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Devlog #101: The new demo is here!

Yup, you've seen the news - after a year I've released another demo of Shardpunk!

I won't be listing all of the changes that made it to this demo, as it would take too much space; the game is still in development and I am moving features around all the time, so many things that were present in the previous demo work completely different.

Here's a brief list of the stuff that I believe is the most important:

More playable characters

There are seven unique playable characters that you can choose from, each one of them coming with their own set of skills. Three of the character models were present in the previous demo; four of them are new.





Pistols as a new weapon type

Pistols, next to heavy weapons and sniper rifles are the new thing in Shardpunk. Two pistol-wielding characters that are present in the game are able to shoot twice per turn or shoot and reload (that's the unique perk of pistols in the game).



Fusion Cores became weapons of mass destruction

If you follow me long enough you know I am a sucker for risk/reward mechanics. That's why I introduced another role for Fusion Cores which were originally used for unlocking shelters. Now you can use them in combat and fry your enemies with lightning bolts.



Shelter phase revamp

Shelter phases are now simplified - I've introduced a common shelter action points pool that makes the decision-making process less complex. Also, there are more actions that can be performed there - along with weapon customization.



Now, the demo has a similar length to the previous one. You can play through one mission (it will be taking place in the streets or inside a factory, and each of them has a set of random locations) and then go through one shelter phase. This, combined with the possibility to test out different character combinations gives a good amount of replayability.

Also, last but not least - feedback is everything. There is a link to a survey in the game, so do make sure to leave me some feedback after you have your fun with the demo.

Take care!

Shardpunk: Verminfall Demo 2021 out NOW!

To keep with the August theme of releasing demos please find the newest, freshest and steamiest demo of Shardpunk: Verminfall so far.

Please enjoy the game, share your comments and feedback and – if you like what you see: do not forget to wishlist the game and share the news with your friends.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1183800/Shardpunk_Verminfall/

Devlog #100: Map mutators

Howdy! Here's some information on the "map mutators" feature that I was working on recently.

As you might be aware, there's the "map travel"/"mission select" screen in Shardpunk that allows the player to choose the next mission.



Until now, there were three fixed properties for every map location:

Enviroment type

This was the 'biome' thing. In Chapter 1, there are industrial and sewer maps available, with the industrial ones being split into closed (indoors) ones and open ones (the streets, basically).

No matter whether we were dealing with sewers or industrial settings, the gameplay was the same. Sure, the visuals were completely different but they were not affecting the gameplay.

However, the game did differ for indoor/open locations - mostly because, well, the open maps were more... open - so they had not many tight corridors, enemies were able to reach you quicker, etc.

Presence of a shelter

I wrote about shelters lots of times here - they allow the player to rest, craft upgrades, and perform other shelter-related actions. Basically, it's a good thing to enter a shelter. Some locations might not have one.



Special loot type

Some locations might yield extra resources: a stash of medical supplies, grenades or other useful stuff.



After the latest changes, I introduced a number of extra properties (which I've called "mutators" in code and I'm not entirely sure why). Also, I made them dynamic, meaning that each location in the game will have random mutators assigned.

Here's how the map UI looks like after the change:



Here's the list of mutators that I've added so far:

Weak foundations: it can only be applied to an indoor location. It prevents you from using grenades.

No shelter: that's basically just the old "presence of a shelter" property, changed into a mutator. And a pretty punishing one.

Longer distance: the combat map is longer.

More loot: I guess this is self-explanatory.

Special loot: again, this is the old "Special loot type" property, changed into a mutator.

Rain: only available in outdoor locations. The rain is pouring down. And it turns out that the grenades your party is using are pretty sensitive to water, which might cause them to malfunction.

Ion storm: due to reasons I still need to figure out, this particular location is struck with a very intensive storm. Each turn random fields are struck by lightning bolts that deal heavy damage.



I especially like this last mutator - nothing is more satisfying than seeing the rats getting wiped out by a bolt of lightning. Now, I can already see that I am missing one important piece of gameplay mechanics here, and that is allowing the player to actively influence where the enemies should end their turn (in order to wander into the lightning bolt zone). Is it using some kind of a decoy? Or an "intimidate" skill? I will try to explore it further.

If you'd like to help me out with game design, do remember I'm waiting for you on Shardpunk's Discord channel!

That's all for this update - thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Back from holiday break

So yeah - I forgot to publish this entry before I going on my holiday break, hence the lack of updates from my side. Therefore I'm posting it now, as it has some nice gifs from one of my gameplay sessions.

Obviously, I'm back already and I'm pushing forward with Shardpunk development. Expect the next devlog entry in two weeks. Take care!



















Shardpunk: Verminfall Live Dev part 4

Witness the secrets of the game development in what is the 20th ever episode of Retrovibe's Live Dev - a series of daily streams showing game developers working on their games.

Tune in daily at weekdays @ 10:00 PT / 13:00 ET / 19:00 CET