Recent work on the project has revolved around effects – making the game look slick and exciting. To this end I’ve revamped the particle system so it’s now much more powerful, and particles can be sorted based on their z-coordinate. Nick has been using this to set up particle smoke trails for projectiles, new explosions and such. Some particles can have their own effects, which means we can have smoking debris flying off in different directions. I don’t want to spoil everything before we start promoting it properly, but it is looking rather good.
Devices have received updates to their health bars and construction icons. Devices now take time to repair and scrap. Layers in the ground surfaces can be switched off, which I’ve used to automatically show ore deposites on ground you can build mines over.
I’ve just finished the first step in adding script support to device animation. The first application for this was to make the missile launcher door open and close during launch. It could have other applications though, such as articulated weapons, swiveling radar dishes, etc.
