SPL: Skilled Pilots Live News

Hi there,

Released a few more bits to complement the New Content Update#2.

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• You can now peek what will be the next tech level up reward
  
• You can purge all progress in all tech trees to gain time, it will re-roll all next rewards for all tech trees.
  

Planning and managing next upgrades should be much easier now, especially if you are hunting for some specific upgrade.

Have fun,

Dear beta testers,
I heard you like building weapons and unlocking upgrades.

[h2]New weapon types[/h2]

• Added 'Weapon Conduit' weapon modification. It allows combining two weapon types:
  
• Bolter + Bolter = Mauler
• Bolter + Hailgun = Phasebolt
• Bolter + Plasmagun = Melter
• Hailgun + Hailgun = Stormgun
• Hailgun + Plasmagun = Deathray
• Plasmagun + Plasmagun = Starlance
• To summarise, we now have 9 weapon types and 7 weapon variants which gives us total 63 possible combinations, plus countless more permutations if we count other weapon mods.
  
• The new weapons might not be super balanced yet so have fun with some super OP combinations.
  

[h2]Initial loadout[/h2]

• Instead of always starting with Auto Cannon, each new game will start with a loadout screen
  
• Loadout screen allows you to select 1 of 3 random: weapon variants, weapon types, weapon mods
  

[h2]Balance[/h2]

• All technology trees will level up significantly quicker, this means more toys to play with on each playthrough
  
• Sentinel, Assault, Destroyer and Balanced weapon variants should be much more viable now.
  

[h2]UI upgrade[/h2]

• All in game UI windows got a major look and feel improvement.
  
• Inventory/Fabricator window should be much cleared and hopefully quite obvious to use now.
  

[h2]Starborne Nexus [/h2]

• Yellow shells will be significantly easier to target, you no longer will feel like you're fighting the auto-aim/UI more than the boss.
  
• In the second stage the red shells will again try to ram the player, making it much more interesting.
  

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Fixed game braking different scenarios where both player and the enemy were using jump drive
  
• Autoaim reticle should be much less jittery
  
• Fixed a bug where 'relics' encounter wouldn't ever trigger after the last gameplay update.
  

[h2]Fame[/h2]

• If you finish the last run instead of abandoning it you will get a +25% fame bonus.
  
• Fixed how fame is calculated after last gameplay update. The score per successful encounter will depend on the threat level.
  

Coming up next:

• Nemesis enemy type, linked to death mechanic and enhancing game pace.
  
• Facility to peek next upcoming tech upgrade in a given tech tree, plus option to reroll it by selling progress to buy more time.
  
• More UI upgrades
  
• Terran Nexus
  

Hi there,

Back from vacation, back to work!

Recently I had a pleasure to watch a couple of playthroughs of one of the beta testers. It was very informative, get ready for some juicy content and gameplay updates.

[h3]Changes[/h3]

• By default Fame won't be lost when you are defeated.
  
• Added 'Missing In Action' option in new game menu. When set to 'ON' the player will be granted 25% bonus to final fame. If Defeated all fame will be lost as before. Set to 'OFF' by default, new players won't experience the 0 fame Defeated screen which might have been not very encouraging
  
• Plasmagun minimum damage increased
  
• Starborne Nexus red shells will have 50% less health effectively shortening this encounter
  
• Starborne Nexus is now more accurate, fires much more often, much longer and from greater range. In it will change weapons more frequently to vary the attack pattern.
  

[h3]Coming soon[/h3]

1. Unlocks and progression between playthroughs. 'Laundry list' progression - like deal 1000 dmg with plasmagun - which will encourage the player to explore some of the game mechanics in order to unlock new ones.
   
2. 6 new unlockable weapon types - so yeah 42 new type + variant combinations
   
3. Ship perks giving passive bonuses or adjusting game mechanics.
   
4. Revised death mechanic where some of the unspent progress is lost but can be later reclaimed by defeating special Nemisis enemies.
   
5. And a bit later a new boss fight - the Terran Nexus.
   

[h2]Changes[/h2]

• Added initial threat level setting to the new game menu window. For new players it will start at 20% and scale up with each victorious encounter. After reaching 100% it will stop raising. The player can adjust the initial threat level at any point to set it higher or lower.
  
• Weapon keyword balance adjustments
  

[h2]Bugfixes[/h2]

• Jump drive can get stuck and doesn't respond to cancel
  
• Starborne had max 5% heat
  
• If the player waited long enough after ship's destruction they weren't able to respawn anymore and the game broke
  
• Sometimes after respawning after death the encounter and enemies would disappear.
  
• One or more initial encounters could respawn extremely far away.
  

Dear beta testers.

This update is a result of your great feedback. You helped me identify which bits of the gameplay are most fun and valuable. I followed the fun to deliver this gameplay update.
Once again many thanks!

[h2]Combat design changes[/h2]

• Glory-kills: Use your jump drive to instant destroy a stunned enemy for extra health.
  
• Enemy tiers: In addition to three enemy species three enemy tiers have been added: Bronze, Silver, Gold. In addition each tier can have a threat value from 0 to 100%. So the weakest enemies you can fight are hordes of Bronze 0% Threats and the toughest elite enemy you can encounter is Gold 100% Threats.
  
• Enemy waves: Reworked completely the combat encounter, enemies will appear in waves, each subsequent wave will have increased intensity, which means higher tier enemies with higher Threat%.
  
• Varied combat: Number of waves, the number of enemies in each one, species composition of the wave, formations they fly in, weapon choices - all of these things are carefully randomized. This way you never know what to expect from the next wave.
  
• Huge fights: Fights can be get really big now. You will have to start using terrain for cover, especially if you get swarmed by Natives with their long range hailguns.
  
• Push forward combat: Overcharge extra healing decays much slower. If you store enough of it via high dps and glorykill utlization you can become unstoppable, your healing rate will be higher than enemy dps and you can keep pushing forward.
  
• Pick your pace: After each successful fight three new combat encounters will be available, one with the same maximum threat level as the previous complete one, one 20% lower and one 20% higher. You can pick your pace and get into harder and harder fights or decide to tune down the difficulty.
  

[h2]AI changes[/h2]

• Reworked AI towards aggression, the enemies will fall back to defensive strats much less often and just focus on destroying the player.
  
• Enemies will now use jump drive and dashes to chase the player relentlessly.
  
• Enemies got much better at avoiding collisions with the level geometry.
  

[h2]Graphic changes[/h2]

• Added overcharge VFX, the energy discharges will get the stronger the more extra substance you collect.
  

[h2]Audio changes[/h2]

• Added much stronger lower tones to all gun SFX, weapon fire should sound more powerful and threatening.
  

[h2]New bugs[/h2]

• A lot has changed so expect the unexpected in the bug departament.
  
• The total fame can get ridiculously high as the fights got quite big. The scoring system will be updated next.
  

I think this is it, the game became really fun!

We have all seen that the core design was really solid before.
All the tools were there in the toolbox. A lot of the game design in SPL is unique, but how do you make something unique fun? I struggled with the answer, stuggled with using these tools to deliver a consistently enjoyable experience with good pacing.

Again, I think this is it. See it for yourself.

Have fun,
-pew