Update Notes for July 21 2023, 3D Update 0.5
This update is a complete 3d overhaul of all art assets and the in-game renderer, replacing the old 2D sprite-based system. Almost all sprites are now 3d models and all level chunks (used to generate the platform levels) have been rebuilt with 3d assets.
This change allows us to achieve the lighting and shadow effects we need going forward, especially as we add more content to the game including new ships, levels, and the upcoming new final sector. We did some tests last year with 2d lighting effects compared with 3d models and materials and it was clear that 3d was the way to go!
Note: gameplay is the same as before. Movement and physics are still essentially 2d, but the camera now has perpective giving us way more depth than the previous 2d parallax effect.
New Features and Balance
- Added a small amount of inertia to player ship movement.
- Weapon pickups now roll additional random stats when picked up during gameplay.
- Picking up a device will now drop the previous device so it can be picked up again (there is a 1 second cooldown on pickup).
- Double Damage module no longer applies to smart-rocket missiles.
- Shield pod now blocks Beam weapons on regular enemies and turrets. Boss/Miniboss beams are not blocked.
- Bounce projectiles no longer pick up the piercing module effect.
- Decreased movement speed of Horizon from 30 to 27
Bug Fixes
- Unlocking the Hydra ship now shows the Hydra Pod in the journal. The pod is also unlocked if you have previously unlocked the Hydra.
- Collision from the player ship would sometimes not damage breakable objects in the level due to the order of collision processing.
- Fixed enemy spline movement when scrolling stops.
- Enemy beam color set to white when not doing damage after firing.
- Menu buttons with screen fade now only respond to the first press.
- Bounce shots are now killed when their target is dead or invalid.
- Fixed rare soft-lock in AI Boss level when destroying trigger objects before scrolling has stopped.
- Fire-Rate shown in the shop screen is now shots-per-second instead of shot delay.
- Ball lightning, ionized-hull, and homing missiles now do raycasts against terrain.
- When starting a sector, the credits text no longer count up from 0.
- Background chunk generation at the end of platform levels now line up with foreground platforms better.
- Enemies should no longer spawn near or after the warp gate at the end of space levels.
- Electric items now target weak points correctly on the Pirate Destroyer.
- Devices were previously called Special Items.