It has been silent here for a while now. Don't worry, although the development has been even slower than usually, Lockdown Protocol is still very much alive. I was on summer vacation from my day job and the weather has just been too good to sit indoors coding.
Planned content for the next alpha release is almost done. The plan was to make the game generally more fun to play and to alleviate the frustration caused by suicidal open corridor gun fights. Here are the most important changes already done:
- Enemy guards have been made a lot easier to kill. They are weaker and no longer react to door opening sounds so you can sneak behind them.
- A shield device has been added for creating a temporary cover. You can then crouch behind the shield and shoot over it. The aiming has also been improved so that shooting over obstacles is easier. The shield device requires power cells to work, so it is not always available. Force field generators have been removed completely.
- Collected weapons are no longer lost on death, so you don't need to make the boring journey through already cleared empty corridors just to get a weapon every time you respawn.
- Platforms and elevators move a bit faster and no longer stop on every position unless there's someone inside. Movement direction indicators have also been enlarged so that they are easier to see.
The new shield device in action.
Enemy guard skins can now be used for customizing your character in multiplayer matches.
Now that the guards are considerably easier to kill, I will have to go through all existing levels and add more of them. The overall difficulty will still likely be a bit lower than before. I believe that this is a good change, since I want the average player to kill more and die less.
