Hey all,
the last few weeks were a lot of work for me both outside and inside development — but I’m really proud of the progress.
This update is not out yet, but it’s getting close. 🙂
Major Additions & Story
The new Guidance Facility storyline is close to finished (scanning mechanics, registration sequence and the core combat encounters).
Just a few more bits left — please hang in there 🙂
The main Guidance Fight is fully implemented and has already been rebalanced after being way too difficult at first.
I CAN'T WAIT to share this fight with you in Story 7. OMG I CAN'T WAIT!!! 😄
Added new environmental gameplay elements: belts, crushers, spikes and decontamination sections.
Story pacing is now more controlled and narrative-driven instead of pure skirmish chaos.
Improved transitions and overall flow between story segments.
Added a few new dialogues to older story levels.
Gameplay & Combat
Further unified and modernized the core damage system across all entities.
Improved grenade behavior (non-physical grenades, clearer logic, better feedback).
Reworked rocket behavior, projectile logic and rocket sprites.
Adjusted weapon outlines to improve visibility and readability.
Balance adjustments (e.g. Wrecker cost increase).
FCEB250 MKVI (former Solarbomb) is now much cheaper, making it more attractive in Skirmish.
FCEB5000 MKXX (former Corebomb) now features a new and improved explosion animation.
Improved Blackrock Cannon behavior and Karma Level integration.
AI & Enemies
Large refactor of enemy parent logic, improving consistency and maintainability.
Improved enemy behavior for Crushers, Golems, Charon and Killbots
(Killbots will arrive with Story 7).
Fixed squad spawn and death behavior during Shoo-Gen encounters.
Improved troop AI positioning and combat logic.
Removed Stoneworms and Scorps for now, as they didn’t work the way I intended.
They will return later — or be replaced with something better.
UI, UX & Controls
Major UI bug fixes.
Improved shop visuals and polished spacing and layout.
Improved pause handling and input robustness.
Centered and polished hint displays.
Audio
Large-scale sound design pass (weapons, environments, encounters — ongoing).
Improved audio logic and overall consistency.
OST playback optimized.
Performance & Optimization
Significant performance improvements across the entire project.
Optimized projectile handling, physics interactions and particle systems.
Improved preload logic and asset handling.
Reduced CPU and memory usage in heavy combat scenes.
Visual Polish
Improved and replaced multiple placeholder sprites.
General visual polish pass across environments, weapons and effects.
Color adjustments and improved visual clarity
(e.g. Snow particle color correction).
Bug Fixes & Cleanup
Fixed menu delay issues.
Fixed various collision, logic and scripting bugs.
Simplified and cleaned up dummy objects and test logic.
Reorganized scripts by functional categories.
General code cleanup for long-term maintainability.
I really hope to get Story 7 live soon.
It’s incredibly fun to work on, and I hope you’ll enjoy it just as much when it drops. 🙂
Other Stuff
I’ve also updated the FS:B OST on Steam with the latest music pieces.
As always, the soundtrack is free — I hope you like it.
Personal Note
Next week my wife has a pretty big surgery, and I’m not sure how much time I’ll have since I also need to take care of the kids.
Please be patient with me (I know I say that a lot).
I’ll try to work on the game as much as possible.
Until then, I hope you’re having fun with my game — and please feel free to give feedback.
Even negative feedback helps me make a better game.
Hugs,
Joe