End of the Living Devblog #2: Keep your eyes open
Greetings, fellow survivors of Metropolis! Has been a long time since the last devblog, hasn't it? We have been hard at work on the upcoming Posse Update, and we have some goodies to share with you. Let's begin!
The Bunker
Imagine this... You are going through a difficult day on the battleground. Hordes of undead come without any hesitation. They keep on marching towards your basement. The whole day, you are putting your best efforts into keeping them away. It's not an easy job; after the shift, you feel exhausted. So, what do you do now? To your bunker!
In the old version of the game, it had a classically structured menu design. But now, that is about to change completely. Instead of a classic menu, now you will land in your bunker whenever you are off the battlefield. In the bunker, you can switch between different sections of the basement to fill up all your necessary needs. Do you need a stronger turret? Workshop. Do you need some barricades to keep the undead away? Facility. Do you need to know the stats of an undead? Archive. Do you need some extra coins? Market. These are some of the main rooms accessible from your bunker, but that's not it. Everything else is also integrated into your cell in the bunker. You can access them by interacting with the objects scattered around your bunker.
To accompany these changes, we also made some tweaks to the UI of the other sections accessible. However, a more detailed UI overhaul is planned in the future.
Besides, while doing your chores around, you will be able to admire the views from around Metropolis. Here are a few shots from the new bunker and its several sections.
Facility Items and Battle Deck
If you have already noticed some unusualities about the facility in the earlier part, well done, soldier. Those reflexes are going to be useful for your stay in the city...
So, yes! The facility gets a new set of items ready to use in the battlegrounds. And as earlier, not only modules to speed or enhance things. You will be getting physical objects to locate in the battle area during your clash against the infected ones. There are 4 new items arriving, and let's take a brief look at them.
Toxic Canister: A canister filled with poisonous gas for the pathogen. While the undead are passing by, they fall under its effect, and their health decreases gradually over time.
Landmine: An explosive-filled trap mechanism. When an undead walks close by, it detects this activity and detonates. Can cause mass casualties.
Barricade: A protective structure with a certain level of durability. It attracts the undead and distracts them from marching towards the base for a certain number of hits.
Composite Shield: A layer of reinforcement for the basement's wall, made from composite materials. It keeps away the basement from taking any damage for a certain amount of time.
There are even more possibilities to utilize all the facility items for your strategies. However, being able to use all of them during battle wouldn't be a conventional choice. So, now you have the battle deck! Before sweating through harsh moments on the battlefield, you can make a deck of up to 4 items of your preference to use later on. This battle deck can be modified and chosen as you like. Here, you can find a couple of visuals about these new features.
Full Storyline
One of the things the older version of the game lacked was a storyline. There was only a brief section about learning the game's basics and that was it. But with this update, this changes as well. From your first step into the city until the last one, you will be an inseparable part of the city. Julie, you, and the survivors will all be together during this journey of the living. And this journey will happen in front of your eyes and be experienced from your perspective. This will be done by cutscenes, dialogues, events, challenges and surprises through your gameplay. We will let the game tell its story when the time comes, so not much of a spoiler we can give. It will be out there for you to discover. But, also can't leave you without any screenshots from some of those moments.
Realistic Sound Effects
With the arrival of Posse Update and all of its additions to the game's atmosphere, the sounds wouldn't be a choice to leave on the side. To finish up all these touches, new realism-oriented sound effects are being added to the game, different from the old version's 8-bit sound effects.
While a horde of infected creatures approaches you from the horizon, you will be able to feel all the tension and weaponry driving your fight in the background. From each shooting of the turret to the reloading mechanism and until the empty shells drop on the ground, you will feel it. Meanwhile, the horde is proceeding with untamed screams and amplified footsteps.
In the bunker, as you are able to interact with many items around, with each tap, you will be sure what you are interacting with by their sounds. Not much difference in the bunker's sections either. Throughout those areas, you can feel how each upgrade is done, how you are setting up a battle deck, and flipping the pages found in the archive.
Release Plans and Early Playtesting
There are still more features we are working on, and we will present them to you in the next devblogs, but what about the Posse Update's release schedule? This question is not easy to answer since our team focuses on the quality of the update's content, rather than quantity. We are trying to deliver new features to the game, working as smoothly as possible, with the least amount of possible bugs. Hence, having a direct set of dates would be overestimating. In reality, new bumps in the development process can always appear, and those should be accounted for beforehand for any dates, which is problematic. But we aim to deliver this update just around the new year of 2025.
Are there any playtesting possibilities before the official release of the Posse Update? Yes, there is! There will be two consequent beta playtesting periods before the update's release. One of them is a closed beta, and the other one is an open beta. A closed beta version will be available on Google Play starting in November for our Patreon supporters. If you would like to have the chance to join this closed beta testing version, you can take a look at our Patreon page and consider having a finger in the pie!
After the closed beta, an open beta will be available on Google Play for those who apply to it through a form on Google Forms, which will be published later on.
Oh, as a side note, the most contributing beta playtesters will be credited in the game's credits. So, you don't only have to be a developer to take part in a game's development. Using the feedback from our playtesters, we will shape the game's final touches and ensure the update arrives as smoothly as possible for our new and existing players.
With these last words, it's time for us to conclude this devblog and get back to working. As always, we will be sharing more with you over time on our social media channels. Besides, we are usually active in our Discord community. In there, you can chat with the rest of the community and share your thoughts and ideas about the game with us!
You can check our Patreon if you would like to have a hand in the game's development and be able to access some exclusive content, as well as participate in the upcoming closed beta testing.
Thanks to all of you for your support and interest. We feel lucky to have such an amazing community.
Take care of what's behind, keep aware of what's ahead. Good luck...
- Kerem
