Updates August 2018

This month the main focus has been on polish. Many systems in the game have undergone changes to make them either perform better or simply make more sense. Bombs, for instance, can no longer damage players or creatures when there is a solid barrier between them, while magic missiles can hit strong creatures up to three times before disappearing

The most visible change is the interface having a new font and some nicer intro animations while the level starts and players spawn into the match for the first time. 

Some big steps were also taken in filling out the art for the level select map. The first two zones now have art that more closely resembles the stages they provide for battle.

Lastly, rules have finally been added for which monsters players have access to when choosing options for a previously completed stage. Now, when a player or group of players defeat a monster in a boss stage, that monster can be made to appear in any stage that has been completed.

Below is a full list of changes made this month. Be sure to download Aqua Lungers on steam to see them in action for yourself!

• Monsters now have to be unlocked in order to sub for other stages
• match settings now persist between matches and selections
• match settings no longer apply to uncompleted levels or bosses
• non-passthrough projectiles are now stopped by enemies with more than 1 hp
• Fixed camera jitters when hitting boundaries
• Boomerangs can no longer steal from other boomerangs
• Players no longer get stuck on edges
• Greater boost for getting out of water while loaded with gold
• Cliff zone and Desert zone have updated map art
• New ocean waves animation for level select map
• projectiles can now hit a fixed number of times before dying
• updates to dungeon stages
• new dungeon music added
• UI now consistent across the game
• stage intro sequences added
• New font added to UI
• Better behavior for interface when pausing the game
• implementing main camera animations for stage intro
• new colorized Aqua Lungers logo for each player on match start
• it's now possible for creatures to be shy and run away from players
• fish loaded with teaseure created that must be chased
• boomerang now steals from other players more reliably
• system added to create serpents an tails
• new volcano level created
• Stun from charge attack on players adjusted to 1.15 sec.
• Throwing gold while in water now defaults to players facing angle
• bubble trail added to magic missile
• new Start screen animation
• fixed bug making it possilbe to play basic attack during dash sequence
• basic attack now deploys faster
• fixed inputs not engaging on level select map
• Charge graphic displays early to indicate charging
• fixed Players spawning in the wrong order
• adjusted colors for treasure boxes
• mouse input no longer affects UI
• New system created to add tutorial graphics
• Creature abilities can now lock rotation
• Intro sequence added to start screen
• Camera on dead players now follow monster only when it's close enough
• Bombs no longer hit trough walls
• fixed bombs not affecting player or creatures behind 1 way platforms
• removed narrow window of distance where bomb does not affect players
• line of sight between bombs and enemy hit boxes now check more accurately
• Music performs better after loosing and regaining program focus
• Creature Special abilities can now utilize multiple projectile emitters
• game now saves options data
• in game map now exits to Title Screen
• level 1 dressed with more colorful art
• Fixed players moving extra fast on certain types of platforms
• Player knock-back is now calculated differently when struck by basic attack
• Dash attack can no longer hit player on the same frame as head stomp
• Improved monster behavior for walking over treasure and bait
• Stats collected are now saved and can be viewed from the map options menu.
• Crushing blocks can now be fitted with a push object that will push boss monsters away from crushing zones
   

Updates July 2018

Updates for this month include a lot of polish and bug fixing as well as some new content. Many of these have to do with creature movement and ability systems which are shared by most units in the game aside from the player, which also gets some quality of life upgrades. In terms of content the new items include several new stages, and a couple new boss encounters.

Brand new stats display at the end of the match!

Besides content and polish, you'll also see a brand new feature at the end of each match which is the scoreboard. The game now keeps track of deaths, kills, money dropped and a few other metrics players might be interested in seeing to help measure their performance when a match is completed.

• Game now collects stats and displays them at the end of each round
• Respawn text and countdown no longer displays after match end
• improved movement behavior for boomerangs
• Music Volume adjustments
• Monsters will collect treasure more quickly
• Monsters now lose points when dropping treasure after player attacks
• When player is swimming in water, dash attack now defaults to players facing direction
• Players rotation is now maintained when exiting dash in water
• Updated FishMan's windup animation
• FishMan's Spin attacks have smaller hit box
• Monsters will now enter savage mode when attacked repeatedly
• Savage mode will now wait until a player is targeted to enable
• Fixed redundancies having to do with the buoyant script
• Made changes to help accommodate different aspect ratio displays
• Invincible fish can no longer be killed with stomps
• Graphic now displays on map when a level has been successfully completed
• Ice Level 3 created
• bubble shield now depletes when on lava
• Charge attack can no longer hit players twice in one try
• bombs now aim away from player by default
• bombs and projectiles now default aim to players orientation
• bombs now have a longer fuse
• Boss Stage Created for volcano zone
• Main Camera turns off when all players loaded
• MusicManager now created from audio manager
• updated level previews on map for new stages
• Added option menu control for chromatic aberration
• added option menu control for screen resolution
• Starting features for advanced lighting mode on powerful machines
• Monsters can no longer be stun locked with bombs
• 2 New Dungeon stages created
• New Dungeon Boss battle created
• Lateral movement is now slower on climbing surfaces and vertical movement incresed
• Improvements to Jumping out of water for players
• Desert boss stage rearranged to be easier
• Water exit boost no longer applied to players dash-Attacking out from water
• Creatures now wait for base attack to finish before initiating special attack
• improvements on knockback when fish are attacked
• Desert zone 3 completed
• changes to spawner system for creatures: now keeps it's own count outside of pooler
• Creature spawner script can now be called from other scripts to spawn units
• Spinning stars graphic added for dazed monsters
• dazed monsters no longer attack when jumping out of water or on land
• Creature and projectile deactivation tweaked for consistency in editor
• Desert zone 2 added
• Fixed Tortoise appearing to stop for no reason
• Fixed creatures using base attack during and immediately after special ability
• Tortoise animation fixes
• Improved behavior for monster abilities
• Players now have a climb animation
• Made getting out of the water easier in many stages
• Music now separate from sound effects (for dev)
• Monster no longer scores points when game is not "on"
• Creature move animation speed can now adjust for when they are moving
• Move speed adjustments added to special attacks
• Added Feedback for hitting armored monster parts
• Fixed treasure throw being stopped by climbing volumes
• Fixed monster special attack movement having faster speed on high framerate
• Fixed monster getting pushed during windup
• Fixed special attack breaking when target dies
• Monster attack cooldown method now only takes the longest number (cooldown cannot be canceled)
• monster abilities now reset attack cooldown.
• Flash animations for creatures improved
• Monsters now have added mass and drag during special attacks to prevent floating away

Kicking the Tires at Comicplaooza

This weekend at Comicpalooza was very exciting for Aqua Lungers! We had our own spot over in the MakerSpace area of the venue and people of all different ages and backgrounds were stopping by to check out the game.  Comicpalooza lasted three days, and each of our two Aqua Lungers machines had up to four new players fighting for treasure nearly the entire time!

Of course, having so many players running around in the game is a great way to find out what breaks when you spend enough time kicking all the tires. We found a couple issues that involved the camera getting stuck and players' scores not being counted correctly, which we were able to address before the last day of the show. This gave us a chance to see if the problems came back and so far it looks like those issues are fixed.

Other than bugs, we were also looking out for how players played the game and which mechanics would come naturally to them. Basic movement is mostly there, but we found players don't usually learn fast swim or charge dash by themselves. This becomes problematic because many of the games levels and creatures are designed around those moves. At the moment the thinking is to give more time for players to discover those moves before requiring them in a stage. If that doesn't work, we may have to resort to some sort of tutorial that teaches players that those moves exist.

Another important consideration is that players will need something in the game to tell them what the goals are and how points are scored. What shape that takes remains to be seen, but it's something we'll be looking at. Similarly, a lot of players jump in wanting to kill the monster and get frustrated when they can't. This is a difficult point for me personally because I really feel like always having the monster in each stage is important. The game is just not the same when they are gone, since they are intended as an obstacle that players need to get past while attempting to accomplish their goal, which is to get money. This goes back to making clear the rules of the game, and what the player is really after.

There were other takeaways from the show Including general difficulty, wanting access to certain kinds of moves, and interest in seeing more content overall. We'll be looking at all these things as development of Aqua Lungers continues and improving on as many of these as we can. In the meantime, we look forward to finding out what other issues players dig up in their Aqua Lungers adventures!

      -Diego

Aqua Lungers a hit at Minefaire!

This past weekend was the Minecraft extravaganza, Minefaire, and WarpedCore Studio was fortunate enough to be invited to run Aqua Lungers for players to try. As many of you might know, Minecraft draws crowds from a very wide age group, including kids, so this expo presented a rare opportunity for Aqua Lungers to test with a young audience.

The experience was overwhelmingly positive. Literally. Kids of all types were clamoring to get in on the action while the ones playing would struggle to hand off the controller. It was very challenging to keep up with the crowd and make sure everyone got a chance to try while answering as many questions as possible, but it was a blast working with so many excited and energetic players. 

Besides all the fun we were having, we had a lot of great feedback from players which included information about the learning curve, aspects of the game that were confusing, and the discovery of a game breaking bug! We wasted no time in addressing as many of these as possible (fixed the bug!) and uploaded the changes to steam for those who are currently participating in early access.

With all that in place, we are now even better prepared for our next expo, Comicpalooza, which starts this coming Friday here in Houston, TX. Look forward to seeing you there!

   -Diego

Aqua Lungers is Go for Early Access!

Starting today, anyone who's interested in participating in early access for Aqua Lungers will be able to find it on the Steam store! We are beyond excited to find out what people think about Aqua Lungers and getting their feedback as we continue building the game, and hope that everyone has a blast battling it out for treasure supremacy. Happy hunting!