A lot of updates since last time, now nearing a completed lineup of enemies and bosses, another boss level finished, and a few traps have been put down!

Posted by M4347 on Nov 1st, 2015

Hello all,

So this week I bring a lot of new content to the game, there is a bucket load of new enemies, two new bosses, a new boss level, some traps and some background bug fixing. But first of all (though a bit late) a Happy Halloween from me and the characters in the game!

The Dock Level Boss

A couple of new bosses to add to the game this week, the first of which completes the Docks level set. The boss itself is based on a normal enemy model (the head is still to be changed), but has been scaled up, in both model size and health stats, and has been given the addition of a mechanical loader rig. The loader rig allows storage of explosive barrels which the boss can fire from the arm mounted launchers toward the player. The barrels do damage on impact to the player, and even if dodged they will roll across the ground and detonate after time, still causing something to look out for.

The Weapon Plant Boss

The second boss in this weeks lineup is the boss for the weapon plant level set. The model for this started off loosely being inspired by the Dom mobile suit from the Gundam anime series, model went through a few redesigns before ending up here though. The weapons originally consisted of a shield on one arm, a chest cannon and a drill type melee weapon on the other arm. Instead the boss now wields dual flamethrowers! In keeping with the mobile suit that inspired this model, the boss will be given quite a fast movement speed, I may even have three appear as one boss, circling the player in the middle.

The Docks Boss Level

So on completion of the Dock level boss, I had time to revisit the level and that would house him. The level is fairly compact (probably the smallest stage in the game), I kept with a basic small floorplan and held back from cramming the level with to many items. The level needed to be open to allow for the explosive barrels and normal enemies at the same time, some items have been put in to allow the player to break the bosses line of sight. However on top of these there are new trap enemies which will roll down more exploding barrels from the sides, so the player can't camp in one place for long.

The level layout (pictured above). The barrel trap enemy (pictured below)





Level traps

Work had began last week on some traps for the weapon lab levels, and a couple have been put into the boss level for the weapon lab stages. The first is a pair of hovering claw things which move across the map firing a bolt of high voltage electric between them (currently pictured below, the fire orange fire texture will be replaced).

The second is a central core which sends continuous streams of electric to four orbs that circle 360 degrees around it, causing damage to the player on contact. I will probably add some form of duration damage to the player also. The traps on their own are simple to avoid, however with a tonne of enemies and a boss on screen it will be quite easy to get caught if you're not paying attention.

Enemy additions and updates

A couple of enemies have been added, and some redesigned to fit in with certain level themes. Here they are listed below.

Two new regular enemies for the space level sets, one standard with a saber and shield, the other with heavy armour shields. (below)

The three mini bosses from last week, kept with the black theme and have just added some subtle colour. Weapons still being coded. (below)

A range of enemies for the dock levels. A regular enemy with a baton (and snazzy cap), a bomber enemy with and explosive barrel and high movement speed, and a heavy holding a item defending against shots. (currently its a wooden pallet with holes in!! but this will be swapped with a metal container door!) (below)

A range of drones and robots for the weapon lab levels. The robot has been redesigned a bit since I originally showed it on here, a standard melee drone is pictured center, and a new high speed drone with a gun attack has been added. (below)

The whole current cast lineup pictured below, some models have been changed slightly since the image was done. And some extras to add.

Behind the scenes stuff

Most of the work since the last update has been focused on getting the new enemies and bosses into the game, I really want to try and get all the models designed and into the game so then I can concentrate on coding, getting all campaign levels playable, then finally polishing up and adding new modes later on.

However as you can tell from the Demo and early screenshots, the textures that I have added in initially are very basic and even have some lines/colour overlaps on them! In part this is because the whole model and texture side of things is not something I enjoy or am particularly good at! But between working on the new content I have been going back and making small adjustments to clean these early textures up, hopefully you will see the result of this by the next video or demo.

I've also been testing various shooting mechanics for the bad guys, currently all enemy weapons do actually function and fire, but still not in the way that I would like. Both in a visual and coding aspect. So I will continue to work on these. AI movement is also something I am tweaking in the background.

A few little bug fixes are also done, along with this silly one I encountered when forgetting to call a timer in a line of code. Explosive barrels for everyone!!!!

That's all for now, here's what's next

Lets face it, what I plan and what happens are two very different things, but here's the aim. So by next week I want to have found a way to make the sub bosses fire how I want, this will allow me to complete the lab level boss stage. I will look at improving AI movement, improvements to spawning is still on the list but has been pushed back a bit. I will also be having a closer look at the space level boss and stage, as I feel what I originally had planned isn't going to work well. Extra player weapons and the new playable character are also due to be finished soon.

Made With Unity

I have managed to get around to setting up a page at Made With Unity please check it out, I will update screenshots and videos there, and will eventually put up my developer story.

Signing off for now

So quite a content heavy update this week, hopefully next week I may have a new video out. Remember that I often show updates and screenshots on Twitter before anywhere else.

As usual follow me on, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Itch.io.

See you all next time.



