Polychoron 0.0.10 alpha update

A new alpha update to Polychoron is here! This might just be the last alpha version before beta phase.

First of all, this update adds two new ship module power-ups. The first one is an emergency repair module that repairs the ship once on level start when badly damaged, the other is a rail gun that can shoot through multiple enemies.

When enemies are destroyed, so called kill markers (red crosses) are left in their place. The idea is that it helps player recognize already visited areas. I'm not sure how well this works or if it's really necessary. Please let me know what you think.

Enemy behavior has been tweaked again. Mines no longer require contact or damage to trigger. Instead, they trigger after long enough line of sight to player. This makes them considerable more dangerous. Laser beam wielding sentries now activate their shield when they lose line of sight to player so the player has to stay visible to be able to damage them.

Here's the full change log since version 0.0.9 alpha:

• Fixed a crash when picking up jammer module power-up.
• Trigger mines based on line-of-sight alone.
• Changed default gamepad movement modifier to L1 button.
• Use threaded audio in the web version to fix audio latency and jitter.
• Fixed too dark HUD colors with GLES2 renderer (again).
• Added kill markers (red crosses) indicating positions of already destroyed drones.
• Made explosion fragments disappear much faster.
• Added enemy communication sounds.
• Added icon file in Windows and Linux packages.
• Restructured settings menu.
• Added master and music volume settings.
• Added custom splash screen at start-up.
• Fixed laser beam occasionally flashing visible even when not equipped.
• Don't activate a teleport while it overlaps the player.
• Made tougher enemy types drop more score.
• Only give out half the usual score when restarting a level.
• Flash ship integrity value in HUD when taking damage.
• Added an emergency repair ship module power-up.
• Made laser sentry guns power down the beam and raise the shield when losing line of sight.
• Added enemy-piercing rail gun ship module power-up.
• Documented ship module power-ups in readme.txt.
• Use quickly fading emissive material color for explosion fragments.
• Fixed quickly repeating sound effects cutting off.
• Added --disable-vsync command line argument.

The update is now available here on itch.io. Android version will be soon available on Google Play.

I have updated the web version to take advantage of some of the new features in Godot Engine 3.3. The game now uses threaded audio which fixes delayed and stuttering audio in previous versions but requires browser support. Currently it should work in recent Chrome, Firefox and Edge browsers. The version on GotM.io is currently severely outdated (0.0.8 alpha). I will update it as soon they add support for latest engine version. Until then, you can play the latest web version here.