The Planetologists Game Development #08

Hello everyone!

We are excited to announce the release of the first update of the demo (Windows and web versions) of the game, available on itch.io and Newgrounds.

Version 0.1.0 Software Versioning Semantic

Features

• Added fullscreen support for the web version.
• Display resolution is now changeable.

Game Changes

• A few hives now spawn near the player to provide early ball tanks.
• Removed random sleeping enemies from the map.
• Increased the number of enemies spawned by hives.
• Adjusted hive distribution across the map.
• Rebalanced enemy pickup and companion drop rates.
• Rebalanced enemy attributes (HP, speed, etc.).
• Removed most dark matter drops.
• Tweaked spawn phases to ensure a smoother difficulty curve throughout the level.
• Halved skill level bonuses (e.g., attack speed levels now give a 3.5% bonus instead of 7%).
• The Planetologist now receives a new weapon every 7 levels instead of every 10.
• Rebalanced the rocket launcher, plasma rifle, and BFG.
• XP pickups now disappear after 60 seconds instead of 10.

Other Changes

• Menu fade-in/out transitions are faster.
• The pause screen can now be accessed with “P”.

Fixes

• Reload sound now plays when a weapon reloads automatically after running out of ammo.
• Fixed ball tank sprite glitches.
• Corrected the planet selection screen for aspect ratios other than 16:9.
• Fixed various video configuration issues in the web version.

Special thanks to Tom Fulp for boosting up the game’s exposure in Newgrounds and to Bass for your feedback and obsessive game grinding 😛

Links:

• Play on Newgrounds
• Play on itch.io
• Patreon
• Discord