Alpha 2 will be uploaded just before the game is going to be released to make sure the latest bugs are fixed, and to add some polish here and there. Alpha 2 will include the following features:
- XBox controller support for windows. ( I am considering doing this for mac and linux as well, but I don't have a mac to test it on and I only have a virtual linux, so hopefully that will do )
- Deffered Rendering, HDR (High Dynamic Range), and Post-Processing effects. A lot of words, to keep it simple: It is now possible for me to have colors in the game that are brighter the the brightest color your screen can display. These super bright colors are then used in a so called Post-Processing effect that will add a nice glow effect to these parts of the screen. This allows for cool-looking laser effects and overall better graphics.
- Graphics improvements to make the spaceships look like they are actually made of shiny metal instead of plastic. To accomplish this I used the built-in specular shader combined with a reflection cubemap to simulate the reflections of the stars on the metal.
- A bad looking work-in-progress settings window, allowing you to modify different laser colors. More settings & customization hopefully coming soon.
That's it for now, new features may be added but bugs have a higher priority ( and a short lifetime ;) ).
