Player
A new look for the player
Updated Default Control Scheme
Even though TACTICAL BANDITS will have rebindable keys, I have changed the default controls of the game to be more user-friendly for first-time players. I have been developing the game close to 18 months now so I was used to the controls, but after letting various publishers test out the game, I started receiving similar feedback, one of them was with the controls. These new controls feel a lot more user-friendly, but I won’t know for sure until I get the game in front of more people.
New Singleplayer Gamepad Controls
Singleplayer and multiplayer game modes both have slightly different controls, where in singleplayer a player moves a cursor on the screen to aim and in multiplayer the player aims in the direction of input.
So aiming in singleplayer mode while using a gamepad was moving a cursor on the screen, which felt unnatural to nearly everyone. This required me to rewrite the gamepad controls to be more like the multiplayer aim system, which is based on a traditional top-down shooter where the player aims in the direction of the input.
Rewriting the aim system for a gamepad wasn’t hard part, but it was making sure the gamepad aim system in singleplayer was not inferior compared to the PC aiming system. I had to create a stronger aim assist for the gamepad and also…
Laser Sight
Primarily created for gamepad users in singleplayer mode so they can see what they are hitting in the distance. It also changes color depending on what the weapon is hitting (grey for nothing, red for something solid, and green for an enemy).
To make sure mouse and keyboard players did not feel left out, I put the laser sight for them as well. But I am not sure if that is a good thing or not, because players might think a bullet will go to the crosshair position, but it actually goes to the laser sight position. There is usually a difference between crosshair and laser sight positions while the player is aiming and rotating quickly. This will definitely require more testing before I decide on the fate of the laser sight for keyboard and mouse players.
Improved Bullet Detection
Not one many players will notice, but the bullet detection went through an update as well. It will now detect character hits much more reliable in close-combat situations. Before the update, bullets had a higher chance of colliding with environment props instead of hitting the character body part in close situation, due to how the checks were carried out.
The bullet detection was also updated to favor the player when shooting. This was done by making the bullet collide with the character body part when it is just slightly-off. The enemy shooting still requires precise hits before it counts as a hit, helping the player to survive for longer and feel better when they are in a shootout with enemies.
Updated Physics Destruction System
The physics destruction system was partially remade, primarily due to the dynamic destruction system was not playing well with console platforms, leading to inconsistent destruction and sometimes not even destroying anything at all.
I am now using a pre-destroyed system, where the object is already destroyed but not shown in the screen until its health runs out. This has made it faster and much less intensive of the system, and the difference is will be impossible to see for most players.
Updated Enemies
The enemies in singleplayer mode have started to feel too easy and not aware of their environment enough, so I decided to update them with a larger field of view and made them aware of dead bodies. This has created slightly smarter enemies who will react more realistically to the environment, instead of feeling like random bots that don’t work together.
Multiplayer Maps
Singleplayer levels are taking longer than expected, but I am making much better progress on the multiplayer maps. There are currently 4 final multiplayer levels in the game, with another 8 being worked on at some stage.
Summary
Development of TACTICAL BANDITS is really going well, and it is still on track to be released early next year. Some of the things that were done this month that weren’t mentioned included lots of minor bug fixes, which has continued to help make the game feel better from build to build.
The upcoming month I will be continuing on creating new levels for singleplayer and multiplayer game modes. I will also be looking at making the bots a bit slower and easier to kill for the player in multiplayer game modes, as they are currently much more difficult compared to singleplayer enemies.