Time for anther Update:
This week I wanted to focus on combat mechanics, finishing some environmental art and in general I've managed to get some good progress on both of those tasks.
I finally started laying out the ingame map instead of just working within a test level, The map is quite big with 3 visually distinct regions, the first one is the forest and is where you start the game.
The second area is the city ruins, a bit more WIP as I still have some asset work left.
The Archives is the 2nd dungeon and is found inside the city ruins.
The last area isn't quite ready yet but will be where the player goes at the end of the game.
The game is split up into a large open map and smaller dungeons found in the open world, the open world map is pretty big right now and I'll need to flesh out and add a few side activities and collectibles to make it feel less barren later on, I also haven't quite decided on how I want to handle guiding the players around the map just yet, I have a few ideas and generally want to avoid having a minimap and objective markers like in typical open worlds.
I mostly wanted to give the game a sense of scale and it's a little fitting for the game to feel little barren given the story but it's gonna have to strike a balance between the mood and what's fun gameplay wise.
I also have to consider the gameplay length limitation, the game has to be playable within 40 minutes, So right now my idea is to have the main story fit within that frame but also have a few side areas that all give you some sort of upgrades along the way, so if players want to explore a bit they get more powerful.
The Dark Schippie fight also doesn't really have to fit within that time limitation because he's optional right? my current plan is to have the players find secret collectibles scattered around the open world map in order to unlock the fight, and that might take a bit longer than just 40 min to complete, I am also considering then just having a cheatcode that unlocks it instantly if Kyle wants to play it on stream as well.
Regarding combat, The general combat mechanics are playable and have received a lot of the visual assets as well, I originally intended the game to have a mix of melee and ranged attacks but decided to streamline things a bit and am just focusing on ranged combat for now, making a good melee system is a lot harder because there are so many more complex factors to consider and given the scope I felt it would be best to rather focus on making the shooting feel good than to divide my attention even more.
Next up is finally doing some sequence scripting and cutscene work done, I still need to finish up some of the dialogue and cutscene systems and thought it would be a good idea to just get started on them instead of saving them for last and having to rush it, I still don't have all the assets needed to script the entire story but I should be able to get started on the first half of the game.