Hello!
It’s been quite a while since I’ve talked with you all last and it’s been for good reason. I hope you didn’t think the project got abandoned because that will not happen! There have been substantial improvements to the foundational functionality of the game and has paved a nice road towards the future.
There were quite a few features that were built very early on in development when I had much less experience and know how compared to today. One of these things was the gunship itself. It wasn’t until I attempted to “fit” a physical model into the confines of my old gunship class that had me realize it needed to be rebuilt.
This small project to bolster the gunship class turned into a substantially bigger project because of how all the pieces were fit together. Having to rebuild one thing, required me to rebuild another, and another, and another. In the end, I basically rebuilt 90% of the game’s core functions in those past few months… something I didn’t intend to do and something that required completion before I could even think about making another release.
Nonetheless, things function substantially better on both ends and I’m excited about how it has improved the game overall. Additionally, with it feeling so polished already, far less time will need to be spent on these core features, allowing me to really focus on building out the pieces everyone is waiting for, playable content.
Although I wish I could have more content available in this release, most of my focus in the immediate future will be on building out scenarios and tools to iterate faster with them. The included scenario “CASEVAC Down” is a new take on the previous “Blackhawk Down” scenario in the Firefight mode. Scenarios going forward will be structured to last at least 10 minutes long, with plenty of opportunity to rain steel or watch friendly forces do their thing. Keep an eye out for more scenarios coming out in the next few weeks.
In addition to that, all the (previously known as Infestation Wave Mode) Zombie Rush scenarios are new and the game mode has been changed. Instead of surviving waves of zombies to unlock new weapon types, you select which gunship variant you’d like to utilize. Each gunship has set weapons and ammunition and the overall objective of the game is to defend the friendly units from zombies for as long as possible. Zombies are spawned as they are killed, and they become stronger as time progresses. Scores are calculated at the conclusion, accounting for time survived, total kills, and the difficulty selected (multiplier). Scores are then saved on a scoreboard to show your personal achievements. I’m sure there is some balance changes that need to be made for this, but I’ve found this to be a much more enjoyable game mode than what was previously implemented.
In addition to the reworked Zombie Rush game mode, the previously released “sandbox” mode is included as well. You can find this in the “Scenario” selection, named the “Training Range.”
Another important piece to point towards – a lot of new assets have been added to the game. This includes new character meshes (for both enemy and friendly forces), vehicles, buildings, foliage, etc. Additionally, I’ve reworked all the visual effects and I believe, have achieved some very realistic effects. These alone are probably one of my favorite changes as it makes firing the weapons so much more rewarding (perhaps I’m alone on this one? Haha). All in all, you should start to see visual improvements all around and I’ll continue to improve this going forward.
This is getting a bit long now, but I’d like to mention a few more things.
Training & Information: It has been clear the learning curve is a bit steep, so I was sure to create training materials to help everyone understand everything they need to be successful in game. Check out the new training menu, which documents these key features and controls.
Destruction System: Destruction has alluded us again… this is a demon I very much intend to kill. Unreal Engine’s new Chaos Destruction system is a little rougher around the edges than I had initial expected, so I haven’t been able to make a lot of headway here. I do think destruction is an important feature for the game, so I haven’t given up on this.
Gunship Variants: With the new gunship classes, there are new HUDs for each gunship variant. These will become more applicable when scenarios are released featuring them (i.e., Vietnam scenarios featuring the AC-130A, etc.). I really want to start getting into other conflicts, so this is going to be coming soon. There also isn’t a whole lot of different between the E and H variant, which possibly will change soon.
Danger: Although there are several vehicles in the game right now that will shoot at the gunship, you will not take damage. The foundation is in place, I just need to connect the dots to have it all working as you’d expect.
I believe that was everything I wanted to touch on in this update, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Like I had mentioned at the beginning, I’m working full time on this game and have been for the past few months. I will continue to work full time until the game is completed, and you have more than enough content for the price you paid.
I greatly appreciate all the support and feedback from everyone, I know development is slow but slow and steady wins the race! Be sure to reach out via the steam discussion forum or join our discord (see the pinned item in the steam discussion page for a link) if you’d like to ask specific questions to me or provide any feedback on new features or bugs.
Thanks again and I’ll see you in the next update!
