Introduction
Update 3.2, officially named Everyone is Here Vol. 2, is a second instance of crossover update, with 6 new indie games, with the goal of bringing items and outfits inspired by those games into Dead Cells.
The 6 games we had the opportunity to work with were Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami, Katana Zero, Risk of Rain 2, Terraria and Slay the Spire.
Notable additions and changes
- NEW - Shovel Knight content:
- King Scepter, inspired by King Knight, makes the player dash forward, enter a spinning state if they touch anything, and let them bounce around on enemies.
- Shovel Knight Outfit.
- NEW - Hotline Miami content:
- Baseball Bat, a fast weapon that inflicts critical damage on stunned enemies (with a special animation!).
- Modernized Bomber Outfit.
- NEW - Katana Zero content:
- Throwable Objects, fast-moving projectiles that stun enemies, with ammo that refills on kill.
- Zero Outfit.
- NEW - Risk of Rain 2 content:
- Laser Glaive, throws a seeking projectile that bounces between enemies, with increased damage with each bounce.
- Commando Outfit.
- NEW - Terraria content:
- Starfury, landing a hit with this weapon summons a falling star that targets a nearby enemy.
- Familiar Outfit.
- NEW - Slay the Spire content:
- Diverse Deck, one of the most complicated skills in the game. The deck is composed of 4 different cards, each with a Draw, Passive and Discard effect. The current card has its Passive in effect permanently, pressing the button will Discard it and Draw the next one, triggering the corresponding effects.
- Ironclad Outfit.
A full list of changes can be found on the Dead Cells Wiki.
What I worked on
Risk of Rain 2 content
While I did not get to implement anything, I was in charge of designing the weapon, as well as being the go-to person for visual feedbacks, due to my extensive knowledge of the game.
The Laser Glaive is a reference to the secondary ability of the Huntress, one of the playable characters of Risk of Rain 2. Its behavior is pretty much a one-to-one recreation, up to the damage increase between bounces.
Gif of the Laser Glaive being used in-game.
We wanted to take inpiration from a Risk of Rain 2 character, as they are, for the most part, the most iconic things in the game. The Huntress and the Commando are the two playable characters who are unlocked by default, making them and their abilities very recognizable.
After taking a look at all the abilities of those two characters, our choice landed on the Laser Glaive, as it was easy to adapt and didn’t clash with any weapon already present in Dead Cells.
Starfury
I was in charge of implementing the Starfury. This weapon is inspired by the sword of the same name in Terraria, which has a similar effect.
On hit, the weapon summons a shooting star off-screen, that falls down on a near enemy. This projectile is seeking and ignores collisions (unless it misses its target, which can happen if it dies or moves around too quickly, in which case the projectile will crash on the ground).
Gif of the Starfury being used in-game.
While one of the artist took care of the weapon model and character animation, I handled the visual part of the projectile, including the trail, visual feedbacks, particles and explosion effect.
Minor contributions
- Bunch of bug fixes.