This blog entry is long overdue, but I thought I might just get some things out there. I haven't really had the opportunity to do a lot of work in terms of projects, lately. Real life tends to seriously get in the way of things. Anyway, so, this is going to be a lot of wall text, so I thought I might make a little table of contents so that you guys know what's happening in this huge wall of text. So, in this blog, I'll be talking about:

1. The Hope Afloat Engine - Customization System

2. Pathogen - Progress & Updates

3. Legacy - Future Plans

4. Hope Afloat & Demons - Progress Halt

5. Future Projects & Plans

This part of the blog will probably be the largest, so prepare for a wall of text. Mostly this talks about the Hope Afloat Engine I use in most of my games, including Hope Afloat, Legacy and Pathogen. However, Legacy and Pathogen run off a more primitive version of the engine, which doesn't feature a lot of the things that the new one does. Although any bug fixes that are done in the newest version of the Hope Afloat Engine will be carried over to the other projects, but, most of what the new version of the Hope Afloat engine contains is a lot of customization for your guns. Legacy and Pathogen don't really need this level of customization, purely because they're meant to be short and re-playable. Although a small degree of customization or weapon modification might help, Hope Afloat is the game that really benefits from the level of customization possible. It means that you can get a feel for your guns, and customize them according to your means. In Legacy, you're given your start-out gear, and, in Pathogen, you won't really have much time to try out different combinations as you go along.

There'll be some screenshots momentarily but, when you select a weapon, and move the option down to the "Check" function, ordinarily, it would just show you a larger image of the weapon and display it's description. However, with the new Check system for Hope Afloat, you'll get the options of Overview, Weapon, Brand, Ammo, and Att/Mod.

• Overview: This just gives you a brief overview of your weapon, including clip size, damage, range, etc.

• Weapon: This option shows you the specs of the base weapon. This is the weapon without any bonuses from brand, ammo, or modifications.

• Brand: If you've followed some of the past blogs, each weapon, upon finding it, can randomly be given a brand. This is a random and rare chance, so, most of the time, you'll receive a plain weapon. However, you can always buy Brand Kits, which will apply a Brand onto a weapon. Each brand gives the weapon a unique attribute. For example, the Overkill brand gives the weapon extra damage, while the Turmoil brand lessens the rate that a weapons condition deteriorates at. Each weapon also has a unique brand, which will give it a unique effect, depending on the weapon. The Beretta 92F, for example, when applied its unique brand, becomes dual wield, effectively doubling its ammo capacity, while giving minor bonuses from the other brands. This section here will display the brand name and its effect on the weapon.

• Ammo: The ammunition type of the weapon can give the weapon different effects. For example, High Powered rounds will give a small amount of damage bonus, and Hollow Point ammo will do extra damage to unarmoured targets, but less damage to armoured targets.

• Att/Mod: Which stands for Attachments/Modifications. This is a pretty cool section, where you can view modifications or attachments you give your weapon. This can be anything from sights, to grips, to even aesthetic looks for your weapons.

This screenshot here demonstrates the new Check system. The weapon we have in question there is the following:

Base Weapon: Beretta 92F

Brand: Overkill

Ammo Type: Hollow Point

Att/Mod: Wooden Grips

Although you can have, for example, an extended magazine, or a barrel extension for the attachment, I decided to show off one of the aesthetic features you can have. The background of the weapon, in this case, the blood splat, represents the Brand of the weapon. The ammo it uses is displayed on the left of the graphic, and the Attachment or Modification is shown on the weapon itself. This is just one of the things being added to Hope Afloat.

Although Pathogen was supposed to be released at the unveiling of RMU 2.0, there's been a lot of snags in the way of personal life that have got in the way of it's development. However, progress is still being made on the front of Pathogen, including lots of new weapons, game modes, and so on. There isn't a lot to report at the moment, but there should be a Pathogen specific blog entry in a few weeks time.

Although it isn't exactly a lot to report, I've begun planning a new Legacy map. I think that the complexity of the map idea I proposed a while ago was too difficult, especially when used with voice acting, panorama mapping, and the general dynamic nature of the map. Instead, I'll be doing a few other heists, with varying length, before returning to that map. I'll have more information for you guys later. There is a poll being done on my Deadlocked topic page, which, if you guys have time, would mean a lot to me if you voted. You can get to my Deadlocked topic page by clicking here.

With these two games, development is going to halt while I work on other projects. The main reason that Demons is being halted is because I've been looking into VX Ace, and it looks like a much more suitable engine to make the project. So, rather than making it in VX, I might convert to VX Ace before I put too much effort into it.

Hope Afloat, on the other hand, is coming to a development halt, temporarily, while I work on upgrading the Hope Afloat engine, both adding new content and fixing bugs. This shouldn't take too long, and Hope Afloat development will be back up and running in no time at all.

In terms of future projects, there are a few projects I talked only briefly about to a few friends that I wouldn't mind rebooting again. One of these was a project called "The Garden of Eden", which, sadly, I can't remember who I discussed this with, but I think it may have been Rated-RKOFranklin. This project was a survival horror game, in which you were stranded on a strange, law-defying island in which strange beings first created life. The most successful form of life, the Humans, went on to populate beyond the island, and the other creations lived off the island, making small villages, shrines, and even small monuments around the island. However, these creator beings, with nothing left to do, were slowly driven mad, and began making nightmarish horrors on the island, which butchered and destroyed the inhabitants of the island. But now, after thousands of years, the island has re-appeared, and was stumbled upon by your character and a crew of archaeologists, initially on their way to Antarctica. Through a series of events, you are stranded on the island, and, in order to survive, must use the land around you to make shelter and weapons. The fate of the island is entirely up to you. Will you cleanse it of the dark creatures and learn more about these creator gods in an attempt to sanctify the island, or will you simply escape, saving the lives of your crew?

There were a few other project concepts which were thrown about between friends, including Project REDSIN, by me, Omar and RGangsta, which I hope we will resume work on when there's time, as well as another survival game me and Kiriashi spoke about shortly before he went his own way. There's a lot of projects I'd like to work on and not enough time.

But anyway, that's all there really is to this blog entry. I know it's a huge wall of text, but I hope you guys learned some cool things about upcoming projects. Take it easy.

~Tomo2000.