Since the previous update, I've completed a wider visual and difficulty pass for Mission 3.
The visual work combines original aircraft and drone sprites with openly licensed environment assets. More importantly, it responds to feedback that some of the earlier enemies were blending into the mountain background. The revised drones use a warmer industrial treatment, clearer outlines and stronger contrast, while the active combat area of the background is less saturated.
I also revisited the mission's difficulty. Standard still introduces the drone roles, firing lanes and squad skills at a measured pace. High Threat is an optional version for players who already know those systems. It uses a separate encounter table rather than simply increasing every enemy's health or speed: formations overlap, armed contacts arrive while earlier groups are still active, and the recovery windows between waves are shorter.
The clip below compares the third wave in both versions:
I'd particularly like to know whether High Threat creates a different kind of pressure, or whether it only looks busier. Do the overlapping formations remain readable? And does the visual pass make it easier to understand why a hit happened?
I've written a longer development log about the asset selection, readability changes and High Threat design here:
https://jpb18.itch.io/project-aether/devlog/1631945/building-a-visual-language-t...
If you have experience with shmups and would like to try the current build, let me know. I'm happy to send an individual download link in exchange for feedback.