GTTOD - So I've made some pretty big changes...
Published at : October 27, 2021
So after finishing the last update, I decided there were a few things that needed to change. Here's a quick outline of all the problems I want to address:
1. The first 30 minutes of the game sucks
2. Nothing in the game is important enough to be used as a real reward
3. The game is too easy
4. While enemy variety is good, they don't play different enough
5. Once you find a weapon you like, you only really use THAT weapon
6. The Spider's Nest is a shitty level
7. There aren't enough objectives in the game
8. Clambering is really really shitty
9. Wallrunning isn't always consistent
10. The current run-system is same-y
I have set out to make Sticks and Stones Part 2 to address these issues rather than move on with a full new update. Since the next update, "The Dark Down Under" is the last REAL update for Act 1 of GTTOD - I want to be sure that I get the gameplay loop nailed down and feeling good before moving on to Act 2. SO, that's why there's a Part 2 rather than a full new update.
Also I still want to make a trailer using the Sticks and Stones logo animation. I feel like only using that once was really sad since it turned out so good.
Anyway, so this video goes over how I fixed a few of those issues, but not all of them. I worked a lot on rebalancing weapons and enemies to get a smoother gameplay experience. That is covered pretty well in the video. What I didn't cover much, though, would be around the risk / reward gameplay and giving different aspects of the game more inherent meaning. It goes without saying that if you walk into a room with 500 weapons in it, the value of each weapon is diminished by the other weapons around it. BUT, if you walk into a room with a locked chest with ONE weapon in it, then that weapon suddenly becomes the most valuable thing in the room and can be used as a decent reward for finding and using a key. That kind of mentality is what I've kinda been basing these changes off of.
So yeah, weapons you find in the world will be far more expensive and rare, but you'll also have cheaper weapons that you can buy from the Grab A Gun that will often spawn inside of these new bunkers. You'll still be able to keep an ear out for the Grab A Gun jingle that you can hear through the bunker doors, but getting and using a key on that bunker is where it's really going to come into play. Making weapons rarer also gives me some room to improve them from a general use standpoint. You saw that in this video with the pistol which now functions much more like the Heavy Pistol (which has been removed). It has a much higher damaging projectile than the old pistol, has far more range, and otherwise is much more powerful and useful as a precision weapon.
Moving on from that, one of the big things I'm going to be showing off later (when it is done) is the new prologue to GTTOD. I am not sure if it will make it into Sticks and Stones Part 2, but I really hope it does. It's pretty much going to completely change the first 30 or so minutes of the game. This will also function as the new tutorial. I've also taken time to make some new tool tip UI to be used as in-level tutorials. These have little video screens on them so you don't have to stop and read an entire paragraph just to know what you need to do. These little tooltips will be scattered around the world if you have kept tutorials on.
Outside of that, just fixing and polishing up the general gameplay has gone a long way to improve how GTTOD feels and looks to play. I am not sure how much that has come across in the video, but I'm sure people will notice it when the update launches!
Anyway, that's pretty much it for now! Let me know what you guys think in the comments!
1. The first 30 minutes of the game sucks
2. Nothing in the game is important enough to be used as a real reward
3. The game is too easy
4. While enemy variety is good, they don't play different enough
5. Once you find a weapon you like, you only really use THAT weapon
6. The Spider's Nest is a shitty level
7. There aren't enough objectives in the game
8. Clambering is really really shitty
9. Wallrunning isn't always consistent
10. The current run-system is same-y
I have set out to make Sticks and Stones Part 2 to address these issues rather than move on with a full new update. Since the next update, "The Dark Down Under" is the last REAL update for Act 1 of GTTOD - I want to be sure that I get the gameplay loop nailed down and feeling good before moving on to Act 2. SO, that's why there's a Part 2 rather than a full new update.
Also I still want to make a trailer using the Sticks and Stones logo animation. I feel like only using that once was really sad since it turned out so good.
Anyway, so this video goes over how I fixed a few of those issues, but not all of them. I worked a lot on rebalancing weapons and enemies to get a smoother gameplay experience. That is covered pretty well in the video. What I didn't cover much, though, would be around the risk / reward gameplay and giving different aspects of the game more inherent meaning. It goes without saying that if you walk into a room with 500 weapons in it, the value of each weapon is diminished by the other weapons around it. BUT, if you walk into a room with a locked chest with ONE weapon in it, then that weapon suddenly becomes the most valuable thing in the room and can be used as a decent reward for finding and using a key. That kind of mentality is what I've kinda been basing these changes off of.
So yeah, weapons you find in the world will be far more expensive and rare, but you'll also have cheaper weapons that you can buy from the Grab A Gun that will often spawn inside of these new bunkers. You'll still be able to keep an ear out for the Grab A Gun jingle that you can hear through the bunker doors, but getting and using a key on that bunker is where it's really going to come into play. Making weapons rarer also gives me some room to improve them from a general use standpoint. You saw that in this video with the pistol which now functions much more like the Heavy Pistol (which has been removed). It has a much higher damaging projectile than the old pistol, has far more range, and otherwise is much more powerful and useful as a precision weapon.
Moving on from that, one of the big things I'm going to be showing off later (when it is done) is the new prologue to GTTOD. I am not sure if it will make it into Sticks and Stones Part 2, but I really hope it does. It's pretty much going to completely change the first 30 or so minutes of the game. This will also function as the new tutorial. I've also taken time to make some new tool tip UI to be used as in-level tutorials. These have little video screens on them so you don't have to stop and read an entire paragraph just to know what you need to do. These little tooltips will be scattered around the world if you have kept tutorials on.
Outside of that, just fixing and polishing up the general gameplay has gone a long way to improve how GTTOD feels and looks to play. I am not sure how much that has come across in the video, but I'm sure people will notice it when the update launches!
Anyway, that's pretty much it for now! Let me know what you guys think in the comments!
GTTODprettychanges...