next »

[Zuurix]

Sector Six Release Countdown: 1!

About 3 years and 8 months ago, I have started working on Sector Six. And now it's finished.

When I started working on Sector Six, I thought that I'll complete it in 3 months. It was supposed to be a small sequel to Sector Seven. I wanted to make it just because I promised I'll have a sequel to Sector Seven.

It was 2015 January or February when I have released an alpha version of Sector Six.
I didn't expect anything and I was surprised to get positive feedback.

It was enough for me to thinking about making Sector Six into a bigger game than I initially planned.

I said to myself: "People like this, and I can do much better so why not do it?"
So I started working harder.

Hundreds of times I decided to rework something because it wasn't as good as I could do, and I'm very glad I did.

Sector Six is not perfect, but it is about 10 times better than I imagined it in the beginning.
And it is like that because of feedback. Every "Great game, but X could be better" made Sector Six better.

I always wanted to be a game developer and make games like Sector Six and I'm incredibly happy and grateful that it happened.

I hope that this is not the end of Sector Six. I hope I'll be able to continue working on it and make it even better.

Sector Six was finished on 21st August. 22nd August was a bad day - I had problems with a monitor, so I had to spend an entire day fixing them.

This day I was testing Sector Six. I have already spent like 8 hours testing the game, and I have only completed half of the story.

Tomorrow I hope to finish testing and with luck, Sector Six version 0.9.9 will become available for everyone to play in the weekend.

Here's a full list of what changed since the last Sector Six update:

Completed:

• New save system.
• Compressed part rework: Parts received from drops, removed manual compression, added super compressed parts.
• Added 70 new achievements.
• Arcane Arsenal: Endgame activity.
• Infinity Instances: Endgame activity.
• Restoration War: Endgame activity.
• Added mission 14.
• The Machines.
• Loot rework: Bigger enemies now drop better parts, difficulty level makes enemies drop better parts.
• Ether rework: Ether properties now scale with level, ability ether costs increase with ability levels.
• Weapon rework: Nodes now reduce ability ether costs and pylons reduce ability cooldowns.
• Ability rework: Abilities now use same damage type and are unlocked as spaceship level increases.
• Added 12 relics.
• Added mission 13.
• Rebalanced ability points: 1 ability point per level.
• Added mission 12.
• Added mission 11.

Completed – Minor changes and improvements:

• Mission 6 boss fights now end earlier.
• Improved controller support.
• Added new particle settings: Now you can tone down particles, instead of turning them off completely.
• Improved optimization: Game will now run better.
• Moved tips to separate interface.
• Added evolving minion tutorial.
• Reworked evolving mechanic: Now minions evolve while attack abilities are not on cooldown.
• It’s no longer possible to use weapon amplifiers on engines.
• It’s no longer possible to sell items that have no value.
• Now it’s possible to use anodes on compressed parts.
• Rearranged achievements in the achievement interface.
• Improved Ionize ability: Now adds extra 2 alloy per ionized enemy, glitch free.
• Awakening of Inner Power ability now supports all mission types.
• You can no longer install alloy containers if their level is higher than your spaceship level.
• Now locked until spaceship level is higher than 4: Difficulty system, set interface, item management, new missions button.
• Improved/replaced certain sound effects.
• Secured region changes: Removed manual compression from secured region interface, added highlight toggle button.
• Improved shield particles, sounds, and animations.
• Shields now destroy ruins.
• Spaceship collisions with certain objects are now better.
• Improved cooldown and effect timer text: Now shows second fractions.
• Improved number conversion.
• Improved damage text.
• Reduced amount of units dropped.
• Improved region rewards: Now includes uncommon and rare rewards, such as five fractal parts, +200% experience, etc.
• Replaced gauntlet missions with new retrieval missions.
• Changed music system: Now tracks in side missions play regardless of area status.
• Changed time vortex: Improved dialogue, can only reset story, made it more accessible.
• Changed contribution system: No longer saved between missions, must be claimed immediately.
• Improved region destruction.
• Expanded dialogue box.
• Improved cathodes.
• Improved loot box: Up to 170 looted items visible, glitch free.
• Updated boss mission.
• Improved arena mission: Better loop, supports The Assault of the Modified and The Rain of Fire modifiers.
• Improved siege mission: New blocks, minor graphical improvements.
• Expanded credits.
• Graphically improved loot.
• Added region select screen and map key.
• Improved mission overview interface.
• Improved mission 1.
• Improved mission 3.
• Improved text input.
• Reworked tutorial.
• Reworked introduction.
• Added avatar customization: Name your character and choose how it looks in dialogues.
• Improved spaceship building interface.
• Reworked Super Shield ability: Shield lasts 8 seconds and increases armor generated on kill while active.
• Fixed inventory leak.
• Adapted backgrounds to screen shaking.
• Improved dialogue avatars.
• Improved settings interface.
• Added button that resets settings to default.
• Added button that resets controls to default.
• Modular difficulty system changes: Flow Stagnation maximum level changed to 1, rebalanced rewards, removed diodes.
• Reworked Creation of Energy and Channel abilities.
• Improved achievement interface.
• Repositioned mission interface.
• Fixed weapon amplifying.
• Improved ability bar.
• Made better ability icons.
• Heavy Shield rework: Now called Power Shield, no longer slows down spaceship.
• Improved ability and effect icons.
• Improved Kithalia’s Blight set penalty
• Improved barrager.
• Toggle XP gain feature has been removed.
• Improved Sector transition cutscene.
• Improved pausing.
• Improved HUD.
• Improved ability level scaling.
• Improved item management and filtering.
• Repositioned item management buttons.
• Stat page improvements.
• Virtual and physical weapon clarification and stats.
• New part properties.
• Improved part names.
• Higher grade parts are now more common.
• Relic dismantling rewards.
• Parts give less damage reduction and reflect chance.
• Parts give fewer wave chances.
• Improved item generator: Now produces more random items.
• Item changes: Changed diode cost, changed certain item sprites, improved item use error messages, improved tooltips.
• Fixed story mission X glitch.
• Reworked phase break mechanic: Gain additional damage after taking a certain amount of damage.
• Channel ability’s ether cost reducing effect now lasts 3 seconds, making Channel much easier to use.
• Cataclysm ability has been replaced with passive anti-shield ability: Breach.
• Renamed Phase to Phasse, to differentiate it from phase mechanic.
• Improved Aggression, Resistance, and Capacity: More powerful, more interesting, and consistent with other abilities.
• Decreased starter part limit to 6.
• Decreased starter maximum ether to 50.
• Starter engine now gives less maximum armor.
• Increased starter ability points to 10.
• While Guardian of a Thousand Worlds ability is active, Concentrated Fire recharges instantly.
• Improved alloy containers: New property, increased sell and buy price, reduced city stock.
• Removed filled alloy containers.
• Corrected W. warning button tooltip.
• Fixed engine glitch.
• Improved missiles that appear when player's spaceship leaves the enemy range.
• Guardian is now more mobile.
• Potentially fixed Black Rain projectile problem.
• Region update flashes are now brighter.
• Veteran's and revenant factory’s ballistic attacks are now slower.
• Improved dialogue system graphics.
• Oesa's Radiance set effect changed, now base maximum armor is equal maximum ether.
• Damage bonuses now are applied to damage while Lodeon's Ultimatum set is active.
• Fixed and improved certain set descriptions.
• Fixed many glitches.

Until the release!

[Zuurix]

Sector Six version 0.9.9 is now available! Play now!

Important: Your saves will not be deleted from now on.

Version 0.9.9 highlights:

Full story

The story campaign is finished!
Will you stop the Machines?

Relics

The most powerful parts ever!
Each relic comes with unique skin and game-changing effects.

Weapon rework

Modify your ability ether costs and cooldowns by installing reworked nodes and pylons!
Includes new part properties.

Ability rework

Abilities now unlock with level and they are no longer bound to classes.
More possibilities and better progression!

Ether rework

Ether properties now scale with level!
Everything that relates to ether has improved.

Loot rework

Loot quality is now affected by minion strength and difficulty level!
Plus, tons of improvements to all sources of rewards.

Compressed part rework

Compressed parts are now obtainable from drops and region rewards!
Manual compression has been removed to make super compressed - 4 in 1! - parts possible.

Endgame: Infinity Instances

Fight in forever changing, procedurally generated instances of Broken Infinity!
Made for experienced players: Higher chance of rare mission types, harsher failure penalties, and a huge boost to loot quality!

Endgame: Restoration War

Secure every area in Sector Six to get Ultra Aegis, Ascension Catalyst!
Random regions get scaled to your level: Return to low-level regions with a high-level spaceship for the final battle against the Machine minions.

And more!

Avatar customization, Arcane Arsenal, new save system, improved side missions, evolved modification rework, 70 new achievements...

Full list of version 0.9.9 changes >>

Sector Six will come out of Early Access on September 7th and I need your help to spot problems - more than ever!
I can't guarantee that there are no crashes/balancing issues left, but most of the content should work as intended.

Have fun!

[Zuurix]

Sector Six: Now out of Early Access!

After 3 years of development, 2 years of Early Access, hundreds of changes, fixes, reworks, and additions - Sector Six is finally complete!

Watch the trailer:





For those who don't know what Sector Six is:

Sector Six is a shooter with many RPG elements: Inventory, procedurally generated equipment, a leveling system, rewards, story missions, and so on!
Your goal - alongside stopping the Machine invasion - is to build the best spaceship ever.

Unlike arcade shooters, in Sector Six won't be fighting more than 5 enemies at once, but fights are more tactical and enemies can take more than one shot.
Most enemies have unique attacks or weak spots, which means that the more you play, the more skilled you'll become at fighting those enemies.

You will also get better at using your spaceship's abilities - there are 31 active combat abilities and 9 of them can be taken to battle.

The final and most important layer of your progression is spaceship building.

Destroying enemies will reward you with procedurally generated parts.
There are 7 rarity grades of parts, starting with generic parts, that are most common and only have one property and ending with relics, that are rare, have 7 properties, unique skins and effects.
There are also part sets, that unleash game-changing effects if you install 6 parts of the same set.

You can install up to 80 parts, up to 9 relics, and have one set effect active - and if you'll find a right way to combine them, your spaceship will become unstoppable!

The better you and your spaceship get, the more difficult missions you can complete and modular difficulty system allows you control almost every aspect of difficulty - even enemy swarm size and mission length!
Increasing difficulty increases rewards, which will allow you complete even higher difficulty missions - so you can keep pushing yourself.

But you can also play the game just for the story.
Each story mission has something that other missions don't have, they vary in length and structure, have dialogues, cutscenes, bosses, special events, and enemies.

So, that's the game!

For those who know what Sector Six is, but didn't play version 0.9.9:

Version 0.9.9 has added the remaining story missions, endgame content, new bosses, relics, and more.
Weapons, ether, abilities, and reward systems have been improved as well.
Read more about what changed with version 0.9.9 >>

For those who played version 0.9.9, here's a list of changes:

• Fixed: The apostrophe symbol is missing and a black box is displayed instead.
• Fixed: It's impossible to choose Ourend's black option.
• Fixed: Time Vortex description wording mistake.
• Fixed: Aggression ability mentions "Maximum damage" instead of "Weapon damage".
• Fixed: Shield destroys ruins even while inactive.
• Fixed: Channel ability doesn't have a cooldown.
• Fixed: Impossible to close the mission reward screen after reaching maximum level.
• Fixed: Black Rain deals damage based on cooling rate instead of weapon damage.
• Fixed: Crash caused by getting armor above maximum with armor generation.
• Fixed: It's possible to access missions 11 and above from Sector Five.
• Fixed: Upgrading and uninstalling ability uses the same controller button.
• Made minor changes to Channel ability sounds and particle effects.
• Improved Channel ability level scaling.
• Made minions drop more units.
• Improved main interface and settings page buttons.
• Made beacon stop repairing after a repairing a certain amount of armor.
• Reduced minion shield durations.
• Returned "Gain XP" toggle button.
• Added button to toggle mission objective hiding.
• Made elimination mission objective show remaining minions again.
• Improved killer's seeking missile attack.
• Made new achievements flash when seen.
• Changed Concentrated Fire to need reloading every 50 uses, instead of 25.
• Compressed parts no longer drop: Instead, use compression modules to get them.
• Replaced decompression modules with compression modules.
• Made beacons spawn only in level 6+ regions.
• Made parts give more part upgrade chance and removed "Part upgraded" message.

The future:

For a week or so, I'll be taking a break from development, while keeping an eye on discussions, comments, and reviews.
After that, I'll be working on weapon, cooling rate, and ether efficiency rework + shared stash.
After that is released, I'll be looking for your feedback to help me decide what the game needs most.

Have fun!

[Zuurix]

Update! XP and experience changes, fixes + new content!

Save system status:

This update should fix the last problem with the save system, hopefully, save files will no longer get corrupted.
If you're still having problems - report them immediately.
I also recommend backing up save files just in case - don't forget that Sector Six save file folders get synced and backups get erased in they are stored there.

New content:

• Added new minion: Pyramid.
• Added new relic: Incarnation of Impossibility, Trapped Phasar.
• Added new relic: Amplifier Well, Upgrade Sockets.
• Added new relic: Duality of Transience, Etherion's Catalyst.
• Added new relic: Mark of Defender, Hero's Exempt.
• Added new relic: Strengthsource, Tridenkorian Flagship Systems.

Experience changes:

• Removed region XP bonus.
• Enemies now give 200% more XP.
• Boss enemies now give less XP, but with global 200% increase it should still be right.
• Reduced region XP rewards back to 50%/100%/200%.
• Players will no longer gain XP after failing mission.
• Players will no longer gain XP in lower level regions.

Vendor changes:

• Reduced mythical part and etalon prices.
• Removed generic and optimized part vendors.
• Removed some of the advanced part vendors.
• Replaced removed vendors with fractal part vendors in regions 2, 6, 9, 15, 17, 20 and 29.
• Replaced removed vendors with part vendors in regions 2, 8, 15, 18, 20 and 25.

Ability changes:

• Reworked Guardian of a Thousand Worlds ability.
• Reworked Breach ability: Now deals weapon damage whenever enemy shield is removed.
• Searing Beam now unlocks at spaceship level 18.
• Entropic Missile now unlocks at spaceship level 4.
• Spread Mines and Detonate now unlocks at spaceship level 12.
• Attract Mines now unlocks at spaceship level 13.
• Creation of Energy now unlocks at spaceship level 22.
• Concentrated Fire now unlocks at spaceship level 6.
• Phase Recognition System now unlocks at spaceship level 11.
• Entropic Fracture ability has been renamed to Dimensional Fracture.
• Unstable Shield ability has been renamed to Heat Shield.
• Entropic Missile cooldown has been increased to 10 seconds.
• Entropic Missile ability has been renamed to Nuke.
• Capacity ability has been renamed to System Capacity.
• Resistance ability has been renamed to Defense And Retaliation.
• Moved Rapid Fire Mode animation.
• Made minor improvements to Assemble Obelisk ability.
• Player bladed mines now pierce destructible minion segments.

Term changes:

• "Phase threshold" changed to "Phase charge speed".
• "Phase intensity" changed to "Phase damage".

Miscellaneous changes:

• Optimized parts now have two properties, but can no longer be upgraded with amplifiers.
• Dropped parts can no longer have cooling rate and ether efficiency.
• Changed part upgrade chance: Creates pop-up, upgraded instantly.
• Instead of "Warning: Difficult mission" game now shows recommended spaceship armor and damage for that mission.
• Waves now affect all minions on screen - minions outside the screen are not affected.
• Changed what minions spawn in regions to reduce repetition.
• Effect timers no longer stop while spaceship is in a dust cloud.
• Improved Asylomandrenlysk's animation.
• Improved mission 1 artifact carrier collisions with the player.
• Reduced the number of missions required to fully clear regions. Note: Changes will be visible in new saves only.
• "Press any key" now applies to the mouse in a first game screen.
• Base phase damage has been increased from 0% to 100%

Fixes:

• Fixed: Physical part boost calculation mistake - works with virtual parts as well.
• Fixed: Damaging wave damage calculation mistake.
• Fixed: It's possible to break story mission 1.
• Fixed: Mission 3 database collision bug.
• Fixed: Bulwark pulls problem.
• Fixed: Oesa's Radiance set effect is not changing maximum armor correctly.
• Fixed: Overload ability cannot reduce spaceship's armor to 0.
• Fixed: Phase delay timer graphical issue.
• Fixed: Cathode region reward.
• Fixed: Players can receive level 91+ items.
• Fixed: Vendor hint is visible after the player gets advanced access, not before.

Have fun!

[Zuurix]

Echo #106: Second weapon rework

I've been working on another weapon rework for a while now.

The first weapon rework made pylons and nodes reduce ability cooldowns and ether costs.
It was a good idea on paper, but because pylons and nodes don't affect attack abilities, relays were much more useful than pylons and nodes.

So I have decided to have another rework to make pylons and nodes useful.
Another goal is to increase attack variety.

Second weapon rework makes all weapons increase weapon damage, and work differently with different abilities.

For example, Missile Strike will release missiles from relays, shards from pylons, and AoE waves from nodes.

Same is with other attack abilities, so in total there will be 9 different attacks, 3 for each weapon type per attack ability.

As I'm writing this echo, I have already made 8 attacks, only one to go!

So that's part 1 of the second weapon rework.

Part 2 is to re-implement ability cost modifying effects to the game.

Right now the plan is to add relics with these effects:

===

House of Hate, Isotope Equalizer:

Triples weapon damage
Doubles ability ether costs
Doubles ability cooldowns

===

Atomic Library And Muon Loom:

Reduces ability ether costs by 90%
Reduces weapon damage by 90%

===

Tempoquake, Cryoflash:

Reduces ability cooldowns by 90%
Reduces weapon damage by 90%

===

Zero Spire, Coolant Injector:

Doubles ability ether costs
Halves ability cooldowns

===

The Pendulum:

Halves ether generation
Reduces ability ether costs by 25%

===

Part 3 is giving abilities weapon synergies.

For example, installing relays will increase the chance of Shards of Chaos ability releasing 10 shards instead of 5.
Most of the abilities should have some sort of weapon synergy effects.

It's a lot of work to come up and implement these effects, so I will be adding them gradually.

Attack ability changes and new relics should come out with the next update.
The next update should be released this month.

Aside from weapon rework, the update will include new enemies and time attack mission rework.

Hope this sounds good.

Until next time!









PS.: You can now help translate Sector Six to your language >>

[Zuurix]

Update! Weapon rework and new content!

The biggest update since the release!
It makes all weapons useful, adds new relics and enemies for more variety, improves time attack missions, and more!

New enemy: Planar

Planar is an alternative version of sentinel.
It's a medium - threat level 2 - enemy.
Currently, it's the only enemy that releases projectiles from the left of the player ship.
Like a sentinel, planar uses a shield but activates it earlier.
Planars can be encountered in regions 20, 23, 27, 29, Broken Infinity, and arena missions.

New enemy: Launcher

Launcher attacks player by launching missiles, that fall on the player from the top of the screen.
The launcher is another medium, threat level 2 enemy, it also uses a shield.
I want to increase the number of shielded enemies to keep shield removal abilities relevant - weapon rework adds two attacks that ignore shields.
It's why I changed Breach ability as well.
Launchers can be encountered in regions 10, 12, 14, 17, 20, 22, 25, 28, Broken Infinity, and arena missions.

New enemy: Wasp

Wasp is a threat level 0 enemy, comparable to swarmling.
Unlike swarmlings, wasps have high damage for a threat level 0 enemy.
Wasp's only attack ability is telegraphed, giving you more than enough time to move out of the way of attack.
Wasps can be encountered in regions 7, 9, 12, 16, 22, 24, 28, and Broken Infinity.

New relics:

Weapon rework removes ether efficiency and cooling rate, making it impossible to change ability ether costs and cooldowns by installing nodes and pylons.
Instead, I have added new relics that have those effects.
I have also added two relics that are not related to weapon rework, but also expand the possibilities.
As usual, new relics come with unique animations.

Suun's Loom, Atomic Library:

This relic halves ability ether costs and maximum armor, which is a small price to pay for cheaper abilities.

Zero Spire, Coolant Injector:

This relic halves ability cooldowns and doubles ability ether costs.
It's supposed to synergize with Suun's Loom, Atomic Library.
Zero Spire, Coolant Injector is a less extreme version of Tempoquake, Cryostasis.

Tempoquake, Cryostasis:

Tempoquake, Cryostasis reduces ability cooldowns and weapon damage by 90%.
This game-changing relic makes some of the faster damage abilities as fast as attack abilities.
Combined with Zero Spire, Coolant Injector, it can reduce ability cooldowns by insane 95%.
Still, its downside is massive and might require ridiculous amounts of weapon damage or ether generation to be useable.

House of Hate, Isotope Equalizer:

House of Hate, Isotope Equalizer might be the most powerful relic of the six added with this update.
It doubles weapon damage, ability ether costs, and ability cooldowns.
Because ability ether cost and cooldown modifiers do not affect attack, shield, and shield removal abilities, House of Hate gives you more than it takes away.

Crippled Vault, Broken Reality:

This incredible relic increases the part limit by 10 and reduces core attributes - maximum armor, maximum ether, and weapon damage - by 25%.
It also doesn't increase the weapon limit.

Surge Accelerator, Exothermic Focus:

It's a simple, but useful relic - it generates ether amount equal to 5% of maximum ether when an enemy is destroyed.

Weapon rework:

• Attack abilities now release projectiles from all weapons.
• Projectiles released are based on weapons and attacks that released them.
• All weapons now have base weapon damage.
• Weapons now have more skins - they are unlocked every 10 levels until level 80.
• You can no longer use weapon damage amplifiers on sections and engines.
• Removed cooling rate and ether efficiency properties.
• Missile Strike ability has been renamed to Strike.
• Concentrated Fire ability has been renamed to Flurry.
• Spread Mines ability has been renamed to Unload.

Time attack mission rework:

• Time attack missions now support all modular difficulty system modifiers except The Decision and Hivind's Army.
• Different regions now spawn different minions for time attack missions.
• Instead of scaling reward, now you get +150% loot quality in the beginning of the mission, that decreases by 1% every second.
• Time attack missions now give standard rewards.

Other changes:

• Mythical parts now cost about 2 times more than fractal parts.
• Etalons now cost about 3 times more than fractal parts.
• Reduced amount of alloy received from dismantling mythical parts and etalons.
• Compressed parts no longer have higher prices than normal parts.
• Oesa's Radiance set effect nerfed: Now ether amount required to get a damage boost starts at 10 and increases by 10% every level.
• Etherion's Clash set effect nerfed: It only increases weapon damage by 120%, because installing different weapons no longer has a downside.
• You can now extract engine skins with cathodes.
• Changed how skins work: Engine skins can only be applied to engines, weapon skins - to weapons, and section skins - to sections.
• You can no longer use skins on installed parts.
• Added etalon engine.
• Slightly increased spaceship speed and acceleration.
• You can now check experience in spaceship building interface by going to spaceship stat page 5.
• Trism of Glory now increases weapon damage instead of cooling rate.
• Changed base ether cost of Piercing Laser ability to 5 and base cooldown to 45.
• Dropped parts are now picked up automatically if they are behind player's ship.

Fixes:

• Fixed: Game does not appear on the taskbar.
• Fixed: Mission 12 "Start mission" button in new game+ takes the player to a non-existent region.
• Fixed: Apex's lasers do not disappear when the apex is destroyed.
• Fixed: Black Rain ability effect remains active during story cutscenes.
• Fixed: Story spoiler: Broken Infinity level during mission 14 is wrong in the new game+.
• Fixed: Story spoiler: Mission 12 regions remain to be destroyed after the story is completed.
• Fixed: Achievement spoiler: Life rune spawns in Etender, Labyrinth, instead of Bloom.
• Fixed: Pyramids never appear in Broken Infinity.
• Fixed: Relic animation graphical glitch in start interface.
• Fixed: Relic level can go above level cap.
• Fixed: Volume bars doesn't work with a controller.
• Potentially fixed: Linux + language select problem.

Controller support:

I have made changes to how controllers work with Sector Six and now the game should support more controllers.

Old save update:

To fix new Restoration War glitches, old saves will generate new missions upon loading the game and will set contested region to region 25.
Ether efficiency and cooling rate properties have been removed, so items will be updated to have weapon damage properties instead.
Sections with weapon skins will have their skins changed to plating skin.
Level 91+ relics will be scaled down to level 90.

Have fun!

[Zuurix]

Echo #107: Vendor rework, new endgame activity, feedback

Recent discounts have increased player count by a lot of and I've got a lot of feedback.
Because all of that, I decided to do one more big update - with so many sales and positive reviews, I think Sector Six earned it =]

The development of this update has begun with proper sell all/dismantle all/uninstall all button confirmations.
This should prevent accidental selling/dismantling of valuable items, and is possibly faster than previous system - no need to wait for "Cancel" time to run out.



The next thing I did was a vendor rework.

Clicking on a secured region instantly opens vendor interface, and the interface was merged with spaceship building interface - now it's possible to dismantle/install/uninstall/compare parts and alloy containers while trading.



The other change is that now it's not possible to visit the same vendor again until you complete a mission.
This was done because it would very easy to connect and disconnect to vendors to generate new stock for free - and the game needs that unit sink.
Also, it makes having multiple secured regions with the same vendor type useful.



Overall, I think it's a large improvement to the whole trading experience, and I can't wait to release it.

Now I will be working on a new endgame activity - Absolute Deterioration.

The feedback I got about this, suggests that players who make it to max level are so powerful, that no current content is challenging to them.

Absolute Deterioration will change that.

This endgame activity will have players to do an endless mission, in which enemies keep getting stronger.
The current plan is to make enemies spawn every time there's no more of them left.

E.g.: You destroy heavy and veteran spawn in its place immediately - there are no pauses, combat is constant.

After you destroy a certain amount of enemy groups, a new wave begins and enemy power increases.

E.g.:

• Wave 1 - Enemy armor and damage is multiplied by 2
• Wave 2 - Enemy armor and damage is multiplied by 3
• Wave 3 - Enemy armor and damage is multiplied by 4.5
• Wave 4 - Enemy armor and damage is multiplied by 6.7
• Wave 5 - Enemy armor and damage is multiplied by 10.1
• ...

This goes on forever until you are destroyed or extract.
Not sure about how extracting will work right now, but probably you'll be able to press R anytime during the mission and it will end.

The more waves you survive, the higher chance you'll have of getting one of Absolute Deterioration relics after you extract.

E.g.:

• Waves survived: 1 - 2% relic chance
• Waves survived: 2 - 3% relic chance
• Waves survived: 3 - 5% relic chance
• Waves survived: 4 - 7% relic chance
• Waves survived: 5 - 11% relic chance
• Waves survived: 6 - 17% relic chance
• Waves survived: 7 - 25% relic chance
• ...

There will be 6 Absolute Deterioration exclusive relics, with the possibility of more being added in future.

Oesa's Fallback, Auxiliary Core:
After armor drops to 0, Core will give you 3 seconds to restore it, before spaceship is destroyed.

Stolen, Hidden, Forgotten, Lost:
This relic will increase relic limit by 2, so +1 extra relic, besides itself.

Flame Network, Redirection Sockets:
Flame Network will turn deflected enemy projectiles into seeking missiles that deal 100% weapon damage.

Physical Correlation System:
This relic increases weapon damage based on how many projectiles there are on screen - making certain abilities stronger, and certain enemies weaker.

Radiance And Blight, Aberrant Alliance:
This relic will allow you to have both Oesa's Radiance and Kithalia's Blight set effects active.

Circle of Cruelty, Magnetar Chain:
-40% damage reduction, -10% armor from all minions in the mission.

One more thing about Absolute Deterioration: To start it, you'll need to max out all difficulty modifiers.

So yeah, that will be the most brutal content I ever created.

I'll also address smaller things based on feedback:

• Add language select button controller support.
• Make Flurry and Unload abilities benefit from Rapid Fire Mode ability.
• Extend highlight options.
• Add an option to "favorite" parts, making them impossible to sell.
• Reduce the time it takes to fail the mission.
• Reduce the time it takes to resurrect during resurrection missions.
• Speed up evolving.
• Make highlighting easier to use.
• Allow inverting LS with DPAD.
• Allow mouse binding for ability slots 1 and 2.

I'm also investigating other issues, such as repetitiveness or story mission difficulty, so keep feedback going =]

Hope this looks good, until next time!

[Zuurix]

Update! New endgame activity and vendor rework

This update adds much-needed challenge for players with really high power level spaceships, improved vendors, many quality of life changes based on player feedback, and important fixes.

New endgame activity: Absolute Deterioration

This is the end of your invincibility. All of the worst instances collapsed to form absolute deterioration.
In this vortex of nightmare incarnations, your enemies will become more and more powerful, until your strongest weapons and best tactics are worthless. Until you have no choice but to flee or be destroyed.
If you're lucky, you will escape with treasures born in twisted realities of deterioration.

Absolute Deterioration is a mission in which you will have to fight waves of enemies.
Enemies will enter your range as fast you destroy them, and with each wave, their power will increase.
Fight as long as you can, then extract - the more waves you will defeat, the more decayed fragments you will get.
Decayed fragments fuse into absolute deterioration relics:

New relic: Stolen, Hidden, Forgotten, Lost

This relic increases relic limit by 2.

Flame Tower, Redirection Hub

With this relic installed, projectiles your ship will deflect transform into seeking missiles that deal 100% weapon damage to enemies.

New relic: Physical Linking System

This relic gives +1% weapon damage per three projectiles, meaning that you will deal more damage the more projectiles there are.

New relic: Radiance And Blight, Aberrant Alliance

This truly unique relic will allow you to have both Oesa's Radiance and Kithalia's Blight set effects active at the same time.

New relic: Frailsphere, Pearl of Deterioration

Frailsphere will restore your armor 50% when it drops 0 once per a mission.

New relic: Horrorcradle, Darkspindle

Horrorcradle will become more powerful based on the highest number of waves survived in absolute deterioration.

Vendor rework:

A recent breakthrough in quantum logistics have allowed improving long-distance part distribution systems: You no longer need to enter secured regions!
This leap in technology has also led to the fusion of spaceship building and vendor interfaces: All building functions are now available during trading.

• Improved vendor interface and accessibility.
• Connecting/disconnecting to/from the vendor now is much faster.
• Now it's possible to uninstall/install/compare/dismantle parts and containers while connected to the vendor.
• Sell all/dismantle all/uninstall all/disconnect buttons now give proper confirmations.
• Vendors are now limited to one connection per a mission completed.

Locking items:

• You can now lock/unlock items by moving the cursor over them and pressing L or - for controller users - Start.
• Locked items cannot be sold and dismantled.

Guardian of a Thousand Worlds:

This ability will now increase deflect chance and deflect chance cap by 20% instead of giving total invincibility.
It means that ships with 80% deflect chance will be boosted to having 100% deflect chance.
The ability also no longer restores armor.
This brings an end to Ultranid + Guardian exploit, but should still keep the ability relevant.

Planar rework:

Planars have been replaced with guillotines.
Guillotines have improved versions of planar's attacks, and it activates shield later than planars used to, making them less annoying to fight.

Other changes:

• Moving cursor over filtered item now will make it visible.
• You can now filter/highlight/dismantle/uninstall/sell set components and parts with certain properties.
• Improved item selection in item management.
• Surge Accelerator, Exothermic Focus relic effect now works with Power Shield, Channel, and Creation of Energy abilities.
• Resurrection mission revenant phase now takes 10 seconds instead of 60.
• Black Rain shards now deal 25% weapon damage instead of 100% at max level.
• You no longer need advanced access to view sets, manage inventory, toggle map key, and jump to a region.
• Overload ability cooldown has been increased to 75 seconds to make it less exploitable.
• Gatherers and scions now stop shifting after firing 5 projectiles, instead of 10.
• Abilities 1, 2, and 3 can now be activated with the mouse: Ability 1 - left button, Ability 2 - right button, Ability 3 - middle button.
• Ancient container now gives 100 alloy when you pass dust cloud, making it more useful for certain mission types.

Fixes:

• Fixed: "Sell all" button sells crafting items.
• Fixed: Mass Detonate achievement description is wrong.
• Fixed: Level 13 region non-story mission crash.
• Fixed: Nemezium Plating sprite.
• Fixed: Relic limit boost exploit.
• Fixed: Retrieval mission + The Rain of Fire problem.
• Fixed: Siege cannon ammo is not picked up when behind player's ship.
• Fixed: "Unbreakable" achievement doesn't work with apex and the Machines.
• Fixed: You can use alloy container during dialogues and cutscenes.
• Fixed: Average difficulty in Broken Infinity is not saved.
• Fixed: Cathode stacks disappear when using cathodes in vendor interface.
• Fixed: Black Rain shards hit the player with full weapon damage during shield duration end animation.
• Fixed: Mission II sequence break glitch.
• Fixed: Malasmar's damage zones deal no damage.
• Fixed: Risk For Reward + loot box graphical glitch.
• Fixed: Several grammar and spelling errors.
• Fixed: Crash occurs in Broken Infinity after failing a mission.
• Fixed: You can get negative loot quality during time attack missions.

Restoration War glitch fix:

This one deserves to be mentioned separately.
Ever since it has been added, Restoration War activity have been glitched.
The mission 12 regions fail to update for some reason, and it makes Restoration War reward impossible to get.
I've tried to fix it with every update post-launch, but it's still here.
So, I got really tired of fixing this glitch, and this time I'll use brute force to fix it - no matter what, mission 12 regions will not be stuck in their post-mission 12 states.
Like last several updates, the regions will be restored upon loading the old version saves, and it shouldn't occur for the new players, so this should be the last time I mention mission 12 region glitch.

Localization:

• It's now possible to choose Chinese and German languages - the game isn't fully translated to these languages, this is just for testing purposes.
• Make some changes to the code for localization features, such as different fonts for different languages.
• Now you can use the controller to select the language in language select screen.

Credits:

ZeroAfflex, Karodde, Ayalan, and Winterchild - thank you for your feedback and welcome to the credits!

Have fun!

[Zuurix]

Echo #108: The last content update

It's time for me to end Sector Six content development.

For the last several months I've been switching between working on Sector Six and Light of the Locked World.
I love both of the games, but I want to dedicate all of my time to LOTLW, and I can't do much to Sector Six to make it better.

What I can do, I'll try to do with the final update.

This is what it will contain:

Item sorting:

The most wanted Sector Six feature!
It will make it possible to sort items by grade, type, properties, etc. - every option that works with the current filtering system will work with item sorting.

Final Ascension:

Final Ascension will be an endgame activity that gives maxed players something to work on. Experience received after reaching level 90 will be used to increase the Ascension level.
Increasing Ascension level will reward players with random skins from new skin set.
Ascension level will also be a requirement to install altered parts.

Altered parts:

Altered parts will let me add meaningful, scaling item rewards and level 90+ parts without having to increase the level cap.

After the update, all parts will receive a chance to become altered as they are generated.

This is how it will work:

1. Part is generated.
2. The code is run to check if the part should be altered or not.
3. If it is, it gains 1 alteration level.
4. The code is run to check if the part should be altered further.
5. If it is, the alteration level increases by 1.

Step 4 and 5 are repeated until one of the checks fail.

It means that high alteration level parts will be much rarer than lower alteration level parts.

Alteration level will improve part's properties.

For example, currently, the code sets part's maximum armor property like this:

Increases maximum armor by (part level * 250).

After the update it will work like this:

Increases maximum armor by ((part level + alteration level) * 250).

Altered parts will also receive additional property.

High-level altered parts will require Ascension level to be installed.
E.g.: Level 90, alteration level 9 part will require Ascension level 9 to be installed.

Altered instances:

You will be able to spend alloy to make Broken Infinity instances as hard as Absolute Deterioration. Altered instances will have an increased chance to get altered parts.

The Signal:

Reach level 90 and get all achievements to unlock the introduction to Sector Six's sequel, Sector Zero.

Many fixes and changes:

Like with every update, the game will receive a lot of improvements - including increased mission failing time, new part highlighting, evolution mechanic improvements, and old glitch fixes.
I intend to end Sector Six development with 0 known glitches remaining.

In conclusion, this will be a big update!

To clarify, this is the end of new content and reworks development only - support updates to fix glitches will continue.

Hope all looks good, until next time!

[Zuurix]

The last content update: Altered parts, Final Ascension, item sorting, and more!

Here it is, the last Sector Six content update!

Altered parts:

Level 90+ or altered parts are here!
Altered parts get additional property and their properties scale based on alteration level.
For example, level 90 altered part with alteration level 10 will have properties like level 100 part.
Altered parts start to drop after completing the story.

Final Ascension:

Highest level altered parts require Ascension level, which can be increased by spending XP after reaching level 90.
Also, Ascension level increases the amount of Ascension Reactor's amplifier slots.
Ascension Reactor is added upon reaching Ascension level 1.

Altered instances:

Make Broken Infinity instances as difficult as Absolute Deterioration for an increased chance to get altered parts!

The Signal:

Get all achievements, install an altered part, clear altered instance, and increase Ascension level to unlock an introduction to Sector Six's sequel, Sector Zero.

Item sorting:

The most wanted Sector Six feature is here!
You can now sort items by grade, properties, type and other options - similar to how "Dismantle all"/"Uninstall all"/"Sell all" functions work!

Automatic selling:

Connect to a vendor to set up automatic selling!
While it's enabled, dropped parts of the selected grade range will be turned into units.

Help interface rework:

• Multiple quality of life, graphical, and control improvements.
• Help interface button now glows until it's clicked.
• Updated some data interface entries and added new entries.

Grade name changes:

Replaced grade names - generic, optimized, advanced, fractal, mythical, etalon - with grade numbers - grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, etc.
Original grade names can still be seen in tooltips, elsewhere the game uses grade numbers.
This was done to make grades less confusing.
For example, instead of saying "Mission reward: Optimized part" the game will now say "Mission reward: Grade 2 part".

Changes:

• Failing a mission is now a lot faster.
• Rapid Fire Mode now speeds up all attack abilities.
• Evolution mechanic improved: Minions now evolve into bigger minions faster.
• Added level 90 weapon skins.
• Achievement spoiler: Symbol of Life and Cache achievements can now be achieved in Broken Infinity.
• Changed XP sound.
• Made several improvements to language selection systems.
• Changed item tooltip system: Tooltips will no longer go outside the screen.
• Ability interface now shows ether cost clarification if Flow Stagnation modifier is enabled.
• Dismantle all button moved to vendor interface to make space for sort button.
• New parts are now highlighted and can be interacted with through management: Uninstalled, dismantled, sold, filtered, and sorted.
• Added flipped versions of a station, deflector, inhibitor, and antenna skins.
• Item experience boost is now capped at 200%. NA-1, Naonic Archive increases the cap to 300%.
• Power Shield ability now attempts to cause white wave when activated.
• Level parts 89 are no longer generated in level 90 missions and vendors.
• Weapons are now slightly more common.
• Weapons are even more common in regions 1-4 to help the new players get enough weapon damage.
• Frailsphere, Pearl of Deterioration no longer halves maximum armor.
• Legionvault, Fractal Arsenal now also increases double drop chance.
• It's no longer possible to create level 90+ instance.
• Improved part tooltips.
• Increasing difficulty now gives +5% loot quality and +1% double drop chance per difficulty level instead of 10% and 2%.
• Lodeon's Ultimatum set effect now scales with the number of parts installed: Armor to damage conversion reaches 100% with 80 parts installed.
• Relics can now be sold for units!
• For technical reasons it's no longer possible to use anodes on Upgrade Sockets, Amplifier Well relic.

Fixes:

• Fixed: Instance loot quality does not work.
• Fixed: Elimination mission objective reminder mentions escorting the carrier.
• Fixed: Vendor items in Broken Infinity are affected by instance loot quality.
• Fixed: Scrambler Belt Escalation achievement description spelling mistake.
• Fixed: Locked parts cannot be uninstalled via uninstall button.
• Fixed: Crippled Vault relic is preventing level ups from increasing the part limit.
• Fixed: Area tooltip + The Decision modifier problem.
• Fixed: Level 75 level up screen does not show that part and weapon limit has increased.
• Fixed: Story spoiler: Infinity is called Broken Infinity before it's broken during mission 13.
• Fixed: Mission 12 cannot be completed.
• Fixed: Minor alloy container issues.
• Fixed: Mistake in Fear Bringer Ourend's minion spawning code makes enemies jump forward after been spawned causing all sorts of problems.
• Fixed: Sections are generated with weapon skins.
• Fixed: Non-rotating skins + rotated parts + skin applying problem.
• Fixed: Re-stock button tooltip is visible outside vendor interface.
• Fixed: Controller cursor doesn't stick to the spaceship building grid in vendor interface.
• Fixed: Wrong level 80 node skin.
• Fixed: Map arrow button controlled hint.
• Fixed: Restoration War may select already secured region to be contested.
• Fixed: Minor resurrection mission glitch.
• Fixed: Sell all result notification shows the wrong unit amount.
• Fixed: Minor selling particle effect glitch.
• Fixed: Guillotine + seeking projectiles problem.
• Fixed: Pearl of Deterioration effect triggers Sacrifice achievement.
• Fixed: Contribution and vendor statuses are not updated when new missions or instances are generated.

Old saves:

Old saves will be updated to fix saves affected by mission 12, Restoration War, and Crippled Vault glitches.

Text changes:

Link >>

What's next?

Nothing much besides localization updates (Coming soon: Brazilian Portuguese!) and glitch fixes - if they will be needed.

Final words:





It took me 4 years to get Sector Six to this point and well... I did it!
I made a game, I made some money, I've become a real game developer, saw players having fun, got positive reviews, the future is promising, all is great!

Thanks to all who supported me during these years =]