What are we up to? - Early Access Launch Anniversary

Hello there!

Wow, I can't believe it! almost a year since the release of the Early Access of Echoes Of The Living! It is something truly worthy of celebration right?

But! before we dig into the news I would like to address something personal that I wouldn't normally do, but since it affects the development of Echoes Of The Living it's the right thing to do to communicate it to the community:

Several months ago I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (a group of inherited connective tissue disorders that weaken the body's supporting tissues such as the skin, joints, blood vessels and internal organs). Right now doctors are unsure about the type or grade I have yet, but the pain on my joints (especially the hands and knees) are getting worse and worse every day, limiting what I can do to the point where I can't even open a bottle cap.

This along with the numerous medical appointments this summer are the reason why I haven't been able to work as fast as I would have liked to.

Ok! Now that the chatty chat is over let's focus on what we all want! NEWS!

So... What's cooking?

Laurel's Campaign is progressing really nicely! With all the features already coded I can fully focus on the environments and level gameplay, making sure that every tiny detail is connected in both campaigns while expanding areas and adding new ones.

While Liam's campaign is heavily focused into Alba City Exteriors, Laurel Campaign will focus on more dark, creepy and mysterious indoors while also connecting exteriors and expanding areas Liam already visited.

Everytime I post news here it gets harder and harder to avoid spoiling content from her campaign, Laura and I can't wait to show everything!:

Echoes Of The Living Launch Anniversary

We have really exciting news to share, since the unified final build we talked about in earlier posts will run on a different build than the current one, we are planning to release a Beta Branch Build for the Anniversary of the Launch of Echoes Of Living!!!

Wait, "Beta" what does that mean?

Steam allows "Beta" or "Alternate" builds to be downloaded instead of the "Official Release" This will allow users that want to test the current state of the game and test the latest updates without messing with the "Official Release"!

Why add a "Beta" mode now?

This feature will allow me to package and publish content more efficiently, since I no longer need to focus on older builds I can directly compile, enabling or disabling features I want to test without the constant fear of messing up the "Official" Build. This also means that once Laurel's Campaign is ready I can simply update the "Beta" build to allow players to test it!.

What's the downside of this mode?

Players that decide to play the "Beta" build need to understand that even if you are playing the most recent version of the game there is a chance of some bugs happening now that new features have been added.

By playing this version, players will greatly help the development of the game, allowing me to edit or change features that don't work or general balancing.

Also it is important to mention that this build will only be available in english, since other languages are not translated yet in the new build.

Are my save files safe if I play the "Beta" mode?

Yes! That's another huge new! Since the game will run on a new build the saves are no longer tied to each other!.

What are the differences between the "Official Release" and the "Beta" build?

The "Beta" build will run on the most recent build of the game, where all the changes, additions, hotfixes and QoL improvements have been added, and is the build that eventually will replace the "Oficial/Current Build" but not only that! we are restoring content that was cut from the initial release!.

So let's take a closer look at what the "Beta" Build will have:

Gameplay:

• Several Bugs Fixes reported by the community.

• Liam's New Tactical Reload for Auto Rifles:

• Reworked Auto Rifle:

• New model and faster fire rate.

• New pump shotgun and auto shotgun animations:

• New Aim Offsets and Firing animations.

• Faster reload animations for the pump shotgun and auto shotgun.

• Reworked pump shotgun and auto shotgun, increased damage, Area of Effect and Critical Chance Radios.

• Stackable grenades.

• Removed the Second SMG at the City Streets, instead, the MAC-10 will be there if you missed the chance at Iron Gates. If the player already got the MAC-10 a new upgrade for the MAC-10 will be found instead:

Quality Of Life Improvements:

• Map System with more info and icons and added some missing maps:

• Octavia's Office and Apartments missing maps added.

• Additional icons have been added to identify "Interesting" Areas, right now we are unsure about the icons we will use for puzzles, we don't want to make it too easy or straight forward for the player, we want to improve the players memory and logic. What do you think? A or B?:

• New and Reworked character Animations with smoother blending.

• Improved Boss AI and movesets.

• Visual enhancements and reworks in the Caves Areas:

• 2780 new interactable/inspectionable areas.

• Inventory Color improvements:

• Higher Contrast and Colors will make it easier to see what you have selected.

• Storage Box Improvements.

• Being able to skip the "Prologue" section.

• The game will detect if you already finished the story at least once before allowing the player to skip it.

• Examinable and interactable weapons from the inventory:

• Examining weapons will give you additional info about pros and cons.

New Additions:

• 2 New Gunpowders: Light Gunpowder and Smokeless Powder that will allow the player to craft multiple types of ammo and gunpowder types:

• Enemy Health now will be different in each difficulty mode and will be saved:

• Loading a save or loading a previous area won't reset the enemy HP anymore!.

• Depending on the mode you play, enemies will have more HP, will be more aggressive and some of them will have a chance of dealing a fatal blow (Seekers have become a serious threat on higher modes!).

• Some "RNG" Gunpowders:

• Since the addition of the two new types of Gunpowder that allows the player to craft almost all the ammo types in the game, we decided to add a new feature that will "RNG" the type of some gunpowders, maybe that gunpowder you remember has turned into a different one or has swapped places with another one in the map, maybe it's not even there! This will create new situations for the player and will add some fresh to the replayability (RNG will be tied to the difficulty mode).

Restored Content:

We are finally bringing back some of the features, areas and enemies that were temporally removed from the game!

• Octavia's Prologue:

• Restored the second floor rooms on the Old House.

• Park Restaurant/Cabin:

• Restored the Save Room and additional rooms in the Park.

• Selection Events and Cinematics:

• Restored a selection event at the construction site.

• Restored a missing Cinematic at the construction site.

• 9mm Revolver:

• Restored a missing reward weapon.

• New Enemy Creature:

    - Rats! these pesky creatures loves to walk around sewers and dark underground places.

• Arcade:

    - ???????.

• Gore System V2:

• Shotguns have a bigger punch now!.

• New Enemies locations based on the difficulty mode:

• Enemies can be found in different areas based on the difficulty mode.

That's all for today folks! There is still a LOT of work to do yet and we want to thank you so much for your patience and being part of the Development of Echoes Of The Living.

See you in Anniversary of Echoes Of The Living!

Best regards, MoonGlint Studio (Alvaro and Laura).