What's New?
-Added an ammo system to the game; players can only fire a certain amount of shots consecutively, and must wait for a few seconds to recharge their ammo.
-The ball now drops onto the nearest platform beneath the original position.
-Adjusted platform cooldown; increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
-Adjusted the number of hits players can take with the ball. Players can take 3 hits with the ball. Landing on the opposite color platform counts as 2 hits.
-Changed the aiming reticle to only show up when charging a shot.
-Added a flashing effect to the weapon to indicate when the shot is fully charged.
-Added additional effects for when the player scores.
-Added scoring feedback to the tutorial
-Added some text to accompany the button prompts
-Improved the visual impact of the ready up prompt
-Updated sound effects and music
What's the Motivation?
A common complaint that we received from playtesters was that the everyone just spams shots without any consequence, making the game cluttered. To fix this, we added an ammo system, limiting the amount of shots a player can make consecutively. This makes each individual shot more important, and encourages players to aim their shots more carefully.
Playtesters also felt that having the ball reset every time someone dropped it made it too hard to score, so we changed it to drop to the nearest platform below instead. This makes it so that the progress a team makes towards their ship isn't completely lost, and gives them an opportunity to recover. It also discourages the enemy team from camping the ball spawn location.
We adjusted the platform cooldown to give it more of an impact, as the 1 second duration seemed to go unnoticed. We also changed the number of hits players can take with the ball. We wanted to lessen the negative feedback loop while keeping opposite color platforms the highest threat.
The change to the aiming reticle was made because people previously just ended up holding down the left trigger the whole time. A few playtesters also felt that the charge shot wasn't as effective as spamming normal shots. By integrating the aiming into the charge shot, it removes the need to hold down the left trigger while also making charge shots more effective by improving the accuracy.
We added additional effects to enhance the gameplay experience, such as a flashing weapon when the charge shot is fully charged, and flashing lights on the ship when a player scores. This allows the players to easily tell when a shot is fully charged, and gives them more positive feedback for scoring.
We also improved the tutorial by adding more feedback to scoring. We added a screen flash and had the power core show up on the ship in order to highlight the importance of scoring. We added text to accompany the button prompts. The text is short and optional, giving players a bit more help if needed. We also made the ready up prompt more noticeable by adding a flashing animation to it. This is to ensure that people don't miss it.
What's Next?
We plan on continuing to add sound effects to the game to give a more immersive experience. We will also continue to polish the game, improving the balance and preparing for the release.
