V55 soon?? (Patreon)

If you haven't seen the release date trailer for Version 55, look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyWbIUvKLa8&feature=youtu.be

I released this trailer early, which is something I haven't done with Lethal Company before. The reason is #1. because I couldn't help myself and #2. because I wanted to give myself a deadline to work towards. A third reason is that now I get to talk about the truck. I guess we'll start with the most obvious question.

Why truck?

Before the truck there were many different ideas trying to solve different problems. One of the oldest ideas for Lethal Company was a wagon or some sort of thing that transports many items at once, which can be moved faster by multiple players at once (perhaps with ropes.) Another idea was a bicycle or ATV. These ideas came up again when I tried out reworking the jetpack and noticed it was exciting to drive between buildings rather than over them. I think when I reverted the jetpack was the moment I decided to add some kind of car.

Besides, I just love vehicles in games.

Crazy tangential story: once upon a time, I was hankering for an immersive game with a vehicle in it. I don't know why. I first tried Jalopy since it looked like what I wanted, but that game was a bit of a mess, so I kept searching. I was so desperate I went scrolling and scrolling down the epic store, and that is how I found Outer Wilds and played it 1000% blind just a month after its release in 2019 with no previous recommendation from a friend. It didn't even look that remarkable to me, but I was just so desperate for some exploration involving a vehicle. Needless to say, I got my fill. I think it's one of the most lucky things that has ever happened to me.

I still have a desire to make an open-world atmospheric game where you drive a vehicle, and Lethal Company probably won't scratch that itch for very long.

Making the truck

I think it took me three or four days to model the car and texture it; thankfully this wasn't the first time I've modelled a car but the third. My first attempt was for the intro of Welcome To The Dark Place, and that's where I learned how annoying it is to model an interior in Blender, since I was only modelling the inside of this car. (This car model is unfortunately still used in Welcome To The Dark Place for the intro, and it dates the game immediately.) My second attempt modelling a car was for Drive Home, my entry for the GMTK 2020 Game Jam. Drive Home has been the most useful past experience for the CC, since it's the first and only other time I coded car controls in a game. The CC feels quite similar to the car from Drive Home because it uses the same physics.

But still, setting up the physics for the CC required the expected amount of fidgeting.

A lot of time was spent making adjustments, but the player animation system in Lethal Company was surprisingly well-suited for this. I am really proud of this part.

(But there were still some difficulties of course.)

 He took a little too much TZP.

Now the more I work on the truck, the more it seems there are two possible outcomes. Maybe I manage to iron out its unwieldy physics and its tendency to randomly explode, and it becomes as powerful as the product you've been sold in the commercials. Or, more likely, on June 25, every player is going to sit down in the front seat of a dumpster fire death trap (which has to be pushed like a wagon 90% of the way over the rocky terrain.) Either way, the CC is just beautiful. For the record, I think it will be somewhere in the middle, but it's totally possible it ends up as a complete disaster.

For how the truck will be purchased and transported between moons, I want you to be able to bring the truck to any moon (even if it's a bad idea.) I had a few ideas on how to transport it, but I've implemented one that I am pretty happy with. I'm currently thinking up a "warranty" system for the truck which allows you to get at least one free replacement. I want the truck to be expensive but still expendable, because I love seeing it get completely destroyed.

That's all I can think of to say about the truck right now, but there will surely be more to say about it.

Dark

I'll always remember 2023 like a joyous, frozen winter. The year before it, I went on a fiery frenzy of personal self-improvement and self-investigation; by the end of it I was so fed up with my lack of discovery that I finally tossed myself aside and just got to work on my projects. A joyous, frozen winter. It was like I died and left my body.

I don't know how to think of 2024 yet, but it feels like I am still dead or frozen or asleep despite my life changing in front of me. So it's interesting that Welcome To The Dark Place has become easier to develop than ever; I'm constantly overwhelmed by seeing mundane things in my life as if they were metaphors or hidden messages with profound meaning, and I'm constantly placing them into the game whether they really mean something or not. My imagination has become fascinating for me in a way it's never been before.

The Dark Place is "Dark" because it's a play on the phrase, "I'm in a dark place"--the low and desperate point no one wants to find themselves in. But maybe it's also dark in another way. I think I feel most inspired to explore the Dark Place when I feel blind. That's when it feels like there's truth and discovery all around me.