Hello ladies and gentlemen! Its been a while since our last update and with all the time that's past between the upcoming update and the last patch, I thought it might be nice to better inform you on the upcoming changes, which just let me say... that will not be an easy thing to do.
The inherent problem with going over all the changes is that virtually everything has changed on even the most basic of levels, and I seriously do mean virtually everything. It's an ever-expanding and mind hurting list that to go over all the changes would require a novel's worth of crap which I know you won't have time to sift through. So for your convenience, and my sanity I'm going to be very general with a lot of the things I say only going into detail where I deem necessary.
Aighty so let's get started.
At this point, I've made it semi-common knowledge that the game is hopping engines which means everything on the backend of the game has been majorly altered, but what does that actually mean for you?
Well for one it means the game runs better, like infinitely better. Before in blender, if you had so much as 18 enemies in a level at one time (and in some cases that number was even lower) the game would start chugging like hell. But now if we wanted to we could practically make a slaughter map with the number of foes we could stuff into a level before the game starts chugging. (don't worry we won't)
On top of the game running far better tons of visually enriching effects have been added from particles to bloom, and to say they've made a genuine impact on the game's presentation feels like an understatement. Not only that however, there is also going to be a vast and comprehensive options menu which we will be expanding upon in future updates, which (whilst probably not in this upcoming update) will even contain color settings to help those who have disabilities, or even just want to make the game look a bit more interesting.
In the last update I had stated that there would be a patch containing the actual soundtrack for chapter 1 that never came, the primary reason for this was because by the time that patch would've rolled around the soundtrack wasn't ready yet, and now that it is ready the game is being rebuilt from the ground, up so its not like I can just toss it in and call it a day. But rest assured that next update you'll be able to jam and headbang out to all the funky tunes Markie has poured his heart and soul into making come next update. As a matter of fact, you already can the entire library of chapter 1's music is available on youtube right now!
In similar fashion a lot of the game's soundscape is being redone by Markie as well, so everything will sound more crisp, wonderful, and consistent. Along with that many of the games sprites and textures have been updated, of particular note the game's protagonist Caroline herself.
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But it doesn't stop there, Because we haven't even gotten to the gameplay stuff yet...
For starters enemy ai has been completely redone, they all have much more interesting movement patterns that will make them more difficult to hit than their former single file line movement. On top of this whereas before all of them could only attack and would do nothing but attack when they were a certain distance from the player, now they will attack from any range and do so more intermediately rather than constantly.
On the note of enemy ai the games difficulty settings are also being handled differently, whilst the damage enemies do will still be increased over higher difficulties (though less so than in the blender build) The games settings will also impact the counts and placements of enemies in a much more old school fashion now that the game can actually afford to do so without a major impact on performance.
Weapons now have dedicated pickups. Whereas before there was just 1 weapon pickup whereupon grabbing it you would just get the next best gun, now every weapon has its own dedicated pickup, so you grab the shotgun, assault rifles, Gatling gun, or cauterizer, and those are exactly the guns you will receive.
To add to that everything you grab will carry over between levels now, So if you grab a mega-armor in one level, you'll start the next level with it in hand. Same goes for weapons and any other player benefitting pickups.
The way armor functions has also changed. Before the armor system was basically just another glorified health bar, but now if you have armor on your person it will simply absorb a flat 50% of the damage you take from enemies, meaning actually managing your health and not purely relying on armor is now mandatory.
Oh, also bunnyhopping and momentum based movement! So no more whiplash or jerking around the level, every emotion is eased into making your dancing around projectiles that much smoother! Oh and also the ability to reach breakneck speeds now that you can build momentum continually by hopping in a single direction, so that's fun.
All of the levels have been either updated or completely remade. Prior to this update, a lot of the levels have had some cheap or poorly designed/uninteresting areas that dampened their overall flow and thereby fun, so another pass was made to improve the overall player experience.
level 5 wip
With the change in levels, I'd be acting in remiss if I didn't mention the changes to c1l6, otherwise known as the boss level. For one its no longer purely a boss stage there will be an actual level to play through before you even get to the boss.
But secondly and more importantly the boss itself will be altered immensely, on top of an entirely new and more story related design all of his attacks will be gradually introduced over the fight rather than all at once like it did prior. This way not only will new players be forced to be on their toes but it will also allow them to more easily get a grasp on what his patterns actually are.
Another change to the boss level itself is that an enemy type who priorly debuted as a chapter 2 foe will make her first appearance in the boss level. That enemy being the speedy railgun toating drone.
Also quicksaving!!! Yes, we will now be able to savescum like the scrubs we all are, and the game will still autosave at the beginning of every level so should you quit the game and forget to save not to worry! For you won't have to fear losing tons of progress due to forgetfulness.
But let us get to the meat of the matter here,
Whilst all these changes and additions are nice they aren't really anything new, just alterations and improvements to things that already existed within the game. But something new is coming and that something is a very big something, or rather a very little something that has a big impact game wide. That something is... SKULLIES!!!
If you've ever played rott you'll no doubt be familiar with that games bizarre addition of coins. The levels would be littered with them and upon collecting 100 you'd get an extra life. (which made no sense considering you could quicksave at any time) That's where the basic idea comes from but that's not quite how they are being implemented.
This was an idea that spans back to some of viscerafest's earliest days but was never implemented due to the idea not being fully realized in tandem with its potentially devastating impact on performance. Now, however, neither of those things are an issue.
SO! What is it?
Skullies are collectibles that will litter every level of viscerafest and upon acquiring a certain amount within each level there will be various things you can unlock. Grabbing about 25% will unlock the next level, grabbing 50% will unlock a lore bit which will further divulge your narrative sensibilities, 75% unlocks you a new beasty for a bestiary that will now be present in the hub, 100% of all that resides in a level will unlock a modifier that will allow you to switch things up in levels you've already played through, and finally if you find 100% of all skulls in a single chapter you will unlock a bonus level for said games chapter.
With that said this of course also means that the hub itself will be altered as well. Now every level will be accessible from the hub map, so you can easily replay levels to find anything you missed, or revisit them with the modifiers. With that said the modifiers themselves will only be available in the full game, not via the shareware build nor its beta so just keep that in mind.
There are likely a few things I'm missing, or could go into more detail on but like I said I'm not going into maddening detail over the games next update, this is just to give you an idea of what to expect next time we patch the game. If you've played already you'll have plenty reason to come back, and if you couldn't get the game running before be sure to check this out because you might just be able to get it working now. This update is still a few months out so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for when it pops up.
See you next time, and have a very merry Christmas.
