TOP DOG News

Focus of this update has been on tweaking the enemies/difficulty for later waves to avoid the session going on forever.

Which brings us to a very important first poll I'd like to make about endless: what do you like about endless?

The previous version with 10 waves was definitely too short and difficulty was not ramping up enough towards the final waves, current version does a better job up to the 20th wave, for those of you that go beyond that: at which point do you think the game gets hard enough to be satisfied with the run? (better to check out v0.91 first to answer this)

The reason I'm asking is because I'm thinking of going back to a finite amount of waves/stages, the more answers I get the more informed the final decision will be 🙏

[h3]All The Things[/h3]

• Viper Elites got their own icon and special (pew pew) gun
  
• Frigates: main gun tweaking + new mini-jump behaviour
  
• Wing Leaders: gun/damage tweaking
  
• Adjusted tech progression and introduced tech limits for some upgrades, example: Valkyrie appears only from level 6 onwards
• Missiles tweaking: more damage for Standard and Swarm (2 hits for aces and elites, 1 hit for Vipers and Rogues) + tweaking clip size
  
• Combo system reworked to better account for missiles usage
  
• Armor capped at max 200% (was 250%)
  
• Removed Mechanic+
• Finished Valkyrie model
  
• Some new stats added to the Achievements page
  

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

Here it is: the endless mechanic is finally in with a bunch of new stuff and lots of tweaking all around.

I've tried a lot of different things for this one, major one was to have a random selection of stages (even from the start) but it didn't feel quite right. The current implementation has mostly fixed stages but wave composition and upgrade choices is always randomized.

Balancing probably got broken here and there, so bear with me until we do some more testing and I hope you will enjoy the new stuff! 👇

[h3]Major Stuff[/h3]

• Added endless mechanic and reworked stage/wave progression
  
• Upgrade system: now showing only unlocked upgrades + all choices (in case of branching)
• Added 'Valkyrie' plane upgrade: Vector + Supersonic + Mecha legs
  
• Added 'PRTDR-4' upgrade (missiles)
  
• 'IR-4' replaced by 'SWRM-6' (missiles)
  
• Added 'AC-30': unlocked from the start and now necessary to obtain 'GAU-30' or 'AC-60'
  
• Added 'Viper Elite' enemy: stage 'Zero-G' and 'Rabid Dogs 2' onwards
  
• Added 'Elite Dog' achievement
  

[h3]Tweaking, Polishing & Bugfixing[/h3]

• Rogues are now giving 4 scraps total (was 2)
  
• Frigates no longer give free scraps: you get only what you kill
  
• No more collisions with Frigates and Towers small wreckage
  
• Default missiles: better target tracking
  
• AC-60: damage increase + worse accuracy when overheating
  
• GAU-20: renamed 'GAU-30' + damage increase
  
• Added 'Show Less Players' button to Leaderboards
  
• Showing some stats in the achievements page
  
• Fixed stage freezing when enemies get in the ground (rareish)
  

[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

[h3]What's happening[/h3]
Plans changed a bit from the last update, many of you have called for an endless mode and so I've been working on that: it wont be a separate mode but part of the main mode. If you are familiar with Nuclear Throne looping you get the idea.

I think I need one or two more weeks to make it good enough for a first pass in v0.86: it will provide more fun daily runs while I finally work on new content.

Speaking of which, some sketching for new capital ships 👇



And some progress on the 'Ultimate' plane upgrade (= Vector + Supersonic) 👇



[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]

With this update all mechanics are more or less final: it took a while because I've spent some time testing a few solutions (of varying complexity) for target locking and upgrade selection but ended up streamlining those and not making major changes.

Focus will now switch to content creation: enemy types (3-6 more), waves variation, player upgrades (at least 4 more) and polishing.

Game progression/session length is also quite final: 10 waves seem to be the right number but I'm considering adding a difficulty selection at the start of the run that will make the game more challenging for veteran players. What do you think?

[h3]All the things[/h3]

• Target Lock (B button/LMB) improved: aim assist + strafe-assist for stick controls
  
• Score combo tweaking: less emphasis on aggressive play, combo decay is now affected by time and gun use
  
• Disabled collisions with enemy fighters and aces
  
• Upgrade selection streamlined: less waiting after a wave clear and bonus upgrade on last wave
  
• IR-4 upgrade improved: ammo + maneuverability increase
  
• Wing Leaders and Rogues invulnerability time tweaking: 30% decrease
  
• AI sticks more to map center: this will lessen the problem of reaching map limits. I consider this one pretty much resolved except for maybe some HUD warnings approaching the limits at a later date
  
• HUD flashing on hits: target icons and menus are no more affected by it
  
• Intro music completed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC6rwBrSenQ
• Mouse input takes priority over other devices: should help solve input issues some of you are having
  

Shoutout to Splattercatgaming for covering TD 🙏


[h3]That's it! 🫡[/h3]