Underrail, formerly known as Timelapse Vertigo

This is looking better and better with each update.It actually become one of indie games I anticipate most(along with xenonauts and eschalon book 3).Also will there decisions like in games you mentioned as inspiration?And will you hire more people when you get crowd/publisher funding or will it stay one man project?I know game is probably too early in development to answer those questions but I can't help it I am just nosy:) .
 
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Seems a bit expensive to switch to unarmed (if I understand your statement)? Dropping a gun to pull a knife or simply punch shouldn't cost a whole turn should it? Perhap 1/2 a turn? An example would be giving up ranged and pulling a knife as you move to close distance. Together that's a full turn (you don't get to attack) but you start your next turn at point blank range wielding a knife. Just a thought.
 
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Thanks, guys. :)

This is really looking nice, man. My kinda game, I'll be first in line for this one. I'm waiting on that demo, I think you might be amazed at how many people give it a try.

I'm working around the clock to bring it to you, so it won't take long.

Also will there decisions like in games you mentioned as inspiration?

There will be a fair amount of C&C, yes.

And will you hire more people when you get crowd/publisher funding or will it stay one man project?I know game is probably too early in development to answer those questions but I can't help it I am just nosy:) .

Don't want to get ahead of myself, but if the crowd funding succeeds I'm planning on hiring some help, yeah.


Seems a bit expensive to switch to unarmed (if I understand your statement)? Dropping a gun to pull a knife or simply punch shouldn't cost a whole turn should it? Perhap 1/2 a turn? An example would be giving up ranged and pulling a knife as you move to close distance. Together that's a full turn (you don't get to attack) but you start your next turn at point blank range wielding a knife. Just a thought.

I think you misunderstood. Dropping a weapon to go unarmed is a free action. Equipping another weapon during combat costs 50 AP (you still retain movement points). Though now that you mention it, reducing that price for light weapons such as knives and pistols might be a good idea.
 
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I think you misunderstood. Dropping a weapon to go unarmed is a free action. Equipping another weapon during combat costs 50 AP (you still retain movement points). Though now that you mention it, reducing that price for light weapons such as knives and pistols might be a good idea.

Certainly if you are pulling out a flame thrower and strapping on the tank that's 50 AP :)
 
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Done with Items

I'm done with items for the demo. I'll surely add a few plot items here and there once I start working on the areas and quests again, but no more blueprints, components, usables, etc.

Inventory.gif


Just a quick explanation of the inventory image above. I mentioned utility slots a long while before, I think, but doesn't hurt to brush up on the subject. Some usable items are expected to be used by everyone, such as healing medication and other restorative items, non-combat items, etc. You can use these items directly from the inventory at any time (they might have cooldowns though) or by dragging them onto the action bar.

Other items are special usable items that each can have great impact on your playstyle, particularly during combat. These are 'utility items' and to use them you must first equip them in a utility slot (on the left), the number of which is limited. You have two utility slots to start with, but can get more from gear or feats. The idea is that you must make a choice of what additional tools you are going to bring into combat depending on what playstyle you are going for and also what kind of enemies you might face.

For instance, if you're going to fight robots, you'll want EMP grenades, but you won't need poison bolts. If you are going to fight multiple enemies, it's good to equip frag grenades. If you want to avoid combat altogether, go for a cloaking device, tranquilizer bolts, flashbangs, etc. I want the player to have to think and adapt to the situation. There is no perfect set of tools for every encounter or every character build.

Anyway, here's the list of the stuff I got done in this last batch:
  • Special crossbow bolts
    • Poison bolt - applies stackable poison effect that deals bio damage every turn (currently there's only one type of poison, but there will be more; you can extract poisons from glands of poisonous creatures with biology skill)
    • Tranquilizer bolt - puts the target to sleep; the less constitution the target has the longer it sleeps
  • EMP grenade - deals irresistible electrical damage to machines and disables them for 2 turns; also, drains all the energy from the target's equipped electronic devices and deals electrical damage equal to 50% of the energy drained
  • Cloaking device (powered) - doesn't make you automatically invisible but greatly increases stealth and somewhat increases evasion;
  • Bandages - heal lights wounds when out of combat (can only heal above 65%)
  • Antidote - removes 3 stacks of poison
  • Flare - lights up an area for 30 seconds; also reveals all stealthed creatures when it lands
  • Boots
    • metal / leather
    • springs - movement bonus
    • spikes, blades - extra unarmed damage
  • Belts
    • Utility: +2 utility slots
    • Bullets Strap: +1 utility slot; reduces AP cost of reloading firearms; minor intimidation bonus
    • Doctor's Belt: +1 utility slot; reduces AP cost of using medical consumables
  • Headwear
    • Metal helmet - minor resistances bonus; reduces chance to get critically hit
    • Goggles - increase perception; can support night vision module (powered)

Ok, I think that's all.

Next I'll be adding up a bunch of new feats (perks).
 
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Looks very good as always.

I have one minor complaint, though. The ambient music in the demo video makes my ears bleed. :sick:

You might want to contract someone to make you a sweet soundtrack or something. :deal:
 
Looks very good as always.

I have one minor complaint, though. The ambient music in the demo video makes my ears bleed. :sick:

You might want to contract someone to make you a sweet soundtrack or something. :deal:

Thanks, I'm glad you like the game.

Concerning the music, it was something I added at the last second. I'll definitely be looking to hire someone to do a proper soundtrack for the final game.

However, the demo will feature mostly ambient drones like the one you heard.
 
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Feats

I've added a bunch of new feats. The grand total is 37 now, which should be enough for the demo. I tried to cover all the major areas (ranged combat, melee combat, stealth, psi, even some crafting stuff) as well as add enough general feats.

Feats.gif


This about concludes the phase one of the demo preparations. The only things left to do are add two new creature types, but that'll have to wait for a few days (models are not quite ready yet).

Now I'm moving into phase two which involves:
  • adding some more areas
  • improving existing areas (adding more details, more scripting where required, etc)
  • updating old quests to work with the reworked (simplified) quest tracking system
  • adding more quests
  • adding more NPCs and dialog in general
  • restocking merchants with the new goods
  • making the starting areas and quests more cohesive
  • probably doing a bunch of smaller stuff I can't remember now
This shouldn't take as long as phase one, though it probably will now that I said it.
 
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South Gate Station

I finished laying out all the areas in the home station (South Gate Station) as far as the demo is concerned. The parts that are not done will be locked off. I've also done some supporting dialog and updated all the merchants (and added new ones).

Now, just keep in mind that for most of these areas this is not their final state and I intend to improve them after the demo. The cantina and the medical sector in particular suffer from the lack of appropriate furniture assets, but they will have to do with what I have just now. I wouldn't want to delay the demo further by drawing those assets now.

sgs1.gif


sgs2.gif


sgs3.gif


sgs4.gif


sgs5.gif


sgs6.gif


sgs7.gif


This means that the bulk of work in the phase two is done. I still need to do a few things around the home base, such as update some dialogs and scripting, before I move to the cave areas.

Caves shouldn't take this long to update, as they are mostly all layed out and just need some more details added, loot tables updated, encounters balanced out (I haven't played some of those areas since I've switched to turn-based), etc. I'll likely add a few more smaller cave areas around the existing ones, but those are really easy to make.

And there are also those two new creature types I mentioned earlier (you can see one of them on that last screenshot).
 
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Looking good as always! Can't wait to try out the demo. :thumbsup:

I'm really impressed how well you've managed to keep a very coherent graphical style/look (backgrounds, characters, items, icons and all), which is a big plus. Really glad you haven't stumbled on something, many other one-man indie operators do - namely, having the graphical style jump all over the place, creating a disjointed hodge-podge look. IMO, it doesn't matter if the graphics are simple or even primitive as long as the graphical style remains consistent throughout the game (e.g. I'm fine with Ultima 5 styled, rather primitive, graphics as long as they are consistent). Anyways, kudos to you!

Also… Behold, the powers of an enlightended mind! By using my super-human deduction and telepathic abilities, I am certain that you are left-handed. :meditate: (Either that or one of the screenshots above has been flipped to a mirror image.)
 
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Looking good as always! Can't wait to try out the demo. :thumbsup:

I'm really impressed how well you've managed to keep a very coherent graphical style/look (backgrounds, characters, items, icons and all), which is a big plus. Really glad you haven't stumbled on something, many other one-man indie operators do - namely, having the graphical style jump all over the place, creating a disjointed hodge-podge look. IMO, it doesn't matter if the graphics are simple or even primitive as long as the graphical style remains consistent throughout the game (e.g. I'm fine with Ultima 5 styled, rather primitive, graphics as long as they are consistent). Anyways, kudos to you!

Also… Behold, the powers of an enlightended mind! By using my super-human deduction and telepathic abilities, I am certain that you are left-handed. :meditate: (Either that or one of the screenshots above has been flipped to a mirror image.)

Thanks. :)

I'm not left handed though and none of the screens have been flipped. :p I do often flip an object I drew and re-shade it because I need to have most stuff in multiple perspectives.
 
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I'm not left handed though and none of the screens have been flipped. :p I do often flip an object I drew and re-shade it because I need to have most stuff in multiple perspectives.
Curses, foiled again! But no, the Great and Magnificient Lurking Grue is not wrong, the truth is just different. Now for my next trick, I shall make an elephant disappear!! ;)

BUt seriously, I just thought you might have done a "wink towards lefties" in the second lowest screenie. There are desks with computers and keyboards which have the mouse on the left side of the keyboard, and as all the characters are right-handed in the screenies and such, I thought there was a "deeper" meaning to it, but alas it was just a case of mirrored graphics.
 
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Curses, foiled again! But no, the Great and Magnificient Lurking Grue is not wrong, the truth is just different. Now for my next trick, I shall make an elephant disappear!! ;)

BUt seriously, I just thought you might have done a "wink towards lefties" in the second lowest screenie. There are desks with computers and keyboards which have the mouse on the left side of the keyboard, and as all the characters are right-handed in the screenies and such, I thought there was a "deeper" meaning to it, but alas it was just a case of mirrored graphics.

Whoops, that's actually a mistake. I have that sprite done in all 4 orientations, I just forgot to turn it. Thanks for pointing it out. ;)

Everyone's just genetically fixated to be right handed in the future. :p
 
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Demo Areas Finished

I finished updating all the existing areas and creating all the missing interconnecting areas, updated dialogs and added a few more encounters.

New creature type has been added to the lake areas. Psi Beetles can invoke a number of psi abilities. They have a passive ability that increases their psionic skill levels and allows them to invoke more powerful psionics the more of them are around (the only reason I'm fine fighting against three of them on the screenshot below is because I used cheats).

LowerUnderrail1.jpg


LowerUnderrail2.jpg


WarehouseBlock.jpg


LowerUnderrailPassages.jpg


PsiBeetles.jpg


Drifter.jpg


So basically most of the essential content is now in the game. Now I've got some audio stuff to do before I start working on a pile of minor bugs and improvements. After that I'll get the deployment preparation stuff done - making sure the release build works well (don't remember the last time I ran it), make an installer, etc.

After I get all that technical stuff out of the way, I'll get back to content making. There's still a few quests and areas I want to add, as well as another interesting creature type.
 
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Goody, so you're ready for some beta-demo testers, right? ;)
 
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