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
Phobos Down 0.0.3 alpha released
It's time for another alpha update for Phobos Down! In addition to usual list of bug fixes this update brings some new game content too. There are multiple new enemies, weapon modifiers and device drop pods that add some much needed variation to the game.
Here's the full list of changes since version 0.0.2:
- Added new base enemy type called "digger".
- Fixed a bug that may have caused enemies randomly falling through ground.
- Align dust particle emitters to terrain.
- Made larger enemies burrow faster.
- Auto-aim from actual weapon position instead of player center point.
- Terminate enemies if they fall through terrain as a fail-safe.
- Improved enemy burrowing/unburrowing sound and particle effects.
- Made enemies remember their targets longer.
- Added more variants of existing enemy types.
- Minor improvements to enemy models.
- Better splatter sounds.
- Added a short random delay before spawning a new enemy after one dies.
- Made the tougher enemies only appear in higher danger sites.
- Limited enemy shooting angle to enemy type specific range.
- Added some random variation to number of enemy waves per mission.
- Prevented all player damage from missiles.
- Added a short light flash when an enemy shoots a projectile.
- Better medical station drop pod heal sound.
- Better drop pod opening sound.
- Added sentry gun drop pod.
- Prevent activating drop pods until they have landed.
- Fixed weapon projectiles visible through weapon models.
- Added a subtle camera shake on explosions.
- Fixed drop pods not always opening on steep slopes.
- Improved info box scaling on non 16:9 resolutions.
- Emit dust particles on ground under decelerating drop pods.
- Adjusted settings menu to better use vertical space.
- Improved explosion range indicators.
- Lowered explosive device damage range a bit.
- Added an explosion damage range indicator to explosive devices.
- Added explosion damage and range modifiers for the launcher weapon.
- Added rectangular outlines to device drop pod icons to distinguish them from modifiers.
All feedback will be appreciated but I'm specifically interested in how you feel about current game difficulty. Is staying alive too hard? What are the situations that get the player killed and feel unfair? Keep in mind that the game is supposed to be more about high scores and fun gameplay than brutal struggle to survive.
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 2023-08-09
Phobos Down 0.0.2 alpha released
This update focuses mostly on addressing issues reported from the first alpha version.
The most noticeable change is proper enemy behavior logic. I wanted to say it was improved but there was no logic before, enemies simply continuously ran towards the player. They still aren't too smart and will never be because I want their behavior to be predictable. After all, this is a minimal high score shooter game, not a life simulation.
In general, the indigenous lifeforms on the planet don't really care about the player until the player gets in their way or attacks them. Same goes for the containers. The enemies will only attack containers if they are blocking their way and they have nothing more important to do at the moment. So as long as the player gives them something more pressing to do by keeping them angry, they leave the containers alone.
Multiple testers asked for the game to pause so that they have time to read the instruction texts at the beginning. I already added a pause there but then ended up removing it because I never liked it and because it's no longer needed as the enemies don't immediately attack the player anymore. Problem solved.
The single most requested feature was unrestricted mouse cursor. I personally like the "weird" mouse cursor behavior where it's kept near the player because I tend to lose sight of the cursor as I focus on the enemies and the action in other games. For those (many) people who disagree, there is now an option for freely moving cursor. One problem is that the weapon management UI has been designed for radial user input (gamepad stick or the old "weird" mouse cursor), so it does feel a little unintuitive with the freely moving mouse cursor that can now go way outside the circular UI. I will likely have to do something about that later on.
Here's the full list of changes since version 0.0.1:
- Added alternative mouse aiming modes.
- Properly account for camera tilt in aiming.
- Fixed "mission review" screen animation and sound playing in the background after being dismissed.
- Added notification of available update in main menu.
- Made modifier icons on drop pods less transparent to improve legibility.
- Added enemy burrowing/unburrowing sound.
- Fine-tuned environment colors and lighting.
- Made enemy ballistic projectiles explode with glowing "acid".
- Fixed some translation typos.
- Made enemy projectiles spin while moving.
- Enemies target the player only after getting damaged.
- Enemies target the player if the player is blocking their path.
- Enemies attack containers blocking their path while idle.
- Calculate distance to enemy target from surfaces instead of center points.
- Fixed enemies standing still way too long while wandering around without target.
- Added white damage flash effect to containers too.
- Added a short guide text to weapon management UI.
- Drop the initial medical station drop pod sooner (after 5 seconds).
- Improved container placement to better fit the terrain and not overlap.
- Improved enemy ranged attack sounds.
In the next update I will hopefully get to adding more content like new enemy types and weapon modifiers.
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 2023-06-27
Phobos Down 0.0.1 alpha released
It's not exactly "early 2023" like I estimated for the first public alpha release for Phobos Down but it is here now!
The game is in playable state with all core mechanics in place. There are currently only a few enemy types and weapon modifiers so the gameplay does get repetitive quite fast and the missions that are supposed to be harder are way too easy (because the really tough enemies are missing). High scores tables and online features are also completely missing. The visuals and audio are going to need a lot work in coming updates.
All feedback is very welcome as very few people have actually played the game so far. Send feedback through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.
Downloads are available on Itch.io:
Posted on 2023-05-29
Introducing Phobos Down
The unnamed twin stick shooter is no longer unnamed. It's called Phobos Down and it now has a game page here.
There hasn't been any huge changes in core gameplay since the last update. I have been mostly working on features that will turn this into an actual game like menus, missions, game state saving/loading and proper enemy spawning logic.
Here's a new gameplay video recorded on Steam Deck today:
The development goes on slowly but steadily. I'm planning to have a playable alpha test version out early next year.
Posted on 2022-11-04