This was another large code update that sets things up for the future. Multiple things I’m excited about in this update
Originally, I thought it would be really cool to integrate all the bosses into the procedural maps. Turns out doing that puts a ton of constraints on what I can make for boss arenas, as well as causes lots of problems with mission distances and pacing. Boss arenas should be unique and grand in scale, and having them as separate levels gives me that freedom now. I think a fade to black/loading screen is a small price to pay for how much more can be done with the arenas now. Consider the arenas somewhat placeholder for now, expect large updates to the bosses in the future. Mini-bosses will still be located in the typical procural mission maps.
Spawning optional ‘sets’ of additional objectives sounded cool but always felt weird to me. Having optional objectives spawned within the same set gives a similar end result, but provides more choices to the player. Another cool thing this allows me to do is the classic ‘pick one door’ type of progression, where I spawn multiple objectives and you pick which one to do… usually knowing the reward type to help decide. More on that coming.
New
Main boss arenas are now their own level, that you travel to at the end of an act
Mission code has been updated to allow for optional objectives to spawn within a mission set
Updates
Crusade/Operations
No longer has an optional number of objective ‘sets’
Each stage spawns 6 objectives, 4 of which are needed to reveal the extract point, completing the last 2 is optional
Act 1 boss ‘lightning wall’ attack reworked
Small updates to both boss arenas
Placeholder backgrounds/environments added to boss arenas
Fixes
Fixed one instance of extract spawning within an already spawned objective
Objective info in the tacinfo now correctly updates right away, instead of having to open or close to tacinfo for it to update