I've just finished the remaining work for 1-handed melee weapons, which were functional but still needed to be tied into actual gameplay. They now work with weapon racks to allow players to easily swap them out when needed, and I have also found a way to make the severed arms of zombies work as weapons as well. My hesitation with this was due to the how often the player would be able to grab a severed limb and start killing rizn with it, but I think I've found a way to make them work without making things too easy.

Melee weapons now have a durability variable that is lowered anytime they're used to kill a zombie. Since every zombie offers the opportunity to "harvest" two melee weapons, I ended up making the durability for them very low. Each arm is good for only 2-4 kills, at which time the player must either swap to another weapon or dig around on the ground for another arm. After durability was in place, it was just a matter of making it so players could pick up the severed arms and equip them.

The same durability variable applies to all melee weapons - not just severed arms - but unlike the limbs, other melee weapons can be repaired at the appropriate workstation. They also have a much higher durability value so they last much longer, but like the limbs, they will also be destroyed if they are used too often and never repaired. Limbs as weapons has quickly become one of my favorite features of this game, so to celebrate getting them working properly, I put together the mock trailer above.

The final step for including melee weapons into the gameplay loop will be the pickup/putdown mechanics for 2-handed melee weapons. Since these can not be stored in the backpack, the player will need an option to toss them on the ground so that they can use the weapons they currently have. I don't expect this to take long but it isn't a priority at the moment. For now, I am going to turn my attention to what I had planned on doing last weekend: a save/load system.