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Hyper Ultra Astronautics

Intense local multiplayer space arena shooter for 1-16 players · By FRACTiLE Games

Alpha/beta test releases

A topic by FRACTiLE Games created May 22, 2016 Views: 909 Replies: 19
Viewing posts 1 to 20
Developer (3 edits)

Hello everyone!

I really need your feedback on this. I have been developing this game alone for some time now and although it is a multiplayer game, there have only been a few test sessions with actual multiple players.

Most of the game mechanics are there, but obviously there is a lot of tweaking and fine-tuning to do. At this point the content is very limited. There are only five collectible items in addition to the default weapon. Fear not, a lot more is coming.

Give it a go and let me know what you think! All feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Developer

A new alpha version 0.0.2 is now available. Here's the change log:

  • A new weapon: Plasma burst.
  • Much better gamepad compatibility on Windows (XInput).
  • Added gamepad hot-plugging support.
  • Added support for four gamepads (up from two).
  • The game window no longer jumps outside screen when clicking its border in Windows.
  • Added proper window and application icons.
  • Added option to disable a gamepad or manually set gamepad type.
  • Improved ship label positioning at match start.
  • Fixed player labels randomly following wrong objects.
  • Check for updates when the game starts (at most once a day).
  • Fixed slow moving projectiles randomly passing through objects.
  • Fixed respawn labels not always showing up when a controller is reconnected.
This time I uploaded a 32-bit Linux build too.
Developer

I just uploaded a new alpha version 0.0.3. Here's what's new:

  • Added weapon aim indicators to HUD.
  • Made EMP disruption stronger and decreased its range a bit.
  • Visual improvements to virtual joystick in the mobile controller application.
  • Added health and temperature bar gauges in the mobile controller application.
From now on the alpha versions are available to everyone, not just subscribed testers.
Developer

A new alpha version 0.0.4 has been uploaded. Here's the change log:

  • A new weapon: Telefragger.
  • Added pause mode with free camera control (aka photo mode).
  • Made keyboard controller steering acceleration exponential to ease accurate aiming.
  • Tweaked ship steering to stop rotation a bit faster when controls are released.
  • Fixed bad bullet billboard orientation in certain camera angles.
  • Added a little random variation to total number of stars in the background.
  • Toned down the global reverb effect on audio.
  • Enabled anti-aliasing by default.
  • Fixed particle distortion effects not fading out smoothly.
  • Removed teleport trails and tweaked teleport in/out particle effects.
  • Multithreading improvements.
  • Fixed random crashes when game fails to start (exit gracefully instead).
  • New EMP wave effect.
  • Increased EMP range and disruption duration.
  • New shoot sound for scatter gun.
  • Slowed down missiles a bit.
  • Fade out missile thruster sounds as they fly outside arena.
  • Fixed Wine compatibility (tested on Linux, should work on OSX too).
  • Fixed anti-aliasing on Windows.
  • Made missiles continuously search targets if none is found at launch.

Developer

Public alpha version 0.0.5 is available. Here's the change log:

  • Scale ship and power-up labels to same on-screen size independent of arena size.
  • Fixed random freezes.
  • Added team deathmatch game mode.
  • Improved match completion label placement.
  • Dead ships no longer collect power-ups.
  • Prevented ships from collecting power-up while disrupted by EMP.
  • Allow controller app reconnection without losing stats (e.g. after phone call).
  • Added random asteroids to arena already when match starts.
  • Reworked asteroid spawning to better maintain set asteroid density in the arena.
  • Adjusted match default settings (more asteroids).
  • Lighting improvements and optimizations.
  • Fixed missing (or discolored) application icon.
  • Show random tips at bottom of screen when a match starts.

Developer

New alpha version 0.0.6 is now available. Here are the changes from previous version:

  • Increased EMP light flash intensity and range.
  • Added shooting with gamepad right stick button too.
  • Added dynamic lights to plasma burst explosions.
  • Transfer heat from warhead (missiles) explosions to nearby ships.
  • Ship explosion disrupts other nearby ships for a while.
  • Fixed warhead explosion sound never getting played.
  • Added ambient sound loop played in the background.
  • Added match completion music.
  • Save screenshots with ENTER key during gameplay too.
  • Slow down sound effects as time slows down.
  • Keep controllers enabled after match completion.
  • Fixed only some parts of HUD blinking during disruption.
  • A new weapon: Disruptor.
  • Fixed missiles turning very slowly if target is behind them.
  • Removed "slide prevention" controller option.
  • Fade out thruster sounds and lights smoothly.
The mobile controller application has also been updated with About -dialog and much improved virtual joystick.
Developer

Alpha version 0.0.7 is now available. Here are changes from previous version:

  • Added large slow-moving asteroids in the background.
  • Added training/survival co-op game mode.
  • Require holding down shoot button to respawn to prevent accidental controller activations.
  • Added auto-rotation to pause mode (press R).
  • Moved screenshot saving to a separate thread (no frame drops).
  • Added milliseconds to screenshot file names to prevent duplicate names.
  • Weapons no longer shoot in paused mode.
  • Improved quality of glow/bloom post-processing effect.
  • Shortened disruption time caused by EMP blast and disruptor.
  • Prevented missiles from locking on to teammates.
  • Increased damage caused by plasma bursts.
  • Increased disruptor recharge delay and heat production.
  • Limited plasma beam usage to 20 seconds in total.
  • Added a bit more particles to explosions.
  • Added new better thruster sound loop for player ships.
  • Added blue engine glow to player ship models.
  • Preload all resources at game start to prevent stuttering during gameplay.
  • Fixed broken fallback video mode selection when monitor does not support set resolution.
  • Adjusted match completion labels to take less horizontal space.

Developer

Alpha version 0.0.8 is here. Here's the change log:

  • Fixed once active players always showing up in match results even when not playing.
  • Added new weapon: Autocannon.
  • Improved collision particle effects and sounds.
  • Open the menu automatically when the game starts.
  • Added intro music in menu.
  • Made respawn timer count down instead of restarting from zero when button is released.
  • Added QR code links to mobile application downloads in the settings menu.
  • Fixed menu font not using proper aspect ratio.
  • Increased maximum ship velocity by 20%.
  • Fixed unintentional ship angular speed limitation when using directional controllers.
  • Increased ship thruster forces slightly.
  • Enlarged drone collision models to make them easier to hit.
  • Increased the brighthess of the directional base light source slightly.
  • Fixed active player controls getting stuck when menu is opened.
  • Fade menu and player labels smoothly in and out.
  • Added a game logo in menu.
  • Added title music in menu.
  • Added menu action sounds.
  • Pause match with active players while menu is open.
  • Added monitor gamma setting to system settings menu.

Developer

Alpha version 0.0.9 is out! Here's what's new:

  • Improved game logo.
  • Added enemy mother ship as a new enemy in survival mode.
  • Enabled biased mipmaps for font textures to allow smoother fonts.
  • Increased background color brightness and limited randomization to bluish hues.
  • Added long aim indicator line to disruptor for easier aiming.
  • Added flash particles on beam weapon activation.
  • Plasma beam and disruptor now slightly home in on nearby objects.
  • Added support for control using dpad buttons on gamepads.
  • Added steering acceleration to digital control from mobile application.
Weapon balancing and difficulty progression in survival mode needs adjusting. I need your feedback on this. Let me know if you think some weapon is way too powerful or weak. I'm also very interested in hearing how you feel about the difficulty of the survival co-op mode?
Developer

Alpha version 0.0.10 is here. Change log:

  • Added a new boss in survival mode.
  • Made survival mode enemies drop collectible score items.
  • Added projectile impact sounds on all enemy ships.
  • Added missing dronefragment.png texture.
  • Fixed random freezes when exiting game.
  • Fixed crash in full-screen mode (X error: RRSetCrtcGamma) on Linux with recent NVidia GPU.
  • Created a new mesh based teleport effect that better scales based on ship size.
  • Added new less annoying drone shoot sound.
  • Improved enemy spawn patterns to prevent overlap.
  • Adjusted survival mode difficulty progression.
  • Increased missile launch speed to make it harder to accidentally catch your own missiles.
  • Made drones go look for target in the direction of hit when shot from a distance.
  • Fixed mobile controller server connection issues on some PCs with multiple network interfaces.
  • Updated GLFW to fix really laggy keyboard input in some cases.
  • Added alternative "left handed" shoot keys to keyboard controllers.
  • Added separate main menu entry for competitive and co-op matches.
  • Added in-game controller layout help (under Settings -menu).
  • Prevented spawning same power-up twice in a row.
  • Don't spawn power-ups right in front of players to prevent accidental pickups.
  • Initial player start-up positions are now arranged in a grid.
  • Renamed players based on their controllers and removed player settings menu.
  • Added common score counter to top right corner of arena in survival match.
  • Removed last bit of randomization from background and lighting color.
  • Prevented damage from "friendly fire" in survival mode.

Developer (1 edit)

A new alpha version 0.0.11 is here! Here's what's new:

  • Added local and online high score tables for survival matches.
  • Added new weapon: Teletorpedo.
  • Improved jumper boss model.
  • Tougher boss ships drop more valuable score items.
  • Show number of remaining lives in survival match.
  • Fixed gamepad thrust buttons not working simultaneusly with analog stick aiming.
  • Missiles no longer detonate on contact with the ship that fired them.
  • Mothership laser beams now turn on and off based on time instead of position.
  • Added "tail lights" to drones to make them more visible.
  • Wrap telefragger target indicator around arena edges.
  • Added separate tips shown at co-op survival matchs start.
  • Added a boss health indicator in survival matches.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented enemies from coming from the right side of the arena.
  • Fixed explosions causing less damage to larger objects.
  • Made enemy drones a lot weaker.
  • Rewrote drone aiming code to make them better hit stationary targets.
  • Added camera shake to enemy boss explosions.
  • Decreased duration of disruption caused by ship explosions.
  • Prevented disruption from ship explosions when telefragging.
  • Added respawn delay progress bar to respawn labels.

I decided to stop building 32-bit Linux packages. Maintaining 32-bit build environment seems like a waste of time as barely anyone has downloaded the 32-bit version and apparently practically every gamer on Linux uses 64-bit distribution now. If you really need the 32-bit version, let me know.

Developer (1 edit)

New alpha version 0.0.12 is here with some important bug fixes:

  •  Switched to use SDL2 game controller mappings for much better gamepad support.
  • Added a notification when new gamepad is connected.
  • Reworked OpenGL initialization code to fix some compatiblity issues.
  • Fixed some special characters not showing right in high score names.
  • Added a --video-fail-safe command line option to temporarily force fail-safe video settings.
  • Added V-sync interval setting to system settings menu.
  • Added setting to disable mouse control (and prevent mouse capture).
  • Added an ominous sound playing just before bosses appear in survival mode.
  • Updated all packaged libraries to latest versions.

Note: This version fixes a bunch of compatibility issues, so If you have  previously had problems launching the game, now is a good time to give it another try!

Developer

New alpha version 0.0.13 fixes a serious shader bug in previous version. Here's the very short change log:

  • Fixed completely broken lighting on instanced objects (e.g. asteroids).
  • Added more ship control related tips shown at match start.
Developer

New alpha version 0.0.14 is here with lots of changes:

  • Added new weapon: Death ray.
  • Adjusted background asteroid color to better blend in to the background.
  • Added setting for changing ship HUD size.
  • Added left digital trigger as alternative thrust button on gamepads.
  • Added shift keys as alternative shoot keys for keyboard controllers.
  • Use ship's side thrusters to dampen lateral motion while thrusting (off by default).
  • Fine-tuned camera shake to feel better.
  • Added a blue light source to teletorpedos.
  • Increased scattergun projectile count and lowered individial projectile damage.
  • Fixed full-screen mode not always defaulting to primary monitor.
  • Increased telefragger kill range at teleport target position.
  • Don't spawn telefragger right before boss fights as it can't be used against them.
  • Spawn repair bots in survival mode only as boss kill rewards.
  • Fixed log error spamming on some buggy AMD drivers in Windows.
  • Made player ships attract power ups from much greater distance.
  • Added particle trail effects to some of the beam weapons.
  • Added smooth fading at both ends of weapon beams.
  • Moved controller help from menu to a separate overlay that can be toggled with F1.
  • Show match tips in randomized loop while waiting for players to join the match.
  • Added a shockwave to teleporting effect.
Developer

It sure took its time, but a new alpha version 0.0.15 is here! Here's what has changed:

  • Added a new enemy boss in survival mode.
  • Added a new enemy drone type in survival mode.
  • Added menu control from first connected gamepad.
  • Fixed remote (mobile app) controllers not requiring shoot button release after respawn.
  • Added a new enemy spawn pattern where drones teleport in at random positions.
  • Made survival mode enemy weapons a lot stronger.
  • Firing death ray disrupts own ship controls for a while.
  • Use "smoke" effect on ships only when badly damaged, not to indicate overheat.
  • Added one more projectile per burst to plasma burst to make it more effective weapon.
  • Blink ship label when the ship takes damage.
  • Fixed a bug causing too weak angular damping on all enemy ships.
  • Fixed potential random crashes when using beam weapons.
  • Made enemy drones randomly look around when they don't have a target.
  • Added contact and explosion sounds to explosion fragments.
  • Set boss explosion fragments to explode after a random delay.
  • Prevented collision response from small fragments to prevent them from altering player's heading.
  • Added white flash effect on all ships when taking damage.
  • Made all enemy bosses teleport back to arena if pushed out.
  • Fixed background sound loop unnecessarily restarting when closing controller help.
  • Updated GLFW to fix inversed Y-axis on all XInput gamepads.
  • Prevented bosses from teleporting too close to players.
  • Prevented players from respawning too close to enemy bosses.
  • Fixed a bug that made projectiles launched by already destroyed ship damage friendly players.
  • Updated SDL game controller database to latest version.
  • Implemented a workaround to a GLFW bug that caused missed keypresses on USB keyboards in Linux.
  • Fixed occasional decimal value formatting problems in the menu.
  • Marked transient power-ups with "+" sign in the title.
Developer

The alpha version 0.0.16 is here with following changes:

  • Added better Rammer boss weapon effects.
  • Improved Rammer boss difficulty progression.
  • Fixed Rammer boss occasionally sitting idle for a very long time.
  • Implemented movable cursor and home/end/del key support in menu text inputs.
  • Changed to a more legible in-game font.
  • Added an in-game feedback form.
  • Added proper license information for used 3rd party libraries.
Developer

The f irst beta version 0.1.0 is here! Here's what has changed since the last alpha version:

  • Added support for mobile controller events (e.g. flash effect on damage). The Android app has already been updated.
  • Ignore ship steering from remote controllers when both left and right buttons are pressed.
  • Adjusted background asteroid color slightly to better blend into the background.
Developer

New beta version 0.1.1 is now available with following changes:

  • Added new weapon: Smartgun.
  • Fixed fast moving teletorpedos occasionally colliding and exploding prematurely.
  • Fixed teletorpedos becoming indestructible after their teleportation time runs out.
  • Added "resume" option in main menu and removed menu toggling with ESC.
  • Added command line option to force full-screen mode with current desktop resolution.
  • Documented all command line options in readme.txt.
  • Removed "slide prevention" setting from menu.
  • Added launch script for Winnitron arcade machines.
  • Moved controller app QR codes from settings menu to controller help overlay.
  • Increased weapon flash light ranges on most of the weapons.
  • Fixed bug causing wrong weapon flash color on some weapons.
  • Changed to a more low-poly style bullet shapes.
  • Added create-menu-shortcut.sh/vbs scripts for setting up menu shortcuts.
  • Increased arena light intensities slightly.
  • Show listening IP address for remote controllers at match start.
Developer

A quick bug fix release 0.1.2 is out with following changes:

  • Fixed Windows version not starting when launched outside game's directory.
  • Completely reworked Winnitron arcade mode launch logic.
Developer (1 edit)

After embarrassingly long silence, a new beta version 0.1.3 is now available! Here's what has changed:

  • Recreated game icon with better quality.
  • Changed the in-game font again because the last one lacked many accented characters.
  • Re-show IP addresses listening for remote controllers with F5.
  • Fixed text messages at top and bottom of screen sometimes unintentionally fading out.
  • Properly reset camera state when exiting paused mode.
  • Added command line options for directly starting a match at startup.
  • Added menu toggling by ESC (again).
  • Use view with slowly rotating camera behind menus.
  • Updated to latest SDL game controller database.
  • Don't remember entered high-score name in demo mode.
  • Added support for event (damage, respawn, etc.) based actions in controller apps.
  • Bundled dependencies updated to latest versions (Ogre3D, OpenAL, GLFW, etc).

This time the mobile controller application (Android) has been updated as well (available at GooglePlay shortly):

  • Added sound effects (missile lock, respawn beep).
  • Added disruption effect when the player is hit by EMP.
  • Fine-tuning to background image and damage effect.
  • Changed application font.