My space dueling game is progressing nicely and one of the latest features I’ve added is the possibility of landing your ship. Right now there are only asteroids around to land on, but it’s pretty cool. The landing pods come out automatically when you’re near an asteroid and retract if you bump into it or accelerate. When you manage to touch the asteroid with both without hitting it with the body of your ship, the ship stops.
I’m not sure what I’ll use this for yet. I was thinking about using it to recharge your special weapon. I was also thinking about recharging fuel, but right now fuel is infinite and I’m not sure it’d be a good idea to limit it… I may still think about it though…
Even though right now, nothing special happens when you land, it still gives you some nice tactical options. First, if the asteroid is spinning, it makes you harder to hit. Also, it can serve as a shield. And you can still fire from an asteroid normally…
I’ve also been working on new ships. Right now I have three. The basic small triangular one which turns fast and has low mass, so it can change it’s speed and heading quickly (but it’s weaker in general). Then the big heavy one with stronger hull and more powerful cannon but harder to turn and slower to accelerate (and brake…). And the last one is a little weirder… It accelerates fast but has a slow turning rate. It’s also a bit more powerful than the first one. It’s slower turn rate forces you to play it a bit differently… using the thrust while turning around much more than in the other two…
I’m still adding more different ships as I think of cool combinations. Then as I test them out, I’ll decide which ones stay… I want a nice selection of ships that really feel different and balanced, with their own advantages and limits, each one requiring a different style of playing… Hopefully, special weapons (with limited number of uses) will help make them more different…
Here’s a shot of the selection screen with the three ships:
And a last note… I’m leaning towards Space Brawl or Vector Space Brawl for a name… not sure yet though…