Version 0.5.0 is a big update with changes to the way the shield gets upgraded and the game is won. Rather than requiring 3 orestones per level, this number is arbitrarily set for each level to better fit with the difficulty. The other big change is each level is customized for aesthetics and strategy. Finally, the shield has a "magnetic" effect for the ore making it much easier to catch. Later levels will have some hazards to offset this ease.
Improvements
Redesigned all levels
Refactored paddle upgrade requirements
Changed win condition to be full inventory rather than last ore
Reply to this thread with any comments, suggestions or issues
Level 2 Redesign
Level 2 has been redesigned to also remove the unattainable Iron core. A few more features were added to make it look more appealing.
Level 1 Redesign
Level 1 has been redesigned, mostly to make it look nicer, but also to remove the Iron core that is unattainable.
Level Designer
For those curious how the new Level Designer works, here's a 100% hand made level. This all told took about 13 minutes to complete, so we'll be able to pump out some levels pretty quickly. The only limitation should be our imagination!
Here's the video:
https://youtu.be/cbcBryHX4l0
Shield Upgrade & Level Design refactor
Work over the last couple of weeks has been driving towards a refactor of the following items:
Level Design
In the current release of Rockochet, levels are procedurally generated using a 2D + height terrain algorithm. While this is great for spherical objects, the time it takes for details is better done by hand. This makes cracks, wells, and interesting features much easier to do. I have completed a "Level Designer" utility that can first procedurally generate a rock, then it allows touch-ups.
Level Progression
There are multiple layers in a level and the cyan colored "Ice" layer is the lowest level (3), progressing through Iron (4), methane (5), etc etc. In order to progress to a higher level, currently it is hard-coded to catch 3 of your currently level before the shield is upgraded, and the final level there is only 1 that *must* be captured. This refactor will allow an arbitrary number of stones for each level to be captured, including the final layer's stones. This goes hand-in-hand with the level designer refactoring.
Other Refactoring
There are some other behind the scenes refactoring going on. Previously all the parameters of a rock were just hard-coded in a list of tuples. Now they will be stored in an external configuration file which better allows for automation in building, testing, etc.
Update 0.4.14 - Orestone attraction
The past 2 weeks were taken up mostly with devops implementation to make code-to-build more automated and resilient. The break was good as it helped to come up with a new approach to the "catching orestones is too hard" problem. Rather than tinkering with speeds or spawn angles, the stones now get attracted to the shield when close-ish. This new mechanic does indeed make catching stones much easier, so look to hazards and enemies soon to offset this.
Additionally, orestones and balls no longer kill the player when struck, they just pass through. The ball is obvious because if you miss the ball it'll end up out of bounds anyway. The Orestone didn't make sense killing you if the shield is sucking it in anyway.
Improvements:
Orestone attraction mechanic
Player no longer killed when struck by ball or orestone
Player will randomly spawn around the Rock to add more variation
As always, please post feedback to the Steam discussions:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/761990/discussions/
Dev Note: This week is about DevOps and Level 2 retune
During the mad dash to release I kinda left a DevOps mess (well, mess according to my OCD) thus needing to spend a good chunk of this week retooling some of the backend workflows and solidify the game's released numbering.
Also, There has been a lot of feedback since the release of Rockochet about level 2 being a bit tough to complete. After the first bit of feedback I simply changed the speed of the Orestones allowing the stone and ball a more staggered feel. This introduced a new problem of having to wait for an orestone and missing the ball. I want to convey that keeping the ball in play is priority and losing a few orestones is ok. Some Ideas presented so far:
Improvements
Have the ball bounce path always be near the player
Have ball dislodge multiple orestones
Randomize the orestone spawn speed
Update 0.4.13
This is a re-balancing update. Some players were remarking that the ball and stones were arriving at the same time. The stone spawn velocity now starts at 50% and ramps up to 100% speed to give players a chance to catch up to normal game play. The other alternative is to slow the ball way down and slowly ramp it up to the stone velocity.
Please post to this thread with your thoughts on Level 2 difficulty:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/761990/discussions/0/3211505894125022581/
Improvements
rebalance for Level 2
changed color and urgency of HUD callout to green and cycle every 1 second
Fixes
fixed powerup continuing to make sound once attached to Shield
fixed null reference exception when being hit by powerup
Update 0.4.12
Hotfix to fix a bug with shield not launching under certain conditions.
Update 0.4.11
Notice: all leaderboards have been reset due to a redesign on the first few levels.
This is a big redesign to accomodate the "New Player" experience. For the first 5 levels, the ball has been slowed down, and certain features are disabled to help dole out some of the features. This should prevent new player frustration with too many things going on in level 1.
disabled ball spamming between scene loads for good ... this time.
experimented with 3-4 player tutorials, decided on the current one
