Hey folks. It's been awhile.
A few months ago, I started working on some changes to the core gameplay of Debris Field. I felt like there were some aspects of the game that could be improved on, and some of those changes ended up being pretty radical.
My goal with this update was to focus more on the exploration aspect of the game, while giving more tools to help navigate the world.
The main new tool for that is the world map.
World Map
The map shows terrain in your vicinity as you explore, and you are able to freely pan around to see all of the terrain you have explored so far. By default, it only shows basic objects and objectives, however it can be upgraded to show the locations of enemies, upgrades, and resources, which ties into another new system:
Meta Progression
There are now various persistent upgrades that can be purchased using a new resources that can be found during a run: Ore.
The mutators also tie into this system
These upgrades are part of the new main menu experience, which is now set up like a Hub world, allowing you to learn the controls in relative safety.
Game Progression
Game progression has also changed. To progress through a level, you now simply need to find and activate 3 nav beacons, which previously only served as guide points. The larger event stations are still present, but are now optional, and will serve a narrative purpose I will talk about some other time,
Story
The previous story content has been completely removed. I felt it didn't really fit the tone of the game, and just felt kind of pointless. I do still intent to tell a story, but from now on it will be told with game mechanics, not exposition.
Other Changes
Beyond that, I have done a extensive performance and detail pass on every level of the game. I rewrote a lot of core systems, such as world generation and object interaction, which should result i some nice performance improvements.
What's Next
Not all aspects of the update are implemented yet. I still need to do an overall balance pass on the game, and the so far none of the story content is implemented. Also, some of the mutators aren't currently working as intended.
I also plan on adding cloud saved and steam achievements.
Beta
You can try out what I have done so far by selecting the 3.0 beta under properties > betas. I can't promise it will always be stable, but it should be good to get an idea of where the game is heading.
The beta is available in the demo as well.
I will also be posting development updates on twitter @BinaryNomadDev, I will be sure to let you know if I break anything.
If you find a bug, or just have general feedback, feel free to post it on the steam forums or tweet it at me.
Anyway, time to get back to work. I hope that all of you are as excited as I am!