LeftUnknown · published · build 26363951
Hello everyone, Update 1.5 is finally released!
The focus of this update was to implement some of the features that were planned for a long time but kept getting postponed. This update includes a new gun, a new enemy, amplifiers, storage terminals, music, weapon stats and info, graphical/visual enhancements, and more.
1. New gun - Banger SG2 aka The Bangstick
The Bangstick is an entry-level shotgun you can get early in the game, allowing you to use the buckshot shells found during exploration. It's a double-barrel shotgun, so it's not going to be very effective against multiple enemies, but it will be able to one-shot weaker ones.
I've put as much work as I could into the animations and shooting to make the shotgun feel satisfying and fun to use. Its especially fun in The Nightmare mode, where the action is non-stop.
You can also watch the modeling and texturing process timelapse I made some time ago:
2. New enemy - Parasite snakes
Very gross, parasitic, and creepy snake things. These creatures slither around and can move surprisingly fast, closing the distance before you even realize how close they've gotten. Their slithering and fast movements also makes them pretty difficult targets to hit.
They are fully physics-driven, which means they can collide with everything, push objects around, and tangle around railings, pipes, and even other snakes, creating a huge, disgusting tangle of writhing snakes.
The advice I can give you is to use grenades on them if you can.
3. Amplifiers
Amplifiers are a whole new system/mechanic added to the game. They allow you to upgrade your stats, such as health and stamina, by equipping them through your PDA, which has 4 amplifier slots.
The only way to get amplifiers for now is to find them while exploring. I've also added amplifier fusion terminals, which allow you to fuse 3 identical amplifiers into one stronger, higher-level amplifier.
Amplifiers can be unequipped and stacked, so you can make your own builds. Go full health, full stamina, or find a balance between the two - the choice is yours!
I'll be adding more types of amplifiers in future updates, so there will be even more combinations you can come up with.
4. Storage terminals
Another new mechanic added to the game - Remote Storage Terminals. These terminals allow you to store items and weapons you might not need at the moment but could need in the future, such as ammo for a weapon you don't currently have or leftover amplifiers you might want to use for fusion.
They also allow you to offload items during exploration to free up inventory space and reduce your carried weight.
All storage terminals synchronize with each other, which means you'll be able to access your items from any storage terminal, no matter where you are.
It's like cloud storage! :)
5. Weapon stats and ammo unloading
This feature has been on my to-do list for a long time, and finally, it's here!
You can finally see how much damage a weapon does, its fire rate, accuracy, ammo type, and more. You'll be able to compare weapons and make a decision about which weapon to leave behind, take, or sell.
In addition, you'll now be able to unload ammo from weapons, which is particularly useful if you want to drop or sell a weapon, or if you want to put that ammo into another weapon.
You can view weapon info everywhere you can manage your weapons.
One more thing: weapon slot swapping now requires you to click and hold on a weapon to move it, so keep that in mind!
6. Improved colors, PDA visuals, and animations
The PDA now looks and feels much cleaner and more polished!
I've unified its color palette and added hand animations, tab-opening animations, an animated shader, and more. All these little details help bring the holographic interface to life and make it feel much more like an actual holographic display.
I'm personally really happy with how it turned out, and I hope you'll like it too!
But the PDA isn't the only thing that received a visual overhaul. The entire UI has a new, unified color palette.
I've implemented a centralized system for managing UI colors and connected all the UI elements throughout the game to it. This means I can now adjust the colors in one place and have those changes applied across the entire UI.
There's another benefit, too: this system will make it possible to introduce UI color customization in the settings in a future update, allowing you to choose the colors you like best!
7. Music in the main menu and The Nightmare mode
The game finally has music!
The main menu music immediately sets a dark and unsettling atmosphere as soon as the title screen appears, preparing you for the horrors ahead. :)
The music in The Nightmare mode, on the other hand, puts you straight into killing mode!
It's dynamic, meaning its intensity changes depending on the action and the number of nearby enemies. The more intense the situation gets, the more intense the music becomes, making the gameplay even more intense! The music volume slider was also added to the audio settings.
A huge thanks to 8l8l8l8l for composing the music for LeftUnknown!
Be sure to visit his page and check out more of his work here:
8. Auto reload or manual reload?
After implementing the ammo unloading function, I quickly realized that weapons would automatically reload again once selected, meaning you'd have to unload them again.
So, after some thought, I decided to add a toggle that lets you choose whether you want weapons to reload automatically after being emptied or not.
I decided to leave this setting enabled by default, though, because that's what you're all used to by now.
9. Reworked ejected bullet casing physics, models, and textures
Ejected bullet casings now look much better with new models, redrawn textures, and improved materials.
The movement of ejected casings was very jittery and looked like they were moving at 20 FPS, so I've also reworked the ejection force and gravity physics to make their movement silky smooth.
10. Other changes, fixes, and improvements
Made some changes to the saving system. Some things will not be loaded in old saves (saved enemies and dropped items will not be restored, and all movable objects will return to their original positions), and the player's position will be reset to the starting point. You can still continue playing from old saves, but I highly recommend starting a new game.
Pickable items and weapons now have a glow effect to make them more noticeable in dark areas.
Increased the FOV of the weapon camera. This makes weapons appear longer when held in hands, which I think looks a lot better.
Adjusted animations on some weapons to look better with the increased FOV.
Made some tweaks to post-processing effects. Adjusted bloom, color grading, and contrast.
Made the walking animation more pronounced.
Improved dragging sounds so they also play when large objects are moved by other means, such as being pushed by enemies or moved by explosions, rather than only when the player moves them.
Reduced the stamina cost of jumping by half.
Replaced gas cylinder collision sounds with more realistic ones.
Fixed a bug where post-processing effects would not affect the player's hands, held weapon, and PDA.
Fixed a bug where smoke caused by severe damage would disappear instantly when a drone exploded.
Fixed/improved Leggy ragdoll physics.
Fixed a bug where pausing the game while walking up or down a slope (e.g., stairs) would cause the screen to stutter and flash black for a second when resuming the game.
Fixed a bug where lasers would not play their hit sound effects when loading a save made farther away from them.
Other smaller fixes and improvements that I've forgotten about. :)
That's all! Stay tuned for future updates, and have a nice day, everyone! :)