35% Off GTTOD: Get To The Orange Door - Steam Daily Deal
Hey Guys Its Dasher here
We have an exciting announcement to make. GTTOD: Get To The Orange Door is nearing completion, which means that the early access phase is coming to an end.
For those who haven't yet heard of Get to the Orange Door (GTTOD) is an action-packed, parkour first-person shooter rogue-like game set in a shattered and chaotic dimension. In GTTOD, the player takes on the role of a powerful hero who uses Godlike powers and abilities to battle their way out of The Shatter, a twisted dimension.
For a limited time only, you can get GTTOD at a discounted price of 35% off as part of the Steam Daily Deal today, May 7th. Don't miss out on this opportunity to grab GTTOD with a 35% discount ON TOP of the early access deal and join the ranks of players who have already been blown away by the game's fast-paced gameplay, unique visuals, and thumping soundtrack.
Join the Community here: https://discord.gg/layersdeep Keep up with GTTOD on Social media! https://linktr.ee/gttod Sign up for the newsletter here to get updates and exclusives: http://eepurl.com/imfO-g
Hey, let's just talk lol
It has been 298 days since we talked about really putting our heads down and brute forcing this change in GTTOD.
I won't lie, it was tough. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but if you were in the Discord during this time, you know what I'm talking about. But we finally made it to the finish line, and things are finally looking up. My reviews are up, most of my players and community are happy (and the ones that aren't, I'm confident I can win back), and I am finally moving forward with finishing this game.
None of it would have been possible without your absolutely overwhelming amount of support and patience.
Through this process, the GTTOD community was absolutely crazy. I have never felt more cared for and supported in my entire life - especially when I more than likely did not deserve it at all. I'm telling you, dude; I saw kindness here that I did not even think was possible. The warmth and companionship I experienced during this whole ordeal was unmatched, and I just wanted to say thank you. So,
THANK YOU SO MUCH
If I were to dive in and search the furthest stretches of my imagination, I do not think, even then, that I would be able to dream up a better community than the one I have been given. Truly, I would be nowhere without you. You have my word, I will do absolutely everything in my ability to return it back to you.
Here's to many more!
-Andrew, Dev In Recovery Mode
PS: Also join my Discord Server so that you, too, can witness me suffer.
[PATCH NOTES] GTTOD: The Dark Down Under
WE MADE IT AYAYAYAYAYAYAYA
Sorry had to get that out. PHEW. This was an actual honest to God workout. That was 16 months of pure pain, but hopefully now I'll have my footing and we can push forward with some real legit progress. I'm gonna immediately start working on bolstering the level count and run length by implementing Act 2 levels hopefully within the month. Then, it's straight sprint for the finish line.
Anyway, thank you all for being so patient and understanding with me. I realize I don't always get it right, but through this process you have been incredibly kind and considerate, and I cannot overstate my appreciation and gratitude. With that being said, let's just uhhhh list some stuff I guess. Sure, here we go.
Oh also join the Discord / Newsletter I beg of you
Reworked Character Controller Far smoother and more responsive movement Improved camera control Improved air control Improved wallrunning Improved clambering Improved dashing Improved sliding Improved crouching Improved swimming Added wall kicking Added wall orientation switching Added moving platform support
Reworked Weapon Controller Added support for any variety or combination of reload animations Added functional inspect and interaction animations Overall, just a huge expansion of animation systems with regards to weapons and interactivity Added charge, hold, and release states to weapon system Added stage based weapon modes for uncapped weapon creation
Reworked enemy lineup All enemies have their own strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors in combat Reworked Blade Sentinel arena and fight Added Legion Sentinel event fights Added the “Drake” enemy Added the “Golem” enemy Added the “Cinder Hound” enemy Added the “Nest” enemy Added the “Strider” enemy Reworked enemy energy shields and status effects Reworked enemy staggering and impact damage Reworked all enemy damage and projectiles
Reworked level line up Added “Ashwood Thicket” as a stage 1 level Added “Amber Vale” as a stage 1 level Reworked “Forged Pass” as a stage 2 level Added “Timber Husk” as a stage 2 level Added “Hollow Valley” as a stage 3 level Added “Elder Isle” as a stage 3 level Added “Slumbering Spring” as a bonus stage 3 level Added “The Blade Sentinel” as a stage 4 level
Loads of new mechanics A fully persistent player upgrades system An attunement system for gameplay modifications A card pack and equipment system A curses system A blessings system A key and HUB system A fully functioning training mode / area Dungeons and room by room based arena progression A redesigned rewards system for playing the game New menu layout and options New Tactical and Lethal equipment slots New Weapon Wheel swapping mechanics and labels New loot system with a focus on in world interactive objects New heat based AI manager for adjusting difficulty and pacing depending on player skill New difficulty selection system Multiple secrets hidden throughout the game Reworked weapon upgrades and management system Weapon and item crafting Mid-run player upgrades system Reworked obliterate and loop mechanics
Entirely new soundtrack 11 new tracks composed Tracks can now transition from opening segments to looping and ending segments with optional stingers
Reworked artstyle Kinda focused on being less terrible to look at, really Overall a softer, more focus and directed art style Day and night cycle with varying settings for daytime and nighttime fog, skybox, and atmosphere to keep areas looking unique as you play through them Added fishing Removed fishing Readded fishing Reremoved fishing Stop asking for fishing I mean it, do not ask me to add fishing The next person who asks me to add fishing gets sold on the black market, and the money made from it will be reinvested into terrible video game TV show adaptations on Netflix This is a joke I'll add fishing back in soon
Reworked HUD, menus, and UI New HUD is simplified and more advanced looking New UI is simple and cleaner, as well as being more screen centered Much higher variety in menus, each with improved visuals over previous iterations
Finishing The Blade Sentinel, more guns, and more "modes"
Welcome back!
So, I was moving out of my apartment this month - hence why I almost immediately fell off the face of the Earth for communication right after I said I wouldn't do that lol
I'm nothing if not consistent.
Aaaaaaanyway, this whole month has pretty much been all about The Blade Sentinel. If you're on the Super Secret Branch, you've probably met him lately. He's an absolute bitch to fight in your version, and he still is in my version - but by FAR less lol I reduced his health and damage and pretty heavily modified his attack behaviors.
BUT, before I get ahead of myself, here is his birth:
I started by getting him hooked up to the regular enemy functionality so that players can catch him on fire and kill him in all the regular ways.
Next I moved onto getting his normal combat situated. This was a pretty similar set-up to The Legion Sentinel. He basically has a set of attack animations, and when you're in his range for long enough or he has an attack ready, he will lunge towards you and play one of the attacks. Each attack can hit at different times, some even proc more than once.
While I was working on his behavior, in the background, Ford was cleaning up my old arena art I had passed over to him and making it look presentable. Funny enough, this area was supposed to be a mix of white and black, but in his render he used a very mellow and cool blue, and I liked it so much I replicated it in game with my own shaders.
While this screenshot was a bit busy, it did show off how the arena looked in game at that stage of development.
I took a bit of a break to finally implement GTTOD's last gun, the BHG. This is without a doubt the craziest iteration of the weapon. Krev finished this gun up MONTHS ago, and I have Ford to thank for the animations. I, of course, did the cleanup, implementation, and effects. I was also working on a layout for the arena in the background as well. I played around with a few different ideas, but ultimately ended up with...
This thing. The arena kinda pops out of the ground as The Blade Sentinel drops into the combat area. Pretty neat!
Meanwhile, Krev finished up the LMG remake and I got it implemented.
To round off the month, I added two more Runes to the wall of attunements. The first, a pretty basic arena mode that I plan on fleshing out sometime next month. After that was a new rune that makes it so you play EVERY single level in order rather than getting three randomized levels and a bossfight.
BUT ANYWAY, that pretty much wraps up the month! Again, it was mostly slow since I was moving. The rest of March will likely be far more eventful.
So, I think I have a solution to that disconnect issue I mentioned...
THE WALL OF ATTUNEMENT
So, before I start, this actually is mostly Ford's idea, not mine - but was something I had considered doing in the past, albeit a bit different than what is shown here.
BASICALLY the Wall of Attunement is a way to...nudge...the game's playstyle a bit. For those of you not super happy with the direction I took, I hope that, through this, I may still yet have a chance to give you the gameplay style you were expecting from GTTOD. For instance, if you are someone who wants to just play the game as a movement game, that's actually a thing you can do. Just select "The Rune Of Wonderous Speed" in the Wall of Attunement, and you'll be able to play the game without enemies (although also without rewards).
If you were someone who was more interested in the arena combat (and the Dungeons don't do it for you), soon I'll have the Rune Of Unwavering Defense as well as the Rune of the Blind Dagger to hopefully fill those gaps for you. If you like the gameplay loop, but want it to be a bit more combat focused, soon you'll be able to use the Rune of Boiling Blood to nudge the game in that direction a bit more. Lastly, if you were wanting to play the game as I intended, then the Rune of the Forsaken Balance is perfect for you, as it sets every game modifier to their default settings.
Here's a list of the currently planned Runes, although this will certainly expand as I come up with more receive more ideas:
RUNE OF THE FORSAKEN BALANCE
Resets all game modifiers to their default values
RUNE OF WONDEROUS SPEED
Prevents enemies from spawning in game, but also prevents the player from obtaining any meta rewards
RUNE OF UNWAVERING DEFENSE
Instead of teleporting into The Shatter, the player will teleport into an arena upon starting a run
RUNE OF BOILING BLOOD
While ammo pickups will reward less ammunition overall, enemies will drop ammo from being damaged and killed far more frequently
RUNE OF STEADFAST RESTRAINT
End-level-rewards will always be Jade Vines
RUNE OF INSATIABLE GREED
End-level-rewards will always be Shards
RUNE OF THE BLIND DAGGER
Instead of teleporting into The Shatter, the player will teleport into a flat plane area, and will be cursed with Judgement upon starting a run
Anyway, if you have any other ideas for rune, or have any things you'd like to see added or changed to the existing runes, let me know. This system will be on the super secret branch over the new coming days, although I'm not sure how many runes I'll have done on them by the time it reaches you.
Either way, see you later!
-Andrew, Dev Thing
9 Months Of GTTOD Development Progress
WELCOME BACK!!!
So, before I start, I have some apologies to rattle off. First off, yeah I know, I suck at keeping this place up to date on the game. In my mind, I've always kind of considered the GTTOD community just one big clump of people, so when I'd post something on the GTTOD Discord Server(which I have done nearly every day for the last 6 years, shameless plug here) I figured that was just going out to "The GTTOD Community" and everyone would get the memo. I see now that there are other microcosms all over the place, each with their own opinions and thoughts on the game. I'm sure going from Sticks and Stones P2 to The Super Secret Branch was crazy whiplash for a lot of people, when really I was expecting everyone to be up to date on what I was doing.
Totally my bad, I'll try and do better posting here from here on out (even if it is a little annoying to fumble with Steam's announcement system).
SECOND apology (yep, I know, another one), to those of you in the last announcement that I got snarky with. Totally wasn't my intention to come off that way, especially not to MachineGod who genuinely did have some good criticisms and was otherwise very kind and concise with his report. I think I often write way too casually, don't really consider what I say, and absolutely come off as a total jerk more times than I'd like. I wanted to just shoot out a quick apology for that, since it really did start kind of a spiral in there. Good God, that was a nightmare. Avoid that place lmao ALTHOUGH I WILL SAY, even though I'm 100% planning on being more careful with that sort of thing, I'm still just...me. I hope no one gets the impression that I'm some corporate entity or anything like that. I'm just a guy at his PC, and sometimes I do the right thing, and sometimes I do the wrong thing, and it's my job to listen to you guys to make sure that everything is running smoothly.
It's kind of like talking a blindfolded man through a maze. Except, in this particular case, that blindfolded man is me, who is also terrible at listening to directions.
GOOD LUCK, HA
Aaaaaanyway, without further ado, here's the last 9 months worth of pain and suffering.
Holy crap, I did not realize it has been this long since I've done one of these. Last we spoke, I hadn't even started the redo we discussed a few months ago. I think at that point I was just poking at a new character controller, but hadn't really decided to do anything with it yet.
Well, the first thing I did after the last post was start working on implementing a whole new weapon system onto the new controller. This one had tactical reloads, inspect animations, and all sorts of cool new features that made pretty much any gun I wanted to make way easier and quicker to whip out. With Krev's help on the models, before long, I had a pretty meaty weapon lineup with flashy new animations to boot.
Afterwards I decided to really get cranking on some enemies. I pretty much started with an enemy template that I could hook all their basic behaviors into - so things like jumping and moving and aiming and staggering and what-not all got slapped onto one brainless husk. So, don't feel bad that I'm shoving him into a wall and killing him. He doesn't feel a thing.
Soon I had them moving and fighting the way I liked. I really started to separate their mechanics once I implemented the shield. I felt that I could expand on that a bit to really define enemy types.
A month or so later, and I had a pretty decent basic starter lineup consisting of a bunch of guns, Razors, Grunts, Raptors, and Infantry (now known as "Drakes"), and even a new melee system that worked fairly similarly to the old one, but with more control.
And it was right here, about a month into the remake, that I felt things were really shaping up far better than previous attempts had gone. The new controller felt great, the game was looking far better, the weapons and animations far higher quality, and more time and care was being put into the actual design of the game too (now that I had had the chance to screw it up a few times, at least).
Krev and I (mostly Krev) got to work on creating a few new enemy types, including a new mid-round boss enemy that hunts the player down throughout the game, "The Legion Sentinel". This guy won't be out until the NEXT update, but he actually is in the Super Secret Branch to fight at the end for funsies.
Around this time, with the help of Jesus (who came IN PERSON to guide the operation), I also somehow managed to build a new PC. Thanks, God.
Once I got things together, I decided to take some time to poke at a new level editor, but this has been held off for a bit while I finish up the rest of the game.
I started working on levels, new visuals, and a template for a new Card System (which you can see finished in the Super Secret Branch). This new system was meant to be around finding and opening card packs that you'd collect while playing. Those packs would then turn into three new gear cards you could use in the HUB (now called "Harbor Deep").
Papa, everyone's favorite admin in the Discord server, was given a choice: Kill the "Gup Chat" (which had garnered a cult in the Discord server), kill the "Gup Cult" (the aforementioned cult), OR sacrifice himself, and guarantee the cult's survival. Of course, Papa decided to sacrifice himself, and was therefore banished from the GTTOD server.
So then I rebranded the GTTOD server into my own personal server, and Papa was immediately brought back. That was a pretty crazy day, though, ngl.
I began working on some new areas and visuals, tweaking and optimizing things to better fit in the new artstyle.
Come on, man. Game looks pretty good, you have to admit.
Around this time, Ford's son, the Golem was born. He was here to take the place of the original Bruiser, and do that he did. The dude hurts.
I also decided to play through the game and talk about how I felt a bit regarding the changes.
After that, I went about reworking how keys and bunkers functioned. It wasn't a HUGE change, but enough of one to, I think, make a big difference in how the game is played. Basically, keys are most commonly found from looting now. In recent versions, you can shoot the doors open on vehicles and crates to quickly search an area. Keys can also be bought from shops, found from killing enemies, and found by breaking the key jar that is a guaranteed spawn in every level. On top of that, Bunkers locations were randomized each stage, and for the most part are the only places to find weapons and equipments (other than the Grab A Gun). This made the gameplay loop more about exploring and navigating around the level to power up than it did about just being a Point A to Point B shooter.
This point honestly needs more discussion, because I believe we have a rift in people's expectations with this game, and that is very much one of the symptoms of my lack of super clear communication over here. I think a lot of people come into it with "DOOM, ULTRAKILL, FAST GO GO SHOOT GAME" speed mentality, when really I was hoping to capture that "Risk Of Rain, Hades" pacing (but with a bit more pep in its step). The difficult part for me is now trying to bridge these two communities together, which is far harder than you'd think. I believe that the people on the DOOM side of the fence are wanting to have kind of a power fantasy game where they don't really feel SUPER challenged outside of boss fights. Meanwhile, the people on the ROR side of the fence are more masochistic, and want a challenge through and through.
You can probably see where I'm heading with this.
How do I make a power fantasy rogue-like game that *also* likes to beat you up a bit?
Food for thought. ANYWAY, moving on.
Next I wanted to fill the world with more things to spend your hard earned Shards on, so I started with a pretty simple health upgrade item called Endurance Crystals. Grab one from their chest, choose what you want, and crack it open. Simple. Next I moved onto something more weapon-oriented, which I wanted to kinda be like a low-level Build-A-Bang upgrade. What I landed on was a workbench that I plan to eventually tie into a very simple, streamlined crafting system for equipment (and maybe more).
See? There's another one of those "clearly not a DOOM game" moments that I think would have gone FAR better had I actually communicated that I wasn't making a DOOM-type game.
But boy God, soon I'd land on somethings that I think we can ALL AGREE are net positives for the game, which included...
The first of the cool new things in this update were the new curses and blessings system I called "Karma". Basically you have good karma (Blessings, always positive) and bad karma (Curses, a mixed bag). You can find their respective tones in their own bunkers - the first being the revamped Shrine Of The Summit, and the second being the new Altar Of The Abyss. You will be presented with three karma options and must choose one of them to proceed.
After that I finally decided to tackle Dungeons! These are pretty much your high-risk-high-reward areas where enemies scale faster, are more frequently buffed, and are confined in an enclosed space. The payoff is that Dungeons offer the player a really quick and fun way to farm for Jade Vines...which brings us to the next big thing, which might be the most contentious one yet.
Meta Progression. Now, if you were to ask me PERSONALLY, I'd say this is probably the greatest thing I have ever added to GTTOD. I think it is pretty much a great foundational pillar to give players something to aim at, to play for. You basically start with a handful of options to upgrade, and by completing more levels, getting more Jade Vines, and applying them to your character, you can become extremely EXTREMELTY powerful.
Unfortunately, it's not a perfect addition. There are downsides, one of which was felt early on in testing. In order to make a progression system, I couldn't grant the player every ability to start off with like what a lot of people are used to. I can definitely see why a lot of people were upset about that, too. Like I said, with the lack of communication on Steam, a lot of people are in-it-to-win-it on that kind of fast paced arena shooter mentality, which a progression system doesn't really slot as nicely into the frame of. Yet another one of those moments that better communication could have hopefully mitigated.
I still want to work on this system, as, like I said, it's not perfect. I think there are some really cool places I could take this, like almost a psuedo-battle-pass layout in the same way that Gear Cards are a psuedo-loot-crate system (for reference, I do hate those systems when done in toxic, money-hungry ways, but when done right and not involving irl money, I think there are a few things that can be learned from them when discussing properly rewarding the player for their actions).
Anyway, moving on...
Finally, I started working on a tutorial / training area I could use until the prologue is finished. I decided to slap it in this simulated world called "The Reflection", and use that area as a basic gameplay, movement, and combat tutorial. There's even an arena and timed gauntlet to play around with.
Finally, I wrapped up the closed testing with The Legion Sentinel, that dude from earlier I talked about. Finally got him animated and working correctly, and TRUTHFULLY he is pretty fun to fight. Not hard, but fun.
I also had a lot of fun making some of the more hand crafted Babe weapons alongside Ford, the best of which turned out to be this thicc dumpy, the Inheritor.
While initially I was hesitant, eventually I did cave in an add a progression difficulty system, which turned out to be really really great for everyone. There's even a secret difficulty hidden on the totem if you wanna try and trigger it. Otherwise, still pretty happy with this addition.
Finally, after loads of tweaks and testing, I wrapped things up with a pretty cool new loading mechanism I call "The Tower". This is a massive structure that cuts clear into the sky ferries leads you to the next level. It's just a cool way to wrap up the end of the level, and gives you a second to breathe. Eventually I'm also going to display level stats in here, too.
WHEW, so that wraps up the last 9 months, pretty much. Obviously I skipped over a ton of the smaller things since otherwise this would take far FAR longer, but if you'd like to see those smaller things, I invite you to join the Discord! I think after the discussions from last week, we all kinda realized it was a bit of an echochamber in there, and are making an effort to be less...echoy...
Could really use your help with that, for that matter. Please, join in, talk about your thoughts on the progress, and let me know what you think!
Again, thanks to everyone who has stuck with me thus far. I do hope the project is going in the direction that you had hoped it would, and, if it's not, I'd like to talk with you about it and see if we can't come to a conclusion that is right for everyone (or as much of "everyone" as we can). Feel free to chat about it down below, and let me know what you think!
On top of that, I'm gonna be getting some help in here from time to time from Hitcents' very own Junie (Dasher)! She will be keeping an eye on this place more frequently than I have; and when I decide to become snarky again, she will also be forcefully administering 30 grams of Carbamazepine into my bloodstream to either kill me or knock me out, where-then a fully automated and robotic AI controlled version of me will take my place and proceed to engage with the community in a more respectable fashion.
But I want you to know.
That ain't me.
I'm dead.
...
ANWAY, thanks again for reading! Hope to see you again, but this time sooner than 9 months.
-Andrew, Dev Robot
I beg of thee
So, you may have noticed that the Steam page has changed quite a bit. That's because GTTOD's next update, The Dark Down Under, is wrapping up in production. I decided to go ahead and change a few things for that reason.
If you're wanting to try the update early, I am currently pushing updates to The Super Secret Branch every few days while I finish things up. You can try these updates by going to:
GTTOD > Properties > Betas > Super Secret Build
Give them a shot, and let me know what you think in the DISCORD SERVER
Thanks!!!
-Andrew, Dev Guy
Almost 10 Minutes Of Unedited GTTOD Dev Branch Gameplay
Description:
WHEW LAD, been a while.
SO, this footage was all captured from my Dev Branch / Patreon build of GTTOD's upcoming update (name yet to be revealed). I've been making some pretty wacky progress the last few days, and I'm really liking how things are shaping up. There's still lots to do, of course. Right now levels are pretty barren, consisting of pretty much the (unfinished) door, bunkers, and various interactable objects for loot and what-not. Soon I want to have more to do in the levels, like the Build A Bang, The Corrupted Armor (optional bossfight for melee weapons), Dungeons, and functioning perk objects (Shrine of the Summit / Altar of the Abyss).
So, by the time I have everything in, I hope people will be spending around 8 - 12 minutes in each level. I played this level pretty slowly and it took me around 8 minutes, so an average player hopefully would take a bit longer. ALTHOUGH, I do worry about that time a bit, too. If each level were to take 10 minutes, a full run of GTTOD would be around two and a half hours long, which is FAR FAR too long to be playing a single run. I'm gonna have to find some places to cut that length down, or finish implementing that save-system you may have seen me toying around with in the Discord server (the one where he dips his helmet into the water and the game shuts off).
Annnnyway, I'm gonna leave you some links, and you should leave me some feedback. See ya later!
So, I know the wait for the next update has been long an painful - but I figured I've reached a point where I could drop a little playroom to mess around in. It's very simple; a couple guns and a button that spawns enemies, but I'm hoping it can give you an idea of how the game is playing at this stage.
I think it's pretty fun either way, so maybe that alone makes it worth it.
I have no idea, I just work here.
ANYWAY, if you'd like to play the game, go to your betas tab and select "Super Secret Build" in the dropdown. Here's a GIF that shows you how to do that if you're not used to this sorta thing:
https://gfycat.com/deaddeficientgavial
Have fun, and let me know how it goes in my Discord server!
So here's a quick progress update to show you how things are going! I'm really only playing through the Beacon Spawns since I still have to get the Door Event up and running again, but for the time being it's still pretty fun. It's honestly disappointing when Beacons stop dropping enemies since the core gameplay loop is feeling so good. It actually has me wondering if I should have the infinite spawning always going, but have it very very muted (like slow down the spawn rate) until you get to higher threat levels.
I dunno, something to consider. Food for thought. Sorrow for tomorrow.
