Developer Note:
The path to 0.9 has been far more complicated than I would have ever expected and as such it has taken far longer than intended. The main cause of this was a huge amount of collision issues that arose once I started making more complex boss enemies with more connected parts. It took literal weeks of troubleshooting to figure everything out but in the process I managed to make the game run considerably more smoothly on the hardware I've been able to test it on.
The Demo has been updated as well to the new version of the game and it allows you to try the first half of the game in its current form. Three stages wasn't really enough to start to feel really powerful; stage 4 is where a build usually starts to come together.
Ok, on to the update!
Performance and collision updates: There have been numerous settings changes to ease the load on the rendering thread, including enabling a separate RHI thread, disabling occlusion culling (It was costing FAR more time than it saved in rendering time,) putting physics on an async thread, and creating simplified collision for any meshes that didn't have it. The way damage over time is applied was also changed to be more efficient, and many of the collision checks were streamlined to be more efficient as well.
Redone lighting:
Almost every level has had tweaks to the lighting to make things easier to see while also making the backgrounds more interesting and dynamic. Performance tweaks were also made to some of the heavier levels.
New Bosses: There are two new bosses for the L1 and Lunar sectors. I won't spoil them here, but they are massive and include mechanics unique to the specific encounter.
New Primary Weapon: Autocannon.
The Autocannon is essentially a rapid-firing tank cannon in space. It uses ammo instead of energy, and it fires with such force that the recoil can affect the momentum of the ship firing it!
New Countermeasures: Point Defense Beam
The Point Defense Beam automatically shoots down incoming explosives. It has a limited firing rate and range, so it can be overwhelmed by a large number of missiles at a time, but it is an extremely useful survival tool nonetheless.
New Secret Weapon:
It's a secret!
Weapon Mod Icons:
Weapon mods have unique icons so that it's easier to see what a modded weapon can do at a glance. Additionally, the mods are now browsable in the compendium.
Updated Boss Explosions:
The particles for larger ships that explode have been updated to include chunks of metal and a massive black cloud of soot that more properly reflects the amount of spaceship being blown up.
Chromatic Aberration at Low Energy:
In tandem with the bit-crusher effect on the music, there is now a chromatic aberration effect that intensifies as the ship gets low on energy. The video feed the player sees is from a camera drone that is launched from the ship at the beginning of a stage, so this represents the video feed losing coherence as the ship struggles to power itself.
Missile Sounds:
Missile weapons now make thruster noise while in flight. There may be no sound in space, but this helps spatial awareness of where missiles are in relation to your ship. Think of it like those EVs that make fake engine noises so people can get not run over. The ship makes them up as if you could hear sound in space.
Countermeasures update:
Ships can now have multiple countermeasures equipped at once, and there are separate indicators for the firing status of each installed system.
Rebalanced upgrades and weapon mods:
The biggest change with weapon mods is that the first instance of either the volley fire or burst fire property that is added to a weapon that didn't already have that property is less effective than it would be if the weapon already had that property. For example the volley enhancer adds +2 projectiles per volley to weapons that already fire in a volley, but only +1 projectile to a weapon that would normally only shoot a single projectile.
All of the upgrades and mods have had a balance pass though, with the goal of making decisions between them more interesting and making every upgrade useful in at least a few scenarios.
Enemy ship rebalance:
Many of the enemy ships have had weapons changed to change up the flow of combat encounters, especially MMC and Vanguard ships.
New UI sounds:
All of the menu navigation sounds have been tweaked to make a more satisfying menu experience
Map on End Game Screen:
There's now a map on the end game screen so you can see the route you took.
There are more small tweaks and updates than I could mention here. The last bits of the game are starting to come together, so expect more updates soon. Onwards to 1.0!