After some offline events kept us off development in the past two weeks, plus some traveling, we are back to v3.4, on track to be released before the end of the year. The past week was devoted to refining the new alert system and combat system before moving on to new systems.

Final UI/UX for alert bar

The prototype alert bar introduced in the last update has now been fleshed out and it has taken on a more important role. Alerts will now be displayed one by one, to avoid the much reported spam. They all will still be displayed, but at a slower pace. You will also be able to select recent alerts by clicking on them on the alert bar, or delete them by right clicking. A focus rectangle is now displayed to highlight the corresponding alert icon in the alert bar.

Unification of specialized passive power bonuses in items

Items do not boost any more a particular kind of combat action. Instead a new generic bonus as been introduced, "power". This bonus is automatically added every time an active combat action is performed by the officer or NPC, no matter what kind it is. This simplification was introduced in order to make officer specs participate in combat bonuses:
The spec factor gets multiplied to the power bonus from wearable items. This makes clothing easier (removing complexity from gearing officers), while making officer specialization more important and meaningful.

Refactor of procs for active combat items

Combat items now have independent proc and effects. The proc is what "carries" the attack (a projectile, a bomb, a beam, etc.). The effect is what happens when the proc is done (damage, healing, crowd control, etc). This change makes it easier to develop new items.

New attacks (ongoing)

The last item for the week was reviewing our notes on new attacks and mechanics and introducing new ones. For procs, there's now support for damage over time areas and direct attacks. For effects, crowd control has been fleshed out and there's now items that can make officers and NPC dizzy, sleepy or crazy. And finally work is also starting on a new kind of combat action: damage shields.

[ 2016-12-01 23:31:11 CET ] [ Original post ]