Posted May 13, 2024 by Dumenglume
First off -- THANK YOU to everyone who has played and supported this game. I had no idea it would have such a positive reception and it inspired me to add the features that were missing from v1.0.
The number one requested feature and sorely missing from version 1.0 is music. Right now the game only fits one song, but I may try to fit a boss theme in the future. I'm also open to including tracks from others if it fits the style of the game and I can fit it in the cartridge (songs will need to be limited to no more than two audio channels though to prevent conflicts with SFX).
The boss in v1.0 was pretty lackluster, both in movement, shot patterns, and difficulty. I've overhauled the boss so that it is more challenging and engaging for the player, as well as using more interesting shot patterns.
One of the enemies (the ones that slowly move towards the player) didn't fit well with the other two enemy types and were hard to see sometimes. They've been modified so that they now come in from the sides of the screen, slowing down and speeding up again (a nod to Lazy Devs Advanced Shmup Tutorial). This should provide more variety and also increase the challenge a bit.
Choose from 10 different color palettes in the Pause menu (press Enter), including palettes submitted by content creators who have supported the game during its development. Check them out!
v1.0 was a little too busy with its colors, and was sometimes hard to tell things apart. Now, the player's shots are always blue, and enemy shots are always orange (these colors will change with different color palettes).
Player shots now change their sprite when power is upgraded.
Doubloons have been modified a bit to help them stand out from shots as well.
Some of the names were confusing to players and not consistent with other shmups. These have now been changed and are hopefully clearer.
Scoring previously was somewhat confusing since score always increased the longer you survived. Instead, score only increases when destroying enemies and collecting doubloons. The amount awarded has been modified so that even higher scores can be achieved. Post your highest scores!
The game now shows your play time at the end of a game. Defeating enemies quickly will result in a faster play time. Post your fastest play time in the comments!
Fixed a bug where later enemies only spawn with 1HP. Let me know if this increases the difficulty too much!
That's it for now! I may revisit the game in the future for QoL / bug-fixes but the cartridge is pretty maxed out, so I don't see adding any major features. I do hope to eventually make a sequel / spiritual successor though now that Picotron has been released.
Thank you all once again! I hope you all enjoy version 1.1 of Space Ranger!