Been quite some time since the last update, but a lot has happened since then.
I took a few weeks off the project and reflected on the big picture. I saw a few pacing problems and the story I had attached to the mod wasn’t really working out as well as I thought it would.
Some of the new stuff:
Back to open world!
I saw a lot of people enjoyed the shortcuts that were in map 2, so I decided to connect (almost) the entire island up with interconnected passages. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It was done by taking advantage of ZDoom’s hub system.
This gave me the opportunity to add a central safe house like area. Somewhere to store excess in inventory and it even has a machine that can cure you of radiation exposure.
Speaking of radiation.
Sanity mechanics
These didn’t turn out too great…
There was going to be a proximity based sanity system where standing near some objects would cause the player to gradually go insane. Instead of removing this, I decided to add a radiation stat (which also ties in to some elements of the story).
Sanity still remains, however this is a more passive gameplay element. As you progress through the mod, old level layouts you thought you once knew will change on you. Some hallways will open, and close, and even bend in on themselves.
It is a bit hard to explain, but if you’ve ever seen the latest portal tech in newer ZDoom/GZDoom versions, you’ll know what I mean.
Weapon overhaul
A lot of the weapons have been completely reanimated from the ground up to allow support for multiple FOV settings.
There have also been a few extra weapons added to the roster.
There is also a shotgun now, an extremely limited use item that can only be found once. There are also a limited amount of shells for it.
Release!?
I said earlier that I was aiming for a September release, however its more looking like end of October as a full open beta. I don’t expect there to be much difference between the beta and final release other than any glaring bugs that need to be resolved, so I’m happy to say it will be the full release.
All I can say is thanks for sticking with this. It has been a long haul but we’re almost there!
Total Chaos 
Fantastic! I’m liking these changes, and I’m glad to see you alive and well! Just a couple of questions: Will there be an eventual update to take advantage of the currently WIP model shading and Day/Night systems? Will the current shadow-mapping system be used in the lighting scheme? I feel that these features would potentially help with atmosphere and mood, if nothing else. Granted, they are wholly unnecessary.
Cheers Aaron!
No plans for day/night systems unfortunately. We had a prototype running with it at one point but we had several performance issues with adjusting sector colours and fog values on the fly so we had to pull it out.
I managed to get the sky-dome to change during the course of the mod, there is also a lightning system that adds to the atmosphere quite nicely too.
Hey, I know you said you were aiming for an end of October beta release but don’t worry too much about it. I hope you take your time and don’t feel pressured to rush the game out. I’m looking forward to the new changes. The game looks beautiful and it’ll be great when you release it. Take care.
Thanks! Looks like I missed the end of October release window. More info about a release shortly, stay tuned 😉
Please tell me, you are still alive.
Still alive! Some more info shortly.
Some weekly news would be nice, i’m hyped.
stay alive
Almost done
♥️
You still with us? How’s the project looking?
Sing it with me now! Another bites the dust uh huh, another one bites the dust oh ya! Another one down and another one down and another one bites the dust! Dead mod…
I take it you missed the brand new screenshots that came out last week on Mod Database and Facebook then?