Alpha v0.30 progress report

Hey! It's been a while since this game got a major update. There was almost no development at all in the year 2024, but I slowly picked up pace recently. Since it will still be a little while before v0.30 is ready, I would like to show you some of the new stuff so far:

First of all, I added a little bit of "depth" to tiles in planet view, to make it clearer that the lakes are really lakes and not some puddle of ice/water:

I might do a little tweaking to the color of the lakes, but now it's much clearer with the cliffs that the lakes are deep bodies of ice/water.

Panel graphics also got redrawn, and certain panels have been entirely redesigned. Here is the redesigned shop panel:

And the redesigned vehicle panel:

The second major change in v0.30 is the battle system. It has been completely redesigned, with the goal of giving the player many more strategies to win battles than the previous system. Ships can now have a specialized class (exactly the same classes as in HX2), as well as allocatable points to make your ships more powerful to your liking:

Notice the "evade" stat has changed to "agility". This stat in the new battle system now does more than just calculate the probability of dodging an attack.

Weapons leveling has also changed a bit. Weapon XP is no longer a thing. Instead, every 2 levels, the ship can level up a weapon. Each weapon type (bullet, laser etc.) has 3 different level paths, each path focusing on a particular use strategy for that weapon. It is also possible to respec a ship to reset all allocated stat points and weapon level-ups and change its class (weapon icons are placeholders):

The ships overview panel now looks like this:



Now how does the actual battle look like?



At the top are the list of all participating entities. Notice the yellow card with the star. It corresponds to the "environment". After all ships and enemies take their turn, the environment spawns various obstacles such as asteroids and gamma rays that can harm (or benefit?) the player or the enemy.

Ships and enemies can move freely in this two-dimensional battlefield, and can fire their weapons wherever they want. Firing projectiles can deviate a little from the target, depending on the shooter's and the weapon's accuracy. This means the further you are from the target, the harder it will be to hit that target. This is true for both ships and enemies.

It is also possible to push things. This is useful to shove enemies into each other for example to deal damage to both of them. In the picture below, the first ship just pushed the level 1 enemy, giving it a massive velocity towards the top-right. On the pushed enemy's turn, it will move along the arrow, colliding with anything in the way. In this case, it will collide with the level 2 enemy just behind it, damaging both enemies.



Here is another screenshot with a lot of enemies, which could make for interesting battles:


I also plan to add another type of weapon to ships: magic. As its name implies, it can do anything, from doing damage, to buffing ships or debuffing enemies, healing, or even placing temporary obstacles in the battlefield. The types of magic the ship can use will depend on its class.

Another little addition to v0.30: frozen caves:


Caves can now spawn on frozen lakes, and those that do will have a unique texture outside and inside. Inside, you will able to find unique treasure, but enemies will also be able to freeze you, and the floor is also very slippery!



That's about everything I've got to show so far. As usual, I can't give an estimate for when v0.30 will be released. I will release it when I feel like it's ready. I hope you like the changes!