Version 0.2
It's been more than two and a half years since I started the development of Spaceboom. Working on it in my spare time it has been hard, yet a very rewarding experience. It all started because I wanted to make a simple, fun game for local PVP fights, old school style, like I used to play with my friends on my beloved Amiga 500 plus. As the development of the game moved forward, the idea of it turning into a single player game grew in my mind and thus the need for new mechanics prolonged it's completion.
Right now the game has reached a point, a milestone in my mind, where it is totally playable. The basic mechanics of the game are there and work properly. There are still things missing though, things that can make the gameplay more intuitive for the players. There are also things already developed but not yet implemented in this demo version, either because there are still bugs to be solved or more fine tuning is needed.
In this demo you will find 25 maps in the single player game, where you may complete 3 objectives in each. Objective completion will reward you with tokens and/or medals which you can use to purchase spaceships or modifications for your active spaceship. Currently there are 2 locked spaceships, with unique characteristics, and 9 modifications that improve or add characteristics to your ship, or a weapon equipped. In the duel (multiplayer) part of the game there are 4 maps to fight in.
The game is still in progress. My greatest concern is working on the mechanics and the experience players have when interacting with them.
From there I will be looking into the two other aspects of the game's creation. One aspect would be to make thing look nice and the other to create more content (maps, modifications, ships, music etc).
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On the way to version 0.3
What consumed the most of my time in the development so far has been the UI, and trying out ways to communicate tips to players without it breaking the game experience. That was tough, but I think I am on the right path now.
Version 0.3 is coming soon with:
- New in game "Tip" areas, placed in spots that can be avoided if not needed.
- A new UI design on which I am currently working.
- A bunch of tweaks on many of the existing stages, that is in construction and objective timers.
- New dynamic skybox.
- Bugs fixed.
- Visual improvements.
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On the way to 0.3 and a bit more!
It took me way more than I expected to get to that imaginary milestone of 0.3 that I envisioned. Not because I didn't put enough work into it, but because I put more than it was needed. I know I have said in the past the making things work is my primary concern, but once I got to the point I realised I had it almost sorted out I started working on things that had me thinking for a while. Visual aspects of the game mostly. I had been eager to get into working with the visual improvement of Spaceboom for a long time. I hadn't done anything though as I had prioritised things in a more practical way. But since I had the chance to start working with this aspect of the project, there was no way out of it. I will not come out with an update that the already visual improvements are implemented to half the stages. So I will drag it as far as it needs before the next update, which might as well be 0.4!!
Below are some screenshots of the current state of the game. What you see is not what the current Spaceboom Demo version 0.2 (April 27 2020) looks like!
Main Menu + New Dynamic Skybox
Map List : Each stage layout will be shown here so you may recognise which stage it is, beside it's name.
First there was a tutorial, Then an over-written part of the game explaining more than needed. Those are finally eliminated. In game Tip areas are now active. Use them if you feel like it.
Post Processing added in the settings menu. Overall PP profile implemented. Dynamic PP changes will be used when entering specific areas, or under certain conditions.
There have been some changes to the current stages, like reordering, objective time limit tweaking and button timers recalculation, etc.