Hey, folks! It’s been a while since we put out an update on Worbital development, so let’s take a look and see where the game is now.
We are approaching the Beta stage and Worbital is looking more and more like the game we envisioned it to be. One of the things that has been improving over the last month is local multiplayer (we first mentioned it in our previous status update). Though work is still needed, the local multiplayer is already quite enjoyable, and we are actively testing it inside and outside the team. Last week, we carried out two testing sessions with our fellow Kajaani gamedev studios and neighbours, Bind and Rusto Games.
The testing showed that one of the things we still need to figure out is the solar system size. When you’re playing a 4-player match, you share one screen with your opponents. There is a single static camera set above the solar system. Imagine how chaotic and nauseating it would be with each player moving the camera and zooming it in and out whenever. That would make the local matches completely unplayable, thus the camera view has to remain static. This makes the solar system proportions an issue. How to balance it so that everyone can see clearly what’s happening on the screen, but also to fit everything into single screen? Currently, the players still have to squint every now and then to see the little details, but we’re working on it. See the latest version in the screenshot above. In addition to improving the solar system size, we’re also working on UI polish, to make sure everything is clear and in the most convenient spots.
Maybe the most significant recent additions to the game is the Battle Kit edit menu and Factions. There’s a popping variety of weapons available in Worbital, but only a certain limited amount you can use in a match. Before a match, you can select available weapons from the list by going to the Battle Kit from the Main Menu.The list of available weapons will depend on the the faction you choose to belong to. There are three of them: Terrene, Lucid and Celestial (names may be changed later on). The factions will also determine your advisor character, who will pop up during the game to consult you and comment on the events of the match. For that same reason of lack of screen space, the advisors don’t appear in the Local Multiplayer matches.
Worbital’s Beta stage is getting closer with each day. Soon we might require a more extensive testing… Stay tuned for more news on that!
