Hi everyone,
Steam NextFest is over and hundreds of people have picked up the demo for my little slice-of-orbit game over the week. It's already done 3x as many wishlists as Cell Sword did in a year, so pretty cool if your interested in stuff like that! I'm still processing the feedback.
Maybe I have picked an impossible task - a "pick up and play" Newtonian space game. 99% of players will bounce off a Newtonian space game no matter how good the controls are simply because 3D space with no up or down is a confusing thing! And that's OK. LEO Adventures is not for everyone.
And watching people this last week play the game I think while I have gotten more right than wrong there is still room for improvement. Most of the feedback was positive but generally I feel further work is required in the following areas:
Tutorials. I have made a bunch of bite-sized super simple tutorials but they are still too wordy. I thought the "why" was as important as the "how" but I realise now the tutorials are not the place for the "why".
Camera. LEO Adventures is just as much about manoeuvring the camera as it is about controlling the spacecraft. I need to communicate this much better to players.
Dynamic thruster inputs. I honestly think a killer feature of LEO Adventures is the dynamic thruster selection system I have implemented. It means that no matter what direction your spacecraft is facing, the thrusters line up with your keyboard or gamepad. However, there is a learning curve.
Keyboard mapping. Every space game is different and everyone has a different suggestion of what the default keyboard mapping should be. I am listening and I am willing to make changes but I have to synthesise a lot of different suggestions into a future path.
So here is a big update for the demo! Still just one mission (I'm debating whether to add more content to the demo or keep it for the full game) but lots of quality-of-life updates and bug fixes.
Of most interest to returning players - there was a nasty bug with the forward thruster that pushed the spacecraft slightly askew that has now been fixes. It was driving me crazy too.
Additionally, I have streamlined the stabilisers and the dynamic inputs to hopefully make it clearer and easier how to control the spacecraft. I have also added roll thrusters and a new lateral thruster tutorial. Full changelog below.
Thanks to everyone that sent me feedback, the game is already much better!
Luke
Add
Add static thruster selector (gamepad/keyboard buttons will always trigger same thruster no matter which way spacecraft is facing)
Add thruster selector toggle so players can choose between dynamic or static
Add lateral thruster tutorial
Add roll thrusters to FLEOT
New "New Game" screen with new Thruster Input Selector
Changes
Change thrusters so multiple thrusters can now fire at same time
Change dynamic thruster selector so only activates when thrusters are not firing
Rework stabilisers so they are less effective but feel much more floaty and spacey
Buff main thruster to 140%
Swap camera and stabiliser toggles on gamepads
Improve stabiliser thruster visuals
Improve speed of garage spray painting
Update gamepad and keyboard presets to make new defaults
Make target screen smarter about displaying many possible targets
Remove some confusing camera modes
Merge rotational and velocity stabilisers into one stabiliser
Remove redundant stabiliser toggle on gamepad
Clean up remap screens
Update credits
Fix
Fix really annoying forward and retro thruster misalignment bug
Remove debug fullscreen toggle button
Make spray paint much more accurate in garage
Tidy up credits