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.

Moving Forward

Hey everyone, just wanted to say I've been ironing out gameplay issues and hoping to have a great showing for Alpha002. September was unfortunately a very crazy month. Between a family bereavement, a wedding, law school, and coming down with a nasty cold I wasn't able to get nearly as much done as I intended for Alpha001. I've been programming the game on my MacBookPro since day one. While this worked great for the first portion of the game I eventually had to ditch the older GM4Mac that I was using in favor of the much faster and more updated GM:Studio. This required me to run Windows on my Mac, as the software isn't supported on Macs. This got me to where we were in September perfectly fine. However, when I went to export the game I learned that I wouldn't be able to export to Linux or Mac (ironically) from a Mac running Windows in a virtual machine. I took the next step to purchase a PC and begin developing on that. It's been a great transition for programming. Not only am I able to export to all my intended platforms shortly, but the software runs much more smoothly and I'm hoping development will be nearly twice as fast as it's been. I'm hoping to have some much more pronounced updates for the October release. I'm also hoping to release the Zombie Stretch goal, or the first iteration of it, in time for Halloween.

Updates to Version 001

Hi everyone, I sent the Kickstarter Backer copy of the first alpha. It's incredibly buggy but that's the nature of alphas. I just wanted to let everyone know that I've already correct two of the issues that people noticed, the game crashing when hitting the escape key and selecting return to game and an issue where the credits sometimes didn't show. Below is a list of known bugs or planned features for the next Alpha 002. You'll see them with a strikethrough if they've been finished for the next version. 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" - Moot, implementing new Vacuum system. 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)

Balancing

Good news. Today I've moved into balancing the alpha release. It involves me playing the game a lot (something that's already been happening). As I've said before, it's a pre-alpha. So it's far far far from complete and most things are far from finished or polished. I've been trying to get as many backer events and tiers into the game as possible but I'm planning on including most of those in a big push for the backer content as soon as everyone gets everything back to me as to what they want from their tier. Long story short, I'm trying to make the gameplay better given the level of content that's present. This is my dream project, so it'll constantly be getting tweaked for quite awhile.

Annoying Bugs

I've now spent the better part of a week squashing bugs in the game. Of particular note was a bug that didn't allow the player's marines to shoot at space pirates. This is really aggravating because as I try to work on balancing the gameplay it's hard to do when one of the most deadly aspects of the game can shoot at the player and the player can't return fire. I've also begun to get back to the stretch goal, a separate zombie survival game mode. I'm really hoping to include it in the initial alpha release on the 15th.