Hopefully fixed problems with posting highscores.

[ 2023-12-11 07:11:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Survival

This update brings with it the new Survival mode modifier. It changes the whole strategy. Every damage to a ship is a damage that will stay until repaired. How far will you make it? Every 10k points, a random broken system is repaired. If there are no broken systems, 5k bonus points are awarded (immediately bringing you halfway to the next repair/bonus). But when damages start to add up, it also gets harder to complete the levels without taking even more damage. And oh, did I forget to mention? In survival, you don't have any spare ships. The two you start with are the only two you get. If anyone actually manages to complete the whole game in survival mode, I will be thoroughly impressed. When playing a Single Level and using the Survival Mode modifier, it's almost the same as usual, except that ships don't get repaired when respawning after exploding. If you reset the level by blowing up both ships, they will be repaired. Everything will be reset. But if you have for example already gotten one ship into a hard to reach position, and now need to get the other ship into another hard to reach place, if you damage the ship, it will keep its damages even if you blow it up to try again. But really, let's face it, survival mode is intended for Arcade Run. And with Style Points active, you get a little extra points that make it a little easier. Just don't fall for the temptation to do that unnecessary 360 and crash!

Changes:

• Survival mode modifier added - Ships keep damages between levels. Every 10k pts, one random broken system is repaired. 5k bonus if no system is damaged. In single level play, reset level by blowing up both ships to get ships repaired. If only one ship explodes, it keeps damages.
• Fixed highscore server connectivity issues. Any scores that were saved locally while server was unreachable, should now upload correctly once connection is back.
• Some minor bug fixes

[ 2023-11-15 22:21:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

I changed the highscores to always be All-time. With the Big Update, adding god knows how many combinations of highscore lists with all the modifiers and new levels, I realized that the Highscore tables will be very empty for most players. So by making the Global scores no longer be Today only, I'm hoping that they might be at least a little bit more populated. That's all for this time, a very small update indeed. Fly safe, and remember: every ship is sacred!

[ 2021-12-20 08:20:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

When the last of the Prime Five slots was taken, I contacted the Prime Five and asked them if there was a feature that they would like to see implemented in the game. They all had a request, and then I asked them if they wanted to design a level, which they also all did. And last, but not least, I sent them each a glass stating their Prime Number, name and initials on one side, and the GravitreX logo on the other.

Now, on to the features that they requested.

[olist]

Henrik Hermans requested a special claw, which got the name "Henke Claw" in the game. When activated, the Grappling Hook will shoot upward instead of down, and it reaches much farther than the regular claw, and it pulls you in after hitting something. Oh and you can only use one thruster at a time when playing in Henke Claw Mode. It takes a lot of practice and makes it a rather different game.

Jacob Ross requested the Style Points modifier, which gives you extra points for doing 360:s and other fancy flying. He later mentioned that he would also have wanted a mode where damaged systems don't detract from your score. So I implemented that too, it's called No Damage Points.

Stuart Campbell asked for an inverted D-Pad control mode. This is not a modifier, but rather something you enable from the options screen. It makes it so you can control your ship using the D-Pad, and it inverts the controls, so you press the direction you want the ship to rotate instead of which thruster you want to thrust with.

Travis Yoder asked for the game to be turned into his favorite color, blue instead of green. Enable Bluebot Mode in options.

Logan Gramley wanted a "Meltdown Pandemonium mode", a modifier that makes the ships start with their core critical and warning voices can't be muted. [/olist]

And let's not forget their levels:

[olist]

Henrik designed an Indiana Jones inspired level called The Raider. I added round balls to the level editor for this level.

Jacob designed a level called Hourglass, inspired by one of the last levels in Arcade Mode.

Stu made the most complicated level in the game. It took me forever to playtest and make sure it was actually possible to beat it. I predict that not many people will actually beat this level.

Travis made Radical Wipeout, which started as a spike but then got a twist

Logan (Sgt. Spankcake) made the lovely Spankcake. [/olist]

Some other big changes:

• Instead of immediately starting, the game now first goes into a main menu where you can choose between doing a normal Arcade Run or playing a single level. Single level gives you infinite lives on one level.
• In Single Level there are three Level Packs to choose from: Arcade levels, which lets you play any level you have reached in Arcade mode. The Lost levels are a selection of levels from the old Android version that were deemed too difficult or for some reason was excluded from the Arcade version. Lastly, The New Challenge is a bunch of completely new levels made just for this update, including the Prime Five submitted ones.
• After selecting Arcade Run or Single level, you get to choose modifiers, these change the game in different ways and there will be a separate high score table for every combination of modifiers.
• Every level played in Single Level mode also has its own set of one high score table for every combination of modifiers.

The longer but still not complete changelog:

• Autopilot disengaged achievement awarded when disengaging autohover by thrusting
• High score entry now remembers the last name entered
• Implemented the possibility of rotated landing platforms (needed for some of the new levels)
• Implemented Main Menu, allowing players to play Arcade Run or Single Level. See above for details.
• Added "modifiers".
• Implemented a new feature each wished for by the Prime Five. (Three modifiers and two new options):
• "Henke Claw", a modifier that changes the Grabber so that it shoots upward and drags you in (sort of like the Batclaw)
• "Style Points", a modifier where you get extra points for doing 360:s and other tricks
• "Stu control", an inverted D-Pad control mode (enable in options)
• "Bluebot mode", an option that turns the game into his favorite color, blue instead of green. Enable Bluebot Mode in options.
• "Meltdown Pandemonium", a modifier that makes the ships start with their core critical and warning voices can't be muted.
• "No Damage Points", a modifier also requested by Prime Five #2, Jacobians. In this mode undamaged/damaged systems does not affect the score
• A few modifiers of my own:
• "Indestructible ships", a modifier where ships' cores can't explode and thrusters can't break completely
• "No Assists mode", a modifier where Compensator and Stabilizer Systems are disabled
• Implemented individual High score Table for every level and every combination of modifiers
• Added a few achievements:
• What would Stu do? - Complete "Down Under" without damaging any systems
• A hidden one called "That's not what Stu would do"
• Inverted Swallow - Glide through the slit on "Swallowed" upside down
• Boilerplate Squeeze - Fly upside down through the gap on "Boiler Plate"
• Added a Stereo separation option. 0 = Mono, 10 = Maximum stereo separation. Default = 7 (hardcoded value used to be 10, which is optimal for cabinets)
• Fixed so changing music volume has immediate effect
• Fixed a bug when grabbing a debris chunk and it despawns
• Fixed a bug when activating P2 controls when ships were exploded
• Fixed a bug where high scores would sometimes cover the screen while playing
• Fixed a bug that made the last high score entry disappear sometimes
• Changed key for displaying FPS from F12 to F11, since F12 is used to take Steam screenshots, and thus screenshots would often get an "FPS:" artifact
• Fixed so the Grabber now retracts from where it actually is, instead of from straight out
• Fixed some other grabber related bugs

[ 2021-11-13 20:32:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Congratulations to Logan Gramley from Phoenix, AZ, who is our final Prime Five! The first five players to beat the game will forever be known as the Prime Five. Logan had seen the Arcade machine at the 8-bit Aleworks in Avondale before, but never actually played it. After getting the game, he played it a bunch of times last friday, and got to level 10. You know, the first mini-boss level. He tried again the next day and got to the next mini-boss level, level 20. Then on the following monday he made another run but unfortunately only made it to level 20 again. But then yesterday (Saturday), he made four new runs, each making it further than the last, until he finally made it. And he streamed the whole thing on Twitch, which you can see here. His run was fast, only 50 seconds slower than the fastest time set by Stu, and he took the least amount of damage out of everyone.

The Prime Five:

1. HGH - Henrik Hermans aka Henke 2. JAR - Jacob Ross aka Jacobians 3. STU - Stuart Campbell aka Stu 4. TWY - Travis Yoder aka RobotEatingHotdog 5. SGT - Logan Gramley aka Sgt Spankcakes You can check out the current Highscores here: www.dynamicentertainment.se/system/gravitrex/report.php

[ 2021-03-21 21:43:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Congratulations to Travis Yoder, who is our fourth Prime Five! The first five players to beat the game will become the Prime Five. In the previous announcement, we mentioned Travis who gave Stu a ride to the arcade to play GravitreX for the first time. This time, it was Stu who tipped Travis off to the fact that GravitreX Arcade had been released on Steam, and so Travis started brushing off his old skills stored deep in his muscle memory. And then, in a true testament to his dedication and desire to get that fourth spot, he took a day off from work to fully concentrate on getting it. Travis never died on level 10, so he probably knew the Henrik maneuver. He did reach the high teens several times, and level 20 several times, and then he suddenly started getting to 30+, reaching level 34 several times, but once he got to level 35 he beat it. His score puts him on number three on the high score table. This slot was taken not even a full day after the last one, and now there's only one Prime Five slot left! Will it be you? You can check out the current state of the Prime Five list and the Highscores here: www.dynamicentertainment.se/system/gravitrex/report.php

[ 2021-03-19 23:39:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Congratulations to Stuart Campbell, who is our third Prime Five! The first five players to beat the game will become the Prime Five. Like Jacob, Stuart too has a history with the game. Stu first played GravitreX in 2016 at The Grid in Mesa, Arizona. He's from the UK but was out in Arizona on a summer internship, and his mentor Travis would give him a ride to the arcade. GravitreX was designed in such a way that the levels 10, 20 and 30 are harder than the levels before and after, sort of like mini bosses if you will. And when Stu first played this version of the game, he made it to level 10 on his first try, and to level 20 on his second run. He got to the last level on his 7th run and completed the game on his 8th. Now, tlooking at the scores, once again a new Prime Five comes in with a better score than the previous ones, and so Stu also currently holds the number one highscore. He also did it even quicker than Jacob, almost by ten minutes. I don't know about Henrik, but I know Jacob is planning to go back and try to improve his score and retake the number one spot. With only two slots remaining only two weeks after release, if you want to try and become a Prime Five, you better hurry! You can check out the current state of the Prime Five list and the Highscores here: www.dynamicentertainment.se/system/gravitrex/report.php

[ 2021-03-18 20:39:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Congratulations to Jacob Ross, who is now and forever the second of the Prime Five! The first five players to beat the game will become the Prime Five. Jacob has a long history with the game dating all the way back to 2015, playing it on an arcade machine at Starfighter's Arcade in Arizona. He made it to level 34 before Henrik Hermans beat the game, and even had a higher score than Hermans. But last night he improved his score even further while also finally beating the game, placing him second on the Prime Five and further cementing his position as number one on the regular high score list. Now that we have two entries on the Prime Five, we can start compairing some other columns as well, and see that Ross was faster by a half hour and still took less damage. But Hermans was more accurate, and of course, most importantly, Herman was first. Who will be third? A mysterious Steam User by the name of IStoleButterBeans has made it to level 30. Will they get the third spot? If you are reading this, IStoleButterBeans, please contact me if you want to reveal your real name. In other news, I'm currently working on implementing a feature that will let players select a single level to play from the ones they have reached, or one from one of two level packs, The Lost Levels and The New Challenge. The Lost Levels will be all the Android levels that didn't make the cut to the Arcade version. With the concept being on an arcade that someone should be able to beat the game on a single quarter, 50 levels, which the Android verison had, would take too long to finish, both from a player fatigue standpoint and from a quarters earned per minute standpoint. And also be too difficult, especially considering the difficulty of some of the Android levels. So the original Arcade version only had twenty levels, which then increased over several updates, until these 35 were finally locked in as the official Arcade levels. The New Challenge will be all new levels that I am in the process of cooking up. I'll be trying to crank up the already high difficulty to eleven, so these will mostly be for the Prime Five type of people out there. Nothing is decided definitely yet, but I think the Single Level mode will have infinite lives. I'm considering whether every level should have its own high score table. Let me know in the comments what you think! You can check out the current state of the Prime Five list and the Highscores here: www.dynamicentertainment.se/system/gravitrex/report.php

[ 2021-03-12 08:41:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Congratulations to Henrik Hermans on being the first Prime Five! The first five players to beat the game will become the Prime Five. On the day of the game's release, he posted four highscores, and made it to level 20. The next morning, he was back at it, but still "only" made it to level 20 with his two scores posted that day. One of these three level 20 runs was recorded by Hermans and posted to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbWNSKYTulo&t=4s&ab_channel=HenrikHermans On the third day, yesterday, he posted three more scores, making it first to level 21 and then to level 30 twice. And then finally, today at 11:13, he beat the game and secured his spot as the first Prime Five. Worth noting is that he still didn't beat the current high score, which is still held by Jacob Ross, who has thus far made it to level 34. Will Jacob get the second spot on the Prime Five? Check out the current state of the list here: www.dynamicentertainment.se/system/gravitrex/report.php

[ 2021-03-06 13:01:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

-Fixed the game resetting without warning after five minutes of no input -No longer changing empty names to fake names - if you want to mark your score down as " " or "AAA", that's your prerogative -Music during highscore no longer unexpectedly loud -Tip on level 10 changed -Fixed some bugs when highscores were local only

[ 2021-03-04 13:45:09 CET ] [ Original post ]