Exon: Fragment v0.08

Why yes, it has been over a year since I last released a new version of Exon: Fragment. What can I say? I got side tracked quite badly trying to improve its movement system, but please, don't get me started. You can read more sweet deets on the blog or you can just download the game and -- hopefully -- find it much more responsive, reliable and consistent in many subtle ways. (No new content this time though, alas, and there are more system rebuilds coming soon so you'd best be patient...)

SAVED GAMES FROM EARLIER VERSIONS CAN NO LONGER BE LOADED IN 0.08

Major Upgrades

• Movement: major overhaul of core movement system to improve jumping, handling of awkward corners, knockback forces and more
• Combat: major overhaul of enemy behaviour
  • Different units now have different strategies: some stick to the basics, others use special attacks in particular patterns
  • Enemies will now attempt to find paths around each other to encircle their targets instead of bunching up
  • Ranged enemies that want to keep their distance behave more reliably, and will attack at point-blank range if cornered
  • Ranged enemyies whose firing lines are blocked will attempt to circle at a distance rather than closing in
  • When a relaxed enemy hears something, they will pause for a second and only go to investigate if the sound continues
• Character creation: compressed into a concise single-screen flow
• Character creation: added advanced paintwork customisation! Apply colours to mech parts individually!

Minor Changes

• Options: primary attack/move control mouse buttons can now be swapped
• Movement: holding down the Jump button no longer allows bunnyhopping (to jump again, you must press the button again)
• Combat: tweaked melee weapon damage range to be a bit more forgiving, played with swing speed values
• Combat: player hero will only taunt when killing the final enemy of a group, not every single one
• Items: using the Harpoon to reel in an item now automatically takes it (if you have a spare equipment slot/enough inventory space)
• Art: tweaked various item and projectile models
• Art: reworked various textures; made some dirtier, resized some to improve sense of scale, made road markings yellow, fiddled with water...
• Sound: reduced audible range of enemy sounds and tweaked falloff curve
• Sound: tweaked various weapon and impact sounds
• Loading: added progress updates to loading screen so it's more obvious if something has gone wrong
• Academy: swapped some spiderbots at the Gauntlet firing range for taller enemies to help show that height matters using guns
• Academy: reworked some dialogue, cinematics and quests across the level
• Academy: reduced the price of the Rust Mites datacube from £300 to £150
• Instant Action: A Walk in the Park: added some extra gubbins including a quest log, new conversations and a merchant
• Instant Action: reduced the offensive capabilities of some enemies
• View: reduced minimum zoom level from 5 to 3. Get a real nice close-up of your mech!

Fixes

• Fixed issue where events that should trigger only on entering an area would repeatedly trigger when moving within the area
• Fixed issue where Spark Mite zaps would not stay anchored to their mouths
• Fixed large units not being sensitive enough to enemies getting right up behind them
• Fixed issue where currently selected campaign would not always be highlighted when choosing to start a new game
• Fixed locked swing gates spamming "locked" message every frame you're touching them
• Fixed camera angles during conversations with communicators
• Fixed large gates not having collision
• Fixed a lot of inconsistent and broken enemy behaviours
• Fixed height of item details window so it does not hide vital stats (health/armour/energy) in the inventory window
• Fixed some unit engine sounds coming from the wrong points
• Fixed Torsion Unit items being undroppable
• Fixed most (all?) bobbling feet on legged units that are standing still
• Fixed z-fighting on water ripples
• Fixed issue where various selector lists behaved weirdly/didn't hold onto selections
• Fixed issue where datavault notes would not be included in save files (SOMEBODY didn't mark the class as serialisable)
• Fixed issue where Region map would show as solid white in Instant Action maps (... by disabling the region map in these scenarios)
• Fixed issue where loading a saved game while being waylaid would misplace the battle icon on the Region map
• Fixed Save Game menu Delete button not... actually doing anything...
• Fixed being able to Return to Game from Main Menu when you are dead
• Academy: Fixed long cooldown of Gauntlet Rocket Booster
• Academy: Fixed Gauntlet stealth course not deactivating once you've made it through
• Friendly Arm Waystation: fixed some terrain holes and awkward steps, rearranged some other bits
• Friendly Arm Waystation: fixed some civilians getting stuck off the map and thus preventing any new civilians from entering
• Instant Action: Academy Arena: fixed the positions of some bot patrol points
• Instant Action: A Walk in the Park: fixed some terrain holes