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ABSENT LOG Dev Update 1/15/2025
🕑 Added 2025-01-16 17:34:18 +0000 UTC
It's a new year and time for a new update!
This month, it's all hands on deck and we are jumping right into the thick of it. Our big focus is finally getting a playable greybox demo out the doors so that we can finally start gauging feedback. So far, the demo is about 70% complete, and consists of 3 explorable floors, secret area, various traps and enemy encounters, and 3 weapons from our roster.
The general purpose of this playtest demo is not so much to be a bonafide, official gameplay demo per say, but rather as the term describes, a playtest, so that we can gather accurate feedback from our patrons and our discord community members on what is working and what isn't. Updates will be made based on this feedback and these updates will be implemented in future iterations of the playtest and the main game.
Being that this is our first exercise in integrating a flow of a level alongside its layout, it brought a lot of interesting challenges to navigate. We want the playspace to be open enough that the player should feel free to really explore and go where they want to an extent. But at the same time, we need to find a way to structure progression and objectives in a way that makes sense. Areas that are sectioned off shouldn't be arbitrary, and the order of which you proceed and unlock these areas should follow some kind of purpose or ultimate function to the environment.
An example is instead of gating off an area with a locked door, we can have it pressure sealed due to a vacuum leak in an adjacent area that is connected, thus leading the player to investigate, seal the breach, and gain access to that new area. Thinking of progression in terms like this means that although we follow the general shape of the main ship, we can adjust and rework certain rooms and areas as development progresses. We might start with a simple hallway leading to a lobby, but an interesting opportunity to make a puzzle in this area can elevate it into a memorable gameplay segment.
This also leads into how we want to approach Puzzles.Without spoiling too much of how we have this set up for the playtest, we can say that we have sort of organized them into 2 categories. UI puzzles would be things like keypads, energy level balance, rerouting power via panels, and essentially anything that would require a significant camera change to view a UI element where a puzzle is taking place. The second would be physical puzzles. These would be physical, in-game items, structures, or obstructions that need to be interacted with in specific ways in order to move, alter or change them to proceed. A big inspiration for us for handling puzzles are games like Riven and some of the Resident Evil games. The puzzles themselves aren't really complex or obtuse, often quite simple, but they require careful attention to environmental cues and notes scattered about, and even occasionally writing down notes. We want to emphasize that puzzles should almost always serve some kind of purpose or have some context in the environment regardless of its complexity.
To give a little look at how we’re thinking about puzzles and challenges, here’s an example diagram for “power routing” as a large-scale objective (this is purely illustrative of the concepts and doesn’t reflect any actual proposed level layouts). In order to progress, TW needs to route power from one end of this zone to the other. She finds a terminal that lets her see where the routers are, but not their status. As TW explores, she can find and activate routers that are in working order. Some routers are damaged, but can be repaired by interacting with their surroundings (small puzzle). Other routers are destroyed beyond repair, preventing power from being routed through them. One router can only be accessed by opening a locked door (small puzzle). One is gated behind a challenging encounter (dangerous, may use up resources). Another is in a hidden compartment accessed through a maintenance crawlspace (exploration challenge). Not all of these need to be accessed in order to complete the challenge and progress.
This kind of format appeals to us for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s easily scalable. This kind of objective could be confined to a handful of rooms as illustrated by the diagram, but it could also be expanded to an entire deck/level. As an overarching objective, it can easily run in parallel with smaller moment-to-moment objectives, and can provide context or hints about likely ways to progress through a complex environment. We don’t want to overuse any one puzzle or challenge format, but you can expect to see a couple variations on this general concept in the game. We also don’t want to give away too much about our puzzles and progression, but we’re particularly happy with this example, and felt it was worth talking about.
Our main purpose for these puzzles is to break up the loop of combat and exploration. And to give a sense of progression, reinforcing the idea that you and the player aren't welcome in these areas, and what is obvious to the crew of this ship, may not be so obvious to you. As you solve these problems, in a way, TW is also solving them as well.
ART ASSETS:
A-3 ETAYI TABAR Security Shotgun
“The original shotgun was a pretty stellar design. There wasn't much we wanted to change as we were getting ready to reimplement it in game. However we kept referencing it as an energy based weapon, which it originally was not. We couldn't shake that the design leaned itself stronger into the category as opposed to a simple shotgun and ultimately made the decision to rework the Halberd as a dedicated energy weapon which Tekka is in the process of developing. 
I took on the task of creating a new fresh design for the shotgun to create something that would resemble a more modest but reliable weapon a security force would use. Major inspirations were tactical riot guns or police shotguns seen around the world. I wanted to do some neat things with reload and cycling animations, so I wanted to do a classic pump action design. The challenge that came from this was trying to find a way to make that work while not feeling too contemporary. I tried to address this by adding a more angled taper on the top portion of the body to the barrel, and having a more composite, painted steel material construction as opposed to a gun metal. High visibility, high contrast colors help give it a more distinctive feel, and bright, crunchy decals help blend it in with our established aesthetic.”
- Looming
