Shardpunk News

Here I am, back with another update on Shardpunk's development progress.

In general, the work is going well. I am working on creating another build for another round of playtests. The previous round gave me LOTS of feedback that I was able to forge into actionable items, and I definitely want to repeat that.

To add some variety to the stuff the player can do, I've added more world interaction to the game. I tweaked the triggers/scripts code I've created for the tutorial level, which allowed me to use it for creating custom in-combat events.

Here's a minor custom event at the tutorial level - the character reaches a certain area which triggers a 'cutscene' in which they say something and receive stress points - which I then use as an excuse to show a tutorial about stress:




Here are the characters spotting a larger battle scene which can be investigated for extra rewards:




And here's the beginning of a quest about a bunch of civilians trapped in the sewers:




These special events are randomly added to a level, so they might vary between playthroughs.

That's it for this entry. If you want to make sure you don't miss out on the next round of playtests, do visit our Discord channel!

Take care!

Rats = kinda cute little creatures.
Evolved, deadly, human-killing, post-apocalyptic rats = true horror! Pack your things and run.

Join us on September 6 right here on Steam for a fearful expo showcasing not only scary games but also those dark and gloomy.



All in all, Feardemic’s Fear Fest 2022: Black Summer Edition will be a celebration of games that make your heart beat faster and an unforgettable experience for horror fans worldwide.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Check out the full event lineup here!

See you here (or in hell)!

So my holiday break is over, and I am back to working as hard as possible to finish Shardpunk!

And I actually have lots of data to work with, as a week of closed playtests of the game (announced on the Discord channel) has recently ended. I received lots of valuable feedback!

The most important thing is that the game is enjoyable and combat is fun! The players tend to like the game and they have fun. Great stuff!

Two key points that I know needed some attention are:

a) The game is pretty darn difficult,

b) The players had moments in which they were unsure how to proceed.

Here's how I addressed them:

Point a) was something that kept on appearing since the days of the first alpha demos, and I was hoping that I made the game easier since then. I adjusted the difficulty level yet again - hopefully, the game will provide a reasonable challenge now.

As for point b), I've introduced a tutorial level (which I mentioned about in my previous entry) and expanded the number of tutorial messages. Also, I've added many visual cues that will help the player with navigation. Here are some examples of the UI highlights:

Hint about unspent team skills - which are accessed from outside character details.


Information about the possibility to upgrade your gear and a new gear upgrades popup.


Food distribution screen is now actually saying what the lower right corner icon is all about.

There were a bunch of other elements that I've corrected/planning to correct in the upcoming weeks, and hopefully, I'll be able to write more about them in the previous entry. I'm gonna be wrapping this one already though, as I need to make sure I spend enough time polishing the game. I really want to release it this year!

Take care!

Gonna make this one quick as I'm on my way to a holiday break. I did want to showcase some gifs from the new tutorial/introduction level that I am working on though, so here they are:

Teaching the player about pickups:


Meeting the rest of the team:


Fighting some rats:


Spotting an injured technician:


Meeting the automaton:


Playing the tutorial level will be optional, but recommended in the first playthrough.

Anyway, that's it for this entry. However, do stick around the Discord channel, as a round of playtests for the latest version of Shardpunk will start soon! and you can opt-in via Discord.

Take care!

Let's talk about the new enemy type that I've been working on recently - the rats that actually explode.

The idea was to introduce a suicidal enemy type to the game. You know, to spice things up a bit, force the player to change their strategy.

Technically, the challenge did not appear tough - I simply had to make sure that the enemy can perform an AOE attack, which destroys them in the process. However, the enemy was also supposed to explode after being killed by the player.

Here are the early prototyping gifs (I was using a regular rat model, colored red):





And then of course, chain reactions should be possible:



Stuff worked correctly. Well, most of the time:



In the end though, I made it work:



The next step was to add graphics. My main pixel artist did a great job at creating the explosive-packed rat model.

Here are some final gifs. Enjoy!





That's all for this entry. Have a great day! Don't forget about the Discord channel!