Bad Fur Day Remake - Christmas News 09

Hey Everyone!
It's been a long time coming but Bad Fur Day Remake is being worked on once again! It's been a long time since the last update and some serious changes have been made. Unfortunately no new screenshots or footage for this article.

New Engine! (Unity 3D)

This project has been on-going for at least a decade now in total, this will be the 2nd and last engine change. Bad Fur Day Remake started on Torque Game Engine, moved onto Torque 3D and now is here on Unity 3D.

Why a new Engine?
Torque 3D is simply out of date, it was good for learning and had the basics of everything but was incredibly limiting and its unique scripting language wasn't helping and I haven't touched it in years. I've been studying and teaching Unity 3D (C#) for the past 2 years and the change seems necessary if this project was to ever continue.

Benefits from the engine change?
Complete development control, before it was difficult to create so many systems from the limitations of the old engine. Unity I have complete control on every aspect of the development, you'll see some quicker development turn around and fine tuned features.

Development Road map

Initial Unity Release
The first release will very likely be a lesser version of previously released Bad Fur Day Remake, simply it needs to get out and testing so we can fix any issue quickly.

Features & Items
Like the older versions, initial version will still only contain a handful of the usable weapons from the original game, things like grenades may be missing too. Do not worry as all weapons are being planned to be put in, from the flame thrower & throwing knifes to the Katana & chainsaw; they will be implemented.

Development Onwards
Ideally all gamemodes will be made and playable in Bad Fur Day Remake eventually, but for now development will follow a logical development cycle. Starting with the most basic gamemodes first, Deathmatch then Team Deathmatch, then work into gamemodes like Capture the Flag and Heist.

Visuals
All previously made artwork will be revised and likely updated. The aim is to have it look like the original but with increased details, some of the artwork done is over 8 years old and looks off from their original counter parts.

Levels
Levels are being designed to handle multiple gamemodes, levels that did not support modes such as Team Deathmatch in the original will now have the option. For now Colors is the only functioning map, once the initial releases are done other maps will be implemented. In the future if scope permits, high detail remake versions of the classic maps will be done as well.

Gameplay and Balance

I want to briefly go into Bad Fur Day Remake's balancing mentality. The original game was built around a single stick controller so aiming and movement were limiting and inaccurate. With the change to Mouse and Keyboard, precision movement and aim has trumped the classic controller style. The initial problems lie with the weapons and players health, any weapons capable of headshots at long range immediately have an unfair advantage and critically wounding your enemies before they even get into firing range takes the fun out of using any other weapon.

Weapons
Weapons will handle the same as the original for the most part, however now their damages and usefulness will be more situational and ranged based.

Examples:
Sniper Rifle -
Changes: Headshots will no longer 1 hit kill enemies but will critically wound them.
Notes: By design the characters of Bad Fur Day have incredibly large heads so it was intentionally easier to snipe on the old controller. Removing the instant kill allows players to have some level of recovery in such open maps but still have devastating effect on them.

Uzi
Changes: Wide bullet spread
Notes: Originally able to accurately fire with the uzi, the spread will conform the weapon range to Mid to Short range but still have effective damage.

Note that these changes need to be tested and some features will have server toggle options for those looking for a authentic setup.

Health
Mathematically 6 points of health is incredibly hard to balance. The visual of the chocolate bar will likely remain the same however the amount of health needs to be increased for fair gameplay. It is likely to be increased from 6 to 12. Simple example is that the lowest damage dealing weapon would always do 1/6th of your health regardless of what it is, now the lowest possible damage is 1/12th allowing for weapons such as the Uzi have its bullet spray effect without being too punishing.

Health has always been a bit of an issue in the original game, without anyway of replenishing your health you'd often not able to complete an assault simply because you took too many hits earlier in an unrelated fight. In previous versions of BFDR killing an enemy would drop a single health pickup which helped keep players alive after a fight without snowballing out of control. This will likely be implemented again but other solutions are being looked into such as regeneration health out of combat.

New Version, When?

Soon, development has been on-going daily and all the systems are being built from scratch. The aim is for a bare bones basic playable version, it may lack a lot of features but as long as 2 players can connect, shoot each other and win/lose then there will be a release.

Community

Join Bad Fur Day Remake Discord Server

Bad Fur Day Remake has a discord server! The development cycle of this game has been so long that several chat programs have risen and fallen since it was started. Now with Discord, it works as a great new platform for me to share updates and test builds with the community. Also serves as a great way to organize matches. Come join the server, talk about the old games, remake and the community.

Questions

Q: What modes will be available and when?
A: Initially Deathmatch and maybe Team Deatmatch, when will be soon but only when ready. The other gamemodes are not in scope yet.

Q: How can I help?
A: Join Discord Server, there is a job channel with position listings. Otherwise being apart of the community and showing support is the best way to keep it alive.

Q: Why is this game taking so long to make?
A: Games are normally made with entire teams, I'm one person, learning as I go.

Q: Why is 'thing' not in the game?
A: Just haven't gotten to it yet or haven't prioritized it.

Q: Will it have Local Multiplayer?
A: Only online play will be supported, no local couch gameplay. Simply put, its too much effort for a niche audience.

Q: Will there be new features?
A: Other than the changes already being made, new gamemodes, weapons and characters are planned but won't be seen for a long time.

Q: What if I don't like some of the changes?
A: Depending on the changes themselves, I'm plan on having plenty of hosting options so people can toggle gameplay options such as instant kill headshots and disabling friendly fire. Otherwise post on the Discord chat why you feel like a change is for the worse.

Q: How much will be developed?
A: The goal right now is as much as possible, but ideally the entire multiplayer collection from the original game. Then if its still going strong, additions to that.

Developer Personal Note
I've been very ill and have been in and out of hospital as of late, I've had plenty of time of thinking over what I want to accomplish in life. Recently a friend reminded me of this project, I've always felt I need to complete this even if to a basic standard that represents what the original game was about. Now I'm pushing to get it done finally and I'm hoping it comes out even better than before.