Dev Blog: Heatwave Rework

We really should have saved the cover image from our last dev blog for this one. Oh well.

Anyways! On to a depressingly topical global event...

Heatwave is one of the older global events in the game. When active, all actions and movement cost extra hygiene, even the ones that don't usually have a hygiene cost! This is supposed to represent the stickiness and clamminess that you feel when subjected to the murderous gaze of the sweltering sun.

Unfortunately, this effect is both boring and problematic. Dedicating an entire global event to just an increase in hygiene cost isn't terribly interesting, and a hygiene cost being added to everything led to a number of bugs, including frying the circuit boards of our already dumb bots as they struggled to understand why certain actions weren't possible.

With the coming update, Heatwave will be getting a rework. Don't get too excited, it's pretty brutal!

During the new Heatwave global event, all players will have a new heat meter at the top of their screens. As they move around the map in the scorching heat, the bar will fill up. If it fills up completely, the player will pass out from a heat stroke and their round is over!

Losing your round is one of the worst things that can happen to you in Walk of Life. Thankfully, players will be able to cool down to keep the meter in check. Certain existing actions, such as having a shake at Clucker's or bathing in the pond will reduce the heat meter and keep the player from passing out. There are even some new actions available during this event like standing in front of the freezer at Moo Moo Mart!

Do your best to keep yourselves cool during heatwaves, both in real life and in Walk of Life! If you want to be extra cool, leave us a review here on Steam if you haven't already. It really helps smaller developers like us!

That's it for now. Laters!