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[Zuurix]

Yeah, lights would only be on the biggest parts.
I could also make very big parts - up to the size of 9 current parts - for big lights.

As for color, enemies and objects will probably have red lights.
It would be safe to do the same with a player spaceship.

I can make each part have a randomly picked color for lights, I just don't know if I want it.

Thanks for feedback =]

[Zuurix]

Sector Six 1 year in Steam anniversary!

One year ago, Sector Six was released on Steam! I am going to stream Sector Six all day!

Click here to go to Twitch >>

I will be playing latest Sector Six version - it's a great way to see what's coming with next update!

I will also show how I develop Sector Six with GameMaker: Studio

There will be giveaways too! I am planning to give away 50 Sector Six keys on SteamGifts and in my Steam groups, don't miss announcements!

[Zireael]

Are the giveaways today or what?

[Zuurix]

Sector Six giveaway! [50 copies]

To celebrate Sector Six 1 year in Steam anniversary, I'm giving away 50 keys!
How to join: Click here >>

[Zireael]

Seriously, the site requires me to have spent $100 on Steam? That's crazy!

[Zuurix]

I guess that is how they defend the site from an infinite amount of duplicate accounts?
Otherwise, it's just making the rich richer.

Because not everyone can use SteamGifts, I have a mini-giveaway: Click here >>

[Zuurix]

Echo #70: All upcoming updates

This echo is slightly different - it's a list of all updates that are left to do until Sector Six is completed!

Next update

Update that will come out next is an achievement and graphic update.

45 new achievements!
Various graphical improvements.

This is the last graphical update!
Sector Six will no longer change graphically.

The last item update

New part designs.
New part properties.
High-grade part improvements.
Part sets.
New filtering options.
Alternative weapons.

The last crafting update

Part crafting.
Part compression.

The Router update

Concealed regions with epic rewards, unlocked by completing achievements.

The boss update #1

New boss.
Armored colony seeker improvements.

The boss update #2

The last boss.

Combat expansion #1

Titan class.
New side missions.

Combat expansion #2

Nomad class.
New side missions.

The remaining story missions

Story mission VI
Story mission VII
Story mission VIII
Story mission IX
Story mission X
Story mission XI
Story mission XII
Story mission XIII
Story mission XIV

Endgame update

Permanent death and hardcore modes.
Ability to set maximum level, enable and disable sources of loot and experience.
Ability to replay the Machine boss fights.
Creative mode.
Last batch of achievements.

Full release

After I will do all of that, the game will be completed!
This list might not mean a lot to you, but to me, it's amazing to finally know for sure what I'll have to do to finish Sector Six!

Amazing. And terrifying! That's so much to do!
I'll go work on it right away!

[Xonatron]

Images are not loading for me!

[Zuurix]

Oh well, I've decided not to make a change to art style anyway.

[Zuurix]

Echo #71: 90%

I'm getting close to finishing Sector Six graphics!
This week I have improved loot box, level up screen and added a box that shows difficulty rewards.
I've wanted to make these changes for a long time.

Besides that, I have added the last achievement, made icons for Steam achievements and now Sector Six is ready for the achievement update!

I have also tried making changes to the art style.
I couldn't make it work, so I decided to revert all the changes.

Next week I will be dealing with last graphical changes I want to make - some sort of movement animations, background spaceships, inventory animations.

I am also hoping to finally update the game in a few days, so keep an eye on new posts about that!

Until next time!

[Fat Pug Studio]

Whoa man, almost there! You endured all the hardships and almost made it, i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a great release 

[Zuurix]

Update! Gauntlet, time siege, 45 new achievements and more!

Download new version now to test your spaceship in new region missions and unlock new achievements!
This update also includes many graphical and gameplay improvements.

Gauntlet

Gauntlet is just like kill mission, except that during gauntlet your alloy container, repairing abilities and parts will not work!
If you will survive gauntlet, you will get an extant part!

Time siege

During time siege, you will have to defeat all Sector Six enemies from weakest to strongest!
The faster you'll do it, the better reward you will get.

New achievements

25 achievements for exploring Sector Six, 5 achievements for completing missions, 10 miscellaneous achievements, and 5 secret achievements!
These new achievements will encourage you to try new things.

New combat options

Now you can disable XP gain and enable easy mode!
Easy mode halves enemy damage, armor, XP reward and disables modular difficulty system.

Inventory glitch fixed

You will no longer end up with -5785 inventory slots!

Lethal Weapons and Aberrant Armour nerfed

+200% armor and damage per level were way too much!
Now Lethal Weapons and Aberrant Armour will only increase enemy armor and damage by 100%.

Graphical changes

• Improved backgrounds.
• Added weapon warning.
• Improved main menu.
• Improved death animation.
• Improved loot box.
• Improved level up screen.
• Improved modular difficulty system map.
• Improved achievement notifications.
• Game now remembers more notifications.
• Fixed annoying claim screen glitch.
• Added achievement icons.

Other changes

• Added movement sound.
• Fixed passive ability description graphical glitch.
• Fixed inventory page button graphical glitch.
• Detonated mines are now slightly less effective against enemy segments.
• Fixed mosaic seeking projectile glitch.
• EMP Grenade now deals damage based on node damage, like it is supposed to.

Have fun!

Next update: Part sets, advanced item filtering, high-grade part improvements and new part properties!

PS: Some of the new achievements have no names or descriptions on Steam, this is will be resolved soon.

[Zuurix]

Game overall completion - 62%!
Now just add a ton of content, crafting system and it's DOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!

Music: 100%
Left to do: Completed.

Sound effects: 95%
Left to do: Some sound effects could be replaced with better ones.

Graphics: 100%
Left to do: Completed.

Interfaces: 90%
Left to do: Interfaces for upcoming features, minor improvements.

Combat: 50%
Left to do: 12 abilities per class, 4 classes, unleashed ability effects, passive abilities.

Spaceship building: 75%
Left to do: Part set effects, more part properties, part filtering.

Region missions: 40%
Left to do: More mission types.

Region bosses: 33%
Left to do: More bosses.

Region enemies: 50%
Left to do: More enemies.

Story missions: 15%
Left to do: 9 story missions.

Story bosses: 10%
Left to do: The Machines: Astrail, Numinor, Hivind, Ourend, Sidris, Ligwitch, Malasmor.

Achievements: 70%
Left to do: More achievements

Features: 75%
Left to do: Crafting system, the Router, endgame, local co-op mode, creative mode.

Total: 62%
Beta: 2016 August
Full release: Estimated 2017 Q4

Version
Released: 0.8.1

[Zuurix]

Echo #72: Cor's Voidshape and other part sets

Last week I've been working on item update.
I've done really a lot!

First of, now mythical and etalon parts are better!
They can be upgraded with amplifiers two times, unlike lower grade parts.

Speaking of lower grade parts, I have added a new part property that adds a chance to upgrade parts to a higher grade.
If you have at least one of parts with this properly, there's a chance that a lower grade part you've just picked up will turn to higher grade part.
For example, a generic part will turn into optimized and advanced part will turn into extant.

And after item update, you'll want to get as many extant parts as possible!
Extant, mythical and etalon parts will have a chance to be a component of a part set!

Part sets are simple: Add a certain amount of parts that are set components and you will get a special effect of that set.

For example, adding 10 Ultranid's parts will unlock Ultranid's Corruption set effect.
I'm planning to add 5 part sets with the upcoming update, while other part sets will be added in future, maybe even after the full release of the game.

Here's current set effects:

Cor's Voidshape
Enemy projectiles go through your spaceship
Enemy projectiles damage your spaceship only if they hit the Elder Mechanism
Shield duration is reduced to 2 seconds
Maximum armour is reduced by 90%

Etherion's Clash
+400% damage
Damage boost is applied only if your spaceship has equal amount of relays, pylons, elements and nodes

Ultranid's Corruption
Cooldowns of all abilities are reduced to 0 seconds
Activating an ability deals damage to your spaceship
Damage dealt is equal to 10% of maximum armour

Kithalia's Blight
Your spaceship has +4% damage for every 1% of missing ether
Your spaceship is destroyed if ether reaches 100%

Oesa's Radiance
Your spaceship has +1% damage for every 10 ether
Base maximum armour of your spaceship is equal to maximum ether multiplied by 50

Cor's Voidshape is probably my favorite part set, because of how game changing it is!
It basically enables classic shoot 'em up gameplay by reducing hitbox size and maximum armour.
Dodge or die!

I'm very proud of Etherion's Clash set.
It's perfect for people who like to use abilities from all available classes, because it covers the loss of damage, that you get for using multiple weapon types.

Ultranid's Corruption set effect is a mini Overload after you use an ability!
Extremely risky, but rewarding!

High-level players usually keep a lot of unused ether.
Kithalia's Blight should change that, by rewarding for NOT having ether and severely punishing if you don't dump ether!

I've also noticed that maximum ether property is not very useful.
Oesa's Radiance will make it more than useful!
I think it is possible to get up to +5000% damage through Oesa's Radiance effect.
You'll regret dismantling all those ether parts =]

Anyway, I've spent most of the time last week preparing for part sets.
I improved procedural item generator, part tooltips, added an interface for checking the status of part sets and so on.
Next week I will start implementing set effects.

I have also unlocked mortars and cannons because they will be required for Etherion's Clash set.
I promise to add abilities for those weapons soon!

There's one more thing.
I am going to remove ability unleashing.
Unleashing just simply didn't work out.
Without unleashed effects, I'll have more design space and I will be able to make more interesting abilities.

Considering how quickly I am progressing with this update, I think it will come out in the first half of June, so get ready!

Well, that's all for this echo.
Until next time!

[Zuurix]

Echo #73: The new plan

This was another great week for Sector Six!
I've done a lot of progress and made few important decisions.
Seve part sets have been implemented and are ready for release!

But first, about the big decisions!

Right now Sector Six is unpopular.
I don't make many sales and that makes my life and game development rather difficult, so I need to increase sales.

Sector Six is in Early Access and that scares away a large part of buyers, so I need to get the game out of Early Access as soon as possible.
That means I have to finish Sector Six faster.

To do that I need to cancel some of the planned features.
Or even better - put some features aside and implement them after the game is finished and out of Early Access.

Postponed: The Router and unlinked regions

It would be a nice addition to the game but is not necessary for the game to be finished.

Postponed: Nomad class

Sector Six will leave Early Access with 3 classes instead of 4.
Postponing nomad class will make Sector Six release earlier by a good few weeks.

Postponed: Endgame update

Permanent death modes, creative mode, new game+ expansion, loot options, boss replaying...
All these features would take a lot of time to make and they would be used only by a few players, because of how unpopular Sector Six is, so I will wait until I have more players who can access these features before working on them.

Canceled: Part crafting

Part crafting was a feature I've always wanted to see in the game, but after adding cities, I have realized that there is no place for item crafting in Sector Six.
Item management in Sector Six is already very time consuming and crafting would make it even worse, so in a way, it's even better to have no crafting.

Canceled: Ability unleashing

I have really tried to make ability unleashing work well, but it's just impossible.
Without ability unleashing, I will be able to make abilities better because I no longer need two versions of the same ability - normal and unleashed.

With these questionable features out of the way, here's what I need to do before I can say that the game is completed:

The last item update
Part compression update
The boss update
The last combat expansion
The last boss update
The remaining story missions

The list has become nice, thin and doable!
Now I will be able to finish Sector Six in a few months and finished game will be polished to perfection!

Anyway, enough about the future.

As I have mentioned, I have implemented all part sets I wanted.
In the previous echo, I wrote about adding five part sets, but I added two more, so now there are unique 7 ways to build your spaceship!

Implementing sets was rather easy, except for Cor's Voidshape.
I had to find a way to merge parts of the spaceship into one image to make spaceship transparent.
That took me about 5 hours!

Next week I will implement new part properties:

+x levels to EMP Grenade ability
+x levels to Shards of Chaos ability
+x levels to Resurrect Armour ability
+x levels to Assemble Obelisk ability
+x% chance to cause white wave
+x% chance to cause red wave
+x% chance to cause black wave

Waves will be caused on an enemy kill.

The white wave will jam enemies.
The red wave will cause damage over time.
The black wave will destroy enemy segments and deal some damage to them.

Waves will help to defeat enemy groups because one destroyed enemy might cause a wave that will jam or damage other enemies.

Only mythical and etalon parts will have wave chance properties and only etalon parts will add levels to abilities.
That should make high-grade parts even more interesting!

After new properties are implemented, I will work on part filtering, the last thing on my list. Then I'll just need to fix few new glitches, run few tests and the new version will be ready for an update!

So, that's the news.
Until next time!

[Zuurix]

2017.06.06!

It's 6th day of the 6th month and I'm streaming Sector Six on my Twitch channel!
Go to Twitch >>

[Zireael]

You're saying the game is unpopular, I cannot fathom why! It has the graphics, it has tons of content already, it is very polished (I played through the demo and saw no bugs). 

The only thing holding me back from buying is the price, it's quite a lot in my country (((

[Fat Pug Studio]

What country do you live in? 10$ bucks is not a small amount in many countries unfortunately, but if you really like it you can put asolide few dollars a month.

@Zuurix

I'm so sad to hear Sector Six is unpopular, you really put a lot of time and effort into it. Have you tried finding out what makes it unpopular and what you can do about it?

For me, the biggest turn off is graphics, the style you are using (Limbo style, low color, high contrast) is ok, but i think it needs more eye candy for people to be attracted. For example, explosions are lame, they look really generic and they don't evoke that "wooow, explosion, boom" feeling. Find a few honest poeple to tell you their turn offs, in the end, after all the time and sweat you poured into this game, you need to earn some money, even if that means it won't look like you imagined it to look.

I'll play a demo thoroughly and let you know what i think you can improve as selling points.

[Zuurix]

You're saying the game is unpopular, I cannot fathom why!

Eh, it's actually natural for an indie game to be unpopular.
Besides, the game doesn't even matter that much. With good marketing, you can sell millions of copies, even if the game is garbage.
E.g.: No Mans Sky.

So yeah, Sector Six unpopular because I don't do marketing.
Not because I think my game will sell itself - that never happens in reality. (except for Undertale?)
I don't do marketing because I have a whole game to make, that leaves me a very little time to do everything else.
Then there's a fact that I'm introvert and doing marketing would be really hard to me, even if I knew how to do it - and I don't.

Sector Six is also unpopular because people don't want games anymore.
There are too many of them.
And better, more known and more finished games than Sector Six.
Nobody wants to spend 10€ on an unknown and unfinished indie game.

Game itself? Not many people even get to the store page.
Most people who played Sector Six liked it.
It's not a perfect game, it has its flaws and I can't fix some of them, otherwise, they wouldn't be there.

What I can do to improve the situation is:

• Leave Early Access as soon as possible.
• Improve current bad trailer at least a little - all I have is OBS and Windows Movie Maker, so I can't do much.
• Improve store description. It could be better.
• Do some promotional giveaways, but not in SteamGifts, because of people there just farm cards.
• Try posting about the game on Reddit and Instagram? I already do that on FB and Twitter, doesn't help, but oh well.
• Fix few accessibility issues. Sector Six will never be easy to get in because it's complex, but still.
• I might consider reducing the price/make really large discounts every once in a while. Sector Six is worth 10€, but if people will refuse to pay, I won't have a choice.

For me, the biggest turn off is graphics, the style you are using (Limbo style, low color, high contrast) is ok, but i think it needs more eye candy for people to be attracted. For example, explosions are lame, they look really generic and they don't evoke that "wooow, explosion, boom" feeling.

I tried a lot of things with explosions over 2 years, but this is as good as it will get.
The entire game graphics is basically programmer art masked by a good choice of art style.
And yes, I'm that programmer who made the art.
By the way, you didn't see the improved explosions.
They are slightly better, but can only be seen in-game, because - again - I need a new trailer.

I'll play a demo thoroughly and let you know what i think you can improve as selling points.

Awesome, I don't get much feedback like that! =]
Warning: Demo is slightly outdated.

[Fat Pug Studio]

Well, here goes. First of all, it's not true that it's natural for an indie game to be unpopular. Regardless of market saturation, people always want GOOD games. Two reasons for being unpopular is that the game is not good, and the other is that people simply didn't hear of it. That's the simple and hard truth.

Before doing any marketing, make sure you have a GREAT product, which this is currently not (it is good though, but not great). If you don't know what to do, google around, browse Tigsource, see what the people have done. But the best marketing is word of mouth, and for that, you need to have an excellent product that people will talk about.

The idea and all the great upgrade stuff and what not you can do falls into shadow because the game is not enjoyable to play. Why wasn't it enjoyable for me?

Ship Movement

Ok, the movement of player and opponent ships is too rigid. There's no speeding up, there's no slowing down, ship either moves or it doesn't. The game is more of an RPG than a shmup with an accent on individual encounters. You encounter big ships, imagine they are heavy and weight hundreds of tons. They need time to accelerate. But in your game, they move in an instant. They follow player on a vertical axis in an instant. It feels bad. Give the ships weight, make us feel they're bulky.

Weapons and Explosion

Same as ships, i don't feel their strength. Hitting with huge missiles and lasers feel the same, like paper planes fighting. Give the missiles some speed up time to, let us have the feeling they are powered by powerful thrusters, they're not grapes launched by thumb. Make exposions more beautiful and make them last longer. A huge ship explodes in under a second, it's just not right.

Graphics

That's a great style you've got there, but it needs some nice touches. Background needs to be more densely populated, more distant stuff should be a bit blurred. Look at Limbo and the focus differences based on distance.



It makes us feel the space. I love the level with those floating cubes in the background, try the focus trick, you'll see how mighty it's going to feel! Add some particles, wind carrying ash particles of destruction, acid rain, snow.

Check this out, snow and rain look great on that style.





There's no indication enemy ships are hit, think of something. Bacause of the graphics style it would probably be ugly for them to flash white when they're hit, but when hit you can make that part of the ship turn red in circular fashion than slowly cool down or something.

Explosions, missile trails, lasers, shields, they're horrible, you need to try something else.

I'm not one of those guys who will tell you "WOW GREAT" when it's not. The idea is great, you can make a game with cult following, you just need to give it more weight and polish.