I'm making a horror game #11

Finally, gameplay.

As stated above, the project was headed in a stealthy direction where the player must avoid detection to progress and survive. While this is a valid direction, it didn't align with what I truly wanted for the project.

I've been playing a lot of games lately where there's character progression, and that made me realize that that's what was missing.

Moving forward, the project offers two ways for the player to customize their experience. The first is Sigils, which can be found in the game world and offer various buffs for a limited time. The second is the Skill Tree, where the player can spend skill points to unlock proficiencies to tailor their experience to their liking.

Welcome to the 11th I'm making a horror game post. This wasn't done on stream, but there's been quite a bit of changes. It all started when I decided to delete the inventory system.

The inventory system felt like it was too complex. There were many options available to the player and I couldn't justify having them. So I decided to delete the inventory system. In hindsight, that might have been a bit rash. However, it took little to no time to put things back together.

I was also struggling with the fixed camera direction I had taken. I wasn't sure if it was the best way to go, mostly because my automatic aiming system felt rather clunky during testing.

The last thing that didn't quite work for me yet was the general gameplay experience. I was about to go in a direction where the game was more stealth-based, but I opted for a more action-based approach instead.

THE PROBLEM

THE SOLUTION

Re-implement the inventory system! That was the goal. Well, that and also simplifying it. Instead of having a grid-based inventory, it's been changed to a list.

When the player selects an item, its information is displayed on the right with some options. Right now, there's only "Use" and "Drop" (as opposed to before, where there were like... 5 different options.)

This new (and simplified) inventory system ticks all the boxes needed for this project and there's no reason for it to be more involved. Pick up items, use items, and/or drop items. No more, no less.

Thanks for reading!

There's definitely more things to put together, but I'm feeling very inspired with these latest changes and I look forward to sharing more in the near future!

I'll see you for part #12!

The next topic at hand is the fixed cameras. While they are very nostalgic and give a more cinematic feel to each scene, the gameplay with them felt clunky. To aim at enemies, it was an automatic system that chose which one was closest to the player. It was possible to target different enemies, but it felt like extra, unnecessary steps in order to reach the ultimate goal of defeating the enemies.

That's when I thought about making it so the game has fixed cameras, but the player can aim to swap to an over-the-shoulder camera, giving them full control to which enemy they shoot (and where).

This also has the added benefit of giving the player a closer look of the environment, should they choose to investigate their surroundings.