I'm very excited to announce this new version of Rockjack! I've swapped out (most of) the old text-based UI that marked the early development of the game, and added a more attractive, colorful, easier-to-read and altogether more professional graphical UI. In addition, I've added a couple of new powerups and modified the bonus ship system, and made a bunch of tweaks along the way to help make the game look and feel more like a professional product!

ROCKJACK RELEASE NOTES

version 0.4.0 - 2021-05-01 Sat

A milestone release with a major UI refresh.

Player-visible changes

Initial release of the new Status UI, mostly replacing the old text-based UI which the game first shipped with. Colorful icons and animated health bars now show your ship's status and your progress toward acquiring powerups in a much easier-to-read fashion. The ships display in the upper left corner will display progress toward the next bonus ship. New gameplay element: Bonus ship formula has changed. Whereas bonus ships were previously acquired every time the player mined $10,000, now only the first ship will be purchased at $10,000. The second ship will be acquired after the player has mined an additional $15,000; the third ship after $20,000, and so on. Each time you get a new bonus ship, you will need to earn an additional $5,000 to get to the next bonus ship. This was done to help balance the game and make it less frustrating in the early game (it's easier to break even), but more challenging in the later game (it's harder to bank an absurd number of ships). Added the Neutron Capture powerup: Neutron Armor regenerates at a rate controlled by the amount of radiation you're receiving, i.e. as you get closer to radioactive and exotic asteroids, your neutron armor will regenerate faster. Added the Reinforced Hull powerup: increases the total strength of the hull. Added the Cash Powerup: Saucers can drop a random amount of bonus cash. WASD support added as a default. Changed the text "Start Game" to "Play". The player's current skill level is displayed in the "Play" Button. At the end of a round, the grid speed decays for a nice effect.

[ 2021-05-02 04:04:30 CET ] [ Original post ]