Let’s do a Q&A! Post one question in the comments each and I’ll answer the most common and prevelant ones in the post.

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Will this be 3D, Isometric, 2D or what?
It’ll be mostly 2D with only left and right movement, there won’t be as much depth. Have a look at this early mockup of an empty room, it allows for easy prop implementation and for rooms to be resized and made easily. Furniture and other props will sit in the foreground and background.

Will I be able to save my game?
Yes. At this stage I’m working towards having a number of save slots.

Is the main character coming back?
Yes, but not as the main character. You will create your own character.

Will there be classes?
Kind of, the “background” you choose will determine your starting skills. You can of course create your own custom “background” however.

Will there be vehicles?
At this stage, no.

Can we customise weapons?
Weapons will have attachments to improve their properties, I’m still figuring out the best way to implement this though.

Is there a time limit on how long you can play?
There will be events that will affect how long you can play, but the game has a very different structure. It may take hours to finish as opposed to 30 mins.

What kind of melee weapons will there be?
I’m aiming to have an “anything you can pickup” kind of approach to melee weapons. So everything from hammers to table lamps.

How will survivors work?
You’ll meet other survivors, some may choose to travel with you. When they do, they’ll fight along side you, following you through the world.

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An infection has hit Union City, no-one is sure what is happening. Authorities have told citizens to stay in their homes and to wait for updates. The chaos outside your apartment is growing, looting, savage beatings, people killing each other in broad daylight. It’s safer inside.  A week goes by, the transmissions stop, the food is running out. The situation can only get worse, it’s time to leave…

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The Last Stand: Union City, the third installment in the Last Stand series is currently in production and will be released in Q1 2010. It will take place during the first few weeks of infection in Union City. Taking the role of a survivor who holed up in their apartment during the initial spread of the infection, the player will be forced to venture out and make their way in the city. Escape will be the ultimate goal.

Features Include:
- Side Scrolling Open World
- Scavenge for weapons and items
- Custom character creation
- Level and Skill progression
- Living city: Day and Night cycles, Weather
- Dynamic driven enemies: “Zombie director”
- Two game modes that affect the style of the game

Union City will be side scrolling open world for the player to fight the hordes in and search for weapons and food. You will mould your character from the beginning, deciding appearance, background and skills. During your time in Union City you will earn experience and gain efficiency in a number of different skills, how you progress in these skills will be based of your actions.

During your travels you will encounter other survivors, they will help you get a grip on what’s happening, tell you their situation and in some cases join your fight.

Union City itself is a living city with day and night passing as you travel, it’s once living citizens will be driven dynamically, no street or building will play the same each time you enter.

The game will have two seperate game modes - “Run’n'Gun” and “Survivor”. The Run’n'Gun game mode will be more in line with the original games and have a focus on action and lessen the RPG elements. Survivor on the other hand will have common survival problems such as hunger, need for sleep and conservation of ammunition to deal with. Much of the story and gameplay will be identical in both modes.

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I’ll be posting more in-depth and specific information over the course of the next week as it’s finalised in the design documents.

What do you do?

As part of the “research” for developing the next Last Stand title (name coming soon), I’m looking to see what you guys would do in the case that you find yourself in the zombie apocalypse. You never know your answers might become part of a storyline within the game. Below is a template for you to fill out in the comments.

1. What supplies do you grab?

2. What weapons do you have around the house?

3. Where do you go first?

4. Who do you contact?

5. Where do you go to escape?

Fill these out and keep the comments to just answers, don’t go commenting on other people’s responses.

Alright, I think that’s about enough. I’m getting tired of reading and approving 40 comments a day. COMMENTS LOCKED.

It’s come a long way from it’s humble beginnings back in January, but after a 6 week haul it’s finally done. Juggerdome is an action shooter with a few little twists to it. Feel free to leave feedback here or on the Armor site, right now though, I’m going to get some rest.

—– PLAY JUGGERDOME —–

VERSION 1.1 WILL BE UP SOON
ChangeList:
- Fixed Inventory bug where weapons were “lost” on aborting a mission.
- Improved Laser effectiveness, upped damage and collision size.
- Made final boss resistant to electric trap shutdowns.
- Fixed “Slaughtermaster” achievement, was requiring 7 kills in a second rather than 6.
- Made Bertha easier to find. You still need to get all the achievements.
- Fixed spelling errors and misc. event descriptions.

Juggerdome will be out some time tomorrow, keep an eye out for it on Armor Games. I decided to play with a few new things with Juggerdome and one of them is everybody’s favourite meta-thing, achievements! There’s 20 in total, get ‘em all and there’s a pay-off in game rather than just boosting your e-peen. Here’s the details:

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Crowd Pleaser Get a Crowd Bonus Shocker Get a kill with an electric trap Explosivo Get a kill with a rocket trap Fricken Lasers Get a kill with a laser trap Centurian Kill 100 enemies in an event Saboteur Get a kill with a Proximity Mine Fireman Burn an enemy to death Shutdown Hit an enemy with an EMP Failure Get yourself killed Entertainer Get 2500 in Crowd Bonuses in an event

Hoarder Collect 2000 credits in an event Big Money Have over 100,000 credits Gun Nut Own 10 Weapons at once Prepared Own 10 Gear items at once Runnin’ Hot Overheat your weapon 50 times in an event Domemaster Get over 5000 in Crowd Bonuses I Come in Peace Win an event without firing a shot I’m the Juggernaut Purchase all upgrades Freedom Earn your Freedom Slaughtermaster Get 6 kills in a second

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I present a solitary screenshot of Juggerdome* a game of much killing and upgrading and arcade type stuff. Figured that I’d kept you guys in the dark long enough. Should be done some time tomorrow barring any acts of God. Release has been shifted to the middle of next week, Armor Games’ decision, they want to spread out releases as Demolition City 2 has just come out. Go play that in the meantime.

And now a message from the Warden:

CONSIDER YOURSELF ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES, PRISONER. YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE PRIVILAGE OF PILOTING A JUGGERNAUT.

EACH WEEK YOU WILL LEAVE YOUR CELL TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WEEK’S SCHEDULED EVENT. SURVIVE, EARN CREDITS, ENTERTAIN THE CROWD, UPGRADE YOUR JUGGER AND YOU’LL EVENTUALLY EARN YOUR FREEDOM.

- WARDEN

* does not contain any actual domes

Seems that  I’ve run into a series of “delays” over the course of this month.

Between two total reinstalls of Vista and now my video card up and dying on me, even though it’s only 2.5 years old, I’ve been trying to finish a game.

It’s been somewhat frustrating not being able to finally nail Juggerdome. It has given me the chance to get further into planning the next Last Stand. I can safely say that it’ll be the biggest project I’ve ever worked on and I’m busting to get started.

Here’s to hoping the next week or so goes smoothly once my new graphics card arrives.

Con Artist continues to hack away at things…

It’s been an odd month or two, I’ve had a lot of things going on and as a result it’s slowed things down a bit. Least of all including:

- Turning 30 years old.
- Trip to Florida with Armor Games team.
- Friends having babies.
- Friend releasing his first book.

Celebrations etc have been in constant flow since about the start of July. Now it’s nearing September and there’s not much to show of what I’ve been working on.

I’m doing a quick project that I started way back in January called ‘Juggerdome’ which will be done in the next few weeks, then it’s on to the third installation in The Last Stand series. I felt it was necessary to get another game out there before starting on the new Last Stand to generate some income while I spend months developing it.

I’ve got big plans for my beloved zombie killing series and I’m excited to start divulging information about it once I get development rolling.

For those that’ve left the bazillion comments on the forums and on the front page, thankyou. I’ve got a lot of great ideas for the Last Stand series from them and it’s cemented a few others that I already had come up with. It’s good to see you guys want the same things I do from the game.

I’ll leave you to speculate on what ‘Juggerdome’ is exactly. Enjoy.

- Con

Below is a song done by the composer who has produced all the music for pretty much every game I’ve ever made. It’s made on his new toy, the monome. It’s a hand built, highly customisable crazy music machine. Enjoy the clip, Canon in :D.