(this post originally appeared on the Run Die Repeat Dev blog)
Hello everyone and welcome to another Tuesday Update for Run Die Repeat!
As appears to be a recurring and welcome trend, a LOT is happening between these updates lately – (I know I recently started this “Tuesday Update” thing, but I’m making more progress in each of these weeks than I did in the entire month of making the initial game structure). I don’t know if that’s because I’m getting better with Unity (definitely) or if it’s just because the vision of the game is growing clearer, but whatever it is, I’m happy about it.
Me: Pleased.
Annnnyyyywayyy
Progress. That’s what I’m talking about here.
Marketing Plug!
First off – there’s a… 5, or 9, I haven’t decided yet – level demo coming soon – probably in a week or three. BUT if you want to play unstable builds of the game, please check out the patreon page I’ve set up for this game! Bonus – I’m going to start including short ‘how to in Unity’ videos as well – well – I will once I find a whole-system screen recorder that I’m happy with – if you’ve any suggestions for that sort of product, please share them.
Bodies have limited lifespan after death.
Initially when I built this game in GameSalad (I’ve been playing with this concept for years), it was more of a prototype, mostly limited by the engine I was building it in – a lot of the things I wanted to do, I couldn’t, and one of those things was unlimited lifespan of the dead guys, so I had to make them decay and disappear. Little did I realize, that’s actually an important mechanic of this game. Initially, I tried to make it, here in Unity, where they lasted forever, but this week I realized that they need to disappear – it adds a whole new level of challenge and, even, fluidity, to the game – there’s a time limit if you need to use a corpse to cross a chasm or climb a wall.
Arbitrarily established time limits, hooray!
Oh! and that gif brings me to another point – the beginnings of particles! I may change their behaviour, but they already seem like the kind of particles you’d get on a gameboy, if a gameboy could produce particles like that, of course, so that may just be the way they are in the final.
On locked doors
Another things that has changed significantly is the behaviour of locks and keys. Before – I was limited to one key, one lock (usually on a single door, and while that was nice, it was somewhat limiting – find the key, exit the level. Now, however, we have some Doom-era inspired (appropriate? I think so) key cards and blocks that explode when you find them. Fun! We’ve got up to 4 different key types (one for each of the four colors I have to work with) which really can add some complexity to the levels.
Lo-res goodness.
On Levels
So, we’re up to 9 completed levels (well, 8.5. I’m not happy with level 7 yet). As planned from the beginning, the first 9 levels are short, single view-frame levels that kinda get the player familiar with the game, so that means the next 20-someodd I have to do (o_O) will be much more complex and time consuming. But that’s OK! I’ve got enough mechanics down to really get a feel for how the game plays and functions, and the addition of the keycards I think gives a bit more diversity to the challenges.
The level select has been touched a bit too – instead of having the same brick background as the rest of the game, I’ve given it an ‘outside in a prison’ feel. Even though the background definitely looks appropriate for the era I’m trying to emulate, I’m not sure it’s ‘graphicy’ enough, and I may decide to spruce it up a bit, but for now, it’ll do.
There’s a story here somewhere, I just know it.
And of course, the Tuesday Update video:
Got a few more things to show you, along with some hemming and hawing, of course, in the weekly Tuesday Update – new levels, water-ish goo, more on the exploding blocks, so check it out!
So there you have it.
Not a bad Tuesday Update if I say so myself! Anything you’d like to see? Features, mechanics, gameplay? Let me know!
