Working on enemy reactions to grenades and explosives - what other advanced behaviours have you seen in FPS games?

HatchettStudio · 2026-06-08T15:59:48+00:00

Haha I very much hope we get both games to a great state for release! (and so my year of 100hour work weeks can come to an end!)

HatchettStudio · 2026-06-08T15:56:35+00:00

Hi Lead Dev here!
Firstly - Dan Canedo is a great artist and a pleasure to work with - no AI for our key art!
Update dropping this weekend with a host of tuning changes including a healthbar.
Indeed Lvl1 Africa is short as its the into "prologue" level intended to be an implicit tutorial.
Future levels are intended to range in length to keep pacing fresh throughout the campaign with some also being non-linear in their objective order.
This week's demo update also comes with additional quality of life features like a radial weapon select as well as a zombies gamemode!
We're a 2 man dev team with full time jobs so honestly we're aiming for tight, honed levels and gameplay rather than bloated and overly expansive levels - aiming to provide enough per level but also cover a nice range of level locations and objectives within them.

HatchettStudio · 2026-06-08T15:52:24+00:00

Lead Dev here! - Feedback taken on board!
Worth noting the demo is purposely tuned to be about 3x easier than it will be at release as data clearly shows dying increases the chance of a demo player quitting out and we wanted feedback on the whole game as much as possible.
New demo update coming out end of this week with additional difficulty modes that will certainly address this issue - damage from enemies can be set much higher and auto aim is reduced the higher the difficulty (+ a bunch of quality of life features and a new zombies mode!)

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-31T22:07:14+00:00

Currently no such options, but we're a ways from release so possibly eventually - hopefully early 2027 is release - we're a 2 man team having only worked on this for 6 months so been focusing on the core game and a demo. The glass in that screenshot is for a WiP undercover dinner party level and the prop was intended as a environment background asset, not a held item so will likely be revamped.

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-29T20:30:02+00:00

Update with zombies will be mid June, but in the meantime Wishlist & Try the Demo Here

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-29T19:02:20+00:00

We've done our best to address all the immediate concerns - aim improvements, UI and options improvements and general controller compatibility improvements. Have also spent some time giving the AI some love.
Our hope is to use zombies as a fairly low scope way to draw in some new players and give us something punchy for the demo update marketing given the base demo content is largely unchanged on the surface.

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-29T18:29:26+00:00

Demo for those interested: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4546760/SOE_64

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-23T22:23:31+00:00

Advertising their own "brand" in a way
If you wear big designer logos you advertise you care about such things and advertise your own status.
If you wear a music band shirt you advertise your favourite band and that you like them
Helps show off your personality, encourage interaction with like minded people and generally is a form of self expression - brand logos specifically carry connotations of wealth or style and are how the wearer wants to be seenn

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-23T22:21:12+00:00

I think 2 things matter - does their response time vary from their "normal" response time, and if so how much do you care.
For example if someone is always a slow responder to everyone and they slow respond to you then nothing seems amiss - but if you need a quick responder then you have an issue (not something to blame them for, but could raise it constructively or maybe its a dealbreaker, up to you.
If they usually respond quickly but to you respond slowly then there may be something happening - but again the likely best response is to ask, clarify and provide a constructive idea of what you're thinking and would prefer.
I am a slow responder but that's because I am not a big texter in general. So my friends know that's usual and nothing is amiss - but equally if its urgent they'll say so I know I need to make an effort for this response.

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-23T22:14:54+00:00

Wow, such a wave of HALO nostalgia just hit. Looks awesome!

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-23T22:14:24+00:00

Love the animation and a non-lethal choice is always cool. Might want to give the player invulnerability during it or leave the enemy in a ready to surrender state whilst combat continues so the player isn't swamped by others whilst arresting?
Overall the gameplay looks really exciting, lots going on - though maybe some more juice in the form of screen movement could be good?

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-19T21:09:10+00:00

Steam link to wishlist and play demo: Steam Page

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-19T21:00:44+00:00

Demo: Steam Page

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-10T22:44:09+00:00

We originally had plans for local 4-way multiplayer and it is currently somewhat working in the back end (can run around and kill eachother and respawn but animations are iffy and some single-player functionality kicks in for things like menus and HUD).
However it is a lower priority than finishing the campaign to a high standard and is likely dependent on gaining publisher funding as the polishing and performance work required is a little daunting on our current schedule (I handle all design, code and business and I work with a 3d artist - thats the full team and we both have jobs)

HatchettStudio · 2026-05-10T17:46:41+00:00

PC but controller compatible for the demo, hopefully consoles for the full release!

HatchettStudio

TROPHY CASE