I'm proud to announce that the Slashbang Vertical Slice version 0.5 is now out! This version adds a significant amount of polish and fixes, and also a new level, enemy, and weapon!
NEW:
Added Sanctuary Breeze Act I - A forest level with a bit more difficulty, but still designed to be beaten with just the Crapshoot. Traverse dense forests, dark caves, and a highway bridge.
Added the Flame Warrior - An armored commando in fireproof garbs, this foe uses a jetpack to get around, and dives at you with a flamethrower! Pay attention to when they attack, and you'll find the Crapshoot's alt fire very useful when dealing with them.
Added the Space Heater - The Space Heater is a modified flamethrower from a flame Warrior for you to use as a power weapon. The blue flames won't hurt you, but watch out for the limited ammo! The alt fire is also a very powerful, but costly, air blast.
Added level select - Now you can select any level you want from a menu! Just enter the entrance from the hub, and you can select a level, or view your best times or ranks, and select whether you want to bring the Space Heater into battle.
Added the Blue Streak - The blue streak now has more utility! When the blue streak is active, you have a slight speed and acceleration boost to encourage you to kill nearby enemies while getting a move on!
MINOR ADDITIONS:
Further improved the tutorial to explain mechanics such as the Bastard System and bullet slicing.
Introduced proper save file for storing progress, scores, and settings.
Added improved hollow box and dumpster models with improved destruction.
Added a better car crash sound, and car interactions.
Added a metal shader that is used for Flame Warriors, the Crapshoot, and the Space Heater.
Added a Patreon button *puppy eyes*.
Controls in text tutorials now have [bracket] notations.
Text boxes now make use of color coding.
Increased text box font sizes.
Added an additional font to menus to ease reading for people that have trouble reading the main font.
The beeping that denotes the Bastard System now is spatially based around the assigned enemy.
Made scanline less visible in menus and UI.
The player's corpse now has physics on death.
Added a bunch of loading tips.
Explosions now have a proper explosion graphic.
Added color to USB drives in UI so they are noticed more by the player
BUG FIXES:
Made enemy death sounds on the right sound channel.
Fixed an issue where the player can get tilted when getting on a rail.
Fixed some texture related issues.
Fixed collision issue with cars in Torn Up Streets.
Fixed broken terrain in Torn Up Streets
I will also note that Slashbang isn't supported by any publisher, and there are absolutely no grants in my area that can assist me in the development of this game. If you are able to assist in any way, I would be extremely grateful in any assistance on my Patreon page. You can get your name in the credits, demo versions of the game, and even a full copy of the game when it releases. The future of the game is on somewhat shaky ground, so every bit of support will be essential to fund things like environmental design and voice acting that wouldn't be possible or would be super laborious otherwise.
https://patreon.com/slashbang
Anyways, I hope you enjoy Slashbang version 0.5! Here's to another year of progress!