Development Update #18

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the eighteenth development update for Haunted: Attack of the Dead Men.  This update is another interesting one as there's quite a lot to cover - first there's Map 10, then there's demo v1.7.0, and finally some more news about the future of the game along with a new trailer!  Let's start with what the deal is with Map 10.

Pathway of the Damned

This map has an interesting position, both in the game and in the area of Osowiec itself.  It sits neatly between the boss fight in Map 9 and the hordes of undead in Map 11, and covers the area between Fort I (the central hub of the fortress complex) and Fort II.  Historically, this region saw a significant amount of fighting during the three major battles for Osowiec, as the Germans attempted to cut off supplies to Fort II.  Here it is on the map of the site for context.

There are two major features of this area that I've captured in the design of Map 10.  The first is the single road that runs between the two forts, while the second, and perhaps more notable, is the Biebrza river that runs through it.  This river provided an interesting opportunity to add a significant obstacle in this level that must be overcome in some way - I recorded another video to show this off.

In the video I took the obvious path through the level - going straight across the bridge.  Of course, this bridge is very heavily defended and there aren't many items to help you out until after you've crossed.  This made it difficult for me as I already had quite low health and had to briefly take a detour to scrounge around for a few more med kits before attempting it.  There are other ways to cross though - you can always swim under or around it!  You'll want to be careful doing this though as your movement is slower and more restricted while swimming, making you an easy target.  If you do decide to do this, you can enjoy attacking the defences from behind, with the added benefit of picking up the items before the fight.

The other unique feature of this map is something I've teased a little bit in the past - the corpses come alive!  This actually applies to every corpse on the map.  They can pose a significant challenge if you aren't paying attention to them - they won't wait around for you to dispatch a large group of enemies before deciding to join in.  The saving grace here is that they only do this when you get too close, and there is a delay between each encounter which prevents things from getting too hectic.  That being said, I had quite a hairy moment with only four health left at one point - this was on the hardest difficulty though, so don't get too worried about this map being a massive difficulty spike.

Another thing I've done with this map is make it a lot more open-ended - there are only two keys, one to open the gate and access the second half of it, and the other unlocks the exit.  This makes the level a lot less linear and (hopefully) a bit more interesting to explore.  One thing you can enjoy with a bit of exploration is a bit of train spotting.  The train makes its return here for one final time, but purely as part of the backdrop for the level (so you don't have to worry about getting run over again!).

Another Major Update

v1.7.0 started off as just a more minor update to complement the more major changes in v1.5.0 and v1.6.0, making a few tweaks and enhancements here and there (one of which has already been covered in the last development update).  However, since then it's actually ballooned way out of proportion and there is quite a lot to talk about for this upcoming release.  The headline feature is actually a good example of something new that wasn't planned until fairly recently - there is now a highscores screen!

This improves on the current scoring system by allowing you to track your five best scores for each level.  At the moment they are only displayed in the intermission screen between levels, but eventually there will be a button in the menu to view all highscores.  This will also pave the way for implementing global leaderboards through Steam (itch.io doesn't really have an equivalent of this so unfortunately itch players will miss out on that one).

Another big feature is a bit less obvious, but still quite important.  The enemy sprites have had a much-needed refresh, cleaning up some rough patches and making them a bit more consistent.  Here's the new Dead Man (the basic enemy):

Notably, he no longer carries an anachronistic Lee Enfield!  Even better, that bayonet is not just for show - he will try to stab you with it if you get too close.

The Shotgunner also got a slight improvement:

While he too has a bayonet now, this one is just for show.  Why stab when you can deliver a point-blank shotgun blast to the face!?

The Officer has had some minor tweaks as well, but this was just a clean-up of the existing sprites and he will largely look the same as before.

The last major new feature is focused on making the environment feel more "interactive".  For example, you can now smash certain objects, including all those plates and cups on the dining tables:

In addition, a number of other objects will display a message in the HUD when interacting with them:

Finally, a bit of an oversight has at last been fixed.  Fire is now hot and will burn you!

This last one is actually what killed me in the video of Map 10.  Notice how I got slightly too close to the burning aeroplane engine?

What's Next?

That's a good question.  I mentioned last month that the next trailer would hopefully include an actual, concrete release date for the game.  Said trailer is now finished and uploaded to YouTube as an unlisted video (for now, as of writing).  That means those of you who read this far can enjoy early access to it!

Yep, that's right.  I've chosen 6th August 2024 as the release date for the game.  I thought it would be very fitting to release the game on the anniversary of the battle that the game is (very loosely) based on.

But hang on a minute - August isn't in Q2 is it?  That's right - unfortunately I've had to delay the game once again.  The good news is that this time the delay is not because I massively overestimated how much work there was left to do - instead I simply have less time to work on the game than I did last year.  I briefly mentioned that my personal life had been a lot busier last month and that trend is only going to continue this year.  That does mean I am not quite 100% confident that I will make this later release date either - more like 90% confident.  I do have a contingency plan in the event that the game isn't ready for August, which is to release it on 25th September (the anniversary of the release of the demo).  I'm 100% confident that I will make the September release date (at the moment).

As a consequence of this new release date, it's once again time to update the roadmap for the game.

• Release v1.7.0 of the demo - this update is imminent and should be available later this week!
• Implement Map 15 - I have some assets for this level already, and I've also decided to reduce the size and scope of this level so it shouldn't take as long as some of the other levels did.  This should be done by mid-April
• Make a start on polishing Maps 5 through 8 as well as cleaning up the other enemy sprites.  This is to get the game ready for a closed beta (which will hopefully come sometime in June).  This will likely take around one month, taking us to mid-May
• Implement Map 13 - I will allow six weeks for this, which will bring us to the end of June
• Finally, the finishing touches.  I will implement the remaining achievements and the other features that I have planned, and fix any bugs etc. that come up from the closed beta.  With any luck, this process won't take longer than the month of July and the game will be ready for release!

That's it for this update.  You can look forward to seeing an announcement for demo v1.7.0 very soon - alongside this update there will also be another refresh of the store page (including the new trailer).  Come back next month where I will be covering more on the mysterious secret level, Map 15, and perhaps some updated videos for the older maps.

Thanks for reading!