I’ve been spending sparse bits of my time in the evenings fixing bugs, and adding new features to the 2D space shmup project. For now it is really just a case of getting the “platform” ready. Once that is done, I’ll have all the bits and pieces I need to create the game/storyline I have in mind. This blog post will hopefully serve as a gamedev and features showcase on the latest developments!

With that said, I do have a video update to show today! I’ve been working on tons of new features (and fixes) since my last blog post. Here is the latest gameplay video, with a non-exhaustive list of just some of the fixes and new features following that.

2-player local co-op with gamepad support

New weapons: Chaingun, and spray. Tweaked/improved the look of the other existing types.

New animations and sound to fit the new weapons. For example the minigun spins up and down, and has matching sound effects.

New enemy types – For example, segmented worm waves (think strings of enemies worm across the screen – break a section off by shooting them to pieces)

Enemy wave fixes – some wave patterns weren’t working 100% For example incorrect numbers spawned in triangle waves, and some wave numbers were not tracked correctly. All fixed now

New bullet system implemented. It is a lot easier for me to customise and tweak player guns/bullets now

Camera shake effects

New sounds/praises/bonus when destroying complete waves

Nukes that destroy everything on screen

Player damage fire/debris based on health

More enemy customisation options – for example specify their wave spawn height in terms of ratio of the screen height – 0.0 to 1.0, or choose finer grained detail like how close worm segments follow each other.

Health pickups

Enemy health bug fix – sometimes enemies would become invulnerable

New planet sprites and planet spawning options for aesthetics – you can control planet scale, as well as their rotation and speed settings now. Although they are just eye candy, they are fun to add to levels.

Menu and GUI tweaks

2D ordering bugs fixed

Star particle system ordering issue fixed

New audio system implemented. The second custom asset I am using now – SoundManager Pro 3 (the other one I use is DF GUI)

A bunch of new ambient sounds and effects for the game added – thank you to freesound

Lots of other tweaks and bug fixes…

There is still a lot more to work on before the framework is ready for actual game development. Watch this space and be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel, or to this blog top-right corner of this page for future news, gameplay and development updates 🙂