Greetings! We've gotten so much terrific feedback on the recent beta updates that we're going to use this week to focus on implementing your suggestions. This means there won't be any map updates this week.
Last week we added the tower positioning grid which was, by far, the #1 request from players.
Here is a preview of what's in store for next week:
- Time Dilation. You can still his ESC and take stock in the situation on the map. The new Time Dialation feature lets you hit SPACEBAR and it slows the game to an utter crawl so you can place towers and react to what's happening. But it's a finite resource (right now, it's super generous and the difficulty level will affect how much of this you get).
- 10 difficulty levels. Players will be able to tick the difficulty one way or the other with far more granularity.
- 3 new maps.
- A new progression system. Instead of score unlocking the progression the mission will unlock the new towers at the start so that you can be introduced to them more gradually. The progression was the #2 request we focus on to help gradually introduce players to the enemies and different towers. Plus, once you have the tower, you can go back to a previous map to amp up your score.
- A couple of new orbital abilities and new towers.
- Outposts. These are places you have colonists living. You don't have to save them to finish the level but saving them gives you more points.
- Updated Audio tracks. Riku, who did most of the music for Star Control II and Star Control: Origins has joined us on Siege of Centauri and his music will start to show up.
- New sound effects. Mason's new sound effects should start to show up.
We are also working on a DirectX 12 version of the game that should further improve performance, even on "lower end" hardware.
Similarly, balance continues to be a focus as we make changes to the maps, progression and map designs.
Since this is a beta, we are trying to take more steps to make sure new players understand that this isn't a demo. The point is to listen to player feedback and put their ideas into the game.
Once we are satisfied with the pacing and balance, we'll start recording the voice overs and unspool the story elements that give you a background on who the Substrate are and why they are attacking humanity's first interstellar colony.
Cheers!