I’ve been working on fixing and tidying up a bunch of things in the core game, and it’s time for a big update. I’m avoiding adding new content if I can until the alpha release, so this might not add much in the way of exciting new features, but it does make things a bit more robust in general. I’ll be going back to working on multiplayer now which is also needed for the alpha, but the good part about this update is that it can all go into the free version too.

The biggest change is that weapons no longer clip through your own vehicle, and automatically limit their range not just to avoid hitting stuff, but also to avoid their shots hitting your vehicle’s stuff. So your weapons will now automatically reduce their range if necessary to get a clear firing area. However, weapons do need to at least be able to fire straight ahead, or they’ll set themselves to not be able to fire at all.

You can also visualise the range weapons will have on the build screen:

So go and get the updated builder demo!

There are a lot of other changes since the last public release:

2013-08 – 0.2.0

Changes:

– General code cleanup

– Moved GUI power bar to the bottom

– Moving parts on vehicles can now collide with the vehicle

– Hovering over weapons on the build screen now displays their available firing area

– Weapons now automatically reduce their range to not collide with or hit your own vehicle when firing (if possible)

– Parts are now tinted when hovered over to indicate which will be picked up

– Improved part snapping on the build screen.

1. Parts can now snap to points which are visually behind other objects.

2. Parts can now snap to positions where a snap point is available but the part will collide with something – the part can’t be placed but it helps to see why not. This is optional and currently off by default – it’s in the Game Options. Feedback on which system works better is welcome.

– Added audio volume controls to Options screen

– Added 2×1 extender part (such an exciting new part)

– Armour now auto-snaps to the angle required instead of having to be manually rotated. Note that saved vehicles will now be missing their “side” armour due to that part being removed

– Turned save file encryption back on due to concerns about potential cheating in the future

– Moving parts (e.g. rotating weapon barrels) are now allowed to intersect red zones at the build stage(e.g. above the cockpit hatch)

– Other minor improvements and performance tweaks

Bug Fixes:

– Stopped parts being able to intersect wheels on the Build screen

– Fixed collider sizes on medium engine and armour, which were incorrectly preventing them being placed in some situations

– Fixed some weapon rotation issues with clipping or rotating about the wrong point

– Fixed parts not being marked as inventory and hence doing unnecessary setup

– Fixed red zone box Z positioning on the Build Screen

– Fixed suspension always becoming linked when entering test mode and returning

– Fixed rear suspension value not loading from saves

– Can now edit the vehicle name in the save dialog after clicking on an entry

– Fixed the default vehicle files not being copied across after clearing all data

– Fixed Ctrl-key commands not working in Mac OS

– Fixed a new music track not starting when the old one finishes

– Other minor fixes

2013-06 – 0.1.3 (internal version only)

Changes:

– Improved skidmarks

– Tweaks to vehicle masses

– Added antialiasing back to the inventory parts when suitable graphics settings are selected

– Flying bullets have some texture

– New trails for medium cannon (see bug fixes)

Bug Fixes:

– Stopped using Unity’s trail render and wrote a custom one, fixing issues when Medium Cannon bullets reset their position

– Fixed steering so it doesn’t instantly snap to 0 on key/button release