Player Customization

I've been working on adding some basic customization for registered players. When you are in the lobby, you can select an available player and view some basic stats. The system right now works, but the player info space is very small and has little customization. I am making it larger and more appealing.

I plan on giving the player the option to customize the background and maybe even the foreground. Players could unlock different looks by having a high enough level, kill death ratio, or possibly completing streamlined "challenges."

I want players to have an identity in Nexus to give them incentive to keep playing and be rewarded for their accomplishments.

Nuke Balancing

I had some feedback from the last testing that the nukes were too powerful. Alone they aren't so bad, but when stacked with other powerups its easy to get stuck letting the timer tick down and if you stumble on a nuke you had not seen spawn you could be unfairly hit. I've done a few things to make nukes a bit more manageable.

First, nukes now have a much smaller blast radius. It is still extremely large, but if you give yourself enough time to run you can run away instead of having to shoot. Second, as suggested by the feedback, the nukes are now affected by your laser velocity. That means when you shoot the nuke it will start drifting in the direction you are hitting it at. This is useful if you have a low countdown timer, because you can shoot a few shots to push it away and then run in the opposite direction to avoid the blast. The push isn't incredibly strong, so if you want to destroy it and send the nuke back you won't have to chase it too far.

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Also in response to the last update, here are some changes I've made. This is still not necessarily what the final version will look like:

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Concept Art

I have been working on improving my artistic skills lately. This is some concept art I have been experimenting with that may end up being the title screen or background for the lobby.

I know this doesn't match the in-game art, but neither do most classic arcade games. The original Asteroids cover art looks nothing like the game, but is still relevant. Since Nexus has the classic arcade look and feel I may go with a similar approach. If it detracts from the game play or causes confusion, however, it's out.