First things first: The price for Gravity Ace has dropped significantly! If you were waiting for the price to come down then your prayers have been answered. Go get it now.
Difficulty settings
Gravity Ace now has three difficulty settings that affect fuel consumption. At the easiest level, fuel is consumed much slower. And at the hardest level fuel is consumed faster. If you want the most challenging experience where fuel management is a very important part of the game then you want Hard diffculty. If you just want to shoot things and not worry about fuel so much, choose Easy.
Auto targeting
Along with the new difficulty settings you can also choose to use a targeting computer that will automagically select the closest target for destruction. You still control when you shoot but you don't need to aim anymore. Be careful and shoot wisely because one of the targets is the reactor core if you are not carrying it. You can now play Gravity Ace without using the right stick or mouse. This also makes the Classic mode controls (rotate and thrust) easier to manage. Hopefully this helps improve accessibility and lets you enjoy more explosions.
Control remapping
Controller mapping is in! You can change keymaps and controller buttons within the game from the Options menu. It does what you'd expect. Enjoy!
Gravity Ace available May 26!
Hey folks! It's a been a long time coming but Gravity Ace is leaving early access today! Thank you to everybody who has stuck around for the ride!
Early Access took longer than expected (let's blame Covid) but I think it's worth the wait. Gravity Ace now includes 50 levels of content in 2 campaigns, boss fights, many new enemies to fight, new mechanics like gravity rivers, an original soundtrack, and a built-in level editor that lets you share your creations with others. In fact, in case you didn't know, all of the levels in Gravity Ace were made with Gravity Ace!
We're celebrating reaching this destination with a significant launch discount. Try the demo, play the game, tell your friends, share your levels!
And this isn't the end of the road. I intend to continue working on the game. Specifically, supporting players with post-launch fixes, new mechanics, new enemies, and new levels. I have a fun idea for including a set of levels made by the community! The future is bright!
Thanks again for your support and help along the way! Enjoy the game!
Small fixes prior to release!
Hey, folks! Release day is nearly upon us and of course I'm making some last minute fixes. The most notable in this release is that the hitbox for the player was adjusted so that it's smaller. There was a bug making it a wee bit bigger than it should have been which, in some situations, felt Bad(tm). But it's all fixed, enjoy pilots!
Gravity Ace is leaving Early Access on May 26th!
It's been a long road, a little too long if I'm being totally honest with myself, but it's worth the wait. Over the past 17 months I've put in a ton of polish, lots of new enemies and levels, and improved the level editor significantly. I think you're going to have a lot of fun!
The level editor has a ton of fun new features like new event triggers, more dialog options, new enemies and bosses, new terrain, secret walls, and a lot more. All 50 levels that will ship with the full game were made with the level editor that comes with it. And you can easily export levels to share with your friends or the community. I can't wait to see what you can make!
The new campaign has 25 levels, just like the first, with all new puzzles and challenges in store. And there are built-in options specifically for speedrunning and streaming that I think you're going to enjoy.
It's been a long road but May 26th is not the end of the road. I'm planning more features post-launch including new toys for the level editor, new game modes, and more campaign content.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. It's truly been a wonderful experience! See you out there, Pilots!
v56-EA
New and updated:
- Drag and drop to import campaigns - Added boss 2 prototype - Changed multiple reactor core win condition (you just need one) - Added option for single-use beamout points - New objectives UI to see S-rank status during play - Removed print statement #ignore - New astronaut name and catchphrases @dudezord! - Turn off reactor safety when player attaches tractor beam - Keep reactor core safe for 3 seconds after player is killed - Reduce aim camera movement slightly - Increased aim visibility - Added level name to pause screen - Renamed pickups to coins on gameover - Update all visualizers when items are deleted or during undo - Shortened waypoint activation delay - Made HUD icons more visible - Sort scores and times in the level chooser - Finalized credits
Fixes:
- Fixed interaction between camera moves and paused dialog - Fixed visualizer updates when deleting objects - Fixed reactor moving slowly at beamout - Fixed saving too often - Fixed camera bug in editor visualizations - Fixed horizontal scrollbar in level list UI
v54-EA
New and updated:
- Moved screenshot dir and settings dir; Settings shouldn't be synchronized across platforms for Steam cloud saves but campaign progress and user created levels are - Replaced waypoint markers with HUD icons - Updated campaign dialog to show sector and level number
Launching soon!
Over here at Gravity Ace Headquarters we are putting the finishing touches on the final release of the game which will be announced VERY SOON!
In the meantime, try out the FREE DEMO and, if you're an EARLY ACCESS owner, try out a sneak preview of the second campaign! All currently available content is unlocked in the level editor too so have fun!
v43-EA
New and updated:
- Boss 1 work in progress - Removed inactive fuelpod drop code except for bosses which will drop fuel as you fight them - New astronaut name from @Nathanael; Spoiler: the name is Nathanael; P.S.: You can name an astronaut if you watch the twitch stream - New astronaut names; Thank you @HybridLizard!; Thank you @GamedevUnknown! - Adjusted gamepad deadzone when navigating user interface - New astronaut name and catchphrase -- thanks @human1428! - Modified level so astronaut doesn't bounce to his death - Changed collision for detecting if player is out of the combat zone - Updated explosion and effect spawners to use global coordinates - Created "homing" group so that when player leaves combat zone they are vectored back to the nearest static defense or cave wall - Put asteroids into their own collision layer separate from enemies - Update tractor beam to use global coordinates so that it works with objects that are children of bigger objects - Added a label to exit beacons in the level editor to explain that they are hidden until activated - Added social media buttons to pause menu - Added social icons to main menu - Added background people floating around the level chooser like poor lost souls in Tartarus
Fixes:
- Fixed homing arrow pointing to boss when player leaves the combat zone - Fixed dynamic checkpoint respawn position - Fixed boss shooting things in the level editor - Fixed respawning inside lasers - Fixed bug where ESC key didn't pause the game - Fixed bug where beam colliders were not active in the first second of the game load - Fixed bug where coins would not fade out at level exit - Fix crash when reactor is beaming away from boss and the player dies at the same time - Fixed enemy shooting and turrets and bullets so that they use global coordinates - Fixed speed trail to ignore parent rotations
v42-EA
This is long overdue -- progress has been made! Campaign 2 is being built as we speak and the finish line is in sight. I know everything that I need to do to release the game out of early access and the list is getting shorter everyday. Thanks for your support everybody!
There is a placeholder for Campaign 2 in this build -- it's not finished yet. I think I'm going to hold back some of the content until the full release but all of the new enemies, props, and goodies are available in the level editor for you to play around with!
New and updated:
- Added dust effects to mobile turrets - Added sound effects for mobile turret - Mobile turrets complete with new art!; New art; Fixed state machine bugs; Fixed ice launcher state machine as well; You're gonna love these evil dudes! - Named an astronaut Tiw for @robert_capper! - Added state machine to mobile turret and started on animations - Remember last selected wall theme for the next dab - New background textures in level chooser - Astronaut bounciness - Level chooser decoration - Clean level editor screenshots with Shift+F12 - Added asteroids to the level chooser screens that you can click on and explode! - Named the campaigns; Orion's Sword; Rigel's Revenge - Added buttons for switching between campaigns; Also added a fun warning dialog when you start campaign 2 against the LT's good advice - Prototype levels for season 2 - Created season 2 level chooser - Adjusted all collision hit boxes so they attach better to walls - New sound effect for ice launcher; more health for launcher - AI for mobile turrets that stops them from moving when they see the player - Patrolling enemies can be destroyed by laser beams - Patrol point sound effect and editor icon - Patrol points emit signals when they are activated that can trigger other entities in the game - New patrol point icon in level editor - Added Akien and Reduz astronaut names! - New patrol point art (final final??) - New catchphrases for astronauts - Full import/export capability with file dialogs - Campaign import and export functions - Added button for opening level save data folder to editor - Merge branch 'icelauncher-sfx' into main - Update patrol point art - Basic patrol points added to direct enemy patrols - Mobile turrets follow wall paths - New ice launcher sounds - Added grouped undo/redo when multiple things change at the same time - Added moving everything touching a wall together with ALT hotkey - Move objects touching wall when the wall moves in level editor - Removed Nakama high score server and leaderboards; Leaderboard server is unstable, feature not working out; Will add back later if the people want it - Asteroids are safe and won't destroy other objects when they first spawn in - Bouncy ricochet sound effects (pew pew) - Added shiny fancy shader for reflective bullet bouncing walls - Squashed all bugs in box select in level editor! - New reflective walls that bounce bullets! - Added sound effect for disappearing walls; This might be a placeholder (or it might be permanent, who knows) - Secret door disappearing hologram animation - Added "revealed" signal for secret doors (hat tip: ValiantCheese)Can trigger events in editor - Offset the wall shader UV for secret walls (hat tip: ValiantCheese!) - Added quick restart hotkey (Ctrl+R) - Added auto restart and fast respawn speedrun options - Disable hidden overlay when exiting level editor - Color hidden enemies medium gray in level editor - Updated "tool" entity icons - Added category icons for all entities in level editor - Improved wave event icon - Make enemy flash timer one-shot - Improve signal visualization - Disable damaged particles in editor - Improve visualization of signal connections; Signals now show direction; Little brighter; Cleaner UI - Make drone smoke stop after some time - Add descriptions for every object in level editor; Description appears in object chooser; Description appears in property inspector - Moved data out of scripts and into JSON files to keep code tidy - Moved entity data into a separate JSON file so that it's easier to edit - Added Wave Event object to editor; The object is not visible during gameplay; It counts incoming signals and when they all fire it emits its own signal to one or more objects; Can be used to require multiple actions (e.g. kill three enemies) before another action takes place (open a gate); Can be used to generate enemy waves after clearing a previous wave - Ice vents - Ice launcher icon - Ice launcher and ice projectile art; And some bug fixes caused by ice attaching and detaching from ship hull and shield
Fixes:
- Fixed aiming of enemies with turrets (was slightly off target) - Fixed sector cache returning data for wrong campaign - Fixed moving player around in level editor after the player has fired shots - Fixed object chooser appearing when typing in some dialogs - Fixed bug with enemies patrolling walls after exiting level editor - Fixed bug in level editor when deleting a wall - Fix for visual flashing glitch when drawing walls - Fix: Added safety checks on wall name data when loading level data - Fix for bullet tunneling through some walls sometimes - Fix auto restart bug when playing from level editor - Fixed level loading bug when an object is removed from the entities list - Fixed bug with deserializing dialog trees in level editor; Looks like an implementation change in the engine caused a side effect in how node names are handled or possibly how many frames queue_free requires to take effect - Fixed dialog preview stealing focus; Added a preview button to the dialog editor - Fixed object dialog appearing in dialog editor - Fixed don't spawn asteroids in level editor; Asteroids would sometimes collide with drones in the level editor and move them and it was a pain - Fix description centering in object chooser
v41-EA
New and updated:
- Disconnect frozen ice balls from shield when shield goes down - Deflect bullets when they hit water blobs - Updated engine to Godot 3.3 - New ice launcher art; Ice ball projectile; FixedJoint class - Placeholder ice turret; Placeholder art; State machine using AnimationTree (hat tip: Leonard); Working on projectile and art next - Added catchphrase and astronaut name from Leonard Meagher -- ty Leonard! - Added ice water icon to level editor - Updated the art and animation on the water blobs and splooshes with final art - Added water blob hazards to ice biome - Added slight blur to distortion shader - Simplified ghost shader so it doesn't need to read the screen - New ice plant art and animation - Revised ice wall texture; added more details - Added an indicator on reactor platforms to let the player know that they can drop a reactor there - Added button to level editor to center view on currently selected object - Reworked the UI for adding objects in level editor; Added popup radial object menu; New icons; New toolbar; Many little quality of life enhancements and fixes - Dead astronauts tell no tales - Added ice rock props to the ice world - More fun catchphrases for astronauts - New beamout sound effect at level exit
Fixes:
- Fixed levels with overlapping rotating lasers to adjust difficulty - Fixed enemy bullets doing damage - Fixed weird collision bug caused by new object dialog - Fix rotating laser gate in wrong collision group - Fixed collision shape on ice rock props - Fixed jank on gameover screen caused by updating leaderboard - Check for valid instance when clearing object dialog cache
