I’ve been reworking drop pod and device handling and making some new more recognizable low poly models for the devices. Here are a couple of examples:





I don't have a strict schedule for the next alpha update because I'm hoping to get more feedback on the current version first.

A new big alpha update 0.0.9 is out!





This one comes with a long change log:

• Made the "free" mouse aiming mode the default.


• Properly capture mouse cursor in photo mode when using "free" mouse aiming mode.


• Fixed small error in distance calculation when applying damage from explosions.


• Increased score item attract distance to cover whole mission site.


• Improved enemy shoot recoil handling.


• Adjusted enemy gib size and count to better scale with enemy size.


• Fixed explosions with origin inside an enemy body not causing damage.


• Added two variants of a new rare "tank" enemy type.


• Show total modifier effect on weapon properties in weapon UI.


• Force walkers to step their feet if they stretch too long.


• Fixed first walkers sometimes spawning without legs.


• Added a new evasive floater enemy variant.


• Removed score cost from all devices.


• Added separate sound effect for score penalty.


• Use the normal terminal sound when displaying score messages in-game.


• Updated models for drop pods and all devices.


• Refactored drop pod and device handling to make adding new devices easier in future.


• Fixed artifacts at edges of device and modifies icons.


• New much better device destruction sounds.


• Added data storage devices that can be destroyed for score bonus.


• Fixed screen edge indicators not getting drawn in priority order.


• Drop third medical station device if player's health falls below 25%.


• Show screen edge indicators for medical station devices already below 50% health.


• Fixed melee enemies not always getting close enough to player to attack.


• Emit smoke particles from damaged containers.


• Improved thruster plume shader.


• Fixed broken dust particle placement inside explosion volume.


• Fixed drop pods spawning in front of camera with low FOV setting.


• Made orbital strike device indicator show the time to missiles hitting the ground.


• Fade out world grid as the camera zooms in at mission start.


• Fixed camera FOV setting affecting sound volume level.


• Hide device icons and time indicators in photo mode.


• Replaced directional camera push from explosions with more traditional shake.


• Added a subtle camera push on player weapons firing.


• Added menu setting for strength of camera shake effects.


• Removed camera FOV setting from menu.


• Improved gamepad vibration effects.


• Play heartbeat sound when health is critically low.


• Fixed menu move sound playing everytime the game starts.


• Prevent undodgeable enemy ballistic attacks at very close range.


• Prevent enemies spawning directly under obstacles or characters.


• Delay failed mission info box a little after player's death.


• Lower the damage applied to the player when already badly hurt.


• Scale enemy projectile size based on the size of the shooting enemy.

Downloads have been updated on itch.io. Full release announcement is available on my website.

Not really my type of game, but it's good to see it progress.

Here’s a little progress update. I haven’t been very productive since the last update but I have still made some progress.

Markers are now shown on ground for incoming drop pods. This was initially tested as a fix to players forgetting to wait for incoming drop pods before entering the extract zone at end of the mission but it proved to be a helpful addition in general:



As new players tend to ignore instructions and go shooting everything, I added a warning message when damaging the containers that the player is supposed to protect:



The rifle’s base fire rate has also been increased to make it a more useful weapon. I had to slightly reduce the fire rate increase by a fire rate modifier to keep the maximal fire rate in check. This in turn affects all weapons but the change is not that big.