Petroglyph Earthbreakers Developer Diary – March 6, 2020
Hello everyone and welcome to our first Earthbreakers Developer Diary! We are going to be doing regular Developer Diaries to let the community know what we’ve been working on. To this end, we want to give you direct insight and create an active dialogue for input of suggestions and ideas. Today we are going to focus mostly on what Earthbreakers is, where the idea came from, and our emphasis on how we are shaping it into its own identity.
Firstly, Earthbreakers would likely fit into a Strategy-Shooter genre. As a team who has spent decades working in Real-Time Strategy, we wanted to bring that experience into the First Person Shooter genre to allow players to explore strategic decision making over the course of a match. Our core focus has been on team play through base building and progression in a fast-paced environment.
As many of you may know, many of our team here at Petroglyph were involved in Command & Conquer: Renegade as part of our Westwood Studios roots. The concept of Renegade has been something we’ve always wanted to revisit, and as such has played a large part in our inspiration for Earthbreakers. But from the very beginning it was very important that Earthbreakers was not a remake or reskin of Renegade. Instead our focus has been on evolving Earthbreakers into its own identity.
Two of the core areas that we are focusing on are base-building and progression, as mentioned above. This emphasis gives players strategic freedom in match progression. Structures, like an RTS, build over time with a standard build order. This is something that will happen automatically, but players can donate to structure construction to reduce build times or build structures out of order. This gives teams an opportunity to work together and devise strategies to surprise the other team. In addition to base building, we have an RTS/Strategy-like tech tree. Items in the tech tree can either apply to the individual or to the team. During each match, these items will unlock new weapons or abilities, various consumables, and stat buffs for all aspects of the game. This provides ownership for the individual as they mold their experience to fit their playstyle, while promoting opportunity for teams to fine tune their strategies.
As we move forward, we will be looking for more ways to engage with our community to share what we have been working on and gather feedback and ideas from everyone! If you haven’t, be sure to join our Petroglyph Discord, or visit the Steam Forums to join in the discussion!
Hello, There is a new update. Only patches in this update:
- ESC key fixes (please check and send me feedback if you can on forum or here in comment) - Gamepad fixes for xbox model - Localization fixes (Spanish, German and Greek) - Other minor fixes
I am also preparing a new major update. I will add some new things, such as new languages (Bulgarian, Japanese) etc.
Thank you for your feedback (forum, mail) and reviews.
Once again, it's been awhile since we've updated Firebird, and this time we've made a few major improvements.
Firstly, following our tradition of being heavily inspired by some of the classics, we've added a 'Gorf' like space shield that will absorb some incoming alien fire. Be warned though, it doesn't stop all alien weapons and ships can pass freely through the barrier. Luckily, barrier damage will slowly regenerate.. If you survive long enough!
We've also added the ability to shoot down all alien bombs, (if you're fast enough.)
Thirdly, we've made some performance improvements which should see some lower-end cards showing some smoother game-play.
We've also taken this opportunity to improve the visuals in a number of areas, so Firebird is now even better looking.
It's been a very long time since we got an update for Galactic Lander, but it's finally here! This update brings one quality-of-life improvement and some other changes, let's take a look.
Smoother Co-op Loading
Loading into a level with your buddy in co-op should feel a little more pleasant. While waiting for all players to properly load into the level and get in sync, you can look at this minimalist screen and read a quick tip!
Missile Upgrades
The new missile may look the same as the old one, but don't let that deceive you!
This update fixes an annoying bug where the missile touches/pushes the player, but does not explode.
And now, missiles no longer fly through the level!
Minor Networking Improvements
Increased the network rate for sampling entites' states.
Some Bugs
Fixed bug with replay ghost entities appearing when they should be.
Fixed a bug where a ship's landing gears were not properly breaking when a ship gets blown up.
Fixed engine particles still playing after getting detached from the ship.
Fixed UI ship health status not being updated correctly when the local player's ship explodes.
That's it!
Also, I am very happy to read all new reviews for Galactic Lander as we are reaching 100 reviews! Exciting stuff indeed.
-Reworked Maze Generation. The maze now is more rectangular, allowing the player to find the exit in a easier manner. -Removed Vapetrons -Removed Exit Signs -Added slow motion pills -Added exploding bombs that can be used to break obstacles or kill multiple robots -Added Pickable Items -Reduced tree width, so it is harder to get blocked by it -Fixed money bouncing off the player
Added keypad outline when near door -Added difficulty selection (Safe, Euclid and Keter modes) -Added 914 event -Added more radio communication events -Added "Sector 9" to Light Containment -Added new level 1 spawn -Added new level 4 spawn -Added new Glock spawn -Added peanut figurine -Added necessary rooms for upcoming secret update -Changed so only 1 flashlight spawns in Light Containment -Changed Glock sound to be more powerful sounding -Changed position of Heavy Containment load trigger to be closer to checkpoint -Changed Glock texture -Removed 096 while we revamp him
Some requested updates, as well as new joystick setup and support for Simplified Chinese! :)
Added item compare tool-tip for unique items (which you can only have one equipped) and spaceships.
Joystick support (partial) has been improved with additional options. You can find the changes in Menu - Setup - Control. Make sure to use 'Restore Default' to get updated joystick layout.
Added controller selection screen when starting a new game.
'Load All' button will now fill ship cargo instead of trying to load everything.
You can now equip/unequip items with shift + left click and sell with shift + right click.
Added localization: Simplified Chinese, by Teh Eng Hee.
Changed Lithium rarity to 3 (blue), Copper to 2 (green) and Platinum to 4 (purple).
Follow up fixes:
Fixed game not loading because of corrupted user files (caused by a system crash, cheating, etc).