New Blog!

The current working title is Codename: Nexus, and the development blog is now at:

Codename: Nexus Development

Thanks for your support and don't forget to update your links!

Still here

You may be wondering why there has been a very long gap in the updates. Let me assure you it's not because there hasn't been anything new, it's mostly because Rift is no longer a suitable name. The current working name is Nexus, which may change as well. Once I settle on a more permanent name I will start another blog and update it with everything that's been added since the last update.

Until then enjoy this demo of something I've been working on. I will explain it later.

New Look

Rift is evolving, the next step is to give it a more appropriate look, and possibly a new name. The plan is to simplify the game play by emphasizing it through the art/animations. Right now its too confusing to new users, I want people to be able to watch someone play and understand whats going on.

Rift is going back to the basics. The art style is going to reflect the arcade-style feel it needs using simple graphics. The colors are going to be very restricted and basic to emphasize the differences between each player and to simplify the field. Textures are going to be avoided to prevent lag and to keep the look simple.

Next round of testing

There's a whole lot of new features that need to be tested, so there will be another round of testing starting on Tuesday, June 21.

Some of the updates include:

- Player accounts with stat tracking
- Lobby system upgrades such as private rooms, inviting, and private messaging.
- New powerup type and changes to old powerups
- More health
- LIVES and settings for how many lives to start out with
- And a lot more...

For now the gameplay music will be removed to keep the file size lower. Mark the date on your calendar because I will need to stress test the server with as many players on as possible.

Animation!

I am an amateur at graphic design but I am trying to make the game at least look decent enough to be playable while it is still being developed. Later on I will have a major overhaul for all of the graphics to make it look presentable but for now you will have to make due with my cool rocket spinning animations.

About the nuke(s)...

So after the testing it was clear that the nukes I had used were mistakenly associated with Wormhole's nuke power up (that I only slightly remember) and I think that caused a lot of disappointment. I decided to change the previous nukes to bombs, give them a new power up picture, and add a completely new type of nuke to the collection. The picture above shows the new power ups, and because the nuke is still being developed, I will stay quiet about it for now.

Feel free to comment on this change, and let me know how you think the nuke should work.

What I've been busy with

Circle Shot Stacking

Stacking powerups (using multiple powerups at the same time) should be much more devastating than only using one at a time. In most cases, the nature of the attack already makes stacking more deadly, such as doubling the amount of bombs or asteroids or splitting the field even further with lasers.

The exception is with the circle shot, when it is stacked the effect isn't nearly as effective as it should be. Each of the bullets has a predefined, constant angle that it will be launched from, so instead of having more bullets to avoid they end up overlapping each other and being only as effective as a single launch.

To fix this, each circle shot is tilted slightly a random amount to offset the bullets from each other, allowing the angles to change and preventing overlap with multiple attacks. The change can be seen in the screenshot comparison at the beginning of the post.

Another powerup this seems to be an issue with is the spikes, when multiple spikes are used the effect isn't evident; it is just as effective to use one than using four at the same time. My current plan is to make the spikes extend further with each additional attack, and if it works well in gameplay I'll keep it.

Welcome

I'm going to start recording the development progress of Rift in this blog, I'll be posting design changes, ideas, and progress. Since the framework of the game has already been created at this point, only progress from now on will actually be in this blog. Feel free to comment, I am very welcome to ideas and criticism.