New functionality: Option Drone Change
Players now have the ability to change the behavior of their Option Drones by picking up the Option Change Power-Up. The Option Power-Up now cycles between Option and Option Change.
Follow is now the default Option Drone behavior for all ships.
Collecting an Option Change when the player's Option Drone stock is 0 will give the Player one Option Drone while still switching behavior from the last used behavior. (This means if you pick up an Option Change as your first Option, it will be spinning)
Follow mode is effective at blocking shots intentionally, and can be used to position for enemy and boss weak spots.
Spinning mode is effective at providing good protection and consistent damage output in forward direction.
Meet the New Facilities Person - Thompson
Every team needs a good facilities person, and the asteroid base at Grid 38 is no different! Meet Thompson, the one responsible for keeping the lights on every cycle. He's just got one thing you need to know... ːsteamhappyː
We can't wait for Next Fest!
I will personally be streaming the game and taking questions in chat throughout Next Fest on the Steam page for the game. The demo page will also be made its own standalone page so that players can submit feedback / reviews on the Demo via the normal Steam review functionality.
I am really excited to play lots of great games during Next Fest!
Other Notable Changes
Unity Platform Security Update
Unity announced vulnerability that has been in place since 2017. While this is concerning, they also noted they have not heard reports of actual exploits occurring - just that there is a vulnerability.
This has been patched in the most recent version of the game by upgrading the entire project to the new Unity version, so update now!
Gameplay
Thompson NPC character has been added, who is either rescued or lost based on pass/fail of Stage 1's Boss.
Vulcan Cannon ammo has been slightly reduced (lasted longer than intended)
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue with the Prototype L2-B Ship's lasers firing angles were incorrect at some power levels
Corrected the Prototype L2-B Ship's maximum power level to 4 (Power level 5 was simply using Power Level 4 previously)
Fixed issues with the Scoring Screen incorrectly accumulating points after the first stage.
Fixed issues with Scoring Screen counting non-combative objects such as asteroids and spotlights as enemies.
Fixed an issue where some background elements in Shipyard 7 / Stage 2 were not displaying correctly.
Fixed an issue where the Alien Flesh Horror boss' tentacles would pop back out after the boss was defeated.
Fixed an issue with the Processing Facility miniboss in Stage 1 where it would not give credit on the Scoring Screen at the end of the stage. Added a Crane + Core Icon for the miniboss on the Scoring Screen.
Fixed an issue where thrown containers from cranes would stick around and block projectiles temporarily after being destroyed.
Corrected positioning of some enemies in Stage 1 which were too close to the edge of the screen and could not be killed (mostly asteroid haulers chasing asteroids that drifted off-screen).