HARVESTER DEVLOG 1 (Act One initial release)

Hello there beautiful player-of-my-game!  Yesterday, I released the entirety of ACT ONE to be played, with some bug fixes, but if you spot anything remember to tell me.

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Here is a list of all the new story content in the game!

In Level Two you remove the implant stuck in your leg and regain the ability to run, which makes escaping Axe-head far easier, as he is now only slightly faster than you.  In level two, you must collect a keycard and use it to open the doors to an operating theatre, where you use the surgical tools to remove the implant in a minigame. After this, Axe-head has followed you into the level and you must escape him once and for all. Find a key on a mans corpse on the bottom right side of the map and use it to open a door in the top right side of the map.

In Level Three you will meet the new character 'Flayed-face'. He can only see things that are moving, and emits a loud noise that points you in his direction so you can better avoid him. Unlike Axe-head, Flayed-face does not make a constant sound, so use the loud noise bursts as much as you can. You must smash open a cabinet with a crowbar and get the key inside, before moving to the top of the map and leaving through the door.

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Here are the technical details.

Here is a screenshot (left to right) Flayed-face, Axe-head. Player.

Flayed-face is a copy of Axe-heads AI, but tweaked to have more speed. He checks to see if the players x and y position are the same as they were last frame. If the positions don't match, the player must be moving, therefore he can see them. Flayed-face is much faster than Axe-head too, with a higher speed gain on top of that. Axe-head has a speed gain per frame of 0.1 and a max speed of 1.5, while Flayed-face has a speed gain per frame of 0.25, and a maximum speed of 3.

Flayed-faces "vrrt" noise is on a frame timer of 1000, meaning every 1000 frames he will make the sound. This equates to around 16 seconds between each vrrt. Flayed-face also has a shorter search timer than Axe-head, meaning it is possible for him to lose interest and walk away without fully chasing the player.

Level 2s design is admittedly sloppy, but the level is meant to be completed quickly. I feel like in the current version the map is far too big for the small amount of work that needs to be done in it. The middle section of the map will likely be cut.

Level 3s design is thought out and meant to make you encounter Flayed-face as much as possible without constantly getting you killed (although that probably will happen). The whole map converges on one point just outside the starting hallway, also the spawn room of Flayed-face, meaning he is most likely to be there at the beginning of the level. His movement patterns can draw him quite far away from this point, so he will likely be reworked to spend even more time in that room. The area you used to be able to move through was cut because I felt the enemy and the converging room was too easy to avoid, so I covered it with boxes to push the player into a more awkward position.

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Act Two is well underway and should be released fairly soon. Act two contains four chapters, Conducted, Basement, Ventilation and The Surgeon. I cannot wait to share them with you! Thanks for reading, and thanks for playing!!