Hello everyone, this is AJ Greene, bringing you the latest patch notes! Before I kick this off, I just want to let you in on a little secret.. There's a Christmas giveaway on the Facebook page. You can win one of three copies of the game! What's there to lose?
*Note: Mac version release will be delayed due to an unexpected issue with Unity not packaging the required FMOD DLL's properly. I will try to get this sorted asap.
What's new?
- Improved audio analysis. Rather than having flat speeds for sections, the speed is now more dynamic. You will immediately feel the changes in the music. You may notice stuttering in some parts. Rest assured this is intentional and is not your frame rate dropping; it's just the music.
- Song caching. With the improved audio analysis comes a longer load time. To offset this load time I have implemented a system that will cache the data it retrieves from the song to reuse whenever.
- New ship model. This is probably one of the top new features. It makes the game so much easier to play since you can now actually see the ship. It glows the negative color of the track, so it's very easy to keep track of. I still need to make a particle system for the thrusters.. someday.
- Challenges. Every 60 seconds in the song, there's a chance that a challenge will appear. The challenge can be one of two things at this point: Collect all gold stars in the section, or avoid all red squares in the section.
- New GUI features. There is now a multiplier shown at the top of the screen, and the score you receive is now displayed above the star you hit. This makes it more clear how important the multiplier actually is.
- Early platformer "showcase". You can click on the platformer mode, but it really doesn't have much to it at the moment. I decided to include it in the build to show you the basics of it; there is still a lot that needs to be added.
- Negative colors. I've added an awesome new screen effect that inverts the colors of the game during challenges and while you have your bonus multiplier (if you completed the challenge that is). Have a look:
- Leap motion. If you happen to have a leap motion device, head on into the options menu on the main screen and enable it so you can play the game with it. It gives the game a whole new feeling!
- New song! Last but definitely not least, I have finally included "Hello" by Klaypex into the game. I did not put it in sooner because I did not want to give out the mp3 of it in the game files. But, I spent a very long time and I'm just not able to do it any other way. So if you like it, I ask that you buy it! The other songs are available free for download on the internet.
What about bug fixes?
- Fixed certain track issues, such as right before the loop there would be a sudden turn. I also improved the turn flip (or whatever you would call it; the one that goes upside down and turns at the same time!) so it's not so obstructive of your view.
- Bullets no longer fly through the stars sometimes.
- Frame rate is no longer capped at 60.
- Side to side movement of the ship is no longer frame rate dependent.
- Fixed an issue where the music in the menu would not start up, causing the game to hang on start up.
- I'm sure there are plenty of other fixes that I can't remember right now..
What's in the next version?
It's hard to say what will make it and what won't in the next version, but here's a list of things I have in mind.
- Platformer mode. This will be in the next version for sure.
- Racing mode. Maybe I'll get it done in time, maybe not. Probably not. It's the most technical one due to AI.
- Power ups. Shhh, but right now you can preview one of them by holding down the right mouse button. You didn't hear it from me. Note: This one will mess up the track and cause it to not end on time.
- Unbound camera mode. (Camera stays upright while the track flips and what not)
- Even more improvements to the audio analysis. There's still more I can improve upon, and will be attempting to do so over time, just as I have been.
- There's plenty of ideas floating around in my head, but I'm keeping them on the "DL" because I don't want to let anyone down if something doesn't make it. Because I don't want feature creep.
- Have more ideas? Post them in the forums!
Tl;dr? Check out this video then!
Well, that about sums it up for now..
This is AJ Greene, signing out.
'Till next time.
