Welcome to another Dev Blog. We’re excited to tell you more about our game and the progress we’ve been making. This week we focused on the weapons you’ll be using to defeat your enemies.
Gameplay Mechanics
We lowered weapon damage as the shot’s distance increases. This new falloff system better distinguishes different weapon types. The rate that damage falloff is applied is a new stat for weapons, determined by the mods equipped. Pistols and shotguns are now much less effective in medium to long range. Meanwhile, sniper weapons will retain effectiveness over a longer range, because their falloff stat is higher.
Many characters have regenerating shields that absorb incoming damage before it can harm their health. Previously, these shields regenerated at a constant rate. This made it difficult to kill an enemy with a high regeneration rate with a semi automatic weapon. So, we added a short delay before the regeneration activates. Sustaining damage means shields can’t regenerate, so focusing damage on an enemy is more effective now. The delay before shields kick back in is a new stat for character armor that can be improved during the match. This new stat is especially useful for players who rely on hit-and-run tactics to harass enemies.
Speaking of shields, one of the first character abilities to be prototyped is an energy-riot-shield. It will block damage until its health is depleted and the shield shatters.
Energy Riot Shield early prototype
UI Improvements
Scoped weapons now have a HUD overlay that appears when players aim down sights. Below you can see the placeholder overlay we’re using while we fine tune the transition between scoped and non-scoped.
Scope overlay HUD placeholder
The Armor and Weapon modding UI has been reworked. Many aesthetic improvements are still needed at this stage, but functionality and information presentation has improved. Over the coming weeks we’ll be working to properly align widgets and make sure everything looks better.
As part of the rework, the weapon mod synchronization queue can now be re-ordered by player through the UI. Also, information about each mod that is currently equipped is more readily available.
Animations
Weapon reloading now has animation variants. There are now 3 reload animations: pistol, rifle, and scoped-rifle. More variations are coming in the future after we refine the first set of animations.
We’ve been experimenting with a visual effect to dissolve characters and objects when they are destroyed, and its looking promising. I’ll show more of this disintegration effect when it is a bit more polished.
You (and your friends!) are invited to join our growing Discord community (https://discord.gg/KDGU6vr). Follow us on social media (under the handle @ambitiousdevs) for all the latest announcements.
Silas Talley, Creative Director
