Hello everyone, this is Salt, the solo developer of DROSS. It’s been a while, but I am very pleased to finally announce the new update to the demo. Version 0.8.1!

This update comes right as Steam’s Halloween Steam Scream 3D festival is going on. Completely unrelated I assure you.

Version 0.8.1 seems like a small change from 0.8.0. And it kinda is! But not really. There’s has been so many changes to the game, I will have to read my own list of changes.

New weapons:
I have re implemented the plasma Rifle, as well as the automatic Shotgun. Both are higher level and a bit harder to collect. They are found in the shop (for a price). And later level armories.

Enemy armor:
Some types of enemies will spawn with addition face armor. This increases the spawn cost of the bug. And slows them down a bit. This occurs more frequently as the game levels, as well as the players levels increases. It also has something to do with the player landing many consecutive headshots.

Nest infestation:
Enemies wander around between nests. Now, there is clear infestation between the nests in the level. This is from the player’s view, as well as visible on map. You are more likely to encounter enemies in these areas, so be aware. As the infestation increases, so does the art to show it. As well as the strength of the red on the map.

Enemy Director:
The enemy director has been expanded to keep tabs on how well the player is doing, as well as the bugs. It keep tally of shots fired, hit, and where. How much damage the player takes vs enemies. It’s not prefect, no. But hopefully will improve the pacing of combat. Allowing for breaks between combat and similar. It also controls what types of enemies are spawning in, and that is affected by how well the player is doing, their level, as well as the floor level. Along with many other variables.

Polish:
I have also bee putting in a lot of polish in areas where I felt it was needed. The doors that are locked are clearly marked as locked in red. Explosions add subtle light and smoke. Grabbing an item out of combat has its own animation. Holding grenade or weapon select slows time a bit. So many small changes that hopefully will add up and be an overall improvement.

First Person Animations:
I ran into some major issues with this! Most accurately it came up when I was trying to blend animations from one to another. The initial rotation of several arm pieces were rotated several hundred degrees at start. And while that went unnoticed and did not affect anything on their own. When blending, this caused the hands to spin around wildly. Ultimately it was a lot less work to remove and redo all animations, compared to trying to repair the existing ones. So, they are different. Some are not complete and very minimal. But hopefully the ones that are done are better. And now going from holding a weapon to guarding is better. Also, the player can now guard without a weapon.

Corridor themes:
To emphasize the themes of each different floor, without adding too much work on to do list, i added a few different reskin themes for the corridors. Hopefully the do more to add to the environment than detract. I think they turned out pretty decent if a little simplistic. That said there’s a lot more I can do with this if it works well.

Player luck & shops:
The players have a new Luck stat. This now affects things like items appearing in boxes and cabinets. As well as give Sales on items in the shop! There are many subtle ways to increase and decrease your Luck.

These are just a few of the many changes to the demo so far. It has been a lot of work to be honest. However, I am glad I was able to and I am happy with how everything turned out. I hope you are too! It’s taken far longer than planned, and I spend more than a few all nighters up working on it. It’s been a lot.



A few day back I got a really nice compliment. While everything needed a lot of polish, it’s worth doing. It’s something special. So, I guess I need to keep going and try to make it the best it can be!
Please let me know if you’re liking or disliking the changes so far. And comments or criticism is welcomed, thank you so much for trying out the latest update to DROSS! Till next time, cheers!
~SALT_

• Preload the level generator at start
  
• In Melee tutorial, punching bag. check minimum distance for attack. Not always working
  
• Cluster explosion does not remove itself
  
• Finish Vanth proximity to wall stuff. Too strong effect + ranges wrong.
  
• Spore bug would require attack to cause explosion. Should be easy to implement
  
• Rusted titanium corridors ugly. Fix
  
• Door map Frame needs infestation colour change
  
• Head armor colliders not effective défense
  
• Small room wall bottom when door doesn’t remove infestation art (one works, one doesn’t)
  
• Armored bug ai radius height wrong. Can walk on wall
  
• Check vending machine in exit. Not spawning grenades / ammo
  
• Lower bomber fire velocity
  
• If bomber bomb hits player. Have it drastically slow projectile
  
• If fail to equip silencer, revert to unused
  
• Sealed doors can be walked through
  
• Animations all too far from player
  
• Vault animation too quick
  
• Grenade animation too quick , does not line up. Check spawn frame
  
• Shotgun reload animation balls, fix
  
• Some weapons do not fit in gun locker
  
• Check item creation potential items
  
• Rest area: Weapon upgrade machine cannot get close to use
  
• Lower bug ai radius for more bugs fitting
  
• Recycle pedistal plays particles too short duration
  
• Cluster multi explode less damage explosion
  
• Add invalid corridor positions in SR armory
  
• Fix swarm guard, they’re lame
  
• Add map icons for large machines
  
• Rooms with infestation too far away toggle off art