Our friends at the Kaliningrad-based Ellada Games have just released their latest game Niffelheim in Early Access, and we wanted to give them a big community hug ːsteampunkː.

They've started on the project even before we started on Gremlins, Inc. – first with the dream of "2D Skyrim", then with other ideas, spending a lot of time on the wonderfully detailed art. We hope that this project grows into another great original game here on Steam!

Meanwhile, you all get to benefit from us being friends with them, since we're going to have keys to Niffelheim as a part of our tournament prize pool!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/351100

Our friends at the Kaliningrad-based Ellada Games have just released their latest game Niffelheim in Early Access, and we wanted to give them a big community hug :steampunk:.

They've started on the project even before we started on Gremlins, Inc. – first with the dream of "2D Skyrim", then with other ideas, spending a lot of time on the wonderfully detailed art. We hope that this project grows into another great original game here on Steam!

Meanwhile, you all get to benefit from us being friends with them, since we're going to have keys to Niffelheim as a part of our tournament prize pool!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/351100

This week I made a flying drone enemy type.



They track you, zip around the place, and are fun to shoot.

Initial tests were interesting, almost boids-like:



I found that for the drones I could use a surprising amount of the same code I used for the turrets which was nice. Apart from the actual flying code, a drone is pretty much a turret that moves. And similarly to the turrets I showed last week, they're made of functional parts just like vehicles. Here's a group of them where the one on the right has lost its heat sink and is starting to overheat, and another gets it heat sink shot off:


(sorry for the huge gif! Webm support will get better one day...)

I gave the drones some basic AI. I won't claim it's anywhere near as interesting as Dave's vehicle AI but it doesn't need to be in this case. They don't "fake" their flying though, they thrust around with real physics, so of course you can shoot or crash into them to throw them off. Hitting stuff way up in the air is tricky and not really good fun, so I've designed them to hover along close to the ground.

You can see the physics at work in this scenario when I first gave them weapons...



Yeah so, standard recoil is a bit much for them. Hence I must confess they are cheating a little now: It was either spend ages writing some smart AI that'd attempt to counter weapon recoil while flying somehow, or just let them have less recoil on their guns. I hate it when AI gets to cheat (vehicle AI never cheats by the way, it only sees what it can actually see and collects only scrap that it really collects) but the pragmatic choice here was obvious. So the drones you see elsewhere in this post are using specially engineered reduced-recoil MMGs.

See you next week.

Edit: I just decided to see if I could 👍 my own post and apparently I can... but I can't un-rate it again. Great.

This week I made a flying drone enemy type.



They track you, zip around the place, and are fun to shoot.

Initial tests were interesting, almost boids-like:



I found that for the drones I could use a surprising amount of the same code I used for the turrets which was nice. Apart from the actual flying code, a drone is pretty much a turret that moves. And similarly to the turrets I showed last week, they're made of functional parts just like vehicles. Here's a group of them where the one on the right has lost its heat sink and is starting to overheat, and another gets it heat sink shot off:


(sorry for the huge gif! Webm support will get better one day...)

I gave the drones some basic AI. I won't claim it's anywhere near as interesting as Dave's vehicle AI but it doesn't need to be in this case. They don't "fake" their flying though, they thrust around with real physics, so of course you can shoot or crash into them to throw them off. Hitting stuff way up in the air is tricky and not really good fun, so I've designed them to hover along close to the ground.

You can see the physics at work in this scenario when I first gave them weapons...



Yeah so, standard recoil is a bit much for them. Hence I must confess they are cheating a little now: It was either spend ages writing some smart AI that'd attempt to counter weapon recoil while flying somehow, or just let them have less recoil on their guns. I hate it when AI gets to cheat (vehicle AI never cheats by the way, it only sees what it can actually see and collects only scrap that it really collects) but the pragmatic choice here was obvious. So the drones you see elsewhere in this post are using specially engineered reduced-recoil MMGs.

See you next week.

Edit: I just decided to see if I could 👍 my own post and apparently I can... but I can't un-rate it again. Great.

It's been a busy year with a lot of unexpected delays, but I am proud to announce that starting tonight Prompt has full Steam Workshop support! You can upload levels you've created in the editor and download all the levels you want from the community.

While this is the most exciting part of the 1.4 update, there are a ton of important bug fixes and optimizations included. Some of you will be very glad to hear that Prompt no longer requires a Java installation to run, and it is entirely compatible with SteamOS! Controller support is also now much more refined, and should work seamlessly with most setups.

I would also like to say thank you to everyone who has bought and supported my game on Steam. It means a lot to me as a lone developer just starting out, and your responses have been invaluable. Keep being awesome!

It's been a busy year with a lot of unexpected delays, but I am proud to announce that starting tonight Prompt has full Steam Workshop support! You can upload levels you've created in the editor and download all the levels you want from the community.

While this is the most exciting part of the 1.4 update, there are a ton of important bug fixes and optimizations included. Some of you will be very glad to hear that Prompt no longer requires a Java installation to run, and it is entirely compatible with SteamOS! Controller support is also now much more refined, and should work seamlessly with most setups.

I would also like to say thank you to everyone who has bought and supported my game on Steam. It means a lot to me as a lone developer just starting out, and your responses have been invaluable. Keep being awesome!

For limited time Space Pilgrim Saga is at 75% off
http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/246/

• Bosses attempting to drop a battery will now trigger an existing battery to expire, instead of just not dropping a battery at all
  
• Boss Venom's web ball splats had their effect range radius reduced slightly
  
• Boss Indicator Lights now remain visible through the flashing damage effect
  
• Indicator Lights have been tweaked to lose less saturation - enemies now have a more distinguishable blue, purple and red stage to their health
  
• Downed Androids will now vocalise battery status if there's no one else around to say it
  
• New texture for Shiitake's Propeller Mine weapon
  
• New textures for Justice's Capture Ball and Missile projectiles

• Fixed issue where the multikill bonus could be incorrectly applied in boss fights
  
• Fixed issue where Medulla stage Vespula wouldn't spawn wasps if she was hit with a shutdown during her spawn animation
  
• Corrected geometry on Filament that could allow Liquorice to reach out of bounds on teleport dashes
  
• Fixed noticeable position pop when Boss Venom crawls onto the stage
  
• Fixed issue where Propeller Mines could be created at strange angles [first person mode]
  
• Fixed mistimed transition effect in Boss Rush mode [first person mode]
  
• Fixed reflections not updating when far away from stage center [first person mode]
  
• Added smoother movement to Justice's Capture Balls, Missiles and Drones
  
• Added smoother movement to Boss Venom (in his final phase) and Venom's Spider enemies
  
• Added smoother rotation and effects to Peanut's Giga Drill weapon
  
• Added smoother movement to Aubergine's Helo companion
  
• Added smoother movement to Tanks, Spectres, exploding crate debris and Venom's drill casings
  
• Fixed visual glitch on the Singularity where a shutdown effect would reveal the quad
  
• Fixed small visual pop on weapon position during weapon swap
  
• Fixed Helo not getting the correct silhouette colour when using Aubergine's metallic skin
  
• Fixed Shiitake's Railgun weapon not creating sparks at the center of certain enemy types
  
• Fixed Previous / Next highscore text appearing in the wrong colour on the Infinity Drive / Daily Drive battery depletion screen
  
• Fixed Infinity Drive / Daily Drive results screen not reporting the layer correctly if an EX mode that disabled high scores was enabled

• Bosses attempting to drop a battery will now trigger an existing battery to expire, instead of just not dropping a battery at all
  
• Boss Venom's web ball splats had their effect range radius reduced slightly
  
• Boss Indicator Lights now remain visible through the flashing damage effect
  
• Indicator Lights have been tweaked to lose less saturation - enemies now have a more distinguishable blue, purple and red stage to their health
  
• Downed Androids will now vocalise battery status if there's no one else around to say it
  
• New texture for Shiitake's Propeller Mine weapon
  
• New textures for Justice's Capture Ball and Missile projectiles

• Fixed issue where the multikill bonus could be incorrectly applied in boss fights
  
• Fixed issue where Medulla stage Vespula wouldn't spawn wasps if she was hit with a shutdown during her spawn animation
  
• Corrected geometry on Filament that could allow Liquorice to reach out of bounds on teleport dashes
  
• Fixed noticeable position pop when Boss Venom crawls onto the stage
  
• Fixed issue where Propeller Mines could be created at strange angles [first person mode]
  
• Fixed mistimed transition effect in Boss Rush mode [first person mode]
  
• Fixed reflections not updating when far away from stage center [first person mode]
  
• Added smoother movement to Justice's Capture Balls, Missiles and Drones
  
• Added smoother movement to Boss Venom (in his final phase) and Venom's Spider enemies
  
• Added smoother rotation and effects to Peanut's Giga Drill weapon
  
• Added smoother movement to Aubergine's Helo companion
  
• Added smoother movement to Tanks, Spectres, exploding crate debris and Venom's drill casings
  
• Fixed visual glitch on the Singularity where a shutdown effect would reveal the quad
  
• Fixed small visual pop on weapon position during weapon swap
  
• Fixed Helo not getting the correct silhouette colour when using Aubergine's metallic skin
  
• Fixed Shiitake's Railgun weapon not creating sparks at the center of certain enemy types
  
• Fixed Previous / Next highscore text appearing in the wrong colour on the Infinity Drive / Daily Drive battery depletion screen
  
• Fixed Infinity Drive / Daily Drive results screen not reporting the layer correctly if an EX mode that disabled high scores was enabled

We're still working hard to get Alpha 19 polished and ready to go. We hope to have it ready in the next few weeks.

What's new in the Alpha 19 preview:

• Tidal Heating & Roche Limit Physics
• Improved Explosion Power
• New Models for Saturn V 3rd Stage, New Horizon Probe, and a Police Box
• Automatic Simulation Quality Settings

Until Alpha 19 is ready, you can read about what's coming below and try out a preview version by manually opting in via Steam:

1. Right-click on the game title in your Steam Library
2. Click on ‘Properties’
3. Select the ‘Betas’ tab
4. Set the dropdown menu to 'alpha19preview'
5. Close the Properties window
6. Steam will now update Universe Sandbox ² to the preview version
7. Once updated, launch Universe Sandbox ²

Read more about the new features on our blog:
http://universesandbox.com/blog/2016/04/alpha-19-preview/