When the last of the Prime Five slots was taken, I contacted the Prime Five and asked them if there was a feature that they would like to see implemented in the game. They all had a request, and then I asked them if they wanted to design a level, which they also all did. And last, but not least, I sent them each a glass stating their Prime Number, name and initials on one side, and the GravitreX logo on the other.
Now, on to the features that they requested.
- Henrik Hermans requested a special claw, which got the name "Henke Claw" in the game. When activated, the Grappling Hook will shoot upward instead of down, and it reaches much farther than the regular claw, and it pulls you in after hitting something. Oh and you can only use one thruster at a time when playing in Henke Claw Mode. It takes a lot of practice and makes it a rather different game.
- Jacob Ross requested the Style Points modifier, which gives you extra points for doing 360:s and other fancy flying. He later mentioned that he would also have wanted a mode where damaged systems don't detract from your score. So I implemented that too, it's called No Damage Points.
- Stuart Campbell asked for an inverted D-Pad control mode. This is not a modifier, but rather something you enable from the options screen. It makes it so you can control your ship using the D-Pad, and it inverts the controls, so you press the direction you want the ship to rotate instead of which thruster you want to thrust with.
- Travis Yoder asked for the game to be turned into his favorite color, blue instead of green. Enable Bluebot Mode in options.
- Logan Gramley wanted a "Meltdown Pandemonium mode", a modifier that makes the ships start with their core critical and warning voices can't be muted.
And let's not forget their levels:
- Henrik designed an Indiana Jones inspired level called The Raider. I added round balls to the level editor for this level.
- Jacob designed a level called Hourglass, inspired by one of the last levels in Arcade Mode.
- Stu made the most complicated level in the game. It took me forever to playtest and make sure it was actually possible to beat it. I predict that not many people will actually beat this level.
- Travis made Radical Wipeout, which started as a spike but then got a twist
- Logan (Sgt. Spankcake) made the lovely Spankcake.
Some other big changes:
- Instead of immediately starting, the game now first goes into a main menu where you can choose between doing a normal Arcade Run or playing a single level. Single level gives you infinite lives on one level.
- In Single Level there are three Level Packs to choose from: Arcade levels, which lets you play any level you have reached in Arcade mode. The Lost levels are a selection of levels from the old Android version that were deemed too difficult or for some reason was excluded from the Arcade version. Lastly, The New Challenge is a bunch of completely new levels made just for this update, including the Prime Five submitted ones.
- After selecting Arcade Run or Single level, you get to choose modifiers, these change the game in different ways and there will be a separate high score table for every combination of modifiers.
- Every level played in Single Level mode also has its own set of one high score table for every combination of modifiers.
The longer but still not complete changelog:
- Autopilot disengaged achievement awarded when disengaging autohover by thrusting
- High score entry now remembers the last name entered
- Implemented the possibility of rotated landing platforms (needed for some of the new levels)
- Implemented Main Menu, allowing players to play Arcade Run or Single Level. See above for details.
- Added "modifiers".
- Implemented a new feature each wished for by the Prime Five. (Three modifiers and two new options):
- "Henke Claw", a modifier that changes the Grabber so that it shoots upward and drags you in (sort of like the Batclaw)
- "Style Points", a modifier where you get extra points for doing 360:s and other tricks
- "Stu control", an inverted D-Pad control mode (enable in options)
- "Bluebot mode", an option that turns the game into his favorite color, blue instead of green. Enable Bluebot Mode in options.
- "Meltdown Pandemonium", a modifier that makes the ships start with their core critical and warning voices can't be muted.
- "No Damage Points", a modifier also requested by Prime Five #2, Jacobians. In this mode undamaged/damaged systems does not affect the score
- A few modifiers of my own:
- "Indestructible ships", a modifier where ships' cores can't explode and thrusters can't break completely
- "No Assists mode", a modifier where Compensator and Stabilizer Systems are disabled
- Implemented individual High score Table for every level and every combination of modifiers
- Added a few achievements:
- What would Stu do? - Complete "Down Under" without damaging any systems
- A hidden one called "That's not what Stu would do"
- Inverted Swallow - Glide through the slit on "Swallowed" upside down
- Boilerplate Squeeze - Fly upside down through the gap on "Boiler Plate"
- Added a Stereo separation option. 0 = Mono, 10 = Maximum stereo separation. Default = 7 (hardcoded value used to be 10, which is optimal for cabinets)
- Fixed so changing music volume has immediate effect
- Fixed a bug when grabbing a debris chunk and it despawns
- Fixed a bug when activating P2 controls when ships were exploded
- Fixed a bug where high scores would sometimes cover the screen while playing
- Fixed a bug that made the last high score entry disappear sometimes
- Changed key for displaying FPS from F12 to F11, since F12 is used to take Steam screenshots, and thus screenshots would often get an "FPS:" artifact
- Fixed so the Grabber now retracts from where it actually is, instead of from straight out
- Fixed some other grabber related bugs