Phobos Down 0.0.11 alpha released

It's time for another Phobos Down alpha update!

The most noticeable addition in this update is the procedurally generated plant clusters. They are purely decorative but together with one new large tentacle plant type, they add much needed visual variation to the mission sites. I have made some improvements to the site generation too. For example, it is now guaranteed to place at least some elements with dynamic lights in every site. This avoids generating bland-looking sites with no dynamic lights at all.

Another significant change is that the explosive plants no longer harm the player at all and their damage radius has been increased considerably. This makes them a lot more useful.

After long consideration, I decided to add an all-time high score table for the unique random game runs too. To make the maximum possible score less dependent on the procedural generation I set the total number of enemy waves constant. The waves are randomly spread over 6-8 missions. In practice, this shortens the average game run length a little.

If things go according to the plan, Phobos Down will be in Early Access on Steam early next year.

Here is the full change log since version 0.0.10:

• Added a bit more details to walker leg models.
• Enabled debanding post processing filter.
• Show a warning pop-up when the game can't fetch challenges from the server.
• Fixed showing high scores for challenges incompatible with current game version.
• Added all-time high score challenge game type.
• Improved site obstacle placement logic.
• Added tentacle plant variant.
• Increased explosive plant damage range.
• Prevented explosive plants from damaging the player.
• Fixed connected gamepad causing jerky movement in keyboard controls.
• Improved right stick deadzone handling for smoother aiming.
• Added three types of clustered plants as terrain decorations.
• Made sure that every mission site has some obstacles with dynamic lights.
• Made total number enemy waves independent of the mission count.
• Shortened average game run a little.
• Fixed hidden mouse cursor in high score name entry.
• Made fast crawling enemies only a little bit faster than the player.
• Allow menu navigation using gamepad left trigger too.
• Only deliver GodotSteam libraries with the Steam version of the game.
• Show blinking health bar already at 50% health.

All feedback is again welcome! You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.

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Posted on 2024-12-16

Phobos Down 0.0.10 alpha released

A new Phobos Down alpha update is here! The change list is a bit shorter than usual but this update still brings many important improvements and some new content. This version should also be ready for the Steam Deck compatibility verification.

There are many new weapon modifiers like reflective and explosive projectiles. Existing modifiers have been fine-tuned to make them more balanced by adding secondary effects (usually damage) to the otherwise less useful modifiers.

There is one new device drop pod: Sentry missile system. That is basically a missile launcher variant of the classic sentry gun.

Here is the full change log since version 0.0.10:

• Made some projectile damage and sniper modifiers increase shoot sound pitch.
• Fixed random shadow flickering while player moves around.
• Show "continue game" menu after successful mission completion.
• Added drop markers on ground to indicate incoming drop pods.
• Increased initial fire rate for the rifle.
• Show warning message when damaging containers.
• Added device/controller specific button icons.
• Trigger Steam gamepad text entry for menu text items on Steam Deck.
• Use Steam persona name as default high score name when available.
• Made large walker enemies keep more distance to each other.
• Fixed some particles not properly facing camera.
• Added explosive projectiles modifier for the rifle.
• Added reflective projectiles modifier.
• Made time-limited projectiles break into dim fragments on expiration.
• Added secondary effects to some of the less useful modifiers.
• Added a missile launcher sentry gun variant.
• Added explosion stun modifier for the launcher.
• Prevent diggers from burrowing while stunned.
• Lowered ballistic fire rates for the eight-legged walkers.

Let me know what yout think! You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.

Downloads are available on Itch.io:

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Posted on 2024-10-14

Phobos Down 0.0.9 alpha released

It's time for another Phobos Down alpha update!

I had a very loose plan for the content of this update. Some changes are based on tester feedback, others are random things from my task list and as usual, there are changes I never planned at all. Despite the lack of planning, this update brings many significant improvements.

Score items dropped from killed enemies are now always automatically picked up, so there's no need to go collect them manually.

There is a completely new enemy type called "tank" with differently sized variants. It's a quite rare boss type enemy with special weak points that can be destroyed in order to deal huge amount of damage and to slow down the enemy.

Another noticeable addition is data storage devices fallen from the wreckage that contain confidential data and can be destroyed for additional score reward. These devices also reveal tiny bits of backstory as text excerpts.

You'll also notice that drop pods have changed. They have a new model and instead of exploding on ground they now return to the support ship in orbit. This makes more sense than having an infinite supply of drop pods on the small ship. The devices delivered by the drop pods have different models now to make it easier to tell them apart.

Weapon management UI has also changed a bit. It now shows the total change in weapon properties when assigning a modifier to a weapon, taking into account the original modifier that will be replaced.

Here is the full change log since version 0.0.8:

• Made the "free" mouse aiming mode the default.
• Properly capture mouse cursor in photo mode when using "free" mouse aiming mode.
• Fixed small error in distance calculation when applying damage from explosions.
• Increased score item attract distance to cover whole mission site.
• Improved enemy shoot recoil handling.
• Adjusted enemy gib size and count to better scale with enemy size.
• Fixed explosions with origin inside an enemy body not causing damage.
• Added two variants of a new rare "tank" enemy type.
• Show total modifier effect on weapon properties in weapon UI.
• Force walkers to step their feet if they stretch too long.
• Fixed first walkers sometimes spawning without legs.
• Added a new evasive floater enemy variant.
• Removed score cost from all devices.
• Added separate sound effect for score penalty.
• Use the normal terminal sound when displaying score messages in-game.
• Updated models for drop pods and all devices.
• Refactored droppod and device handling to make adding new devices easier in future.
• Fixed artifacts at edges of device and modifies icons.
• New much better device destruction sounds.
• Added data storage devices that can be destroyed for score bonus.
• Fixed screen edge indicators not getting drawn in priority order.
• Drop third medical station device if player's health falls below 25%.
• Show screen edge indicators for medical station devices already below 50% health.
• Fixed melee enemies not always getting close enough to player to attack.
• Emit smoke particles from damaged containers.
• Improved thruster plume shader.
• Fixed broken dust particle placement inside explosion volume.
• Fixed drop pods spawning in front of camera with low FOV setting.
• Made orbital strike device indicator show the time to missiles hitting the ground.
• Fade out world grid as the camera zooms in at mission start.
• Fixed camera FOV setting affecting sound volume level.
• Hide device icons and time indicators in photo mode.
• Replaced directional camera push from explosions with more traditional shake.
• Added a subtle camera push on player weapons firing.
• Added menu setting for strength of camera shake effects.
• Removed camera FOV setting from menu.
• Improved gamepad vibration effects.
• Play heartbeat sound when health is critically low.
• Fixed menu move sound playing everytime the game starts.
• Prevent undodgeable enemy ballistic attacks at very close range.
• Prevent enemies spawning directly under obstacles or characters.
• Delay failed mission info box a little after player's death.
• Lower the damage applied to the player when already badly hurt.
• Scale enemy projectile size based on the size of the shooting enemy.

As usual, all feedback is welcome! You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.

Downloads are available on Itch.io:

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Posted on 2024-07-31

Phobos Down 0.0.8 alpha released

This update to Phobos Down comes sooner than usual because I needed a new version for Game Development World Championship 2024 submission. Despite the fast schedule, there are some significant improvements.

I have made some changes to reduce the idle waiting time during the missions. The idle time between enemy waves has been shortened and messages are now shown when waves start and end.

Previously there were indicators at screen edges that guided the player to stationary enemies. Now the same indicators are shown for all enemies. This might make the screen edges a bit more "busy" than I'd like but it removes the need to track down the first wandering enemies and gives a better view of the overall situation. Storywise it also makes that the support ship in orbit provides this information.

There are now random crystal formations growing from the ground. They act as simple obstacles that provide some cover and add visual variation to the mission sites.

Here is the full change log since version 0.0.7:

• Adjusted player character recoil animation to be more visible.
• Bumped up projectile hit impulse on enemies.
• Fixed unburrowed digger enemies sliding while shooting and on impacts.
• Added screen edge indicators for all off-screen enemies.
• Added screen edge indicators for healing devices while player is badly damaged.
• Fixed edge indicators breaking up at screen corners (especially at high aspect ratio screens).
• Increased the maximum number of simultaneous enemies a bit.
• Decreased the idle time between enemy waves from 20 to 10-15 seconds.
• Show messages on enemy wave start and completion.
• Added new sentry gun shoot sound with more variation.
• Return camera to orbit when returning to main menu.
• Prevented enemies from climbing on top of obstacles.
• Fixed enemy projectiles not triggering impact effects on hit.
• Added crystal formations as alternative obstacle type.
• Made enemies change position if their ranged attacks are continuously blocked by obstacles.
• Added two new walker enemies.
• Increased fire rates for some of the tougher enemies.

You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.

Downloads are available on Itch.io:

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Posted on 2024-05-27

Phobos Down 0.0.7 alpha released

It's time for another Phobos Down alpha update!

Once again there is a long list of bug fixes and improvements. Probably the most visible additions is the glowing waving "trees". In practice, they are just simple static obstacles but they bring some much needed variation and more dynamic lights to the mission sites.

Another small but important visual change is that the player now turns into the direction of movement while not aiming instead of walking backwards long distances and looking stupid.

The character controller has received a lot of improvements. Walking up steep hills should now finally be smooth. This applies to the player and especially to the larger enemy types.

While there are no new enemy types added this time, I have made some changes to the existing ones. Relative enemy appearance frequencies have all been adjusted and fixes made so that the rare enemy types actually appear as infrequently as intended. One bigger change here is that the "spawner" enemy (the floating egg-like thing that spawns other enemies) has been turned into a rare special enemy type that appears at most once per wave. I did this because multiple simultaneous "spawners" were very tedious to fight and made the mission last way longer than intended.

As for new content, I have added stun projectile modifier that makes a weapon stun enemies for a while. There is also a stun device drop pod that can be used to stun a large number of enemies within range. The stunned enemies are then an easy source of kill streak or multi-kill score rewards. Stun projectiles make hitting fast-moving enemies a lot easier.

Here is the full change log since version 0.0.6:

• Fixed blast waves not affecting gibs and smoke particles.
• Added glowing trees as obstacles and additional dynamic lights.
• Made plants and trees sway after hit by projectiles and blast waves.
• Improved explosive plant model and vertex animation.
• Fixed a couple of worst (CPU) performance bottlenecks.
• Limited auto-aim to a reasonable range.
• Prevented explosive enemies from exploding until fully unburrowed.
• Add blinking light to triggered devices.
• Fixed enemies getting stuck to friendly obstacles while wandering idle.
• Increased explosive plant damage to the enemies and lowered the damage to the player.
• Lowered container explosion damage to the player.
• Removed the option to manually enter game seed.
• Fixed containers sometimes getting placed too close to the player start point.
• Turn player slowly towards walking direction while not aiming.
• Dim existing modifier icon while installing a new one to indicate that it will be replaced.
• Fixed wrong colors in explosive plant damage range indicators.
• Added explosion damage range indicator to badly damaged containers.
• Added move sound loop to crawler enemies.
• Show player health bar temporarily after closing weapon wheel.
• Properly disable player UI and controls behind mission completion info dialog.
• Always spawn score items above the ground even if the dead enemy was burrowed.
• Play a sound on equipment level upgrade at mission end.
• Fixed score label changing position with long message texts.
• Properly hide challenge/game status in main menu after game completion.
• Fixed enemy randomization to properly respect set enemy type specific probabilities.
• Rewrote the character controller to better handle climbing steep slopes.
• Fixed enemies not respecting their type specific avoidance distances.
• Smoothly turn enemies to align with ground.
• Fixed enemies forgetting their targets even if getting shot at.
• Fixed a crash when drop pods are spawned after the player's death.
• Made the lower enemy rotation speed limits actually work.
• Added projectile stun weapon modifier.
• Fixed digger enemies sliding down slopes.
• Added stun device drop pod.
• Reduced the mission count range to 6-9 (from 8-12).
• Fixed completely broken rotation handling in all particle systems.
• Fixed walker leg damage flash being one frame late compared to its body.
• Turned spawner enemies into rarely seen "special" enemies.

You can contact me through the contact form here or leave a comment on Itch.io page.

Downloads are available on Itch.io:

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Posted on 2024-05-06