Players can now select Hard mode from the game options screen when starting the game. Hard modes are available for all three main game modes. When playing in this mode, modifiers are added to the game.
What to expect in Hard Mode
Enemy health is increased by 20%
Stages move 15% faster
Additional enemy spawns are found in all sections of levels
Additional enemies that are not spawned in Normal. This currently includes two new enemies in Stage 2 - Shipyard 7:
New Rocket Turret (shown above)
New Chaser enemy which will set a collision course for the player and also fire fast moving bullets
Additional boss behaviors are added (such as spawning additional minions or obstacles)
Co-Op normal mode now features all enemies, but does not include the health and speed modification
Co-Op hard mode is essentially the same as Single Player hard mode, but is likely to be tweaked in the future to add additional challenge vs single player hard mode.
Training mode is available for hard mode, and training mode stage + section selection is coming soon!
Leaderboards for Hard mode are not yet enabled. As further public play testing provides feedback leaderboards will be re-enabled once sure the scoring is in line with expectations.
Other notable changes
A new Hint page has been added to the New Game menu flow, which shows an explanation of the power-ups in Cosmic Destroyer. If "Show Hints" is disabled in the options menu, this screen will not be shown.
Additional announcement audio voice-overs have been added
"Lets Go!" on ship selection
"Mission Complete" and "Mission Failed" announcement at end of stages.
"Thanks for Playing" announcement when completing the demo
"Continue" announcement after the "Game Over" announcement - this was previously in the game but a bug prevented it from playing
Interceptor enemy behavior has been tweaked to ensure they enter the screen fully before strafing.
Interceptor Waves which drop power-ups are now colored with a slightly red tint
Missile Cruisers which drop power-ups are now colored with a purple tint
Heavy Laser weapon Damage has been raised to bring it in line with other weapons
Health of small "popcorn" type enemies has been tweaked overall to provide a more consistent gameplay experience in both normal and hard mode (lowered just slightly in almost all cases)
Destructable debris at the entrance segment of Shipyard 7 has had health values increased slightly.
Known issues
Currently if the player uses the "Swap" by picking up an object while holding another object the previously held object cannot be picked up again. This does not happen if the object is dropped and only occurs specifically with this "Swap" action. This is the top bug to be fixed in the next release.