MAJOR UPDATE: UI Overhaul, Background setting overhaul/optimization, New music, Dangerous & Elite enemies, more!
This update has been in the works for a while, and I'm excited to finally publish it!
List of Updates
The UI has been redone to be faster, cleaner and give a more space oriented aesthetic.
The background setting has been redone to be in outer space. As pretty as the procedural terrain was, it was not interactive, distracted from the gameplay, and used up too many GPU cycles. This new outer space setting fits incredibly with the new music in this release, as well as with the graphical style of the UI updates, and is considerably faster to render.
All new music by Zamaster and DotStarMoney
New particle effects and thruster smoke trails
"Dangerous" & "Elite" enemies: Stronger versions of the normal enemies colored Blue and Yellow, as well as being higher level they have more speed and a higher special ability charge rate. A great source to farm higher level components, especially in Rogue mode
Balancing to some of the late game weapons: (Torpedoes and Railguns do less damage, Size 2 miniguns do more)
Maximum of 100 energy gain per second on all ships (player & enemy). Some bosses are a little weaker as a result. You can still place more power cores than you need on your ship, but they won't actively generate power unless other power cores are destroyed or disabled first.
Two new late-game enemies: "Meal worm" and "Spider"
Some of the new UI
An "Elite Brute II"
Space background
Explosions
Improved explosion graphics, better material pickup graphics
This update was pushed up last night, the changes are:
Juicier explosion & destruction graphics
Improved crafting material pickup graphics
Shields nurfed
Shields have also being nurfed a bit, so it'll be easier for you to take down enemies with shields, but a little harder to stay protected with shields. This should balance the late-game gameplay a little better.
Miscellaneous
Finally to pick up materials in craft mode the button has been changed to right mouse the same as melting.
Weapon modes, more enemy ships, crafting materials, blueprint unlocks, more.
First of all, thanks to everyone who's been playing and reporting bugs and giving feedback, it helps!
Here's what's new in today's update:
Added new firing modes to the following weapons:
Blasters: Burst fire.
Machine guns: Spread.
Missiles: Splinter.
Lasers: Long range.
Torpedo launchers: Cluster.
EMP launchers Cluster.
Railguns: Randomize mode.
Saws: Reverse & Grind modes.
Fire only (no detach) mode for Detaching launchers.
Added size 3 thrusters.
Missing ships added, updates to most enemy ships to include new firing modes.
Boss fights are now escapable in Rogue mode.
Unlock blueprints randomly via destruction (100% chance from boss fights).
Crafting materials now drop randomly via destruction instead of just via melting.
Melting is now only done via right-click in inventory & craft mode, to prevent accidents.
Made enemy placement throughout the world more randomized.
Now only pieces of your ship & things that were detached from your ship can pass through your shields (shields protect you from dangerous debris and makeshift detacher-launcher missiles now)
Miscellaneous graphical improvements.
New starting ship, to get you into the game faster.
Ship configuration system overhaul, automatic thruster keybinding button, more.
All ship configuration items, as well as ship controls display & power usage have been moved into the new "Config Mode".
Now you can have AI decide which controls to bind to what thrusters by entering config mode, selecting all the thrusters on your ship, and clicking "Auto-assign Controls". As well modes (i.e. auto tracking & mouse tracking modes to turn powered hinges into turrets) have been moved into the config mode. The original keybinding mode is still available, however it is now only for rebinding shortcut keys for buttons on the HUD. Multiple components in a category can now have keys and modes set at the same time as well.
The other major change made is starting each game off with a default ship already built. Good enough to get you passed some of the easier enemies, and with a little work some of the harder ones with more powerful weapons to salvage. This will be especially useful for people playing Rogue mode, as you won't have to build a new ship each time you die and are forced to start over.
