Scraps version 0.5.2.0 is now live. I'll go into some more detail but here's the changelog first:
0.5.2.0
- Added full turret versions of the MMG and Medium Cannon, and a semi-fixed version of the Large Cannon. Balanced other weapons to match.
- Added Large Chassis.
- Some in-game CPU performance improvement, particularly for vehicles with many parts.
- Major in-game GPU performance improvement.
- Switched from DirectX9 to DirectX11.
- Increased max scrap limits a little (40,000->50,000 for 8 players. Select less Max Players for more).
- Build screen inventory shows a little icon next to turrets (weapons with full y-axis rotation).
- Small and Large sizes for the Proximity Firing mode.
- Made the spinning camera effect in menus much slower (it hurt some people's heads).
- Increased max suspension spring value by 25%.
- Darker shadows.
- More outlines on stuff.
- By popular request, leaderboard now only shows while the key (~ by default) is held.
- Background music for Round End and Game End screens.
- Other minor audio changes.
- Changed the angle calculation for projectile weapon trails - looks more "correct" when shot from moving vehicles.
- Added something to the Test Map?
Bug Fixes:
- In-game messages now show the correct amount of points a player earned from destroying another vehicle.
- Fixed weapon "can't fire" sound playing too much.
Weapons and Large Chassis
The new turret versions of the MMG and Medium Cannon can rotate fully around if the space is available, but cost a bit more. They should help in the early game against opponents who've unlocked other turret weapons. The semi-fixed version of the Large Cannon is cheaper and a little stronger.
One minor note: Currently in the "same type" weapon link mode, all the weapons are considered as different, whereas I'm sure it'd be better to have normal and turret types of the same weapon linked together. I'll change that in an update tomorrow.
Performance
The other major work in this update was on performance (check the changelog above for all the other, minor stuff).
I learned some graphics magic and implemented that to drastically reduce draw calls on the GPU, and graphics performance is now much improved. You might get a framerate that's improved 50% or more in some cases.
In fact GPU performance has got so much better, that the game is now often heavily CPU bound when dealing with complex vehicles with lots of weapons, mainly because of all the physics work. I also did some physics optimisation in this update, but it's not as drastic as the graphics improvement. I've pretty much optimised things as far as I can for now, and the next big step might be upgrading to Unity 5, since it's supposed to have improved physics performance. Unfortunately before I update the game to Unity 5 I need to write a custom wheel collider (or buy someone else's one), because the built-in wheel colliders have changed completely and can't work well with Scraps anymore.
You can read about the technical details of the graphics performance improvement in the version of this post on the main Scraps website.
What's Coming
For the next few weeks I'll be working on the Mac and Linux versions, with a plan to hopefully release those publicly on the 28th or 29th of this month. I'll be seeing how crazy or sane that deadline actually is in the next couple of days as I start testing on those platforms again.
I'm also aware that the multiplayer has gone quiet recently. I always feel especially sorry for that lone person on a server when the stats read 1/8 (sometimes I join for a few minutes :)). I've been doing what I can with both some paid and unpaid marketing, and I have more to do, but the best thing I can really continue to do now is make the game as good as possible.
So the next major thing I'm currently planning to focus on after the Mac and Linux releases will be some expanded single-player content. I have a plan but I won't elaborate on that just now. That way even if things don't pick up multiplayer-wise there'll be more fun single-player stuff to do, so you shouldn't miss out too much either way.
Of course there's already the AI (and you can always Multiplayer -> Internet -> Host A Game with AI to play against, that's open to humans to join as well), and the Scraps demo can also join LAN games - so only one person needs to own the full version to play on LAN. Or if you can find some people that do have the full version, you can also host your own Internet games and they can join.
Thanks for reading. :)