Many of the items in the change log are fixes and improvements based on the feedback I got from people playing the Phobos Down arcade cabinet. For example, the extract zone appearing at end of mission is now delayed because most new players forgot to pick up their rewards and just ran to the extract zone when they all appeared at the same time. Also, medical devices are now spawned in the direction of player's movement so that the player is more likely to notice them.

Another issue that I have long known is that new players tend to unintentionally destroy their first weapon modifiers because the trash button is located at the center of UI and is conveniently selected when the joystick is centered. I have tried all kinds of double click requirements and confirmation steps but the problem with those is that they become unnecessary hindrance after the player learns what the button does. The new solution is very simple: The game now shows a warning message if the player tries to destroy a weapon modifier while there are no modifiers installed yet. It stops nagging once the player successfully installs the first modifier.

I have recently spent a lot of time digging through Godot source code. I finally managed to fix the long-standing issue where missiles bounce off targets without exploding. This required changes in Godot engine physics contact handling code.

My trusty custom particle system was originally written in GDScript and it has long been a major CPU performance bottle neck. Since I already have to build my own version of the engine, re-implementing the particle system as a native C++ module was the logical solution. The peak particle system update time dropped from 6ms to 0.15 ms. In practice, this should fix the stuttering when there are a lot of particles flying around, especially on slower CPUs.

The game now keeps track of statistics over multiple game runs. So far this information is only used to control the appearance of confidential document fragments in the data storage devices. The documents in the first few games runs are mostly useful tips about the environment and lifeforms. As more runs are completed, more documents with backstory details start appearing.

Here's the full change log since version 0.0.11:

• Fixed missiles sometimes bouncing off targets without exploding.
• Flash plant light intensity too on damage.
• Adjust plant light position according to deflection.
• Made orbital strike missiles explode slightly above ground.
• Doubled orbital strike missile damage.
• Added varying level of predictive aiming to some enemies.
• Spawn new medical devices in direction of player's movement.
• Show indicators for burrowed off-screen enemies too.
• Made off-screen container damage indicators more visible.
• Delay extract zone appearing after dropping wave rewards.
• Don't drop wave rewards after the last wave of last mission.
• Fixed auto-aim picking targets from behind player too.
• Re-implemented the custom particle system as C++ module.
• Fixed some particles not properly facing camera in photo mode.
• Show a text hint about the modifier slots if player tries to destroy the first modifier.
• Made a more natural looking idle standing pose for player's legs.
• Added more confidential documents to destroy.
• Limit some of the confidential documents based on number of successful game runs.
• Updated game completion and failure messages.
• Added a stun device that lures lifeforms.
• Added a tick sound and blinking emissive details to devices during timer countdown.

You can download the game here on Itch.io  or wishlist it on Steam.