I'd like to give you a quick update on 2x0ng, and talk about some of the changes coming in the next release.
The new arcade-style "retry" system is a bit clunky, and needs a better user interface. In particular, both "Continue" and "Reset" are on the Control-R key, and this is cumbersome. But I've got a fix. In the upcoming version 1.6, when your robot is killed you won't have to press Control-R to continue. Instead the game will automatically continue after 5 or 7 seconds, and Control-R will go back to being the "real" reset button. Sorry about the confusion here.
I've also been told that the Monitors (red-and-purple orbs that grow to huge size) have overly large hitboxes, and it does seem this way because the drawn pixels do not extend into the corners of the hitbox. Accordingly it's too easy to try running past one of the Monitors, but die because you caught just the very corner of its hitbox. In the next version of 2x0ng these hitboxes will be adjusted so as to fit the appearance of this enemy and prevent such accidental deaths.
There is also no "quit game" key, which means you have to use the mouse to close the game window instead. This is easily fixed by my adding a quit key on Control-Q.
Another user reported that occasionally a level starts with little but empty space on the screen, plus the player and 2 walls along the edges. There's nothing wrong per se with having some empty areas, but it does look odd when it happens, and the user had thought something went wrong with the game. I can fix this as well in the next version of 2x0ng.
That's all for now! I've got my work cut out for me this week. And there's more going on behind the scenes, including the design of Battle Mode (versus one another in the ultimate game of Association Squareball.)
There are now over 800 of you with 2x0ng currently installed through Desura, and I hope you're all enjoying the game. Please don't hesitate to report feedback, comments, and bug reports.
Thank you.
