Aiming for an Early December Alpha 2

Hey everyone, I've been working on Vacuum and I'm hoping to have a rough version of the "state" system in place for characters needs. They'll need a place to rest and a place to eat in Alpha 2. Alpha 2 will also feature the newly revamped Vacuum system which shouldn't effect game performance. There's one little bug I've found in it right now that I'm trying to work out. I'm aiming to have this newest alpha out sometime in the first two weeks of December. I'm also going to be moving to a new distribution system, it'll be a code that gets sent out and then you can download the game at your leisure through itch.io.

The Good and the Bad

This week I've tweaked the "event" and their likelihood to occur to make them much more manageable. Pirates no longer raid you constantly, which is a hugely good thing. I've also made asteroids smashing into your space station a much less likely event(they're absolutely devastating right now since there's currently no way to repair destroyed walls, it's coming down worry). The bad news is I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the build out. I'm working full steam ahead on it and I'm really excited about the progress since the last alpha. The game is really coming along well. I'll try to post a gameplay video sometime to show off the progress so far.

Coding AI "Needs"

So this past week I've been working on making the AI have "needs". It's currently rather simple now but effective. Characters on the space station now need rest and food. Without either for too long they'll suffer ill effects. Marines become slower if tired and anyone who suffers from hunger from too long will die. This has also led me to have to work on space chickens more. I'm currently trying to strike a balance as to how quickly space chickens should repopulate on your station.

Lots of Optimizing

So the past week I've really been working on improving code across the board. I've re-written the unit movement code. This has stopped the space marines from sometimes randomly vanishing off into space when they collide with a partially closing door etc. I've included an update to my previous list of known issues from Alpha 1 and whether or not they've been fixed.

1. "Return to Game" button on Escape Menu crashes game.

2. Credits not always displaying.

3. Escape Menu covered by Station Walls

4. Various problems with Vacuum "spread".

5. Marines occasionally vanish to up left-hand corner.

6. Doors will get stuck if a unit blocks them on closing.

7. Marine shooting image occasionally faces the wrong direction.

8. Zombie Survival Version (Kickstarter Stretch-Goal)

The door issue should hopefully be fixed by today. As I've said in a previous post I'm also hoping to make the shooting AI work a little better. Now that I've fixed the movement AI the shooting shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm also hoping to tweak the spawn rate of random events in the game to make it a much faster tempo.

Fully Re-written Vacuum Code

Well this weekend was a huge success. I've completely re-written the vacuum code for the game and it's now 100% functional again. It required a redesign of the space station and tossing hundreds of lines of code but I've got it all much, much, much more efficient. The code that handles vacuum on the station used to be hundreds of lines, it's now a few dozen. Also, instead of thousands going on tens of thousands of objects flooding the screen and performing collision checks there's now only about a dozen objects. This should drastically improve the performance speed when your station is falling apart. What does all this mean? Well re-writing and tweaking this code cost me a month. I think in the end it was hugely worth it though, as the game can now utilize it's primary mechanic without the rest of the game suffering. Going forward I'll be able to add additional features as opposed to tinkering with this primary component. In short, I'm hoping I can finally start adding tons of new content to the game.

Getting There

Rewriting the Vacuum code is proving tricky. While I was quickly able to get a new, much better "fill" for the vacuum, having it rescind has proven much more difficult. I'm devoting this entire weekend to working it out and making combat more prominent in the game. It's gonna be 48 hours of crunch time as I want to push out another update before October ends. Also working to incorporate some of the last backer oriented "events" although they won't be fully implemented until some of the more complex AI systems are involved.

Updating the Vacuum Code

So for any of you who have played the first version of the Alpha you know that too much vacuum in the space station can really slow down the game. I've been working hard to overcome this and nearly have the entire vacuum system retooled. Rooms in the station are now much smaller and more modular. This should make combat much more interesting and allows for the game to much more easily handle a spreading vacuum. Previously the game was trying to calculate where the vacuum was spreading with thousands of calculations and then check for collisions. This resulting in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of calculations happening on top of all the typical game material. This new system reduces that load to a few hundred, more a thousand or two maximum, calculations occurring (and that's assuming you've vented all the air in your station). So everyone should see a drastic improvement in this aspect. This update also allows doors to function more easily and to re-air sections that were exposed but were then closed off from the location of the vacuum.