Hey AG fans!

We've had a pretty productive month here at AG towers. We've moved to a strict monthly sprint structure, so to be as transparent as we can our development blogs will focus on what we developed during the month as well as what we plan to include in our sprint for the next month.

This month we've been working on our weapon classes, level designs and the 'AI' behind our enemies' and NPC's brains.

Weapons

Obtaining weapons in TRN is done by either locating chests or defeating certain enemies; the stronger an enemy is the more likely it will drop a weapon.

Weapon drops in Requiem, regardless of how you obtain them, are completely random, which we've done to add an element of replayability to each run through. Each weapon in the game comes in nine different classes, Mark 1-9, which each level being progressively higher. What class of weapon drops will depend on your player's level, i.e. the higher your level the more likely you are to come across better weaponry (and armour). Each level will have unique weaponry.

We expect there to be around 700ish (based on 75 unique models) weapons in the finished game in total. There are six classes of weapons:

Assault Class

The assault rifle is the bread and butter of an RPG. In TRN the assault rifle class fires relatively weaker ammunition in quick succession.

Precision Class

A sniper rifle like weapon class, these weapons are a variation of the assault rifle class and all come equipped with laser sights to ensure high accuracy when dispatching the forces of evil. They fire extremely fast and powerful shots, but typically have a slow reload time between shots.

Melee Class

When you run out of plasma (ammo) you'll have to battle your way out of the situation. Melee weapons allow Bishop to take the fight to the enemies directly, and unlike ranged weapons are directly impacted by your level. The more you level up the more stamina Bishop has and the more bang for your buck.

Dispatcher Class

A close quarters weapon, the dispatcher class is a shotgun type of weaponry that fire short range projectiles that cause massive amounts of damage.

Storm Class

The most powerful weapons in the game, rocket launchers fire very slow projectiles which cause massive amounts of damage upon collision with an enemy/surface.

Launcher Class

Grenade launchers in TRN fire quick projectiles which cause medium amounts of damage, and will have a delay before the projectile detonates.

There will be 10 extremely powerful 'Mk 10' weapons within the game, all of which are located inside 'eon-chests' which can only be opened by obtaining all of the collectibles items scattered through each level, which typically only become available towards the end of the game. Whether you want to get these is entirely up to the player and their tenacity for collecting items, but will of course assist with more tricky bosses!

AXIS

We haven't spoken much about AXIS, the companion that travels through the Requiem Network with you.

The story behind AXIS is that in the future humans have mostly evolved to a cybernetic existence, but are reluctant to lose their organic bodies entirely. They therefore have created external machine brains (External Neural Processors, ENPs) that accompany them, but these machines are themselves self aware AI and linked directly to the brain of their charges by implants. AXIS is Bishop's ENP.

AXIS is an extremely advanced (and sarcastic) AI who has interfaced with alien technology previously. AXIS is unwittingly transported back in time at the same time as Bishop and serves as his guide through the Requiem Network. In the game AXIS functions as a storage device for the items Bishop finds during his travels (ENPs can dematerialise items and save them to their memory banks) as well as a way to interface with computer systems. He's essentially a highly evolved smart phone with a personality.

Level 2 and 3

Level 2 and 3 are beginning to take shape. Level 2 takes place within a network of caves which were a home to a race of beings. We've also been busy designing the remaining levels which we expect to be the focus of next months' sprint.

Requiem is first and foremost an RPG, so the focus will be on battles with enemies. That being said there will be a number of time travel puzzles within the game to solve, so the game can be considered a hybrid of sorts.

We're really pleased with the feedback we're getting on the graphics, which we're aware are a little unique, even for an indie game. They're stuck somewhere between retro and dystopian surrealism. Which is what we were aiming for.

The Story!

A major announcement is we managed to finish the first draft of the script for The Requiem Network! Check it out in all its glory. We're going to publish a separate blog which goes into a bit more detail on the story so watch this space.

Coming Next

Next month we'll be focusing on more level design as well as the soundtrack for the game, which we'll post on our Sound Cloud for everyone to check out.

Stay tuned!

The AG Team