Grand Rogue Auto 0.5.8 Released

Grand Rogue Auto v0.58 has been released. Sorry for the delay, some of the changes I needed to make were deeply buried in the code. As explained in the previous posts, the new main features are the destructible terrain and the ability to attack anywhere (which is great with grenades). There's also a fairly long list of changes and additions that I am going to detail in this article. I will also explain what is going to happen in the next version (0.60).

Destructible Terrain

This new version introduces, as a main feature, destructible terrain. Walls and fences can be destroyed by a powerful enough weapon. The HE grenades, and the RPG can be able to destroy most walls while fences can be destroyed by most weapons. As a result both weapons and tiles have a new setting defining how strong they are in regard to how the affect each other. As an example, a RPG launcher can pierce through any wall, while a combat knife can't scratch anything.

Combat System

The combat and targeting systems have been rewritten to take those changes into account. It is now possible to target an empty space or a wall and shoot at it, which can be especially useful when using grenades or other Area of Effect weapons. Consequently, the way you target and shoot at people has been slightly modified. Changes are explained in the readme.txt file, but here's a short summary regarding keyboard handling (mouse works as usual, except that you can target anything):

Press the Attack key a first time to select a target (it will select the last one you have selected, if none the nearest enemy, and otherwise the nearest NPC). You can cycle through targets using the usual keys, and you can also use the movement keys to manually select a tile or NPC. Press the Attack key again to validate. Pressing NumPad 5 (used normally to pass a turn) will cancel the attack command.

Speaking of targeting, now when a shot is missed, instead of going nowhere, it will hit a nearby tile. This is especially visible, and possibly dangerous with area of effect weapons. The way your hit chance is calculated has been sightly modified, but it's minor. 

World and AI

Police officers are much more responsive when civilians and friendlies are attacked. Same goes with faction members. Some weapons and armors have been added / modified. A new playable class, soldier, has been added, this is a great class in zombie mode as you will be starting with a great combat gear. Speaking of the zombie mode, the difficulty has been tuned down. Zombies can die from body damage (but not from leg and arm ones) and Infection damage rate has been reduced a lot.

Misc

There's also a few bug fixes, like the [B]urst shot toggle not always working or the fact that shooting with an AoE weapon next to an edge of a map causes an error. I also added explosion graphics to RPG and HE grenades so it's easier to see what has been hit or not. Some weapons and armors were modified / added too.

Upcoming Changes

The next version will add a first "dungeon". This is going to be a military base, with angry and well-equipped soldiers defending it. Unique loot will be available to the ones defeating the boss in the last floor. The base will be roughly the size of a sector and have several floors. More dungeon type sector/buildings will, of course, be added over time. This version should also finalize the changes introduced in the two last releases (destructible objects, stealth, explosives, cover system).

Also, and here I am throwing things in no particular order and may or may not be included in the next version. Weapon shops will get a specialization according to the type of weapon they sell. New sectors types will appear to make the city more believable (like a large city park with rivers and small forests or large apartment buildings). New NPC jobs will be introduced to repair the damage you may do to the walls and objects. The NPC should also learn to act as a group when needed.

Next will be added the ability to talk to someone, and as a result a, at first, fairly basic mission system, the ability to join/quit a faction and so on.

Cheers,

SK.