Polychoron 0.0.8 alpha released
Less than 48 hours later, here's another alpha update. This is purely a bug fix release that addresses bugs making the new control remapping feature practically useless with gamepads and joysticks.
Here's what has changed since version 0.0.7:
- Fixed analog axis input remapping.
- Remove single control input mappings with backspace key.
- Fixed enemies occasionally playing target detection sounds at level start.
See Polychoron game page for more information. Direct downloads have been updated on Itch.io. Android version update has been uploaded on Google Play and will be available shortly.
Posted on 2020-11-01
Polychoron 0.0.7 alpha released
This update to Polychoron makes a lot of changes.
Overall difficulty has been adjusted to make the game a bit more forgiving in the first levels. Many of the changes also aim to make run & gun play style more feasible. You will still likely get best scores with the careful approach and sneaking behind corners (I don't plan to change this) but now you will survive a little longer if you choose to fly straight into action.
Another problem this update tries to address is people not knowing how to play. The game now shows a guide overlay to new players that explains the controls and HUD items. I have also made small visual changes here and there to make it more obvious how things work. I have intentionally been avoiding a separate tutorial that some have suggested. I believe this game is so simple that it shouldn't need a tutorial.
Last but not least, this update finally adds configurable controls. This is probably the single most requested feature so far.
Here's full list of changes since version 0.0.6:
- Added new patrolling enemy type shooting slow projectiles.
- Added two more random decorative meshes on maze walls.
- Added notification sound on HUD messages.
- Added ship start-up animation sequence.
- Made laser beams cause the same amount of damage over time independent of frame rate.
- Improved particles emission at laser beam contacts.
- Limited sentry gun field of view to 180 degrees while looking for targets.
- Sentry guns looking for target turn to direction of damage if shot.
- Made sentry guns a bit easier to destroy.
- Mines turn towards player and blink when triggered.
- "Fixed" weird white pixels wandering on screen at level start on some PCs.
- Rotate projectiles as they move.
- Added slightly different wall colors in parts of the maze to ease navigation.
- Added varying shininess to wall textures.
- Fixed spark particles not fading out smoothly.
- Emit colored spark particles on projectile hits.
- Flash laser screen white and play a sound when its power box is damaged.
- Flash all power boxes of a laser screen white when one of them is damaged.
- Place laser screen power boxes a bit closer to it.
- Fixed dark blue HUD text using GLES2 renderer.
- Added HUD scale adjustment in settings menu.
- Hide inactive teleports completely to prevent confusion.
- Changed default (not inverted) pitch control direction to match most other games.
- Added control bindings menu for remapping controls.
- Fixed settings not being saved if closing menu instead of leaving settings page.
- Added sounds to menu interaction.
- Add pitch inversion quick toggle by F2.
- Added controller guide overlay (press F1 to toggle).
- Show completion page with statistics on death without high score too.
- Added a short fade in animation when opening menu.
- Use different target detection sound pitch for different enemy types.
- Keep enemy weapon damage constant between levels (does not increase anymore).
- Halved initial sentry gun projectile speed.
- Activate level completion teleports in the unlikely case that level contains no enemies.
- Added lightning symbols to power boxes.
- Apply small impulse from projectiles to hit objects, including the player.
- Added jammer module power-up that disables all enemies for a while.
I'm a little worried about the amount of changes. I have tested all versions but after playing the game so much during development, I have become blind to some of the issues, especially from a new player point of view. So please let me know if you encounter bugs or weird behavior.
See Polychoron game page for more information. Direct downloads have been updated on Itch.io. Android version update has been uploaded on Google Play and will be available shortly.
Posted on 2020-10-30
Polychoron 0.0.6 alpha released
It's time for another Polychoron alpha update. This update focuses on audio and the most noticeable change is the added menu music by DavilOne. A lot of new sound effects have been added as well.
I have made some changes regarding my plans for power-ups. Initially I wanted to reset all power-up effects between levels but I've realized that it ruins any sense of progression. On the other hand I don't want to have persistent cumulating upgrades that would require ramping up the difficulty exponentially. The solution is to have persistent upgrades that have limited use and "wear off" eventually. I call them ship modules. Icons in the bottom right HUD show installed ship modules at any time and their color indicates module's condition.
Currently there are two such modules: Shield and fire rate increase. The shield absorbs 50% of damage and wears off after taking certain amount damage. Fire rate increase does what you'd expect but now only for the next 100 shots.
The future of the mobile version has been a bit uncertain as I've been waiting to hear if people think it's worth keeping alive. Although I got very little feedback on it, I have decided to keep updating it. From now on, the mobile version has it's own separate high score table, because there is no point in having touch screen players compete with players using mouse and keyboard. I have also made the enemies in the mobile version a bit more forgiving.
Here's full list of changes since version 0.0.5:
- Added intro/menu music by DavilOne.
- Added ambient cockpit sound loop.
- Made score power-ups automatically move towards player.
- Open menu automatically to pause game if mouse capture is lost unexpectedly.
- Improved ESC key behavior in the web version.
- Play thruster sounds directly based user controls (less realistic, feels more responsive).
- Stop all looping sounds when game is paused.
- Added looping sound to active teleports and changed teleport entry sound.
- Added better ship collision sound with multiple variants.
- Changed player ship damage sound.
- Limit laser trap looping sound audible range.
- Added shield module power-up.
- Made fire rate increase power-up persistent between levels but only last for 100 shots.
- Show active ship modules in the right HUD.
- Made multiplier power-up look like an X instead of plus sign that people mistook for health.
- Use a separate high score table in the mobile version.
- Fixed sentry gun projectile damage not increasing with enemy "toughness".
- Made mobile version enemies a bit easier.
- Show random gameplay tips at bottom of menu.
- Added sounds on missed projectiles hitting maze walls.
- Use Butler to push updates to Itch.io (works much better with Itch application).
- Rewrote power box placement logic to avoid overlapping lights and other wall texture details.
- Added random panel meshes on walls.
See Polychoron game page for more information. Direct downloads have been updated on Itch.io. Android version update has been uploaded on Google Play and will be available shortly.
Posted on 2020-08-30
Website update
I have recreated the website layout almost from scratch. As the content is the same, it doesn't look that different but there are some significant changes:
- It's finally mobile friendly. The previous layout was practically unusable on mobile. Now the same website scales to different screen sizes and remains usable even on small mobile screens.
- It's light and fast. The whole site is mostly static HTML with absolute minimal amount of javascript and third party widgets.
If you see something broken, please let me know.
Posted on 2020-08-20
Polychoron 0.0.5 alpha released
This update doesn't bring any radical changes but a lot of fixes and improvements here and there. Perhaps the most noticeable change is the smoothed out difficulty spike on level 8 where the laser beam wielding sentry guns first appear. Also, the first non-score power-up has been added. More will come.
Here's what has changed since version 0.0.4:
- Added anti-aliasing option in menu.
- Added optional aim fine-tuning using gyroscope on mobile.
- Added fire rate increasing power-up.
- Do not bake data for global illumination when it's not used.
- Added support for HTML5 version.
- Fixes to issues when using GLES2 renderer.
- Tweaked lighting with GLES2 renderer to compensate for lack of HDR and GI.
- Adjusted HUD for better visibility on mobile.
- Toggle HUD visibility with F5.
- Show performance statistics with F3.
- Require a name for high scores.
- Fixed dimming HUD inside passive teleports.
- Preload more materials to prevent stutter later on.
- Show game score and time on level competion page.
- Made mines detonate faster and cause more damage on higher levels.
- Adjusted laser equipped sentry gun timing for much easier first encounter.
See Polychoron game page for more information. Direct downloads have been updated on Itch.io. Android version update has been uploaded on Google Play and will be available shortly.
The game play mechanics are pretty much all there and I'm not expecting any radical changes to visuals either, so I'm planning to focus more on audio for the next alpha version. Maybe I'll add a new power-up or two as well.
Posted on 2020-07-22