A shitload of updates

posted in: Unity | 5

Ahoy there!  It’s been a while.  Luckily for me, I’ve got plenty of cool new features and updates to show for it.

First, my only bad news:  There won’t be any more public alpha versions of the game.

The good news:  This means that we’re getting close to release.

I just got back from a conference called CasualConnect in Singapore, and I learned a ton of cool things – most helpfully, some details that allowed me to finalize the game’s eventual release strategy.  I’m self-publishing this thing, so the launch plan needs to be really sound or else the game will get completely buried in the folds of the internet…at this point I’m finally feeling pretty confident about it.

But enough about that!  Let’s see some changes to the game.

First off, a big one:  There’s no more “Key” objective.  This feature was implemented at the very beginning of the project, and at the time, it was a cool addition.  Eventually, though, the rules of the game had changed enough that the key’s purpose was no longer being fulfilled.

Its replacement is the Sequence – a level contains a series of numbered pads, and you have to activate all of them in descending order:

Another big change is a new game mode, called Operations.  These are the middle ground between Campaign mode and Challenge mode:  Campaign mode is a “see how far you can get” arcade game that can take 30 or 40 minutes when players get good at it, and Challenges are single levels that usually take less than a minute or two.  Operations are special trials with four to six levels each, and like Campaign mode, they contribute to your content unlocking progress.

Here’s a screenshot from an Operation that only contains Sentries and Spotlight traps:

Unlike the rest of the gameplay content unlocks in the game (which are very structured and consistent), new Operations are always awarded for completing specific gameplay Achievements (there is exactly one Operation per Achievement and they are always related).

This one’s minor, but it’s pretty so whatever – here’s the new effect for the Plus Version of the Teleport item.

There’s a lot of other new/better stuff, too, but a lot of it is stuff I can’t talk about and a lot of the other stuff wouldn’t be particularly interesting to talk about anyway.

Instead, I’ll leave you with a screenshot of the game running at its freshly updated maximum video settings:

5 Responses

  1. ooooh, neat! I might have to do another video. It looks like a lot of stuff has been added, and I’m farther in the unlock progress than I was. (far enough that the game is very hard now)

  2. oh wait… I thought you meant this was the last public beta…
    but you’re past that aren’t you?
    here’s hoping it comes out on steam so I can buy it easy!

  3. Yeah, Steam is still the final goal. The big time!

    And yeah, updates for public testing are all over – wouldn’t want to cannibalize the actual release. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the later content unlocks, though!

  4. Aravind

    Wow dude. That’s a lot of updates. I’ve been waiting for an update for so long. Glad to know the game is soon to release. The new updates look really cool with all the polished textures :) All the best!

  5. Fantastic! Heres an idea of mine for the game. Is there going to be a background? Like behind the main room that you play in. Right now its grey, and kind of an eye-sore. It’s just my opinion, but maybe you can try out making it nice.

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