Walking Heavy
Update Out Now
Graphics: Major updates to the game graphics with new buildings, textures lighting etc.
Equipment: Addition of the bolt cutters and shotgun breaching shells give you access to previously inaccessible areas such as railway lines and even some rooftops.
Health: One shot kills have been removed and a health system has been introduced. NPCs will take a few hits to take out depending on weapon choice, whilst the player can now take a few shots before being floored.
Toughness: With the new health system comes a new skill to be upgraded. Toughness will increase the player's health, allowing him to take more shots before being killed.
Bail and Checkpoints: Every 5 levels you will reach a checkpoint, if you are killed you will have to start again from the last checkpoint, but if you are tasered and arrested you will be given the option to pay bail and restart your current level.
Finally, it was promised in the last post that controllers would be supported in this next update, unfortunately this will take a little longer to implement due to the need to reconfigure the various pause / stats / equipment menus - so watch this space, a future update coming ASAP will support this.
Hope you enjoy and welcome your thoughts / feedback or any bugs to be fixed!
Big Update Preview
Graphical Updates:
The first thing you'll notice when you launch the game will be a total overhaul of the game's graphics. Whilst the visual style remains the same, all of the building sprites and ground textures have been updated and refreshed to provide a stronger sense of place and more variety across levels.
Roof Access:
Amongst the new buildings, the most noticeable are the brutalist tower blocks. These 10-storey concrete monoliths act as great vantage points across each level, allowing you to see over the tops of surrounding buildings and use the sniper rifle to take out your enemies.
New Equipment:
The revamped shop menu includes some new tools of the trade which will change the way you approach each level. The bolt cutters for example will let you cut through mesh fencing and illegally cross the railway lines - useful to avoid police contact at railway crossing pinch points.
Improved Laser Functionality:
The laser attachment for guns draws a nice red line which acts as a visual aid for aiming, but let's face it - it's actually pretty useless (and the laser can miraculously shine through buildings). Well now the laser attachment not only draws a red line which stops short at solid walls, but it also unlocks auto-aiming, which is pretty awesome. Of course this now means the laser will become the most expensive upgrade to each weapon, ahead of the silencer, so consider buying it now whilst it's still cheap!
Controller Support:
Exactly what it says on the tin, the game will now support controller input.
And that is that for now, as I'm working on this game solo in my free time I can't give an exact date for the update to release, but it shouldn't be more than a week or so - watch this space.
Rampage Mode - Available Now
But this is the big update I've been working on since release and sees the addition of two new features - Rampage Mode and Lie Low.
So first off Rampage Mode - this basically introduces an entirely new mode of gameplay to Walking Heavy, which also ties into career mode. As the title suggests 'Rampage Mode' is less about stealth and tactics and more about putting your gunplay skills to the test against hordes of police - the more you take out the higher your score - and the more they keep coming!
Rampage Mode unlocks after level 5 and all of your skills and equipment carry over from career mode, so the more you progress here the easier you'll find rampage (tip: the shotgun is very useful here). Of course your rampage score will be logged on a brand new leaderboard, and a percentage of your score is paid to you as money which you can spend in your career - so you can earn some extra on the side.
Next up: Lie Low. This is a feature I've been toying with for a while now and I've finally settled on making this unlockable after Level 10. Lie Low basically lets you trade in all of your money, drugs and ammo to start the game over from Level 1 - but you can keep all of the skills and equipment you have bought / upgraded.
This might sound unthinkable to some of you - but personally I've always really liked it when games give you the option to go back to the start where you might have struggled initially to beast through the easy levels with your new-found skills. This option will also be useful if you're struggling to level up and feel like you need new skills or a certain piece of equipment to reach the higher levels. Whether you choose to use it or not - it's now in there.
And that just about sums everything up for now. Once again I've fixed some minor bugs which have been picked up on - and as always whilst I make every effort to release any new features bug free, if you come across anything weird let me know and I'll get it sorted!
Updates & News
Firstly the help screen accessed from the pause menu has been given a major facelift. Previously this simply showed a rather basic list of controls, this now gives a comprehensive list of all controls as well as other vital information to understanding the game - such as a guide to the friends and (mainly) foes you will come across in the boroughs.
Which brings me to point number 2 - additional enemies have been added who will appear at various stages in the game. These include the SOCA agents (like British FBI) who will recognise you on sight even if you're yet to break the law on a level, and hitmen who will disguise themselves among the crowd and ambush you when you least expect it (you didn't think you could bump off all those suppliers without getting a price on your head did you?).
The bug which caused the game to crash on completion of the tutorial level is fixed, so if you've been experiencing this issue I hope you decide to play on.
Finally, the eagle eyed amongst you may notice a couple of new additions to the main menu - Lie Low and Rampage Mode. These will be coming very soon and will add some new gameplay aspects -
Lie Low - This will give you the opportunity to play through the game from the start, whilst retaining your skills and inventory. I don't know about you but I find there's something very satisfying about going back to the earliest levels which I once struggled on to blitz through them with a set of superior weapons and skills.
Rampage - Ever just want to let off some steam and have a huge shoot out with the police but don't want to use all of your ammo and muck the level up? Well rampage mode will let you do just that, providing free ammo and hordes of enemies to gun down, whilst you compete for the top spot on the rampage leaderboard! You can also earn some extra cash to take back to career mode on the side.
So that's all for now! Expect to see more updates and the additional game modes landing by the end of the month.
Weekly Update and Fixes
1. Police behaviour - wonder why the police tasered you on sight before you'd even had a chance to break the law? Well now the police will only chase you if they see you commit a crime (including having your gun drawn), if a witness reports you, and once you have taken out the target. This should give more scope for exploring each level and getting your bearings without getting zapped at every turn.
2. Grenades - £200 seemed a bit steep don't you think? Well you'll be pleased to know grenades are now half price.
3. Power Generators - If you hadn't found out yet, chucking a grenade at a power generator plunges the level into darkness. This was a permanent effect, but now the lights will come back on after 1-2 minutes (can't make things too easy now).
4. Bug fixes - general bugs have been addressed which I have found in some higher levels, I won't bore you with the details but they're sorted.
5. Fullscreen - I'm aware there is a bug surrounding full screen mode which seems to happen to some but not others where pressing ALT+ENTER to enter full screen results in a black screen - but this doesn't affect windowed mode. I am working on getting this sorted but if you are looking for a temporary workaround I found that running the game in Windows 8 compatibility mode solved the problem. I am looking for a permanent fix to this though and it will be sorted!
That's all for now - I have got plans for a big update very soon with a couple of new features planned, so watch this space!
2 Days to go and Final Update
- Day Night Cycle: This is actually a feature which I coded in some time ago and 'disabled' for permanent night time gameplay - but now it's back. Every level will begin at the stroke of midnight and you will now have 7 hours of darkness (equating to 7 minutes in game) to hunt the target before sunrise. Once the sun is up it's not game over, but shooting the target in broad daylight isn't so easy!
- New gadgets: The balaclava has been replaced with a radio alarm clock which allows you to start each level at 9PM with an extra 3 minutes before sunrise. The factory has been replaced with a power pack, giving vastly extended battery life to the NVGs, IR goggles and drone. I have replaced the balaclava and factory as I was never fond of either!
- Leaderboard: The leaderboard will allow players to rank their progress against others, giving you a ranking based on your level. I'm currently holding spot 2 at level 4 - pathetic. Note, as the demo is only playable up to level 5 the leaderboard is a full version feature only.
- Full Screen capabilities: Windows shortcuts now give you the freedom to switch between windowed mode and full screen.
- Steam screenshots: It came to my attention that the Steam screenshot function wasn't working - well now it does.
- Bug fixes: Random crashes when retrying a level? These are no more, however if you notice anything untoward whilst playing let me know - whilst I endeavour to iron out every last bug there's always the odd one which slips through the net!
That's all for now.. I'll post again on Friday when I release Walking Heavy at 4PM (GMT) - exciting stuff!
Playable Demo - 22nd September
The demo will let you preview the first five levels of the game a month ahead of its release as a 'try before you buy' type offering - however bear in mind that every level in Walking Heavy is completely procedurally generated and no two play-throughs will be the same - so what will your experience be?
Watch this space.
Introducing Walking Heavy
Firstly if you're reading this you will hopefully know a little bit about Walking Heavy already and perhaps have checked out the screenshots and announcement trailer - if not be sure to visit the store page and our official website at walkingheavy.co.uk - if you have any questions, feedback or even suggestions for what you would like to see in the full release, drop me a line I'm always keen to discuss my work!
Secondly I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has wish listed the game so far, I really appreciate the show of interest!
So what's next on the agenda? Well with a 20th October release date fast approaching I'm being kept very busy smoothing out rough corners, as well as trying to get the word out to as many potential players as possible. In the next week or so I aim to get a fully playable demo of the first five levels up on here so you can get a taste for the game yourselves, I will also be adding plenty more gameplay vids and screenshots too, so watch this space!