Devlog #7 "The First Passenger"

The zombies from the pre-made set have finally made way for our first passenger. She’s a grandmother wearing a headscarf, with button eyes and stitches on her face. She’s made from the same burlap as the player, and she already has four animations.

The Dead Man might be traveling disguised as a grandmother. Two things give him away: you’re breathing out steam next to him, and your ticket shows a departure date from the last century. In the screenshot, for example, it’s June 12, 1975. So now we’re checking the date, too :)

There are two to four stations for banishing the Dead Man. If you don't make it in time, he'll crumble, each player will lose 20 reputation points, and you'll feel dizzy for a full minute.

You have 30 to 50 seconds to park; the remaining time is shown on the clock in the corner of the screen. If you delay departure, the crew loses 2 reputation points every 5 seconds. If you drive past the station, you immediately lose 5 points.

Other events are now tied to the stop itself. At the station, you receive reprimands for mistakes, defeated monsters are removed, and roles are reassigned. I also tweaked the branching paths and the train’s movement. The music automatically switches between the track and the station as well.

I sewed the interface out of felt and burlap. The reputation badge now hangs at the top. When the number changes, a tag on a string flies up to the badge. You can immediately see how many points were added or subtracted and why. I made the same tags for money.

At the bottom is the role badge. Each of the five roles has its own color, and the names are listed in both Russian and English. The portrait next to it is live. A separate camera films your doll, and a shader removes the background and processes the frame. If you turn your head, the doll in the portrait turns too. If you pick up an object, it appears there as well.

Before, the beam ran along your arm, and you could look directly at an object and still miss it. Now the beam comes from the center of the screen, and your arm reaches toward whatever you're looking at.

The player also has three strings now-one from the head and one from each arm. When the puppet moves, the strings lag slightly behind, swaying and wrapping around the puppet’s body. All in all, we now have real marionettes :)

• Put together a shift from several stations.
• Create a screen showing the shift's results.
• Conduct a playtest with a friend.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end! See you in the next devlog :)