Devlog 05 – Weapons, Upgrades & Synergy Matrix

🔫 Weapons, Upgrades & Synergy Matrix

The latest update for Voidspace Survivors brings a huge step forward in gameplay depth — a complete weapon and synergy system!

Your ship can now equip multiple weapons at once, each with unique stats and firing behavior. Every weapon is defined as its own resource, making it easy to extend, balance, and combine in the future.

💥 Weapon System Rework

The new system supports primary and secondary weapon slots, allowing the player to switch, upgrade, and mix different playstyles.

• ✅ Modular weapon setup (easily add new weapons)
• ✅ Shared base logic via WeaponBase class
• ✅ Fully automatic firing & cooldown handling
• ✅ Second weapon slot integrated into the player

Each weapon handles its own firing pattern and visuals — from lasers to blasters to spread shots. This modular approach makes future content creation lightning-fast.

🧩 The Synergy System

Beyond just weapons, this update introduces the first version of the Synergy Matrix — a system that detects and triggers special effects when specific weapons or upgrades are equipped together.

For example, combining a plasma beam with an overheat core might trigger a “Thermal Overload” synergy that boosts damage and adds visual effects.

• 🧠 Synergies defined via data matrix (GUI-based editor planned)
• ⚙️ Supports multiple triggers per weapon combination
• 💡 Automatic synergy checks when new items are equipped

The system is designed to scale — future updates will expand it with status effects, defensive modules, and cross-category interactions.

🧮 Smart Data Structure

Instead of hard-coding everything, the synergy logic uses a structured data setup: each weapon and synergy exists as its own resource that can be generated through the editor. This will later tie into a GUI tool that lets me visually define new weapons and their interactions.

• ✅ Data-driven weapon creation
• ✅ Synergy mapping via matrix logic
• ✅ Ready for future in-engine visual editor

🚀 Current Progress

• ✅ Player movement, dash & HP systems
• ✅ XP orbs & Fibonacci-based level progression
• ✅ First enemy type (small hunter)
• ✅ Full weapon framework (two slots, modular logic)
• ✅ Basic synergy detection and matrix system

With this, Voidspace Survivors finally has the core elements of a roguelite shooter: XP, levels, weapons, and evolving builds.

🧱 Next Steps

• 🔸 Visual editor for weapons and synergies
• 🔸 More enemy types to test build variety
• 🔸 Weapon upgrades and rarity tiers

From here, it’s all about expanding the arsenal and making every run feel unique. The foundation is solid — now it’s time to make it explode with possibilities.

💬 Stay in the Loop

Follow development or join the Zyragames Discord to chat, test, or share ideas:
👉 https://discord.gg/PW4gfhcA3p

Thanks for reading and supporting the project — next time, we’ll dive deeper into upgrade UI and synergy effects in action!

– Zyrano