After a long time in the oven, Update V3 is finally out. It's been a long time coming, but I am finally ready to call this 10 year passion project of mine complete. This update could almost be called a complete overhaul, as almost every aspect of the game got tweaked or completely replaced. Honestly, I'm not sure I even remember what all has changed, so here is a mostly comprehensive list of what's new.
New Features
- Hub World - Instead of a main menu, the game now has a hub world, where you can fly around and select loadouts in relative safety.
- Meta Progression - There is now some light meta progression, allowing you to boost your baseline strength, and unlock some navigation features.
- Navigation Map - You can now toggle an ARPG style map overlay, which can toggle between follow and pan mode. You can buy upgrades to expand what the map shows, such as enemies and resources.
- Upgrades -When selecting upgrades, you will now be presented with 3 upgrades to choose from, to add a bit of strategy.
- Level Progression - the level progression is a lot more straight forward now, and less dependent on finding one specific map feature.
- Ending - The game now has a proper ending cinematic, as well as a secret final boss. (hint, pay attention to where the navigation beacons point when you activate them)
- Steam Achievements - There are some steam achievements.
- Content - New enemies, new terrain, new hazards.
Looking back
Before I sign off, I will leave you with a quick look at the past, at what the original tech demo looked like when I first started working on it as a university project. The time sure flies, huh?
[ 2023-10-24 23:52:50 CET ] [ Original post ]
Hey folks. It's been awhile. A few months ago, I started working on some changes to the core gameplay of Debris Field. I felt like there were some aspects of the game that could be improved on, and some of those changes ended up being pretty radical. My goal with this update was to focus more on the exploration aspect of the game, while giving more tools to help navigate the world. The main new tool for that is the world map.
World Map
[hr][/hr]
The map shows terrain in your vicinity as you explore, and you are able to freely pan around to see all of the terrain you have explored so far. By default, it only shows basic objects and objectives, however it can be upgraded to show the locations of enemies, upgrades, and resources, which ties into another new system:
Meta Progression
[hr][/hr] There are now various persistent upgrades that can be purchased using a new resources that can be found during a run: Ore.
The mutators also tie into this system
These upgrades are part of the new main menu experience, which is now set up like a Hub world, allowing you to learn the controls in relative safety.
Game Progression
[hr][/hr] Game progression has also changed. To progress through a level, you now simply need to find and activate 3 nav beacons, which previously only served as guide points. The larger event stations are still present, but are now optional, and will serve a narrative purpose I will talk about some other time,
Story
[hr][/hr] The previous story content has been completely removed. I felt it didn't really fit the tone of the game, and just felt kind of pointless. I do still intent to tell a story, but from now on it will be told with game mechanics, not exposition.
Other Changes
[hr][/hr] Beyond that, I have done a extensive performance and detail pass on every level of the game. I rewrote a lot of core systems, such as world generation and object interaction, which should result i some nice performance improvements.
What's Next
[hr][/hr] Not all aspects of the update are implemented yet. I still need to do an overall balance pass on the game, and the so far none of the story content is implemented. Also, some of the mutators aren't currently working as intended. I also plan on adding cloud saved and steam achievements.
Beta
[hr][/hr] You can try out what I have done so far by selecting the 3.0 beta under properties > betas. I can't promise it will always be stable, but it should be good to get an idea of where the game is heading. The beta is available in the demo as well. I will also be posting development updates on twitter @BinaryNomadDev, I will be sure to let you know if I break anything. If you find a bug, or just have general feedback, feel free to post it on the steam forums or tweet it at me.
Anyway, time to get back to work. I hope that all of you are as excited as I am!
[ 2022-06-06 21:38:54 CET ] [ Original post ]
It's time for the first big post release update!
I wasn't really happy with a lot of things in the previous version, so I have overhauled a lot of core gameplay systems, as well as done an overall polish pass on some of the rougher aspects of the game. In no particular order:
Tutorial Story Presentation
I didn't like how the story elements would interrupt gameplay, and overall they were a bit too wordy. To fix this, the tutorial text now plays during the warp in sequence, and the total word count has been massively reduced / simplified. It is now more focused on stating the overall objective, as well as explaining high level gameplay systems in a clear / concise way. I also updated the end sequence with new visuals and a proper credits sequence.
Menu Updates
I've updated the menu theming to focus a bit more on the black / orange color scheme, and a bit less on the orange / green, which didn't feel visually cohesive. I also updated how navigation works for the ship selection which should hopefully feel a bit more intuitive
Navigation Aides
In the current version, there are radar dishes that point the way to the objective. These will now rotate into position when you find them, and have a new effect to indicate their direction that is much more striking than the old one. Additionally, when you complete the objective, any old or new dishes you fly near will reorient to point at the warpgate, which is now the intended way of locating the exit.
Movement Updates
I overhauled how boosting works. It now functions a bit more like nitro, giving you a big boost in speed in the direction you are facing, while allowing you to slightly alter your trajectory during the boost. You also keep the momentum of the boost for a little longer, which feels much more natural.
Balance Updates
I reduced the fire rate and pack size of enemies early on, which should create a much smoother difficulty curve, and make the game feel a lot more fair.
Bugfixes for Days
I fixed a bunch of bugs! (although some of them were bugs from the new features I added). I also did some more optimization work, which should reduce the stutter when warping in to a level. There is always more work to be done here, so feel free to post in the community forum if you find anything that seems off.
Conclusion
Overall, I'm a lot happier with where the game is now, in terms of game feel and level progression. The game also feels a lot less punishing at the beginning, making it easier to get a solid run going. As always, I would love to hear any feedback about the update, or about the game overall, so feel free to reach out to me on the community forums or on my Twitter Good luck out there!
[ 2020-02-16 00:58:10 CET ] [ Original post ]
With this update, I tried to reduce some of the initial difficulty and frustration, to allow for a more natural difficulty curve. Several kinds of early enemies no longer have shields, to reduce the time to kill, and allow you to more easily get some early upgrades. I also made a change to how the "quick turn" effect functions. Originally, it would just rotate you 180 degrees from the direction you were facing, and apply a boost, with the intention of giving you a way to quickly slow down. Now, it will rotate you in the opposite direction of your velocity. Hopefully this allow it to serve it's purpose a bit better. Finally, I fixed some input bugs, and redid the post processing (again), so things should be a bit shinier now.
[ 2019-07-14 23:04:51 CET ] [ Original post ]
An issue that was causing level loading to fail under specific circumstances should now be fixed. For those that were experiencing that bug, please give it a try and let me know if its working in the forums.
[ 2019-05-05 00:41:45 CET ] [ Original post ]
With this update, I added some much needed info to the tutorial, and also changed how the tutorial is disabled. Previously, the tutorial would simply disable itself after the first time you played. Now, it will always play, and I added an option to the settings to disable it. Specifics:
- Tutorial now explains the icons on the top bar
- The tutorial now explains the purpose of the radar dishes the first time you encounter one
- The tutorial now plays at the beginning of every game until you turn it off
- Fixed some bugs tutorial related bugs.
[ 2019-01-30 02:21:42 CET ] [ Original post ]
As is often the case, thanks to feedback from my release, many new bugs were discovered. This is the first of what will likely be many bugfix updates. In this Update:
- Updated to latest version of Unity
- Updated post processing effects. This will be further tweaked in a later update
- Possible fix for inactive with controller menu when quitting the game
- Missiles can now be shot down, as was intended
- Repair stations show a message when your armor is full, instead of just remaining blank
- Chests are now labeled, to indicate that they have a purpose from a distance
[ 2019-01-28 04:48:20 CET ] [ Original post ]
🎮 Full Controller Support
- Debris Field Linux [271.67 M]
Got a job for you
A simple smash and grab, nothing too complicated. You see, during the evacuation of the now corrupted sectors, a whole lot of valuable material got left behind. Most of that material is still there, just waiting for someone crazy enough to fight their way through the endless swarm of crazed zealots that guard the place.
But I trust that won't be a problem for a madman like you.
About
Debris Field is a top down physics based space shooter with rogue-like elements, that focuses on using Newtonian movement to out maneuver swarms of enemies.
You will have to fight your way through a series of unforgiving arenas, learning to use Newtonian movement to give yourself an edge over your enemies. Upgrade your ship and your weapons along the way whatever you can find, but don't take too long, as the enemy will soon overwhelm you.
The full game contains:
Physics based movement
5 unique levels with different terrain and enemies
Several starting ships, with different stats and loadouts
A dynamic system of incremental stacking upgrades
A persistent difficulty over time system to keep you on your toes
The Demo contains only the first level, but is otherwise unlimited.
Follow me on Twitter @BinaryNomadDev for news and development updates
Thank You!
- OS: Ubuntu 12.04
- Processor: SSE2 instruction set supportMemory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Graphics card with DX10 (shader model 4.0) capabilities
- Storage: 312 MB available space
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