Project Lazarus Development Blog Post 1

To help enable my own progress with Project Lazarus, I have decided to start writing a weekly blog posts telling what I have done in terms of development. This initial post will be stating the premise of the game whilst outlining my inspirations and current game state. Project Lazarus is a Survival Horror First Person Shooter inspired by Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Dead Space. The game is being created using the Unreal Engine 5. Premise: In the year 2023, in the wake of the prison housing crisis of the United Kingdom, the government turned to large private corporations for housing, selling prisoners off to the highest bidder. Working as a prison guard for one of these corps, after being ambushed and gravely wounded, you awaken inside a nightmare.  Current Game State: Given my current situation with working full time, I am working on Project Lazarus in small chunks at a time. A lot of mechanics are in a working but unpolished state like the shooting of weapons as well as a basic inventory system that can be transferred to a separate storage container. A basic enemy AI is in place that chases and grabs the player. All of these will receive further polish later down the line.

Weekly Goals: This week I'm focusing solely on 2 elements: Continuing with the blockout of the demo level and focusing on improving the inventory system by starting work on a combine/crafting system. This will be used in game to create better health items or additional ammunition for example as well as creating new items for puzzle solving or game progression.

Monthly Goal: By the end of June I would like ideally to have the combine system working as well improving the shooting controls to feel a lot more tight and responsive. If these are accomplished then I will look at improving the enemy AI to be more dynamic.