Hi Everyone,
It's time for another big juicy update. There's so much new that this is going to be a long post.
Gamepad Support
I know many of you like to play with a gamepad controller. With 0.12 I've implemented full gamepad controls for Mech Armada. You can navigate menus, command your units, and generally do everything you can do with mouse and keyboard.
The game will switch automatically between mouse+keyboard and gamepad controls as soon as you press either a key or a button, and refresh the screen showing you the correct prompts.
Thanks to Steam you can use not only an Xbox controller but also a PS4 or PS5 one (see here for details). Mech Armada won't detect your gamepad type automatically right now, but you can change it in settings to get the correct buttom prompts everywhere.
Furthermore, both gamepad buttons and keyboard mappings are configurable now in settings.
I've done my best to make Mech Armada as intuitive to play with a controller as it's possible for a turn-based tactics game. I'd love to hear what you think!
You may have noticed a common request has been added: there is now a hotkey to End Turn 👀👀👀
Steam Achievements
With the addition of Achievements I'm hoping to add new ways to play Mech Armada.
Besides the typical achievements you get for beating the game, I've tried to have a varied mix of challenges that will make you approach each run differently, like beating the game using only 1 mech, or using only tutorial parts. And on top of that, there are a few "secret" achievements that are for you to figure out...
You can see full list with the 30 achievements here.
UI Refresh
As part of adding gamepad support I had to touch every screen in the game. So I used the opportunity to clean up the look a little bit.
Here's an example of a screen that was also causing confusion as it wasn't clear that by pressing the button you were buying a random part (some people thought they were just seeing their options):
I've even updated the logo, to give it a more modern look. I hope you like it:
Ultrawide and 4:3 Improvements
Even though Mech Armada is designed with a standard aspect ratio of 16:9 in mind, I wanted to provide the best possible experience for people running in all aspect ratios and resolution, ranging from 1024x768 all the way to 5120×2160 and more.
For Ultrawide the main improvement is to adjust the camera so it shows as much of the battlefield as possible, while taking advantage of the extra width. In 4:3 the goal was to avoid assets clipping, as everything gets a little squished together.
Note that I don't actually have the hardware to properly test all of this, so do let me know if you run into any issues.
Color Options
A lot of people have some kind of color blindness which can make it difficult to play games that rely on color. Whenever possible, I always use symbols on top of color, but certain areas like the area indicators on the map can't benefit from that. And so you run into issues like this:
You could always select the color of your mechs, but to fully solve this issue, the colors you need during gameplay are now also configurable:
New Content
And of course, not everything is going to be technical stuff. In 0.12 I'm introducing a new enemy as well as both a new part and a changed one.
Gazer
You'll have to keep an eye on the Gazer. With a powerful laser that rivals your raygun it has incredible range. But get up close and personal and he'll deploy the sting - with armor piercing!
New Zapper
The Zapper has been modified and turned into a chain-reaction weapon, that will spread from one monster to the next, so you can create awesome combos.
Freezer
The Freezer replaces the stun functionality that was previously in the Zapper, literally freezing an enemy for a turn so they can't move or attack.
Balance
If you remember, I like to use data to balance the game. I had a feeling that with some of the changes in the last few updates the game had gotten a bit easier: there are more resources on the Campaign Map, monsters will not spawn in a big cluster anymore and, in general, you have more choice about which encounters to fight and how to do it.
As a result, looking at the win rates for a run, they had gone up quite a bit in the last two updates. I feel it's important to keep a healthy amount of challenge in the game, so I've reduced the amount of energy you get after a battle by 1 (you can still use improvements to increase this) and I have added a few more enemies to the battles, so you'll have a bit of a tougher fight after the first environment.
And More...
Yes, there are even more improvements and fixes. Here's a list:
- Picking a duplicate part will now increase your number of uses
- You can edit your starting Mechs directly from the Science Lab
- Campaign Map part tooltips will also show upgrades
- Many other bug fixes
Phew! That was a lot of work, I hope you enjoy it. I will be posting my plans for full release pretty soon, it's going to be exciting, and I have some cool stuff to show.
As usual, if you have any feedback about these changes, be sure to join our Discord or hit the forums. I'm always available to chat about the game.
I hope you enjoy this update!
/Sergio
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389360/Mech_Armada/