LLC
After doing business under my own name for two years, I finally registered Helvetica Scenario, LLC in Ohio. The name is an awesome reference I've been wanting to use for a while.
What finally won me over was the discovery that helveticascenar.io was up for grabs. (currently just redirects to my personal website)
Sony application
The whole purpose of forming an LLC was to be able to join the PS4 developer program. I applied this week and am waiting to hear back. Fingers crossed.
Reticle revamp
A few testers played for a good five minutes before realizing the triangle at the center of the screen was a reticle.
I revamped the design a bit. It has to communicate FIVE different states without getting too visually noisy.
Buy period
Also in response to tester feedback, there is now a 10 second buy period at the start of each match, where movement is disabled, allowing time to buy upgrades.
Custom map support
I'm now shipping the level importer executable alongside the game executable. This will allow players to put .blend files in a special folder, run the importer executable, and play their map in the game.
The main motivator behind this feature is actually the possibility of facilitating other map makers working on the game before release. More on this later, hopefully.
Force field update
I encountered an issue with the force field: player A can spawn a force field around player B's base. If player B does not yet have the necessary upgrades to destroy the force field, they can never return to their base.
Right now I'm solving this by putting a limited lifetime of 15 seconds on the force fields. The idea is, it runs on "battery". If you place a force field near an energy port, it will last indefinitely. Then all I have to do is ensure there are no energy ports near the bases.
We'll see how well this works in practice. Force fields are definitely not as well integrated as the other mechanics; they probably need more time in the oven.
Soteria design
"Soteria" is the tutorial level. Like in most games, it has received the most attention. I'm still redesigning the scripts and triggers, rewriting the text, and rearranging the level geometry.
