Well, it's been a while. Since the last Devlog i've been busy at work involved with the new management restructuring (including a promotion for me - yay!), looking after my gorgeous little girl and moving house. It's been so busy i've had little time for anything else, including work on Space Commander.
This past week though i revisited the code. Having so much time away from the project was beneficial in certain respects. Firstly, i got to see the game more from the viewpoint of someone not involved with it's coding/design (especially since i couldn't remember everything about it!) and i was pleasantly surprised with how much i thought it was cool to play. Saying that though, i felt that it was too difficult for the first chapter and although i was going to make it artificially easier for newer players by adding easier difficulty settings and quicker health refreshment rates, i think it would have taken something away from the gameplay.
So i tweaked it some.
The enemy ships are now easier to destroy, taking less shots from the player to blow them up. This not only makes the games slightly easier but also increases the speed and pace of the game. Since i was originally aiming for the game to play faster, more arcade like but with some story to back it up (cut-scenes, for example) i felt that after the tweaking it made for a better game. It also means that in later levels i can afford to add more ships per wave in later levels, adding to the scale of battles and making the game more exciting to play. Boss ships would no also seem "boss-like" as the gap in strength between their armour and the smaller craft will increase further.
Win-win all round then!
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