our next update for Colonies is live now. This time the user-interface has been further improved: New vector icons for all kind of tasks, such as creating units or buildings, should provide the player a much clearer view.
As Unity‘s prelaunch-window has been deprecated, it was necessary to implement an in-game settings menu, where you can set your resolution and graphics.
Above all, some important fixes has been done for the NPC, more information in the changelog below:
Added a settings menu for graphics
New and better icons for units, buildings and tasks
NPC Attack behaviour has been patched: The NPC will continue with base attacks, an error stopped the NPC attacking the player‘s base, after its first or second attack
NPC should now place Cannon Towers at better/more senseful positions
Changed the resource name „Nickel“ and „Nickel Ores“ to „Copper“ and „Copper Ores“
MG-Towers should make a sound again when shooting
Fixed a bug of Laser-Spiders not rotating their gun tower
Fixed movement/rotation behaviour of some units
Fixed selection panel of medium and heavy mechs: No more white icons
Some enemy units move now with a higher speed
Cannon Towers make some less damage, as they seemed overpowered
Fixed a bug, where the help panel didnt show up on ice planet map
Fixed the minimap position on ice planet map
Changed minimap‘s screeen cursor color from blue to green for a better view
Fixed Win/Lose announcements
The next update is scheduled for end of February, until then, I hope you are having a good time!
Update to version 0.35
Hello everyone,
Today, I’d like to announce that the newest update is finally online! This is a major update to version 0.35. Overall, it took much longer than expected and I sincerely apologize for the delay. It was definitely a lot of work but I am happy that this leg of our journey together has finished! I can now focus on creating new content and keep on polishing. In case you haven’t read the previous announcement, I said that many parts of the project will be reworked and others will be started anew.
I am happy with the results and I hope you are too! Colonies looks, sounds, and feels better than before and there is now more incentive to advance further in the game. However, Colonies is still not completely out of the development stage yet. There are more maps, more unit types, and more mech construction options still to come!
[previewyoutube="1AFUCPCYVVc;full"] The following is a log to all the changes made to version 0.35:
Reworked textures of all units and buildings
Reworked maps and its textures
Added a new map: Ice Planet
New and improved AI behavior: AI will defend his harvesters when possible, it will also focus harvesters on single resources instead of spreading all over the map, and units shouldn’t stack anymore and will choose a free position instead
Units will now have a rectangular formation when moving them as a group
New Camera Control: You can now rotate the camera by 360° and camera movement will be smoother
New animations and models for buildings under construction
Improved performance thanks to optimized scripts
Changed game-play: Player will no longer have a base in the middle of the map and will now have a maximum of one enemy NPC faction
Added more sound effects and changed a few of the existing ones: Mech Walking, industrial sounds, and UI sounds
New user interface
Buildings can now be built with a different rotation
Housing buildings have been replaced with 2 new models, one for each faction
Cannon Tank and Laser Tank models have been reworked
Repair unit model has been replaced by a repair drone
New Unit: Mobile Artillery, deals damage to buildings over large distances
Altered Game Mechanics: Outposts can be built anywhere on the map so science spots have been omitted and Science Outposts can now be built within an Outpost.
Unfortunately, a few things could not be implemented as of yet, but the next updates I will reintroduce and provide overall improvements to the following:
Fog of War is currently disabled
The radar tower, the recon buggy, missile launchers/missile towers, and tutorial are currently not available
Buildings currently don’t have a damage effect but it is something I’d like to improve upon
I hope you enjoy this new version of Colonies and I very much appreciate your continued support! Thank you all and Happy Holidays!
Coming soon: Major Update to version 0.30
Hey everyone,
I apologize that you haven't heard from me sooner.
In case you are wondering what's going on with the Early Access title, here are some points I'd like to share.
The work has already begun for the next update and it will be, compared to the previous updates, a rather large one.
The project will be ported to the latest version of Unity. Also, large parts of the code had to be rewritten. Rewriting, as well as reorganizing the project’s structure, takes, honestly, a little longer as expected.
However, you'll be happy to know that, with the changes, you'll have improved performance and gameplay. This also makes it possible to expedite future development changes thanks to a better and more efficient project organization.
What this means for you:
Improved unit navigation: units will now check whether another unit is already occupying a position and, if so, search for a free one; preferably in formation. Units will no longer stack unnecessarily and end up on top of each other
You will be able to form groups and let units stand in a line or rectangular formation
Constructing buildings will have better animations
New map: Ice map with a crater
New mission menu
Just a small example of how units get automatically into an attack position
The above mentioned features will be available in the upcoming update. There are also a few more changes planned for later updates.
New Unit: Mobile Artillery, will be able to bombard an area instead of only focusing on a single target
Survival mode: Survive enemy waves of either the other faction or alien bugs
More order options for units such as hold fire, defend only, hold position, patrol, and waypoints
You may expect version 0.30 to be published around the end of October. I appreciate your patience as I implement these coming changes.
Do you have any suggestions for future updates or changes you'd like to see? Did you find any bugs that should be addressed? Please, don't hesitate to let me know here or using the community hub. I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you very much!
Update v0.26
Hello,
the update to version 0.26 is finally live; With new explosion destruction effects, as well as new additional voices for units, combat acion in Colonies is now way more fun!
The new building textures haven’t been implented yet. That is because it will be done in the next update, which will be the largest until now. More about this in a later announcement in a few days.
Changelog v026:
• Added new explosion and destruction effects to units and buildings • Units should have randomly different voices • The player has the option to disable fog of war before starting a new mission • Medium and heavy mechs make significantly more damage • Scrolling is 50 % faster • Fixed an issue, where the ai enemies did not build anything • Fixed an issue, that caused an errenous behaviour when saving a game with a mech factory having built. • Fixed an issue, where the ai stopped collecting resources
Have a nice day!
Patch v025.1
Hello,
we have a small patch here that fixed a bug, where exporting nickel or uran via starport didn’t bring any score (sorry!).
Also some shader adjustments to some units have been done.
The next update is currently being worked on, but it will take another week or more to be complete. It will fix missing explosion effects and animations of units and buildings, and also hopefully improve the existing ones. Another plan is to slightly change the building textures, so that they have a decent touch of the faction’s color.
Take care!
Update v0.25: Repair Units & Sell Buildings
Hey, how‘s it going?
The next update for Colonies is ready to get downloaded. Three new features have been added, as requested by some players. You can now sell buildings, repair units and your units will now move to a Go-To-Position after spawning. Change that position with right mouse click on the terrain, while the building is selected.
Besides of that, important things have been fixed such as saving map-resources and a (hopefully) correct calculation of the radar‘s energy.
Changelog v0.25
• Player has now the option to sell a building and get 75% resources refunded. The building needs at least 90 % health for this. (excluded from selling are the command center, research facility, outpost center and science outpost)
• Repair Unit: Can be created in your command center; will automatically repair units in a certain range, or by direct orders
• Added a Go-To-Position for spawned units
• All 3 maps can now be played from the beginning
• Fixed an issue according the savegame system: Map-resources that were empty/exhausted by the time of saving, created an error later on in a loaded game
• Fixed an issue with the energy system, where radar‘s need for energy hasn‘t been calculated correctly
• And a few little things like adjusting size of some selection panels, brightness of crossfades and lowering sound volume when ordering units to build a construction
Have a nice day!
Update/Patch version 0.24.5
Hi there,
this update will bring, among other things, some improvement to the UI: An animated crossfade will appear when ordering an attack on a buiding or unit. Also the map resources have now a new selection marker.
Changelog v.024.5
• A heavy bug has been fixed, where buildings could not be destroyed in a loaded mission
• CPU enemy and player have now a larger command center border to place the buildings
• CPU enemy will deploy its towers now more outside of his base
• CPU enemy has now less resources to start with
• All player’s buildings should now have a hovering health bar
• Resource collectors & construction units will play different sound on each worker‘s position
• Recon buggy and constrution units should now be easier to select by mouse click
• Uraninite amount in rocks is now 100 less
• Added a “Contact” button in main menu, so you can give directly feedback or ask any questions
Have nice weekend everyone!
Update v.0.24: Save & Load
Hello,
hope everyone is well up!
The second update for Colonies has been submitted. It includes a savegame system, so from now on you will be able to save your current mission when quitting the game. Simply pause the game and click “Save & Exit”. You can then load your mission again from within the start menu. However, please note following limitations of saving & loading a mission:
• Currently only one save slot available
• Units that are still queueing for spawn by the time of saving, will be canceled and resources refunded
• Starport’s transporters will currently not be saved, but spawn from a anew instead.
In the future, the player will have the option to choose different save slots, so, rounding up the savegame system, as well as bug fixing and adjusting gameplay mechanics will have a high priority for the next few patches/updates.
Changelog v0.24:
• Added savegame system
• Changed Starport’s export mechanic: You will receive your score by the time your resources has been substracted for export
• Adjusted resource collecting: Resources will be harvested 50% faster
• Fixed unit/building panel and minimap so that they dont hinder player anymore to scroll with mouse
• Enemy buildings are now selectable and player should be able to order directly attacks on a building
• Fixed error where buidings couldnt get destroyed with active tasks
• Fixed wrong descrption when selecting alien bugs
• Fixed a bug where uran enrichment didn’t require any power
• Fixed explosion sound of some units
• Added some iron ore rocks to map 1 &2, also the cpu enemy has now ores near his base
• Fixed a wrong setting of the enemy, where he could easily build heavy missile launchers on map02 and overwhelm the player’s base
Have a nice weekend!
Update to version 0.23
Hello,
let me thank you first for purchasing Colonies and the trust you have put into development of this game!
This first update comes with a small tutorial explaining you some basic gameplay mechanics.
Further on, some bugs have been fixed, as well as some adjustments and improvments to the UI and sound have been done.
For the next update it is planned to implement a save game system. Much of the work has already been done and it should be available in 1-2 weeks.
Changelog v0.23:
• Added tutorial with a small map
• Combat units should now acoustically confirm your order to attack
• Fixed a bug where mech units didn‘t make a sound when firing with cannons
• Adjusted position of the medium mech‘s healthbar
• Starport selection panel: Added a short overview of the score you will get for exporting
• On-Map-Resource selection panel: Fixed color and position to display resource amount
• Lowered sound volume of producing factories and machinegun fire
• Slightly increased movement sound volume of mech units
• Launching rockets should now have sound effect
Hello folks,
