Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Ready Up

If you were a part of the previous tests and tried creating a game, you probably remember constantly having to ask if everyone is ready to start. That won't be an issue anymore, players can now mark their status as ready or not ready in the game lobby:




This quickly lets the game leader know when it is appropriate to start the game instead of having to guess. The leader's status is set to a crown to let everyone know who can start the game, and the rest of the players have either an X or a check. The player's status starts off as an X for not ready, and can be switched at any time to let their leader know they are ready to start. The status can be toggled back easily if you change your mind.

As of now the status is just informative, and it doesn't actually affect the leader's ability to start the game. That means if a player doesn't have a ready status the game can still start. This will likely change in the future, but first a booting system will have to be implemented in addition. One thing at a time.

Monday, June 18, 2012

The Snake Powerup

I have been working on a new powerup attack that acts a bit differently than the other attacks. The snake is an enemy that moves through the field causing damage when touching the player. The important part of the snake is the head, the rest of the body moves in the same path the head takes.

Attacks against the snake's body have no effect. In order to kill a snake, you must shoot it in the head. Each shot will remove a segment of its body until it is only a head. Shooting the remaining head will finish it.



What makes the snake unique is its ability to absorb unclaimed powerups to make it stronger. Whenever the head makes contact with a free powerup, not only does it prevent the player from using it, but it gains an additional segment in its body. This gives it more health and makes it more dangerous.

Take these enemies out as quickly as you can to prevent them from stealing your powerups.

I have also added a new wallpaper in the downloads section:










Stay tuned for the next online testing session...