Shardpunk News

Phew, implementing the controller support was surely time-consuming! The good news is that it's done. Surely, there will be some changes in the game's UI, but I have all the code/design base to handle both types of input in place, so altering this stuff will be simpler from now on.

Some parts of the UI had to be redesigned to make sure that gamepad navigation makes sense. Man, it's a good thing that I bought that PS4 last year - I had time to play some games and familiarize myself with best practices on implementing gamepad support.

The thing that I wanted to avoid (and I did avoid it) was to display a mouse cursor when using a gamepad and force the player to move the cursor with the gamepad's stick. The navigation should be always focus-based, not pointer-based. The map/mission loadout screen was the biggest challenge, as it had two different focus groups that the player needs to navigate between.

Here's a comparison of how selecting the next mission and distributing supplies works when using a mouse and a gamepad (gifs too big, had to embed a YT video):

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Oh, I'm not sure I mentioned that I've also added player profiles recently. Each of them is basically a save slot and stores profile-level achievements (like the number of enemies that have been killed by this profile in total). These will be handy when dealing with character/weapon upgrade unlocks.





There's one more technical task ahead of me that I will be addressing in the nearest weeks, and that is localization support. I can already feel it's gonna be interesting. And challenging as hell, but hey - I'm creating a game here!

Take care everyone, and do join our Discord server - there's lot of interesting discussions happening there recently!

Howdy! The new version of the demo is now live, with some color/contrast adjustments:



This gives you yet another reason to replay the demo and post your feedback. And you can use our Discord server for doing the latter!

Ugh, these last two weeks did pass pretty quickly!

It's time for another devlog entry, so I'll make it quick. I'm currently working on making sure that the UI is supporting gamepads. It's a tedious process, but it does require some smart thinking occasionally.

I played a lot of Pathway, Mutant Year Zero and XCOM 2 on gamepad in the last days, to see how these games approach the controller support. I believe I've extracted and mixed their solution in an approachable way. That being said, I'm still in a middle of it so I might still encounter blockers.



Also, I've posted an article on Reddit recently containing all the lessons I learned since starting my gamedev journey four (!) years ago - go read it if you're interested in how I ended up here.

I'd love to write more, but I've literally run out of time to do things. There will be more content next time, I promise!

Anyways, here's a list of some unrelated gameplay gifs, as I know that everyone loves gifs. Enjoy!

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!

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/