Steam Sector Six - Looter shoot 'em up

Phoebe Klim

Member
No, this is stupid GameMaker Intel HD GPU graphical glitch =[
On Sector Six Steam version there's this workaround, but I don't know what to do to fix it with your version.

Never mind.
 
Last edited:
D

dj_midknight

Guest
I actually have an nVidia GPU. Anyway I think it just unpacked wrong. I reextracted the files and freed up a bit of extra RAM and its running now.

Ok so first how do you heal armor with the gamepad?? I tried every button combo I could think of and eventually hand to hold left shift and Q on the keyboard to do it.

This may just be a result of the demo, but when I pressed the back button on my xbox remote I got a fatal error. Variable not set before reading.

Next with as quick as the movement needs to be using the d pad instead of the left stick is a real pain in the ass. Top down RPGs and stuff where repeated quick movements aren't needed dpad is fine, but something like really needs to take advantage of the joystick. Even if you just mirror them so the dpad and left stick do exactly the same thing it would be a definite improvement.


Edit. Ok the fatal error when pressing back button only happens when playing a mission. It works just fine in the menus

############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event0
for object obj_focus:

global variable <unknown built-in variable>(-1610512732, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_focus_Step_0
############################################################################################
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Ok so first how do you heal armor with the gamepad?? I tried every button combo I could think of and eventually hand to hold left shift and Q on the keyboard to do it.
Hold LS RS as a button.
This may just be a result of the demo, but when I pressed the back button on my xbox remote I got a fatal error. Variable not set before reading.
Where in the game did you press it and which variable was missing? Never mind, found it =]
Next with as quick as the movement needs to be using the d pad instead of the left stick is a real pain in the ass. Top down RPGs and stuff where repeated quick movements aren't needed dpad is fine, but something like really needs to take advantage of the joystick. Even if you just mirror them so the dpad and left stick do exactly the same thing it would be a definite improvement.
Okay, I'll try to make stick movement possible, but it will just emulate D-pad. Movement is really complicated in Sector Six because spaceship is made of many parts.

Thanks a lot for your feedback =D
 
Last edited:
D

dj_midknight

Guest
Emulating the D-pad would be fine. The D-pad just wears on the thumb a lot faster and the button depress reduces response times VS the stick. It doesn't need to be 8 direction movement or anything like that. Just completed the second mission and am playing around with a couple of the new parts I picked up.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Controller support beta and miscellaneous fixes!

Sector Six can now be played with a controller!

There's still few things I would like to polish, so expect to see various controller support improvements coming with future updates!
The controller support has been tested with Xbox 360 controller.
If encounter any problems with other controllers, please notify me.
I am also looking for any ideas on improving controller support.

Along with controller support, I have fixed few old glitches and made important changes:
  • Fixed pause graphical glitch.

  • Fixed wrong default music volume glitch.

  • Fixed a minor graphical glitch in the results screen.

  • Fixed weapon amplifier glitch.

  • Fixed several spelling errors.

  • Now if controls are changed, tutorial explanations and ability tags also change accordingly.

  • The mouse cursor is no longer visible when it is not needed.

  • Improved story mission III.
    • Databases now have less armour, they no longer deal damage and destroy nearby enemies when the player enters their range.

  • Improved ability bar in combat HUD.

  • Now it is impossible to be outside the enemy range and not trigger the missile barrage.

  • Added visual hint to warn players that their armour is low.

  • Improved armoured colony seeker.
    • Now has only 1 core, but its repairing pylons repair more armour than before.

  • Aberrant Armour challenge now reduces the power of The Decision challenge.
    • Maxed The Decision increase mission length by 100% instead of 1000% when Aberrant Armour is also maxed.

  • Slightly improved introduction cutscene.
Have fun!





PS.: Linux version has not been updated due to technical difficulties. It will be updated as soon as possible.
 
Last edited:
M

MEITdev

Guest
Good day Kind Sir!

I have recorded a additional follow up video about your game that I am dearly enjoying!

This is definitely a game worth purchasing!

 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #61: Trading and secure regions

This week I have started working on secure regions and item trading!

It's really exciting to work on such impactful features, even if there's a lot of problems I'll have to solve.

Making item trading is rather easy - I have made trading systems several times in my other games, so I know what to do.
I just need to make interfaces, slightly adjust inventory code and it's done!

The hard part is making secure regions where item trading places - cities - will be located.

It wouldn't be hard if I just removed enemies from a normal region and call it secure region, but that's not what I want!

Cities hanging in interplanetary clouds, heavy traffic, lights, stations, statues, advertisement boards - that's what I want to see in secure regions.

That means a lot of objects, a lot of collisions and collisions is Sector Six weakness.
I'll have to figure out how to place objects in secure regions, how to approach movement, how will player access city interfaces and so on.

Right now I have almost finished making item trading and made a city sprite for the trading interface.

That's how trading works:

1) The player completes several missions in a region and it becomes secure.
2) The player enters the secure region from the map - the same way region missions are started.
3) The player goes to a city in a secure region. Not all regions will have them.
4) As the player approaches the city, the trading interface appears, which contains player's and city's inventories.
5) Dragging and dropping the part from the player's inventory to city's will sell that part for a certain amount of currency.
6) Dragging and dropping the part from the city's inventory to player's inventory, will buy that part if the player has enough currency.

Should be pleasantly simple!

That's all news I got for now, so until next time!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #62: Trading and future of the alloy containers

I got some exciting news! Trading has been added, it is fully functional and impactful!

As I mentioned in previous echoes, my design philosophy is simple - every game element must have its place. Since the day one of Sector Six development I am working to ensure that.

Trading and upcoming changes to alloy containers should make every item feel rewarding.

Before trading items that were not good enough to add to spaceship were useless.
Now there's no such thing as useless items because useless items can be exchanged for useful ones!

This week I have added cities to 19 regions of Sector Six and cities buy and sell items.

Right now there are 7 types of cities:
  • Cities that sell generic weapons.
  • Cities that sell random weapons and parts.
  • Cities that sell high-grade weapons and parts.
  • Cities that sell alloy containers.
  • Cities that sell extant parts.
  • Cities that sell amplifiers.
  • Cities that sell random grade weapons, parts and amplifiers.
Each region has one city, so some regions will be more important to secure than others and I hope that will allow players to make interesting decisions.

Next week I will be decorating secure regions and making important changes to alloy containers.

The main problem with the alloy containers is that they don't repair enough armour in higher levels.
Right now alloy containers repair as much armour as they have charges. For example, alloy container with 10000 changes, will repair 10000 armor.

I am planning to change this to 1 charge repairing 1% of maximum armour.
This way alloy containers will stay useful at any level.

I am also going to change how alloy and dismantling works.

The refill cost of alloy containers will be equal to alloy missing and dismantling containers will give as much alloy as the dismantled container contained.
For example, if alloy container can hold 100 alloy and it contains 30 alloy, it will cost 70 alloy to fill it.
Dismantling a container with 30 alloy will give 30 alloy.

There are other neat changes planned for container rework but I'm keeping that for the next echo!

Until then!





 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #63: Secure regions and alloy container rework

In my previous echo, that I have posted two weeks ago, I've said that I'll be working on alloy containers and secure regions.
And I did that.

Alloy containers are finally the best way to repair armour!
Each charge in alloy container now repairs 1% armour instead of just 1 armour.

Container refilling cost is now based on how much alloy is in alloy container.
That means you can refill containers that are not empty and not lose any alloy!

I have also added a bunch of new container properties and flaws:
  • Filled: Containers with "Filled" are found containing the maximum amount of alloy.
  • Generates x armour on kill: Amount of armour repaired on kill is based on container level.
  • Eternal: Containers with "Eternal" are indestructible and gain 50 alloy if you fail the mission.
  • Ancient: Containers with "Ancient" gain 30 alloy when you pass dust cloud.
  • Sacrificial: Containers with "Sacrificial" destroy themselves and restores armour to 50% if armour drops to 0.
  • Corrupted: Containers with "Corrupted" give no alloy when dismantled.
  • Transient: Containers with "Transient" are destroyed when you complete mission.
  • Unstable: Containers with "Unstable" burn alloy when you use repairing abilities.
  • Gains 65 alloy every 50 kills.
  • Generates 1 ether on kill.
  • Gains 10 alloy every 15 kills.
  • Cannot be refilled.
Small changes related to alloy containers:
  • There are 5 new achievements for triggering unstable, transient, eternal, ancient and sacrificial alloy container abilities.
  • I have added three new container skins.
  • Item dismantling value is no longer based on item level.
  • Amplifiers now give alloy when dismantled.
  • Upgrading part now increases its dismantling value.
  • Alloy container dismantling value is now based on the amount of the alloy in the container.
After reworking alloy containers, I have been decorating secure regions.
Because there are so many regions, I am going to leave most of the regions for future.

Next week I am going to make few last improvements and get ready for an update, that I am hoping to release next weekend!

Now I want to apologize for not posting for a while.
I couldn't post because I didn't have the internet for a few days.

If this will happen again in future, know that even if I don't post echoes, it doesn't mean I'm not working on Sector Six.
I am working always, every day =]

Until next time!







 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Secure regions, trading, and alloy container rework!

Secure regions can now be entered!
Complete the missions to make regions secure, then enter them and get in the cities to buy and sell items!

There are:
  • Cities that sell generic weapons.
  • Cities that sell random parts.
  • Cities that sell high-grade parts.
  • Cities that sell alloy containers.
  • Cities that sell extant parts.
  • Cities that sell amplifiers.
  • Cities that sell random grade parts and amplifiers.
Almost every region has a city.
You will have to secure multiple regions to get access to all types of cities.

Another big change of this update is the new alloy containers!
  • Changed the way alloy containers repair armour, now each container charge repairs 1% armour.
  • Container refill cost is now based on alloy in the container.
  • Rebalanced amount of alloy received when dismantling items.
  • New container property: Filled.
  • New container property: Gains 65 alloy every 50 kills.
  • New container property: Generates 1 ether on kill.
  • New container property: Generates armour on kill.
  • New container property: Gains 10 alloy every 15 kills.
  • New container property: Eternal.
  • New container property: Ancient.
  • New container property: Sacrificial.
  • New container flaw: Corrupted.
  • New container flaw: Cannot be refilled.
  • New container flaw: Transient.
  • New container flaw: Unstable.
  • Removed property: Gains charges on kill.
  • Removed property: Reduced refill cost.
  • Removed flaw: Increased refill cost.
  • Added 3 new container skins.
  • Now it's possible to swap alloy containers.
Other changes:
  • Upgraded parts now have a higher value.
  • Added 5 achievements for triggering new container abilities.
  • Improved amplifier sprites.
  • Amplifiers now amplify part properties based on amplified part level, not on amplifier level.
  • You can no longer apply Almadi cathodes and anodes to parts attached to your spaceship.
  • Applying cathodes and anodes no longer erase their names.
  • Alpha Pulsar region renamed to Bloom.
  • Beta Pulsar region renamed to Pulsar Vector.
  • Added HUD hiding.
  • Improved item tooltip placement.
  • Recolored few regions.
  • Shielding abilities now share cooldowns.
  • Fixed apparition and seeking projectile glitch.
  • Dock part now looks better.
  • Story mission V will now take less time to complete.
  • Now it's possible to dismantle (and sell items) by pressing X button on the controller.
Because this is a big update, keep an eye on glitches or balance flaws!

Have fun!



 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #64: Upcoming combat update

The next update is a combat update!

With every update, I make a few changes that positively affect the game.
It doesn't mean it's easy to do those changes because often it requires removing or aggravating something.

So, with the next update gaining ether through getting spaceship hit by enemy projectiles will no longer be possible.

I am hoping that this change will make ether much more valuable because it will be harder to get ether.

The other heavy change is ability point rebalance. This is a very old problem that I have never addressed.

Right now it is possible to upgrade 9 abilities to a maximum level at level 20.
Because only 9 abilities can be equipped, leveling up after level 20 becomes a lot less rewarding.

I have few solutions:

1) Make leveling up give fewer ability points. From currently 4 to 3 or 2.
2) Make ability upgrading cost more than 1 point.
3) Increase maximum ability level to 20.

I like the last most. It will increase the maximum level to 40 and something about having higher ability level feels good.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the abilities will become more powerful.

If right now each ability upgrade makes ability deal 10% more damage after I increase cap each ability upgrade will make ability deal just 5% more damage.

But enough about that.

Sector Six haven't seen new enemies for a while and I am going to fix that!
I am planning to make new enemies - mosaics and collectors.

To those who do not remember mosaics, they are enemies made entirely out of fragile segments.

About collectors, well, they are completely new enemies, that will have a special ability to create parts and fully repair themselves if they collect those parts. Players will be able to steal parts they will create and prevent them from collecting them.

Combat update is not a combat update if I don't add new abilities!
Right now I am planning to add four abilities - two for apocalypse class and two for carrier class, but I might add more.

I have already added an ability for carrier class, called Nine Bladed Mines.
This ability is a hellish combination of Sustained Barrage and Bladed Mine abilities!
Nine Bladed Mines will replace rather disappointing Mine Mayhem.
For more details, check screenshot bellow.

Finally, with this update, I am planning to add new side missions - elimination and gauntlet.

Elimination mission is a variation of kill mission.
The difference is that instead of killing set amount of minions, players will have to kill ALL minions in the region.
Elimination missions will appear only on besieged missions.

Gauntlet mission will be really tough, because, during gauntlet, you won't be able to repair armour!

I have noticed that Sector Six feels best when armour is about to hit zero.
Then combat is an intense and satisfying struggle for survival.
Hopefully gauntlet push player into such struggle.

Gauntlet missions will appear in all regions, but they will be rare because they are both challenging and very rewarding.

As you can see, I am going to be pretty busy for next few weeks!

If you have thoughts about these changes, please let me know in comments.

Until next time!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #65: Mosaics and Era's End

This week I was working on mosaics and the new apocalypse class ability - Era's End!

There's not much to say about that besides that mosaics are fun to destroy and Era's End is fun to destroy enemies with.

I could also say that making Era's End was extremely challenging!
Not the effects of the ability, but its animation.

I've spent about 10 hours tweaking Era's End animation.
It's the most powerful apocalypse class ability, so I had to come up with something that looks really powerful.
Because I'm not that good at animation, it took me a while to that.

You can see the final animation in the video bellow.

Anyway, next week I will probably work on the collectors, ability points and ether on hit changes.

Until next time!





 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #66: New game+ and collectors

Since the last time I posted, I have added collectors, an ability to reset story missions and made a bunch of small, but awesome improvements!

An ability to reset story missions is a first step towards having a new game+ feature!
Personally, I'm not a fan of new game+ in other games, but I'm sure that it's a great feature for Sector Six. Resetting story missions is completely optional, there are no changes to missions.

You will able to reset missions soon because with collectors added, there's not much left to do until I can release the new version!

Collectors are new the minions that are as powerful as veterans.
In my initial plans, collectors were supposed to collect parts and repair themselves.
It was impossible to make that work, so instead, collectors were given an armour core, two unique attack abilities, and a shielding ability.

As I mentioned, I have made some cool improvements to various parts of Sector Six.

Here's few of them:
  • It is no longer possible to get parts that generate ether when the spaceship is hit by enemy projectiles.
  • Now spaceship moves faster in secure regions.
  • Now cities offer more items. This should increase a chance of getting a good offer.
  • Visiting secure region no longer generates new missions.
  • Fixed tutorial glitch.
  • Side missions now have better rewards.
  • Side missions now may give units as a reward.
Now I will be working on new apocalypse and carrier abilities.
If they will be done before the weekend, that's when I am going to release the new update!

Until next time!



 
Last edited:

Shut

Member
Hey, just wanted to say that the game looks really awesome! It's clearly visible that you've put a good amount of work in it. I love the art style, simple and beautiful. :)

Keep up the good work. ;)
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Massive update! New abilities and enemies, city improvements, new game+ and full controller support!

Sector Six has been updated!
This update adds a lot of new content and improves various parts of the game.

Five new abilities!

Era's End, apocalypse class ability: The most powerful damage dealing ability in Sector Six!
Overload, apocalypse class ability: Overload removes armour and in exchange sets all ability cooldowns to 0.
Nine Bladed Mines, carrier class ability: Releases nine bladed mines, that deal damage and remove shields.
Attract Mines, carrier class ability: Attracts mines that appear above, bellow and behind enemies and deal damage when detonated.
EMP Grenade, carrier class ability: Launches grenade that explodes and jams enemies! Jammed enemies cannot move or attack.

Three new enemies!

Collectors: Large, powerful enemies with unique attack abilities. Destroy collector's emitters to prevent them from using their most powerful attack.
Mosaics: Medium sized enemies that are composed of fragile parts. Mosaics launch mines that are difficult to dodge.
Drones: Small enemies similar to demolishers.

New game+

If you have completed all story missions, you can now go to settings and reset them.
This allows you do them all over again!
This feature has not been properly tested, due to the amount of time it would take to do that.
If you encounter any issues related to it, please report them immediately.

Cities have been improved.

Now they offer more items and have fewer glitches!
Also, spaceship now moves faster in secure regions.

Other changes:
  • Ability removed: Mine Mayhem.
  • Fixed Detonate sound effect glitch.
  • Added elimination mission.
  • Acolyte seeking shards are now slower.
  • Ether on hit removed.
  • Possibly fixed broken inventory slot amount.
  • Shards of Chaos ability now deals more damage.
  • Shatter ability now deals more damage.
  • Fixed shield depth glitch.
  • Fixed tutorial glitch.
  • Side missions now have better rewards.
  • Side missions now may give units as a reward.
  • New missions will no longer be generated after entering the secure region.
  • Sniper weapon projectiles are now slower and bigger.
  • The Rain of Fire missiles are now easier to dodge.
  • Sector Six now officially has a full controller support.
Have fun!











 
Last edited:
R

Richard Wizdan

Guest
The game keeps getting better and better. I really admire your persistence in keeping up with the project. Also as others before me have already stated - the art really fits the theme!
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #67: Gauntlet and other things

'Ello all!

For few days I had no access to my PC, so there's not a lot of news.

Last week I was working on the graphical update.

I've been trying to improve Sector Six backgrounds again.

The good news is that the background and clouds are moving in interfaces - like in old Sector Six versions.

The bad news is that right now I'm struggling with region entering and leaving. For some reason, backgrounds jump forward when entering regions.

It seems that I will have to spend more time fixing that than I would like to.

Anyway, this week I will work on new options for combat and new side missions.

I am going to add an option to make the game really easy. It will reduce enemy armour and damage by 50%.
With easy mode enabled, you will also gain more XP from enemy kills.

You will also be able to entirely turn off XP gaining.

Recently I have received some complaints about a lack of mission variety, so I have decided to throw in some unique side missions!

There will three of them: Gauntlet, heroic gauntlet and speed run.

Gauntlet:

You will have to destroy a certain amount of enemies.
During this mission, alloy containers, armour on kill and repairing abilities will not work!

Heroic gauntlet:

Just like the regular gauntlet, except that it will last as long as you can survive and every kill will award glory.
The more glory you have, the greater is the reward!
Big enemies will give more glory.
During heroic gauntlet, you will also encounter dark pillars.
Dark pillars will allow you to summon big enemies for additional glory.

Speed run:

During speed run, you will have to destroy one of every enemy.
One swarmling, one mosaic, one veteran, etc.
The faster you will destroy enemies, the better reward you will get.

That's all I have for this echo, time to do some heavy coding =]

Until next time!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #68: Time siege and gauntlet update is coming soon!

Last two weeks I've lost a lot of development time because my PC broke down few times.
But now my PC is back to being a functioning game development device and I'm happy to announce that Sector Six is going to be updated next week!

Next update features few neat graphical improvements, a possible fix to dreadful inventory glitch, and a good dose of new content!

After hearing few complaints about the lack of content, I have put everything aside and made two new region missions - time siege and gauntlet!

Time siege is about destroying a siege unit as fast as possible!
This mission is the first Sector Six mission that has a performance-based reward.
The faster you will destroy a siege unit, the better reward you will get at the end of the mission.
Getting to a siege unit is not easy - you will have to defeat each of current Sector Six enemies - from swarming to an apparition.
Time siege mission will always generate the same enemies in the same order, so the outcome of the mission is completely based on your skill and spaceship.

Gauntlet is similar to good old kill mission in a way that during it, you'll get to kill a certain amount of enemies.
The catch is that during a gauntlet mission, you will not be able to repair your spaceship!
All damage received is permanent.
The reward is proportional to the challenge - you will receive extant part if you will manage to survive!

I was also meant to do a heroic gauntlet mission, but because my PC broke, I decided to add that with some other update.
I want to keep the gaps between updates as small as possible.

There's not much to say about the graphical changes - backgrounds, region entering/leaving and the main menu are simply better now!

So, that's all for this echo, I hope you guys are excited about the update as much as I am!

Until next time!



 
Last edited:

GMWolf

aka fel666
Oh my is this game fun!

I finally got round to trying this out, and its was well worth my time.

The visuals are clearly very nice, but what really shines is the satisfying sound design. Not only does the music fit the game very nicely, but the sound effects really mark the impact of each event. Great job!

The game play really stands out thanks to the mini-boss style combat with each group of enemies, not mentioning the unique ability driven combat.

where the experience breaks down a little for me is the controls. Having all the abilities along the number row makes it easy to forget what button does what. As such I dont use the shield a lot, as I alwasy forget what number it is bound to. same with the shield breaking ability,I often trigger the 9 blade ability instead.
For that i recommend you cut down on the number of keys, and make them more context sensitive. For example, the shoot bombs and detonate bombs ability could be one and the same: First press shoots them, second press detonates them. (you could do that by checing instance_exists on the bomb objects or smthing).

Other than that, the game is great! Did not yet get very far into the story unfortunately, but this is definetly going to be my goto sidescroller game for a while!.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Oh my is this game fun!
=]
where the experience breaks down a little for me is the controls. Having all the abilities along the number row makes it easy to forget what button does what. As such I dont use the shield a lot, as I alwasy forget what number it is bound to. same with the shield breaking ability,I often trigger the 9 blade ability instead.
For that i recommend you cut down on the number of keys
You can try remapping keys to something you'll remember better.

I think it would also be possible for you to play only with a basic attack, shield, and shield removal abilities until you get used to them.
Before combat rework, Sector Six had combat with 2-3 abilities, but it was boring and there were many complaints, so I don't want to go back.
(And my high-level players mentioned few times that I should increase amount of ability slots - I'm not doing that, but I am even less likely to decrease it)
For example, the shoot bombs and detonate bombs ability could be one and the same: First press shoots them, second press detonates them. (you could do that by checing instance_exists on the bomb objects or smthing).
Detonate ability detonates mines of both Spread Mines and Attract Mines abilities, so it's better for Detonate to be a separate ability.
But this gave me another idea - I think I can make shield removal abilities have a visual hint when there's enemy with a shield that needs to be removed and for shield abilities - when the enemy starts an attack that requires a shield to be stopped.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #69: Next few weeks

Due to technical difficulties, the next update is postponed.
I can't say for how long, could be a day, could be weeks.

That gives me plenty of time to add more stuff!

Right now I am working on new achievements and achievement icons.
There will be 30+ new achievements!
This number is inflated because I will add an achievement for completing a mission in each region.

Aside from standard achievements for completing missions, reaching a certain level, and activating abilities, I will also add five secret achievements.
And that's the only thing you'll hear from me about them!

Every achievement will get a unique icon.
Current Steam achievement icons will be updated as well.

Once I'm done with achievements, I will start working on a graphical update.

I will try to improve projectile impacts again, make better death animations, improve interfaces and maybe even add some sort of movement animations.

And then there's this:



Since the very beginning of the development, I've been hearing that Sector Six art style is great, but it has one problem.
It makes everything look similar.

I wasn't worrying too much about it because there was no solution to this problem and I had bigger problems to deal with.

But after making the image above, I think I finally know how to increase variety without sacrificing enigmatic silhouettes.

There's a lot of things to figure out about this.

What colour should the lights be?
What to do with spaceship parts that are tiny and don't allow big lights?
What changes do I need to do player spaceship and enemy graphics to ensure that it will look clean?
Do I need to add lights to region background images?

If I'll manage to find solutions to all of those problems, then I will make this change.

All of this gives me enough work for a month!

So, that's all for this echo, hopefully, next one will come after a week, like it is supposed to.

Until next time!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Sector Six 1 year in Steam anniversary!

One year ago, Sector Six was released on Steam! I am going to stream Sector Six all day!

Click here to go to Twitch >>

I will be playing latest Sector Six version - it's a great way to see what's coming with next update!

I will also show how I develop Sector Six with GameMaker: Studio

There will be giveaways too! I am planning to give away 50 Sector Six keys on SteamGifts and in my Steam groups, don't miss announcements!
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #70: All upcoming updates

This echo is slightly different - it's a list of all updates that are left to do until Sector Six is completed!

Next update

Update that will come out next is an achievement and graphic update.

45 new achievements!
Various graphical improvements.

This is the last graphical update!
Sector Six will no longer change graphically.

The last item update

New part designs.
New part properties.
High-grade part improvements.
Part sets.
New filtering options.
Alternative weapons.

The last crafting update

Part crafting.
Part compression.

The Router update

Concealed regions with epic rewards, unlocked by completing achievements.

The boss update #1

New boss.
Armored colony seeker improvements.

The boss update #2

The last boss.

Combat expansion #1

Titan class.
New side missions.

Combat expansion #2

Nomad class.
New side missions.

The remaining story missions

Story mission VI
Story mission VII
Story mission VIII
Story mission IX
Story mission X
Story mission XI
Story mission XII
Story mission XIII
Story mission XIV

Endgame update

Permanent death and hardcore modes.
Ability to set maximum level, enable and disable sources of loot and experience.
Ability to replay the Machine boss fights.
Creative mode.
Last batch of achievements.

Full release

After I will do all of that, the game will be completed!
This list might not mean a lot to you, but to me, it's amazing to finally know for sure what I'll have to do to finish Sector Six!

Amazing. And terrifying! That's so much to do!
I'll go work on it right away!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #71: 90%

I'm getting close to finishing Sector Six graphics!
This week I have improved loot box, level up screen and added a box that shows difficulty rewards.
I've wanted to make these changes for a long time.

Besides that, I have added the last achievement, made icons for Steam achievements and now Sector Six is ready for the achievement update!

I have also tried making changes to the art style.
I couldn't make it work, so I decided to revert all the changes.

Next week I will be dealing with last graphical changes I want to make - some sort of movement animations, background spaceships, inventory animations.

I am also hoping to finally update the game in a few days, so keep an eye on new posts about that!

Until next time!





 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Gauntlet, time siege, 45 new achievements and more!

Download new version now to test your spaceship in new region missions and unlock new achievements!
This update also includes many graphical and gameplay improvements.

Gauntlet

Gauntlet is just like kill mission, except that during gauntlet your alloy container, repairing abilities and parts will not work!
If you will survive gauntlet, you will get an extant part!

Time siege

During time siege, you will have to defeat all Sector Six enemies from weakest to strongest!
The faster you'll do it, the better reward you will get.

New achievements

25 achievements for exploring Sector Six, 5 achievements for completing missions, 10 miscellaneous achievements, and 5 secret achievements!
These new achievements will encourage you to try new things.

New combat options

Now you can disable XP gain and enable easy mode!
Easy mode halves enemy damage, armor, XP reward and disables modular difficulty system.

Inventory glitch fixed

You will no longer end up with -5785 inventory slots!

Lethal Weapons and Aberrant Armour nerfed

+200% armor and damage per level were way too much!
Now Lethal Weapons and Aberrant Armour will only increase enemy armor and damage by 100%.

Graphical changes
  • Improved backgrounds.
  • Added weapon warning.
  • Improved main menu.
  • Improved death animation.
  • Improved loot box.
  • Improved level up screen.
  • Improved modular difficulty system map.
  • Improved achievement notifications.
  • Game now remembers more notifications.
  • Fixed annoying claim screen glitch.
  • Added achievement icons.
Other changes
  • Added movement sound.
  • Fixed passive ability description graphical glitch.
  • Fixed inventory page button graphical glitch.
  • Detonated mines are now slightly less effective against enemy segments.
  • Fixed mosaic seeking projectile glitch.
  • EMP Grenade now deals damage based on node damage, like it is supposed to.
Have fun!

Next update: Part sets, advanced item filtering, high-grade part improvements and new part properties!





 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #72: Cor's Voidshape and other part sets

Last week I've been working on item update.
I've done really a lot!

First of, now mythical and etalon parts are better!
They can be upgraded with amplifiers two times, unlike lower grade parts.

Speaking of lower grade parts, I have added a new part property that adds a chance to upgrade parts to a higher grade.
If you have at least one of parts with this properly, there's a chance that a lower grade part you've just picked up will turn to higher grade part.
For example, a generic part will turn into optimized and advanced part will turn into extant.

And after item update, you'll want to get as many extant parts as possible!
Extant, mythical and etalon parts will have a chance to be a component of a part set!

Part sets are simple: Add a certain amount of parts that are set components and you will get a special effect of that set.

For example, adding 10 Ultranid's parts will unlock Ultranid's Corruption set effect.
I'm planning to add 5 part sets with the upcoming update, while other part sets will be added in future, maybe even after the full release of the game.

Here's current set effects:

Cor's Voidshape
Enemy projectiles go through your spaceship
Enemy projectiles damage your spaceship only if they hit the Elder Mechanism
Shield duration is reduced to 2 seconds
Maximum
armour is reduced by 90%

Etherion's Clash
+400% damage
Damage boost is applied only if your spaceship has equal amount of relays, pylons, elements and nodes


Ultranid's Corruption
Cooldowns of all abilities are reduced to 0 seconds
Activating an ability deals damage to your spaceship
Damage dealt is equal to 10% of maximum
armour

Kithalia's Blight
Your spaceship has +4% damage for every 1% of missing ether
Your spaceship is destroyed if ether reaches 100%


Oesa's Radiance
Your spaceship has +1% damage for every 10 ether
Base maximum
armour of your spaceship is equal to maximum ether multiplied by 50

Cor's Voidshape is probably my favorite part set, because of how game changing it is!
It basically enables classic shoot 'em up gameplay by reducing hitbox size and maximum armour.
Dodge or die!

I'm very proud of Etherion's Clash set.
It's perfect for people who like to use abilities from all available classes, because it covers the loss of damage, that you get for using multiple weapon types.

Ultranid's Corruption set effect is a mini Overload after you use an ability!
Extremely risky, but rewarding!

High-level players usually keep a lot of unused ether.
Kithalia's Blight should change that, by rewarding for NOT having ether and severely punishing if you don't dump ether!

I've also noticed that maximum ether property is not very useful.
Oesa's Radiance will make it more than useful!
I think it is possible to get up to +5000% damage through Oesa's Radiance effect.
You'll regret dismantling all those ether parts =]

Anyway, I've spent most of the time last week preparing for part sets.
I improved procedural item generator, part tooltips, added an interface for checking the status of part sets and so on.
Next week I will start implementing set effects.

I have also unlocked mortars and cannons because they will be required for Etherion's Clash set.
I promise to add abilities for those weapons soon!

There's one more thing.
I am going to remove ability unleashing.
Unleashing just simply didn't work out.
Without unleashed effects, I'll have more design space and I will be able to make more interesting abilities.

Considering how quickly I am progressing with this update, I think it will come out in the first half of June, so get ready!

Well, that's all for this echo.
Until next time!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #73: The new plan

This was another great week for Sector Six!
I've done a lot of progress and made few important decisions.
Seven part sets have been implemented and are ready for release!

But first, about the big decisions!

Right now Sector Six is unpopular.
I don't make many sales and that makes my life and game development rather difficult, so I need to increase sales.

Sector Six is in Early Access and that scares away a large part of buyers, so I need to get the game out of Early Access as soon as possible.
That means I have to finish Sector Six faster.

To do that I need to cancel some of the planned features.
Or even better - put some features aside and implement them after the game is finished and out of Early Access.

Postponed: The Router and unlinked regions

It would be a nice addition to the game but is not necessary for the game to be finished.

Postponed: Nomad class

Sector Six will leave Early Access with 3 classes instead of 4.
Postponing nomad class will make Sector Six release earlier by a good few weeks.

Postponed: Endgame update

Permanent death modes, creative mode, new game+ expansion, loot options, boss replaying...
All these features would take a lot of time to make and they would be used only by a few players, because of how unpopular Sector Six is, so I will wait until I have more players who can access these features before working on them.

Canceled: Part crafting

Part crafting was a feature I've always wanted to see in the game, but after adding cities, I have realized that there is no place for item crafting in Sector Six.
Item management in Sector Six is already very time consuming and crafting would make it even worse, so in a way, it's even better to have no crafting.

Canceled: Ability unleashing

I have really tried to make ability unleashing work well, but it's just impossible.
Without ability unleashing, I will be able to make abilities better because I no longer need two versions of the same ability - normal and unleashed.

With these questionable features out of the way, here's what I need to do before I can say that the game is completed:

The last item update
Part compression update
The boss update
The last combat expansion
The last boss update
The remaining story missions

The list has become nice, thin and doable!
Now I will be able to finish Sector Six in a few months and finished game will be polished to perfection!

Anyway, enough about the future.

As I have mentioned, I have implemented all part sets I wanted.
In the previous echo, I wrote about adding five part sets, but I added two more, so now there are unique 7 ways to build your spaceship!

Implementing sets was rather easy, except for Cor's Voidshape.
I had to find a way to merge parts of the spaceship into one image to make spaceship transparent.
That took me about 5 hours!

Next week I will implement new part properties:

+x levels to EMP Grenade ability
+x levels to Shards of Chaos ability
+x levels to Resurrect Armour ability
+x levels to Assemble Obelisk ability
+x% chance to cause white wave
+x% chance to cause red wave
+x% chance to cause black wave

Waves will be caused on an enemy kill.

The white wave will jam enemies.
The red wave will cause damage over time.
The black wave will destroy enemy segments and deal some damage to them.

Waves will help to defeat enemy groups because one destroyed enemy might cause a wave that will jam or damage other enemies.

Only mythical and etalon parts will have wave chance properties and only etalon parts will add levels to abilities.
That should make high-grade parts even more interesting!

After new properties are implemented, I will work on part filtering, the last thing on my list. Then I'll just need to fix few new glitches, run few tests and the new version will be ready for an update!

So, that's the news.
Until next time!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #74: Waves, phases, and explosions

Last week I have implemented wave part properties, started working on advanced part management and did few graphical improvements.

Item update is almost done.
I only need to finish part management which will take 1 or 2 days, add the last part properties and fix all those glitches that have crawled into the game with recent changes.

After that is done, I'll make few graphical changes and then update will be released.
The update should happen on the next weekend!

I've already written about white, red and black waves, so now I want to write a bit about phase chance and phase damage properties.

Phase chance will dictate how often your spaceship will enter the phase of increased power.
During the phase, you will deal more damage. The phase will last 5 seconds.
Phase damage will increase damage dealt during the phase.
For example, if your phase damage is equal to 200%, all of your abilities will deal 200% more damage during the phase.
Simple and effective!

Phase chance should replace unleash chance, which I have removed two weeks ago.

Anyway, next week I will also continue working on graphics.
I wasn't planning on doing that, but I've got some feedback and... started working graphics =P

Check video bellow to see what's improved.

So, that's all for this echo, I hope next time I'll have more news!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #75: Sector Six is too hard!

'Ello all! I've just watched a streamer play Sector Six.
I didn't watch the whole stream, but I got the important message. Sector Six is too hard!

What happened during the stream probably happened a lot of times before.
I've got comments and reviews saying that Sector Six is challenging, but that is good and so I didn't do anything about it.

If you played Sector Six and it seemed too hard/grindy/slow, I am very sorry!

BECAUSE SECTOR SIX IS NOT CHALLENGING.
It was never meant to be grindy or challenging unless the player really wanted it to be.
On the surface, it's a very easy and basic game.

THEN WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
...

What happens when players get Sector Six and start playing it?

They build an imbalanced ship, that doesn't have enough weapons and go to destroy some minions.
It's not that bad at first.
But they eventually level up, enemies get stronger.

Players add more parts that don't really help them.
Spaceship building mistakes start stacking up and turn fast, explosion filled combat into a slow nightmare.

Enemies take minutes to kill, the player loses several times, loses an alloy container, not even an easy mode helps at this point.

If I had to guess, this happens most of the time.

I've put a lot of warnings, there are ability descriptions and item tooltips.
And yet it keeps happening.

Players seem to understand how combat works.
They are able - even if not that well - to use shields, dodge bullets, activate abilities, repair armour with alloy container.

Why?

Players handle combat pretty well. There's a combat tutorial that quickly explains how to fight.
Players don't understand how to build a good spaceship. There's spaceship building tutorial-

Oh, right.
There's no spaceship building tutorial.

I mean, why would there be a tutorial, if to build a basic, good spaceship player just needs to add a lot of weapons to it?
Right?

Apparently, I was wrong and Sector Six needs an extended tutorial to also cover spaceship building.

I believe that right now Sector Six scares away most of the players and they never get the awesome experience that I spent years to create.

That needs to be fixed as soon as possible!

The UX team will have to work overtime to-

Oh.
...

Anyway, since I'm already writing the echo...

The last item update is almost here!

New properties and their effects have been implemented, advanced part management is working perfectly, set effect are ready to change gameplay forever...

The new spaceship building tutorial will be the next update, right after the item update.

Until next time!

PS: New trailer!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Part sets, new part properties, and advanced part management

This update implements the last item and spaceship building features!

Part sets

Now you will have a chance to find parts that belong to a set.
If you will equip 12 parts of the same set, you will be able to activate a powerful set effect!

There are 7 part sets:
  • Etherion's Clash:
+400% damage.
Damage boost is applied only if your spaceship has equal amount of relays, pylons, and nodes.

  • Cor's Voidshape:
Enemy projectiles go through your spaceship.
Enemy projectiles damage your spaceship only if they hit the Elder Mechanism.
Shield duration is reduced to 2 seconds.
Maximum armour is reduced by 90%.
Reflect chance is reduced to 0%.
Taken damage reduction is reduced to 0%.

  • Ultranid's Torment:
Cooldowns of all abilities are reduced to 0.5 seconds.
Activating an ability deals damage to your spaceship.
Damage dealt is equal to 10% of maximum armour.

  • Oesa's Radiance:
Your spaceship gets +1% damage for every 5 ether.
Base maximum armour of your spaceship is equal to maximum ether multiplied by 50.

  • Kithalia's Blight:
Your spaceship has +4% damage for every 1% of missing ether.
Your spaceship is destroyed if ether reaches 100.

  • Azimar's Killframe:
Weapon limit is equal to part limit.
Ether is removed.

  • Lodeon's Ultimatum:
Relay, pylon and node damage is equal to maximum armour of your spaceship.
Every 1 seconds damage is dealt to your spaceship.
Damage dealt is equal to 2% of maximum armour.


Only extant, mythical and etalon parts can belong to a set.

Part sets are a massive change and your feedback is needed more than ever!
If you think that they need some improvements, please let me know.

New part properties

Now items may have these properties:
  • +x% chance to upgrade part
  • +x% chance to cause white wave
  • +x% chance to cause red wave
  • +x% chance to cause black wave
  • +x levels to EMP Grenade ability
  • +x levels to Assemble Obelisk ability
  • +x levels to Resurrect Armour ability
  • +x levels to Shards of Chaos ability
  • Reduces phase break cooldown by x seconds
  • +x phase break damage
Some of the properties can only be found on higher grade parts.

Advanced part management

Part management interface has been updated with the new options!
Now you can highlight, dismantle or unequip:
  • Low-level parts.
  • Parts that have not been upgraded with amplifiers.
  • Amplifiers.
  • Alloy containers.
  • Relays.
  • Nodes.
  • Pylons.
  • Non-weapon parts.
  • Engines
These options are also available in cities!

Miscellaneous improvements and changes
  • Etalons and mythicals can now be upgraded twice.
  • Returned cannons to game.
  • Renamed cannons to pylons.
  • Nerfed Sustained Barrage.
  • Abilities cannot be unleashed anymore.
  • Removed nomad abilities.
  • Improved enemy explosions.
  • Improved missile impacts.
  • Improved toggle buttons.
  • Improved backgrounds.
  • The Elder Mechanism now has a tooltip.
  • You can now use controller buttons to manage parts.
  • Changed Eternal Obelisk and Full Potential achievements.
  • Achievement lore and lore buttons removed.
Have fun! =]








 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #76: Better experience and big questions

If you don't have time to read the whole post, scroll down to BIG QUESTIONS.
(The big questions part is dedicated to active, high-level Steam users)

The new tutorial is nearly finished!
I'm almost done with one of the hardest development phases.

Here's the list of previous tough phases:

1. Tutorial 1
2. Interface rework
3. Tutorial 2
4. Graphical update
5. Controller support
6. Tutorial 5?

There were many tutorials. Too many =P

These things aren't that hard, but they are very boring.
Reworking entire combat was a much more difficult task, but it was fun.

When I have to work on boring stuff, I have to force myself and I don't always succeed, and then the boring thing takes even longer to make.
Vicious cycle!

But I've dealt with this tutorial pretty well.
I'm going to polish it a bit, adapt it to controller/carrier class and then I'll update the game with the new tutorial.
That should happen in 2-3 days.

And yes, I need to have different tutorial versions for each starter spaceship and then different versions of those for controller users.

With the upcoming update, I'll also make mission 1, 2 and 3 shorter.
I'll just reduce filler space between things happening.

After the tutorial update, I'm going to adjust level systems and...

This needs a dramatic pause.
...

And I'll add Titan class!

Titan class will be absolutely amazing - except at removing shields - but more about it in next post.

Now, the new level systems...

When I get player feedback about things, I still don't do anything, until I start seeing patterns in feedback.
For example, when I start seeing more comments about level up system.

So yeah, I've got enough feedback about level up system to consider changing it.

First, I'll make sure that it takes more kills to level up in higher levels.
To be more proportional to how many parts the spaceship needs in higher levels.

Then I'll change the way enemies level up.

Every 10 missions completed, the Machines move.
It is when enemies will scale to player level, instead of automatically leveling up when the player does.

This will make leveling up very advantageous to the player, even if temporary.

To make this work, I'm going to need to change several things about leveling.
I think I'll nerf The Decision modifier and make it impossible to level up quickly by killing low-level enemies.
I don't want players to be more than 4 levels higher than enemies.

THE BIG QUESTIONS:

There are a few very important questions I want to ask my small community:

1) Should I decrease maximum part limit from 80 to 70?

80 parts are difficult to stuff into building field. It feels limiting, so I thought maybe I could reduce a size of spaceship a little.
Fewer parts also mean less time spent managing ship.
The better solution would be to increase building field, but I can't do that.

2) Should I nerf The Decision difficulty modifier? If yes, how much?

The safest option would be just let it have 1 level, that increase mission length just by 100%.
When I implemented it, I thought it was a good, heh, decision to make modifier that modifies mission length.
Now I'm not so sure.
I still want to keep it, but I don't want to force players to spend so much time on just one mission.
It would also allow exploiting enemy leveling after the upcoming changes.
Although new enemy leveling might not come.

3) Should I delete all saves and reset leaderboards when the game will leave Early Access?

Ships built in old version are a constant headache.
Update button helps a little, but with upcoming changes, old ships will become completely alien to the game.
Possibly different maximum part limit, part sets, new part properties, new experience formula - and old spaceships are build with different rules.

I'm NOT GOING TO DELETE PLAYER SAVES WITHOUT MAJORITY OF PLAYERS ACCEPTING IT, so I'm just asking to consider it.

I know many of you spent really a lot of hours playing Early Access versions, so if a fresh start doesn't sound good, I will respect that.

The question could be rephrased to:
When the game will leave Early Access, will you continue playing with an old spaceship OR will you start the new game?

Another thing, there will be some serious changes to save system.
It would be a lot easier for me to make these changes if I didn't have to port old saves to new save system.

4) Should I release all story missions in one update, or should I release a mission, whenever I'm done with it?

Once I'm done with everything else, I'll be working on new story missions.
There will be 9-10 more missions.

Finishing story might take several months and I don't know if anyone wants to wait that long.

The good thing about the mass release:
I might pull the game out of Early Access with the same update, so you can complete story in final game version.

5) How is the part sets?

How difficult is to obtain and maintain them?
Are there problems with them?

That's something to think about, eh?

So, that's all for this echo.

Until next time!

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! New tutorial and options

The game should be less confusing for new players because the tutorial has been extended to include explanations for spaceship building, ability equipping, alloy container maintaining, and mission map.

There are also new options for map screen.
It is now possible to skip a turn - which generates new missions - and to check in how many turns the Machines will move.

The big thing is the option to set level cap.
That can be done on the class select screen before starting a new game.
Level cap be set to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 and unlimited.
Level cap only works for that save and it cannot be changed.

Other changes:
  • Improved class select interface.
  • Fixed Almadi anode glitch.
  • Demolisher achievement can now be achieved again.
  • Shield generators now release mines.
  • Shield generators can now be encountered outside tutorial.
  • Fixed various phase break glitches.
  • EMP Grenade now costs 5 ether to activate.
  • Now it's possible to pause tutorial.
  • Possibly fixed invisible shield glitch.
Next update: Titan class!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #77: Titan class

Last week I have started working on Titan class!
5 abilities implemented, 4 abilities to go!

Titan class is a class that is not very good at dealing damage and removing shields but has powerful defensive abilities.

Titan class spaceships evolved from heavy support spaceships.
When the Machine invasion began, support spaceships were keeping shields up while Apocalypse and Carrier class spaceships were dealing damage.
After support spaceships won several battles because of their superior survivability, they were given even more powerful shields and weapons to become Titan class spaceships.

I've been saving up ideas for Titan abilities, so it's going really well, I expect for Titan class to be out in two weeks.
It would be possible to release Titan class next weekend, but I want to have extra time for testing and various combat improvements, such as Death From Above ability rework.
I will also need to make starter ship for Titan class and adapt tutorial to it.

Anyway, this and previous week I have added these Titan class abilities:

Concentrated Fire
This is main attack ability.
It's the fastest ability in the game, it's cooldown can be as low as 0.2 seconds, because every activation of ability decreases cooldown.
It has a downside - every 100 times this ability is activated, the ability has a long 15-second cooldown.
This gap will be a time for other abilities (including those from other classes) to shine.

Swarm Control
This ability is unique to the game, there was nothing like it before.
It creates a seeking missile for every minion seen on screen and those missiles go through shields, armour and even other minions until they reach their target.
It has a 4-second cooldown, so it's basically Titan class Death From Above.

Searing Beam
This ability creates a piercing beam that lashes minions.
It has a low cooldown and 15 ether cost, so if your ship generates ether quickly, it can be repeated often, unlike laser abilities of Apocalypse class.

Stable Shield
It's the strongest shielding ability in the game.
It's duration increases with ability level and at maximum ability level, it reaches 8 seconds!
With 14 second cooldown, it covers your spaceship more often and longer than other shielding abilities.

Creation of Energy
The ability that generates ether is finally here!
Break fundamentals of the Universe by downright creating ether out of nothing!
This is the first of many abilities that will encourage the use of giant spaceships.
When upgraded to max level, Creation of Energy creates 1 ether per part attached to your spaceship.
It has a 30-second cooldown, so you won't be able to completely rely on it to get ether. Unless your spaceship is like, really big.
Creation of Energy is immune to Flow Stagnation.

You can check out full ability descriptions and testing video below.

I hope you're as hyped as I am about Titan class!
Until next time!












 
Last edited:
D

Dublan

Guest
The last gameplay looks veeeeery professional. Keep working in this way!
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #78: Titan class, part 2

Week two of Titan class development!
Two abilities to go!

Last week I have implemented two more abilities:

Entropic Missile

It's a very simple ability.
It creates a single missile that deals really a lot of damage.
It breaks through minion armour.
And that's it.

Channel

This one is also very simple but this one has a very interesting effect.
Activating this ability will reduce ether cost of the next ability.
It's not just a nice discount - it allows to use more expensive abilities with Flow Stagnation difficulty modifier enabled.
It's also the only way to use abilities that cost ether while Azimar's Killframe set effect is active.
So many possibilities!
Channel decreases ether cost by 20 at a maximum level.

With 10 Titan class abilities implemented, I only need to implement 2 more!

Here are they:

Black Rain

This ability will cause black rain, which is when shards of metal are falling from the sky!
Well, when you're in that weird, cloudy outer space of Sector Six, it's a bit different, but the result is the same - lots of damage!

Falling metal shards will deal a certain amount of pylon damage.
To minions AND your spaceship, because rain is rain, it doesn't choose targets.

Black rain will fill the screen with damaging shards for 8 seconds, so only way to prevent damage to your spaceship is to put a Super Shield on your ship.
That's how Stable Shield is called now.

So ideally you'll be safely staying under the shield while everything else will be obliterated by the black rain!

Guardian Of A Thousand Worlds

It's the ultimate Titan class ability!
It turns your spaceship into Guardian, that regenerates armour at a ridiculous rate, deals increased damage and has 1000 ether.
Unconditionally. Must be exploiting some glitch.
But I'm not brave enough to question Guardian's ways!

Anyway, I wasn't only just adding new abilities, I have also done some changes to old abilities.

Projectiles created by Shards Of Chaos ability now break through enemy armour pieces, so this ability is guaranteed to deal damage now.

Death From Above now releases missiles after a short delay.
During the delay you can see where the missiles will go, so you have time to aim.

Carrier class mines no longer bounce off shields and ruins.
They also deal damage even if they weren't detonated.

There are few more changes, but I'm not going to write about them because you will be able to see them in the game soon!

Until then!





 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #79: Waiting for update

Titan class will be released soon.
It was meant to be released a few days ago, but there is a problem with the server I am using, so the new class won't be released for another few days.
Sorry!

Anyway, it's a good time to write about the upcoming updates.

8th month of the year has just started and that means I have less than 4 months to finish Sector Six in 2017.
It probably won't happen, but I'll try to make it true.

Which means that I'll need to move some more stuff to post-release.

My old plan was to make titan class, complete combat, make region boss 2, add additional region missions and enemies, make region boss 3, make remaining 9 story missions and release the game.

Now I have decided to put optional stuff away and focus on getting to story missions.

Extra region missions and bosses would be nice, but they are quite time-consuming and I don't hear feedback about wanting more of that.
And I do know that there's a lot of people waiting for story missions.

So yeah, region content has been officially dumped to post-release!

There's new obstacle through - map rework!
The Sector Six map/level/area system will be completely reworked.

Currently, enemies scale with player level and that makes levelling up useless and I really need to fix that.

So, what's going to happen?

Currently, there are 25 regions that scale to player level.
After rework, there will be a region for every player level.

For example, Deep Path will be a level 1 region.
Everything - items, enemies, cities - in Deep Path region will be level 1.

Negati will be level 2 region, Labyrinth will be level 3 region and so on!

It's a big change and it will be very good for the game - it will create a strong feeling of progression and a lot of content just because of how regions are going to work.

I'll write more about it once I'll start working on it, which will happen after I'll complete combat.

And it won't take long to complete combat.

It will be a relatively small update - I'll add remaining abilities for carrier and apocalypse classes, fix last small issues with combat and give each ability a passive effect.

For example, Shards Of Chaos ability will increase all damage by 2% per level of ability - even if Shards Of Chaos is not equipped.
That means it all unequipped abilities will turn into passive abilities, which is big because every ability point will matter now!

That's all good, but...

But Sector Six remains unpopular.
This is what I'm going to do about it:

1) Sector Six is going to get bigger discounts on sales.
2) Sector Six is finally going to be translated into different languages.
3) Sector Six is going to be included in bundles.

To sum it up, my new development plan is to release titan class, prepare the game for translation, rework map, finish the story and release the game.

So, that's all for this post!

Until next time.
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Massive update! Titan class is now available!

The wait is over!
Titan class is now available!

Class power distribution

Offense: 1
Defense: 3
Complexity: 2



Class description

Titan class spaceships are resilient destroyers of the Machine minions.
They aren't very good damage dealers, but their defensive abilities allow them to outlast even the deadliest of the Machine minions.
Titan class offensive abilities deal damage based on pylons.
It's quite complex class, with unique ability effects and disadvantages.
Some of the class abilities are compatible with other class spaceships.

Class abilities

Other changes
  • Rebalanced Lethal Weapons and Aberrant Armour difficulty modifiers.
  • Manifestations of Destruction modifier now can be increased to level 2.
  • Manifestations of Destruction level 2 makes minions always spawn in groups of 3.
  • Difficulty modifier levels are now saved between different missions and play sessions.
  • Fixed message glitch.
  • Added Almadi diodes.
  • Almadi diodes increase the grade of parts.
  • Now difficulty level increases a chance to get Almadi diode drop from minions.
  • Amplifiers, cathodes, anodes and diodes now have consistent levels and sell/buy costs.
  • Sustained Barrage ability now requires at least 5 ether to activate.
  • Shards Of Chaos ability projectiles now destroy enemy armour pieces.
  • Carrier class mines no longer bounce off shields.
  • Reworked Piercing Lasers ability.
  • Armoured colony seeker will no longer hit player spaceship when appearing.
  • Added Channel ability for carrier class.
  • Added new part sprites.
Your feedback is crucial

Some of the new abilities probably need to be improved, but to make improvements, I need feedback!
So if something doesn't feel right, please tell me and I will take care of it.

Have fun!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #80: Back to big questions

This week I was preparing the game for translation.
A large part of it is done, but there's still a lot to go.

What I am doing is putting chunks of text out of the game into one external file.
While doing that, I did a few improvements to the game.

All regions will have shops now, so every region will be worthy of securing.
The highlight is two new amplifier shops in Archmist and Pulsar Vector if I remember right.

I have also improved ability tooltips and corrected few errors in ability descriptions.

Finally, the reflect chance will now be capped at 80%, reduced from 90%.

Anyway, it's been a while since I have asked big questions.
I've got some feedback since, so I feel ready to reveal my decisions.

1) Should I decrease maximum part limit from 80 to 70?

I have decided to decrease it just before game leaves Early Access.

2) Should I nerf The Decision difficulty modifier? If yes, how much?

Players didn't seem to like very long missions, so I have left just 1 level of The Decision that doubles mission length.

3) Should I delete all saves and reset leaderboards when the game will leave Early Access?

Saves from Early Access will not work in post-Early Access game version, but everyone will have access to a game version where the old saves will still work.
I think that's a good compromise between erasing hours of playing and having to support saves from all game versions.

Not having to worry about old saves is a big relief to me.

4) Should I release all story missions in one update, or should I release a mission, whenever I'm done with it?

I will try to release a story mission every 1-2 weeks - it seems that it's what my players want.

5) How is the part sets?

I have decided to reduce the number of parts required to activate part set to 6.

There's still time to give your answer to big questions, so if you have any thoughts, let me know!

Until next time!

PS.: Here's a screenshot of Sector Six ability interface translated to * language:

 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #81: Final combat update

Preparation for translations should be finished within this week.
To keep myself enthusiastic about what's to come while I bore myself by moving pieces of text from point A to point B, I want to write about the final combat update.

Here are things I have to do with combat before I can release the game:
  • Add last four abilities, 2 for Apocalypse class and 2 for Carrier class.
  • Solve ability point problem.
  • Fix enemy group approaching exploits.
  • Make armoured colony seeker more interesting.
  • Improve certain Titan class abilities.
I'm planning to do all that with final combat update, which I will work on after I'm done with text moving.

So, here's the last four abilities:

Reaction
Carrier class ability
Cooldown 25
Ether cost 10
- Adds 10 alloy to alloy container

Cataclysm
Apocalypse class ability
Cooldown 40
Ether cost 40
- For 10 seconds minions will take 100% more damage

Rapid Fire Mode
Apocalypse class ability
Cooldown 30
Ether cost 10
- Reduces Missile Strike cooldown for 10 seconds

Awakening Of Inner Power
Carrier class ability
Ether cost 200
- Unleashes power stored within nodes
- Jams ALL minions for 5 seconds
- Removes 40% of armour from ALL minions
- Damage is based on amount of nodes equipped
- Can only be used once per mission


Awakening Of Inner Power is ultimate carrier class ability.
I'm really proud of this one.

Unlike other abilities, it can only be used once, but it has an effect that lasts for the entire mission.
As the description says, it removes some of the armour from all enemies.
It means all enemies you will encounter during the mission will have less armour.

Each node equipped removes 1% of enemy armour
That means Awakening Of Inner Power almost useless at level 1, but it keeps getting better as weapon limit increases.

High-level ship with 40 nodes equipped will remove 40% from all enemies!
Let's not forget that weapon limit can be ignored!

Ignoring weapon limit penalty, it will be possible to remove 80% of enemy armour with 80 nodes equipped!
Weapon limit penalty increases all ability cooldowns by 400%.

Which of damage dealing abilities has the lowest cooldown and so is barely affected by the penalty?
That's right, Concentrated Fire!

And what we get is 80 Nodes Titan Carrier Awakening build!

Anyway, let's move on to other stuff from final combat update.

What's ability point problem?
It's a very old problem that I've talked about in previous echoes if I remember right.

Basically, ability points become almost useless at level 22.
At level 22 you can max out 9 abilities and because you can't equip more than that, you will never really need more points.

How to solve it? Give every ability a passive effect, that works even if the ability is unequipped.
If every ability is worth spending ability points on, ability points will lose value at about level 82.

Ability point problem is a part of level up problem, that I am currently attacking from all angles.

Aside from fixes and improvements, final combat update should add new minion modifications:
  • 'Has a core' modification. Enemies with this modification will have armour core.
  • 'Mine launcher' modification. It's similar to 'Sniper' modification, but releases mines instead of accurate missiles.
  • 'Evolves' modification.
Now this one is worth writing about!

Minion with 'Evolves' modification will turn into a bigger minion after some time.

E.g.: Probe will turn into the tank after 5 seconds.
You can kill probe right away or wait 5 seconds and kill tank for more XP.

But it gets more interesting because evolved minions continue evolving!

A tank will evolve to heavy, heavy to a veteran, veteran to a dreadnought, dreadnought to apparition and apparition to final form!

Final form will be a monstrous minion - even more powerful than an apparition.
It will make you think twice before enabling The Assault Of The Modified modifier.
Then again, it will always drop an extant part!

This is inspired by Borderlands 2 goliaths, that level up when enraged.
Goliaths were the best part of that game for me and I really wanted to have something like that in Sector Six.

So, that's all news for now.
Until next time!
 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #82: Combat and item changes

It's been two weeks since the last echo.
I skipped one because there was no news - I just finished preparing the game for translation and that alone is not enough for the echo.

But now I have a lot of news!

First of, Carrier class is now complete!
I've added last two abilities - Ionize and Awakening Of Inner Power.

This is what Ionize does:



The passive effect is a thing, that solved the ability point problem!

All abilities except already passive abilities, now have a passive effect.

Apocalypse abilities give +2% damage per ability level.
Titan abilities give +2% armour per ability level.
Carrier abilities give +1% damage and +1% armour per ability level.

I have also changed Aggression, Resistance and Capacity passive abilities.

Aggression now gives +1% damage and +1% ether per level.
Resistance now gives +1% armour and +1% phase break damage per level.
Capacity now gives +1% damage and +1% armour per level.

The Capacity effect is identical to Carrier class passive effect, so I might change it later.

Another change to passive abilities is that parts no longer increase Aggression, Resistance and Capacity levels.

Instead, parts may come with "+5% ether" and "+5% armour".
It should be a lot easier to understand than, for example, "+5 levels to Capacity ability".

To mitigate extra damage your spaceship gets from passive effects, parts now give less damage.
E.g.: Generic part will now have "+5% damage" instead of "+10% damage".

Anyway, with Carrier class complete, I only need to make one more ability for Apocalypse class to finish it.
I have already added Rapid Fire Mode, so now it's time for Cataclysm.

And new modifications.
And exploit fixing.
And other stuff!

Should be fun, the update might be ready by the weekend!

Until next time.


 
Last edited:

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #83: Cataclysm, evolution and exploits

Last week I have implemented the last Apocalypse class ability, added new modifications and finally fixed enemy exploits.

Since the very beginning, Sector Six combat was riddled with exploits.

It was possible to regenerate armour outside combat, which encouraged idling.
I removed that.

It was possible to get in and out of the enemy range to avoid getting hit.
I have added missiles to prevent staying out of enemy range.

It was possible to damage enemies by standing at the edge of their range.
Few more adjustments and that became impossible.

It was possible to separate enemies from their groups and never fight more than one enemy at once.
Not anymore!
Enemies now warn each other and will attack you, even if they are outside the screen.
Enemy projectiles no longer disappear outside the screen, so there's no escape!

That should be the last of exploits!
One step closer to perfecting the combat.

Another step is the 36th ability - Cataclysm.
With Cataclysm added, all classes have 12 abilities now!
And that is all abilities I have planned for Early Access.

The ability itself is very basic: It increases damage minions take by 100% for 10 seconds.
Still, it's an effect that no other abilities have, so it will probably find its place.

Anyway, last week I have also implemented 3 new enemy modifications!

'Teleports' - Minions with this modification will teleport to a different place every second.
'Has an armour expansion' - This modification adds 1 extra armour bar!
'Mine launcher' - And this one turns enemies into demolishers!

I have also added evolving minions.
The system is still rough around the edges, needs few more hours to be finished.

So, that's all the news, the next update should be very soon.
Until then!




 
Last edited:
Top