Hey Gamers,

So I haven't been able to work on the game much with the amount of homework and time I need to spend on school. Luckily this is my last semester before I graduate so I should have much more time this summer and potentially next semester to work on the game. I plan to make a discord or some chat for the game this summer.

This update adds two big features to the game and fixes some minor bugs with the AI:

1) Biome:
So instead of fighting in a white void I was able to add a desert background image that spawns in where ever the player moves. Although it looks like a single background, it is actually a single image that changes from a darker to a lighter shade but I have the background flip itself based on the players direction so that it then goes from lighter shade to darker shade which repeats the image. This may not seem like anything yet, but this technique allows me to import any image as a background and allow it to spawn around the player.

2) Topography:
Many top-down shooters only have the player fighting on the ground level. This update now allows you to fight on hills. Hills act as both a barrier to the player and enemies as shooting at a hill from a lower topography will cause the bullet to break, but shooting at it from a higher topography will go over the enemy's/player's head. The only way someone can get hit is if they're at the same topography level. This feature can be modified in the options menu and allow the player to choose the size (length and width) of the hill and their height. The height option only has "None" and "Low" available since anything higher currently causes bugs in the game.

IF YOU DO NOT SEE A BUTTON TO UPDATE THE GAME UNINSTALL AND REINSTALL THE GAME

I have been having issues getting the game to update on steam after getting a new laptop. Hopefully this is the last time this will happen.

Anyways, I am about to graduate this May. Once this summer roles around there will be more and better updates.

Hey Gamers,

Thank you for your patience and your feedback on the game. I am calling this update a foundational update as I have fixed bugs and improved the game mechanics, but I also added some changes that will set the foundation for what the game will become in the future.

Bug Fixes & Small Improvements

• Enemies can now dodge bullets
  
• Originally enemies would teleport as a way of moving, but now they move with a rigidbody. In short, they move at the same speed as the player now
  
• Both the enemy and player move slightly slower due to the movement change
  
• You can now shoot by holding down the left mouse button instead of constantly clicking it
  
• Enemies now despawn after 25 units.
  
• Added a pause button which is escape (esc)

Player Direction Difficulty

One strategy to get a high score is to move in one direction and shoot at enemies. While this is effective for a high score, this strategy isnt fun by itself. To make this strategy more interesting, I have added an algorithm that spawns enemies more often in the direction that the player is moving. So if a player is moving north the whole game, the spawner north will produce enemies much faster than the spawners in the other directions. This setting does also gradually reset, so if a player move north for a while then starts moving in other directions, the north spawner will gradually return back to the normal spawn rate.

Enemy Evolution & Mutation

Most games inflate enemy damage and health. Even with these upgrades enemies are still dominated by a simple strategy found online. To make this game challenging and fair, I have added a way for the enemy to mutate and eventually evolve their traits. As of right now, the evolution aspect is very tough to execute in the game, so most runs wont spawn enemies that will come from an evolution. The mutation does work perfectly and you will see that there will be enemies with different shooting speed, movement speed, and bullet detection distance. the number listed above the enemy shows their stats. Also, enemies have a 10% of spawning in with a mutation, so if you find that there are too many or too few mutations leave a comment.

Upgrade System Foundation
Every 50 points (score) will pause the game and allow the player to pick an upgrade (or no upgrade). The upgrades are very simple at the moment, but I do plan to add many more of them and much more interesting ones in the future. Some that I plan to add are shields that reflect bullets, allowing the player to dash forward, turrets that attack the enemies, and the ability to slow down/speed up time (an potentially reverse time).

Since the current upgrades are simplistic I made them overpowered for people who want to just destroy a bunch of enemies. For those that want to play the game as it is, I have added the option to pick no upgrade you that way you can get a highscore without any help from the upgrades.

Conclusion

Thank you all for playing my game. This is probably the only update prior to the end of winter break. I do plan on updating in the future, but I dont know if I will be able to during the school semester. Anyways, if you like the game or have any recommendations or ideas you would like to see in the game, do leave a comment or review.