The Wolf in Me News

[p]Heavily inspired by The Last of Us and its approach to offering different paths to the same outcome, Lobo lets you handle situations in multiple ways. You can go full berserker and face every enemy head-on, relying purely on your combat skills, or take a stealthier approach and use the environment to your advantage.[/p][p][/p][p]In this example, I use wine bottles not to distract enemies, but to attract a Fallen’s attention away from an archway. By hiding in tall grass, staying crouched, and activating stealth mode, my footsteps become quieter, reducing the chance of being spotted. That creates the perfect moment to take the enemy down in a single hit with a stealth kill.[/p][p][/p][p]Lobo is a solo-developer project, and I’m borrowing mechanics from the games that inspired me, simplifying them without losing their impact, to give players more meaningful choices in how they approach combat.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[p]One of my long-time obsessions while making this game has been imprinting emotions onto characters, not just in cinematics, but during actual gameplay. It took a lot of experimentation to find a workflow that felt right, especially since I don’t have actors or mocap animations.[/p][p]I ended up turning that limitation into an advantage. Using a simple emotion library in Unreal Engine, I built a Blend Space with the emotions I use the most, like happiness, sadness, anger, and more. That lets me trigger emotional expressions dynamically during gameplay whenever I need them. In the video, for example, you can see an anger expression during an attack.[/p][p]These are small details, but as they say, the devil is in the details for a reason. You might not consciously notice them, but your brain does, and they add something subtle but meaningful. Since all my characters share the same skeleton, this system easily scales to every character, especially enemies.[/p][p]Emotions are one of the most human things we connect with, so adding them felt important. It creates an extra layer that helps players relate to the characters in ways that go beyond mechanics.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[p]Following my recent combat micro-devlogs, this update adds enemy finishers when your health drops below a certain threshold. It makes fights more tense and forces you to stay alert when you’re close to death.[/p][p][/p][p]At the same time, I redesigned the spectator camera using Black Eye Cameras to compose shots dynamically, without relying on sequencer. Everything happens in real time, allowing the camera to adapt naturally to the position of the actors and the environment.[/p][p][/p][p]The result is more cinematic and epic finishers, with shots that feel alive and responsive. You can even catch smaller details now, like enemy facial expressions during the execution.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[p]I wanted to share a quick update on the basic combat in Lobo. One of the main changes is that even though the player and the Fallen Sentinel share some animations due to having the same stance, I added an additive animation layer to the enemy to make them feel more zombie-like. Since they are undead, this extra layer really helps sell the concept and fits naturally with the faction’s background story.[/p][p][/p][p]In this video, you can also see the updated visual FX system. In the settings, players can disable gore effects and use alternative visuals instead. This feature was requested several times, so if you prefer not to see blood, you’ll now get cleaner, more friendly, and flashy effects.[/p][p][/p][p]Lastly, I created a simple PCG tool to quickly block out arenas. It helps me define how much space is needed to move comfortably for each mini-boss and boss. Arenas in Lobo are designed to blend into the environment, not feel like traditional combat zones. Just wider spaces where fighting feels good, without constant wall collisions, camera issues, or visual clutter.[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[p]In this video, I’m introducing a new enemy, the Fallen Sentinel. They’re armed with a sword, and even though they are undead, they retain all their combat skills.[/p][p][/p][p]The clip shows a quick fight where both the player and the Sentinel use light attacks, gap-closing strikes that consume stamina, blocks that generate Fear, and perfect blocks that release Fear from the attacker and transfer it to the defender. If the Fear meter reaches its limit, the victim’s guard breaks.[/p][p][/p][p]This is just part of Lobo’s basic combat. Advanced combat will include special attacks, heavy attacks, and finishers, and while all enemies use this system, bosses will have more complexity, patterns, and surprises.[/p][p][/p][p]Combat in Lobo isn’t a souls-like game, but it is definitely inspired by its combat style, just less punishing and more approachable. It’s meant to be one of the core fun pillars of the game, but not the only focus.[/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]