Just wanted to give you a short preview of the next chapter that's currently in development. We're working on a set of new missions that will take you deeper into the enemy base and throw some twists into the current gameplay mechanics. Skip this post if you want avoid spoilers and find out for yourself once we release the update! ːsteammockingː
Missions
These environments will add a new variety to the current visual style of the game. A lot of inspiration came from some classic video game levels and movie environments. These new missions will also have some additional gameplay mechanics for a greater variety of VR movement, like underwater swimming and wall-running.
Weapons
I'm working on an improved weapon system, which will also allow dual wielding guns in both hands and properly two-handing a bigger weapon. The game initially wasn't planned to have this, but due to popular request (and the fact that you can't really have a slowmo shooter without akimbo pistols) I'm currently changing the code to allow for this and figure out how to best implement the ammo system and how to practically reload two pistols at the same time in VR.
Enemies
More enemies will come to mix up the current gameplay and add more challenge to the shootouts. These enemies will be faster and smarter, so you can't just slowmo your way through everything.
I don't have an ETA for the release yet, I'm afraid. Thank you very much for your patience, as we are still working on this game in our free time beside our regular jobs. All the positive feedback and reviews have been really helpful to us and hopefully some day every VR gamer will get to play District Steel!
Enjoy your day! - AJ & Arno
Revolver + Tech Collectable Update (v0.2.0)
New:
Weapon: Revolver, a powerful handgun with slow firing speed. Can be fired quicker using the fanning technique, at the cost of accuracy
Gun selector popup UI for quick weapon swapping
35 Tech Chip collectables hidden throughout the game, used to unlock bonus features
17 unlockable bonus cheats to use when replaying missions
Fixed/Changed:
Changed the default controller layout to be more in line with similar VR shooters, and added more buttons to the customizable controls. (If you prefer the old controls, you can quickly swap back to the previous button layout)
Regular jump action added to player movement
Added Trigger Sensitivity option
Added option to throw Grenades using a preview throwing arc indicator
Added first iteration of two-handed weapon holding (needs much more improvement and is currently only for immersion, has no impact on gun recoil yet)
Buffed Energy Cell pickups to make them more appealing
Further rebalanced boss fight
This update adds two new sections to the ingame menu; the Loadout screen for new weapons (like the new Revolver) and the Tech Unlock screen for unlockable features, such as cheats. Future content will be added here and is unlocked through the new Tech currency which rewards players for exploring the levels and replaying missions. (There’s also an unlockable tool to make finding them easier) The cheats are only usable on previously completed missions and are meant to provide some extra fun, some cheats might not work in certain parts of the game. Everything is still subject for further improvement, especially animations and UI design. If you run into any bugs, let me know on the forum!
(If you have issues with a new patch, you can always go back to an older one in Properties > Betas)
Feeling nostalgic? Unlock the bonus features, like Paintball Mode!
This week I've been finishing up the new revolver sidearm. This weapon works slightly different than the previous guns, so it needed some additional functionality for it to feel like an actual revolver. It's almost ready for release, but before it can go into the game, I want to have the new unlock system finished as well.
Some of the future content will be locked behind this new progression system, encouraging players to do more exploring in the levels. I'd like to add a lot of secret areas and hidden rooms to the game, but those would be less interesting if they only offered ammo and health pickups, like the game currently does. This is why we're working on a new type of collectible pickup, spread throughout the missions, which will be linked to the new progression system. This system will reward players with points that they can use to unlock new gear and bonus features, adding more depth and replayability to the existing and future missions.
Lastly there will be another small balance update to the current final boss. This update is already available on the beta branch, so check it out if you're currently stuck on the boss fight. The final phase has been adjusted to be a little less overwhelming.
That's all for now, have a great weekend!
- AJ
Devlog #03: Patch v0.1.2 release + new level teaser
Yesterday we've released patch v0.1.2 onto the main branch, making the upgrade to Unreal 4.27 official. It's very nice for me to know that we're (hopefully) finished with the big technical updates, so now we can fully focus on the fun part; developing new weapons, enemies and levels. Alongside this upgrade I've added a lot of bugfixes and some quality of life features, many of which were suggested by the community. Many thanks for this continuous feedback, keep all those ideas coming, they are much appreciated!
We've also started working on the continuation of the campaign, thinking about what the next area is going to be like. The idea of the "story" of the game is to infiltrate much deeper into the enemy base, deep into the SenTRI nerve centre. One of the new locations we are working on is the Caverns, which will present an interesting combination of natural rock formations together with the artificial sci-fi bunker elements of District Steel. This opens up new possibilities for level design, with interesting combat encounters and ways to put rocket jumping and slowmotion to use. Check the screenshot below for a little teaser of what this is going to be like, but keep in mind that the level is still very early in development!
Have a nice weekend all!
- AJ
Teaser:
Patch v0.1.2
Patch v0.1.2
Fixed:
Upgraded game engine to Unreal 4.27
Reworked Quick Save system
Added Steam Cloud Save support
Fixed a randomly occurring crash when loading a save. (FRenderResource Error)
Fixed duplicate guns from spawning after loading a save from the main menu.
Fixed a bug where the game could autosave while you were dead.
Normalized HMD direction for HMD Oriented movement.
Fixed a visual bug with the data upload terminals in Mission 04.
Fixed a possible issue with the game losing focus when starting.
Fixed the game sound being muted when not in focus.
Fixed ‘Health Already Full’ display message on HUD.
Fixed another bug where you could exit Map Mode without losing the green wireframe vision.
Guns now start reloaded at the beginning of a mission, if the ammo is available in pouch.
Slightly increased player bullet velocity during slowmotion.
Added option to select either left or right hand in the Rocket Boost Orientation setting.
Slightly increased canvas size of PDA Menu to make space for future content.
Added a slight amount of air-control when rocket jumping.
Slightly reduced max health of the weakpoints of the last boss. (Boss difficulty will get further polished in a future update, more consistent AI and pathing e.g.)
Known issues:
Some visual effects behave differently in slowmotion in this engine version, I will manually fix these in the coming days.
The background music during the arena battles can make a stutter when you exit slowmotion.
Previous Quick Saves will be lost because of the reworked system. You will still keep your unlocked mission progress in the Select Mission screen, but you’ll have to start from the beginning of the mission if you had quit the game half-way after your last play session. Sorry for this inconvenience! (If for some reason you also lost unlocked mission progress, check the FAQ on the forum!)
Devlog #02: Engine upgrade on Beta branch
The engine upgrade to Unreal 4.27 has been completed and the patch has been uploaded to the Beta branch for public testing! Once it has been confirmed to be stable I will set it to the main branch. Since most of the game files have been changed due to this upgrade, this patch size will be quite large compared to the usual patches. I'm assuming version 4.27 will be the final engine update for Unreal 4, since Epic is probably fully focused on Unreal Engine 5 from now. So with this out of the way we can fully focus on developing the new content for the game!
We've started working on the next gun to be added to the game. It's a heavy revolver that can be equipped in the side-holster, instead of the default handgun. Its fire rate is slower, but the bullets really pack a punch, so accurate aiming is encouraged! You will need to unlock this weapon first, via a new progression system that I'm working on. This system will also add more exploration and replayability to the missions. Stay tuned for more info about this!
Sneak peek:
Beta branch v0.1.2 - preliminary patch notes:
Fixed:
Upgraded game engine to Unreal 4.27
Reworked Quick Save system
Fixed a randomly occurring crash when loading a save. (FRenderResource Error)
Fixed duplicate guns from spawning after loading a save from the main menu.
Fixed a bug where the game could autosave while you were dead.
Normalized HMD direction for HMD Oriented movement.
Fixed a visual bug with the data upload terminals in Mission 04.
Fixed a possible issue with the game losing focus when starting.
Fixed the game sound being muted when not in focus.
Fixed Arm Oriented rocket boost hand if the Boost input is changed to a button on the other controller.
Fixed ‘Health Already Full’ display message on HUD.
Fixed another bug where you could exit Map Mode without losing the green wireframe vision.
Guns now start reloaded at the beginning of a mission, if the ammo is available in your pouch.
Known issues:
Some visual effects behave differently in slowmotion in this engine version, I will manually fix these in the coming days.
Previous Quick Saves will be lost because of the reworked system. You will still keep your unlocked mission progress in the Select Mission screen, but you’ll have to start from the beginning of the mission if you had quit the game half-way after your last play session. Sorry for this inconvenience!
Have a nice weekend all!
- AJ
District Steel - Devlog #01
Huge thanks to everybody for the amazing Early Access launch last week! Reading all the positive comments and seeing everyone's reactions put a big smile on our faces! We couldn't wait to start on the development for the new content and we've already started discussing plans for the upcoming levels and weapons!
This week I've been taking in feedback from the reported bugs and improvements from the community. I'm currently working on a big technical patch to fix a lot of these! The biggest one is the engine upgrade to Unreal version 4.27. I initially planned to tackle this one later, but I decided to give it a quick shot just to see how many issues it would bring, and to my surprise there were very few errors! In fact the upgrade is currently pretty much finished already, and I’m testing a build right now, playing the game from start to end and so far it all seems to be working as intended! Before pushing this patch to the main branch on Steam, I will upload it to the Beta branch first so others can test it out. Having done this early is really nice, because the longer I wait, the more work it would become in the future. This update should also give some nice engine bug fixes and performance improvements in VR!
I've also been looking into a bug with the saving and loading system. There was an issue with save files from the demo being loaded in the full game. This has now been fixed and the saving system overall has been improved.
For the upcoming weapons there should be some sort of loadout system in the game to allow switching of guns. I’m currently working on this loadout system to see what the most ideal way of handling this would be. So far I’ve got a mock-up in the ingame menu, but this might still change. The idea is to select which gun you want to have equipped in which holster. The side holder will be for small weapons, the waist holster for medium sized weapons and the shoulder holster for large ones.
That's all for now! For the complete list of bugfixes stay tuned for the upcoming patch on the Beta branch. Have a nice weekend everybody!
- AJ
Patch v0.1.1
Patch v0.1.1
Fixed enemy colors in Map Mode.
Fixed a bug where it would incorrectly exit Map Mode and you’d still have the green wireframe vision applied.
Added more haptic feedback to punching enemies and smashing objects.
Fixed a bug where sometimes levels would not unlock in the Main Menu mission selection.
Added a passcode to the game to unlock all missions, see the FAQ on the forum.
(If you have issues with a new patch, you can always go back to an older one in Properties > Betas)
District Steel - Early Access is out NOW!
Hi everyone!
The wait is finally over! Check out the new campaign filled with a variety of missions in different environments and with new objectives to complete. Fight against an army of deadly enemies standing in your way and show off your skills in stylish rocket-boosting slow-motion combat!
Many thanks to everyone who has been following us for the past years and to anyone who gave us feedback on the demo! If you’d like to keep supporting the further development of the game, don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts, feedback and suggestions on the Steam Discussions page! Also consider leaving a review, every single one helps out a ton!
AJ & Arno
Pre-release Build Fixes #2
Fixed an autosave bug in Mission 02
Fixed “Swap Move and Turn Input” option
Fixed Left Handed selection at game start
Slightly increased Energy reward when defeating enemies
