Watch the latest devlog!
I updated procedural generation of maps to add a lot of visual distinction between different game maps. I also added a brightness setting, and reduced the size of noninteracting decorative plants, which have also been dulled out. Sizing issues between different hive elements have been changed, and the particle effect generation has been updated. The contrast has been heightened, and your active swarm now flashes white when selected. The game's visual acuity, and the ability to focus on the correct information is improving regularly, and this is not the end state. Progress continues.
A huge number of smaller issues, especially some edge case bugs were addressed. Typical problems in this category include a bug which occurred when you had a bomb which should explode on the same frame your alien dies, improper disconnect handling from the multiplayer menu, etc. There were almost 80 different checkboxes in this category which were fixed thanks to extensive playtesting. I was lucky enough to have some people record their game and talk over it for up to an hour at a time, which provided invaluable feedback. If you were one of those people, THANK YOU!
A lot of clarification was added to the game, including a glossary. I also decided it was necessary to force new players to at least boot the tutorial up before playing the game - since up to 80% of people skipped it, and that's a bad idea for this game. Loading screen hints have been added, and tooltips have been extended. Typical features in this category include a tooltip which tells players who try to select difficulty 5 in the single player menu that this difficulty is really balanced around multiplayer, or simply to the change the main screen text from "multiplayer" to "private multiplayer" so people don't think random people can join their lobby.
I'm also gearing up for a public demo for steam next fest, which means there's been a focus on bug fixing, ease on onboarding and quality of life. This also means an update to the difficulty curve. A difficulty 0 has been added for brand new players, and a lot of the status effecting hive elements were removed at lower difficulties. The curve is much more appropriate now, and most playtesters can beat difficulty 2 within 30 minutes or an hour of picking up the game, which demonstrates a deep understanding of mechanics and controls. This is very, very good.
In the upcoming updates, you can expect work on one or some of the following long term goals.
- Iteration of A/V feedback (new sound effects, audio balance, etc...)
- Endless game modes with online and local high scores.
- Challenge mode with at least 12 ultra difficult single player scenarios
- Testing out different game speeds, and tab+pause (Real time with pause command) functionality.
- Pathfinding v2, including better wall avoidance (multiple edge cases need resolving)
- Complete localization of the tutorial and other non-localized portions of the game.
- Boss waves and big baddies.
- Contrast settings, customizable keybindings, windowed mode, separation of music and sound effects, and other personalization settings
- Dynamic proc gen (cave-ins, humans dropping bombs, etc...)