Posted April 24, 2024 by Isaiah Kelly
Hard to believe it's been over a year since my last post here. Sorry about that! It's mostly due to the fact I started posting smaller updates on my Discord server, which caused me to neglect other platforms. In any case, today marks the 10th anniversary of the original game's release! So I had hoped to get the full Redux 1.0 version released in time to celebrate, but unfortunately, this year got off to a terrible start with a combination of family issues, illness and finding out the company I worked for was having a mass layoff and terminating me coincidentally this month, which has all greatly hampered my productivity and depressed me even more than usual. So, I just couldn't make the deadline. But despite all that, I thought I'd at least update all my non-discord followers on some of the stuff I've accomplished over the last year.
I've finally implemented a map generator I'm fully satisfied with. Handmade maps were nice, but required too much manual labor to prevent repetitiveness, and YellowAfterlife's traditional dungeon generator I was using just didn't create the kinds of maps I wanted for this type of game. So I developed a new technique to generate maps that are both symmetrical and contain very few dead-ends! I will be posting in detail about how it works in the future because I think other developers might also find it useful.
The enemy AI is not something I really touched at the start of working on the Redux. As I had bigger issues to tackle at the time and thought it was "good enough". But since I now plan to use the Redux as a base for the bigger and more ambitious spin-off, I wanted to make the AI much more advanced and interesting. So I've been redoing the AI completely and am currently working on implementing field of view and hearing, to support more interesting and varied enemy behavior.
The main reason this update is taking soooo long is that I'm essentially rewriting the entire code base again to make everything much more clean, modular and performant. But most of this work will remain invisible to players, making it look like I haven't done much on the surface. But believe me! Almost everything under the hood is being redone. For example, I've implemented a custom timeline system to replace GameMaker's built-in one, called "sequences", and created a completely custom state system for actors, just to name two new core systems. There are more major systems I'm working on but don't want to reveal just yet. I've also been working on mod support and improving the performance of the game even further, while squashing bugs and adding quality of life features. But to prevent too many delays with the release of RSR 1.0, I'm holding back on fully implementing many features until the spin-off.
I'm still in the midst of finding a new job, and the added financial uncertainty of this situation has only added to my stress level. So while I hate the idea of asking for any kind of financial support without offering much in return (begging essentially). I just want to let everyone know that donating anything, no matter how small, via Patreon or PayPal at this time, would be most impactful and encouraging while I navigate this rough time. But don't feel like you have to! I only want folks to donate if they can afford to and want to support my work. I also hope to create special rewards for those who do in the future.
I'm going to stop making RSR 1.0 release date estimates now, as every single one has been missed and the chaos of my life at the moment isn't helping any. But whenever I have big news, I'll be sure to post about it here. And for smaller updates, you can always join my Discord. Thanks again to everyone who's tried out the game and followed the project. I hope to have more exciting news for you in the not too distant future!