Fresh into the new year, here's what's been done...
So, from what I've told some people who have been asking questions about the game that includes: "How's the game going?" "Is it nearly finished?" "Wasn't it meant to be out by now?"
Well first off; the game is going well. Progress has been great and many new features has been implemented. Yes, the game and all the core mechanics are finished. It was pretty much good to go from its original launch date, that was the 2nd of this month! I kicked myself knowing that I had to delay it again, but I couldn't just release the game and have it as another generic shooter with a wasteland vibe. I want this game to stand out! So many people, reviewers, influencers and streamers from around the world have asked for a review key. I have obliged them all hoping that when the game does come out, it'll stand out, knowing that it is unique and worth playing. But there is a problem with balancing the games release vs features.
Now, I'm a very pedantic person when it comes to features for this game, however I see this as a scale that has two ends to it. On one end is the content that will come with this game at launch. On the other side is time, as the months go by, I am worried that interest will fade if the game takes too long to come out. It's kinda like a FOMO effect that I'm experiencing right now (Fear of missing out).
That's why I'm guaranteeing that TC:WA is going to be out before the second half of this year. Now, let's get into the good stuff!
GUNS, ATTACHMENTS, PAINT-JOBS!
Nothing is more important to me than to make your weapon your own by customising it to look and play exactly how you want it to be.
We've changed how the weapons are presented to the player. Before, every gun simply started at level 1, whenever you could afford it, you pay to have the stats increase to level 2 and so on. That wasn't going to cut it, I wanted to further expand, make it more deep. Now, you pretty much have 1 of every weapon, you can own 1 pistol, 1 rifle, etc. Once you unlock it, that is now yours to keep. You can still upgrade the tiers all the way up to level 5, as you improve your weapon, you'll unlock new attachments and paint jobs. This makes the relationships you have with your own armoury more personal and more fun in the long run.
Nearly all the weapons have categorised areas that you can apply an attachment. They range from: muzzle, top rail, bottom rail, side rail, magazine size and bullet type.
With a bit more tweaking to both the menu and the way the attachments are presented, I look forward to what combinations players will apply to their weapons and how they will use that to their advantage in the outside world in the harsh and violent city.
Speaking of which... the city!
SCREAMERS AND BANDITS!
More work has been going into the variety of Screamers that will mindlessly attack the player whilst they go about their business. By next week, we will have implemented different types of Screamers that you'll encounter. A crawler, one missing its arm or even their jaw! Some will be missing a part of their head while they try to tear you a new one. It'll keep the experience fresh and surprising.
You may also notice that their head has been scaled down a little bit. With the way they looked before, you would think that they'd topple over just by chasing you down the street.
Not only that, you're also going to encounter other humans out there who are also defending what is theirs and fighting for their life! Pass them by if you must, but these violent individuals may want to take some of your stuff if you're carrying some high valued gear. Don't be surprised if you are randomly shot from the distance by another living soul. It is an unforgiving world after all...
I'm going to leave it at that for now. But don't worry, the game gets better and better every week that passes. Anticipation is building up every day for me, the sooner this game releases, the sooner I can pop open a bottle of some expensive sparkling. Until then, it's sitting patiently in the refrigerator.
Thank you all for reading and supporting this project. And while you're here, why not quickly check out my socials. Follow if you haven't already and even possibly check out the books that this game is based off of. It will definitely give you a better idea about what this game is about. :D
But for good reason. In this quick update, I'll brush over a couple of major features and challenges have been presented to us in the past 5-6 weeks that have gone by since the last update.
First off: Merry Christmas to everyone, hope everyone had a good break and got together with loved ones and friends. Even to those that may not celebrate the event, I hope that you've had a good break over the season. To be honest though, the break isn't long enough...
Like the previous updates shown before from past months, there has been so much added and tweaked to make sure this game comes out as best as possible. Giving the remaining time-frame that we have to release this game, there is still much more to come post-launch. Personally, as much as I would love to hold the game back and keep on adding more and more content to this game, I think it'll be much more meaningful in the long run to add on free content as the weeks go by.
Obviously with game making; when something changes or is fixed, something else breaks. With every new demo that is shared, something new appears that needs to be attended to. This has stretched development and has stolen a lot of time that could have gone into other features.
Gunplay has been working very well with the way you purchase and upgrade them. Switching to 3rd person is now seamless and really feels like it was meant to be in the game from the start.
Survivors have been added into the game world, during your time outside, you may come across someone in need. If you can convince them to follow you back that is. Keep and eye on them and make sure you both don't get overrun. Some of your followers may be brave enough to fight back, but be sure to stay more vigilant on those that cower.
Those that you save will have their own place in the safezone. While you're taking a break from the horrors outside, check back with the lucky ones that you have rescued and hear what they have to say.
TecShield has been working very hard over the holiday period. Weekends have been worked to ensure that there will be no further delays. It's been way too long and 2023 will be a positive start.
There will be one more update to come before the games launch, that will consist of things to know a couple of weeks prior to the public release.
There have been several influences, YouTubers and streamers putting their hand up to show off the game when it comes out. If you're someone that has a channel, no matter how big or small it may be, I'm happy to provide a review copy of the game when it becomes available.
Thanks again, and I hope everyone has a happy new year!
To 2023!
-Mr. Ox
What's new 06/11/22
Hello everyone, welcome back!
Two weeks have passed and progress has been spiking. We are looking at the remaining tasks that have to be done and although we're ticking off the boxes, we came to the decision to push the release date back for the 2nd of January, 2023.
Seeing the amount of remaining work that has to be put into this game, this is the best and sensible choice to make sure the game is as best as can be. Personally though, I like the new year date. It's like were starting the new year fresh with a game that will pick up speed with continuous content updates and support.
Besides the new date, here are more things that have been worked on.
New player models
All five characters that will come with the game at launch has had a new coat of paint, more polygons and more personality in general! Since you're getting up close to these individuals, little details have been taken into consideration to match the descriptions of the characters from the novel. Seeing and playing as Lordus, Bullet and Hope is something special when you've only imagined them as an idea in a book for years, now they are finally a reality. Bringing in more characters as later updates in the future is all the more exciting! But for now, let's learn to master the roster that we have and unlock their fullest potential.
New weapon models
If you've seen early screenshots of the game, the weapons themselves were more or lees the same in every way. They all looked futuristic and very much the same when you put them all together. The sniper looked like the rifle but with a scope, the pistol looked like the sniper but with a smaller frame, etc...
Now every weapon has its own design, texture and durability state. It'll be intriguing to explore further enhancements and upgrades to give these weapons more personality! Future ideas of more weapons and items are already flashing through my mind. As soon as this game is released, it'll be an opportunity to find out what our next Screamer slaying weapon will be.
Survivors
The rest of the survivors that will need to be rescued have now been implemented. Each one can be found somewhere outside trapped, backed into a corner or just need a hand to help slay their perusing Screamers.
With time, you'll slowly build up your group of unfortunate stowaways. The bunker that you'll call home will be a sanctuary for everyone else. Who knows, maybe soon enough there will be trouble that you'll have to deal with besides Screamers or bandits.
Skilltrees
I love the idea of progressing my character in games that I play. Making them stronger with new abilities, attacks or other quirks that makes the game more enjoyable overall. You'll notice below that each character will have their own unique set of skills that include their own dodging ability, melee attack and many other skill that will set them apart from each other. Mix these up with the equipment cards that you'll be able to equip; then wow, we've got ourselves a concoction of unpredictable load-outs that you'll be able to share.
For now, that's all that I can share. I'm looking forward to showcasing these new features in action to fully demonstrate what you can really do in this game soon enough.
Have a good week
-Mr. Ox
What's new 22/10/22
Another week gone and a lot has been done
Momentum has been picking up rapidly and I'm very pleased with what has been done. With these upcoming weeks that will lead up to the games release and the extra work being developed into the game, I'm very confident that finalising everything on time will be a cakewalk.
Survivors
If you ever were a fan of the early Dead Rising games, you'll be very familiar about rescuing some stranded and unfortunate people that you came across in the mall. Having to worry about escorting them back to the safezone gave the game an extra layer of stress with the mix of zombies and most scariest of all... the AI path-finding...
TC:WA is no different; you'll be finding survivors in very peculiar places as you explore. What separates this from Dead Rising is who you play as. Thankfully, you won't have a camera as your main weapon as you guide these helpless souls back to the bunker. Instead, you will have a vast variety of weapons and abilities to assist you. Then again, you're not up against an army of slow and lethargic zombies, but Screamers; a creature much more violent and bloodthirsty that will be after you and the survivors you find.
Not all of them are going to be as straightforward as you may think, all survivors will have their own personalities and quirks. Every rescue is going to be different from the last and there may be times that you think if bringing this person along back to your home was a good idea.
Weapon overhaulout with the old
Originally being a top-down game, it didn't really matter how detailed a model or object would have been, you would never get close enough to see any flaws a character or weapon would have. After implementing third person mode however... yikes!
The weapons that you would have used in the game looked really "techy" or futuristic, very colourful with lights and flair. The rank or quality would have been shown by the colour of the weapon: Brown= low tier Yellow= good tier purple= great tier and red= legendary or epic or whatever trendy game has named the best levelled weapon.
Now as you can see, the weapons have been redone not only with the model, but the level of quality as well! This will go for every other weapon that is included in the game that will have their own proper place in the world.
Character updates
Now, I'm sure you noticed from the previous picture with the weapon models and the character holding it... I know...
Yikes!
Again, it didn't really matter when the camera was pointing down a few meters above them, but don't worry, they have been fixed too! As a matter of fact, all playable characters have been finished, even the Screamers, but that will be kept as a surprise. For now, enjoy this before and after comparison for the male and female starting characters.
Upgrades and levelling up
Not only are the weapons being redone, but improving the functionality on how they fire, how many rounds a magazine holds or the damage output will be able to be added to whatever firearm that you favour. Just run down to the blacksmith (once you unlock the room of course) and pay him a sum to tweak your weapon of desire.
The Screamers will grow in numbers and they will become more powerful as you progress. Best you polish that aim of yours and go for the head.
Thank you all for taking the time to read the second edition of this weekly update. I look forward to sharing what we come up with next.
-Mr. Ox
What's new 15/10/22
Hello all and welcome to the first announcement page for TC:WA
I'd like these to serve as a weekly updates that showcase new pre launch features of the game to show you what we're working on. For the future, after the official launch, I'll aim for this to be a weekly thing to show more upcoming features that we are working on.
To start things off...
Achievements Personally, achievements are a big deal for me when it comes to adding a game to my library. Most of the time, it was the final decider if the game was going to end up in my cart or not. I love the idea of one-hundred percenting a game, TC:WA is no different. Achievement hunters will be pleased to know that at launch, the game will start with 20 achievements to go. For completionist however, we plan to do many content updates to this game once it comes out. This means that more achievements will be added... (All the most reason to play ːsteamhappyː )
Third person mode and model updateout with the old As some of you may know, if you're following my facebook and instagram... *cough cough* Cheeky little facebook link How did that instagram link get here? You will know that we made the decision to add third person mode to the game. This means you'll be getting closer to the heroes and Screamers. Because of this, we're updating the way the playable characters look. You'll still be able to play in top-down mode if you want to stick to that play style and still enjoy the new shiny look.
Economy integration Lastly, to finish this off, the team has just implemented a reason to play by earning credits. Credits is the main currency to buy weapons, rooms, upgrades and equipment cards. You'll be rewarded credits for kills, completing missions or finding them in containers while looting.
Next week we'll be aiming on more quality of life updates by making the controls and interface run and feel more smoother along with adding missions to the game. Thank you for reading through our first update blog and we look forward to sharing more!
