Hiya, sorry I've been quiet over here on Itch for the last 2 months. I took on some art jobs for the start of the quiet season in my IRL job and I've been plugging away at it. Plus I've been off house hunting (which sucks hey!) and unfortunatly we really suddenly lost a family member right at the end of September. It's been a weird time. So I'm doubling up the update this month!

Let's crack open GIT so I can remember what I actually did...

1. FOCUS

From testing I was finding combat way too easy. I could land like 8 perfect headshots on a zombie and be in no danger. So now you have to aim for a moment before firing. Being hurt or jumping will reset it, moving and walking only allows for something like 70% focus and firing will reduce focus. It's fun to reward some slow methodical play, knowing (and eventually experiencing for myself) that the second you panic you start to mess up shots. It might be TOO harsh atm but that can be sorted later.

2. Music?

Yeah so I've no composer atm (and I'm not looking for one right now please stop emailing me) but I did grab the PS1 Survival Horror Music pack by Bit By Bit Sound on this very website for, maybe but possibly not, placeholder tunes. It's a really good pack that covers RE, Silent Hill and Parasite Eve in style, I'd defo recommend it. 

https://bit-by-bit-sound.itch.io/ps1-horror

3. The Pump Action Shotgun

Yep a new weapon, I wanted something for a little earlier in the game before you get the big tier weapons. It's kind of a hybrid of a Remington pump action and a SPAS. It kinda ended up like the shotgun in Signalis now that I think about it! It's pretty effective, I had to rework how enemies took damage to allow for each pellet to actually hit. And then I had to rework how ammo worked a little to allow sharing ammo with the Sawn Off. All improvements! 

4.  A new enemy

The Psych. A kind of tougher (because you can't hit her damn head easily) floating enemy that fires projectiles at you. She can be pretty tough if you can't reach her or otherwise ground her. She's got some fun effects going on with her movement and attack too, though some of her sprites could do with a second pass. She sleeps and wont attack until she sees or hears you, so I'm planning on hiding her in a few dark rooms to scare the shit out of you!

Also shes fully voiced by me doing horrific screams! Yaaaay!

5. Minimap detail! And then also a Map screen!

My minimap was ok but it needed some more sauce so I spent some time making sure you could see doorways and some other details on the map.

And then also went ahead and made a screen for looking at the whole thing. You can scroll around this map if you want to too. Maybe I'll add some more features later but this is, imo, the bare minimum for a decent map!

6. Improvements on pain and knockouts

Not much too say about this but I had kinda set up knocking down enemies with some placeholder code that I never sorted. Now it's sorted and triggers properly. All my weapons now have a strength rating that can increase the chance of triggering a flinch in an enemy, the more hits an enemy takes in general will increase the risk of it being knocked down and stunned. It works pretty nicely.

Other small things!

1. a small detour off the main route in the early game for funsies

2. A bunch of cutscene sprites for Abigail added and put into a scene

3. Shootable ladders can also be kicked down if you are next to them, saving ammo!

4. The Claustro zombie is no longer using stolen Metal Slug sounds!

5. Ammo count is shown next to your crosshair!

6. A completely rebuilt dev Debug area for me to test in!

What's next??

1. Uhh the shop? I know...

2. a new set of maps. An area where you have only melee weapons and are searching for a gun.

3. Oh yeah I said I wanted to try Grenades again

4. Keyart???

5. Steam page?!