We're pleased to announce that the latest update for the Shoot 'Em Up Kit is now available.
We've added a lot of new features such as an improved game background editor with lots of options; new visual effects such as camera shake and pixel graphics; and more sophisticated shields. We've also been focusing on usability and made it easier to swap entities; we've added help text when you hover over items; and there is a recent item bar. We will continue to make improvements to try and balance the ease of making a game with having a depth of features and options.
The change list for 2.0.14 is as follows:
Improved the player shield to include more options and effects.
Added filters to sort through collections of items.
Added links to the definition pages of entities.
Entities placed in the level now default to being instances. Changes made in the Entity Editor will modify the entities already placed in a level. Entities in the level can be unlinked from the copy in the Entity Editor.
Significantly optimised memory. The memory savings increase load time when resizing the Shoot 'Em Up Kit window and so the memory savings can be disabled using the Project Settings.
Fixed an issue with the default light being incorrect when reloading a level.
Fixed a crash when cancelling the placement of an object.
More complex backgrounds, such as parallax scrolling or clouds, are now supported.
Background editing now uses its own Window. This is still accessed from the Level Settings tool.
Support for scaling up or down 2x has been added to the post processing effects.
Support for non-filtered scaling up (useful for pixel graphics) has been added to the post processing effects.
Added Behaviour types for LevelStart and LevelComplete.
Each level now has its own set of Behaviours.
Help text (Tool tip) is constrained within the screen and not truncated at the screen edge.
Added support for more HUD and Front-End items.
Upgrades can activate or deactivate any of the 8 weapons.
The Shoot 'Em Up Kit starts in a full-screen window.
Progress bars update more frequently during project loading.
Modified the Acceleration and Brake values to represent the amount of time will take to get to/from Maximum Speed.
Added 'Quadratic' Movement type. This uses a quadratic curve for accelerating and braking which can give a feeling of weight.
Linear and Quadratic movement types will use the Brake value to slow to a halt when the joypad/button is released. This gives a feeling of weight and inertia.
Particle systems will default to emitting in the reverse direction of the Entity they belong to, if no Tag is specified.
Fixed an issue that allowed items from another level to be selected.
Fixed an issue with selecting items on the Front-End with a joypad.
Fixed an issue that prevented items moving at a constant speed when the framerate dropped.
Added a button for replacing entities. [F4] can also be used as a shortcut key.
Games that use a fixed resolution will be scaled-up to fit the current window size. Scaling is done using a power of 2 to maintain pixel accuracy.
Retro-style pixel effects can be achieved using low fixed resolutions in the project settings.
Improved controller responsiveness for item selection on the game Front-End pages.
Holding down the [CTRL] key while placing an object will allow another item to be placed. This is useful for populating a level with multiple copies of the same object.
Rotational Cameras that are tracking an Entity will match the Entity's orientation. If the Entity goes upsidedown then so will the camera. This fixes a problem in 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) games where the camera would snap 180 degrees to remain upright.
Recently added items are included in a shortcut bar. This can be used to quickly populate levels with commonly used items.
Holding down [Shift] will speed up editor movement by 10x. You can move, strafe or zoom faster.
Added an Editor settings menu to tweak editor parameters such as movement speed or using a game window.
Added an explicit option for unlimited ammo.
Added auto-reload functionality for weapons. Weapons will automatically reload bullets when the clip is empty.
Fixed a problem with Bullet and Weapon sprites not using the Flip or Billboard options.
Added a Repeat option for Timers. This allows actions to be triggered at regular intervals.
Timers which have expired can be reactivated using the 'Activate' option from an Action.
The Behaviour Editor instruction list is automatically resized to fit the screen.
Selection dialog boxes can be resized.
Fixed an issue with dragging the Shoot 'Em Up Kit onto a 2nd monitor. This currently only works when using the Memory Optimisation setting.
Fixed problems with music playback when switching between the front-end and the game.
Player controls are ignored once the player entity is killed. Fixes an issue where it was possible to move after dying.
Fixed the 'Enable when on camera' NPC Definition option. NPCs will become enabled when they appear on-screen.
Triggers can be activated by more Entity types.
Level Editor window layout and recently used objects are saved and restored.
Added Camera Shake effect. Duration and Severity can be set. Shaking the camera roll is optional.
Added Micro Delay effect. This pauses the game for 1/60th second.
Added Slow Motion effect. This will slow down time and the duration can be set. The game will blend back into real time during the last 2 seconds.
Fixed an issue that could prevent videos from being included in standalone packages.
The Camera field of view will use the user's preferences of degrees or radians.
Fixed an issue with sprite rotations in HUD elements.
Fixed an issue that could prevent minimum and maximum values from being respected with User Variables.
Updated the User Guide.The User Guide has been updated and is included in the download. The Wiki is still in-progress but it is a useful resource. Please check it out here and let us know what you think.
We hope you enjoy this new version and that you find the new features useful. We really appreciate you supporting us and if you have any feedback then it would be great to hear from you. If you encounter any problems then please let us know and we'll do our best to fix them as quickly as possible.
Many Thanks,
The Tall Studios team