of course, it's a bit empty at the moment, but you can see the kind of look I'm going for. You might also remember, in the first development update, I mentioned that I didn't have a clear enough picture of what it would look like in my head. Well, after making three other maps, I've had plenty of time to think about it, and I hope what I've come up with will make for a fun level...

But this development update is getting quite long already, so you'll have to wait until next month's development update to find out more. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!