Hello! I'm chuffed to announce that Beta-Two for Trapped in the Sky is available to purchase via itch.io. I'm putting it up for $0.99 since the game is early access and I plan to increase the price as additional content and features make their way into the final version. A link to the itch.io page is at the bottom of this news feed.
So what's in Beta-Two?
Quite a bit. I was planning to put up a new beta each month, but I figured it was better to actually release betas with significant content rather than just because a month had passed. So that's why it's been a while since the first beta.
To summarise the new content I made this short video. I apologise for the creepy voice over, my family were sleeping when I recorded the narration:
New explorable section: The crew's quarters section has been added complete with new objects to loot from. The section is still work-in-progress so the armoury and the canteen have not been finished yet.
Maps are now two-dimensional: In the previous beta, the random-map generator would only create a linear map. In this beta, the map is now two-dimension increasing the number of sections to explore and the number of NPCs to encounter, but also map can be navigated using the lifts so that you can move to a different floor in the prison ship.
Two new weapons: So in addition to the had-gun, I have added an automatic rifle and a shot-gun. Not ground breaking weapons, granted, but I felt they were staple additions that needed to be included to make the enemy NPCs tougher and to give the player some shooting options.
Crafting mechanic added: I've added a simple crafting mechanic, which I'm calling hacking, allowing the player to create unique items from the standard items collected during the game. Recipes for the hacks can only be found by looting so special items cannot be produced right off the bat. In this beta, two hack recipes have been introduced "Vile bullets" (increases bullet damage) and "Bullet lotion" (reduces bullet damage), but there are many more, including unique weapons, in the pipe-line.
Body armour: Not ground breaking, but an important mechanic to help the player. At the moment, the armour lasts forever, but for the next beta I want to introduce breakable items.
New playable crime: The "Murder" plea (giving the player perfect shooting accuracy from the start) has been added, but is only accessible when unlocked. To unlock the crime, you need to complete the game without shooting a single NPC.
Looting has been changed: The looting system has been restricted so that items can only be found in appropriate objects. No longer can you find 5 fuel containers in a cloth bed or a toilet. This means you will need to search for specific sections to get the items you need to repair the ship, or to craft the hack you want.
New shader: The main dynamic shadow shader has been adjusted to blur the shadow lines the further they are from the player. I'm not 100% happy with the effect and I plan to improve it for the next beta.
In addition to these bits, a number of elements have been adjusted or fixed as reported in the change log.
The full, but simplified, change log:
- Added floors to the map, making them 2D.
- Added lifts to move between floors.
- Added damage wobble when hit by bullet or section is damaged.
- Added crew quarters section and a number of additional objects.
- Added 3 alternative overlays.
- Added 2 weapons: Automatic Rifle and Shotgun.
- Added 2 Hacks: Vile Bullets & Bullet Lotion.
- Added basic Armour mechanic.
- Added 6 repair items: Power Cell, Compensator, Gaffa Tape, Injector, Meter & Actuator.
- Added melting shader to game over screen.
- Added lifts to escape section.
- Added pre-damage sound to add atmosphere.
- Added Murder class as an unlockable.
- Added 5 Objects: Trunk, Chair x 2, Table x 2
- Adjusted map to show icons correctly.
- Adjusted loot drops to restrict where items can be found.
- Adjusted shaders to include shadow bluring.
- Adjusted reloading to include shotgun style reloading.
- Adjusted how player collision is performed to easily add object collision.
- Adjusted A.I to react to lower player sounds.
- Fixed Objects not occuding light.
- Fixed sparks decal not loading.
- Fixed rotational snapping when using the 360 controller.
Itch.io link
