Netcode
Work on the netcode continues. It provides reliable ordered messaging under conditions of up to 25% packet loss, and it can now serialize the world state over the network. Bitpacking and zlib compression keeps the bandwidth down. The next project is delta compression and client-side interpolation. After everything is synced properly and "spectator mode" is effectively complete, then comes the tricky part: client-side prediction.
PS4
The PS4 port requires me to translate all the shaders from GLSL to Sony's proprietary shader language. I'm putting this on hold for now to focus on other features. If you're a PS4 programmer or you know someone who is, contact me! I would love to hire someone to work on this aspect. It's a very straightforward port.
Ability overhaul
A few things bothered me about the ability system. One is that because you could only spawn objects at your current position, it did not afford much room for creative expression. It was less a question of when and where to use abilities, and more only a question of when.
Furthermore, at least one of the abilities (sniper) worked differently enough that it broke the pattern of the other abilities. You entered "sniper mode", in which your next move fired a bullet instead of moving your drone.
I decided to switch all the abilities to this system. So now, you press a button switch to a certain ability, then hit the primary fire button to use it. If it's a spawn ability, the object spawns where you were aiming.
Decoy
This is a new ability that spawns a decoy drone, which confuses the enemy's UI and aggros all their AI units. Needs tweaking, but I think it'll stay in. Here's a VOD showing the development process for the decoy.
Health v10
I've always loved games with lots of health. I used to run custom Halo matches with snipers, infinite grenades, and health cranked up to 400%. No one liked it.
This game has been a further exploration into this tense, high stakes, no-respawn type of game, in the vein of Counter-Strike and Rainbow Six: Siege (which I have been enjoying immensely lately). The problem is, those games are team-based where mine is largely 1v1.
I've been trying to artificially inflate the playtime with more health. When it comes down to it, if your goal is to destroy the enemy, it's deeply unsatisfying to abandon a fight unless you're about to die. This leads to matches with one quick fight, as opposed to the multiple, varied skirmishes I'm going for.
So I'm going the more traditional route. One hit point, one shield hit point, and a small number of respawns. Yes, it's a compromise, but ultimately the goal I'm shooting for is an emotion, and this new system gets closer to that goal than the old one.
In order to make the respawns still feel meaningful, I plan to make them affect the metagame. Each drone you waste costs money, and maybe if you win a match, you get to take your opponent's leftover drones.
Rush mode
Another factor that encouraged overly quick matches was the gametype: so far it's been only deathmatch. I also realized that deathmatch modes never reach the same level of "tactical thinking" achieved in modes like CTF. So now I'm experimenting with a "rush" mode, which should be familiar if you've ever played Battlefield:
This is your basic attack/defend game type. The defender has to keep the objectives safe for a certain period of time. We'll see how it goes.