Shardpunk News

It's Independence Day here in Poland - so I am planning to play more and work less today!

Still, here's the latest progress update on Shardpunk: I'm tweaking the in-game mechanics to improve the fun factor even more. Here's what I have for you in this entry:

UI changes

You can now access the tutorials - which have been rebranded as "Codex" - from the main game screen so that you don't have to open up the pause menu. The same happened to the unlocks screen.



Overwatch triggering indicator!

Yes! You will be able to see where the enemy overwatch reaction shots will get you.



Combat tactics

You will be able to discover combinations of actions during combat that will grant you special bonuses. I don't want to spoil them, so here's a screenshot of one of them being activated:




As you can see, this tactic is about performing two overwatch actions with characters who are standing next to each other. This grants you some accuracy boost. Things similar to these are hidden in the game, waiting to be uncovered (and then used frequently) by the player!

That's all for this entry. Take care! See you on the Discord server!

Wow, the "last 10% of the project taking 90% of the time" thing is sure real! The awesome community in the Discord server gives enormous amounts of feedback, and I am constantly busy tweaking the game based on that.

The things I want to showcase today are the features implemented to counter the "game being too punishing" remark.

#1: Auto-healing mechanism

When character's HPs reach zero, they enter a "bleeding out" state. Another character can then approach them and use the "revive" action on them, which will bring them back to life.

Sounds fair. The thing is, sometimes it's not possible to reach the other character in time, or without exposing your other characters. Or you might not have any other characters left.

That's why it turned out that characters in Shardpunk are equipped with personal CPR units, that can be used to self-revive them! Well, you need a Fusion Core to make it work, but I believe it's a fair tradeoff. Also, the game has now extra usage for Fusion Cores!



#2: Close calls. And retaliation attacks!

It seems that Shardpunk characters have started to be luckier recently - there's a chance that they can avoid a lethal blow coming their way using the newly added "Close Call" mechanics. Every time a Close call is triggered, the probability of it happening again gets reduced.

What is more, there's a chance that after a Close Call a character will trigger a retaliation attack, which is an always-hitting, enemy-interrupting move. Even if you don't manage to kill the enemy with it, they will lose the ability to perform any other actions this turn.





#3: increased cap for revivals

Up until now, the characters could enter the "bleeding out" status only once in combat - so after they've been revived once in, the second time their HPs go down to zero they insta-die.

I've increased the number of allowed "bleeding out" states to two (at least in the easy difficulty; the normal difficulty has it still at one). This should help the players out!



Peace out! Have a great weekend!

Hi! Here's a short list of recent gameplay changes that I've introduced to Shardpunk based on all the feedback I received:

Burst shots

Machine gun rats now can perform a "burst shot" action, which deals AOE damage. This will make them even more deadly!




Poison that... heals

Poison mortar rats can now target their allies, which will apply healing effects to them:



That lead to a nice "feature", when the poison mortar rats were healing themselves:



And despite it looking funny, I actually removed that self-healing behaviour from the game as it was too annoying.

Stun grenades!

Grenades can now be used in an alternative way - if the player purchases a certain team skill, the characters can use them in stun mode. This will make the combat even more interesting.



I believe that Shardpunk is shaping up nicely, and I can't wait to finally release it! Take care!

Oh yeah, and don't forget about the Discord server!

There are two things I want to show this time: first is the expanded information screen present in the shelter, which allows the player to access information about effects that will be applied to a character in the upcoming combat:



Besides that, I expanded the tutorials section. A lot. And I've added videos to tutorial entries:



This should take care of the "I did not always know what to do in the game" piece of feedback I got ;)

Besides that, I've been busy fixing a bunch of stuff. Every time I play Shardpunk I find something that I feel needs fixing/adjusting. At some point, you do need to tell yourself to stop though, right?

Still, there are some gameplay rules that I believe need adjusting - but I'm gonna write more about it in the next entry.

Take care! And the Discord server is right here!

Hi! First and foremost, I've been recently interviewed for the FearFest festival that Shardpunk was a part of - you can watch the short interview here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxYqJF5hYRg

It was a great experience getting featured among all the other interesting games there. Indie game development can get a little bit lonely sometimes - especially if you're working alone in a home office - so seeing all the other participants and listening to their stories was a nice experience.

Mental note to self: if Shardpunk is successful and you'll be able to work on another game, consider renting a desk in a co-working space; it might help maintain your sanity.

Anyways, I've been working on adding more minor encounters to the game. Here's one about encountering bodies of imperial scientists:



Also, here are some visuals for the sewage levers for another quest:



Besides that, I've decided to adjust one of the available weapon upgrades: the stun module. Initially, that module added a probability that a character might stun an enemy instead of dealing them damage. It turned out to be more often received as "annoying", instead of "a surprise, but a welcome one".

And I get it - if you are trying to one-shot that nasty big rat with your upgraded weapon, and in the end, it just stuns it, you're frustrated.

Therefore, I made sure that the "stun" upgrade gives the player an explicit control over the "stun shot" action, which has 100% chance to stun a target - assuming that it will hit it, of course.



That's it for this entry. Have a great weekend everyone! And as always, the Discord channel is right here!