Today we're announcing SIX (whoa, six!) new Ship Bits! They're a group of new bulkhead types called POWER BULKHEADS! And they completely change how the game is played. Here they are:
Each one gives you a boost for unique special powers. So for example "Knockout" gives you the chance to stun your enemies when you damage them, and having more "Knockout" bulkheads on your ship will increase the chance for that to happen.
Power Bulkheads are carried by high-level enemies, so you'll want to be extra careful picking their ships apart so that you don't destroy them during the battle. Remember that green explosion at the end of this gif earlier in the week?
That lets you know that a Power Bulkhead got destroyed. You never want that. They're precious and in limited supply.
The game feels completely different now. You really want to carry as many Power Bulkheads as you can, to give you an extra edge in combat. You'll need space to keep them on your ship, which will probably tend to grow a little larger now. And you'll want to keep them protected with extra layers of bulkhead. Because these are special powers that you can actually lose if your Power Bulkheads get destroyed. It's a very Captain Forever Remix flavor of traditional ability/upgrade systems in other games, and it feels very unique. The old "upgrades" system is gone now, and this is the replacement. A great example of us getting to tweak the shape of the game while we're in Early Access, and make it more interesting.
The update is out on Monday! Only a few more surprises left in Ship Bits Mega Week!
Ship Bits Mega Week Day 4
It's Ship Bits Mega Week Day 4! Today we've got a new weapon that some have speculated to be a lizard or reptile of some kind, and a new bulkhead type!
First, the bulkhead. The Jumbo Bulkhead Lite is just like the Jumbo Bulkhead you know and love, except this one is way more lightweight. Finally you can build massive ships that can still move around! Just don't forget to add lots of weapons.
And now the one you've all been waiting for...the DRAGON BREATH! You don't *have* to attach these to a ship that's shaped like a dragon, but it doesn't hurt!
Ship Bits Mega Week ends Monday and we've still got a bunch of surprises up our sleeves! I wonder what these six mysterious Ship Bits are...?
It's SHIP BITS MEGA WEEK DAY 3!
NEW SHIP BITS! JOY!
First up we've got the MINE POPPER! Wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...POP GOES THE SPACESHIP!
The Mine Popper shoots cute little mines that pack a punch! You don't want to be around when they go off. We recommend using Twin Thrusters so that you can back away slowly after firing a couple of these puppies off towards Kevin's Krusaders.
Next up: Extra Long Repair Bulkheads!
Ever wished Repair Bulkheads had more slots to plug your busted-up Ship Bits (tm) into? Well then, check these out! And check out that Bonus Fact: Repair Bulkheads and Bubble Shields will now appear every time you play the game! There used to only be a small chance for that to happen, so now they're much more common, allowing you to build ships that stay protected and fully repaired every time you play!
Check back tomorrow for new SHIP BITS! Look at those silhouettes...what could they be?
Introducing the SCATTERBLASTER and the MEGA BOOM MISSILE!
It's day 2 of Ship Bits Mega Week!
Hey check it out! It's the SCATTERBLASTER in action! Create bullet hell for your enemies!
What's that insanely massive "boom" I just heard out here in space? It's the MEGA BOOM ROCKET! You'll only need one...but six is more fun!
The Mega Boom Rocket fires massive rockets. They're really big and slow, so shooting them out of the sky isn't too much trouble...and you'll want to do that, because when one of these explodes it deals MASSIVE damage in a really large radius. It's dangerous! Keep it pointed away from your face!
Come back tomorrow for even more fun stuff! It's SHIP BITS MEGA WEEK!
It's SHIP BIT MEGA WEEK! Update #5 is on the way!
Hey gang! Welcome to the SHIP BITS MEGA WEEK!
Next Monday July 13th we’re releasing our biggest update yet. There’s so much stuff in it that we realized we can’t dump it on you all at once - it would break your brain. And you can’t play Captain Forever Remix with a broken brain! Trust me, I’ve seen it happen, and those were the most poorly built spaceships I’ve ever seen.
So instead we’re going to carefully drip-feed awesome surprises throughout this week, which we have dubbed the SHIP BIT MEGA WEEK! So check back every day for more info about next Monday’s update!
-Dean
An update on our Early Access development plans
Hey gang!
We’ve just hit a really big milestone (bang! Crash!). The game is now in a state where it includes all of the features that we set out to make for it in Early Access. Over the course of the last couple of months, we’ve:
-Added sandbox mode, along with unlockable cheats.
-Added the ability to share ships with your friends.
-Added 4 new modules.
-Added a bunch of new characters to Kevin’s Krusaders.
-Fixed tons of bugs, done tons of polish, and tuned the heck out of the game.
In the last update (Update #4: Get Your Butt to Pluto!), we wrapped a bow on the last few loose ends in the game, the biggest one being a “real” ending when you get to Pluto and kick Kevin’s butt.
So that’s it huh? The game is finished? Not so fast, mister!
We’ve really enjoyed being in Early Access and the feedback we’ve gotten from you all has been invaluable and heartening. And we’re just having too much dang fun working on the game. So even though we’ve completed the work we set out to in Early Access, we’re going to keep working on the game a while longer so that we can make Captain Forever Remix even better than it already is. Our schedule for releasing updates is going to change somewhat: we’re shifting to monthly releases, so that we can have more time to work on each one. We’ll have more details on what you can expect to see in those updates soon.
Join us, won’t you?
-Dean and Brian.
Update #4: Get Your Butt to Pluto!
Hey guys! It’s time to go grab Update #4, the “Get your Butt to Pluto!” update!
Why’s it called the “Get your Butt to Pluto!” update? Well, that’s because there’s never been a better time to get your butt to Pluto and kick King Kevin’s uh...butt. Although, wait a sec - he doesn’t have one. Because he’s a giant fluorescent pink disembodied mutant head.
Anywho. The game now has a real ending, complete with sweet new visuals and sounds! No more “temp screen with some text on it” shenanigans! No siree. So get your butt to Pluto and bask in the glory of...A REAL ENDING.
And that’s probably not even the most exciting thing in this update. We’ve made some pretty meaty changes to combat tuning and difficulty. Long story short, the game is still tough as nails and requires you to build a pretty sweet ship. BUT! Combat now feels more tactical, more “fair.” This is due to changes to how weapon range increases with level. It used to be that weapon range would increase quite a bit as they leveled up, and you’d end up getting blasted to pieces by higher-level enemies before you could even get in range to fight them on even footing. This effect has now been drastically lessened. The range differences between individual weapon types now have much more meaning. Of course, this being a pretty huge change, we’d love to get your feedback. So please let us know what you think in the forums.
Oh wait! That’s not even the most exciting thing in this update! I almost forgot: the options menu has some new audio, video, and control settings! Ok fine, so maybe that isn’t the most exciting thing, but it’s totally necessary and something that’s been lacking for quite a while now. It’s great to have it working in-game finally!
There’s a bunch of other smaller changes and bug fixes in this update, and we’ve also cut down the install size of the game. This should make it quicker to download, and easier on your hard drive!
This update is our biggest yet, and thus took a little longer than usual. Apologies for that, but we think it’s been worth the wait so that we could make these changes and properly finish up the game’s finale.
So have fun and build rad spaceships! We’ll have more news on the general future of the project really soon.
Cheers!
-Dean and Brian
We're delaying Update #4 a bit
Hey folks! Some quick news on our next update.
We've been working towards tying up the biggest loose ends in the game. Which means adding things like a real options menu and making optimizations to the game's performance and install size. This stuff isn't glamorous, but it's necessary. We've also been working on the game's finale sequence, which is indeed very glamorous, and it's coming along really well, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
We debated doing an update tomorrow that would just include a new options menu and some small performance improvements, but have decided to instead delay the next update until those features are fully baked and also until the finale is actually finished. Better to wait a bit and have something really exciting for you all to check out when you beat the game. So, no update this week, but we'll be getting one out next week that will include the new finale.
-Dean
Update #3: share ships with your friends!
Hi folks! Update #3 is now live with some new features that we’re really excited about!
Ship Sharing
You can now save your favorite ship designs, give them a name, and share them with your friends using THE POWER OF THE INTERNET! Shared ships can be used in Sandbox Mode. More details below on how to share ships!
Sandbox Cheats
You can now access various cheats in Sandbox Mode, such as invincibility, AI level controls, and my personal favorite: RANDOM REBUILD! Here it is in action:
Press “TAB” when in Sandbox Mode to access the cheats menu.
Tweaks to game difficulty
We’re tweaked a bunch of stuff that affects difficulty, mostly to do with how enemies spawn. The game is now a little easier and more “fair” but getting to Pluto should still present a massive challenge.
New Krusaders!
Two new mutant animals have joined Kevin’s Krusaders. One of them loves to eat cheese, the other one loves to make cheese. Can you guess what they are? Keep an eye out for them on your adventures!
A prettier end to the game!
The payoff for getting to Pluto and destroying a Peacemaker is a little more explosive now. We’re still working on the game’s finale, and this is the first step. Here’s a sneak-peak of what you’ll get to see if you make it to Pluto!
Bug Fixes!
As usual, there are tons of bug fixes, including many fixes that were requested on the forums. If you run into new bugs, please let us know!
That covers it for Update #3! As always, if you’ve got feedback we’d love to hear it on the forums. Read on for instructions on how to share ships with your friends. Happy ship sharing!
Detailed instructions: How to share ships with your friends
Sharing ships with your friends is really simple. Your saved ships are all accessible in Sandbox Mode, which is listed on the Main Menu:
In Sandbox Mode, you can browse your recently-built ships. If you want to permanently save a ship as a “favorite,” just click the “favorite” button.
To view your favorite ships, click the “favorites” button at the top of the screen. You can share these ships with your friends. Just click either the folder or file name to show your Favorites folder:
This’ll open up the folder where all of your favorite ships are kept. Each ship has its own .CFS file. The currently-selected ship’s file will be highlighted, making it really easy to copy-paste it for sharing with your friends via the method of your choice (email, Dropbox, etc.).
If you want to play with a ship shared by a friend, simply copy their shared .CFS file into this folder. Their ship will appear automatically when you start the game (under “Favorites” in the Sandbox).
This is the first version of this feature, and we hope to make ship sharing even simpler in future updates. There are a couple of issues to be aware of:
1) In the previous update (#2), we allowed you to name a ship in order to save it. Any ship you’ve named in the old version will need to be favorited if you want to hang on to it.
2) Clicking the folder or file name to show the Favorites folder only works on Windows and Mac. On Linux, you’ll need to navigate to your Favorites folder manually.
Update #2
Hi folks! Update #2 is now live and includes the beginnings of a hotly-requested feature:
Sandbox Mode!
We envision Sandbox Mode as a place to freely and endlessly experiment with ship building. As in the regular game mode, you'll still be blowing up a limitless variety of colorful enemy ships (and their equally colorful pilots).
New Krusaders!
Speaking of pilots: Kevin's got a few new Krusaders up his sleeve! Look out for these lovable hooligans on your next run.
Save Your Ship Designs!
We know you get pretty attached to all those ships you're creating, so we've added features to save your ship designs. We keep a rolling list of the last 512 ships you've created. If you want to save a particular ship for safekeeping, simply give it a custom name--the wackier, the better!. Any ship you create will automatically be available in Sandbox mode.
We're super grateful for the feedback and requests we've already received from everyone. Please keep sharing your thoughts on the game, especially the new Sandbox Mode!
Here's the full change log:
We've started building a new Sandbox mode! Play endlessly with any ship you've previously created.
You can now view and save your favorite ship designs after each game.
Ship designs are saved on the Starter Kit screen so that you don't have to rebuild each time you change kits.
New characters: A gruff old goat. Sailor Eel. New Peacemakers!
