While it has taken longer than I would have liked I'm proud to present the first major update to Pongslaught, bringing with it a wealth of new ideas and refinements of old ones. The two biggest critiques I had of the initial alpha release (background visual bug aside) was player on-boarding (how easily a new player picks up the game) and that it had no defensive options.

Updates

Addressing the first issue I put several iterations into a tutorial system, which runs almost exclusively behind the scenes. I had a tutorial back during the prototype phase (which few have seen) but removed it because of how jarring it was to stop the game and show text for what is an action-focused game. Iterating on my ideas further with the help of a few testers I managed to make a tutorial that's far less intrusive and comes off more intuitive in its approach. While most of the tutorial tweaks are game rules being altered behind the scenes the small parts you do see are very quick and 100% text-free. This has vastly improved players understanding the game, but of course further testing is always welcomed. The laser aim fix in this update should also help alleviate how overwhelming or overpowered it felt on the receiving end. Avoiding nerfing wherever possible I found (through the help of a friend) that by adjusting the aim pivot point it made it more tactical and more easily avoided.

Addressing the problem of defence it was an idea that came in iterations and rewrites. I settled upon a shield system that if activated pauses your weapons and adds a deflection shield for a brief moment. I've also been experimenting with a teleportation dash which I find quite fun, but needs further refinement still. I'm considering creating a defence module system whereby you pick one of (possibly) three defensive systems for your ship, two of these being the shield and dash. The menus still need to be fleshed out for this, but I may create some sort of hack solution for picking a defence method in the interim for testing.

Other notable changes include a variety of improvements to making health and damage more evident to the player, updates to how the weapons fire, and filled out some missing sound effects. Several bugs have been patched too of course, but if you come across one it's extremely helpful if you report it. The known bugs can be found here.

Future

I'm still looking into options for making a game launcher so I can avoid making people redownload each update, and consequently I can push out more frequent updates (even daily should I choose to) without too much concern. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

I'll also be looking into bug submission tools or methods, I currently track them in a project management webapp which isn't publicly accessible. If anyone has recommendations I'll at least check it out.

With this update I'm starting the process of approaching publishers to get financing for the game's development. This will allow me to work full time on development, and hire a team to make it even better (and quicker). I look forward to this next big step, and from there more features I know you've all been waiting for (and won't expect in several cases).

That being said I still have some roles I need filled like background artist, community manager, PR & marketing, and I'm sure others I haven't considered. If interested in the project send me a DM with what you're awesome at and can bring to the project. I will honestly be choosey, I do have a vision for the game in mind, but don't let that stop you from approaching me.

Until next time, cheers

Leo

Changelog

• Tutorial added
• Blast shield ability added
• Made entering alt-fire (charge mode) for weapons more forgiving
• Plasma gun now speeds up analogue when charging
• Made player and enemy health more explicit through a few new systems
• Made critical health more explicit for both players and enemies
• Added in some missing sound effects
• Photosensitivity warning added
• Menu music added (Devilpunk by Hexenkraft, with permission of course)
• Increased plasma gun bullet speed
• Modified laser aim to be less chaotic
• Several bug fixes