Open the Cylinder

Hi everyone!

Today I’d like to talk in more detail about one of the core features of our project - the revolver reload mechanic. I’ve had this idea in mind for a long time, and now there is finally a chance to bring it to life!

In classic shooters we’re used to mindlessly pressing R and then just praying to all gods that the enemy doesn’t catch us at a bad moment. But here things work a bit differently. Since the game currently features only revolvers, we treat their cylinder as a set of separate chambers, and the player can “enter” any of them to take a shot. This means pressing R does not start an automatic reload. The character simply opens the cylinder - and everything else depends on the player. Reloading becomes a small mini game where you manually control the speed and order of loading. At the same time, the properties of bullets depend on the modifier selected in the hub. For example, with one of the mods a bullet may become explosive with a 50 percent chance, but there is also a 5 percent chance of getting a “self shot” - a bullet that explodes right in the barrel and damages you.

Here’s how it plays out: you run out of ammo, press R, flip out the empty casings with a quick motion, then use mouse gestures to load the cylinder. To rotate the cylinder one chamber to the right, hold LMB and drag from right to left. To insert a bullet, drag the mouse from bottom to top as if you’re “pushing” it inside. If you get a self shot bullet (you’ll recognize it by a special marking on the tip, all bullet effects are marked there), it’s better to pull it out with the reverse gesture - not up, but down. If you pull the cylinder harder, it will start spinning on inertia. Sometimes you can intentionally do this “spin”, snap the cylinder shut and fire without looking - in that case you gain a courage buff for taking the risk, since you don’t know which bullet ends up in the barrel.

And all of this happens right in the middle of combat: you keep running, dodging incoming projectiles, completing arena objectives, and generally doing everything you can to win. Under these conditions reloading turns into chaos - sometimes creating truly funny moments.

Thank you for your support and for adding the game to your wishlists! Stay with us.

Jimmy.