Prototype 2

Whew, after 3 weeks of work (nights and weekends)  here is the second prototype release.  The basic gameplay has not changed, but a whole lot of the detail has changed, tweaked, and polished.

For starters, I found a much better UI Asset package on the Unity store, and have started using that for all of the UI elements. The previous one was geared toward a mobile game, and had comicly oversized buttons and icons when blown up to 1920x1080 screen. Even after being scaled down, they looked out of place.

Most critically, the game now procedurally generates levels! The level builder randomizes a layout each time the player teleports in and snaps together tiles to make a seamless set of corridors.  This has probably taken the most amount of time so far to get right, but the payoff has felt worth it. It's by no means finished but it's giving pretty consistently good results.  Mainly, that the level is large but not too large, the rooms/corridors don't overlap each other, and all the pieces are oriented correctly so that the player can walk from one to another without falling into The Abyss.  

There's several ways I'd like to improve the algorithm for level generation. Primarily I need to rework it so that it can loop back on itself. Currently it runs a variant of a Binary Space Partitioning algorithm, and the children can't connect to any other node except their immediate parent or immediate children. This works good enough for now, but having corridors that run parallel, or run in a loop around a larger room would allow for more navigation options from the player.

The main menu got spruced up a bit. I think it does a much better job setting the tone of the game right from the get go.  Huge thanks to PunchDeck for his free music, which really helps set the mood. 

Huge Change List

1. Added procedural level generation
2. UI updated to use the Scifi theme from DevDog and the Scifi cursors from ClaymanStudio
3. Changed the main menu screen into a hallway
4. Added music from PunchDeck
5. Added teleporter pads, which connect the Hub to the main play areas
6. Player can now actually die (and respawn)
7. Tweaked the overhead camera angle (previous angle made it hard to hit enemies near the bottom of the screen)
8. Game now defaults to maximum resolution on startup

ToDo

1. Add items and inventory system
2. Add components, upgrades, and weapons
3. Add more enemy variety
4. Add more player abilities (currently can only shield boost)
5. Add drops from enemies
6. Adjust difficulty? This is probably pointless until abilities/items in place and can be tuned