19 NOV 2022:
- The carrier now has flickering exhaust coming out the back. It's a little hard to see because of the fps limitations of the GIF, but it's there.
- The player can also shut down the engine by shooting the "single laser" at the engine block. It's currently not very evident that this is possible, so I'm looking at ways to change that.
- When the carrier takes a certain amount of damage, it accelerates off screen (no point staying around to get blown up!)
- Still working on the carrier fighters. I've tried several variations of movement for them. They need to be aggressive, but not TOO aggressive. The player needs at least a little time to react.
- I also got a placeholder explosion animation for when the carrier is destroyed. It's literally the same as for the battleship, but closer to the end of development I'll be making more unique explosions in Embergen. In anticipation of this, I went ahead and purchased the full (but discounted) version of TexturePacker which is an incredibly intuitive sprite sheet tool. (Not affiliated with either company, but I do like their products).
- A long time ago I implemented the Threat Level and Morale Level bars. You can see the Threat Level bar in action above. It increases when you are actively engaging enemies because you're more of a threat. Conversely it decreases when you're not firing. Higher Threat Levels will allow for the spawning of more difficult enemies.
- It's been over 2 years since I started Scrapship. Sometimes development has been very tedious and frustrating, but one thing that has always helped keep me going are the VIEW COUNTS by people like you.
Scrapship still averages about 1 view per week . . . even though I don't really do much in the way of marketing and there hasn't been a playable version for quite a while now. The view count for this devlog is nearing 10,000 views, which I find incredible.
So here's a big THANK YOU to everyone who has ever read this devlog or played any of the early demos!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
"Everyone wants some magic pill -- some life hack -- that eliminates the need to do the work. But that does not exist." -- Jocko Willink
Thanks for reading and (for those in the US) have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and a great rest of your week!