I’ve recently been working on the first-person view for the merc.

The big change is that his arms and gun now follow the camera. Wherever you look, the gun stays in view.

The other change is what you see when you look down. Before, you saw the inside of his neck. Now you see his body, his legs and his feet.

From the outside, he now leans with his aim in a more natural way. Before, the whole bend happened at his chest, so when he looked down his arm went through his body. Now the bend is spread over his spine, so his upper body curves where he looks and the gun stays out of his belly.

This took some time to tune, and it is not perfect yet. A big part of it was that I wanted his body and feet to be visible. Most shooters only draw floating arms and a gun, which is much simpler.

I’m still tuning where the gun sits on the screen. How does it look to you?

Light is the core of the game. If you’re in the light you can be seen, and if you’re in the dark you’re very hard to spot. Every light that can expose the spy will be easy to read. Its pool on the floor and walls ends in a hard, inked edge, its beam shows in the air and gets cut by whatever stands in it, and the lamp itself glows. So you always know where the light ends.

Both players have to use the light and the dark to their advantage. As the spy, you plan your route around the edges. As the merc, the flashlight is one of your best tools.

Light won’t be the only way the spy gets exposed. I’m planning to add more, so staying in the dark won’t be enough on its own.

This is how it looks right now. The strength of the beams isn’t final, and it might end up different for the spy and the merc.

What do you think about making every light this easy to read? Does it sound fun, or does it make it too easy for the spy?

Only the parts of the spy that are touching a light get highlighted. If just your shoulder is in the light, only your shoulder shows. If you step fully into it, all of you does.

I want staying in the shadows to be a reward for reading the room and moving through it well. It should also be a challenge, so it shouldn’t be too easy to stay hidden.

This is how it works right now. Making it fair for both the spy and the merc is something I’ll look at throughout tuning and developing.

Does highlighting only the parts that touch the light feel fair?

Update: I'm testing other approaches and may drop the outlines entirely.