Hi everyone, we are coming close to finishing up work on The Thing 2 RPGs v2.6 update. While work is nearing completion the game could still use some more time to be tested and balanced before a public release. Unfortunately this means I will be delaying the Public release of the v2.6 build of the game until further notice.

However I am interested in feedback and help testing/balancing the game so despite it not being 100% complete yet I will be rolling out a Private Test Build of the game which will be available to members of my discord server later this evening. If you are interested in helping with this you can join my discord server (here) for more information.

For those of you interested, you can read a full list of the current patch notes here.

This delay will help to polish the game up as much as possible before full release so I hope everyone will understand the reasons for running the test build and I look forward to working with the community through Discord to improve the game and make it the best that it can be.

-Richard

Hello everyone, how’s it going? I’m back from Vietnam now and I’ve been working on the game a lot more since I’ve come back and made some good progress.

I finally finished the “Away Team” mechanic for Story Mode. It took me a lot longer than I originally hoped and I had to divert from some of my planned features a little but in the end I got there. What this mechanic lets you do is send out a squad who go on a mini raid of sorts to one of ten generic locations (that will be reused, I added 10 for variety). Once they arrive at their destination you can switch to control of them and carry out their mission. This mechanic will allow you to spread training out among more party members and allow you to snag some extra loot but it’s not without it’s risks of course and you can actually loose the squad if all it’s members perish (along with any gear/items you gave them). I’m currently testing this alongside other new content to make sure it works.

Once I have tested the new content to make sure it’s stable I’ll be doing a run of the entire game on the hardest settings to balance difficulty and to make sure I stamp out any bugs. If anyone notices any issues with the game please let me know, even if I’ve already addressed them I’d like to double check them. I’ll also be posting the Change Notes soon so you can see a full list of all the features and changes I’ve made since v2.5.3 so look forward to that (there’s a lot of small stuff).

Outside of my own efforts Arteaga is hard at work on little tasks here and there for me. I’ve cut a lot of the planned art overhauls due to budget and time but I’m trying to get him to do as much as possible before release. He is currently providing new CHIBI Sprites for the game and has just completed new sprites for the Gen Inc Agents and along with new sprites for the custom character creation. Sometime back I decided to overhaul the Custom Character skins and removed a lot of the old ones and will be replacing/changing most of the unlock-able skins.

Finally, Release Date. I have Arteaga until the end of April so hopefully the bits he has left to do will be finished by then. During that time I will continue to test and balance the game as mentioned above. If everything goes to plan (which it usually doesn’t) I hope to release the game in May 2019.

Hopefully this is good news for all as there isn’t long left to go. I’ll write a blog post at the end of the month so see you then.

-Richard

This probably isn’t good news for most of you but we won’t be able to get the v2.6 update out in 2018. The main reason for this is we are doing a big overhaul with a lot of the art assets in game with the most time consuming ones being the character sprites and the “tiles” (the graphics used to make up the areas in-game). I will say that I never promised a 2018 release but I was aiming for that window but it’s looking like Spring 2019 at this point based on the amount of work Arteaga has left to do for me.

On the plus side the game will look a lot better and I’m aiming for more cohesion between everything in the game. Below is a sample of what you can expect from the new character sprites, you have Natalie (from The Thing 2 RPG) compared to Logan (Our Test Dummy from PW who has been scaled down to match the older engine). The characters proportions will look more realistic and will also be getting face portraits to match. In addition we are increasing the frames of animation, before everyone had 3 frames but now they will have 9 frames making the movement look more fluid than before.

I hope everyone will understand and I apologize in advance, since we started developing PW I’ve looked back a lot on The Thing 2 RPG and thought it could be so much better. Spending the time to improve the assets now also makes it easier later on if we get the chance to port The Thing 2 RPG to the RPG Maker MV engine as a sort of remaster (although don’t hold your breath on this).

We have one final enemy to add to the game, this time I’d like to introduce Nova, a Gen Inc Spectre and Huan her great white wolf companion. They appear in Story Mode as part of an optional encounter (not tracked by the quest log).

In this scenario a former Gen Inc Scientist is on the run from his employer, with him he carries a unique serum which can apparently immunize someone from infection. However he is being tracked by Nova, a deadly Spectre who uses a Sniper Rifle at range and her pet great wolf Huan at close range.

The fight against Nova & Huan is the most complicated fight I’ve made in the game and has several stages to the fight as well as different outcomes.
The fight has 3 main outcomes but there are multiple ways to get some of them and there are 8 distinct enemy graphics used to make up the fight. It’s a little difficult to write about it without spoiling it but lets just say that someThing is a miss.

If you can save the scientist you will get a new party member as well as a possible cure for infection. Based on the outcome of the fight you may also  gain a new ally or face a dangerous foe…

The Gen Inc Agents *Update*

With the addition of the Gen Inc Agents to the games Story Mode we have made sure to give them some decent loot as well as each agent having one piece of unique gear only obtainable from defeating them. If you keep their gear til the end of Story Mode you will be able to save it to your file for NewGame+ Story Mode runs where you can recover it from the Field Base.

Whats Next?

I’m working on the “Away Team” mechanic for Story Mode still and after completing this I will start playtesting the game while Arteaga finishes up artwork. If I have time I will stream some of my playtest on twitch.

-Richard

Here are the rest of the enemy Gen Inc agent previews from The Thing 2 RPG’s v2.6 update.

Captain, Gen Inc has many agents operating in the region, one of which we have identified as a Hazmat Squad Leader known as Kemuri. She isn’t shy about hiding her identity but don’t let this fool you as she seems to carry some sort of gas that sends victims into a panic despite wearing protective equipment.

Captain, we have identified another Gen Inc agent in the field known as Nano. He is unusually large and seems to be part of Gen Inc’s secret Spectre Unit. Intel suggests he is able to mass heal his allies but we have been unable to confirm how this is possible. You may struggle to take him down without anti-armor measures.

We’ve also managed to gather some last minute intel on another Gen Inc Operative known as Frost who seems to be disguised as a US Arctic Marine. We are not sure how it is possible but along with using freezing grenades she is able to freeze enemies with her special bow. You should be cautious when dealing with any of these Gen Inc Agents in the field but taking them out may yield some useful rewards.

Also General Carruthers has received his own sprite and is more distinguished in his fight instead of just using the US Captain model.Lastly I’d like to mention one final enemy we are working on. Another Optional boss fight is going to be added to Story Mode which includes multiple variations and outcomes in the fight. It revolves around saving a Scientist with a drug that can apparently immunize someone from infection, he is being chased by a Gen Inc Assassin and her canine companion but someThing ain’t quite right… “It’s weird and pissed off whatever it is.”

Here are some enemy previews from The Thing 2 RPG’s v2.6 update along with some more updated screenshots of the new icons in place.

Captain, Gen Inc has many agents operating in the region, one of which we have identified as a Mercenary named Chanka. Reports suggest he is heavily armored and lugs around a heavy turret which can unload some serious firepower. Rumors indicate that he is also affiliated with Russian Mercenaries so you should be be cautious when engaging him.

Captain, we have identified another Gen Inc agent in the field known as Eliza. Eliza isn’t subtle about disguise and seems to have other Gen Inc units under her command. Intel indicates she uses squad tactics and an under barrel grenade launcher to takedown her foes. You should be prepared for a bloody fight when encountering her.

Mirage has received some slight changes worth noting. Her proportions have been tweaked a little and her formation changed. In addition I have randomized the fight so that the real version of her can appear in any of the 5 places so you can never really predict where she is now.

Finally I’d like to show off some more of the icons that Arteaga worked so hard on. Below are some screenshots showcasing passive skills, traits, states and action skills. To keep things simple we’ve used a green box to represent positive effects, a red box to represent negative effects and a purple box to represent mixed (both positive and negative) effects. There are some other color boxes used in game but they are just cosmetic and don’t represent anything in particular but are distinguished not to be within the green, red and purple categories. Special abilities and Action skills have had a nice comic book splash effect added behind their icons to also distinguish them a little.

Here is an enemy preview from The Thing 2 RPG’s v2.6 update, please note that we are redoing character sprites later on which is why there is a big checker box visible in one scene.

Captain, Gen Inc has many agents operating in the region, one of which we have identified as a Spectre named Mirage. Reports suggest she uses smoke and mirror tactics to confuse her targets before landing the killing blow. She is swift and deadly and is not to be underestimated. We also have intel to suggest other Gen Inc affiliated agents are actively looking for you in the area so stay tuned for more info as it comes in.