Alpha Demo 0.2.0, the Keyboard and Mouse Update, is now available to download and play! This update brings with it multiple stability improvements to help prevent the game from freezing or becoming unresponsive.
What's new?
Improved keyboard and mouse support
- Keyboard-only control schemes are now supported, and have their own default scheme
- Every control in the game is now fully rebindable on keyboard and mouse
- Boost Turning and switching to/from hover mode now have their own individual keybindings
- UI glyphs now update to indicate your current control scheme
Stat system overhaul
- The Phoenix's base pitch, roll and yaw mobility has been substantially increased
- Defense and Cannon R&D stats have been removed and replaced
- New R&D stat: Targeting - increases the range and lock-on speed of all weapons
- New R&D stat: Resilience - increases hull and shield strength; decreases damage taken while ramming
- New R&D stat: Boost - increases maximum Boost Turn charge, allowing you to Boost Turn for longer
- For existing players: points previously invested into Defense and Cannon can be redistributed to other stats and are not lost
Better first-time boot flow
- Flight system and audio settings are now directly shown on first boot
- The tutorial can now be skipped, and is accessible at any time from the mission select screen
- The tutorial's instructions are now clearer and will update when switching between controller and KBM
- You can get straight into the action on first boot without having to go through the settings menu first
- For existing players: the new first-time boot flow will be shown the next time you boot up the game
New HUD elements
- A new combo counter indicates how many missiles you've hit with and targets you've destroyed within a few seconds of each other
- Objective alerts will now appear whenever you complete an objective or are given a new one
General improvements
- Pitch/roll and yaw sensitivity can now be adjusted
- The mapping glyphs at the bottom of menus now update in real time to show your current control scheme
- Added specific mapping glyphs for various controllers
- Improved frame rate in certain menus
- Reworked the background music on the main menu
- Added unique background music for nighttime missions
Bugfixes
- Fixed issues that were causing the game to freeze on boot for some players
- Fixed issues preventing some players from using either their controller or keyboard
- Prevented tutorial targets from spawning inside the cloud layer
- Stopped the HUD cooling gauge from breaking when a large number of machine gun cooldown upgrades are purchased
- Fixed issues affecting ram damage dealt and taken - ramming is now more reliable and on average deals more damage
- Corrected misleading mapping glyphs on some menus
- Fixed the speed at which the intro text advances in the tutorial on lower frame rates
- ...and various other minor fixes throughout the game
So what's next?
Since the 0.1.0 release, there have been multiple unexpected roadblocks with development, and these have caused this first update to take a lot longer than we were expecting. Fixing some of the freezes and crashes players reported, as well as the improved input system and keyboard support, led to a full overhaul of most of the game's underlying systems - the code is in a much better state now, so this isn't something we should need to do twice.
Now that 0.2.0 is out, development of new gameplay systems, missions, enemies, and playable aircraft will finally be moving forward! In 0.3.0, you can expect to see:
- More tightly packed missions, with more enemies and targets to destroy
- New enemy types to
get blown up bytake down - Tougher missions and more deadly opponents
- More involvement of the allied navy in missions
- New mission types and objectives
We hope you enjoy playing Alpha Demo 0.2.0, and can't wait for you to see what's coming up next in 0.3.0!