Phobos Down 0.0.4 alpha released
This Phobos Down alpha update is quite a big one. I had a chance to show the game to local IGDA people and got a ton of useful feedback. Many changes here are based on that feedback as well as feedback from the people who played the last alpha version.
The enemy behavior has been refined, again. The enemies still mind their own business until the player hurts them or they bump into containers. The problem in the previous version was that the containers were never in any danger as long as the player kept shooting because all enemies forgot the containers when any of them got damaged. Now the enemies communicate more but only to a limited distance. If an enemy is damaged it calls only nearby enemies to help while more distant ones can continue attacking the containers. Also, when any enemy attacks a container, it asks others nearby to join in. The communication distances are set so that the player has to move around to keep the enemies in check. To prevent having to find the last few idle enemies wandering around at the end of a wave I made it so that all remaining enemies target the player at the end.
Now that the container damage is a real threat, I have added indicators at screen edges that notify the player of containers under attack off-screen.
The player is now rewarded with extra score for completing waves and missions without damage to corporation property (including yourself). After a long consideration I have added a small score cost to activating devices dropped in from orbit. Story-wise this makes sense as the corporation wouldn't just hand out these for free but I'm a little worried that it might make some players avoid using the devices even though the cost is so small that usually killing just one enemy pays it back.
Here's what has changed since version 0.0.3:
- Moved default camera angle a bit higher to ease aiming.
- Position aiming crosshair in line with the weapon instead of player's center point.
- Added simple muzzle flash to rifle and shotgun.
- Added separate target icons for normal height-only auto-aim and actual target lock.
- Added outline to highlight "focused" item in weapon management UI.
- Improved settings menu value controls.
- Added controller vibration effects.
- Fixed player character recoil animation not playing.
- Damaging one enemy only triggers other enemies within certain range to attack the player.
- When an enemy finds a container and attacks it, other nearby idle enemies join in.
- Added indicators at screen edges for containers under attack outside view.
- Added projectile speed modifier for rifle and shotgun.
- New player damage and death sounds.
- Improved player recoil animation.
- Added new base enemy type called "spawner".
- Added drop pod destruction sound.
- Increased all digger enemy fire rates.
- Randomize initial facing direction for spawned enemies.
- Prevented digger enemies from burrowing immediately if player is too close/far.
- Added a digger variant that only unburrows to shoot.
- Allow dismissing mission info with "accept" button too once the animation has finished.
- The last enemies in a wave are forced to target player.
- Made fire rate modifier a bit less effective.
- Fixed idle enemies standing still for way too long.
- Removed score item expiration time.
- Fixed score items falling over terrain edges.
- Added as small score cost to all devices.
- Fixed crawling enemies getting stuck at steep slope edges.
- Added camera shake on player damage.
- Made camera follow player corpse after the player dies.
- Added menu setting to adjust camera FOV.
- Moved camera slightly higher.
- Made camera zoom in at mission start.
- Show tips from the corporation at mission start.
- Added laser sight weapon modifier.
- Added score bonuses on completing a wave or mission without player or container damage.
- Prevent showing too many text messages on screen at a time.
- Lowered the directional light over terrain to make height differences more visible.
All feedback will be appreciated! You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.
Downloads are available on Itch.io:
Posted on 2023-10-17