COMPOUND, an indie VR shooter that launched in Early Access back in May, has received a new update adding a new map type and new music, with new enemies planned for future updates. The game’s sole developer has announced that he’s quitting his day job to develop Compound full time.
As Compound’s sole developer, Bevan “NotDead” McKechnie has painted the game’s unique retro textures pixel by pixel, not to mention crafted the all the levels, weapons, items, enemies, sounds, and systems. He’s been working on the title in his spare time since 2016, and it seems his persistence and talent is paying off. The Early Access version of Compound, which launched back in May, has garnered an impressive 98% positive review rating from Steam users, putting in up there with some of the platform’s top VR games. Here’s a look at the Early Access launch trailer if you’re unfamiliar with Compound’s unique take on VR FPS.
In the latest announcement, McKechnie says he’s quitting his day job to develop Compound full time, indicating that players should expect to see accelerated development as the game continues to evolve:
As many may know, up until now I’ve been working on COMPOUND after work and on weekends. Recently I handed in my resignation at my day job to work on COMPOUND full time!! A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased the early access version of COMPOUND and allowed me to realize my childhood dream of being a real game developer. Thank you so much! The long delay since the last update was due to the fact I had a lot of extra IRL work preparing things for my replacement. I still have to work for about another month, but once the hand-over is complete COMPOUND development should get a huge boost. Thank you again for believing in me! I promise to make the best game I can, to proper completion.
The announcement comes alongside a new patch, V0.1.5, which adds a new map type, the ‘Chemical Processing’ location, which McKechnie says will be filled with new enemy types in a future update. Planned enemies include the Stalker, a mech-looking enemy, and the Suicide Drone, which we can only imagine will try to rush the player and blow them up. The update also adds a new music track to the game’s ‘Profit Management’ location.
Prior updates following the Early Access launch have added a new weapon (the grenade launcher) and a bevy of tweaks to improve controls, locomotion, enemy AI, and performance.
Per the quote above, McKechnie says he’s still got another month with his current employer before starting full time development of Compound; we’ll be looking forward to an increased pace of updates to this unique VR shooter.