0.27 - Quality of Life

Highlights

New Weapons
Mechanical Tuning
New Main Menu + Options
Bugfixes and QOL

Designer's Notes

We're back again with a new build! Thanks so much to everyone who came out to the RPI GameFest! I can't believe GODWALKER won both Best in Design and was a Grand Prize Nominee!
I've got a good build here for y'all today - lots of bug fixes, a few new weapons, and a new main menu.

Excited to hear how this build works for everyone! It'll be the build I bring to public thesis playtest tomorrow. Based on testing and feedback from that, I'll be working on a new build for final showcase.

Bullet Points

Design

• Added Plasma Sniper
• Added Sniper back into weapon pool
• Added Blast Rifle
• Added Super Blast Rifle
• Normal bullets now deal 50% damage instead of 33% to shields
• Incorrect elements deal 33% damage instead of 25% damage to incorrect elements
• Added in Stat Tracking when you complete runs
• New Main Menu
• New Options Menu
• Added sensitivity input field
• Added Quick Start
• Game now starts with you accepting the GODHEART into your soul and mind as you become one with the ancients and destroy those before you as you turn their living essence into God Juice to fuel your ever-impending rampage.
• Added new photosensitive warning to the main menu
• Tooltips automatically turn off if you ignore them
• New player model (cosmetic, main menu)
• Added tooltip explaining damage numbers
• Damage is now multiplied based on Godwalker Level
• Added textures for various weapons

Development

• Fixed Typo in Final Room
• Adjusted Tween Room Load Box
• Fixed Forecast Board displaying incorrect data
• Fixed bug where you could not loop runs
• Added Quick Start option in options menu
• Fixed bug where projectiles would be assigned incorrect damage amounts based on weapon in hand
• Fixed bug where tween rooms wouldn't delete on reset
• Fixed bug where Double Barrel Shotgun model would not load
• Fixed bug where too many shock fx would spawn, causing game to lag
• Fixed bug where grenade launcher AOE was not hitting enemies
• Fixed bug where two enemies of same type could spawn on top of one another

Visuals

• Tweaked Godmode visual post fx so that they are a smoother gradient into Godwalker
• Popup happens when effectiveness is lowered
• Made red torches blue for environmental effect

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times

0.25 - Minor Fixes

Highlights

Ultrawide Support
Slightly modified tooltips

Designer's Notes

Hey, tiny update time
Nothing crazy, just a few modifications I've made over the last few weeks, and also a 5 minute addition of ultra wide support, thanks!

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon
• Sometimes you get 2 weapons instead of 3
• Pipions can spawn on top of one another

0.24 - Elements

Highlights

Godwalker Visual Effects
Taking Damage while Godwalking reduces Godwalker
Element system in place
Map Design changes

Designer's Notes

To the few people who actually read this - hey what's up? lol. If you're seeing this lmk on Discord and I'll give you a super secret Discord role just for fun haha.

Either way, here's another build testing out new features that I've been working on to share with you all. In this build I'm testing out a series of balances to make the game more granular, while also working with an element system to make your weapon choices feel more important. There's also a degree of planning involved because you will be able to see the upcoming rooms.

The game is a lot longer and more difficult now. If you complete a run, you will begin another run in which all enemies deal 2x damage.

Bullet Points

Design

• Player loses Godwalker meter instead of Health when taking damage while Godwalking

• Added Tooltip system to teach you how to play

• Added Tooltips for all major game systems

• Added Photosensitivity warning to main menu

• Reworked map A1M4

• Reworked all reward and starting rooms

• Replay runs absolutely most definitely for sure do in fact double the enemy damage, yep.

• Grenade Launcher now fires Mines at a 15 degree angle

• Balanced Super Shotgun: good, but not run-ending

• Balanced Missile Launcher: high damage low fire rate

• Balanced Elemental God Juice Dispersion

• Bullet weapons give you more God Juice

• Godwalker lasts slightly longer

• Godwalker is harder to get

Development

• Rebaked all nav mesh data

• Godwalker camera now properly mimics player camera

• Increased weapon pickup distance

• Ensured Arena manager is setup and working

• Ensured Generation seed is cleaned and regenerated on new runs

• Fixed a bug where the UI of the screen would not allow players to pickup a weapon

• Fixed a bug where attempting to restart a run would softlock you

Visuals

• Godwalking now applies an intense filter to the screen
• As you build the God meter the edges of the screen move in
• Added warning when Godwalker Generation Efficiency is lowered on weapons
• Changed "Hotness" to "Effectiveness" on weapon quick info
• Changed forecast board to show correct upcoming enemy weaknesses
• Forecast board now shows current location
• Ensured all maps have reflection probes
• Made a series of icons and info for forecast board

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon
• Pipions can spawn on top of one another

0.22 - Refinements & Preparation

Highlights

Sweeping visual aesthetic changes
Balanced elements to do with God Juice generation
Balanced weapon elements

Designer's Notes

Hey there everyone! It's been a while since my last build - but I assure you, I'm chugging along! Since then I've had the great privilege to show this game at GDC, get critical midterm feedback, and outline a series of final goals for me to hit before the end of this semester. It's definitely got me thinking about where this game goes in the future, but I'm just happy to share this game with you all.

This build will be sent to a few festivals for evaluation, hopefully I'll get to see some more of you guys in person!

Bullet Points

Design

• Weapons are now either bullet, explosion, or energy
• Added a basic main menu
• Main menu has a sensitivity slider on it
• Alt-enter now properly toggles the game in and out of full screen
• Holding ESC brings you back to the main menu
• Combat abilities removed from the game
• Rocket Launcher projectiles now have a pre-hangtime before choosing a target to home
• Ballista is no longer overpowered beyond belief
• Minigun damage lowered by 10%
• Auto Pistol fire rate decreased from 7.5 shots per second to 6.5
• Fleet is now an energy weapon
• Popgun magazine increased
• Sidearm magazine increased
• Removed Heavy Shotgun
• Shop now sells Super Shotgun
• If you maintain Godwalker for 20 seconds is becomes 10% more difficult to maintain
• Added "The Room You Should Read Things In"
• Generation more holistically randomized

Development

• Fixed map A1M4 spawn point issues and improperly baked nav mesh
• Fixed map A2M2 improper bake
• Items now have try/catch statements associated with player-driven functions
• Added more stable method to reset game
• Adjusted SaveData to balance new weapon changes

Visuals

• Weapon colors modified to resemble elemental status
• Combat ability UI removed
• Godwalker mode post FX more intense

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon

0.21 - Feature Complete

Highlights

New Weapons
New Enemies
New Long Term Progression
New Maps
New Art
New Shop System
New Infinite Runs
New Extra Hot Weapons

Designer's Notes

Lots of new stuff! This is actually my midterm playtest build for Thesis. It's a pretty thick build with a lot of fun stuff in it.
This build is also feature complete! It has all the core features and mechanics in it which make up the game. From here on our I'll be building content! This means you'll see less mechanics and more weapons, enemies, maps, etc! It's a very exciting milestone

Bullet Points

Design

• Enemies now spawn from encounter sets, not preset rooms
• Added Torrent and Centaur enemies to the game
• Balanced Torrent
• Balanced Centaur
• Ensured all maps have navigation blockers to prevent enemies from going inside doors and walls
• Weapon Tiers implemented for long-form progression
• Completing a run now leads to a weapon unlock + new run
• Balanced Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, Rocket Launcher, Sniper
• Revolver and Plasma Rifle now deal Electric Damage
• Made the Ballista even more insane
• Shops feature Extra Hot versions of Heavy Shotgun, Missile Launcher, and Ballista
• Shops and God Coins implemented
• Enemies now drop God Coins when killed while Godwalking
• Maintaining Godwalker becomes 10% harder for every time you use it
• Maps A2M1 and A2M2 have been slightly redesigned to feature Lavafalls
• Sniper now has custom projectile

Development

• Combat Ability System in for testing

• Slag Flamethrower built for testing

• Movement Ability System in for testing

• Dash build for testing

• Completed rooms and combat rooms are now tracked independently for generation

• Relative slight optimizations

• Added Try statement to player explosions to prevent reference exceptions

• Fixed bug where spamming ability pickups would cause them to disappear

• Fixed bug where you could Godwalker forever

• Fixed bug where you couldn't Godwalk after Godwalking

• Fixed bug where F10 to respawn wouldn't work in non-combat areas

• Fixed bug where any weapon you pickup would get discovered

• Fixed issue where faster projectiles would not detect mesh colliders

• Fixed bug where explosions could deal damage to enemies who no longer exist

• Fixed the F12 menu not letting you type in it

Visuals

• Lava is blue now because fuck you it looks awesome
• Setup Dynamic UI for Combat Abilities
• Redid weapon UIs
• Weapon Quick Info UI now resizes the weapon's name to prevent overflow
• Removed HP from Player UI because no one was looking at it
• Extra help UI no longer overlaps with gameplay UI

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon

If you're having problems with this download, try this link instead: https://github.com/Joshmh7128/GODWALKER-Builds/archive/refs/heads/0.21_03.01.23.zip

0.20 - New Weapons & Maps, Bugfixes

Highlights

• New weapons added
• Two new maps
• Bugfixes

Designer's Notes

Some more fixes and service in today's build! Nothing crazy, but I did add a few enemies and weapons. I'm excited to see which ones people like the most.
I've also shortened runs a bit so that you can loop faster and find new things more easily. I did not get as much I wanted to done this week due to contracting COVID, I'm healing well, and will hopefully be back in action soon!

Bullet Points

Design

• Made it harder to maintain Godwalker the longer you maintain it
• Added Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher, Rocket Launcher, Sniper, Heavy Shotgun
• Balanced the majority of weapons
• Grenade launcher grenades now die after 5 seconds instead of 30
• Added two new maps
• Map order is randomized
• Added a Lava pool at the end of the run so that you can reset holistically

Development

• Fixed bug where rewards rooms would not spawn items
• Fixed bug where pressing F10 would not reset your position
• Fixed bug where enemies would spawn on top of one another
• Fixed bug where bullets would not spawn if you had your back against a wall

Known Issues

• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• Flicker when moving between rooms
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon
• Starter weapons are adding themselves to the possible weapon pool as drops

If you're having problems with this download, try this link instead: https://github.com/Joshmh7128/GODWALKER-Builds/archive/refs/heads/0.20_02.16.23.zip

0.19 - Systems Expansion

Highlights

• Unlock new weapons after you die
• Godwalker is now manually triggered
• Weapon quick info added
• Weapon 'hotness' added
• Revised weapon UI designs

Designer's Notes

This build is much more of a service build than anything. I'll be testing out a more structured system of reaching & entering Godwalker, rather than building up to it through five different levels. In this case you accumulate Rage until you hit the cap. Once you do, you can press G to enter Godwalker. While in Godwalker you regenerate HP, move extra fast, deal double damage, and have unlimited ammo.

For the next build I'll be building and testing out new weapons, and adding in Godwalker modes for each weapon. For example - the Shotgun can have bouncing bullets, the Minigun can have homing shots, and the Sniper can have quadruple damage. I'll also be experimenting with different types of weapons, such as Hitscan, Beam and Physics based weapons. Believe it or not, all the weapons in the game so far all use the same C# class. I'm pretty proud of that, but I'd like to diversify them a bit more.

Bullet Points

Design

• Reworked how the Godwalker system functions
• Added in 'Starter Weapons' that suck booty buns
• Made lots of adjustments and balances to Auto Pistol, Side Arm, and Kinematic Pistol Projectile
• Doubled the damage of the Super Shotgun
• Carbine recharges ammo 50% faster
• Added Rage Hotness generation multiplier
• Made Rage Hotness display as 2x its real amount to negate loss aversion (feels better to go from 2.00x to 1.80x than 1.00x to 0.90x)
• Changed Single Barrel Shotgun name to Double Barrel Shotgun
• Added spread to the Plasma Rifle
• Changes starting scene & death scene so that you can't meta-game the system

Development

• Fixed a bug where enemies did not give Rage on death
• Fixed a bug where the permanent progression room would not spawn weapons if you discovered them all
• Built custom five-dimensional array for enemy set generation
• Tested generative waves, but it's just too unwieldy
• Tested auto weapon swap and it just felt terrible
• Ensured all area message canvases are scaling to screen size rather than pixel size
• Added controls to change weapons: R (swap), 1, 2, 3 (specifics)
• Smoothed out room loading even more
• Pressing Esc now toggles the help info UI
• Reworked how weapons spawn from save file so that there is no memory leak

Visuals

• Added visual flare when you're in Godwalker
• Centered all Ammo UI Readouts
• Redid UI elements for all weapons
• Added 'scale' mode to weapon UI reactants
• Tested Rage Numbers, didn't look good
• Added weapon quick info panel
• Quick info shows on swap & pickup
• Updated DMR animation position

Known Issues

• Several enemies spawn on top of one another
• When up very close some shots are unregistered
• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• Some weapons do not properly give the player Rage on use
• UI for some weapons have inconsistencies (DMR) when compared to others
• Flicker when moving between rooms
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon
• Starter weapons are adding themselves to the possible weapon pool as drops

0.18 - Refined Game Loop

Highlights

• Rebuilt level generation so that maps are one long level
• You now choose from one of three weapons whenever you pickup new ones
• More refined artwork is implemented
• Lots of optimizations have been made to make the game run more smoothly

Designer's Notes

I'm VERY excited to test this with everyone. This is the first build in which I feel there's been a strong level of all: tech, design, and artwork. I've spent a lot of time coming up with the new art style and pipeline, and I'm happy to be testing it here. I'm also satisfied with the new weapon choice system I've put together. It makes your choices feel more meaningful throughout the run. On top of all of this I've made some neat little map designs to test run these.

What's cool about this build is that it features most of the tools that I'll be using to build the rest of the game when I hit the production phase. Even though those facets are not represented in gameplay, they'll all be boosting me as I move further into development!

Bullet Points

Design

• Maps are now one long contiguous map which you play through
• Weapon choices are now "pick one of three" choices instead of random drops
• Map designs now focus on being smaller cyclical arenas

Development

• Built (nearly) seamless tween rooms
• Built save file system for upcoming use
• Updated .gitignore for smoother git usage
• Rebuilt library
• Rebuilt shader includes
• Uninstalled dynamic nav mesh package (superfluous)
• General overall optimizations

Known Issues

• Several enemies spawn on top of one another
• When up very close some shots are unregistered
• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• Some weapons do not properly give the player Rage on use
• UI for some weapons have inconsistencies (DMR) when compared to others
• Flicker when moving between rooms
• In weapon choice rooms it is possible to get two of the same weapon

Visuals

• Experimenting with PBR low res workflow to create environments
• Updated several particle effects to match low resolution style
• Lighting is now baked at a higher resolution and lower texel density
• Dynamic lights are now filtered at a lower resolution

0.17 - Hotfix

Fixes:

• Player should no longer double-spawn when resetting
• Mouse sensitivity is now saved in between runs

0.17 - Randomized Maps, Visual Art, Direct Feedback

Highlights

• Levels are now Randomized!
• The first semblance of visual art is in the game!
• More weapons and maps to fight through!
• Secret playground built just for you is waiting at the end 👀
• You can now send me feedback by pressing F12 at any time!

Designer's Notes

Much of this build is the culmination of a few weeks of work refining what it is that makes this game fun and interesting. To me it's the idea the weapons you have each run, the enemy encounters you have, and the arenas you're fighting in, are all shuffled and changed to provoke unique moments. At its core, I'd like Godwalker to be a new shooter every time you play it. A lofty goal for sure, but I believe there's something special here.

This build features a broad swathe of weapons and maps featuring the enemies you already know from the last build. Up next I'll be exploring different movement mechanics and ideas to further shake up how players engage with the systems of the game. I'll also be considering stronger player choice (right now you simply choose whether or not to pickup a gun, and move on), and how the results of your choices can more strongly impact the gameplay.

I'd also like to note that this version of the game is the first to feature any substantial real visual art. It has taken me quite some time to get here, and I'd like to thank all of my artistically driven friends for critiquing my work and direction. Many of you know I am a solo developer, which means every decision constantly wants to be both "easy to build" and "extremely refined" at the same time. Finding the art style for this game has been (and continues to be) very difficult. I am now exploring the idea of forced constraints (using new production pipelines to produce old-styled assets) meshed with high quality lighting and rendering. There's something magical to me about combining harsh cyberpunk-like neon and jaded pixelated normal maps. I love the way it looks - and it's something I can produce nominally on my own. I hope you enjoy this build as much as I've enjoyed making it.

Bullets

Design

• Maps are now single rooms, and the levels are generated out of a random assortment of rooms
• There are now a total of 8 rooms to fight through
• Added a procedural enemy spawner, replays now have most value
• Added some new weapons, including the Super Shotgun, Minigun, and Revolver
• Reworked all combat levers so that the game is challenging now
• Centaurs are now half the size they were before
• Balanced the Plasma Rifle
• Lava no longer resets your position, deals damage instead
• Ammo regeneration is now tied to Rage
• Took weapon charge UI off of the screen
• Removed hotkey to spawn weapons in for now

Development

• Built Seeded Level Generation

• Built new weapon shuffle bag

• Built a primer

• Built enemy procedural spawn point system

• Built Player knockback and explosive damage for implementation

• Built new Bomber enemy for implementation

• Built scrolling materials for visual assets

• Reworked enemy ground pathfinding

• Reworked enemy damage

• Reworked scene transition teleporters

• Experimenting with weapon attachment system

• Experimenting with explosive barrels

• Experimenting with explosive enemies

• Fixed bug where enemies would not pathfind to the player while midair

• Fixed bug where feedback would send an additional empty line

• Fixed bug where enemies would set their level to zero and not deal any damage to the player

• Fixed bug where dying would crash the game (lol)

• Fixed bug where teleporters would attempt to teleport the player to the next room twice

• Fixed bug where on player death old player would reset and new player would join, resulting in the control of multiple players at once

• Fixed bug where enemy spawn points don't update roles

• Fixed bug where some enemies wouldn't die

Known Issues

• Several enemies spawn on top of one another
• When up very close some shots are unregistered
• Enemies run and hide too well at times
• Some weapons do not properly give the player Rage on use
• UI for some weapons have inconsistencies (DMR) when compared to others

Visuals

• Built a series of low-resolution assets for floors, walls, power lines, lava, and objects
• Using each of the rooms in the demo to try out different aesthetics and types of lighting
• Performed a series of visual art pipeline tests for top-down integration of Substance, Cel Shading, full pipeline, and finally forced-constraints
• Explored real time GI
• Explored low intensity lightmapping and batch lightmapping
• Ran a test downgrading the alpha prototype to 64x64 texture sets
• Added 'How to play' Text to the bottom right of the screen temporarily

Sound

• Balanced music and sfx
• Added sfx for player jumping, double jumping, and landing