I have started 75% discount on Steam, updated store page, fixed several glitches, expanded mission interface for new missions and finished writing for story mission VII.
It was a busy week, but what I did is not very interesting to write about, so this post is perfect to officially reveal Sector Six sequel, ENTER and other games!
Yes, I already have plans for multiple games =]
If you have any questions about them, I ready to answer them.
Happy holidays and until next echo =]
Update! New story missions
This update adds two new story missions!
Fight new minions and bosses, meet a new character, endure despair and end the first chapter of the story!
From here the story will get even darker.
Other changes:
Fixed: It was possible to reflect apex's red lasers.
Fixed: Dozan Vel area glitch.
Fixed: "You can use more weapons" message used to appear on level up screen even after maxing out weapon limit.
Fixed: City trade link was above item tooltips.
Siege missions now take less time to complete.
Replaced "Cannot be refilled" alloy container flaw with "Loses 20 alloy after every mission".
Added backgrounds for Silaar, Charred Link, Nebula, Rift and Broken Infinity.
Improved backgrounds.
Removed fog.
This week I have finished making story mission VI, with all its bosses and encounters!
Now I need to make story mission VII, but it's more a cutscene than a mission, so it won't take me longer than a day to make it.
Then there's the mandatory polishing/minor bug fixing phase and I can release the update!
This should happen this week, so keep an eye on announcements!
I'm about 60% done, I have added all required enemies, finished writing and finished 1 out of 3 boss fights.
Mission VI is divided into three parts and at the end of each part, there's a small boss fight.
When I say small I mean that it's smaller than boss fight in mission V.
Scythe is the first minion that is able to destroy player shields.
It releases slow moving bladed mines that aren't hard to dodge, but if you will activate a shield, it will be gone instantly.
Havoc does the opposite - you will have to shield yourself or you'll take massive damage!
Echo #90: New update schedule and story mission VI
Last week I have returned to working on Sector Six story!
But first, here's the new update schedule:
Mission VI and mission VII update
This update will add mission VI and mission VII.
ETA: 2017 December.
Mission VIII and background update
This update will improve backgrounds and add mission VIII
ETA: 2017 December.
Mission IX and item update
This update will add mission IX and will improve items + add the first batch of relics.
ETA: 2018 Q1
Mission X update
This update will add mission X.
ETA: 2018 Q1
Mission XI update
This update will add mission XI.
ETA: 2018 Q1
Mission XII update
This update will add mission XII.
ETA: 2018 Q1
Mission XIII update
This update will add mission XIII.
ETA: 2018 Q1
Mission XIV and last game update
This update will add mission XIV, some endgame content and all remaining achievements, new save system and avatar customization.
With this update, game will leave Early Access
ETA: 2018 Q1
I really wanted to finish Sector Six in 2017, but it's not going to happen.
The new plan is to release the game before the second quarter of 2018.
It should be possible because all that's left is content and story.
Speaking of story, the mission that I am working on - mission VI - will take place in Tridenkor, Colowis, and Mzenim.
This mission will have unique events and enemies like mission IV and a boss fight like mission V!
It's a very important and ambitious mission - it's going to change the direction of the story and it will be very intense.
Mission VI will add three new enemies: Havoc, scythe, and barrier.
Scythe will immobilize, havoc will fire so many missiles that you will need to hide under the special shield to survive and the barrier is similar to barricades from mission IV, just capable of attacking, nothing special.
And that's all I can write about mission VI without spoiling it.
Massive update! Region rework, new content and part compression
This update completely changes regions!
Sector Six has been split into 30 different level regions.
Regions have different areas, cities, and enemies.
Part compression
Now you can combine two same level and grade parts into one to make your spaceship smaller!
You can compress parts in all cities.
Arena missions
Secure areas with arenas and enter them to fight!
In the arena, you can choose which enemies to fight.
You need to kill 10 minions to complete arena mission.
Completing arena mission will reward you with units.
The number of units you will get is based on enemies you destroyed during the mission.
Siege missions
Use siege cannon to destroy the Machine bulwark!
Siege cannon requires ammo to be used and it can be obtained by killing enemies.
Cannon keeps running out of ammo and minions keep coming, making it the most complex side mission!
New enemies
The Machines have released barragers and orbital platforms to wreak havoc in Sector Six.
Barragers have a weapon that rapidly fires missiles - don't get in front of them or you'll be destroyed!
Orbital platforms are not a big threat if you can remove their shields and don't get hit by their unpredictable mines!
New secured area types
New types of secured areas have been added:
Areas that sell generic weapons and amplifiers
Areas that sell parts and amplifiers
Areas that sell parts and alloy containers
Areas that sell optimized parts
Areas that sell advanced parts
Areas that contribute generic part after every successful mission.
Areas that contribute generic weapon after every successful mission.
Areas that contribute amplifier after every successful mission.
Areas that contribute optimized part after every successful mission.
Areas that contribute advanced part after every successful mission.
Areas that contribute fractal part after every successful mission.
Graphical combat improvements
Added additional enemy hitting animations and sounds to make combat more satisfying.
Enemy sprites also become more damaged as they lose armor.
Loot changes
Loot has been rebalanced: Enemies now drop units on almost every kill, while part drops are rarer.
There are also new loot messages.
Have fun! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309792 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309794 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309788
Region rework update is coming soon!
Just posting to inform that the massive update that will introduce two new mission types, improved gameplay, new features and completely changed regions is still under development.
I was trying to release it last weekend, but I have found a lot of new glitches during the final test run, so I had to spend extra time fixing them.
The new plan is to release it before the end of the week, so the wait is not going to be long!
Here's a bit of what you'll get with the next update:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309792 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309794 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1201309788 I hope this looks good!
Echo #89: Relics
This week I have added siege missions, improved new game+ and began polishing new map system.
It seems that I'll need an extra week to finish map rework because the list of minor improvements I have to make has become really big.
Anyway, it's been a while since I have written about future updates.
As you probably know, after map rework I will finally be making story missions.
There are 9 missions left to go, a lot of them will be difficult to make, especially the ones close to the end.
There will be a journey to Sector Five, 7 fights against the Machines, important reveals, new characters and heaps of new content.
This might take me months to make, but these months will be very interesting!
I'm planning to sneak in smaller stuff with story missions on each update.
There are several things I want to add to take game closer to perfection.
One of those things is relics.
Item update back in June really helped to make higher tier items more interesting, but they aren't as good as legendary items in other loot games.
I always thought that random items are what makes a loot game, but I have to admit that I was wrong.
Hand-coded items with unique are just better than procedural items.
At least not with my item generator.
I think that lack of interesting items is the final gameplay flaw of Sector Six.
And I am going to fix it by adding relics!
I came up with the idea of relics by watching some video about Destiny 2.
Destiny 2 has legendary items and I was inspired to write a description of a legendary item for Sector Six.
I wrote one, then another one... And now I have a whole bunch of relics!
It's surprisingly easy, there's a lot of design space that I was not aware of.
Here are some of the relics:
Breakcharm Of Mara Removes 40% of armour from first 10 minions in mission
Only works if Manifestations Of Destruction is active
Avadys, Atomic Collector Increases damage by 2% on kill
Generates 1% armour on kill
Etherion's Fusion Reactor +5 levels to Missile Strike ability
+5 levels to Concentrated Fire ability
+5 levels to Detonate ability
Mortal Core +200% damage if you have transient container equipped
Generates 1 alloy on kill
Darkwork -80% armour
Alloy containers will restore 10% of armour per alloy
Rifted Lure +5 levels to Phase Recognition System
+300% phase break damage
Reduces phase break cooldown by 80 seconds
Only works if Risk For Reward is active
Ultranid's Hope Damage you deal to your spaceship will not destroy it
Plasma's Link Reduces Piercing Lasers cooldown by 30 seconds
Metasphere, Secondary Main Core Your spaceship will not be destroyed for 5 seconds after armour drops to 0
Fractal Repository Generates fractal part after every successful mission
Eternal Nodeno Transforms Nine Bladed Mines into Thousand Bladed Mines
+30% node damage
Weaver's Song Transforms Swarm Control into Spectral Barrage
+100% damage
Calm Of Vanadian, Mental Reactor Azimar's Killframe set effect will not remove ether
Sets ether on kill to 0
Transforms Creation Of Energy into Glory Of Vanadian
Relarei To Burn Worlds Reduces Death From Above cooldown to 0.5 seconds
Increases Missile Strike cooldown to 5 seconds
Removes 1% ether every second
+30% relay damage
I was planning to add some of those effects as small part sets, but this works much better!
I would like write more about relics but it's time for me to deal with a huge list of not-so-huge improvements and glitches.
Until next time!
Echo #88: Part compression
This week I have added remaining 15 regions, improved secure regions, implemented part compression system and began working on siege missions.
The most interesting of these is part compression.
Part compression allows you to combine two parts into one!
Compressed parts are easier to manage and allow to built smaller spaceships.
Things you need know about compressed parts:
Compressed parts use 2 slots like two uncompressed items would.
Compressed weapons use 2 weapon slots.
You cannot compress different grade and different level parts.
Compressed parts cannot be compressed further.
Parts can be compressed in all cities and it costs 5 alloy.
Also, compressed part is two parts stat-wise, but physically it is one part.
Using compressed parts will make Awakening Of Inner Power and Creation Of Energy abilities weaker.
I am planning to adjust few more abilities to work like that and keep uncompressed parts viable.
So yeah, now you choose how big your spaceship will be!
To make part compression, I had to add few things to cities in secure regions.
One thing led to another and I have made several improvements to secure regions.
Most noticeable of them are graphical improvements.
Cities still don't look as good as I want them to look, but it's a step forward.
I have also made city entering and leaving faster and automatic, you no longer need to manually move your ship to the city.
Anyway, as I have planned, this week I have added remaining 15 regions.
Now Sector Six has 145 areas and it should take about 300 missions or 15 hours to secure all of them!
It's unnecessary and I don't recommend doing that, but it still feels good to have so much content.
With all of that done, only four things remain in to-do list:
Add siege mission.
Add endgame area and improve new game+.
Add a few minions.
Fix various minor problems.
I can probably do all of that in a week, so the update is close!
Map rework continues!
Last week I have added more regions, added contribution system, improved map interface further, relocated certain regions and changed story mission 5.
I would have done more, but I have burned out in the middle of the week and had to spend a whole day recovering.
Also, I had to help my parents to harvest beets, so didn't have much time to work on the game.
Coincidentally, I added a reward system that allows you to harvest free items!
To do that, you need to secure region that contributes parts, then complete mission in the other area of the region and hit the new "Collect" button in map interface to collect contributions.
There are 15 regions now out of planned 30.
I expect to have all regions added to the game next week.
I should have more time and remaining regions have no story missions, so I can add regions faster.
Here's the updated to do list from the previous echo:
Add 15 regions.
Add siege mission.
Add endgame area and improve new game+.
Add a few minions.
Add part compression.
Improve secure regions further.
Fix various minor problems.
Adding one region takes about 10-20 minutes, including adding decorations and naming the areas, so it should be done quickly.
And yes, now I give a unique name to each area.
The interesting thing about area names is that they aren't gibberish.
If you will pay attention to them, you may find out a lot about Sector Six.
For example, Archmist region area names: Colowa, Phasia, Kor, Negatar and Mzenor.
They are archaic names of Negati, Phase, Colowis, Tridenkor and Mzenim.
That's because sentient life in Sector Six began in Archmist asteroids.
People from Phasia colonized region now known as Phase, it was the centre of Phasian civilization.
People from Kor later have conquered Phase and created Empire of Kor.
Which later shattered and turned into three smaller empires of Tri, Den and Kor.
Even later those empires were conquered by nations from Colowa, Mzenor and Negatar.
People of Tri, Den and Kor fled to a distant region that they have called Tridenkor.
Tridenkor region is going to have only one area called Innexis.
And in the Almadi language "Innex" means "Unity".
From the word "In" - "One".
A lot of area names mean something in Almadi language, they will start making more sense as I will develop the Almadi language and reveal more of its words.
I rarely write about this, but a lot of names and features in Sector Six have stories behind them.
Anyway, I have relocated certain regions and added new regions.
Here's a new list of regions: (And names of upcoming story missions for hype!)
Region level / Region name / Region mission
Level 1 / Deep Path / The Beginning
Level 2 / Negati / To Negati
Level 3 / Labyrinth / The Almadi Knowledge
Level 4 / The Core / The Core
Level 5 / Aspil / The Eight Keys
Level 6 / Pylon / The Eight Keys
Level 7 / Niss / The Eight Keys
Level 8 / Archmist / The Eight Keys
Level 9 / Sailemar / The Eight Keys
Level 10 / Ityl / The Eight Keys
Level 11 / Paradise / The Eight Keys
Level 12 / Tarion / The Eight Keys
Level 13 / Tridenkor / The Wrath Of The Machines
Level 14 / Colowis / The Wrath Of The Machines
Level 15 / Mzenim / The Wrath Of The Machines
Level 16 / Broken Labyrinth / The Origin
Level 17 / High Path / Path Beyond
Level 18 / Gallamar / Beyond Light
Level 19 / White Grid / Beyond Light
Level 20 / Eolutch / The Edge
Level 21 / Pulsar Vector / Broken Worlds
Level 22 / Bloom / Broken Worlds
Level 23 / Lumer Pass / Broken Worlds
Level 24 / Wacar / Broken Worlds
Level 25 / Venerion / Broken Worlds
Level 26 / Phase / Broken Worlds
Level 27 / Nebula / Broken Worlds
Level 28 / Spiral / Broken Worlds
Level 29 / Rift / The Birth Of Infinity
Level 30 / Broken Infinity / The Eight Machines
As you can see story mission 5 - The Eight Keys - is spread through 8 regions.
It used to work better with old map system because it's not designed to be linear, but I can't do anything about it now.
Besides that, the new map system works well and I can continue developing it =]
It should be finished in two more weeks.
Next week I am planning to work on secure regions, I'm going to make cities look better and add part compression.
That's all I have for this echo, so until next time!
