Laser Sight
After extensive testing, I have taken out the laser sight for mouse and keyboard players. This was mainly due to the slight offset from the screen cursor and what the laser sight was pointing at, causing some confusion when shooting.
The laser sight still remains for gamepad users. However, laser sight still is not implemented in multiplayer game modes because of how busy it would make the screens, so I am looking at different laser sight solutions for multiplayer game modes.
Singleplayer and Multiplayer Maps
Lots of progress on multiplayer and singleplayer levels. As of now, 8 competitive multiplayer maps are in the final stages of being tested, while another 4 are being worked on. With singleplayer, there are over 10 levels complete, with a further 40+ left to complete. This means there will be over 50 different levels for singleplayer.
Granted, in a single run, a player will only ever see 12 different levels maximum. This is due to how the game is designed with procedural generation and ensuring the player does not have to keep playing the same levels on every run.
I am going to start working on Horde and Challenge mode levels starting from next month.
VFX
New VFX to make important items help stand out during singleplayer and multiplayer matches. This includes items such as ammo boxes, med kits, fuel canisters, and loot (in Capture the Loot game mode).
New Look, Who This
New character art added for enemies and captured humans.
Numerous Fixes
A whole lot of fixes have gone into the game, some which are listed below:
– New character arts
– Rocket explosions are stronger and kill the shooter as well if he is within range
– Multiplayer bots’ reaction time slowed down so they don’t feel like a terminator
– Player aiming in multiplayer fixed
– Zombies attack humans now
– Camera is more stable and less jittery when walking
Summary
These past few months and upcoming months are just content generation has been going really well. The next step for this game is to get it into more hands to test it out, see what works, and what needs changing or fixing. This means TACTICAL BANDITS will be coming to some game festivals hopefully in the very near-future.
With level design for competitive multiplayer and singleplayer going smoothly, I am going to start designing horde levels this upcoming month. This will be an iterative process to see what works, what is required in a level, and what there should not be in a level.
Horde levels will be different to singleplayer and multiplayer levels because they will need to be larger, but not too large so all players can stay in view while playing. They will also need to accommodate the shop system for weapons and revivals, and be exciting to play on repeat playthroughs. I can imagine these levels will be the most difficult to design because all the features they require.