Hello folks,
Big news: MORSE is going to be demoing in Steam Next Fest! I'm so stoked for people to finally get their hands on the project after all this time.
With that in mind, I've been polishing up the demo and adding some last minute features that really enhance the game:
+ Ammo rate scale: To add extra incentive to accuracy, I've added a tiny scale in the bottom left corner of the screen that increases each time an enemy hit is chained. Doing that consistently will fill the scale, which speeds up ammo supply. Missing a ship with artillery or letting mines get blown up will reduce it to zero. I really like this feature as previously competent players would be stuck waiting for ammo to fill in, but now their accuracy is rewarded with more ammo. The bit that's immensely satisfying is it's unlocked a whole new depth to deciding when to kill enemies. Let me explain:
Previously players would just sit on the far side of the map and just shoot enemies the moment they spawned, but now because of the ammo scale there's incentive to leave ships alive longer so you can chain them together and see your next target when you fire on the next ship.
For example, lets say you're on the furthest right on the map, an enemy spawns, you kill it immediately. No other enemies have spawned yet/moved in range so you don't get intel of their positions. This means you have to guess where the next ship will spawn, risking breaking your ammo chain if you miss.
Instead, waiting till the enemy ship has moved across a grid space or two (but still short of your mines) means when you do fire on it, the muzzle flash reveals the next target. So in theory, as long as they're in range you'll most likely be able to spot your next target, continuing the chain. You can also use slow, heavily armoured ships as a spot to intermittently hit to reveal the surrounding area without breaking that combo.
I've used this very effectively to max out the scale, it feels suddenly like there's a lot more depth to enemy selection rather than shooting everything that moves.
+ Credits page: Rather than just an "About" popup, I've added a dedicated credits page for the game where you can see little ships passing in the background.
+ Deck of unlocks: With the in game about page now redundant, I've switched that out for a "Deck" page that displays all the upgrades you've unlocked so far in your run with some extra detail of what each card does. Hopefully helps players optimise their runs a little more!
+ A solid buff of polish: I've cleaned up a lot of the UI which has made a big difference to the feel of play. I also added a little closing screen listing some of the features the game will have on launch.
I'm going to submit the demo to Valve this week, fingers crossed everything goes smoothly so it launches on time! Stay tuned for more soon.