v0.5 - Combat, Research Tree, Building Upgrades

Hello,

This is Part 2 of my devlog. If you want to know my ideation and thought process for this concept, check out Part 1.

I've added a ton to this game. Full detailed patch notes in-game. This is a summary of the game updates.

v0.1 introduced the bomb, events, resources and cinematic endings.

This was when the core game began to take shape. Although cutscenes are not a priority for most jams, I enjoy working on lighting, post-processing, composition and cinematics. So I couldn't resist making cool things when they come into my mind. I've gotten a little more experience at cutscene production thanks to past real-time cinematic projects I've done with Timeline and Cinemachine, so each ending can be rapidly prototyped.

v0.2 introduced COMBAT!

I was hesitant on combat because it's a major scope creep. But I sat down and grinded it out. I think it was worth it. The game would benefit from extra oompf, and I consider this to be the game-changer that elevates it closer to what I envision this game could become. Turrets and portals that spawned enemies adds a threat to your bomb and make the scene a lot more action-packed as bullets fly around. Now it wasn't just a base-builder, but also a tower defense!

Combat went through several iterations. Starting with balance, and ending with polish - muzzle flashes, spawn point height variation, explosions. It was no small feat. I could talk for hours on design choices.

v0.3 introduced a renewed Tutorial and new events

Part of the game revolves around player choice. Dialogs will prompt you with attractive risk-reward choices. I coded a total of 11 of those "scenarios". Will you choose passive bonuses at the cost of inching closer toward meltdown? Maybe you can just make it!

I was also very playful on the theme of the jam here. Instead of a demanding "Nothing can go wrong!" tone, this dialogue intepretes it with a sarcastic / naive tone where the player picks it because "hey nothing can possibly go wrong" with the first option. Let's go for it and get the free materials!

Onboarding was also very important so this update refined a lot of tooltips and resource breakdowns. This was a lot more time consuming than expected and requires the most iterations out of everything I developed because UX is quite important for a game that isn't your standard tower defense.

v0.4 introduced Tier 3 buildings & Titanium

Titanium is added as a rare resource dropped from enemies and can be used to build the most powerful buildings, or upgrade your favourite ones to Tier 3. The game has limited building spots, and thus you are eventually encouraged to upgrade buildings than build more Level 1 ones.

This wasn't my highest priority, but I ultimately decided to create different visuals for each level, so there's visual feedback.

v0.5 introduces the Research Tree & Alien Cores!

Alien cores boost permanent passive upgrades that stay in all future runs, making you overpowered. Now it seems we've added roguelite to the mix of this game's genres? I intended to add perks but I will not be able to do it in time. Perks will be left to the future, and this research tree is a temporary MVP (minimum viable product) of what the progression tree of the game can evolve into.

My rationale for introducing this feature is that I know not everyone plays strategy games. I wanted to give even "weaker" players a chance to win - so even when you lose, you still get Alien Cores to progressively get stronger. The upgrades are quite powerful. I won without any upgrades, but I didn't want to lock casual players out of the satisfaction of winning.

v0.6 introduces the Inferno Core!

I'm super excited for this idea and the v0.6 update will introduce the Inferno Core! Perfect for those with offensive playstyle. This is a bonus bomb type I did not plan to add, but thankfully by now, I had begun to build a solid foundation for the codebase and this didn't take as long as I thought. I plan to introduce more bomb types after the jam.

v0.7 introduces dynamic lighting

I wanted scenic changes as you play The same sky was boring. I really love lighting so I thought, what if we change the lighting just before each combat wave? This gives a short subtle visual anticipation that something is about to happen without using UI.

This was a super last minute idea, and equally last minute addition. I knew I didn't have time for a full weather system, so I merely made them visual changes. Weather doesn't do anything, but this is a prototype concept that maybe can do more in future? Imagine lightning striking your buildings, or causing fires to heat your bomb.

Edit: I uploaded v0.7 just before the deadline, containing every feature listed here in the jam version.

-YYZ