What’s Going on With Couch Invaders?
So much stuff! I don’t even know where to start. Most of the textures have been applied and I’ve built out much of what I believe to be the core mechanics of the game. Let’s do a quick-ish rundown of what’s going on.
Basic Story Outline
Carl and Becky Sue’s night of TV-watching has been interrupted by an alien invasion! The invaders are bringing the dead back to life, and boy are these zombies destructive. The newly undead are attacking anyone and anything within reach. Flying saucers follow close behind, vacuuming up the broken scrap metal for use in their nefarious plans for galactic conquest.
Luckily, Becky Sue has run an online weapon and ammunition business for years. If Carl can grab the scrap before the flying saucers do, she and the kids can turn it into ammo and upgraded weapons. As for Carl, his life up until now has been pretty simple: taking care of his family, target practice, and horror movies. This is his time to shine.
Where’s the New Video?
This video is a little longer since I take you on a tour of what the level looks like first, then show the actual gameplay. You can watch it on the Videos tab, or YouTube.
I’m really happy with a lot of the texturing, and the Subtractive Lighting has completely changed the look. This is a handy trick when you have limited power, although I think you typically use it with an overhead light. A dash of hardware fog really completes it, and the lighting in the cemetery has been a lot of fun to set up.
What’s Next
I’d really like to make the house more of a house and less of a box-with-holes. It doesn’t need to be huge, but it would be nice if it didn’t look like a shipping container home. After all, Becky Sue makes good money. They can afford better!
Speaking of Becky Sue, I’d really like her to be able to turn and face whoever comes into the living room — living or dead. If it’s a zombie, though, I’d really like to have her start throwing punches. While a punch may not do a lot of damage against the living dead, it can at least knock them back.
The game is really supposed to be presented in waves, so once the initial newscast is over, the first wave should begin. A brief pause before the second wave, and so on. Right now, the scrap disappears after a set amount of time. This was just to keep the test area from getting cluttered. Soon the UFOs will start to beam up the scrap if it goes unclaimed too long.
Thanks for checking out the update, let me know what you think here or on Youtube!