Hey guys sorry this update is overdue but it's a good one! It gives a look at the Blaster Missiles as well as puts Xenos all over the planets!
As always, the Dev update is for in-progress work. The Xenos in particular are outrageously buggy right now - they will run away from you, start fights with each other (kind of cool actually!) and the balance is all out of wack. Also the missiles don't have a proper area-of-effect explosion yet - just the particle effects.
To use the Missiles, hold right-mouse-button and fire!
To try out this Dev update, go to Steam -> right click Rodina -> Properties -> Betas tab -> choose "Dev" from the dropdown
The combat update is nearing completion! Next up will be the Beta release and it'll contain a few more new enemies, lots of polish, and a surprise!
Dev Update: New Weapon, Powerup, and Animations!
Another update on the Dev branch with in-progress work on the Combat Update!
This update adds a simple new weapon - a Repeating Blaster - which is an alternative for those who don't like the charging mechanic of the standard Blaster. You need to add it to the ships interior or start a fresh game to grab one off the wall.
More importantly - a new powerup! Defeating the Xeno Incinerator will give you a Fire Booster, which temporarily gives you the ability to shoot fireballs! (Currently very overpowered - have fun!)
Most importantly - a change to the animation system that is mostly behind the scenes. I moved Xeno animation from Scripts to the Engine, using a new "Component" system which I am going to use heavily in the future. For now, this change should lead to a higher framerate in combat, and much improved procedural animation quality.
Unfortunately this update took two weeks instead of one, but the new Component system is going to be super important to keeping the game optimized, so it was well worth the time!
Dev Update: Health Pickups!
Updated the Dev build with more in-progress work on the Combat Update.
This time I added Health Pickups (and by extension: dynamic physics objects) for the first time! I also rebalanced combat a bit to make it harder, so each encounter will do more damage.
Next up is an important behind the scenes improvement that will optimize FPS during combat, along with powerups and maybe a new weapon! (I'm not yet sure how I'm going to handle multiple weapons - in the long run I want to add weapon choosing to the HUD but it might be too soon for that.)
But I'm REALLY excited the thing coming after that - it's a big secret!
Combat Dev Update!
Updated the Dev build with a tiny preview of some new Xeno types!
This is a rough build - no balance whatsoever on the new Xenos, and I discovered that the weapon sounds aren't working for some reason. Use this only to check some of the new work!
The Incinerator: Part of the Scavenger class, these Xenos are part of the cleanup crew - they strip everything of value and burn what they don't need. They are large and slow but will try to close distance to use their flamethrower, which can also double as a fire-ball launcher when at range.
The Poacher: Another member of the Scavenger class, the Poacher's responsibility is to strip target areas of all life and decide whether to eat it, breed it, experiment on it, or recycle it for resources. They use a weapon that tracks living things, and may eventually have an attack that slows you down.
Again, these are just rough drafts. I've got other plans in the mix - next up I hope to show you something brand new!
As always, you can access the Dev branch by going to Steam Library -> right click Rodina -> Properties -> Betas tab -> choose Dev from the dropdown. Remember to make backups of your mainline savegames so the Dev branch doesn't ruin them!
DirectX 11 Upgrade on Dev Branch
Whew! Finally done with an upgrade to DirectX 11. Key changes:
* Upgraded to DX11 (shouldn't affect support for older systems)
* Completely redone font renderer.
* Upgrade to SFML 2.4 for audio.
You can try out this update by switching to the Dev branch, in Rodina's Properties under the "Betas" tab.
Please let me know if you see any glaring issues with the new systems! In particular, I'd like to know if the DX11 upgrade means that anyone with an older / lower spec system can't run the game. We should be fine, but it's important to make sure!
brendan@elliptic-games.com
This update was a pain, and took a few days longer than I'd hoped - I'm eager to put this update behind me and get back to game code!
Rodina 1.2.3 and Vote Results!
First of all, I've updated Rodina to version 1.2.3 with some fixes to a handful of bugs, including a nasty airlock-exit bug. This update also contains a major refactor to the game code, so if you experience new problems, please let me know so I can address them!
With that out of the way, the latest Community Vote is over. The ballots are in and the winner is... COMBAT! However, this vote had a twist - read on to find out!
First here are the Bossypants results from my website (these results are the binding ones):
So that decides it - I will next be working on Combat features, including new enemy types, new weapons and powerups, planetary Xenos, optimizations and polish, and hopefully a surprise or two!
But, that's not the whole story. Here are the rest of the vote results from Steam, Reddit and Twitter:
Here we see that Interior Editing (and Multistory Interiors) won the vote! Now, if you add up all the totals, Combat still won, but these results show a clear second place result.
Since I plan to work on all of these features one after another, I can use ALL of your votes to establish an order! Combat first, then Interior Editing, then Interior Generation, and finally Bugs / Optimizations! I'm predicting that this will take me a bit into the New Year, but if I can be done before the end of 2016, that would be awesome! After that, I can proceed straightaway with the rest of the Roadmap!
Thank you to everyone who voted! The past few weeks have been amazing for the game, and your support has been incredible! On to the next stage!
