Beyond Sunset News

Hi all!

Beyond Sunset is a retro game at core, yes, but it can’t play like a retro game. Today, simplified AI behavior just wouldn’t fly. Enemies can’t stumble around half-randomly, with their only objective being looking for you. This “stumbling” is something you can notice easily in the original Doom. We wanted to avoid it. So what did we do?



[h2]We focused on changing the pathfinding and in general, on letting our enemies make decisions.[/h2]

Their choices are made via a behavior tree: a branching path of actions that an actor can take, resulting from each other. It’s a standard thing in gaming, but not in retro games, and not in games based on the Doom engine. We believe that we are the first to implement Behavior Trees in GZDoom.

Why is it important? Not just because the effect is visible: our enemies are smarter, react to your actions instead of following a simple pattern. Also, for us, their actions are much easier to program. We use a visual editor to create their branching behavioral paths. This makes creating their “personalities” much, much more convenient. See how it looks:



[h2]As a result, you can experience much more exciting (and vertical) combat scenarios than in older Doom-based games.[/h2]

We also use these trees to create the AI for non-combatants so that we can add life to our game world. Not everyone is your enemy, not everyone is there to kill. This design concept was first used in the underrated gem Strife many years ago, but we hope to take it to the next level.

If you’re a modder or a GZDoom game creator, here’s something important for you: we’ll make our behavior trees open source very soon. It’s one of the best things about Doom and GZDoom: we can share our knowledge and findings, and help each other create better, more amazing games!

Wishlist and follow us for more Beyond Sunset and GZDoom goodness.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1665260/Beyond_Sunset/

Hey, everyone! 👋

We’re happy to announce that the Routastic Event has officially started! Huge discounts, great bundles, a showcase of upcoming titles, and much, much more awaits you there! Go and check it for yourself ⬇️

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35934053/sale/Routastic_Sale


With that in mind, make sure to check out the Gas Station Simulator - Airstrip DLC that our friends at DRAGO entertainment has released today.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2137370/Gas_Station_Simulator__Airstrip_DLC/Release

As an RPG game, Beyond Sunset is ripe with NPCs. It’s time you meet some of them, no? Let us introduce you to Balthazar, an administrator at MetaCorp. He’s a competent guy but he can be quite a pain in the butt and his short temper is infamous.



The in-game characters are made in pixel art (inspired by the works of Josan Gonzales) but they all start as a painted draft. Thanks to that all sprites are faithful to the art you will see – just as the pixel art of Lucy looks just like the hero art from Steam.



Here is how Balthazar was made:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Lucy and Balthazar are only two of many characters that will appear in the game. Do you want to see the others?

Have you ever entertained the thought that a game never ends up exactly as planned? Design and development are iterative processes, and this means that ideas change.

I have an example for you. It’s a small change that significantly impacts the way you perceive your ‘gaming experience’.

Here’s an SCPD (Sunset City Police Department) officer, one of your enemies, as we initially designed him. He has a white-and-blue uniform and generally isn’t that far from a riot police officer you might see in real life.



And here he is after a couple of tweaks



He also comes in two flavors, the second one being this:



We changed his colors to what we think feels more cyberpunky and less contemporary. His shoulder pads are massive, and in his larger iteration, his melee animation has a trail to make it more punchy. This new takes some inspiration from the music video for Billy Idol’s song Shock to the System, check it out!

All of the above results in a look that’s more futuristic and aggressive. Despite the fact that this enemy’s behavior hasn’t changed, you’ll (hopefully) THINK that he’s more dangerous. And that will translate to more exciting encounters.

Keep this in mind if you played the demo. The full game will bring a lot of surprises!

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[h2]Episode 2 is almost done! What’s Episode 2, you ask?[/h2]

If you know old shooters, you know a lot of them have an episodic structure within a single game. Like Doom started with Knee-Deep in the Dead, and Duke Nukem 3D with L.A. Meltdown, remember?

This is what you’ll see when you start our game

Beyond Sunset is similar in this regard: we also have episodes that share the setting. The difference is that we actually tell a story through them, instead of simply presenting differently-themed map packs. Basically, in Beyond Sunset, episodes work like acts.

[h2]Each episode tells a segment of the story in a new location and introduces a twist to the gameplay.[/h2]

E2 takes place in a technological megastructure that’s designed to function almost as a living organism. This makes it less cozy and familiar than the streets of Sunset City, but we feel that it adds nice variety and a break after exploring the dirty, Yakuza-infested avenues.

[h2]Despite the environment being more abstract, it was designed with a purpose and backstory.[/h2]

In every level we make, we try to justify why the things you see are there in the first place. We feel that any game is more immersive if the surroundings have an actual purpose in their designer’s mind.

For example, we have a part that’s based on the real-life Hadron Collider. But for us, this is the system that powers the entire place.



Apart from it, a lot of what you’ll see in E2 is meant to resemble Ancient Egyptian architecture. Additionally, the three main sections of the building use their own color pattern and an individual motif based on a geometrical shape. This adds a unique look to each of the sections and lets us guide you through them easily without any objective markers.

[h2]The different visual elements blend nicely and create an eerie, cold, alien environment that’s in stark contrast to the city streets. [/h2]

E2 also shakes up the way you play the game as the space gets wider and allows us to throw more enemies at you. Or faster enemies. Or tougher enemies. Or all at the same time!

Here’s one acquaintance you’ll make

As for the gameplay, I mentioned that we want each Episode to introduce a twist. This is something that should make Beyond Sunset stand out among other retro shooters. But it’s a huge topic to cover, so let’s talk about it some other time.

Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, consider adding our game to your wishlist.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1665260/Beyond_Sunset/