Endless Tactics · build 23961827 · published
Still waiting for the launch... All ready, but I couldn't stop myself - Ultrawide-support, cuz why not? Amongst many many other little nudges of polish - most of which I didn't even expect would initially be in the game at all, so hope you all enjoy the fruits of my obsessive labor (that my brainworm keeps telling me to do)!
I also took the chance to contact some Content Creators who have previously played the game to check it out - after all the (too many to even list) improvements. I'll elaborate more on that at the Highlights section, but for now, here are the...
Yet one more TRIAL RUN REWORK: Added a brand new pre-scripted mini-AIRSTRIKE event as a catch-up mechanic if you're not doing too well (happens during the 2nd Wave). It wipes all Nests, leaving only the remaining Units for you to clean up. Trial Run reinforcements (Mechs) will now also drop alongside a single Passive Pod, serving as a much better integrated tutorial for Passives (grab a Mech, move it to the Passive Pod... done). If you don't, the Passives dialogue will still trigger from normal Airdrops as before.
MAJOR Shadows Rework! Shadows will now never overlap one another, instead seamlessly merging together (like shadows should). They now also oscillate alongside the clouds (lighting isn't static after all)... AND dynamically respond to the day/night cycle! (Shadow vs. Water interaction improvements as well.) Obstacles now all cast their own shadows, by the way.
Major Rework to Terrain Generation:
No isolated Big Obstacles anymore - they now only generate in clusters, reducing arbitrary hard obstructions for certain Enemies and Nests.
Major adjustments to obstacle ratios across all Operations.
Eliminated obstacle pockets for good.
Tons of cleanup and improvements to the generation logic... level layouts should no longer feel like mazes overall!
ULTRA-WIDE SUPPORT! The game's viewport will now horizontally expand to fit whichever ultra-wide resolution you have! No pixel distortion, just more space - all shaders, backgrounds, UI, and even the in-game map now properly adjust to it.
Major Beginner UX Improvements: Dialogue changes, unlock progression reworks, MID-OPERATION Unlocks, MAJOR balance changes, and more!
REWORKED Terrain Panel: It now (actually) dynamically grabs the texture of the currently hovered tile! No more seeing a mountain icon while hovering a water-rock obstacle, and so on... Better visibility too! Now, whenever you're hovering around it, instead of fading away, it'll simply (smoothly) flip sides.
Major Upgrades Menu Visual Improvements: Background parallax, camera improvements, edge shading, and more!
Major Shader Optimizations: FPS gains everywhere!
COMPLETELY Eliminated Random Steam Initialization Errors! Plus plenty of cleanup and optimizations to Steam integration.
Major Main Menu QOL: It now remembers the last focused button whenever you exit and re-enter it.
Reworked "Keep Aspect Ratio" Option: Now properly supports ultra-wide displays while also enabling letterboxing whenever needed.
Major improvements to Performance Mode: Can now also be toggled in-game via OPTIONS > OTHERS.
Removed 2-Wave Day Cycles (High RISK).
Sped Up Medium & High RISK Wave Progression, alongside a reduced minimum Nest spawn distance for Medium RISK (closer fights!).
Added Corruption Spread Animations for Nests, Corruption Tumors, and more.
Added the "Take Shelter" Mechanic for Earthquakes (plus updated descriptions and dialogue).
Fixed an obscure Godot bug (#12637264) where repeatedly Alt-Tabbing like crazy during loading could offset the Canvas Transform upwards by a single pixel, creating a 1-pixel gap across all menus.
More Loading Time Reductions!
Several Minor Bug Fixes.
General Rare Softlock & Crash Fixes.
Obviously not as technically big as the last Update, but very important nonetheless. Endless Tactics should be more flexible than ever now, regardless of your setup, playstyle, or accessibility needs! After all, what's the point of working tirelessly on late-game features and adding yet more content if the beginning is simply too slow? THAT should hopefully NOT be an issue anymore ;) It was something I was well aware of - a player-retention problem mostly present during the first few minutes of the Tutorial (after that, the curve tended to shoot right back up). Watching these heavily narrated playthroughs, however, helped me tremendously in figuring out exactly how to address it, and more importantly, which specific points of attrition to focus on.
Many thanks again to both of the Content Creators below, for taking their time, and for helping once again with the development of Endless Tactics! All of this new influx of feedback helped me a lot to iron out the early game progression, most of all! Huge shoutout to them, and a few more to (likely) come soon!
New Playthrough by QuanticFlux - one of the first ones to cover Endless Tactics - lots of useful feedback, every single point addressed already, shortly after the video!
New Playthrough by Matt Plays Indies, also one of the first ones to cover the game - lots of useful feedback as well; and same as above, all addressed already!
As always, most of the feedback gathered and addressed from our Reddit.
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- the_procrastinator