I took a few months off from this game to brush up on my Unity skills so I can further polish the game along with bug fixing quite a few issues with the current demo (some functionality with the rocket launcher got streamlined as well, remote control functionality no longer needs to be equipped, you only hold the button down to get it or tap rapid fire rockets, some visual/audio polish WIP etc.).

I worked on a clean side project just so I can learn post processing effects among other things, not something I plan on taking seriously, just a space where I can try out new cool things before I bring them into Organism 8. You can check it out here.

https://twitter.com/MFSDDuong/status/1382742739750592515

I ended learning some new water shader techniques so hopefully I can make a nice pixel water shader for Organism 8.

If you haven't seen the November Gameplay demo featuring new sound effects and a reworked Odal fight (still WIP) feel free to give it a watch.



As you can see from the Odal fight, non lethal take downs has it's own merits. It's not just some moral choice, it will have some strategy value and may be used for various purposes like pressure plate mechanics as that is now possible as well.

The game now features audio reverb zoning with various settings for caves, underwater, etc, more sprite work has been added to the game and adjustments to lighting in many areas were done to provide another layer of polish that was much needed in many areas of the game.



As always thanks for your time and stay safe!

New audio and sfx have been added to the game (more still coming), for those who have been invited to the closed alpha test, feel free to give them a listen!

More fixes to Odal's encounter is on the way including more stun opportunities and a rework to ambush damage to reward flanking and proper stealth.

Electricity is on it's way as part of Organism8's electricity system and I look forward to showcasing more.

Happy halloween in the case I don't make it to my computer on Saturday.

I've been working on redesigning Odal's boss fight to simulate a more cat and mouse style encounter while trying to roll in some of the things the player learns about the Nekril Marines once you reach his area.



Adding tutorials to the game is always important. For Organism8, I've decided to roll it in as part of the environment rather than have a pause text for it, this helps keep the player in the game and maintains flow for those who don't really care about the tutorial.



More alpha keys will be given out eventually as more polish and the rest of the features reach a usable state. I look forward to getting these in the hands of metroidvania fans.

Happy late Canada Day/4th of July to everyone.

Progress has been slow as I've been trying to secure myself financially during these hard times (as is everyone). That being said;

I've moved over to the new 2D lighting system that Unity offers.



It's for most part really easy to use and fast. I've been able to apply this to the dynamic day/night system as well as environmental lighting. The result is being able to easily change the light mood of the environment to help signify if someone is outdoors or in a spooky cave which adds to the world building aspect of the game.



This next month will be focused on finishing Odal's new design to coincide with what the player is expected to learn up to that point. Stay tuned.



As always thanks for reading and stay safe.

It's been a productive month, core components of new systems have been instantiated and I finally have an early alpha test version available on steam (it's super early alpha but it works on other people's PCs so I'm happy, if you want to give it a shot, feel free to drop a message on the community forums, it's pretty lonely there.)



Day and Night cycles and weather associated with time of day now works in the snow mountains biome. The main goal behind each day and night cycle for each biome is that they are specific to their regions. In the snow mountains biome, a blizzard happens at night which causes Yulana to lose her thermal energy at a faster rate while outside on top of spawning ice wraiths in specific areas. This requires the player to choose between the harsh outdoor environment or to share shelter with a spectral assassin who is out for the blood of the player.



None lethal combat behavior is now instantiated, you can now incapacitate marines. The current KO duration is 2 minutes before they wake up again. Being able to stuff them into lockers, allied marines being able to revive them, etc etc coming soon.



I would like to thank you guys for your continued interest and hope to give you guys a polished demo very soon.

Thank You.

Now that more of the modular components are completely functional (not polished), I've been able to add some more value to the demo via physics puzzles and the like.



You'll see a couple varieties including some fairly standard bomb puzzles as well as ball puzzles like the maze puzzle.



It's been a long time coming. A lot of UI elements are still being drawn to provide additional polish to the user interface and hopefully I'll be able to get the demo out the door. There is now a beginning and the end to the demo so technically you can play through it from start to finish but a lot of story, polish, and some additional puzzle mechanics to the boss fights still need to be put into place.

Apologies for the long silence.

Recovery from my workplace accident has been slow but on the bright side I'm walking great now so that's gotta count for something, still hard to think but we'll get there. Now on to development.



As you can see, some work has been done on pressure plates, switches, logic, etc to add more depth to a lot of the areas. This came as a natural progression as I've continued to add generic logic scripts to interactables. Along with the material conductivity that I've showcased prior, I am hoping the puzzles in the game are both engaging and fun.



Odal is still receiving work to make him feel more menacing (he'll have more attacks outside of the charged strike and the das boot). The general goal behind the bosses in this game is to make the player feel physically inferior so that wit and strategy becomes the star of the show. This is a natural path for the character who in terms of story generally succeeds via superior strategy rather than brute strength.

Next we'll be adding more puzzle logic to the boss fights that the player would naturally come across before reaching the boss room.

Some bad news first.

I fell off the back of a truck and sustained an injury at work (back sprain) so I've been trying to recover from that the entire month. This unfortunately means that progress has been slow and I was not able to make some new Christmas decor for the holiday card but none the less.

Those of you who follow my twitter know that allied units are on the way.

https://twitter.com/MFSDDuong/status/1203411075288334336

They function as an assist and will pop up from time to time in areas that you've fully secured. Enemies will still spawn in these areas and sometimes super strong ones that your staff cannot handle or even scratch will spawn, requiring you to do most of the lifting. More details on that later.

I hope you guys have a good Christmas and Happy New Year!

I like to mix in some gameplay mechanics I've been working on with my holiday cards as a bit of showcase as to what you'll be expected to do in the game, in this case bringing an item to an NPC!