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[Scelly9]

PTW, because this looks really cool.

[Shook]

Thanks, i hope i won't disappoint too much! c:

@SirAaronIII: Yeah about that boss on EPIC MAN MODE >:C... How the fuck do you guys do it? I mean i can beat it on Nightmare on the first try, but EPIC MAN MODE >:C is an entirely different creature. I mean, the instant-hit beams kill you instantly unless you have 50% armor (or 46% with shield, or 44% with heavy shield), and the big lasers are pretty much guaranteed death by that point (500 base damage vs your 100 health, good luck), and the small tracking lasers each deal 100 base damage while also being fairly hard to dodge. I don't know how you do it, but my hat's off to you. :U
ANYWAYS, yes, if i keep pursuing the badges, then we'll need an EPIC MAN MODE >:C level for them. Bismuth, perhaps? Platinum's too hard to distinguish from silver. And besides, who WOULDN'T want a bismuth medal?

@Yoink: Awesome, thanks! I can only apologize if it's too hard, but it ain't gonna get much easier than it is. Playing on Easy would probably make your life easier if you don't already, else i'll have to make a... VERY EASY mode!!! (which is also quite easily done, since difficulty essentially depends on a single variable at the moment)

Also, back from Iceland now, so development can potentially resume. However, Chartle's on vacation till August 1st, so i might not do a lot till then (not to mention that Mass Effect 3 is a hellacious time drainer). Meanwhile, here's something that might well end up being a very dangerous addition.



THE HEAVY WEDGE. Just as dumb as the normal wedge, but it's a LOT tougher. But why? Well, you've probably noticed how easily you go through wedges by level 9. This guy serves to remedy that by being a much more viable meatshield. And no, it's not going to come alone at you. It'll come in SWARMS. Other things to look forward to, in addition to the heavy wedge, in no particular order:
- Red Blockface (already shown before)
- Green Spaceblock (shown previously as well)
- Yellow Spreader (AUGH)
- Yellow Fan (this guy will fuck you over so badly)
- Red Sentry (fuck what)
- Third boss. Current thought: huge carrier with a slower pace than second boss but MUCH higher health, spawns enemy ships and has a HUGE central gun along with several relatively smaller turrets, very unforgiving when dodging is failed since most weapons cause massive damage. Central cannon can fire multiple types of shots, most of them being instant kills.

--- line that marks border between "definite" and "hypothetical" ---

- Rocket Sentry (aw shit)
- Despoiler ships (only mook that gets a cool name, fires beams similar to those of the second boss, except only straight ahead)

... And that's about it for now.

[miauw62]

Mayby you could use Candy for the EPIC MAN MODE >:C badges?

[SirAaronIII]

Believe me, I was thinking it was impossible too. I did die like a bajillion times, AND I was using that exploit from earlier like an uncool cheater.

My strategy was keep the mouse on the boss, hold both buttons, press E when possible for the strong beams, mashing left and right wildly, and hoping I didn't explode.

[TSTwizby]

The trick to beating the first boss is all in the timing. Go left a bit, wait a bit, right a bit, wait a bit, and if you time it right you'll pass exactly between the laser beams and the bullets going by. The more firepower you have the less time you need to do it for.

[Shook]

Huh, well that's one way to do it. I personally just tap sideways in tact with the small lasers to send them off course, then dodge the hell away when it fires the big lasers. I also try to stay away from the center, since the beams hit hard and without warning. I'm glad that there's something as a proper tactic against it though, it means that the balancing hasn't been totally off. Standing still and trading hits with it is suicide (even though you actually go between the big lasers, possibly even the beams if you go far enough back), so you have to exploit its behaviour to avoid the shots.

@SirAaron: Pretty much my initial tactic against the second boss.
Also, you do know you can press F for a front double super that gives you more boolit for your energy, right? (two shots for 90% as opposed to the turrets one shot for 55%)

@miauw: Candy? Ooo, that's a nice idea. It also makes for a nice reference to dorf fortress. c:

[SirAaronIII]

That's true, but I feel like it's easier to charge from 45% to 55% for another shot than 10% to 90%. But then the bar ends up being empty anyway.

[Megaman]

Friggin missiles. That is all

[theTrueMikeBrown]

So...

August 1st is passed - should we expect to see a new release soon?

[Shook]

Soon? No, don't hold your breath. Gotta find out what Chartle has done first, then i can begin doing that skill tree, and when those two are done, we need to make more enemies and more levels. Maybe, MAYBE it'll be done before August 14th, but i'm not promising anything. Thing is, i'm going on a 10-day field trip on that date, so August 14th to 24th will also be plagued by inactivity. Oh, and i also have a metric fuckton of pixelling to do if i am to make shinier backgrounds, but that might be for later. But thanks for asking, i'm glad that there's interest in this!

@Megaman: Nyeheheheh. Yes, missiles are evil. Maybe they need to be toned down just a bit, 40 damage is a tremendous shitload. Especially since it comes 6 times in a row.

@SirAaron: Yeah that's the sneaky part, you can fire turret shots more often, and for the most part, it's all you need. The front shots net you double the damage for 20% less energy, however, so if you can fire a front blast and then a turret blast, then you've fired three supers worth of damage into the face of the boss!

As for what i've been doing recently... Well, not much. Been taking it easy since i got home from Iceland, what with the impending field trip.

[Shook]

OK SO

news

I've implemented a variable that regulates the rate of fire for enemies, so at the moment, the table looks like this:

Easy: 60% damage, 90% RoF
Normal: 100% damage, 100% RoF
Hard: 150% damage, 105% RoF
Nightmare: 200% damage, 120% RoF
EPIC MAN MODE >:C: 2000% damage, 150% RoF

And believe me, EPIC MAN MODE >:C with enemies shooting 50% faster is CRUEL. Just like it's supposed to be. :U
I also did a test on level 9 with 200% RoF on Nightmare. It was... Pretty hardcore. I survived though. The following boss? Not so much. Both rockets and huge lasers are fired twice as often, and since a single burst of rockets can be fatal on Nightmare, that's pretty rough. I don't envy you EPIC MAN MODE >:C players. (that's just a 50% boost though, i got a ways into level 9 before dying)

Also here's the heavy wedge next to the normal wedge.



LIKE A PAIR O' BRO'S EH WOT

The heavy has four times the health of the normal one, so there's something to look forward to. Might still tweak it, haven't tried plowing through a huge formation of them just yet. If, and only IF i can continue at this pace, there might actually be something tangible by the 13th. No promises though, for all i know, the inspiration might disappear in 5 minutes.

Edit: meanwhile in EPIC MAN MODE >:C



yes it has four guns

[Shook]

OK SO

Back from Norway. So, first thing i did with this was to make the frame rate variable, since i was getting tired of it being locked to 30 FPS. Now you can theoretically run whatever frame rate you damn well please, provided that your computer can handle it. 120 FPS is ridiculously smooth (IF ONLY YOU COULD SEE THE GLORY), but also causes slowdowns on even my dedicated gaming rig during the more intense times. 60 FPS seems quite smooth too, and causes little to no slowdown on my laptop (while charging), so that'll probably be the default frame rate from now on. However, i'm planning to have options open to the player, so he/she can enjoy a selection of the most common frame rates. Speaking of which, anyone know of a list of the most common frame rates? I know of 60 hz, 100 hz and 120 hz (plus 30 FPS just because the game is native to that frame rate), any other notable ones i should know of?

Other ramblings: At some point i'll make both difficulty and enemy dakka changable by the player separately (probably via sliders), so he/she can fine tune his/her experience. Perhaps a game speed variable too, just because it was pretty fun to play at x4 speed, even if it was absurdly hard. However, i'll definitely be keeping some standard difficulties, since it's fun to think of ridiculous names for them. :U
Quick difficulty brainstorm:

Baby Mode :c - 30% damage, 75% dakka
Easy - 60% damage, 90% dakka
Normal - 100% damage, 100% dakka
Hard - 150% damage, 110% dakka
Nightmare - 200% damage, 120% dakka
Rude Awakening - 500% damage, 130% dakka
Dammit Developers - 1000% damage, 140% dakka
EPIC MAN MODE >:C - 2000% damage, 150% dakka

Note that i'm still only using my own completion of Nightmare as a benchmark. You crazy folks who completed it on EPIC MAN MODE >:C have my utmost respect, but i still seek to destroy you on that difficulty. (plus it's super intense when the enemies shoot 50% faster, just sayin')

Still trying to come up with a decent skill tree, mostly wondering exactly how it's going to work. I'm thinking it could either be a few separate trees which you can pump points into independently (and thus unlock skills from the bottom and up), or a trickier one where you pick one out of a few skills every level, thus excluding the others. The problem with this in general is that the skills of similar level should be equally powerful (or lead to something really good), so balancing will be quite problematic. With the bought upgrades, you can just skip the ones you don't like, but that's not quite a possibility with the skill tree, since i'd much prefer avoiding trash upgrades, and i'd also like to avoid having one particular build that dominates everything (apart from the "I HAVE BOUGHT EVERYTHING" build, but by then you'll be facing VERY tough opposition), even if that's pretty much a utopian thought.

Otherwise not much news, i still have to poke Chartle to ask how far he's gotten with the saving system.

[theTrueMikeBrown]

Sweet update. I look forward to seeing the new version

[Shook]

Thanks! Also, seeing, you say? Seeing can be arranged!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpa-LuREiho

But you can't hear it because i'm busy repeating myself a million times. I could probably voice a Skyrim guard with this accent.

[Shook]

hey guise

PROGRESS



New skill system almost entirely implemented, i just need to do dash and frontal dampers. And a few more details on this menu, of course.

Also, more news: Me and Chartle have decided to scrap the saving system entirely. It's not like it's a very long game, and the saving system is just ridiculously clunky to work with. Also, without a saving system, it feels more arcade-y. :U (and also brings the option of permadeath for the hardcore players)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that estimated release date is somewhere during November, provided that the current rate of progress keeps up. I still reserve the right to delay without reason, though.

Oh, and i've also fiddled with the effects, so there's a LOT less particles being spawned when enemies die. This did reduce performance impacts at 60 FPS, so that's nice.

Final news bit: At some point in the near future, i'll try contacting Danny Baranowsky about whether he has any interest in making music for this whatsoever, and if so, what kind of cost i'd be looking at. The man makes unbelievably good music, so i reckon it's worth a shot. :U