Full game features

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on some new features: the challenge game mode and construction damage.  These won’t be in the demo (got to hold some things back for the full game!) but I thought I’d talk about them so you know what I’ve been working on.

Right now the challenge mode just consists of built in saved games that you can choose from as starting scenarios.  The plan is to extend this to add various possible constraints (e.g. a limited part budget) and scoring / win criteria.  Eventually there will be a system where you earn points by completing challenges to unlock later, more advanced challenges.  There’s still a long way to go on this feature!

I’ve also been working on my first attempt at a damage system.  Each attachment starts with an initial “integrity” level based on the material strength of the two parts it joins.  When a construction sustains impact, damage is propagated to its attachments, reducing their integrity level.  Once an attachment’s integrity reaches zero it is deleted, causing parts of the construction to break off.  Note that the parts themselves don’t get damaged or destroyed, only attachments; I decided to do it this way for simplicity.

UI improvements and bug fixes

There are still plenty of new things in the demo though, I have made some UI improvements (animated loading screen, saved game images, and other tweaks), plus a bunch of bug fixes.  I’ll keep continuing to update the demo, wherever I improve or bug fix an existing feature.  I’ll still be adding one or two new parts to the demo as well!