Swage Matrix Windows game

As the development of Swage Matrix keeps going I have some more details to share about the action stages in the game. Video above demonstrates action stage prototype. Mission can be played through all waves with the boss fight in the end. Stage still requires more features and polishing, but already depicts the whole idea and cycle of action stages in general.

In the beginning of each action stage your drone has 5 armor points and 1 damage point. Armor and damage buffs appear randomly during several construction phases. The trick is to collect as much of them as possible without falling down from the matrix or getting hit by a falling platform, which destroys your drone instantly. Bonus armor and weapon points last until the end of the stage and have cap of 10. Each buff your collect above the limit gives you Swagebits instead. Most enemy attacks remove 1 armor per hit, and when your armor drops to zero the drone is destroyed. Some of enemy attacks, like the laser strikes during construction phases, can even reduce your damage points, but unlike armor these points cannot drop below 1.

Combat becomes more intense with each subsequent enemy drone wave. But this doesn't mean the fight always becomes longer. Instead of just rising number of hits required to bring the enemy down, game forces enemy drones to use active defenses like jumps and shields more often and increases number of drones. Subsequent waves can be completed even faster than the previous ones if you time and aim your attacks well. The only fight that will require quite a lot of time indeed - is boss fight in the end of each stage.

In the video you can also see some improvements I've made to the environment and UI. The point is that during my gameplay experiments I've found out that platforms do better as the floor matrix elements than cubes. Besides, the same platforms would be more logical to use in other types of stages. Also I've noticed that bottom-located HUD is quite distractive during such combat, so now all important indicators - armor, damage, and ability cooldown are located just near the drone itself.

The prototype looks closer and closer the my vision of the action stage and game in general, and I'm trying to improve the game's visual part as well. You probably already noticed improved visual effects and a bit more complex environment, but of course, this is not the final visual quality I'm trying to achieve yet.

Regards,
Sergey Kalmanovich (aka Red Spot Sylphina)