New Version 0.3.5 Release Notes

Version 0.3.5 is now available! I ended up doing a mixture of back-end work, fixes, and level creation for this update. Indicators were improved to show friendly bot positions when they go off screen. All bots received some important improvements that should make them more effective and less prone to bugs. The save system was redone in the back ground and now uses a single save file to collect player info instead of 4 separate files. 2 new levels were added into the mission list so now when you go out on missions you will enter different areas. Faction images on the mission selection screen now have some basic images to replace the previous white box. I could go on for a while but I'll leave the rest for you to read in the patch notes.

Visuals

• The command menu titles were colored white. The color was changed to green to fit the theme of the game.
• Created simple faction images to replace the white images that were located on each mission prefab
• Changed pixel multiplier for the exp bar in the loadout screen to remove rounded edges from the image
• Created a new image to replace the one that was being used as Datum. Replaced all datum images with the new one.
• Replaced the credits and datum text objects on the save file prefab with the credits and datum images.
• Added a few more props to level 3
• Added roof lights that shoot downwards into the scene to mimic lights coming down from the ceiling.
• Added a particle system to each ceiling light to act as dust particles
• Created various decal prefabs that stick to walls and give extra detail to the scene
• Modified the wall material to give it more detail
• Changed the color of the directional light  

Game Play

• When entering the chase state, bots will turn their turrets towards their target
• Removed the specialization button from the loadout screen. It has not done anything for the last few updates and at this point I am not sure that I will implement specializations at all.
• 2 new levels have been added to the game. the player can load into them when entering a mission 

Under the hood

• Slightly changed the way that bots use the search state, it may help to reduce situations where they get stuck moving between waypoints
• Introduced turret movement to the search state so that bots will rotate their turret towards whatever point they are travelling to
• Made changes to the positioning of waypoints for level 3. Some waypoints were too far from others to make a connection
• Fixed an error occurring at the start of levels due to null object exceptions related to the mouse tool tip
• Made changes to the indicator arrow script so that it allows for multiple different arrows
• Fixed an issue with the save file manager's file index not changing between save game loads, allowing the duplication of items and currency between saves
• Setup code to allow for the missions to set images based on their faction name
• The camera angles in the level were altered in some cases. They have all been set to the same angle.
• Tool tips for the commands menu would not go away if the menu was closed while the mouse was over a command button. Created a script to disable the tool tip when the menu closes
• Changed the AI Ally machine script so that it gets its line renderer from itself rather than from the scene (fixed the ally bots not having a laser texture)
• Changed the size of the nav mesh obstacle on boxes to reduce how much space they take up for navigation
• Save system was redone to allow for more versatility
• Added a script to the continue button that disables the button when the last save file used does not exist anymore. This stops the player from loading into a save file that was previously deleted.
• Added a lot of debug logs to the various scripts that control saving and loading data.
• The image backing for the text log in levels was active. It is only used for debugging the rect mask and has been disabled.
• Fixed an issue where the exit door did not have its exit script to end the level
• Created a wall box prefab for placement in levels
• Changed the mission load script so that it can allow for multiple different levels
• Turned gravity back on for the player since it was causing issues. (player could flip themselves over)
• Fixed an issue where the quit button and continue button would not work if the player came back the main menu after moving into any other scene. (buttons would lose references)  

Sound

• Set sound for structure objectives to 3D space. They were set to 2D which was not intended.
• Added some pitch variance to the laser fire sound heard when bots shoot so that it sounds slightly different each time
• Fixed issue where all level sounds would become audible on the players death due to the audio listener becoming unavailable.  

Stats

Nothing this time 

User Interface

• Created new indicator arrows that show the positions of each friendly bot so that you can track them off screen
• The previous indicator that showed where an objective was is now colored red
• Changed the layout of the save file prefab to allow for currency values in the 1000s
• All commands in the commands menu now have tool tips explaining what they do.
• The command menu in the level had some commands that were no longer working, they have been removed. (these commands were part of the perks system that is no longer available)
• Made changes to the way the UI scales with different resolutions. Some UI elements were moving out of positions at resolutions smaller than 1920 x 1080
• Fixed color of red escape bars. They were not all the same exact color
• Fixed size of escape bars so there are no gaps between them and the edge of the screen
• Fixed an issue where the mouse tool tip would sometimes get stuck and flicker, making it hard to read or use UI elements. (the tool tip was not tracking its own position correctly)
• Changed version number on main menu
• Changed pixel multiplier on multiple image objects to remove soft edges  

Modeling

Nothing this time

That's everything for V0.3.5. I spent a lot of time getting the new levels made as well as getting the save system working correctly. Hopefully the new improvements come across to you guys as you play the game. For the next update I am aiming at making the game look better with more models, better textures/materials, and animations. Of course I'll always be working on bugs or glitches as they always seem to show up at some point. Expect the next update within the next 2 weeks unless something happens to extend it, if so I'll be posting a devlog to let you know.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my game!