Dev Blog #65 - Propane Tanks, Bipods, Dawn Toons and more (Patreon)

Hello everyone,

Keeping it straight to the point for this one! I have a very busy week, and an even busier week after this, so I'll focus less on words and more on images.

Enjoy the blog post!

Propane Tank

We've finally gotten to rework how propane tanks work. Or rather, I finally got to finish them properly! 

The usual behavior (which is still in the game) is that the propane tank will sizzle when hit before eventually exploding. While that makes sense, it completely lacks any other type of interaction, essentially making its behavior and role in the game identical to an explosive barrel except with a much smaller hitbox. 

This is not very interesting.

Default behavior

This is the universally agreed upon behavior for propane tanks when it comes to shooters. But this is Selaco, so...

Added Behavior #1

You can now pick up the propane tank to detach it from the container and place it somewhere else with ease. This makes a propane tank a lot more flexible compared to an explosive barrel.

Once you shoot the propane tank, it will fly towards the direction of the shot and explode when it touches an enemy or solid surface. Perfect for setting up ambushes if you know the enemy is coming.

Added Behavior #2

You can also shoot the propane tank when its in its container, then pick it up and use it like a grenade. It will explode when it touches an enemy.

I know what you're thinking so I would to address to elephant in the room. Yes, we still use gas in 2255.

Material-based floor decals

This seems rather silly because we’ve had different effects for different types of walls (metal, wood, concrete etc.) for years now, but GZDoom handles floors/ceilings and walls completely differently from eachother, so we needed to make a tiny tweak to make decals dependent on the material.

It’s 2024 and we finally have this amazing piece of technology! Metal decals on a metal surface. 

Game of the Year.

Extra ‘oomph’ for the Penetrator

We’ve spiced up the Penetrator's effects a little to deliver more OPS (Oomph Per Shot). It’s a shame gifs don't have sounds, but it sounds a little chunkier, too!

DMR Bipod

We added a bipod to the weapon design mostly because we wanted a unique silhouette, but then thought ''What if you can actually use the bipod...?" With how much of a defensive weapon this is, it makes sense to make it more powerful when the player is taking stand somewhere.

So I got to work!

This is still a work in progress, but players can now attach their bipod to low surfaces for more accurate shots. Without attaching a bipod, the gun works just fine, but the spread build-up is rather large, so eventually, you have to stop attacking to regain accuracy.

Not the case with the bipod. Just move to a surface, briefly hold still, and the bipod will attach itself through the power of automation. Once attached, you can still strafe left and right, as long as the weapon remains on a surface.

Here is how the DMR fires without the bipod attached. As you can see, it has plenty of kick and the spread builds up rather fast, quickly losing it's reliability. You can still fight like this, but some shots will miss.

Attach the bipod, and it will look like this:

Your moveset is significantly restricted in this approach, but the trade-off is a considerable increase in power because spread and recoil is almost completely mitigated.  It's a bit of an experimental approach because we don't see such systems often in shooters, but I wanted to try! That's part of why we do Early Access, after all.

New Dawn Toons

We’re working on new tooltip animations. These are some sketches we've made for the upcoming ones. The faces will be a lot less stiff when we render them out, we kept it simple because these are mainly about composition, not detailing

Destructible trees

Lo and behold, destructible trees!

...Quite underwhelming, isn't it? I agree! I want the leaves to stay on top of the tree and break apart once they hit the floor, as well as add some more believable special effects when it's tumbling downwards. 

We're currently in the middle of our playtests (more invites being sent out soon, btw!) and there's a lot of work to be done in regards to the new upcoming level, so I did not quite get to the point where I wanted to be with our trees. 

Let's try again at the end of March and show something more decent. Sorry!

Conclusion

Oh man, I just now realized I ended the blog post with a downer. As a backer, you deserve proper tree destruction, so I'll add an exclamation point to my notes so I can do it properly. 

As usual, a major thank you to everyone who's still here with us. These last few months are more costly than ever, so the extra bit of budget is especially making a large difference now. 

A little under 3 months left! 

Wesley de Waart