0.0.2 Post-Jam Update

First of all, I would like to say thank you to all that took the time to play and rate Rift Slayer over the past week, and also a thanks to the organisers of Bullet Hell Jam 6 and all that took part, this was a really fun project to work on and I've enjoyed playing many other entries into the jam. I have a retrospective in progress right now to put my thoughts into words, so if that sounds like something you're interested in, keep your eyes peeled (release date TBD, depending on work schedules)!

Having had an absolute blast developing this game for the past week and a bit, during the rating phase of the jam, alongside playing and rating other games, I've been continuing development, adding juice, reworking systems, and fleshing the title out more.

0.0.2 - Change notes

With this update you can find a myriad of updates to gameplay systems, lots of balancing, and lots of juice.

Systems

• Rewrite of the audio codebase with adjustments to sounds and volumes, a performance boost related to more unified audio management.
• Pause system to allow you to pause the game mid-session (START button on controller, or ESC on keyboard)
• Visual effects system put in place. See "Visuals" section below.
• Refactor to the game manager systems
• Preparatory work to allow for a new spawn system to be put in place.

Gameplay

Balancing

• Some enemies have been adjusted slightly to offer a little more of a challenge, or reduce their impact where they felt a little too powerful.
• Scoring has been modified so that there is more reward for killing enemies, and the multiplier now has a much more generous max limit. Don't get hit, and see your score skyrocket!
• Player health regeneration has been lowered
• Damage taken when exiting the rift has been increased, but is not constant and instead applies in bursts.

Mechanics

• Camera tracking improvements, should allow for a smoother experience when the camera attempts to reach the player ship.
• Camera director sees the camera target an offset position based upon the direction of player travel and aim.
• In preparation for a new rift rework the rift is a lot more stable currently (doesn't expand or shrink violently). It will not stay stable for too long, in an update in the near future I'm aiming to bring a much more refined rift-sequencer to allow for a much more dynamic and enjoyable environmental hazard

Visuals

• Started working on a new visual effects system which for now introduces two new effects, impacts and explosions.
• New impact shader to give more of a visual queue when hitting an enemy (but not killing them).
• Camera shake has been added to give more feedback to when damage has been taken. It's subtle, but it's there.