Development Updates – Page 2

Update 0.47

Update 0.47 adds new features, quality-of-life improvements and fixes bugs and issues.

Added a slicker way to leave outposts. Now the player can choose to leave before the timer expires by interacting with the leave box.
Added more time to stay at outposts without being forced to leave.
Journaling now supports more systems, features and NPCs.

Now asteroids can no longer escape the merchant outposts electric fences.
Timers have been added to prevent an object leak, causing performance problems.
Fixed an issue where the player could be forced to hit enemy missiles during the leave animation.
Fixed an issue where the enemy missile warning arrows persisted across the end screen trigger.
Game version number has been incremented to 0.47.

Update 0.44 adds new features, more content, a more streamlined onboarding experience and fixes numerous bugs and issues.

Added in a richer tutorial experience, now using beacons as well as timing to indicate to the player what they should do.
Added in a new system — Journal:
This system contains story tidbits, journal logs, and more details about the universe.
New messages about journal entries pop onto the screen informing the player that new entries about the universe are now available.

Fixed more alignment issues and aspect ratio related issues on the iPad throughout the menu systems.
Text should no longer appear above Pause screens and above loading screens at outposts.
Removed some unused assets to cut down the size of the binary and reduce memory consumption.

Update 0.42 adds new features, more content and fixes numerous bugs and performance issues.

An improved intro cinematic experience with more detailed animation, sound and music. You can see that in action here: https://twitter.com/ARKFRONT_game/status/1307025988203798528
Added a new powerup and threat: Ion Cannon. Enemies will now launch ion beams at the player. The player can now acquire this technology in the game.
Added a massive, highly animated final boss ship. More to show in the future!
Added more animation to the player ship. Now the player smoothly turns around and returns to the ARK at the end of the mission, firing its thrusters.
Smoother better animation complete with moving pod-bay doors has been added to the ARK when the player returns, adding more life and motion to the world.
Outposts now have idle animations for their turrets and electric fences.
Outpost docking bays now flash to better indicate that they are interactive to the player.
Multiple variations of these merchant outposts now exist, in different sizes, positions, kitted out with different equipment and defenses.
Player can now choose when to return to the ARK during engagements at any outpost.
New NPCs have been added and more dialogue events.
Added a new smaller asteroid type.
Added 15 more levels to the campaign.
Tweaked game balance.

Improved RAM utilization further. Game should now idle using less RAM.
Game should now make devices less hot as CPU usage has been reduced.
Improved the look and feel of camera shake.
Fixed several problems with the camera system.
Better supporting iPad and non-9:16 display aspect ratios.
Made several improvements to bring the game into line with the changes brought about in Game Maker Studio 2.3
Fixed a few crashing bugs.
Fixed object leaks and memory leaks.
Fixed text positioning on all aspect ratios.
Improved the codebase more generally, fixing problems and making the game more flexible for future updating when the game is live and during development.

Update 0.19 adds new features, more content and fixes to ARKFRONT:

Credits displayer now displays the server asset package for the client, making debugging and customer service easier.
Credits displayer now sets a touch delay to prevent accidental access in a loop.
Missiles now correctly handle different orientations.
Fixed a bug that could rarely cause a crash in enemy AI.

Update 0.18 adds a number of new features and fixes to ARKFRONT:

Added new enemy type: Asteroid with eggs.
Added new enemy behavior: Enemies can now spawn directly as eggs off screen.
Added more achievements to Game Center.
Redesigned the first run experience. Added a brief explanation of the menu system.
All ARK powerups are now unlocked by default from level 1.
Adjusted the level curve for unlocking new ships, modes and powerups.
Added 3 more levels to the game.

Update 0.16 adds a number of new features and fixes to ARKFRONT:

Enemy AI was improved.
A few crashes were fixed.
An issue where status screens would read “No Powerup Equipped” below equipped powerups has been fixed.
Level storage and retrieval is now more efficient.
A memory leak was found and fixed.
Memory consumption has been generally reduced.