Pardon the April Fools' Day post, my loyal friends, but it'd been so long since a real update that we had to spring that on you. So for the record, we did NOT spend our Kickstarter money on 3D printers and switch the project over to a tabletop miniatures game. The reality is even better. We're actually one week of work away from having a Pre-Alpha! Now, that doesn't mean you'll have a copy in your hands in 7 days, but it DOES mean that the engine will be ready for bugtesting, Then we can work out distribution. This includes completing our integration into Steam, and figuring out how we'll get your keys to you. So what have we done in the last two years of development?
Over 40 firearms and over 20 melee weapons. Nearly all firearms are customizeable, although
Incorporated around 110 of the 120 skills you can buy in Arena Mode. And keep in mind, Skills are not bonuses to stats. There's no "+10 to melee damage" skill. That's for Attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, and Tactics) to govern. Each skill is a thing you can DO, while Attributes govern how efficiently you do it. Anything from dual wielding to bracing your gun with your off-hand to catching weapons thrown at you, skills are each a unique thing that you'll purchase to diversify your fighter.
Three complete factions: AAHW, Mercs, and NEXUS Core. In addition, each has a different way of fighting, so that battling each will be unique while not deviating too far from the main thread of combat. For example, the AAHW charges in blindly and without fear, while Mercs are pensive and require their leader's direction, and NEXUS Core soldiers report to a high command that issues directions and keeps them in the best tactical position at all times. Most of these tactics are coming after Pre-Alpha release, but until then, NEXUS units are still deadly efficient. Plus, Zombehs.
The core characters from the Madness series are built and ready for Story Mode: Hank, Sanford, Deimos, Jesus, Sheriff, and Tricky.
About 20 executions, with more to come.
Phase One of our Mission system. Currently Objectives are single-task things you can accomplish in Arena Mode to increase the cash you earn during a stage. After Pre-Alpha, we're upgrading it to a complete Quest-like system involving multiple stages of objectives.
Four completed Levels (Headquarters, Rooftops, Club, and Apartments) and seven more ready for cleaning up as the Alpha goes on (Tutorial intro, Industrial Sector, Ledge, Facility, Mining Sector, Helipad, and Office).
A body destruction system that puts the last game's to shame. We still need to complete the dismemberment system (splitting guys in half), but we're happy with the texture destruction system as it stands. I still want to add a few things in, like deforming the mesh based on the edges of a hole blasted into a character so it looks like the edges of a wound pop out from a body instead of just wrapping around him, but we won't touch this until other, more important features are incorporated.
Inventory Menus for items, skills, and levels, as well as a stats screen for your character and a Quartermaster where you can buy and sell goods. Oh yeah, and like 15 types of popup, ranging from item names to character dialogue to yes/no menus, and all kinds of splash screen announcement stuff.
12 different styles of combat, depending on your level of skill, whether or not you're wielding a weapon (or weapons), and whether or not that weapon is too heavy for you. Each style (except for the lowest and too-heavy styles) allows you to use a light or heavy variation by holding SHIFT. Once we've added Proficiencies into the game, you will be able to further customize your use of certain weapons. Only a Fencer will know how to use a rapier or foil correctly, while a katana is just a sword unless it's in the hands of someone trained in its use.
The start of our Hireable NPC system, and the beginning of handing out orders to your squad. Enemies squad leaders currently do it, and we've got the basics down for the Player.
And on and on. We've got tons of outfit pieces, shaders that have been tweaked over many, many months to elicit the exact style we want, reaction animations for enemies who get surprised, animations that transition into ragdoll seamlessly, and more menus and interfaces than I've ever had to program in my life.Oh man, the U.I. ("User Interface"). Let me tell you...I HATE U.I.. Menus that populate with items, multi-purpose inventories that represent the store, your possessions, items in storage, or things being looted.Each one takes days, MINIMUM, to design, create, and plug into the game so that they work. The inventory took maybe 2 weeks. And know what? They're STILL not finished. They work, but they're just the first phase of what we're going for. A problem for future us. We've got plenty to talk about when it comes to progress (we've had ENOUGH time to make some), but we're at about a point where we're feeling confident to share. This game has NEVER been some half-assed software we want to foist on you asap. Matt and I really give a damn about it, which is why an Alpha has been so long in coming.So stay tuned, ol' buddies! Won't be but a minute before you're checking your emails and finding a Madness: Project Nexus 2 game key waiting for you.Thanks for sticking with us!-The Swain
