Here is a small preview from The Thing 2 RPG’s v2.6 update.
As you can see below all the icons in the game are being made new, from scratch by Arteaga. Most of the icons have been remade, we only have a few more batches to go. In addition to this the Equip screen has seen an overhaul. The equip slots have been expanded and some categories have been split, allowing for more items to be equipped. Head has been split into Head and Face slots, Accessories has been split into Back and Trinket slots and a character can now equip 2 Trinkets at a time. Alongside this weapon attachments have been expanded from 3 slots to 5 slots and a whole bunch of new/extra attachments added into the game loot tables to collect.
Mac Wants The What? 
That’s very nice. I can’t wait to play the new update.
Also, a suggestion : what about lowering the randomization of items found around the game? Because that could lead suddenly to a easyer or harder gameplay. Wouldn’t it be better if you make so that all the items you can find are already placed in the game, the only difference is that increasing difficulty lower the numbers? So that instead of finding 30 handun bullets you find 10 ; or if in that room you items in 5 different places, on hard you discover that only 1 of those 5 places has an item inside.
You know, i have this wild idea and i’m going to post it. Even if i’m 100% sure it can’t be done for various reasons.
I have always wondered about having the choice to save Rachel, the girl that in the prequel had a big enough role in the game. The idea came to me when you encounter her before the fight, when she is following Irwin. I mean, unlike other Things, she does not hide her true nature. She goes after Irwin (she loved him if i remember well) even if the whole party is in the same room. A normal Thing would never show its true nature in a way so…obvious.
So i got this idea : what if she acts that way because somehow she retains enough humanity? Her body is 100% alien, but her mind could be slowly coming back. This could open a lot of possibilityes, like :
1- Fight her during prequel mode in more than 1 fight as an optional boss, a boss that leave the battle each time giving a nice item to the player. (each fight is harder than the one before, rewards get better. Each time you have to find where Rachel is, making the game more interesting. I mean, you have to search each time for this hidden boss knowing that there will be a good reward and a even greater battle
2- If you fight against her in all the optional battles, she would regain her human mind, becoming the only existing Thing with a human soul. This could mean that she join the party during a few battles (i was thinking for example having her join the battle to aid the player against the original thing in the freezer and during the last battle.
3- If you do all things right, this could lead to 2 things.
The first is a secret ending in which she save the party morphing her body in a beast like form and bringing them on her back to safety, near the nearest camp.
The second is that she could become a joinable character during Thing 2. Afterall she could desire to put an end to the whole matter. And mostly, she must desire revenge for what Erika did to her. So hers could be a path of revenge. And after Erika’s death, she would stay behind. A ghost, a shape barely seen by people that patrols Antartica and the various camp, an unseen guardian angel bent on preventing the spread of the alien invasion. (Because who knows if inthe ice there are other spaceships? ) The reverse of the Wolf in sheep’s clothes, a righteous woman with the shape of a monster.
The RNG of the game comes down to me being selfish really. I like a bit of randomness in my game, although it leaves less control on the experience. While the random loot tables are still in place I have en-devoured to add more fixed drops into the game at key points. Ammo does slightly vary on difficulty but the amount is only minor due to the increased stats of the enemies meaning you need more ammo so only a slight amount is lost and barely noticeable.
I have experimented in the past with randomizing the drop of an item. This can be seen in early Original Mode levels where fire extinguishers or insulin are hidden in 1 of 3 random locations. I never stuck out the idea as I moved onto trying to make certain enemies hold the loot instead or having 1 of 3 enemies having the correct loot.
I have never been angry at you. I welcome people to voice their critique. I know a few people wanted different endings to prequel mode but its much like the prequel film itself as in you should already expect there to be a bad ending. The struggles of Natalie and her team pave the way for Blake and the Captain ultimately. As for Jose thats just something different I wanted to do, I know not everyone will care but he factors into another plot thread that is shown a little if he survives story mode. Story Mode has multiple endings which pretty much wrap things up as I don’t intend to make a third game but it was nice to leave some plot threads, or plot holes depending on how you see it.
About Rachel;
This is a fan made game and I haven’t really stuck strictly to the lore so its not out of the realm of possibility. I treat the thing like an infection mostly and I do have that G31-H5 hypo in the game that can cure infection. Based on the movies it does imitate humans but it does this by mutating them rather than replicating them (unlike in Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Also I don’t think all things “think alike” or share a hive mind so to say as in the movie there are several times where things screw each other over, Norris head thing attempts to leave the body and in the same scene Palmer (who is a thing then) points at the escaping head to gain the others trust but could have let it escape thus screwing another thing over.
It could be possible for Rachel to be semi-cured of her condition or something like that but it would require getting voice actors back who I haven’t been in contact with for some time and extra art resources. I will consider this but will have to rule it out for now, as Irvin would say we might have to accept that Rachel is gone.
I am already committed to finishing the icons, redoing the sprites to more realistic sizes and we are looking at making the enemy battle sprites more interactive so the art is a little much right now, anymore would be too expensive and drag things out more.
Ok, this is your game and i’ll gladly keep playing with your rules. If you like randomness so much, i won’t complain about that. It adds challenge, afterall.
Nah, prequel does have a nice ending. More or less. Somehow, i like to think that the characters survive when they go out in the storm. An ending with a very small chance of happy ending, but i like to think that they make it.
” It could be possible for Rachel to be semi-cured of her condition or something like that but it would require getting voice actors back who I haven’t been in contact with for some time and extra art resources. I will consider this but will have to rule it out for now, as Irvin would say we might have to accept that Rachel is gone. ”
Eh, i already guessed it. Well, in any case, if in the future you will have the chance to do that let me know it. I might consider the idea of helping you with a donation, because i know that getting new art resources from artists is never free. So, the minimum i could do is helping you with the fee for the artist.
On a side note, one of the reasons why i like Prequel mode is that art is amazing. I mean, the GenInc special ops (don’t remember the exact name) soldiers (especially the black ones with the sword) and their infected counterparts are incredibly detailed. I really like them. I hope that you will improve them without changing them too much. But nonetheless i’m sure the result will be beautiful.