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Bigger demo, more gameplay, and adding the missing rogue-like features!

When you start a project like Regulator City, there is a certain vision and idea of what you want the finished product to be like. Getting from that first idea to that vision is sometimes extremely easy and straightforward, but in the case of Regulator City it has been a massive path of many ups and downs.

So it's hard to describe the relieve and many other feelings that unleash the moment I noticed that Regulator City became that game I originally had in mind. A great mix between action, stealth, coolness of leading a team, and finally the rogue-like elements I try to put in all my games.

Before I dive into the specifics for this v0.0.50 demo update, PLEASE grab yourself a copy of the demo and make sure to wishlist the game, I can't wait for you to play it and enjoy it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892750/Regulator_City/

The list of changes is LONG, so there's no way I'm going to cover all of it in detail. The key changes for this demo, and the gameplay, are most certainly the implementation of a Game Over state - if you (the Alpha) dies, it is game over in a traditional rogue-like sense. This gives you some extra things to think about on how you go into the missions.



I also restructured and streamlined the way your squad is made available and how you can revive new squad members, AND your team members can now actually level-up and learn new skills!  This is a major difference in the gameplay, because you now WANT to keep your team members a live and help them out, so you don't have to replace them with a Level-1 grunt later on.

The way they learn skills will be improved in a later demo update, for now they will automatically get skills assigned as they level-up. This means that all the mission stuff is originally done by you as a player : place bombs, get intelligence, crack safe, etc. But over time your squad members will be able to take care of these things for you and much faster!

I also reworked all the interface things and cranked up the feedback to players to close to maximum! You will not miss out on important gameplay events happening!



So go check out the demo, it's a longer demo than before, you can now play 4 city blocks, so a lot more fun to be had. Come talk about it over on the Discord and don't be shy in dropping your ideas!

Here's the full list of changes and fixes, if you want to stay updated on these on a more daily and smaller version: there's now an automated update list being dropped in the Discord channel for the games I'm working on at the end of every work day! so come hang out!!

Full changes list:

  • added: item drop boxes to HQ on first run (gives you starting items)
  • added: mission icons in HUD have an effect when something gets completed
  • added: Slow-triggered enemy spawns, can be avoided by sneaking
  • added: Squad members now level up and improve their skills
  • added: DNA pods now used to upgrade the player (extra HP)
  • added: notification when a squad member dies
  • added: quick replay to game-over screen
  • added: Special power attention FX
  • added: some inventory items can now be "activated" per mission
  • added: Squad HP should restore when they level up
  • added: EMP-bombs to disrupt power at any point in the building for certain time
  • added: Items can now be depending on other items
  • added: Inventory shows if item needs another item (EMP needs Nightvision)
  • added: Previously shown mission-tutorial info now saved to player profile
  • added: item: Training manual - levels up all squad members
  • added: Squad skill to defuse mines
  • added: different voices are assigned when generating new team members
  • added: Squad members now have random faces
  • added: Enemy spawns during boss01 fight
  • added: item Blueprint, makes the whole map visible
  • added: item Field-Incubator to generate a new squad member
  • changed: cleaned up status bar
  • changed: Special powers charge faster
  • changed: increased item-box drops
  • changed: Medikits are instant use (and ignored if full HP)
  • changed: gear-shop spawns in direction of street-movement, not "behind" the player
  • changed: shop prices need to increase faster in missions
  • changed: Mission Failed (Alpha down) now equals a game-over
  • changed: Explosive-placement can now be learned by Squad members
  • changed: No new recruits until the whole city-block mission is cleared
  • changed: Increase demo size to 4 cityblocks
  • changed: Shop Prices kept increasing, while money drops don't.
  • changed: task title bar doesn't need team-member avatar anymore (team won't trigger it, only players)
  • changed: Made hostage-NPC more focussed on level-exit (cross long distance)
  • changed: Make it rain in cityblock 4
  • changed: decreased Ooze-hive spawns in early missions
  • changed: proper random pool for Store items
  • changed: Made hearing-aid an active item
  • changed: Some items like grenades now come per X amount at once
  • fixed: squad members won't open doors during a breach-able situation
  • fixed: can't revive members in Gear shop
  • fixed: AI moving to doors that are not really the best option at the time
  • fixed: Squad will also slash/attack Ooze-spawn blobs
  • fixed: GO sign on the street does a weird blink
  • fixed: boxes in HQ shouldn't spawn medikit on new game
  • fixed: Rope-spawned enemies not placed at correct spawn spot
  • fixed: Squad member is sometimes invisible (only shows shadow on floor)
  • fixed: boss fight has too much street-width
  • fixed: take-downs on street lands the enemies body "inside the buildings"
  • fixed: Level editor: cleared level would be seen as a usable-level
  • fixed: Incubation also resets life squad members
  • fixed: Level countdown now overlaps with mission icons
  • fixed: shop-item collision overlaps, player can touch 2 items at once
  • fixed: Player controller character also had double HP
  • fixed: dashing can sometimes dash through items/walls
  • fixed: squad-level digits are hard to read in HUD
  • fixed: Night-missions don't show night in open-areas in buildings
  • fixed: Picking up an active item resets the active state
  • fixed: Ooze critters bite, but don't seem to harm/hurt
  • fixed: saved NPC's in HQ don't say anything (do trigger a prompt)
  • fixed: removed "CPU" from power bar in Tutorial mode
  • fixed: Squad members don't seem to properly level up their skills
  • fixed: gaining a weapon while morphed, replaces the melee weapon
  • fixed: added some correction to camera-danger zone highlights




Check out the demos for Heroes Of Loot: Gauntlet Of Power and Regulator City

Indie developer Orangepixel currently has two really fun looking games worth looking into, both offering full Native Linux support and they both have newer demos available to try out.

Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/check-out-the-demos-for-heroes-of-loot-gauntlet-of-power-and-regulator-city

Come sample TWO new Orangepixel games in development and help shape the game!



Hey guys, it's Pascal from Orangepixel, and I wanted to give you a quick message to let you know that I uploaded a fresh, brand new, demo for both Regulator City and Heroes of Loot: Gauntlet of Power!

Grab the demos (and Wishlist!) here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892750/Regulator_City/

Squad based top-down arcade shooter, with some stealthy/sneaking moments and a lot of cool vibes!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2374320/Heroes_Of__Loot_Gauntlet_Of_Power/

A quick mix of bullet-heaven shooters and dungeon crawlers like Binding of Isaac. It's early in development stage, but many gamers seem to really love it so far!

These games are still in development, but your feedback on the demo's are VERY welcome! Drop by on https://discord.gg/orangepixel to find out more about the games and have a nice chat about features you'd love to see before they get released!

Grab the latest Regulator City demo: It brings all the toys and then some!

It’s here! The new demo, and it’s a BIG one in terms of changes, improvements and steps towards the final game. The list of changes is extremely long, so let me quickly talk through some of the highlights while you download the latest demo !

So where to even start? There’s so many improvements here, from the character-select screen showing more info on the special abilities, to the flow of things on how you get your team and you can now have the computer randomly create your team (I’m a big fan of such features, cause I personally don’t like fiddling with all these settings in games).



The whole level-up/upgrade system is replaced with a much more straight-forward Gunstore that appears after every mission. Same for finding upgrades to weapons and ammo inside buildings, this is now much easier done with clear upgrade-boxes spread across a building.

Players who enjoy sneaking and stealth will also be happy to learn that there are some improvements there. Sneaking up on someone will show you an action-circle and timer to let you know when the enemy is about to detect your presence. You can now also turn off lights and that will confuse enemies suddenly being in the dark, and you or your team can go in for a quick and silent kill.



Everything that’s important to complete a mission now is also much more apparent in the game, and there are more guiding markers and general information bits all over the place. I also tried to declutter various events happening as much as possible (so don’t show a dialog pop-up alongside a tutorial thingies while in the middle of battle!) – It’s hard to completely get rid of all overlapping things, but most of the time you won’t be bombarded with information all at once.



Besides that there are so many improvements all over the place, including a couple of new items that should be interesting on your missions (and a LOT more are coming, don’t worry) and just a general nicer handling of the game itself. I even improved the level-editor – while I’m still not even sure that will remain in the game when it finally releases!?

I’m really confident about this demo, and I hope you enjoy playing it! Don’t forget to drop by on Discord to talk about the game, give your feedback, pitch in some cool ideas, and perhaps make it into the credits of the game…

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892750/Regulator_City/

Full changes list:

  • fixed: risk-taking setting on Team-Generator got stuck on 0%
  • fixed: editor removing doors keeps creating a door underneath it
  • fixed: detonator task now playable with mouse
  • fixed: swipe card task now playable with mouse
  • fixed: camera-zoom near map-edges hides the action
  • fixed: using mouse on “back” in gamepad setup would select button change
  • fixed: level-editor blockades don’t stop FOV/light
  • fixed: shooting lights has no effect on the light in the area
  • fixed: AI detection bug (through the walls)
  • fixed: mod DNA need 1, isn’t reset
  • fixed: speech-dialogs moving off screen on the sides
  • fixed: when leaving a building, squad can be all over the place in positions
  • fixed: zoom issues on take-downs near map edge
  • fixed: security cameras are not slowed down on world-slowmotion
  • fixed: sometimes there’s a mission-door missing on the street (or not activated)
  • fixed: if player uses (A) to open a chest or turn off/on stuff, Squad shouldn’t operate the door (A) is being handled already!
  • fixed: Intelligence not being gathered once action/danger is gone
  • fixed: hud-blood spatters (hit indication) barely noticeable
  • fixed: notebook hand on right covers text slightly
  • fixed: don’t have tutorials show up if danger is too high
  • fixed: there was a fire-barrel covering the tutorial badguy
  • fixed: exit circle not positioned close enough to door
  • added: Random button on soldier-generator screen
  • added: First Boss fight
  • added: Take Down notice when taking down a mission-target
  • added: more punch to grenades (=doing more damage to surrounding enemies)
  • added: danger-markers (for bikers,bosses, and other dangers)
  • added: Oozed-up spike-enemy
  • added: sound to upgrade ring for squad
  • added: information to sneaking-tutorial to make it more clear to player
  • added: Switching off lights will “confuse” enemies for a bit and keep them at one spot
  • added: Thumbnails to characterselect showing abilities in action
  • added: Sound-icons when unseen enemies make a sound (in other room, behind doors, etc)
  • added: bunch of user-friendly improvements to the level-editor
  • added: Gun-shop and Merchant (inbetween missions, on the street)
  • added: Buyable items
  • added: Gun-shop level/area
  • added: Item: Oozed Silencer
  • added: Improvements to mission-result screen
  • added: heartbeat and take-down focus circle underneath enemies
  • added: Extra radio voice: Stijn
  • added: warning about security cameras on first encounter
  • added: Instruction pop-ups for first-time a mission appears in the game
  • added: Random team will now spread skill based for bigger variety in team members
  • added: a “SQUAD UPGRADED” effect to members upgrading skills
  • added: various tutorial instructions
  • added: Item – Master key
  • added: Give NPC’s with something to say a highlight circle
  • added: gave the Gunshop attention beams to stand out more
  • added: heartbeat/sneak effect to the tutorial badguy
  • added: Item Hearing-Aid
  • changed: path-markers now rendered outside the light-system (so not covered in shades)
  • changed: GO arrows above doors will appear below if door is “above” camera view
  • changed: gave soldier-creator properties descriptions instead of numbers
  • changed: improved Bionica’s dodge move (no melee weapon forced, shorter usage and faster revive)
  • changed: Pickups can be picked-up mid-bounce (feels smoother for gameplay)
  • changed: Melee weapons degrade when used (not just when hitting things)
  • changed: made certain level areas bigger
  • changed: weapon-crates now give weapons+special items (not ammo)
  • changed: Powergenerator now only works if you got Nightvision item
  • changed: soft limit on amount of enemy spawns when more than enough enemies on screen
  • changed: first HQ entry, make player move to general – not to Team-generator
  • changed: removed mission-result screen (had no purpose + added confusion)
  • changed: various engine optimizations
  • changed: Various map improvements with layout and placements/flow
  • changed: Flashbang sound
  • changed: Improved character select screen
  • changed: Default clone settings are now random as default
  • changed: sound for Triple-gun






New playable demo: New upgrade structure and team select functionality

Another month, and time for a new and improved demo of Regulator City. Based on a lot of feedback from, well, everywhere and everyone, this demo is mostly a quality improvement demo, and not so many new features.. well.. maybe one or two!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892750/Regulator_City/

As with the last demo, most of my attention has been put into making the game more user-friendly and clear in what the player has to do. One main piece of the puzzle is markers that guide you to certain key-locations. So if you push a button that opens a door, but you have no idea where the door is or what is happening, then you will notice bright orange markers leading you from the button to the door that just opened.



Same with the extraction point, once you completed a mission. Many people told me they got lost on that part, so there is no a clear path towards the exit of the map.

I also modified the way the upgrade system works, this is phase one, there are a few more tweaks I have in mind, but this should already make it much more interesting to go for those sneaky kills and grab more cash to upgrade your gear. You can now spend 3 credits on the upgrade screen, which will allow you to either grab a bunch of grenades, or go for that fancy armor, or both!?




Full changes list:

  • added: SKIP animation code (hold button)
  • added: Squad clone device in HQ
  • added: Extraction guidance path
  • added: Controller/mouse+keyboard instructions on startscreen
  • added: goal markers for doors needing button pushes
  • added: Team-recruitment at start of the game (customise skillsets)
  • added: Pop-up words for special events (Skree, Whack, etc)
  • fixed: keyboard-setup in tutorial doesn't fit some key-names
  • fixed: left hand in meteorite animation not showing
  • fixed: flares rendered on top of tasks
  • fixed: Squad members not going in for the kill on dizzy-enemies (ie: after flashbang)
  • changed: tutorial now a solo-mission (squad comes after that)
  • changed: improved look and usage of bombs
  • changed: Keypad-task now operational with Mouse controls
  • changed: Improved early HQ flow and added more mission-goal markers to guide the player
  • changed: more prominent shades to identify enemies
  • changed: Level-up now gives X amount of credits to spend (can grab multiple gear at once)
  • changed: lowered default audio volume settings
  • changed: made Start/Settings options also clickable by mouse
  • changed: Graphic settings now show all options + fullscreen all the time
  • changed: gave enemies brighter bodies
  • changed: gave enemies bigger (and brigther) heads
  • changed: renamed danger/safe meter to "detected"
  • changed: debris vanishes more quickly


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892750/Regulator_City/