7/15/22 Chaos Chain Developer Status Update
Chaos Chain
Greetings, Dwellers...
Hey guys, I just wanted to stop by and let you all know what I've been working on recently.
First and foremost, I worked more on the HUD interface to make it more sleek, less invasive on screen space, and more intuitive.
HUD 3.0Objectives that are completed will now turn green to let you know when they're accomplished, you'll no longer see a "0/1" next to ongoing single objective quests, and objectives with more than just one task will count until they reach the maximum or higher and then turn green and remove the counter so it's more obvious which ones require more.
You may also notice that the HUD is smaller on screen - I removed the topmost outer window bar from the HUD so it looks more like it's coming from the top. It saves some screen space and matches how the Stamina window is on the bottom. I also more neatly organized the HUD elements on the top bar and spaced them out more evenly and removed AP (ability/action points) from the list because they were unnecessary there. I spent some time optimizing the HUD refresh rate and factors that cause it to refresh and update so it should be both smoother and quicker.
I also made it so that there are now 5 quickslots instead of just 3 so you can hotkey more items for quick use.
Another thing I did was make combat a bit more engaging by making improvements throughout the system including the screen flashing a faint dark red when a character or companion on your side takes damage, the interface is a bit more focused now with a slight vignette effect, and extended width for the background images in battle to make them fit the scene better when the screen shakes upon taking damage.
Next, I'd like to introduce you to our new "Netpunk" companion, "Cassia", who will be coming to the Slade City sprawl in the next update. As you can probably guess by the name "Netpunk", she's a computer hacker. Ideal for dealing with cybered opponents, she is a great support character who can even handle herself in combat if she really needs to.
CassiaKnown only by her alias, "Cassia" is a brilliant hacker and tech specialist with a knack for dealing with computers and electronics. She comes with some serious hardware, too. A high grade processor, enhanced hearing through the new Spatial Analyzer CyWare, an ECM Link to protect her against interference and glitches, plenty of high tech accessories and gadgets, and the all new Tech Jumpsuit which contains tools and equipment necessary for someone in her field. You'll have to wait and see all that it offers, though. ;-)
Cassia's Starting Equipment Loadout (Not including Augments/Cyberware)Now, what bonuses does she get as a Netpunk? She's highly intelligent, so she get's an extra skill point to begin with. She's harder to damage with interference and cyber-based attacks, has higher resistance to her tech becoming unstable and becoming glitched, and she's also better at causing her opponents to glitch-out. So we know her background, but what about her edge? Well, her edge is that she's nimble - light and fast. She gets bonuses to avoid being targeted in combat, evasion bonuses, and she's pretty quick so she'll get initiative bonuses as well. Like everyone, she's not perfect however. She has the flaw of being weak - in body, but not of mind. She gets 1 less toughness and muscle.
Her beginning skills allow her to use small guns if she can get her hands on them, she gains experience quicker, is harder to hit with melee AND with ranged weapons, she can dodge criticals a bit better than others, and she has a high mettle maximum to keep her in the fight longer and it also allows her to use more of her combat hacks.
Aside from the new companion and the updated HUD, a lot more quality of life and user friendliness changes will be in the next update, a bunch of new content including new locations/enemies/quests/equipment/etc, and continued fixes and improvements!
I'll have more info very soon, so stay tuned!
-Corrosion ːCStudiosː