Jet Lancer has been in development for a long time. We're feeling nostalgic, so this week I want to show you some of the game's history, some older weapon systems, and a brief look at what we have now.
My name is Vladimir, I'm the lead designer of Jet Lancer, and this is DISPATCH_02
We started developing the “Planes game” in 2011 and back then it was quite different. It was much more of a simulation; you would take on the role of a Close Air Support pilot, fighting in combat where you felt more like a cog in the machine, trying to influence a battle by taking out key targets and helping your ground troops. Your arsenal consisted of standard CAS weaponry: minigun, unguided rockets, air-to-air homing missiles and unguided bombs. _________________________________________________________________________
So when we reimagined the project into a more arcade-oriented experience, known literally as “Planes 2” (one of many names we were using before we settled on Jet Lancer), we started with quite a similar idea. To start, you had access to 4 different weapons. _________________________________________________________________________
They all had different purpose and you were suppose to find a perfect balance between all of them for each mission at hand. The system was ammo-based, and your jet had a weight limit to ensure you pick optimal loadout for each mission. _________________________________________________________________________
It worked totally fine in theory, and the premise of playing around with amount of ammo wasn’t bad. This weapon system was in the game for almost 2 years, until one day during some playtesting I realised I haven’t used any weapon except for guided rockets for at least last 6 months. And it wasn’t just a balance issue, switching weapons mid-combat meant you have to take your left thumb off your stick for a second to reach for D-pad, which can cost you a life in such fast-paced game. That’s when it struck me: This weapon system was designed for a completely different game.
I had just grown so used to it as a known quantity that it didn’t cross my mind to change it. After that, I went and highlighted the main issues with the system as it was.
Button Bonanza: The weapon system used 6 different buttons by itself (4 weapons on D-pad, minigun button, special weapon button).
Ol' Faithful: Guided rockets were very clearly the safest bet, their reliability made up for their slightly lower damage output.
Ammo Woes: It was possible to unload your full payload in the first 10 seconds of a mission and then be left with only your minigun for the remainder.
Analysis Paralysis: Being able to access so many weapons at once made it hard to balance as a developer, and hard to weigh options as a player.
So I went back to the drawing board, and soon after had a version that is similar to what is in Jet Lancer today.
Instead of trying to balance 4 weapons to be equally viable, I divided everything into 2 slots based directly on their damage potential: rocket weapon and super weapon which would be tied to the same button. Rockets would use a tapping input, while supers would become a “charge” weapon. Additionally, I made all of our weapons cooldown based. With two different weapon slots, we were able to expand our weapon list beyond just 4 fixed weapons, but still keep “trying to find perfect loadout” part of the based design. Instead of wrestling with a weight limit, now you have different weapon options in two categories, each one having its own strengths and weaknesses. This change alone pretty much fixed all the problems we had:
Simplified controls: Now game uses only 2 buttons to control your weapons (one for minigun, and one for both rockets and charge shot)
Standard Array: Rockets are always available and are essential part of your kit, so you don’t have to make a tradeoff to use more of them.
Always Have Options: With cooldown reload timers instead of ammo, you’re never stuck with just the mini-gun for a prolonged period.
Variety is the Spice of Life: Additional weapons lets us fine tune power levels in a way where there was never a clear “best” option.
And that's how we got to where we are today! Sure, we hit some turbulence, but Jet Lancer is built of tough stuff, so there was never any worry. _________________________________________________________________________
That's it for this week! We'll talk more about Jet Lancer's future in our next Dispatch. Until then, please wishlist Jet Lancer on Steam and tell all of your friends, family, and rival pilots to do so as well! If you want to get Dispatches, beta invitations, and news even faster you can subscribe to our newsletter at http://www.jetlancergame.com.
And of course if you want to hang out with the Jet Lancer team (and who wouldn't want to hang out with us?!) you can do so in our Discord.
On behalf of the Jet Lancer team, this is Vladimir Fedyushkin. Over and Out. _________________________________________________________________________
Fixed music error: when selecting hero from pause menu the music stopped.
Fixed music error: on Fridays the Editor’s Theme wasn’t playing (there’s a theme for every day in the week)
Backgrounds are dynamic in Level Menu (relative to which tileset and bg you are selecting)
Polished Level Menu
Polished Hero Menu (new hero stats graphics to give a more solid impression of their stats)
Corrected more fonts (only three fonts are in the game now - more clear design)
New splash screen with music to set the mood! Different sprite/illustration relative to week day
Changed diamond color to be relative to which hero is running (each hero has their own diamond)
Implemented new “Exploration Mode” in Filters in Play Menu: explore levels you haven’t played
Added comment option in DASH World - when viewing and editing lists you’re now able to rename them and add a description which will appear in the game.
Indie DB
[Discord + key included] Last chance to join the testing before Ea...
DASH allows players to create and compete in easy-to-build worlds of enemies, spikes, power-ups and a wide variety of unique tiles and tools. With the Early Access release on Steam getting closer, it is time to present some more fixes and implementations...
Polished Play Menu: now more enticement for players to visit DASH World (remember there is also a share function in DASH World where you can share your lists with other users!!)
Polished Main Menu
More random levels in the box as Main Menu backgrounds (dynamic)
Fixed issues with calling server multiple times. Server functions and workflow now as tight as ever. Super little to none load time + super tight data delivery/fetch! Even on an old school modem you should not experience any real delay or lag between levels. Also fixed error when choosing next or previous where game would call per step player was pressing button, allowing multiple calls to happen. Now fixed to only call once.
Rating is showing on DASH World!! Have a look at how your creations are doing.
Polished Save As text box and instructions to take good screenshot
Discord emotes all updated to fit the new design!
Cool idle animations in Hero Menu (only for Duffie and Raider for now. Rest is coming)
Concerned is back!!!!
----------------------- 27th of March 2019 Patch 04: -----------------------
Fixed bug causing game to crash when rating a level
Removed level's thumbnail in Level Menu to prevent memory leak
Our sincerest thanks for all the feedback you share with us! It's been a rough day as we've got A LOT of comments and emails. Our team is on duty in our communities, replying comments and aggregating bug reports you post here.
The first day - the first update. That's what we've changed:
1. Kiba stopped wearing the spacesuit after his nightmare in Spicy Wind tavern.
2. Screen resolution issues fixed — If you've already played the game, please check in-game Settings (not Unity) and choose your native screen resolution. If your screen resolution is lesser that recommended (1920x1080), it can misbehave but shouldn't crop a half of your dialogue window.
3. Lots of small minor things fixed.
If you face any issues, please, report it via Discussions or our Discord channel. It really helps us to implement all fixes in the game as soon as possible.
Update #3 | Countdown Timer for Content Creators | [Desktop]
Today's update adds an optional countdown timer with configurable settings for use in streams or other types of OC.
Content Updates:
Countdown timer added to all desktop scenes
New options in effects menu related to timer
Fixes:
Bad reference in one minimal scene causing framerate issues
Small animation update for bars targeting smoother anims on z-axis
Countdown Timer Functionality
The new countdown timer is hidden by default, has configurable options for minutes and seconds, controls to start/stop the timer, controls to show/hide the timer, and some extra settings that let you customize the color and appearance. The new options are present in the in-game effects menu within a new panel that slides down from the top whenever the menu is displayed.
In a future update, I'd like to provide a few more options for changing the font and choosing the position of the timer. Just wanted to let you guys know that's on the radar. The next update will include more content creator functionality that is still in the works right now. :)
Thanks to discord user Yuppy for the suggestion for a countdown timer. If you're reading this and you'd like to submit a feature request (or just say hi) then check out these links:
Another improvement patch is heading to PTE tonight, we have some optimizations and bugfixes along with some small improvements. We're nearing the 0.5 update hitting Live!
PTE 0.5.4 Patch Notes
[BUGFIXES]
Fixed a crash caused by dead player skulls on the map [the one under M],
Fixed camera moving to left when recoil was added,
Fixed tablet staying in the player hand after using strikes,
Fixed RCWS seat not showin player names properly,
Fixes in rail of MSBS-B,
Changed way of loading ScopePostProcess, probably fixing the disappearing thermal / IR effects on scopes,
[IMPROVEMENTS]
Added missing gibs to several armors,
UAV visibility after detection,
Tweaks to drones collision damage,
Added cooldown param when player shoot in burst mode (tool for balancing),
