Hello, squids and snails.
(Edit: It has come to my attention that the opening line of this update could be potentially viewed as discriminatory towards certain varieties of mollusc: slugs, octopodes, limpets, and cuttlefish, to name just a few. I apologize sincerely for this slip, and I promise to be more careful in future.)
Alpha Release
The release of the House of Many Doors alpha version to MATRON-tier backers and above was originally scheduled for release in April 2016.
But it’s been pointed out to me that the game’s in an alpha state already, and I’m going to need as much helpful feedback as I can get! So the release of the alpha has been moved forward to next week, on Friday 19th of February.
Woooo. (this terrifies me)
Combat
Catherine has been working hard over the last month on assets and UI for the game’s combat mode. The end result? Combat mode is looking fresh. It’s looking plump. It’s just about ready to be consumed.
The changes aren’t limited to a facelift:
- Enemy AI now works much more efficiently, thanks to a bunch of minor improvements and bugfixes.
- The Sanity mechanics were great, but crewmembers only lost Sanity when they witnessed a fellow crewmember die. This didn’t happen often enough to justify such a complex mechanic. So I’ve added the ability for you and your enemy to damage each other’s Heartlights! A broken Heartlight means darkness, and darkness means a slow crew-wide descent into insanity.
- Distance between vehicles is now represented in a much more intelligible fashion. Distance is really important! It determines the accuracy of your shots, your ability to flee, and whether you can be boarded!
Keep your eyes peeled next week, my delightful cuttlefish. Because not only am I dropping the Alpha version on Friday, I’m also going to release a video showing off combat mode in full. It will have my voice over the top of it, talking about the various mechanics and so on, but you should watch it anyway.
Screenshots don’t quite do the game justice any more, you see.
It’s an exciting time to be alive, backers. Unless you aren’t alive. Which is much more likely, statistically speaking, especially if you measure the length of a human life against any geologically meaningful timescale.
Wow, that took a morbid turn. I need to find an elegant way to end this, quick –