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Hello again,

What's new?

Hyenas are finished. It took a lot of trial and error but I'm finally happy with them. They circle the player, before doing a charge attack, and skidding along the sand when you kill them.

Deathworms are a new enemy. There are the easier red ones, and the much larger and tougher black ones, who spit a gooey projectile attack.

Saltmen are also finished. They basically act like a fast zombie. They kill the player and eat their corpse.

General tweaks have been made to the core mechanics to make it a lot smoother and more responsive.

The plot is coming along too. It involves a cult (pretty standard game enemy but I'm excited about it nevertheless).

There have been some major changes to the HUD, especially when it comes to ammo and level-ups.

What's still to do?

Motorbikes (I promise they're still going to be in it.)

Re-write the gang member AI.

Cult member AI.

Gang leader AI/ Boss levels.

Creation of non-plot levels.

Finish plot.

Thanks for checking out Red Desert and I hope you like what you see so far. Hopefully I'll have some more for you soon.

-James

Again been a long time since the last update. I've spent most of my time making art assets for things like big levels, which I posted some images of previously. There are quite a few of those for each of the biomes now, (now currently at 4 different biomes as opposed to 6). The Red Desert assets are all done now, as are the City Canyons. Just got to finish the levels for the Dry Seabed and the Salt Flats and then that'll be done. Also I've created a number of smaller features for the levels. Things like fences and broken bits of wall, impaled skeletons and that kind of thing.

I've added a couple of new enemies, the first being Hyenas that inhabit the City Canyons.

The Death worm who'll live in the sand in the Dry Seabed.

Armoured raider who are tougher, and don't get staggered on being shot.

Cannibal Cult members.

Salt flat Cannibals.

A ton of different gang bosses.

A few new shield variations.

A couple of new gun parts.

So I've pretty much spent the last 4 or 5 weeks making assets. There's still more to be made but soon I'll have the fun job of putting them all into the actual game, programming the new AI for the enemies and finishing the AI for the regular enemies.

This is taking a lot longer than I first intended it to, but isn't that always the way.

Thanks for checking out Red Desert as always! Check back soon-ish for more updates.

-James

Thank you! I'll try to get a new demo out soon.

-James

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year! I've been quiet for a little while so I thought I'd share some of the artwork I've been working on. Mostly environments. There have been a lot of changes as usual which I'll detail in the future, but for now check this out!

More to come soon!

Thanks for checking out Red Desert!

-James

Again, it's been a while since the last post but there's been a lot of changes.


So What's New?

- The first thing you'll notice are the changes to the HUD. This is due to the fact that the RPG and health systems are all working now. The player now has a health bar and a water bar. The health bar functions as you'd expect- you take damage and your health goes down. The water bar works in very much the same way as the food bar in Minecraft; I.E water goes down, health goes up. If there's no water in the water bar then health goes down. A simple yet effective system I think. You can replenish your water bar by drinking from your canteen. If your health gets below 40% then the water bar decreases faster, causing you to either regain health faster, or die faster, depending on the amount of water in your water bar.

- There is now a levelling system in place, with the player's XP bar at the bottom of the screen. Level ups will increase either movement speed, health, or water carrying capacity. As more updates are added I'll add more options for levelling up.

- I spent a while adding new particle effects and tweaking the old ones. There's now a burst effect when the player picks up an object. I really feel like the visuals of the game are starting to come together.

- The screen flashes red as a damage indicator for the player. This matches the enemies flashing red when thy take damage. The same system flashes yellow every time you level up.


- New sprites! This is a big one. Many of the wall sprites have been remade with extra grit and dirt! I've also added new player and enemy sprites, which are a much-needed improvement. These are still liable to change in the future, but it'll probably just be little additions here and there.

- More detailed floors. Footprints in the sand now advise the player on where to go, and can quickly and easily show the player openings and entrances into buildings.

- Floor rubble!

- The grid system for holding the areas on the world map has been replaced, with a much simpler and more robust system. There's now no chance of memory leaks.

- If an enemy shoots you while you're in cover then you take half damage.

- Title introductions every time you enter a new biome. White text fades onto the screen slowly, with a musical stab.

- More art on the levels. (Such as the ship in the top screenshot)

Most of the key systems are there, so that means from this point on much of my time will be on designing levels, bosses, enemies, narrative elements and story telling, **MORE GUNS**

Stay tuned; all of this will be coming in the future!

Thanks for checking out Red Desert! I appreciate every view. If you have any comments then let me know!

-James

Hey, thanks for the comment. Not sure as of right now but your stuff is really cool so I'll let you know in the future!

-James

There are no plans for a sprint button HOWEVER the player will unlock a motorbike near the start for travelling the huge distances. You'll be able to mod the bike in the same way as the guns and collect bike parts from bosses. I'm so glad you found it fun at it's current, bug-riddled state.

Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for taking the time to try it, I really appreciate it!

-James

Hey thanks for the comment and really glad you like it! The weapon customisation is one of my favourite features so far. Sorry about that error. I've been meaning to put out an updated demo for a little while now, which I've now done and can be downloaded below.

http://www.megafileupload.com/cbyc/Red_Desert_V0.4...

Thanks again, and I hope you have fun with the new version.

-James

Started working on overhauling the art for the game. Spent a lot of time this week making the environments look richer and more detailed. Eventually I'll get to the animations and character sprites.

Thanks for checking out Red Desert and I always appreciate feedback.

-James

The world is a husk of its former self, the mighty cities that stood as monuments to human ingenuity now lie beneath an ocean of sand. For two centuries the planet has been consuming itself, burnt by the sun's rays and abandoned by almost all of its denizens, those that remain are dying with it. The groups of roving nomads and small tribes beset upon by war chiefs and their gangs, some fall to the deserts heat or the dry storms of the salt flats but all find their way to an unmarked grave.

It was not always this way; there was a time when this land was a place of prosperity and hope. Fields of green stretched as far as the eye could see, the murderers and thieves were kept behind metal bars and people like us were protected from the likes of them. But then something changed, something that the Annals-of-the-old-times refer to as 'the slow descent', a shift in the natural order of things that created this barren hell that exists today. The Annals, hidden in the old towers, speak of a purpose that humanity once had, a goal that we strived to achieve. Now we only have on goal, one thing to strive for.

Our tribe is failing, war chiefs hunt us and it seems the very desert works against us, many of us have fallen to dehydration and starvation and only a small number remain. In this world, your life expectancy can be measured in days.

And ours are nearly up.

Red Desert is a top down shooter/RPG in which you roam a vast desert, seeking a new home after your tribe is murdered by one of the many gangs that inhabit the sands.

[u]Features:[/u]

Vast, randomly generated open world

The world of Red Desert is huge. At the start of a new game the desert is generated, using a combination of 6 biomes.

Weapon Customisation

Piece together a weapon from found parts, dropped by enemies. Find unique parts, and collect complete sets for large stat bonuses.

Randomly generated gangs:

Up to 25 gangs inhabit the desert, each with a randomly generated name, logo and colour. Living in a random place on the map, with a randomly sized territory. Take out their stronghold and kill the Warlord to eliminate them from the map.

Combat:

Twin-stick shooter with auto aim, RPG elements, shields and a cover system.

Biomes:

Red Desert.

Rocky Hills

Canyons

Dry Seabed

Ruined City

Salt Flats

Enemies:

Warlords

Gang Members

Cannibals

Salt Ferals

More to come.

Level types:

The level would usually be confined to a building or number of buildings, with either a linear way through for story segments, or multiple ways through for a less-linear design. These buildings include houses, factories, washed up ships and boats, buried skyscrapers, office buildings, lighthouses, stadiums, old forts, hospitals, underground bunkers and more.

These could be inhabited by gang members, raiders, cannibals or settlers like you, just trying to survive.

***Sorry it's been so long for this update. Been fixing a lot of issues and bugs, and not really creating anything new to show. At this point however all the pieces are nearly in place, which means I can focus on creating actual game content such as levels, narrative and story elements, new art, new enemies. Fun stuff.***

Thanks for taking the time to check out Red Desert! Let me know what you think. I'll try to get back to updating every Monday again soon.

-James

Just a small update this week. I'm planning for a big update soon where I want to go over some story elements, upload a ton of new images and gifs and also some concept art. This is because I'm close to having all the mechanics for the game completed, meaning I can focus on things like the story, the level design, gun design and other cool stuff like that. So the next post will be a big description of everything I have so far, like an overview I suppose.

So this week I got the map fog working, which uncovers as you explore, along with a marker to show on the map where you are. Also finished saving the gangs, and their locations on the map, with their names and colours and logos and everything else. Wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

Thanks for checking out Red Desert!

Yeah I'll have a huge update soon where I'll go over everything so far; all the existing mechanics, some story stuff, concept art and where I see everything going.

-James

Midweek update(Forgot to post a couple of days ago):

General bugfixing mostly. Screen size adjustment happens automatically now along with the GUI.

Fixed a lot of bugs with the inventory, things like equipping the wrong parts, the wrong sprites being drawn, things saying they've been equipped when they haven't, that kind of thing. There are still of lot of bugs to work out and fix, but I'm getting though them, slowly but surely.

Unsure of what kind of update I'll have for Monday as I've mostly been doing boring technical stuff lately. Hopefully soon I'll be able to start adding some cool and interesting new stuff.

Also I should have some info of the world and the story soon. I'd like to paint some concept art soon too, when I know more about the world.

Thanks for checking out Red Desert so far! I update every Monday so check back then.

-James

Saving and loading took a lot longer than I thought it would (of course) so I thought I'd just post some screenshots. I also added a nice little shield mechanic which you can see below.

Scroll down for a list of things to come.

Still to come:

Gang saving and loading,

NPC dialogue. Speech bubbles.

HUD coordinates,

More guns! Always! Set items.

Player death. Still unsure of how I want this to work.

Settlement stash.

More variations of existing enemies.

More enemy types.

Make sure to check back every Monday for updates!

Thanks!

-James

Again, not much to update you with this week. Work is keeping me busy. I am however building a list of features to add, and beginning to think about the level designs for the tutorials of those features. I'll probably be busy for the next couple of weeks with work, but after that I'll be free to blast through the list and add everything I'm promising.

Just a reminder for you that the latest demo is in the last post, and it would mean a lot if you'd check it out, even for a minute or two.

Also check out the 40 second music clip in the last post too!

Sorry there hasn't been much progress recently, but the next post will be a big update on the list, hopefully with a demo and tons of new features. Probably in a couple of weeks.

Thanks!

-James

It's been a busy week. Life's responsibilities have managed to get in the way of the majority of my developing time for Red Desert so I only have a few bug fixes and actual additions this week, however I have been working on making a new demo for you guys! (download link below). It has more polish than the last one by far, and is a good representation of the gameplay elements of the vision I have for Red Desert. I'm starting to feel like the engine is nearly there. I still have a big list of features to add, as well as tweaking the feel, but it's coming together.

Ver 0.3 Demo:

(29.9mb)(Controller only)

Donwload

What's been added? Well the answer is not much. I've mostly fixed the enemies animation problems, which have been plaguing development since the beginning. I still spot bugs here and there but I'm slowly rectifying them.

Colour coded gun parts

The gun parts are colour coded now. White for a low to average part, red for a mid to good level part, and blue for the top tier. This makes it easier to quickly filter the good and bad parts, meaning you spend less time comparing stats in the menu, which I always find to be a bit tedious in any game. The colour will be changed later on but the idea is there.

Damage and range cap for gun parts

Each part now has a damage cap, and a range cap, meaning that equipping one part might have a negative effect, as well as a positive one. This is an important new feature as it removes the objectivity of a gun part. Rather than one part being objectively better than another it makes it dependant on the player, and their decision of what they're willing to sacrifice. This idea is still in it's bare bones phase right now, but hopefully it'll give the weapon system more depth. Currently there's no in game way to tell what the cap for each part is, so a total overhaul of the gun screen will be required.

So what's still to do?

A lot of course.

RPG elements

The next major step will be to add RPG elements. They're already somewhat there, they just need to be expanded upon. I'd like to commit a large chunk of time to this, maybe an entire weeks work, as it'll have huge implications for the game's system of progression, and right now I'm not even sure how much RPG to add. Whether I want level-ups with perks that the player can choose, or have them automatically assigned to the player, meaning the only input they have is the customisation of their gun.

Shields

I'm really happy with the cover system. It's simple and intuitive and you actually feel kinda cool when there are raiders shooting at you, and you can blast back at them from round a corner. The only problem is if you need to cross an area and there are loads of enemies pinning you down. This problem can be addressed with the addition of shields. Disposable pieces of the environment that the player can pick up to defend against raider attacks while moving, for example an old car door, bits of metal, anything large and flat that could stop a bullet. They'll have their own hp and get destroyed, and their own weight, which will affect the player's movement speed while they're holding it. I was thinking bout having a dodge move, like Dark Souls or Enter The Gungeon, but this puts more of a focus on the environment, and its utilization for your own survival.

Player death

Still not sure how I want to implement this. It'll probably become apparent when the story and story-telling comes into play in the coming weeks.

Motorbike and motorbike customisation

I've been putting this off for a while, and will probably continue to put it off until I have the basics of the engine down. Mainly as it'll be a whole lot of every kind of work, programming, animation etc.

Throwables?

Grenades, molotov cocktails etc. I'm not sure about this yet but it might be cool in the future.

Speech bubbles and npcs

I don't plan on having complex dialogue systems so this should be straightforward enough.

Technical stuff

Screen size adjustment, saving and loading. WASD controls.

So if you read all of that then thank you so much! I know I don't have a lot to show this week in terms of exciting gameplay visuals and gifs so it means a lot to me that you've read this far, or maybe you're just skimming in which case thank you too. In either case I have a treat for you.

Below is some of the first music for the game. It's a 40 second loop made by a talented musician and producer, who has done a great job of capturing the atmosphere, reminds me of the Diablo II soundtrack. Definitely worth 40 seconds of your time.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0KW0nDbDxeG

More on the music in coming weeks hopefully.

Wow, a long post for not much work this week. Thanks again, so much for taking the time to read this. We're all busy people and I do honestly appreciate it. Have a really good day, and check back every Monday for updates. Leave a comment if you like too!

All the best,

- James

Hey,

Thanks for taking such an interest! Yeah I'm really pleased with how the gun building turned out.By the end I'm hoping to have unique gun parts and set parts which give a massive stat boost when you have all of them. I'm taking a lot of inspiration from Diablo 2 here. The palette's intentional. It could do with a little more work as I'd like for it to be more vibrant in general but that's end game stuff. I'm actually planning another demo. Now that the cover system is in place, and there are a load more gun options it's a much better experience overall. That'll likely be next Monday.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

-James

A lot has been done since my last post. A lot of the art is coming together and starting to look really nice, plus the gameplay and game-feel has had a lot of tweaking. It's not there yet of course but the action segments feel cleaner and more responsive in general (gifs below). There's a cool gore explosion now, plus a slight pause beforehand to give it more impact.

A cover system has been added! I felt the combat system needed something more. At first I added a melee attack for when the enemies are close to you, but this felt awkward and misplaced. It was a short solution to a long problem, which was the enemy AI in general. So, I essentially gutted the AI and replaced it, incorporating this new cover system. There are still bugs to be ironed out but it's a lot more fun, and a lot more realistic.

The controls are simple, hold LT to go into cover, release LT to come out of cover.

The guns and gun customisation has had a bit of work. Rate of fire has been added, determined by the receiver. I don't want to make it too complex, however I want it to be complex enough that it has a significant effect on gameplay, comparable to the various levelling choices in most RPGs. I've also added a lot more gun parts. Roughly 11 for each. Below are some random variations. More to come soon!

The implementation of the gangs has now begun. The gang members now exist in their territories, with war paint coloured appropriately to their gang colour, which is generated randomly at the start of the game. They also have a gang logo, which is generated from two lists of images, one on top of the other, much like emblems in Call of Duty multiplayer. These are displayed on coloured banners around their territory.

I mentioned in a previous post that the mechanics for the tutorial were in place. I have since added to it so that the system can be used for any story levels throughout the game. Every time you leave an area it adds a number to a counter, before putting you in the next area it checks the counter to see if it's time for a tutorial/story segment, if so it puts you in the right area. This should make it feel organic, part of the natural exploration of the game, not like the story is being shoved down your throat all the time with awkward cutscenes, map markers and dumb little arrows telling you where to go.

So, what's still to come:

• Finish the gang stuff. Strongholds, warlords.
• Motorbikes and motorbike customisation. (I currently know nothing about motorbikes)
• Settlement stash
• Underground areas and dungeon type things.
• Finish the enemy AI.

When this is done and everything is there, the story elements can be added.

If you took the time to read this then thank you! It means a lot. I'll probably post another small update during the week, with bug fixes and other minor changes.

Have a great week!

-James

Fixed a few bugs:

Ammo going into minus numbers,

some animation bugs on the enemies.

Added a few things:

Mechanics for the tutorial system are now in place.

Exploding barrels!

I was planning on just making placeholder art for the explosions for now but this animation actually looks really nice. I'll probably tweak it at the end but I'm happy with it for the time being.

Also I thought I'd share some gun designs which I'm adding slowly.

-James

****UPDATE****

*****UPDATE******

The world is a husk of its former self, the mighty cities that stood as monuments to human ingenuity now lie beneath an ocean of sand. For two centuries the planet has been consuming itself, burnt by the sun's rays and abandoned by almost all of its denizens, those that remain are dying with it. The groups of roving nomads and small tribes beset upon by war chiefs and their gangs, some fall to the deserts heat or the dry storms of the salt flats but all find their way to an unmarked grave.

It was not always this way; there was a time when this land was a place of prosperity and hope. Fields of green stretched as far as the eye could see, the murderers and thieves were kept behind metal bars and people like us were protected from the likes of them. But then something changed, something that the Annals-of-the-old-times refer to as 'the slow descent', a shift in the natural order of things that created this barren hell that exists today. The Annals, hidden in the old towers, speak of a purpose that humanity once had, a goal that we strived to achieve. Now we only have on goal, one thing to strive for.

Our tribe is failing, war chiefs hunt us and it seems the very desert works against us, many of us have fallen to dehydration and starvation and only a small number remain. In this world, your life expectancy can be measured in days.

And ours are nearly up.

Red Desert is a top down shooter/RPG in which you roam a vast desert, seeking a new home after your tribe is murdered by one of the many gangs that inhabit the sands.

[u]Features:[/u]

Vast, randomly generated open world

The world of Red Desert is huge. At the start of a new game the desert is generated, using a combination of 6 biomes.

Weapon Customisation

Piece together a weapon from found parts, dropped by enemies. Find unique parts, and collect complete sets for large stat bonuses.

Randomly generated gangs:

Up to 25 gangs inhabit the desert, each with a randomly generated name, logo and colour. Living in a random place on the map, with a randomly sized territory. Take out their stronghold and kill the Warlord to eliminate them from the map.

Combat:

Twin-stick shooter with auto aim, RPG elements, shields and a cover system.

Biomes:

Red Desert.

Rocky Hills

Canyons

Dry Seabed

Ruined City

Salt Flats

Enemies:

Warlords

Gang Members

Cannibals

Salt Ferals

More to come.

Level types:

The level would usually be confined to a building or number of buildings, with either a linear way through for story segments, or multiple ways through for a less-linear design. These buildings include houses, factories, washed up ships and boats, buried skyscrapers, office buildings, lighthouses, stadiums, old forts, hospitals, underground bunkers and more.

These could be inhabited by gang members, raiders, cannibals or settlers like you, just trying to survive.

***Sorry it's been so long for this update. Been fixing a lot of issues and bugs, and not really creating anything new to show. At this point however all the pieces are nearly in place, which means I can focus on creating actual game content such as levels, narrative and story elements, new art, new enemies. Fun stuff.***

Thanks for taking the time to check out Red Desert! Let me know what you think. I'll try to get back to updating every Monday again soon.

-James

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Red Desert is a 2D isometric survival game, set in a harsh and unforgiving desert. It is currently about 4 weeks into development. The key focus is about exploring a vast, randomly generated wasteland and discovering what's in it. About finding the tops of ruined skyscrapers poking out of a sand dune and delving to the bottom. It's about overcoming sandstorms, gangs of raiders and bandits, and terrible thirst. Customise your weapon from found parts, and take down up to 25 raider gangs, each with a unique name, territories and a stronghold.

Download The Demo (29.58MB)

**Note** At the moment it is only playable with a controller. I'll add keyboard and mouse in the future.

**Also Note** God mode is on for now and can't be turned off.

CONTROLS:

Lstick – Move,

Rstick – Aim,

Rtrigger – Fire,

B – Reload,

A – Inertact/Pick up item

Dpad Right – Drink from canteen,

Dpad Down – Place bed (Does nothing at the moment),

Dpad Up – Place water collector (Produces water over time),

Dpad Left – Place beacon (attracts settlers. Can only be placed inside),

Select – Menu (Bumpers to switch page, then Dpad to select weapon parts, and A to swap them).

Keyboard R resets the game.

Current features:

Generated Desert

At the start of each game a desert is randomly generated. It is huge. Roughly 40,000 large areas, divided into biomes. As it stands there are currently 6: The Red Desert Dunes, Rocky Hills, Rocky Canyons, Dry Seabed, Ruined City and the Salt Flats. This is displayed on the map when you press the back screen.

Generated Gangs

After the layout of the biomes has been created, the gangs are added to the world. They are given a territory of a random size and location, and a stronghold within it. They are also given a random name based on the biome in which they live. I'll give some examples in later posts. Along with all this they get a gang colour, which will be the colour of their banners and warpaint. I'm toying with the idea of giving each gang a unique symbol or logo, but I'll think about that more later.

Gun Customisation

Gun customisation is a large part of the game. You constantly modify and upgrade your gun with different randomly generated parts found throughout the desert. This directly affects gameplay, determining things like the type of bullet that you fire, range, damage etc. I'm planning for a huge range of appearances for each part, so you can mix and match to build a gun which is personal to you.

Day and Night Cycle

Right now it's primitive. Each change to a new area advances time.

What is to come:

Better AI overall

Gang Implementation

Settlement Detail

Rare Items and Set Items

Motorbikes and Motorbike Customisation

Randomly generated skyscraper dungeons, and underground buildings

Music and Non-placeholder Sound

More Artwork

Story Elements

I'll give more information on these as they're made.

At it's core Red Desert is a game about exploration through a vast unknown desert wasteland. If that interests you then be sure to check back, as I'll be updating this DevLog every Monday. (Or sooner).

Also let me know what you think! I'd love to hear any comments or criticisms you have.

Thanks!

- James