Category Archives: In-Dev Builds

In-Dev Build #13

Changes since previous version:

  • Paths to non-critical rooms can now be locked or bricked off
  • Added new enemy variants
    • Eyeball that doesn’t shoot projectiles
    • Bug that spits bombs
    • Biped that “turtles” and blocks melee damage
    • Another biped variant still in progress (no change yet)
  • Brought over the final boss from Gunmetal Arcadia Zero and added a new final boss (neither appears during normal play yet)
  • Added a prototype of a faction boss (may appear in this build)
  • Added a prototype of interstitial narrative NPC rooms
  • Added session planning across multiple levels
    • Sessions are temporarily fixed at two levels long
    • Each boss and miniboss may only appear once per session
    • Background music is randomly selected per level
    • Stubs exist for choosing more features per level, including color palettes and narrative rooms
  • Added a new binding (left or right trigger by default) for a “crouch only” control that can be used at the top of ladders without descending

Notable bugs:

  • Occasionally the game will hang trying to generate a session

Windows: GunArc.zip
Mac OS X: GunArc.dmg
Linux: GunArc.tar.gz

In-Dev Build #12

Changes since previous version:

  • Progression blockers should be fixed
  • Fullscreen behavior is consistent across all platforms
    • Borderless windowed fullscreen
    • Always at desktop resolution
    • Target resolution is simulated
    • Letterboxing/pillarboxing preserves aspect ratio
  • Fixed a Linux bug with switching from fullscreen to windowed
  • Added a splash screen on all platforms
  • Subweapons have been removed from all character loadouts
  • Item chests have been improved
    • Chests can now drop all subweapons and heart containers
    • Chests will never drop the same item twice
  • Implemented shields
    • Shields extend the health bar beyond its normal cap but cannot be refilled once lost
    • Shields can be found as loot drops and granted as legacy incentives
  • Enemy spawn points are chosen at generation time, and critical failures will prompt the room to reroll
  • Treasure is weighted properly so mimics appear only rarely
  • Heart containers no longer refill health completely
    • “Full” heart containers restore one heart
    • “Empty” heart containers increase the cap only
  • Big hearts only restore two hearts instead of a complete refill
  • Placeholder legacy effects have been upated
    • On death, start the next session with one extra shield
    • On success, start the next session with one extra heart

Notable bugs:

  • Some of the randomly selected palettes are unplayable

Windows: GunArc.zip
Mac OS X: GunArc.dmg
Linux: GunArc.tar.gz

In-Dev Build #11

Changes since previous version:

  • Added a Legacy menu to the status screen
  • Added a Legacy toggle to the file select screen
  • Prototyped item chests (always spawns a knife subweapon)
  • Added spawn opportunities for hanging and flying enemies
  • Applied randomly selected palettes to each room
  • Weighted prefabs to reduce multiple appearances within a room
  • Weighted frequency of NPC appearances to reduce redundancy
  • Improved procedural decoration
  • Prototyped music change for boss fights

Notable bugs:

  • Levels may be generated with progression blockers
  • Some of the randomly selected palettes are unplayable

Windows: GunArc.zip
Mac OS X: GunArc.dmg
Linux: GunArc.tar.gz

In-Dev Build #9

I wasn’t planning to continue making these a weekly thing, but I was doing some build maintenance on Mac and Linux, and I figured I might as well publish another build while I was in those environments.

Changes since previous version:

  • Added character selection to the three-slot interface
  • Tentative character builds assigned
  • Removed ceilings from prefabs
  • Added an application icon to the Mac build
  • Test content of session event effects: failure (by death or quitting) will increase the health cap to six hearts on the next session

Windows: GunArc.zip
Mac OS X: GunArc.dmg
Linux: GunArc.tar.gz

In-Dev Build #8

Hey, it’s been like a year since I published a one-off “weekly” in-development build. I probably won’t be resuming these as a regular thing, since week-on-week changes just aren’t substantial enough to warrant it, but since I didn’t have a blog ready to go today and I did have the game in a fairly stable state, I figured I’d give this a another go.

Changes since previous version:

  • Tentative level generation with placeholder prefabs
  • Tentative level population with enemies and NPCs
  • Everything else

Windows: GunArc.zip
Mac OS X: GunArc.dmg
Linux: GunArc.tar.gz

In-Dev Build: Vertical Slice

A wild development build appears! For a few months last summer, I was trying to make weekly builds a thing, but that collided with contract work and planning for events, and it quickly became apparent that there wouldn’t be enough week-on-week changes to warrant that model. Then I introduced Gunmetal Arcadia Zero to the mix and didn’t think about publishing new builds for several months. But at the back of my mind, it’s been something I’ve wanted to return to for a while.

I just completed a vertical slice milestone last week, and that seems like a perfect time to drop a new public playtest build.

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Download:
Windows: GunPreq.zip (4.20 MB)
Mac: GunPreq.dmg (5.54 MB)
Linux: GunPreq.tar.gz (6.33 MB)

Notes:
If you’ve played a previous build, existing data may no longer be valid. You may wish to delete your saved configuration data and control bindings before , and you may need to manually delete it before you can play this build. You can locate the folder containing this data by opening the console with tilde (~) and entering “path” without the quotes.

High-performance mode:
I’ve recently added an experimental mode to help the game run faster when CRT sim effects are disabled. This mode also disables a number of other visual features, including brightness adjustment and colorblindness simulation/correction. There is not currently a toggle for this option in the game menus, but if you would like to test it, it can be toggled through the console using “set highperfmode true” and “set highperfmode false” without the quotes.

Bugs:
There are probably a lot of bugs in this build, but compatibility across all platforms should hopefully be pretty stable at this point. If the game doesn’t run at all (or gets stuck on a blank screen at startup, etc.), let me know! If you see anything else that looks strange/wrong/broken/whatever, feel free to ping me on it!

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I can’t say with any certainty whether I’ll be releasing any more public test builds between now and shipping. It’s a good habit to be in, as it forces me to keep the game running on all platforms on a regular basis, but for a game like Gunmetal Arcadia Zero, I risk essentially giving the whole game away for free as it nears completion. I’ll have to strike the right balance there.