Since the beginning Bacillus has been a looming threat on the horizon, shrouded in mystique yet kept just out of arm's reach. Most of our adventure had the player trek in the shadow of civilization's final stand, but over the past few months the team at Floodgate Arts have been mulling over whether this was truly the direction we wanted to take. As oppressive as it may look on the skyline, the horror of diving into the city itself is a lot more striking. We've been pursuing ways to make that a reality, and after dozens of hours spent urban planning, we've found a way to do just that. Floodgate Arts is happy to announce that Bacillus will be seeing some significant expansions.
In fact, the whole game will now be taking place in Bacillus.
A New Direction
Wander the abandoned streets of Bacillus' downtown as the deluge slowly overtakes the skyscrapers on its horizon. Scavenge your way through its factories to grab every hidden cache you can. Uncover the mystery of the city's past as you fight to survive in its labyrinthine underbelly. Bacillus is now made up of six major regions to explore, each having new areas to unlock as you push further into the game. Along the way you'll come across new tools to help you open the map up, and even some shortcuts that let you quickly traverse through old regions.
Be warned, though, as you won't be the only one getting stronger on your journey. The deluge continues to mutate and evolve, and with it comes nastier monsters looking to tear you to pieces. You'll need to use your environment to stay out of harm's way and make it out of the city alive. Within Bacillus' many crevices you'll find supplies to help you along the way, including powerful weaponry and even some permanent upgrades.
For those worried about the new campaign direction, we'll still be keeping a fairly linear main path through the game. At no point will you be required to backtrack to areas you've already been, though it might not hurt to do so every once in a while. Designing alternate routes to tackle various situations is still a core value in our map design. We hope that even if exploration isn't your jam you'll still find a lot of fun to be had with Deluge's various systems that emphasize creativity.
Fresh Coat of Paint
Alongside the campaign overhaul we'll be tweaking the general aesthetic of the city. While previously concrete with small, cramped buildings, the city will be given a modern makeover and a larger scope to go with it. To help us with this task, we've hired a new mapper: Mty! While only on the team for a short time, he's already shown his skill for mapping and given us some great environments to study.
Note: The following screenshots are only concepts we're using to explore the city's new look.
With his work ethic and eye for detail, we think Mty will help us deliver the best possible city for you to play in.
Wrapping Up
On a final note we have some news about the future of Deluge. First we'd like to announce that Deluge will officially be going stand-alone! You'll no longer need Doom 2 to play it, just the latest version of GZDoom. For anyone interested in mapping we'll also be releasing Deluge's configuration files for use in Ultimate Doom Builder, the mapping tool our team uses.
We also have some more details on the upcoming demo. Within it we'll be letting you explore the first major area of Bacillus, the downtown region. While short, we hope it gives a great introduction to what we're aiming for with the game's release. As always, your feedback will be valuable in helping us shape the final product. On a more somber note, we've pushed back the demo release from Spring of this year to later in Summer. We hope that with some of the recent turmoil and shift in direction you'll understand that Deluge will need a bit more time in the oven. We want to deliver the best experience possible, so our team remains hard at work getting everything cleaned up and ready for launch.
Stay tuned as we release more info about the game throughout the year. Currently we still have a Winter 2022 release time frame planned, but this is subject to change if the team feels we aren't far enough by then. You can follow us on our social medias to stay up-to-date on all the latest happenings. Until next time!
Join our community Discord.
Follow us on Twitter.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Check out our ZDoom page.
Reposted due to a technical error.
Sounds very promising. Can't wait to test it out, good luck!