Space Dingus Developer Log #2

In this Developer Log, I am going to talk about our plans for how the controls in Space Dingus will work. This includes sections on how the Special Weapon Slot will work, which is tied to the Right Mouse Button.

But first, I am going to have a section for progress towards the Steam Playtest.

Road to Playtest

Since last Developer Log, we did a lot of work on the Special Weapon System. I will talk about that in its own section in this post, below the our plans for the control scheme! There was a lot of miscellaneous work on small objects and furniture. New container looting types. Tweaks to the physics of explosive barrels. We added the ability to dent and damage many objects, instead of outright destroying them.

Finally, a lot of our efforts were spent on the Derelict Space Station location we were working on. It has several variations now, so I think we're mostly set for the Playtest in terms of locations. We are doing a couple more experiments on new locations to see how they go, so we may have a couple more locations for the Playtest instead of just going for one. My estimate for the first playtesting: Likely very early next year. I was feeling more ambitious before, but I always forget that the holidays tend to slow everything down.

Space Dingus Control Scheme

WASD for movement.

E to use or pick up things.

TAB to open the menu.

T to CHAT.

R, F, and ZXCV as different quick commands for AI, that I will reveal in a future developer log.

NO RELOAD BUTTON, though there are reloads. They're automatic based on not shooting.

Shift to Sprint. You can't shoot while sprinting, or change directions easily. You have to skid to a stop.

Space does a useless hop. We may make this less useless later.

Shift+Space to SWAN DIVE. This is the big dive that you have probably seen from the first trailer. This lets you avoid some enemy attacks, but then you're stuck on the ground for a bit, depending on your stats.

Mouse for aiming, with a crosshair that spins to indicate headshots.

Left Mouse Button to shoot or attack.

Mousewheel to switch between 3 weapons, or 1 2 3. Q to quickswap to previous weapon.

Right Mouse Button to use your Special Slot.

The Special Weapon Slot

There is a 4th weapon slot, that is tied directly to your Right Mouse Button. This has various special properties:

• You can't easily swap it, like you can the 3 main weapon slots. Typically, you can switch what's in it only in the safety of your Spaceship, or when first finding it in a mission.

• You can switch to it and shoot it very quickly, using the Right Mouse button. Faster than if you used the mousewheel to switch. This makes it great for slotting an emergency melee weapon.

• Some weapons get new bonus effects, that only work if they're in the Special Weapon Slot.

  • These effects usually have some kind of cooldown, counter, or other condition you need to fulfill to use the bonus effect.

  • These effects may also have a requirement, such as skill amount needed or Profession type.

The Special Effect of a weapon could even be completely different from its use in a normal weapon slot. These could include things that seem more like a "Special Ability" than a Weapon.

Special Weapon Examples

These are examples of the bonus effects that can be in the Special Weapon slot. Most involve just tapping Right Mouse Button, but some require you hold the right mouse button instead. Those that require a hold will also let you tap it for the weapon's usual attack, like it was just in a normal weapon slot.

• Kneon Knife: Hold RMB to do a fast stab + dash, that can be aimed 360 degrees. This passes through enemies and does damage to them, while also letting you phase through enemy projectiles safely

  • Cooldown timer based

• Trickshot Revolver: Hold RMB and you'll spin your gun around, and then let go and you'll instantly fire a faster-traveling ricochet shot that 50% more damage and double the piercing

  • Recharges based on the damage you do to enemies, with any pistol-type weapon

• Frenzy Shotgun: Tap or hold RMB, and your next shotgun shots for 3 seconds fire twice as fast, and do 1.5x more damage with 1.5x more piercing

  • Recharges based on melee damage you inflict on enemies

• Mop: Tap or hold RMB and you'll do an underhand sweep from behind you (like an uppercut), and this can hit double the enemies with double the knockback/knockup power

  • PROFESSION: JANITOR only, for using the bonus effect

  • Cooldown timer based

• Riot Shield: No actual special move, but if it’s in your special slot, it will regenerate durability over time instead of slowly and permanently breaking

• Baseball bat: Knocks away physical projectiles if it's in the Special Slot

  • BAT CRACK SOUND

  • Bean enemy with projectile, HOME RUN blurb, glitchy sound of audience cheering

• Old Boot: If it's in your main weapon slots, it's a mere throwing boot. If it's in your Special Slot, it turns into a big kick ability, that can send an enemy flying into other enemies.

  • Cooldown timer based, with the timer being reduced by your Strength and Agility

We will have a lot of these Bonus Effect weapons. This gives us a lot of things to play with for the loot table. As an example, we could have similar weapons in the loot pool, but with different variants that all have different Special Weapon Slot Bonus Effects.

Next Up

Next Dev Log will be on December 26th! I'm hoping to have a solid idea on when the Steam Playtest will first start, by that point. The main topic for the next developer log will be all the location types we've been making, with pictures.

You can see more frequent news posts in the #future-preview channel of our Official Discord, and on the site formerly known as Twitter . Thanks for reading!