[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/35894959/ef6ba49ac74c1bff139dc4940ea5ef20af028b5a.jpg[/img] Well hello, action adventurists / top down shootists / sci-fi fans, and everybody else we can and cannot think of! First of all, we updated the screenshots for our store page AND added a cool little gameplay teaser from our current development build. Still a lot of polish to do with the effects and animations, but we're getting there, definitely! So, development-wise, we've got the core mechanics down, which I'll briefly go through here: [h1]Player health and movement[/h1] We've got a shared health system, where both players use the same health pool. It works surprisingly well and completely removes the need to wait for the other player to revive you or slowly fail the mission without your help. All player movement mechanics are in place: Players can dash, activate shields and merge into a single powerful tank unit. [h1]Enemy health[/h1] Enemies can have one or several types of health: Organic, Robotic and Shield. The players need to use different weapons to effectively deal with different enemy types. There are also enemies that have several hit boxes and/or phases (sort of like mini-bosses). All these mechanics are in place and we're currently balancing them for maximum enjoyment. [h1]Enemy AI systems[/h1] Our AI system consists of separate modules that can be easily combined to build awesomely simple or unbelieveably complex enemy & NPC behaviours. All the core AI modules are in place and we have built several enemy types to playtest with. There is a lot of balancing to do with these still, but the mechanics work well and give us a lot of freedom in designing interesting and challenging enemies. [h1]Weapon systems[/h1] Our heroes always carry two basic weapons, plus a "megaweapon" that can be used at a cost of energy credits. The weapon system, like with enemy AI, is highly modular and lets us design a wide variety of different weapons ranging from machine guns and shotguns to crazy lightning guns, shield-homing rocket swarms and acid flamethrowers. [h1]Boss fights[/h1] Boss fights are really a straight development from the modular core AI system, so we can apply all the same behaviors to bosses as well. There are certainly some unique attacks and reactions for every boss as well, but this again gives us a wide range of tools to work with. [h1]Hub worlds and side quests[/h1] Hub worlds are places for chilling, talking to new interesting people, making friends, partying and doing increasingly strange side quests. These can range from simple item collection to eliminating Nasty Boys to traveling to a dream dimension, and are a big part of story telling and a way to earn some extra Energy Credits. The bulk of these mechanics are in place, and we are currently working on the data saving layer for quests, so you can actually continue where you left off. [h1]Music system[/h1] Yes, we have a music system. Right now we're triggering parameters from level, so the music is dynamic and changes according to the mood of the level and player progress. We are currently working on implementing player health and combat intensity into the equation, so when players are not in combat, the music is more chilled, and intensifies when the going gets tougher. Also, when player health drops to a certain level, we can have it affecting the music track. Music is a really big part of the world of Children of the Eclipse, so there might be a post about that next.. There is a pretty hefty amount of content planned for the full version, with the possibility of actual in-game performances of actual real-life artists, so stay tuned - it's going to get HOT. That's it for today! Have an AWESOME day/night/space journey. Cheers, Ari / Nutfarm