Hey all

Just wanted to introduce my first real attempt at a full game.  Really simple idea.  You play as a bad guy basically in a betting simulator.  You bet on the survival of unfortunate folks called runners.  You bet on how long they will last.  Because its going on the simulator vibe you wont have influence as the runner or play as one, you are just one of the wealthy gamblers.   You will have be able to give gifts, or pay for better health care for runners that do well for you.  With elements as you being able to determine when the runners comes out later = less winnings / earlier = better winnings, and various traps, and gizmos encountered in different arenas. I am hoping to have something deep enough to deserve a players attention.  I have a prototype going, and working on the building out a prison selection area ATM.  Please have a look at the video, or give it a try.  I would love for any input, or from any experience builders out there, any major red flag I am not foreseeing, and should be.

https://techninja80.itch.io/runners

Not sure how to update the% value if anyone knows let me know, but I do have updates.   Well since the last time I was here, I have learned a lot. Participated in a game jam which was fun.

1. Built a prison area.  This is the are where you will pick the sad runner who will run in the arena.  As the game is a simulator and you don't play as the runner, you will get to learn a little about the person who are you betting on surviving.  Such as why they are there, their name, their health, I want to add more but that will be it for now. I just want to get the systems functional before really populating.  

2. Lighting redone As I did not really understand what I was doing before I have learned quite a bit on lighting, and have made some changes.  For these logs I need to remember to save some before pictures so that I can post before/after pics.  But I did not know it was going to take this long, and it was iterative so did not thing about doing it.  

3. Added hazardous items in the arena.  This is just the start like I said before working on systems now, but exploding barrels now work, and they will cause some serious area damage.  Which is really neat, and frightening when they go off. I find myself jumping at times LOL.

4. I also started pushing a web build to itch from now on. I find that no-one wants to download games, and I get better engagement with web. Sadly I loose the decals but I will continue to push a Windows build with higher graphics fidelity, and keep them in parity.   Please feel free to play, and try out the game here

https://itch.io/embed/2438819

5. Added some crowd for the arena.  right now its basic with one low poly model I made, as I am also learning blender, and that is all I can do for now.  However I have been improving and am enjoying the process. I also learned about remapping a rig in order to import animations, as that is something I suck at, and I don't think animations should be unique per say, as we all walk by putting on foot in front of the other, so I am OK with not doing that myself.  But this project is for me to learn so I will continue to keep that at a minimum.

6. Added a perks systems which will allow you to give your poor runner some additional item to help them survive in the arena.  At this point its only 2 items, and only you can apply them.  I plan to spend the next week thinking of and modeling at least 15 to 20 perks to start with.  Again just want the system to function before I start populating.  Make sure its fun first.  

Finally added into animation at the start of the arena, with temporary free license music in order to get a feel for the tone, and intensity of the run.  I really want the player to feel they are people running in the arena, and I have a long way to achieve that so I really want to make sure I get the tone right, and music, as well as atmosphere is going to be key to that. So with that I plan to work on crowd audio, more perks, more crowd models, and finally add the other wealthy betters walking around, and picking their runners as you do in the prison area.  

Thanks you everyone who made it this far, I hope to have more done in the near future.  

Well first off just a little house keeping,  I am working again so wont be able to put as much time into the project as before, however I am still moving along.  

First off to help with management I have added a todo list feature into unity to keep track of changes, and things that need to be done. It also helps with writing these devlogs because I forgot all the things that get done.  Alright so into the updates.

1. Barrels are no longer using lighting masks so there shadows, and lights are not dynamic, no more rolling colored barrels.

2. Added a ammo counter for the turrets, as it was hard to tell when the round was going to end especially for new players

3. Added Sabotage mechanic to the runners. Gamblers can now give a knife to their runners who may or may not injure someone before the round starts.

4. Allowed AI gamblers to know purchase perks just like you can.

5. Fixed the position of the start camera so its always looking into the arena on start

6. Integrated the perks system into the purse mechanic so its correctly debiting players for purchases.  Lots of troubleshooting for this.  My code is starting to turn into spaghettis.

Latest version is now available for download, as well as browser play.  Note browser performance is not the best. For proper gameplay please download the windows version.

Thanks again Please give the game a try.