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
Polychoron web version available
Because Godot engine allows me to easily export the game to HTML5/WebGL, I did just that. You can now play the game here in your browser.
To make it work in wider range of browsers I had to use the GLES2 renderer which means it won't be able to use HDR, global illumination or dithering. I also had to disable some shader effects. Because of this, it looks significantly worse than the desktop and mobile versions using GLES3, even after adjusting the lighting to compensate for lack of HDR.
Gameplay-wise, it works surprisingly well. So far I have only noticed minor problems, mostly related to browser input focus and sometimes inconsistent mouse sensitivity.
While the web version is far from perfect, it's good to have this option for people to quicky try the game and as an option for otherwise unsupported platform like MacOS.
Posted on 2020-07-06
Polychoron 0.0.4 alpha released
A new Polychoron alpha version is here. This update makes big improvements to lighting. With the added dynamic lights, the game now looks more colorful and alive. I also redesigned the game logo and although it's still programmer art, it does look a lot better.
Here's what has changed since version 0.0.3:
- New much better logo.
- Added a lot more dynamic lights to projectiles, laser beams, etc.
- Added full-screen and debanding dither toggles to settings menu.
- Added level completion teleports that activate once all enemies are destroyed.
- Remember full-screen and debanding dither settings.
- Fixes to stuttering after changing global illumination setting.
- Enabled font oversampling to get much sharper fonts on high resolutions.
- Automatically open menu after a delay when player dies.
See game page for more information. Direct downloads have been updated on Itch.io. Please note that it will again take a while before the Android version update is available on Google Play.
Posted on 2020-06-14