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[Cosmocat Games]

So I made the mistake of upgrading from a (relatively) stable version of Unity (5.2.2) in an attempt to reduce some occasional editor crashes I was encountering. As a result, I ended up running into a fundamental 2D physics bug (in 5.2.3f1) that required yet another upgrade to get onto the latest patch (5.2.3p1):

(742572) - Physics: Ensure that OnCollisionEnter2D is always called if a contact starts and ends during a single physics update.

Also looks like some other 2D physics behaviour changed: previously a rigidbody collider would trigger a dynamic trigger collider without a rigidbody. Looks like this is no longer the case. Had to track down all occurrences of this and add a kinematic rigibody to the trigger colliders.

Lesson learned... sometimes you gotta deal with the odd editor crash in the interest of not breaking your game!

[Keops]

Hey TIGers!

I was out of commission due to a work accident... Deep cut in my left hand, being specific, I cut my thumb with a box cutter, and I almost cut like a third of the fingertip in a 45 degree angle . Fortunately the cut didn't mess with bone and it's healing well, but the whole finger got swollen and the pain was really heavy for the first few days, so work on my side pretty much stopped. Today I tested the gamepad again and while it hurts I can play now, and I'm a lot more comfortable so I should resume my duties too.

Here's a screenie I captured of the game, depicting our Road Rash badass fighting the alien critters inside the alien ship!



Expect more stuff from us as the release inches closer!

Peace.

[Keops]

More intro work. Still WIP but starting to look badass!



Very excited to be working on this! Ironic, that one of the last things we are going to make is the intro cinematic XD

Update:

[Pixel Noise]

Very cool - the SFX and music sounded good. If you end up needing any last minute supplemental sfx/bgm/etc, keep us in mind! This looks like a lot of fun.

[Keops]

The essentials! Can't wage war on aliens without proper equipment! 

[Cosmocat Games]

So I'm off work (my day job, that is) for 2 full weeks for Christmas/New Year's/etc. and hoping to make a huge dent in the backlog and bug list. It may be a tad ambitious, but by the end of the year we plan to have:

• new trailer video and new round of screen shots
• new streamlined website live
• Steam page live (albeit in "coming soon" state)

We can then focus on driving traffic to the Steam page (to follow/wishlist), while in parallel tying up loose ends in preparation for launch.

To get ready for the new trailer and screenshots I'm focused pretty much exclusively on "visual" bugs: weird enemy behaviour, sorting layer issues, camera issues, etc. I've got my work cut out for me: there's a good 40+ right now!

In other news, Ricardo and I met a couple days ago to nail down the initial launch feature set. We've agreed to cut back scope a bit to order release in a reasonable time-frame. Specifically, we're going to drop death-match, and one of the extra game modes we had planned to include ("1987", an ode to one of the greats).

Sucks to have to drop stuff, but we're already a bit behind (our self-imposed) schedule.

There's so, so much stuff we want to do, but we can't lose sight of the fact that it's just "v1", and we can always add more through free updates.

On that note, some possible future, post-launch enhancements:

• "challenge" mode (shorter, harder levels, a la Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV, etc.)
• boss rush mode
• special character abilities/attributes (right now the only differences are cosmetic)
• more weapons and weapon upgrades, unlocked by beating the game
• more achievements

[Keops]

Some new assets! Fire-spitting monster head:



Here's how it looks in-game:



Working on making everything look as pretty as possible for the new trailer! Excited!

[Cosmocat Games]

This is what my first 9 days of "vacation" looks like, heh... 

Solid progress though, almost ready to start capturing video for the trailer!

Code:

Revision: 556
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 6:12:38 PM
Message:
* play pickup SFX as 2D not 3D
----
Revision: 555
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 6:09:10 PM
Message:
* fix for flames bleeding on left edge of badass scene in intro cinematic
----
Revision: 554
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 6:01:16 PM
Message:
* add audio reverb zones / remove reverb filters
----
Revision: 553
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 5:28:33 PM
Message:
* potential fix for alien ship sorting issue
* integrate new alien vat
----
Revision: 552
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 4:48:24 PM
Message:
* performance optimization (static batching for level maps)
----
Revision: 551
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 1:32:10 PM
Message:
* fix for alien ship boss sorting
----
Revision: 550
Author: ricardo
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 1:18:10 PM
Message:
Bloom tweaks for Alien Ship levels
----
Revision: 549
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 12:35:09 PM
Message:
* incorporate alien ship boss room assets
----
Revision: 548
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 10:57:41 AM
Message:
* integrate spacesuit
----
Revision: 547
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 10:45:21 AM
Message:
* fix for player head sorting issue
* fix for camera scaling issue in tutorial and super secret level
* extend super secret BG
----
Revision: 546
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2015 10:33:07 AM
Message:
* fix for player head sorting issue
----
Revision: 545
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 8:08:07 PM
Message:
SuperSecretBG.png extension
----
Revision: 544
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 4:30:24 PM
Message:
Further cloud update
----
Revision: 543
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 4:20:44 PM
Message:
Updated cloud sheet
----
Revision: 542
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 4:01:11 PM
Message:
* fix for NPC torso stuck on level
----
Revision: 541
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 2:46:37 PM
Message:
New Alien head things
----
Revision: 540
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 2:14:40 PM
Message:
* fix for hit prefab pooled with critters
----
Revision: 539
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 2:03:31 PM
Message:
* extend nebulae BG (fix for alien ship)
----
Revision: 538
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:53:21 PM
Message:
* extend nebulae BG (alien ship, space, intro)
----
Revision: 537
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:50:33 PM
Message:
Cave Boss BG extra width
----
Revision: 536
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:48:36 PM
Message:
* extend mountain BG
----
Revision: 535
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:44:53 PM
Message:
* extend infected planet BG
----
Revision: 534
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:40:53 PM
Message:
* extend cave BG
----
Revision: 533
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:39:13 PM
Message:
* extend forest BG
----
Revision: 532
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:30:59 PM
Message:
* add "destroyer" game objects to clean up gore, pick-ups, etc. that fall of screen
----
Revision: 531
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 1:13:26 PM
Message:
Alien Ship & Alien Boss Act Intro BGs
----
Revision: 530
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 12:15:25 PM
Message:
Cloud tile fix (rounded square borders)
----
Revision: 529
Author: ricardo
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 12:08:39 PM
Message:
BG fixes (extra pixels for screenshake and ascension-2.png revision)
----
Revision: 528
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 11:22:25 AM
Message:
* widening parallax layer in forest
----
Revision: 527
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015 10:57:07 AM
Message:
* pixel density for cave BG was off slightly
----
Revision: 526
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 1:40:28 PM
Message:
* fix for auto-fire resuming after death
* fix for flamethrower not stopped when invisible
----
Revision: 525
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 12:24:09 PM
Message:
* more consistent filling of screen with particles when camera scrolling
----
Revision: 524
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 12:19:26 PM
Message:
* more consistent filling of screen with dust particles when camera scrolling
----
Revision: 523
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 12:11:59 PM
Message:
* more consistent filling of screen with dust particles when camera scrolling
----
Revision: 522
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 11:54:53 AM
Message:
* fix stars in alien ship level with camera local pos
----
Revision: 521
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 11:50:53 AM
Message:
* partial fix for snow not filling screen when camera scrolling in mountain level
* fix performance issue with ForegroundParticles.cs (unnecessary Update method)
----
Revision: 520
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 25, 2015 10:57:38 AM
Message:
* fix for flames not filling screen when scrolling in city level
----
Revision: 519
Author: adam
Date: Thursday, December 24, 2015 1:03:50 PM
Message:
* fix for gun trooper sorting
----
Revision: 518
Author: adam
Date: Thursday, December 24, 2015 1:00:33 PM
Message:
* fix for gun trooper sorting
* pixel align trooper arms
* fix for player sorting

----
Revision: 517
Author: adam
Date: Thursday, December 24, 2015 10:22:02 AM
Message:
* fix for gun troopers on small ledges not turning around
* potential fix for boss health showing as 0 for fractional amounts
----
Revision: 516
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 6:57:59 PM
Message:
* fix for missile flame appearing behind rocket boss
----
Revision: 515
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 3:08:45 PM
Message:
* rocket boss layer was too far forward
----
Revision: 514
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 3:06:13 PM
Message:
* potential fix for pooled critters targeting dead player
* potential fix for damage effect causing enemies to remain red under certain scenarios
----
Revision: 513
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 2:06:15 PM
Message:
* fix for Super Secret showing as locked even if unlocked
----
Revision: 512
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 2:01:59 PM
Message:
* tweaks to mountain boss turret
----
Revision: 511
Author: adam
Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2015 11:43:40 AM
Message:
* fix for camera jitter
----
Revision: 510
Author: adam
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 9:02:49 PM
Message:
* fix for electrocute effect pooled with missile
----
Revision: 509
Author: adam
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 1:34:25 PM
Message:
* maximize reuse between stats and final stats screen
* add drum roll, flavour SFX, and fireworks to final stats screen
* fix for final badass rank calculated incorrectly
----
Revision: 508
Author: adam
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 11:27:22 AM
Message:
* update to badass rank calculation: automatic 0 if dead
----
Revision: 507
Author: adam
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 11:11:55 AM
Message:
* fix for stats section shown for inactive players
* fix for badass rank shown for dead players
----
Revision: 506
Author: adam
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 4:16:56 PM
Message:
* fix for laser glitch
----
Revision: 505
Author: adam
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 2:51:35 PM
Message:
* add edge colliders to entire cave level
* disable "only follow grounded" for camera follow (for now... was causing more harm than good), decrease damp time
----
Revision: 504
Author: adam
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 1:03:34 PM
Message:
* fix for light in cave level
----
Revision: 503
Author: adam
Date: Monday, December 21, 2015 12:26:15 PM
Message:
* integrate small crate
* fixes for moving platforms and falling platforms (performance, and visual glitches)
* gore now passes through moving platforms
----
Revision: 502
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 6:27:00 PM
Message:
* new coins
* simple animation for powerup 
----
Revision: 501
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 5:39:55 PM
Message:
* add fade out speed to FadeOutMusic
* increase fade out speed for desert music
* tweak green for alien statis
----
Revision: 500
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 4:48:22 PM
Message:
* fix for same field name as parent class (speedMultiplier)
----
Revision: 499
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 3:31:00 PM
Message:
 * updated Ascension music, proper intro/loop (known issue: won't fade out on boss death yet, more work needed)
----
Revision: 498
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 2:58:13 PM
Message:
* remove deathmatch from menu
----
Revision: 497
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 2:48:10 PM
Message:
* laying some groundwork for Rocket Scientist achievement
----
Revision: 496
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 2:11:14 PM
Message:
* fix for final boss glow on different layer (switched to use Z index instead)
----
Revision: 495
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 2:07:24 PM
Message:
* add glow to Space level
----
Revision: 494
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:38:02 PM
Message:
* mocking up new stuff for pause UI (not implemented yet)
----
Revision: 493
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:16:36 PM
Message:
* update Tutorial level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 492
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:14:34 PM
Message:
* update Super Secret level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 491
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:09:57 PM
Message:
* update Space level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 490
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:04:24 PM
Message:
* update Alien Ship boss level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 489
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:57:57 PM
Message:
* update Alien Ship level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 488
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:55:07 PM
Message:
* update Desert secret level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 487
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:53:09 PM
Message:
* update Desert level to use mixer for all sources
* fix for Desert boss cannons not starting

----
Revision: 486
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:32:16 PM
Message:
* update Ascension level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 485
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:28:26 PM
Message:
* update Cave secret level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 484
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:27:32 PM
Message:
* update Mountain level to use mixer for all sources
* increase loudness of shotgun and mortar 
----
Revision: 483
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:04:01 PM
Message:
* update Cave secret level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 482
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 12:02:03 PM
Message:
* update Cave level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 481
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 11:57:07 AM
Message:
* update City level to use mixer for all sources

----
Revision: 480
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 11:44:47 AM
Message:
* working on mountain boss turret transition
* update AudioHelper to default to SFX mixer group
* update Forest level to use mixer for all sources
----
Revision: 479
Author: adam
Date: Sunday, December 20, 2015 10:31:43 AM
Message:
* initial groundwork for competition mode
----
Revision: 478
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 5:50:31 PM
Message:
* fix for wrong shader in badass scene
----
Revision: 477
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 5:49:33 PM
Message:
* new space tiles
* fix for collider issues in space level
* fix for menu not hiding mouse on gamepad
----
Revision: 476
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 2:09:48 PM
Message:
* update and integrate intro cut scene
----
Revision: 475
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 12:36:11 PM
Message:
* slight tweak to cave map (trying to make secret level a bit more obvious)
----
Revision: 474
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 12:31:53 PM
Message:
* added a "Dying" check to FadeToLevel to prevent dying player from triggering secret exit
----
Revision: 473
Author: adam
Date: Saturday, December 19, 2015 12:25:23 PM
Message:
* fix for smeared gradient on buttons (replaced with turret sprite)
* working on filling screen with particles (flame, snow) regardless of camera scrolling
----
Revision: 471
Author: adam
Date: Friday, December 18, 2015 6:07:53 PM
Message:
* fix for cannon trooper not shooting grenades in cave secret
----

[Cosmocat Games]

Pulling a fresh batch of video and screenshots as we ramp up to put the Steam page live. Here's a little taste of what you can expect

[Cosmocat Games]

Phew, long couple of days but the new trailer video is done and the Steam store page is now live!

[Keops]

Been working on assets and props for the ending sequence. Feels weird to be actually working on the ending sequence of the game I'm so proud of what Adam and I have achieved after many hours of effort.

Here's a WIP showcasing part of the graphics I've been working on. The perspective of the beams is still heavy WIP but you get an idea of what we're aiming: Bright colors, rebuilding, blue skies and clouds!

Just ignore the sprite there heh, I placed it to have some scale reference.

[Cosmocat Games]

Busy few weeks, mostly focused on bug fixing and testing, wrapping up the intro and ending cinematics (Ricardo, post some more shots ...), and some nit-picky design stuff (i.e. moving some platforms to make for some smoother platforming segments, tweaking enemy patterns, etc.)

We're planning on releasing the OST at the same time as the game, so that means I need to consider how every track will be integrate in the game vs. how it will be used in the OST. So for example, some tracks will need to be cut into separate intro and looping segments for integration into the game, some tracks will need to be looped and faded in/out for the OST, etc.

The OST has somehow grown to 18 tracks, so it was a bit of work to keep track of all of this...



Releasing the OST also means we're going to need to send the music for mastering soon, so I'll be spending some time over the weekend rendering the current versions of the tracks for initial feedback from the mastering engineer, and then making any tweaks to the mixes next week.

Also gotta do the voice over for the ending cinematic this weekend (preferably at a time when my wife isn't home to hear me embarrass myself)... and then of course more bug fixing...

[Keops]

As release gets near and bugs get squashed, Adam and I are focusing on polish. I recently finished the 1st pass for the Achievement icons, mixing pure pixel art with some Photoshop tricks and digital illustration. I'm overall pretty pleased with them but Adam gave me some valuable feedback I'll use to try and improve them, a 2nd pass heh

Here are the icons side by side as of now (before further refining)



(the two star emblems are there just to fill the space heh, those were used as placeholders while I worked on the icons. I blame OCD )

-

With actual dev winding down Adam and I are switching to marketing and also planning ahead the stuff we'd like to include post-launch and also future content updates. There's still some graphic work for me to do, like the Game Over screen and some tweaks we wanted to include for character select screens and the level select menu.

All in all, very excited to have the release at sight!

[Cosmocat Games]

Well, the soundtrack has been sent off for mastering... it's the final asset to be integrated before we start sending out review copies! And we're down to only a handful of bugs, none of which are game-breaking, so we're looking pretty good for an early March release date. Fingers crossed!

A shout out goes to Denis at Mastering.lt for doing the mastering job, he does great work! He's done the mastering for most of Snug's releases.

Here's a preview of what you can expect from the soundtrack. We'll post a few full tracks in the days to come, as we start getting the mastered versions back.

[Cosmocat Games]

Started working on a game over screen... with blood, and glitchiness, of course



In other news, we've setup a Tumblr. I don't know that it's common to setup a Tumblr for a game (my wife says only kids use it...?), but it seems like the perfect platform for hosting lots of different media types in one place.

[Cosmocat Games]

Testing out some "game feel" stuff (thanks,

!):



I previously wrote this kind of stuff off as polish/"I'll do it later", but I now realize that it can be just as important things like the fundamental gameplay mechanics. I mean, you're basically doing the same action over and over, it should probably "feel" good.

So to that end:

• increased screen-shake
• added knock-back for enemies
• added recoil for player
• added muzzle flash
• increased player bullet speed

Plus a couple more drastic things:

• doubled all enemy HP
• doubled rate of fire for all weapons

Still some work to do--mostly fixing bugs/glitches that I introduced as a result of these changes--but overall I think it's a big improvement.


In other news, we've decided to release the game in Early Access, for a few reasons. [official announcements are here (website) and here (Steam)]

The main one being that we've come to realize there are some things we'll really only get one shot at; one of which is the level designs. As our self-imposed launch date drew near, there was still so much more tuning that we wanted to do to the levels. We felt that Early Access would give us an opportunity to try the current designs out on a larger audience, and iterate over them for a period of time before.

Secondarily, we had hoped to have a reasonably sized community by the time we launched, but unfortunately that's not the case. We hope that Early Access will start to generate some momentum and ultimately enable us to have a more impactful "full release".

If all goes to plan we'll be in live in Early Access this week!

[Keops]

Ricardo here! We're thrilled to announce that Operation Hardcore is now available as Early Access on Steam! (http://store.steampowered.com/app/395550) :D Go check it out! We appreciate all feedback!



Cheers!

[Cosmocat Games]

Just uploaded a new trailer showing some of the """game feel""" stuff we've been working on lately (sorry for stealing all your trade secrets, Vlambeer), such as:

• faster bullets
• more bullets
• more screen-shake
• weapon recoil
• muzzle flash
• knock-back (or, in the words of one of my friends, "blow-back", hehe)
• more enemies, and therefore more blood, and guts

Everything you see in the video is live on Steam now.

This coincides with our first official Steam "update round", which will hopefully help to generate some more sales and wishlists. All in all, a very productive few weeks. We also have some pretty exciting stuff in the works, which I will share shortly!

[Cosmocat Games]

Beefing up the dynamic lighting in the new tutorial level:

[Cosmocat Games]

Made the trek up to Ottawa, Ontario (14 hour drive) this past weekend for the OIGC's Game & Art Expo. Although the conference has been going for a few years now, this was their first time doing an expo like this. It was great to see so many other indie devs pursuing their dreams!

Here's a shot of our humble little setup:



Approximately 2600 people through the doors, and non-stop traffic at our booth. All in all, I would say it was a huge success and worth the 28 hours of driving