Hi all.
It's not quite September but close enough for another update!
Some good content included in this new build.
First up, a console and basic cheat commands.
Hit the tilde key and type help for a list of these commands.
God mode, level warp, get extra upgrade points and energy shards.
Note that god mode may be turned off after some cutscenes.
In addition to the console, a basic savegame system is in.
Levels not yet completed will not be available (unless you use the console warp command).
Note that if the player exits during a battle, they'll have to restart the level.
Battle states are not saved.
Good news is that upgrades are persistant.
This means when restarting a level, the player will have the same upgrades installed as when they exited the level.
It also means the player can replay any earlier level with their latest upgrades installed.
Thiinking here is that if the player loses the game (all lives gone or the Megatower is completed), they can restart the level with their last upgrades intact, rogue-lite style.
Heavy tank dig-in protection fixed/rebalanced:
This upgrade should now work as expected.
Digging in further away from the nuke blast centre will give less damage.
Upgrading the ability will also protect against damage.
At max dig-in upgrade level, a heavy tank can dig-in and take no damage from a nuke blast.
NOTE: the player will still need to be clear of the immediate blast zone so get outside the fortress area before digging in.
On-foot health/stamina meters reworked to include jetpack charge.
Two new fortress defence bosses!
These guys turn up at the end of fortress defence levels in zones 3 and 4.
Zone 1: Special Heavy Tank
Zone 2: Megaron Tank (a crowd fav from TU1)
Zone 3: Rolling Ball of Doom
Pretty self explanatory.
When locked on to a target, Gorgon's eye will appear upon the ball along with a red glow.
Use turbo to keep out of its way.
If it does lock on to you, fully charged shots can push it away.
Additionally, if it rolls over another tank, it may lose interest in you.
Likes to destroy fortress walls.
Zone 4: Bomb Lobber
The Bomb Lobber has an energy port on one side of its turret.
It will try to turn this port away from you.
Hit the port to deal massive damage.
Watch out for the bombs - they're very powerful.
Either collect armour or hit F2 to regen as they explode.
Other improvements:
The Commander will now give an upgrade point bonus on completing a level.
Messaging fixes - particularly messages appearing during fortress levels when they shouldn't.
Extra messaging about resistance powerstations/powerlines and their fragility.
Bombers should no longer get snagged on level geometry.
Extra cutscene before lvl 14 explaining Pylon stealth level.
Repair bays in lvl 14 now appearing on radar.
Heavy tank blue shells damage strength increased.
Extra cutscene for when game lost due to Megatower being completed before final level.
Player tank damage will be carried over into next level.
Visual glitching when fortress walls taking damage has been reduced.
Boss radar target deleted when boss destroyed (e.g. Megaron Tank)
Lastly, have decided to delay bringing the game out of EA until the end of January.
This doesn't mean the game won't be completed until then - if progress continues as its been going, the game should be good to go late Nov. But leaving the launch till late Jan will provide more time to try and build word of mouth and find bugs.
It should also be a quieter time when the game might get more attention.
It's taken a long time to get to this stage - no point rushing things at the end.