Z-Day

[ Overview ]
Production on Z-Day has been slow over the past few weeks, and this can mostly be attributed to the release of a relatively lesser-known title; maybe you've heard of it? It's called "Halo 3," and it's crack for your thumbs. Jokes aside, however, Unniloct/takua108 and new team member xX-ALTAIR-Xx have put in some major hours over the past few days, and the result is fairly awesome. Read on.

[ New Team Member ]
xX-ALTAIR-Xx joined the Z-Day team this past week, and he's been already hard at work making some sweet models for Z-Day. The mostly-finished "fists" viewmodel an awesome, long-awaited addition to Z-Day; and that's just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to polishing up the fists model, he's working on making a "vaccine injection" viewmodel animation sequence (à la BioShock's Eve cannisters) and has plans for some other melee weapons. Awesomeness is sure to follow.

[ New Melee Weapons ]
Thanks to the awesome modelling skills of xX-ALTAIR-Xx, we have a nearly-complete "fists" viewmodel and corresponding SWEP. We've also re-implemented the Hunting Knife and Chainsaw SWEPs, which were lost in the rewrite. These melee SWEPs are largely due to BLaNK's documenation of Player.TraceHullAttack, a Lua binding that helped us make these weapons attack realistically. However, due to limited contact between Unniloct/takua108 and BLaNK, a few bugs with the melee code remain unfixed until the two can discuss the issue. The chainsaw is as fun as ever, with a partially-functioning smoke effect for added realism.

[ New Resource Pack ]
Due to the Fists SWEP requiring a model, you'll need to download xX-ALTAIR-Xx's awesome fists model. Also, GMod users playing Z-Day have complained of a purple-and-black checkerboard texture that covers the screen when they're dying; this comes from not having Wiremod installed. The required texture from Wiremod is included in the new Resource Pack as well.

[ New Fatigue System ]
Okay, so it's not new, as Z-Day developers will know. It's just been hidden and barely implemented since the rewrite. Now it's fixed up so that your player will be fatigued by running, jumping, climbing or holding onto ladders, and punching and knifing. If your character becomes too fatigued, you'll lose grip of any ladder you might be hanging onto or climbing, and fall off. You'll also lose the ability to run and jump until you rest awhile. Sitting (aka crouching while standing still) will allow you to regain stamina faster than standing in place.

[ Conclusion ]
Z-Day is coming along well, so be sure to check out the SVN repository for the latest advances in the project. Stay tuned for more Steam Community announcements, and invite your friends to join the community as well. See you next build!