Greetings, pilots!

Price drop

First things first: The price for Gravity Ace has dropped significantly! If you were waiting for the price to come down then your prayers have been answered. Go get it now.

Difficulty settings

Gravity Ace now has three difficulty settings that affect fuel consumption. At the easiest level, fuel is consumed much slower. And at the hardest level fuel is consumed faster. If you want the most challenging experience where fuel management is a very important part of the game then you want Hard diffculty. If you just want to shoot things and not worry about fuel so much, choose Easy.

Auto targeting

Along with the new difficulty settings you can also choose to use a targeting computer that will automagically select the closest target for destruction. You still control when you shoot but you don't need to aim anymore. Be careful and shoot wisely because one of the targets is the reactor core if you are not carrying it. You can now play Gravity Ace without using the right stick or mouse. This also makes the Classic mode controls (rotate and thrust) easier to manage. Hopefully this helps improve accessibility and lets you enjoy more explosions.

Control remapping

Controller mapping is in! You can change keymaps and controller buttons within the game from the Options menu. It does what you'd expect. Enjoy!

[ 2022-11-04 15:13:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey folks! It's a been a long time coming but Gravity Ace is leaving early access today! Thank you to everybody who has stuck around for the ride! Early Access took longer than expected (let's blame Covid) but I think it's worth the wait. Gravity Ace now includes 50 levels of content in 2 campaigns, boss fights, many new enemies to fight, new mechanics like gravity rivers, an original soundtrack, and a built-in level editor that lets you share your creations with others. In fact, in case you didn't know, all of the levels in Gravity Ace were made with Gravity Ace! We're celebrating reaching this destination with a significant launch discount. Try the demo, play the game, tell your friends, share your levels! And this isn't the end of the road. I intend to continue working on the game. Specifically, supporting players with post-launch fixes, new mechanics, new enemies, and new levels. I have a fun idea for including a set of levels made by the community! The future is bright! Thanks again for your support and help along the way! Enjoy the game!

[ 2022-05-25 15:19:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey, folks! Release day is nearly upon us and of course I'm making some last minute fixes. The most notable in this release is that the hitbox for the player was adjusted so that it's smaller. There was a bug making it a wee bit bigger than it should have been which, in some situations, felt Bad(tm). But it's all fixed, enjoy pilots!

[ 2022-05-23 14:48:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a long road, a little too long if I'm being totally honest with myself, but it's worth the wait. Over the past 17 months I've put in a ton of polish, lots of new enemies and levels, and improved the level editor significantly. I think you're going to have a lot of fun!
The level editor has a ton of fun new features like new event triggers, more dialog options, new enemies and bosses, new terrain, secret walls, and a lot more. All 50 levels that will ship with the full game were made with the level editor that comes with it. And you can easily export levels to share with your friends or the community. I can't wait to see what you can make!
The new campaign has 25 levels, just like the first, with all new puzzles and challenges in store. And there are built-in options specifically for speedrunning and streaming that I think you're going to enjoy. It's been a long road but May 26th is not the end of the road. I'm planning more features post-launch including new toys for the level editor, new game modes, and more campaign content. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. It's truly been a wonderful experience! See you out there, Pilots!

[ 2022-05-10 00:26:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

New and updated: - Drag and drop to import campaigns - Added boss 2 prototype - Changed multiple reactor core win condition (you just need one) - Added option for single-use beamout points - New objectives UI to see S-rank status during play - Removed print statement #ignore - New astronaut name and catchphrases @dudezord! - Turn off reactor safety when player attaches tractor beam - Keep reactor core safe for 3 seconds after player is killed - Reduce aim camera movement slightly - Increased aim visibility - Added level name to pause screen - Renamed pickups to coins on gameover - Update all visualizers when items are deleted or during undo - Shortened waypoint activation delay - Made HUD icons more visible - Sort scores and times in the level chooser - Finalized credits Fixes: - Fixed interaction between camera moves and paused dialog - Fixed visualizer updates when deleting objects - Fixed reactor moving slowly at beamout - Fixed saving too often - Fixed camera bug in editor visualizations - Fixed horizontal scrollbar in level list UI

[ 2022-04-23 00:27:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

New and updated: - Moved screenshot dir and settings dir; Settings shouldn't be synchronized across platforms for Steam cloud saves but campaign progress and user created levels are - Replaced waypoint markers with HUD icons - Updated campaign dialog to show sector and level number

[ 2022-04-14 00:55:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Over here at Gravity Ace Headquarters we are putting the finishing touches on the final release of the game which will be announced VERY SOON! In the meantime, try out the FREE DEMO and, if you're an EARLY ACCESS owner, try out a sneak preview of the second campaign! All currently available content is unlocked in the level editor too so have fun!

[ 2022-03-27 18:18:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

New and updated: - Boss 1 work in progress - Removed inactive fuelpod drop code except for bosses which will drop fuel as you fight them - New astronaut name from @Nathanael; Spoiler: the name is Nathanael; P.S.: You can name an astronaut if you watch the twitch stream - New astronaut names; Thank you @HybridLizard!; Thank you @GamedevUnknown! - Adjusted gamepad deadzone when navigating user interface - New astronaut name and catchphrase -- thanks @human1428! - Modified level so astronaut doesn't bounce to his death - Changed collision for detecting if player is out of the combat zone - Updated explosion and effect spawners to use global coordinates - Created "homing" group so that when player leaves combat zone they are vectored back to the nearest static defense or cave wall - Put asteroids into their own collision layer separate from enemies - Update tractor beam to use global coordinates so that it works with objects that are children of bigger objects - Added a label to exit beacons in the level editor to explain that they are hidden until activated - Added social media buttons to pause menu - Added social icons to main menu - Added background people floating around the level chooser like poor lost souls in Tartarus Fixes: - Fixed homing arrow pointing to boss when player leaves the combat zone - Fixed dynamic checkpoint respawn position - Fixed boss shooting things in the level editor - Fixed respawning inside lasers - Fixed bug where ESC key didn't pause the game - Fixed bug where beam colliders were not active in the first second of the game load - Fixed bug where coins would not fade out at level exit - Fix crash when reactor is beaming away from boss and the player dies at the same time - Fixed enemy shooting and turrets and bullets so that they use global coordinates - Fixed speed trail to ignore parent rotations

[ 2021-11-15 15:50:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is long overdue -- progress has been made! Campaign 2 is being built as we speak and the finish line is in sight. I know everything that I need to do to release the game out of early access and the list is getting shorter everyday. Thanks for your support everybody! There is a placeholder for Campaign 2 in this build -- it's not finished yet. I think I'm going to hold back some of the content until the full release but all of the new enemies, props, and goodies are available in the level editor for you to play around with! New and updated: - Added dust effects to mobile turrets - Added sound effects for mobile turret - Mobile turrets complete with new art!; New art; Fixed state machine bugs; Fixed ice launcher state machine as well; You're gonna love these evil dudes! - Named an astronaut Tiw for @robert_capper! - Added state machine to mobile turret and started on animations - Remember last selected wall theme for the next dab - New background textures in level chooser - Astronaut bounciness - Level chooser decoration - Clean level editor screenshots with Shift+F12 - Added asteroids to the level chooser screens that you can click on and explode! - Named the campaigns; Orion's Sword; Rigel's Revenge - Added buttons for switching between campaigns; Also added a fun warning dialog when you start campaign 2 against the LT's good advice - Prototype levels for season 2 - Created season 2 level chooser - Adjusted all collision hit boxes so they attach better to walls - New sound effect for ice launcher; more health for launcher - AI for mobile turrets that stops them from moving when they see the player - Patrolling enemies can be destroyed by laser beams - Patrol point sound effect and editor icon - Patrol points emit signals when they are activated that can trigger other entities in the game - New patrol point icon in level editor - Added Akien and Reduz astronaut names! - New patrol point art (final final??) - New catchphrases for astronauts - Full import/export capability with file dialogs - Campaign import and export functions - Added button for opening level save data folder to editor - Merge branch 'icelauncher-sfx' into main - Update patrol point art - Basic patrol points added to direct enemy patrols - Mobile turrets follow wall paths - New ice launcher sounds - Added grouped undo/redo when multiple things change at the same time - Added moving everything touching a wall together with ALT hotkey - Move objects touching wall when the wall moves in level editor - Removed Nakama high score server and leaderboards; Leaderboard server is unstable, feature not working out; Will add back later if the people want it - Asteroids are safe and won't destroy other objects when they first spawn in - Bouncy ricochet sound effects (pew pew) - Added shiny fancy shader for reflective bullet bouncing walls - Squashed all bugs in box select in level editor! - New reflective walls that bounce bullets! - Added sound effect for disappearing walls; This might be a placeholder (or it might be permanent, who knows) - Secret door disappearing hologram animation - Added "revealed" signal for secret doors (hat tip: ValiantCheese)Can trigger events in editor - Offset the wall shader UV for secret walls (hat tip: ValiantCheese!) - Added quick restart hotkey (Ctrl+R) - Added auto restart and fast respawn speedrun options - Disable hidden overlay when exiting level editor - Color hidden enemies medium gray in level editor - Updated "tool" entity icons - Added category icons for all entities in level editor - Improved wave event icon - Make enemy flash timer one-shot - Improve signal visualization - Disable damaged particles in editor - Improve visualization of signal connections; Signals now show direction; Little brighter; Cleaner UI - Make drone smoke stop after some time - Add descriptions for every object in level editor; Description appears in object chooser; Description appears in property inspector - Moved data out of scripts and into JSON files to keep code tidy - Moved entity data into a separate JSON file so that it's easier to edit - Added Wave Event object to editor; The object is not visible during gameplay; It counts incoming signals and when they all fire it emits its own signal to one or more objects; Can be used to require multiple actions (e.g. kill three enemies) before another action takes place (open a gate); Can be used to generate enemy waves after clearing a previous wave - Ice vents - Ice launcher icon - Ice launcher and ice projectile art; And some bug fixes caused by ice attaching and detaching from ship hull and shield Fixes: - Fixed aiming of enemies with turrets (was slightly off target) - Fixed sector cache returning data for wrong campaign - Fixed moving player around in level editor after the player has fired shots - Fixed object chooser appearing when typing in some dialogs - Fixed bug with enemies patrolling walls after exiting level editor - Fixed bug in level editor when deleting a wall - Fix for visual flashing glitch when drawing walls - Fix: Added safety checks on wall name data when loading level data - Fix for bullet tunneling through some walls sometimes - Fix auto restart bug when playing from level editor - Fixed level loading bug when an object is removed from the entities list - Fixed bug with deserializing dialog trees in level editor; Looks like an implementation change in the engine caused a side effect in how node names are handled or possibly how many frames queue_free requires to take effect - Fixed dialog preview stealing focus; Added a preview button to the dialog editor - Fixed object dialog appearing in dialog editor - Fixed don't spawn asteroids in level editor; Asteroids would sometimes collide with drones in the level editor and move them and it was a pain - Fix description centering in object chooser

[ 2021-11-01 20:03:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

New and updated: - Disconnect frozen ice balls from shield when shield goes down - Deflect bullets when they hit water blobs - Updated engine to Godot 3.3 - New ice launcher art; Ice ball projectile; FixedJoint class - Placeholder ice turret; Placeholder art; State machine using AnimationTree (hat tip: Leonard); Working on projectile and art next - Added catchphrase and astronaut name from Leonard Meagher -- ty Leonard! - Added ice water icon to level editor - Updated the art and animation on the water blobs and splooshes with final art - Added water blob hazards to ice biome - Added slight blur to distortion shader - Simplified ghost shader so it doesn't need to read the screen - New ice plant art and animation - Revised ice wall texture; added more details - Added an indicator on reactor platforms to let the player know that they can drop a reactor there - Added button to level editor to center view on currently selected object - Reworked the UI for adding objects in level editor; Added popup radial object menu; New icons; New toolbar; Many little quality of life enhancements and fixes - Dead astronauts tell no tales - Added ice rock props to the ice world - More fun catchphrases for astronauts - New beamout sound effect at level exit Fixes: - Fixed levels with overlapping rotating lasers to adjust difficulty - Fixed enemy bullets doing damage - Fixed weird collision bug caused by new object dialog - Fix rotating laser gate in wrong collision group - Fixed collision shape on ice rock props - Fixed jank on gameover screen caused by updating leaderboard - Check for valid instance when clearing object dialog cache

[ 2021-04-25 17:48:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Its been a minute! Happy new year, everybody. I hope this one is going better for you than the last one. After a brief hiatus to recharge and celebrate the holidays, were back on with some updates. A lot of work has gone into assets for the new ice world that will become the setting for Act 2. In addition, the leaderboard server is now live. Im new to running a game server so please bear with me as I work out the bugs please let me know if you run into any issues! New and updated: - Polished up nice looking icy asteroids - Added ice asteroids near icy cave walls - Added sound effect for bullet impacts on ice walls - New theme-based dust particles for icy blue cave walls - Added dust poof when player explodes on a wall - New ice blue wall theme - Added scanlines to the ghost shader - Show random astronaut dialog when no dialog has been connected in the level editor - Improved laser animation so that the player can better see when lasers are about to turn on - Added username prompt on gameover screen - Improved the look of the 3D planet hologram in the level chooser - Added basic sound effect when reactor and player beam out at the end of the level - Added "how to play" tips to letterbox at level transitions Fixes: - Fixed leaderboard configuration - Fixed dust poofs when the player dies - Fixed rounding error in time - Fixed letterbox flashing on before it fades in - Fixed game losing focus and pausing when using PrtSc for screenshots

[ 2021-01-28 21:59:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Lots of work is ongoing with the client/server for leaderboards and shared levels. Some of that code has already been merged in this release but remains deactivated until it is ready for prime time. In the meantime, please enjoy these new features and fixes! New and updated: - Added over 400 interesting names for astronauts - Added over 500 landform names in the editor for every cave wall - Added shield energy gauge when shooting; Added a visible gauge that appears when shooting; When gauge is depleted, shield turns off; Gauge refills when player stops shooting - Center window in non-fullscreen mode - Updated options screen - Updated tractor beam noise and "out of fuel" alarm - Improved flow through Ancient Worm Cavern at full speed; Lengthened two hallways to get better timing on the gates - Vents are synchronized! Laser gates are synchronized! Everything is synchronized! - Warning and Danger fuel gauge no longer blinks - Changed fuel threshold so the fuel gauge is green more often - Show rank instantly if skipping gameover - Highlight missed items on gameover screen when receiving NO RANK - Initial Nakama server implementation for leaderboards and level sharing; Implemented 4 leaderboards per level and saving scores - Merged Nakama client for leaderboards and shared levels so it can be merged; inactive until the server piece is running Fixes: - Fullscreen hotkey F11 works everywhere now - Fixed bugs in laser gates and vents that should make them deterministic between runs; May have changed the timings slightly as a side-effect of the fix but it looks pretty minimal if it's there at all. This also fixes the visual glitch where lasers would sometimes blink but not change state.

[ 2020-12-11 16:51:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bullet impacts have been juiced a bit. This was a change that actually existed since September but never made it into the EA release. Let me know if you experience any performance issues. New and updated: - Added rank to level chooser screen - Drones show smoke when they are damaged and hit - Added option to turn off asteroids - Crates move more when shot - Dead drones can be used as clubs to kill other enemies Fixed: - Fixed keyboard focus issues on howtoplay and other screens - Fixed bug where some buttons would still make noise when SFX volume was 0 - Fixed coin spawning into walls - Fixed continue button advancing to next level when sector not unlocked

[ 2020-11-15 00:16:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Big sigh of relief. It's a new day. New and updated:

• Added tractor beam sound effect (on the fence about this one, let me know what you think)
• Highlight missing items on gameover screen
• Added social links
• Added button for campaign reset on level chooser screen
• Record best time with score and best score with time for each rank achieved in every level
• Changed "Continue" button on gameover to go immediately to next level
• Added "Levels" button on gameover to return to level chooser
• Added speedrun section to options
• Added option to disable dialog
• Dialog doesn't appear if Dialog setting is off but still responds to and activates event triggers
• Reduce coin explosion radius for slightly easier pickup
• Enhanced speedrun timer with new timer background art, new position
• Laser gates and steam vents reset timings to original values on level restart
• Updated build to use headless Godot

Fixed:

• Fixed shield bug when out of fuel and shooting
• Fixed rapid clicking on Go button on Ready screen
• Fixed clicking things behind Ready screen
• Fixed timer reset on level restart (visual)
• Fixed collision from laser beams in editor

[ 2020-11-08 16:12:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Our first update is now available! There are a few smallish additions but mostly bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Please post any bug reports in the discussion forum. The next update will have a better ratio of new features to bug fixes as we lock down the remaining issues that have been reported. Thanks for your help, everybody! New and updated:

• Updated controls for advancing dialog. SPACEBAR and ESC augment X. Classic mode shooting moved to SHIFT and ENTER
• Added special S victory music
• Esc key pauses, Esc key advances dialog

Bug fixes:

• Fixed "back to menu" softlock. Caused by pausing the scene transition scene
• Fixed the sound effect slider. Sound effect slider now changes volume for everything that is not a music including the UI
• Fixed muffled audio bug. When pausing and then going to gameover, the audio would remain muffled until restart
• Fixed how to play scene. Removes all game objects from How To Play scene so they cannot interfere with game world. Fixes continue double-input on How To Play
• Fixed red/blue chromatic aberration doesn't go away
• Removed obsolete SDL controller mapping
• Fixed missile sound too loud. Was on wrong audio bus
• Fixed coin counting bug on restart
• Fixed tractor beaming hidden enemies

[ 2020-10-30 16:17:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Well, folks, the time is almost upon us. Gravity Ace is finally in a state where I can release it into the wild. Gravity Ace will launch in Early Access October 22. What does that mean exactly? The current game is fully playable with a 24 mission main campaign, fully integrated level editor, highly polished art and sound, and a great soundtrack. But it isn't done yet! I want Gravity Ace to be a satisfying and rewarding experience for new players and fans of the amazing classic arcade games it's based on. Community feedback has been vital during the development process. I'm looking forward to expanding the community through Early Access and using your feedback to shape and balance Gravity Ace so that it's as fun and polished as it can possibly be. I have big plans for Early Access! I want to add new enemies, bosses, more levels and campaigns, fix bugs (of course), and add a local multiplayer mode for player-vs-player battles. A major component of Gravity Ace is the built-in level editor. The editor is very robust and allows anyone to make levels just like the ones included with the game. I plan to enhance that by allowing players to share levels and entire campaigns with one another through a central hub. The plan is that you'll be able to play other players' shared campaigns which will add a continuous stream of new content for you to enjoy. It's going to take another 6-12 months to finish all of that work. I need your help! Please tell everyone you know about Gravity Ace! Help me spread the word and ask people to add it to their wishlist! The more of us there are, the better the game, and the more fun it'll be. It's been great fun so far and I'm looking forward to what's ahead. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

[ 2020-10-12 00:30:05 CET ] [ Original post ]