Nebraska Newton Devlog #3 - "Enemies"

Another day, another devlog. In this one, I'll be talking about the game's enemies, because it's a natural progression from the devlog about weapons.

Prologue

Enemies. What's the point of guns, if you can't shoot them?

The enemies in Nebraska Newton will mostly be animals like snakes and scorpions. There'll probably be none-animal enemies, but they'll only come in during the final levels.

Chapter 1 - "Types"

Here's a list of all the enemies I've thought up so far:

Scorpion - The scorpion, as I'm sure you all know, is a small creature with a poisonous stinging tail. A scorpion is also small, and armoured by a hard exoskeleton, meaning it'll need a few well-placed shots before it goes down. A scorpion inflicts poison damage, meaning that it will sting Nebraska once, and his health will keep going down, slowly, but surely. Three things can cure the poison: a healthpack, finishing the level, and the scorpion poison antidote you carry on you, which is in very limited supply.

Snake - The snake is dangerous beast. It may not have legs, but it moves with amazing speed anyway. Its poison is faster than the scorpion's, but, fortunately, does limited damage. The snake is very weak though, and its length gives a lot of area for bullet-placement.

Crocodile - The crocodile is an aquatic creature. It will always stay in the water, even to the point of being picked of by Nebraska's gun. It just prefers the water. This makes it a dangerous adversary in its element. Stay away. The crocodile's bite will most probably mean instant death, unless you're really lucky. It is also fast and agile in the water, and takes quite a bit to kill.

Spitting Cobra - This creature is much like the aforementioned snake, except that its combat is ranged, not melee. Its spit will deal a decent amount of damage, so you'll want to avoid it.

Reanimated Bird - The Amaghuleans where a truly advanced civilization. As you press on through the tomb, getting closer and closer to the coffin, you will encounter things that were once birds, but are now just husks, controlled by ancient, but advanced circuitry. They fly, and will dive-bomb you. They may also dodge your shots.

This is by no means a complete list, but its the gist of the enemies you'll encounter.

Chapter 2 - "Implementation"

At the moment, my engine allows for melee, ranged, land and air units without any real AI. This will have to change. I'm going to need to implement some AI, and a whole new class of aquatic enemies.

As of writing this, only the scorpion and snake are actually in the game.

Chapter 3 - "Goals"

As you may remember, my goals yesterday were to get the weapons in, and make a new level. Well, I did. Yay!

Goals For Today

* Improve enemy system. It needs AI and aquatic enemies.

* Put in all enemies. This way I'll have them for later.

* Make a level. If I make a level every day, while I'm working on the engine, I won't have the nasty surprise of having to make them all later.

Epilogue

The game is really shaping up. I've got another ten days to finish, and with any luck, I will. I'm dreading the inevitable crunch on the last day though.

F1ak3r