Playable Islands: Upgraded to 17 (from 10)
Version 0.124 continues the work that 0.123 started, with 7 of the 8 new islands going from a prototype with 1 mode to near-final versions with 3 modes (and 3 showcase vehicles). One of the 8 initial prototypes didn't receive any attention, but the 7 others all showed promise, and I spent a good amount of time playing and revising them until they all felt worthy of inclusion in the game.
[Full changelist at the end of this update]
7 NEW PLAYABLE ISLANDS
Each of the 7 new islands took about 5 or so hours of work to go from prototype to near-final version. 2 of the islands were added to the start of the game (Pisces and Taurus), while the other 5 were added to the mid-to-late section of the map. I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out, though I'll be playing through everything again over the next day or so to record footage, tweak the showcase vehicles, and finalize a couple more things.
[I'll continue to add even more islands as previously stated, but there's stuff I need to do before that. See below for more info.]
The things I need to finalize soon are the star requirements and bonus discounts. I did a quick first pass for Pisces and Taurus on the star requirements, but haven't touched the bonus discounts at all, nor the star cutoffs for the other 5 new islands. I'll be updating bonus/secret discounts for all the normal missions. I'm calling them "bonus" discounts even though they're still "secret" in the game. They will be made slightly more obvious, but will remain separate from the main objectives. Bonus Objectives were a bit too tedious previously, and I want to avoid making players feel like they need to worry about the bonus discounts unless they really want to. They'll remain strictly tied to giving you a boost or challenge for getting 3 stars.
SIDE NOTE: As I add more islands, I'm having doubts about the celestial naming convention. I have trouble remembering the names, and it would probably be easier if they just had some other kind of designation. Numbers might be answer, even though the islands don't need to be played in a particular order, especially towards the 2nd half of the campaign. Something to think about, but not a high priority to change at the moment.
WANTED: MORE VARIETY AND OBJECTIVE TYPES
17 islands is a decent amount, certainly better than 10, but I want to eventually get 30 or more for the main campaign, and arrange them in groups/clusters. Before I get to that point, it felt pretty obvious that I need more *stuff* in the game before I keep adding more content. By stuff I mean obstacles, interactive objects, and new kinds of objectives to complete. New parts (for flying/etc) will be part of that, but the other things are less certain. I have to try a bunch of different ideas, and see what's working and what's not.
I'll also be looking at other vehicle building games to see what types of missions they use. I haven't played Besiege in years, but I should probably check it out again and get past the 1st world, or at least watch some YouTube videos that do. Lots of people have also asked for Blast Corps-style missions, so I'll watch a playthrough of that as well. And of course I'll check out the various Red Faction Guerrilla activities and missions for even more ideas. Though I don't plan on making the player's vehicle take damage/break apart, combative obstacles/enemies of some sort are something I plan to try creating.
I'm sure there are plenty of physics-based puzzles the game could benefit from as well, though those may wait for a special group of islands (with more restrictive building guidelines/etc). Anyway, feel free to throw out ideas for what you want to see in future islands/missions, whether it's just using the current set of elements (such as more terrain-traversal-centric missions) or new game elements you want to see in Instruments of Destruction.
NEXT VERSION AND 0.124 CHANGELIST
Version 0.125 will likely be out next week, with updated star ratings/bonus discounts and other small balance tweaks. The winners of the Trebuchets & Catapults Theme will also be announced. Any stragglers have until next Monday to get those entries in.
No idea when the version after 0.125 will be out. Need to do a decent amount of gameplay prototyping, and that could take a while. If it goes on too long, I'll probably do an interim update with some cool/fun parts to help keep the game fun/interesting (maybe some projectile firing weapon updates).
Version 0.124 includes the following changes:
* Polished 7 prototype islands to near final status
* Added 7 challenge and 7 expert missions
* Added 14 new showcase vehicles
* Rearranged the world map to fit the 7 new islands
* Increased the UI animation speed
* Fixed some explosions applying way too much force
* Added initial auto-focus to the world map (centers on an unlocked island first time you open the map)
[Full changelist at the end of this update]
7 NEW PLAYABLE ISLANDS
Each of the 7 new islands took about 5 or so hours of work to go from prototype to near-final version. 2 of the islands were added to the start of the game (Pisces and Taurus), while the other 5 were added to the mid-to-late section of the map. I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out, though I'll be playing through everything again over the next day or so to record footage, tweak the showcase vehicles, and finalize a couple more things.
[I'll continue to add even more islands as previously stated, but there's stuff I need to do before that. See below for more info.]
The things I need to finalize soon are the star requirements and bonus discounts. I did a quick first pass for Pisces and Taurus on the star requirements, but haven't touched the bonus discounts at all, nor the star cutoffs for the other 5 new islands. I'll be updating bonus/secret discounts for all the normal missions. I'm calling them "bonus" discounts even though they're still "secret" in the game. They will be made slightly more obvious, but will remain separate from the main objectives. Bonus Objectives were a bit too tedious previously, and I want to avoid making players feel like they need to worry about the bonus discounts unless they really want to. They'll remain strictly tied to giving you a boost or challenge for getting 3 stars.
SIDE NOTE: As I add more islands, I'm having doubts about the celestial naming convention. I have trouble remembering the names, and it would probably be easier if they just had some other kind of designation. Numbers might be answer, even though the islands don't need to be played in a particular order, especially towards the 2nd half of the campaign. Something to think about, but not a high priority to change at the moment.
WANTED: MORE VARIETY AND OBJECTIVE TYPES
17 islands is a decent amount, certainly better than 10, but I want to eventually get 30 or more for the main campaign, and arrange them in groups/clusters. Before I get to that point, it felt pretty obvious that I need more *stuff* in the game before I keep adding more content. By stuff I mean obstacles, interactive objects, and new kinds of objectives to complete. New parts (for flying/etc) will be part of that, but the other things are less certain. I have to try a bunch of different ideas, and see what's working and what's not.
I'll also be looking at other vehicle building games to see what types of missions they use. I haven't played Besiege in years, but I should probably check it out again and get past the 1st world, or at least watch some YouTube videos that do. Lots of people have also asked for Blast Corps-style missions, so I'll watch a playthrough of that as well. And of course I'll check out the various Red Faction Guerrilla activities and missions for even more ideas. Though I don't plan on making the player's vehicle take damage/break apart, combative obstacles/enemies of some sort are something I plan to try creating.
I'm sure there are plenty of physics-based puzzles the game could benefit from as well, though those may wait for a special group of islands (with more restrictive building guidelines/etc). Anyway, feel free to throw out ideas for what you want to see in future islands/missions, whether it's just using the current set of elements (such as more terrain-traversal-centric missions) or new game elements you want to see in Instruments of Destruction.
NEXT VERSION AND 0.124 CHANGELIST
Version 0.125 will likely be out next week, with updated star ratings/bonus discounts and other small balance tweaks. The winners of the Trebuchets & Catapults Theme will also be announced. Any stragglers have until next Monday to get those entries in.
No idea when the version after 0.125 will be out. Need to do a decent amount of gameplay prototyping, and that could take a while. If it goes on too long, I'll probably do an interim update with some cool/fun parts to help keep the game fun/interesting (maybe some projectile firing weapon updates).
Version 0.124 includes the following changes:
* Polished 7 prototype islands to near final status
* Added 7 challenge and 7 expert missions
* Added 14 new showcase vehicles
* Rearranged the world map to fit the 7 new islands
* Increased the UI animation speed
* Fixed some explosions applying way too much force
* Added initial auto-focus to the world map (centers on an unlocked island first time you open the map)