important: Don't forget to wishlist the game!
So many things are currently happening to the game, that it's hard keeping up with these little update posts! Last few weeks it felt like a lot of the features finally all came together: The problems I had with the mission-select screen are now all fixed and the whole game-flow is amazing. The gameplay it self has undergone a bunch of tiny tweaks that make the game just a lot smoother and nicer to play; Things like having a little "push back" on enemies when they get hit by bullets, but also big things like adding "dodge" moves to every character!
Let's start with the new way the mission map works, I've been struggling with the whole concept of it for months now, trying various features, then removing those features, trying other features, but ! - after a good talk in the discord.gg/orangepixel the idea was to use the Street view as actual mission-select screen. So instead of having every building selectable, we now only select the center building of a block, and when we enter that, the street view will contain three mission buildings/doors that you can tackle in any order you like, and you can back out of a mission, and return to the street and from there you can even return to the mission-map by getting back in your car!
It all just makes more sense, gives more meaning to the street-level, makes the city-map interface a lot cleaner and easier to navigate.. and pretty much just improves all of it!
Next thing, and this also came from the discord! is adding dodge-moves to the characters. These will be different for each character and most will come with a little up and down side to things. Right now the v0.0.34 build has three dodge moves build in:
Morph - will do a quick dash move. While dashing you'll be invulnerable
Cruse - will do a tiny "circle of fists" as they block bullets and enemies, and deal a little damage. It does take a little longer to refuel that move compared to Morph
Bionica - does a little ghost/invisibility trick, making you invulnerable during that time, but you also can't shoot!
The other two characters will also get their own dodge ability, and it will require a little bit of tweaking to make sure it is all balanced out, but it certainly enhances the game!
What doesn't enhance the game, but just looks freakin' cool, is the new night time.
Still figuring out when/how to use it, but we'll probably have some missions that need to be played in night-time, and that might just host a few changes to the gameplay -- because we all know: monsters come out at night.. !
The game is now in a really nice solid state (as far as development builds go) and I'm also confident that I can start working on a public demo version which will be stable enough for people to play around with and get a sense of the game. So that will be one of my main missions for the next few weeks: make it a stable build and do some sort of public demo or beta test phase thing..!
Full changes list:
- fixed: progress mission count is a mess (code wise) clean it up and make it simpler
- fixed: Got park, but park-area has no missions!
- fixed: exit-door now doesn't trigger on mission-complete status (just exits to street)
- fixed: pickups don't "float" up anymore
- fixed: cars appearing on top of trees
- fixed: wall-texture bug near doors (no room id's)
- fixed: fire from barrels/debris appears behind object
- fixed: remote-doors showing message even if they are opened\
- fixed: only make "hurt" sound when not invulnerable/invisible
- added: street level can now be entered from the left
- added: more punch to hitting/slashing enemies
- added: mission-marker graffiti on the road
- added: squad should "regroup" when mission is accomplished and exit opens up
- added: Street view now has multiple doors to the various missions in a block
- added: improved smashing/hit effect on enemies
- added: kickback to enemies being shot (acts as visual hit confirmation)
- added: Anarchy logo on completed doors/mission in street
- added: Night-time
- added: Dodge moves for Morph and Cruse
- added: Dodge move for Bionica
- changed: full streamlining of the city-map and mission selection system
- changed: removed Abort command (can now walk back into the street)