The Thing v2.0 Status & "Lets Play" news

Greetings everyone, its been some time so I'm going to summarize this as best as I can. I released The Thing 2 RPG in November 2013 and in March 2014 I began working on an update for the game which would feature new content, additional game modes and other changes to the core game. I intended to complete this by late 2014 but unfortunately I had to shelve it as I started a second job, 24 hours a week (+8 unpaid) as a Manager in August 2014. In combination with my part-time job making pizzas (12 hours a week) I have been working 6, sometimes 7 days a week since August 2014. My current contract as a manager ends in April (I'm only temp cover) but its been a really valuable experience for me.

Anyway, the good news is that since the end of January 2015 I have started putting in 4 hours a week on The Thing v2.0 Update. I'm intending to complete it this time and I welcome any feedback/suggestions/comments for content or improvements. I thought that I would write a summary of what I have already completed and what I plan to include below:

Work that Has Already Been Completed:

• Massive Weapon re-haul of damage calculations and completely redone weapon attachment system as equip-able MODS in the game.
• Updated Story Mode: There is now a community outpost which you can interact with throughout the course of the story.
• Pierce's Side Story (Extra Content): A short story about Pierce, filling in some of the gaps in the story, similar to Avery's story but features a stealth based mini game/puzzle scene.
• Tons of little fixes/changes which I will try to summarize here but the full list will be available with the updated game (see the version history.txt file)
  

  fixes/changes summary

• Balanced skills, changing most formulas
• Made bosses more resistant to status ailments
• fixed a bunch of "crummy plot holes and spelling errors" in original mode
• New Characters for Story Mode (Community DLC)
• In a NewGame+ the Jeep enemy boss now appears at the Airstrip in Story Mode & Original Mode
• Added "Iron Mode" (Unlocked on NewGame+) to make enemies always veteran when fought
• Added 20 Gen Inc ID cards to be found in Story Mode, they can returned to a certain character to unlock rewards
• Added a bunch of new armors, weapons, items and relics to the game
• The Story Mode Updated Outpost features over 35 new side missions (ALL OPTIONAL)

Work that I plan to do:

• Add Thing Mode to Extra Content: This will be a short game mode where you control the thing. It will feature stealth/detection maze puzzles, some combat and some assimilation... It fills in additional gaps in the story and attempts to tie up some loose ends :) [The creature you control in this mode will be unlocked as an optional boss fight in story mode]
• 'Untitled' Ship Story added to Extra Content: This is the fan fiction story I was submitted that I have invested a lot of time into. It's about some researches on a ship that excavate a thing buried in the ice but the boat then gets trapped in the ice, thing thaws out, you know the rest. You will struggle for survival and I'm ambitiously hoping I can make the game play out like Dead Rising in that it will take place over a set period of "game" time to unfold events/characters and influence the outcome. While this story features in the extra content section, I will do my best to make it cannon to the main game stories. This is the first addition to Extra Content that will be more than just a short story.
• Tutorial Remake/Review: I will be redoing the game tutorial to make it more interesting and explain things better. I need to focus less on over explaining things and just going for the key aspects of the game.
• Online Guide: This will take some work but I'm going to create an online guide/walk through that is linkable from the in-game Field Guide. I won't delete the field guide in the game but this will be a more functional way of compiling information for people. If it is popular I may go on to adapt it into some form of wiki-like guide with enemies, weapons, npc info etc
• Misc/other, Theres other small things I won't mention but I hope to fix text/spelling in story mode too. I focused so much on getting the game running/working how I wanted that I often overlooked the character dialogue and it has vexed me that it is imperfect. I'd also like to mention that I am looking for voice actors for the ship story addition, I want to make it entirely spoken to replace the need for text boxes, but it depends on cost/efficiency as the game generates ZERO income for me (It's intended to be free to play and non-profit fan based fiction)

I hope that there is still a level of interest for the game and I am glad The Thing 2 RPG has over 1000 downloads and the original RPG has over 2000! Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to include/work on (Offer constructive criticism...)

Also good news 'Sadonrii' on YouTube has committed to a lets play of my game. Below is the part where he faces the first boss in original mode. Its been an interesting experience for me watching him play, it's helped me understand a bit about the design process that I always felt like I was missing. Please support him if you can (links below)

The Thing 2 RPG Lets Play Playlist:
Youtube.com
Sadonrii Channel:
Youtube.com

Regards;
Richard