It's been a while since the last post, so today I'd like to get you all up to date with what I've been working on. And as the new year is in full swing and so is the development of Ravenous Horde! I'll go over what has been done, what will be reworked and what is coming in 2025!
New map: Casino
For the past months I've been working on a new map. (amongst other things) Casino is the 5th map available and is aimed at giving the player some more things to do during gameplay rather than only surviving the horde. Take a good look around in the dark, see if you can find anything that might light up the place, or worse, something fuelling someone's hidden gambling addiction.
Casino is also the first map home to new cosmetics and weapon skins. I'll leave it up the community to figure out how to obtain them.
The previous 4 maps will be looked at as well to see if any interactive things can be added to them. Cosmetics and weapon skins will be added for sure!
Other improvements
While the Casino map was taking up majority of the time, some other things have been added or changed as well.
The time each round takes has been lowered from 20 to 15 minutes.
New music has been added during the game when the round is active. Something to get your blood pumping whilst the zombies are coming for your skin. Also some new character lines have been added.
I've added a flashlight option (as a Hunter) which can be toggled on or off, some areas are very dark and placing a ton of lights into the game doesn't always work well. The default for every map is that the flashlight is on, and it can't be seen by others (so it won't reveal your position to player controlled zombies)
When playing as a zombie there is also something planned to let you see better in the dark. More on that later!
Character cosmetics and weapon skins
Ravenous Horde will be a free to play game, with paid character cosmetics / weapon skins. (because I need to eat)
However I'm no fan of predatory schemes so there will be a mix of ones that can be earned for free and some that are paid.
The plan is to keep the amount of cosmetics and weapon skins in the game limited (both paid and free) so that players will still be able to recognize that some free ones required someone to do a specific challenge, or got very lucky.
This is because some games (mainly MMO's) have so many cosmetics that the "value" of a skin becomes less as other players will not be able to recognize that skin due to there being so many. I believe that if you ever had to do some difficult challenge to get a skin it should always be clear to others that you completed that challenge and didn't get a similar reskinned variant from the store.
That said, I don't have a hard number yet for how many hats there should be, or the exact amount of skins per weapon.
The last thing I'd like to mention is that there is a finite amount of money you can spend on the game. There are no plans to set up a never ending stream of skins / battle passes or stuff that you have to keep paying for in order to have everything unlocked.
As always, you can play with your friends regardless of who purchased what. New maps are free and there's no playerbase fragmenting through DLC's.
2025 plans
First things first: Ravenous Horde will release this year. There will be no delays, in worst case scenario's it will launch with less content than planned but it will be released. The goal is to release the game in Q4 this year.
Now before that happens, there's a Demo release planned. The Demo will have a level cap and will allow you to play on most likely 6 maps. For all the players that have played in a playtest so far, your savefile will be converted to a Demo savefile. The demo (and the demo server) will be available 24/7 until game release. The Demo will also be updated from time to time if content is added that affects the Demo, such as controller support for example.
I'm not sure yet if upon full game release your Demo savefile will be converted to a normal savefile or that you will have to start over. Both ways have their (dis-)advantages.
Before the Demo releases, the game needs polishing.
- The UI will get another overhaul because I can't get it themed right how I want it to be. I'll go for a more generic look.
- The game will be localized in all languages that are displayed on the Store Page.
- The stats tab will be added.
- Another map will be added.
- The in-game UI will be slightly changed so every zombie and hunter ability (like the sentry already has) will show what key bind you need to press and is clearly displayed on your screen.
- The perk icons need updating.
- The last hunter should have his own unique weapon.
- And a ton more, like cosmetics, new perks and special grenades and equipment.
With that being said, thank you all for the support so far and reading this. I'll go back to work :)
- Rinke
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2179490/Ravenous_Horde/
