Steam Sector Six - Looter shoot 'em up

Phoebe Klim

Member


Sector Six is a side-scrolling, sci-fi shooter with silhouette aesthetic, procedural loot, and story missions.




Save the Universe

Enter distant future and join the desperate fight to stop the Eight Machines from destroying everything.
In your journey, you will interact with ancient structures and beings, break laws of physics, travel between Sectors, battle swarms of the Machine minions, collectors, despair, anomalies, defense systems - all to stop the terrible enemy.

Build your spaceship

Spaceship building allows you to build a unique ship from procedural parts, obtained by destroying minions of the Machines.
Every part has various properties and can be placed anywhere on the building field, allowing you to customize performance, appearance, and size of your ship.

Become master of spaceship combat

Test not just your spaceship, but also your skills as you dodge enemy projectiles and find the right timing to counterattack with your own.
Each enemy brings new attacks, defenses, and strategies to defeat - it’s up to you to hone your combat skills and take them down.


Part customization, part sets, and relics


Combine, upgrade, and re-roll parts to create ones that are ideal for your dream spaceship.
If that is not enough, collect set parts and relics to transform your destroyer of invaders into something even more powerful!

Modular difficulty system

Make the game as hard as you want it to be!
Modular difficulty system allows you to modify almost every element of the combat and offers rewards for increasing the difficulty.​



Get demo or full version!
Go to Steam store page...



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5. Story.png






 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
The graphical style is easily the best part of this game's presentation! It's not really pixel art, but the way the graphics utilize sharp details that are one pixel big really gives a sense of scale, and also a sense of precision... like it makes the graphics sharper and of a greater resolution. And then we've got those buildings in the background that blends in due to the fog. It looks gorgeous, and I also really like the contrast between the manmade ships' artificial shapes and the natural clouds' organic shapes. I think the pop-up messages might be conveying a bit TOO MUCH information at times, and the sidebar gauges feel a bit out of place, but overall the game looks fantastic in a very baroque, bombastic minimalism I've never seen anywhere else.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #41: Month ahead

Since this is last echo of June, I am going to write a bit about my plans for next month!
But first about this week.

I have did a lot of progress with graphic update!
I have updated projectiles and added Sailemar background. Only 1 background to go!
Projectile flares now look... better. Check screenshots below.

I have also improved floating damage text, since I have noticed that it's quite popular feature.
Floating text now should be easier to see and look better. Plus, damage numbers now merge, showing how much damage in total was dealt. Text merging can be turned off in settings.

These and other changes should come out in one massive update on July!
For graphical update I still need to tweak backgrounds, update interfaces, main menu and add few animations.

After graphical update, I'm going to work on modular difficulty system!
The idea of modular difficulty system is to allow players to make Sector Six harder for great rewards, that will allow to further rise difficulty, to get even better rewards and so on!

It will be vast expansion to hard mode that should heavily change gameplay.
It's also going to be first beta update and largest content update ever!

But for now, I need to finish graphical update!
Until next week!






PS.: Echoes are articles I write about Sector Six and post them on Sundays.
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #42: Ityl and Nebula

This week I have added backgrounds for Ityl and Nebula.
Now all regions in Sector Six have their backgrounds!

Ityl background buildings - see screenshot below - are actually from the old Sector Six.

During Shatterer war, Sector Six was completely destroyed. But after winning the war, the Almadi have resurrected it. Normally resurrection would recreate everything perfectly, but it wasn't regular resurrection. All regions in the Sector were properly recreated, except Ityl. Resurrection process has restored Ityl to time not before it was destroyed, like with other regions, but to a moment before Sector Six has collapsed, after Shatterers ruined it. Ityl has been untouched since the resurrection, it is a sacred place for the people of Sector Six. They go there to remind themselves about the final war in Sector Six history...

Nebula's background is unique - it has animated elements, check GIF below!
It was pretty challenging to do it, but I think it was worth the effort.
Over time other backgrounds might also get their animated elements.
Objects in Nebula's background are particle procession plants.

Nebula's particle procession plants, also known as nemezium plants, accumulate nemezium particles that circulate in Nebula's atmosphere. Nemezium comes to Nebula from Ityl, from the decaying remains of the Shatterer spaceships. It is the only source of nemezium in Sector Six, besides the Machines and their minions, as it is Sector Seven element.

I am putting these lore fragments here because of two reasons. Reason one is that some weeks I just don't have anything to write about, sometimes my progress can be described with one line. Reason two is that I am going to make 25 new achievements, one achievement for every region on Sector Six. And these lore bits are going to be the reward for completing region achievements. So I'm getting both additional content for the echo and lore for the achievements!

Anyway, this week I have also began working on new region entering and leaving animations. Next week I'm planning to finish these animations, polish backgrounds and maybe start working on something I call loot box. Loot box is going to show all parts player has found during the mission.

So, I guess this is the end of this echo!
Until next week!



 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #43: Loot box

This week have made several improvements to backgrounds, added new region leaving/entering animations and implemented loot box.

Loot box is in results interface, that appears at the end of every mission. Its purpose is to show parts player got during mission or as a mission reward. Currently loot box doesn't show more than 17 parts, it should be enough for now, but later I am going to make loot box show more parts, because in future there will be very long missions with a lot of kills and a lot of drops.

Another change is that the parts received for completing region missions are now displayed in a same way as the armoured colony seeker rewards.

These changes has been made to make part looting more noticeable, more real.

That's the same reason why I made region entering and leaving animations. Entering region with unleashed engines is more badass than just appearing in the region.

Next week I am going to finish updating backgrounds and after that I'll continue working on new interfaces. I'm planning to make main menu and credits more interesting, clean up ability interface, improve spaceship building and maybe make few changes to tooltips.

That's about all I need to do to be able to release the update!

Until next week!





 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #44: One thing done

I have confession to make guys. I didn't do anything with Sector Six this week, except for one thing.
Most of the time I wasn't at home or I was working on other game for competition.

But the good news is that I am done with competition game, so now I will work as much as always and hopefully update will be out by the beginning of next month!

Anyway, that one thing, that I did this week, is actually pretty big.
It took me like 20-30 minutes to make, but it will have large impact on gameplay.

It is not possible to move back away from enemy to avoid getting hit anymore.
Attacking enemies from safe long range is also a history!

I have attempted to fix retreating many times, but all previous methods didn't worked.
This one works.

Whenever player moves spaceship out of enemy range, the enemy uses its long range weapon system to purge the area. Basically screen is filled with missiles and player spaceship is destroyed, if it isn't moved back to enemy range.

So, evil laugh, works great!

Until next week!
Next week's echo is going to be nice, I promise.

PS.: Check out that competition game! Link...

 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #45: Productive week

This week was quite productive!

First of all, I have made unleashed Missile Strike ability effect.
Old unleashed Missile Strike was shooting one big slow missile instead of many small ones and in some cases unleashed Missile Strike was weaker than regular one.

Now unleashed Missile Strike simply summons additional missile, that deals 100% of total relay damage, if Missile Strike is maxed. It's not very powerful effect, because I couldn't make it any more powerful for balance - Missile Strike has really low cooldown and so it has much higher unleash chance than other abilities. But that additional missile, summoned by the unleashed Missile Strike, makes pretty explosions, so despite the fact that it deals little damage, I really like new unleashed effect and I hope you guys will like it too.

After making pretty explosions, I have improved spaceship building.
I have made a simple part installing/uninstalling animation.
I imagine that the weapons, processors, engines and other parts of futuristic, modifiable, city-sized military spaceship should have pretty complex programs in them, so I think that installation animation is a must be!

Changes to the spaceship building weren't just cosmetic.
When building spaceship, parts used to fail to be placed in the building field and that made spaceship building slower and slightly irritating, especially when building large spaceship.
That's fixed now!

I have also fixed other old problem.
Players had been telling me about armour and ether bars being in wrong place for long time.
I have finally relocated them, now bars are closer to screen center.

Lastly, I have began working on better ability interface.
I have made upgrading/downgrading animations and cleaned up ability description screen.
It still needs some polishing and I hope to have it done next week.

Next week I'll work on many different things, because I'll try to make the update ready by the end of the week and I have a lot of things on my list!

Until next time!





 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #46: +1% fun

This week I was polishing various parts of the game!

One thing that I learnt about making games is that nothing in game should disappear.
So now missiles that go off-screen explodes.
Enemy missile didn't hit you, but it hit something off-screen, instead of vanishing without a trace.
That makes combat 0.1% more enjoyable.

Also, now when enemy is destroyed, the explosion destroys nearby projectiles.
Like it would happen in real world.
Missile #1, missile #2 and missile #3 is released. Missile #1 hits enemy and destroys it.
What happens next?
In Sector Six 0.5.9, missiles #2 and #3 will go through the space where enemy existed few milliseconds ago.
In Sector Six 0.6.5 and real world, missiles #2 and #3 will explode together with destroyed enemy.
That's another 0.1%!

The next 0.1% comes from improved Death From Above ability, now its missiles are much faster and it feels more powerful and aggressive.

In Sector Six 0.5.9, if your spaceship is destroyed, you are told that the Elder Mechanism will recreate it.
In Sector Six 0.6.5, if your spaceship is destroyed, the spaceship is actually recreated.
It's not much but... 0.1%?

This week I have also made few changes to escort missions.
Defending carrier was awkward and barely possible with minions like veteran and dreadnought, so now you no longer need to defend it.
That makes escort missions into same boring destroy X minions mission with a cosmetic carrier above your ship, but hey, at least it works.
And I can always make carrier more interesting by making it blow up minions!

Oh, and about dreadnoughts...
Now they start appearing when you reach level 15.

What else? I added sounds for selecting/deselecting abilities, tweaked region entering/leaving animations, moved upgrade/downgrade buttons slightly... And that's pretty much it.

I made Sector Six like 1% more fun and it makes this week good!
Until next week!

PS.: I decided to postpone update for a week or two, since update is not going to be released on July anyway.

 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #47: Get ready for beta

This week I was working on stuff that is not interesting to write about, so instead I'm going to evaluate current status of the game.

I am almost done with the graphical update and that means Sector Six is going to enter beta soon!
And this is with what the game will enter it...

Music: 95%
Left to do: Implement two tracks.

Sound effects: 80%
Left to do: Some sound effects could be replaced with better ones.

Graphics: 90%
Left to do: I'll think of something.

Interfaces: 85%
Left to do: Map interface rework, avatar customization.

Combat: 40%
Left to do: Chaos mechanic, 12 abilities per class, 4 classes, unleashed ability effects, passive abilities, modified enemies.

Spaceship building: 70%
Left to do: Part set effects, more part properties, calibrating, item stacking, part filtering.

Region missions: 20%
Left to do: More mission types.

Region bosses: 25%
Left to do: More bosses.

Region enemies: 40%
Left to do: More enemies.

Story missions: 10%
Left to do: 30 story missions?

Story bosses: 0%
Left to do: The Machines: Astrail, Numinor, Hivind, Ourend, ???, ???, Ligwitch, Malasmor.

Achievements: 20%
Left to do: More achievements

Features: 40%
Left to do: Shops, secure regions, modular difficulty system, crafting system, the Router, endgame, controller support, local co-op mode.

Total: 48%
Beta: 2016 August
Full release: 2017?

Core of the game is done, Sector Six will no longer drastically change.
Almost all upcoming updates will be content updates!

Get ready to fight the Machines, get ready to make game ten times harder, get ready to craft quad weapons, get ready to master goliath and nomad classes, get ready to enter mysterious regions outside borders through the Router...

Get ready for beta!

 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Sector Six will be updated on August 19th!

One of the most game changing updates in Sector Six history is coming in two days featuring:
  • New, better backgrounds.
  • New animations for actions that previously had no animations.
  • Combat improvements: Faster basic attack abilities, better combat animations.
  • Interface improvements: Better spaceship building, better ability interface, loot box.
  • Hundreds of minor improvements!
Hang in there!











 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Massive graphical update! Sector Six enters beta!

Graphical update is here!
I proudly present one of the most game changing updates in Sector Six history!
It is also the last alpha update - with it Sector Six enters beta!

New backgrounds

Sector Six backgrounds have received many improvements – now they behave more realistically, give better illusion of depth and look more interesting because of the color layer.
New backgrounds have been added for every region and existing ones were improved.

New animations

New animations has been added for actions that previously had no animations.
This includes part installing, region entering and ability upgrading animations.

Combat improvements

Combat is now more fun! Projectiles have better particles, Missile Strike, Spread Mines and Death From Above abilities are faster, dreadnoughts attack only higher level players and are encountered less often, escort missions are less annoying, retreat exploit is fixed and so on!

Interface improvements

I have cleaned up ability interface, moved combat HUD armour, alloy and ether bars closer to the center of the screen, added loot box to the mission results interface, updated floating text system and improved part placing code, now placing parts in the building field is easier.

Beta

Now that alpha is finally over, there will be a lot more content updates!
This should be the most interesting development phase,
First beta update will be modular difficulty system and infinite inventory.
Modular difficulty system will allow players to make game harder for rewards, that will allow them to make game ever harder!

Have fun!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #48: Inventory, challenges and rewards

This week I have improved inventory!

Now when you fill the inventory, it becomes bigger, that means items will never be lost because there’s not enough space in the inventory!

Filling inventory creates new inventory page. Removing all items from last inventory page, deletes that inventory page. And there’s a limitation – if you want to start new mission, you cannot have more than 3 inventory pages. The inventory is infinite, but your computer’s power is not!

After more than 10 pages created, FPS severely drops when adding the new item to the inventory, this should be even worse for the slower computers.

I could probably optimize inventory system to allow having 100 and more pages without any lag, but I would need to completely rewrite inventory system and I don’t want to do that. It would take a lot of time and 3 inventory pages – that’s 198 slots! – is more than enough, for now.

I wanted to make inventory kind-of-infinite, because the modular difficulty system will reward player with a lot of items at the end of the mission.

Here is the challenges that the modular difficulty system will offer:

Armoured Minions
Minions will have 50% more armour.

Deadly Minions
Minions will deal 25% more damage.

Deadly Encounters
You will have a chance to encounter dreadnoughts.

The Assault of the Modified
There will be more modified minions.

The Rain of Fire
Every 10 seconds the missile will be fired at you from the bombardment station. Find and destroy bombardment station to stop this.

Risk for Reward
XP and parts earned in this mission will be lost, if your spaceship will be destroyed.

Suicide Mission
Doubles required kill count for kill missions, doubles escort distance for the escort missions, doubles ruin data required for resurrection missions, doubles guardian kill count for the boss missions.

Only the Strongest
Swarmlings will only spawn with the big enemies, probes or scions will not spawn.

Every challenge/difficulty system module that you will accept will increase reward that you will get if you will complete mission with increased difficulty.

1 Module used
1 amplifier, 1 optimized part

2 Modules used
2 amplifiers, 3 optimized parts

3 Modules used
4 amplifiers, 6 optimized parts

4 Modules used
6 amplifiers, 3 advanced parts, 3 optimized parts

5 Modules used
8 amplifiers, 6 advanced parts, 3 optimized parts

6 Modules used
10 amplifiers, 6 extant parts, 6 advanced parts

7 Modules used
12 amplifiers, 12 extant parts, 6 advanced parts

8 Modules used
14 amplifiers, 12 extant parts, 12 advanced parts, 6 optimized parts

If you have never enabled hard mode - amplifiers are the items that you can use to upgrade spaceship parts. Upgrading makes the part as powerful as the part from the next tier. E,g,: upgraded generic part is like normal optimized part.

Of course, this is just a plan, just a bunch of ideas, so I don’t really know how will this look in the end! But I hope as cool as I imagine it now!

Next week I will continue improving inventory and items.

I will make amplifiers stack-able, I will make amplifiers for properties that don’t have amplifiers yet, I will merge apocalypse/carrier/goliath/nomad ability unleash chances into universal ability unleash chance, I will improve tooltips and maybe I will even start working on the modified enemies. (Does anyone remember sniper veterans?) After all that, I will be ready to work on the modular difficulty system!

Until next week!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #49: Modifications

Last week I have improved amplifiers, improved part and map tooltips, changed several part properties and fixed problems with the holy thunder.

Amplifiers are items, that are used to upgrade spaceship parts. Currently they can be found if hard mode is enabled. When modular difficulty system will be added, amplifiers will be rewarded in large numbers, so I made them stack.

Now that Sector Six inventory allows stack-able items, making crafting system will be a lot easier!

I have also added new amplifiers:

Amplifier XV: Gives part +3% ability unleash chance.
Amplifier XVI: Gives part +5 aggression.
Amplifier XVII: Gives part +5 resistance.
Amplifier XVIII: Gives part +5 mastery.
Amplifier XIX: Gives part +5 capacity.

As the amplifier XV hints, now instead of four unleash chances, there's just one for all abilities. This should highly reduce chance of getting useless parts!

The +x weapon damage property on parts have changed as well. It has been replaced with less confusing +x% damage. Add part with +10% damage property to your ship and you'll deal 10% more damage.

Since the beta launch, several players had trouble with what I call holy thunder, that's those missiles that fall when you get away from the enemies.
I have made them more user friendly, now when you leave enemy range, you have half second to return to the enemy range, this should help to not get punished by the holy thunder.

Also it's no longer possible to trigger next enemy group to barrage you by getting very close to enemy you're currently fighting.

The last thing I worked on was the tooltips. Just a few minor improvements!

This week I am going to work on modified enemies!

The idea is to take currently existing enemies and modify them by adding destructible parts. Tanks with repairing pylons, dreadnoughts with regeneration hubs, acolytes with sniper weapons, heavies with armour strengtheners... This will be fun*!

Until next time!

*At least for me >=]



 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #50: 50th echo

When I began working on Sector Six, I didn't knew that it would become this big.

I didn't knew that Sector Six is going to be in Steam, I didn't knew that it will get so much positive feedback, I didn't knew that one day I will write 50th development blog a.k.a. echo about it.

But it all happened and it's amazing!

So, how did it began?

In 2014, after finishing my first game, I immediately began working on Sector Seven. I had the idea of allowing player to build spaceships out of destructible blocks. Two months later Sector Seven was finished. It was weird, clunky, pretentious shoot 'em up with light RPG elements and many, many problems.

But I glad I made it, because without out it, there would be no Sector Six.

I promised myself that I would make Sector Seven sequel. Later I have decided not to, but then...

One quiet summer morning I woke up with weird images in my mind. It was epic black spaceship silhouettes and I knew they were built out many blocks.

I created new project file, called Shadow Sector the same day. Later I decided to call it Sector Six.

In the beginning, I didn't worked on Sector Six much, I was focusing on my other game, Lur. Just like Sector Seven, it wasn't a good game, but while making it, I got experience, that I needed to make Sector Six.

I have finished Lur on January 2015, redirected my focus on Sector Six and intense development began.

Back then Sector Six was similar to Sector Seven. There was no inventory, blocks were simply bought for currency. Those blocks didn't had any stats and they were destroyed on hit. Lose all blocks and game is over.

Back then I was playing Path of Exile and Torchlight. So another idea hit me. What if blocks had random stats and you could get them by killing enemies? I already knew how to make inventory and generate random loot from Lur, so I decided to give it a try. And it worked!

For those who are interested in seeing what was Sector Six like in the very beginning, I have uploaded old Sector Six version on Itch.io

Sector Seven can also be found there.

Now a bit about future!

Last week I have successfully implemented modified enemies!


Modifications

There's just four modifications yet, but there should be more in future.

Modification 1: Fires missiles at your location
Modification 2: Double armour
Modification 3: Drops swarmlings when destroyed
Modification 4: Drains ether

With modified enemies in, I can work on modular difficulty system! It should take me one, maybe two weeks to finish and then I'll update the game, hopefully it will happen this month!

After modular difficulty system... Well, there was massive interface update, massive combat update, massive graphical update... Now it's time for massive story update! After modular difficulty system I will be working on story missions. A lot of them!

So, that was the 50th echo, until next time!


Modified scion swarm


Modified tank


Modified veteran


Old Colowis background


Pink screen of death


Combat overhaul in development


Invasion core and the glitch of the thousand suns
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #51: Mission overview

This week I have began working modular difficulty system.
First thing I have to do is to make mission overview screen and I have spent this week trying to make it.

Yes, whole week for one interface.
In my defense, it's really hard to make interface that's both informative and looks cool. That is exactly what I want from mission overview.

Modular difficulty system is big, complex, awesome thing and I need to show that in mission overview screen.
I need something cool to represent it, hopefully I'll get that next week.

I'm about a week away from being able to update game with one of the most ambitious features, so I figured I'll write shorter echo this week and work longer on the game!

Until next week! Or game update!

 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #52: Shaping modular difficulty system

This week I was shaping modular difficulty system!

It took me many hours, but have managed to make mission overview into something I can tolerate.

Eight icons are modular difficulty system modules or challenges.
Enabling them changes image between challenges and mission description.
That image is difficulty map, it's a visual representation of modular difficulty system.


The (almost finished) mission overview

Enabling challenges is actually your hero deciding to take more dangerous paths, with anomalies and powerful enemies. Difficulty map shows those dangerous paths.

Here's the updated list of challenges:

Lethal Weapons
Minions will deal 50% more damage

Aberrant Armour
Minions will have 100% more armour

The Manifestations of Destruction
You will encounter dreadnoughts

The Assault of the Modified
You will encounter more modified minions

The Rain of Fire
You will be bombarded every 10 seconds until you will destroy bombardment station

Risk for Reward
Earned parts and experience will be lost if you will fail the mission

The Decision
Mission objective count will be increased by 100%

Flow Stagnation
Abilities will cost 100% more ether during this mission

Some of these challenges can be used more than once.
For example, you can use Aberrant Armour to make enemies have 500% more armour!

After making mission overview, I implemented rewards and began implementing challenges.

I have implemented four of the challenges already, four more to go.

When they will be implemented, I will be testing and balancing modular difficulty system to make sure it can't be exploited too much.

I will also increase power of some abilities!
I can now decrease difficulty of base game, those players who will want difficulty will be able to get more than enough of it through modular difficulty system.

I don't think anyone will ever will beat mission with 34 difficulty: +500% base enemy damage, +1000% base enemy armour, objective to kill 150 modified dreadnoughts, when abilities cost 500% more ether and missiles keeps falling from the sky randomly.

I did good!

Until next time!
 
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Alright, so here's my general thoughts on the game. Basically, you have an idea here that sounds cool on paper, mixing RPG elements with a horizontal schmup. Unfortunately, the schmup gameplay itself never really clicked for me, for a lot of little reasons. The graphics are too simple to hold my interest, and feel cheap, since they're all just basic black outlines. Killing enemies and being hit didn't have much impact thanks to the graphics and sound. The music wasn't especially memorable. Basically, nothing in the game was overly bad....it's just that nothing was overly good, either. This is made even worse by your menus and RPG elements - because the core gameplay wasn't satisfying, the longer it took to get into the game, the more annoyed I got. I didn't care about story or building ships when I wasn't having a blast playing the core game!

Anyway, this game is already basically done, since it's on Steam now, so maybe it's a little late for this, but....my advice to you would be to check out games like Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, R-Type and Dodonpachi, and really study what makes them fun, engaging, and famous games, even though they're all much "simpler" than yours (no RPG elements or anything), and then I'd go from there.

Ikaruga is the most elegant game I listed, and is probably the one you'd like the look and feel of most. I'd probably start there. Good luck!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Alright, so here's my general thoughts on the game. Basically, you have an idea here that sounds cool on paper, mixing RPG elements with a horizontal schmup. Unfortunately, the schmup gameplay itself never really clicked for me, for a lot of little reasons. The graphics are too simple to hold my interest, and feel cheap, since they're all just basic black outlines. Killing enemies and being hit didn't have much impact thanks to the graphics and sound. The music wasn't especially memorable. Basically, nothing in the game was overly bad....it's just that nothing was overly good, either. This is made even worse by your menus and RPG elements - because the core gameplay wasn't satisfying, the longer it took to get into the game, the more annoyed I got. I didn't care about story or building ships when I wasn't having a blast playing the core game!

Anyway, this game is already basically done, since it's on Steam now, so maybe it's a little late for this, but....my advice to you would be to check out games like Ikaruga, Radiant Silvergun, R-Type and Dodonpachi, and really study what makes them fun, engaging, and famous games, even though they're all much "simpler" than yours (no RPG elements or anything), and then I'd go from there.

Ikaruga is the most elegant game I listed, and is probably the one you'd like the look and feel of most. I'd probably start there. Good luck!
Have you played the latest version?
Even if you did, I think I can make combat more impactful, but if you don't like spaceship building, slow-ish combat against tough enemies and minimalistic graphics, Sector Six is not game for you and there's nothing I can do.
About shoot 'em up stuff, Sector Six is not meant to be shoot 'em up. I am aiming for Diablo-clone type game (something like Path of Exile) and I think I've done it pretty well.
Basically, nothing in the game was overly bad....it's just that nothing was overly good, either.
I'll take that as a compliment =]
After all, I started from 0 just three years ago and my budget was never above 0.

Thank you for feedback, I will try to make few improvements based on it =]
 
Have you played the latest version?
I didn't, unfortunately. I don't have Steam installed on this computer, and didn't feel like installing it and then installing a demo right now. :x
So I had to go by my memories of last time I played it awhile back, along with the videos as a refresher. My memory is very good though, and I had clear thoughts about it last time I played. If you want to upload a zipped, non-installing demo somewhere, I'll be happy to play it, but I don't think my opinion will change, based on the newest videos.
Even if you did, I think I can make combat more impactful, but if you don't like spaceship building, slow-ish combat against tough enemies and minimalistic graphics, Sector Six is not game for you and there's nothing I can do.
About shoot 'em up stuff, Sector Six is not meant to be shoot 'em up. I am aiming for Diablo-clone type game (something like Path of Exile) and I think I've done it pretty well.
I don't dislike the idea on paper, and I am an RPG fan, both Western and Japanese. Like I said, it wasn't the game format itself that bothered me, it was the execution itself. If the game was better executed, I think it would definitely be for me! I only stopped into the thread because I thought the idea was good, but there seemed to be a lack of interest from people. I'm here to help you sell more copies! =D
I'll take that as a compliment =]
After all, I started from 0 just three years ago and my budget was never above 0.
It wasn't a compliment or an insult. Just calling it how I see it. You can take it as a compliment though, since you've done a lot of work on the game. ^ ^
The game isn't bad at all. It's just lacking the polish and execution to get people excited. Again, I'd closely study other shooters to see what makes them tick. Unfortunately, I think your graphical style is playing a large part in what makes the game unengaging. Everything looks the same, so it feels like there's a big lack of variety. A lot of the fun in schmups is going to cool places and fighting cool enemies. With cool explosions to make you feel like a badass when you defeat them. Your game feels flat and fluffy all around, thanks to the silhouette-based graphics and particle-based explosions. Which is why, like I said, my advice might be more something to keep in mind for your next shooter, instead of for this one. You probably don't want to rebuild the whole game, especially now that it's been out for four months on Steam. It'd probably be better to wow people with your next one, and get some good hype early on.
Thank you for feedback, I will try to make few improvements based on it =]
Yar, good luck. =)
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
I didn't, unfortunately. I don't have Steam installed on this computer, and didn't feel like installing it and then installing a demo right now. :x
So I had to go by my memories of last time I played it awhile back, along with the videos as a refresher. My memory is very good though, and I had clear thoughts about it last time I played. If you want to upload a zipped, non-installing demo somewhere, I'll be happy to play it, but I don't think my opinion will change, based on the newest videos.
Good memory? Dark ages, that's how I call everything that was before current version. With version 0.4.5, I made game playable and version 0.6.5 made it enjoyable, because even I couldn't stand 0.4.5
Here's 0.6.5 demo: Link...
Cool explosions
I can't and don't want to change art style (many people love it), but I can improve explosions, if I know that they need improving. That's why I need people like you =]
Also I'll try to make enemies and player become white or red for millisecond when they get hit.
I believe it's shmups. From shoot 'em ups.
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Choose your own difficulty, improved inventory and modified enemies!

Modular difficulty system is now live!
You can now increase difficulty of the missions and earn rewards for beating them!

Before starting the mission, now you're taken to mission overview screen. There you can enable different challenges that make mission harder.

You can:
  • Increase damage enemies deal.
  • Increase enemy armour.
  • Add chance to encounter dreadnoughts.
  • Increase chance to encounter modified enemies.
  • Choose to be bombarded by bombardment stations.
  • Choose to lose all earned parts and experience if you fail to complete the mission.
  • Increase mission length.
  • Increase ether cost of abilities.
You can enable as much challenges as you want.

More challenges means that you will get more and higher grade parts/amplifiers if you will complete mission!

No need to worry about not being able to hold so much parts and amplifiers!
Now inventory becomes bigger when you fill it up!
Additionally, new inventory supports item stacking, you can have hundreds of amplifiers and fill just few inventory slots.

Keep in mind that while inventory is infinite, you cannot start missions if you have more than three inventory pages.
Pages disappear if you empty them.

The last big change of this update is the return of the modified enemies!

You now have chance to encounter enemies with sniper weapons, doubled armour, doubled damage, ether draining and swarmlings inside!

Modified enemies drop optimized and advanced parts.

List of other changes:
  • Replaced +x weapon damage part property with +x% damage property.
  • Now there's one unleash chance part property instead of 4.
  • Added Amplifier XV that gives part +3% ability unleash chance.
  • Added Amplifier XVI that gives part +5 aggression.
  • Added Amplifier XVII that gives part +5 resistance.
  • Added Amplifier XVIII that gives part +5 mastery.
  • Added Amplifier XIX that gives part +5 capacity.
  • Removed laser ink, because it wasn't useful and wasn't working properly.
  • Improved part and item tooltips.
  • Rebalanced alloy container refill prices.
  • Improved region tooltips.
  • Added ability tooltips.
  • Acolytes can now drop parts.
  • Lurkers can now drop parts.
  • Reduced Spread Mines ability cooldown from 2 to 1.5 seconds.
  • Increased damage of Missile Strike ability.
  • Reworked Destabilize ability, now it's called Bladed Mine.
  • Added Bladed Mine ability unleashed effect.
  • Reflected missiles are now slower.
  • Fixed mission 1 music bug.
  • Reworked dreadnoughts.
Have fun!

Next update: Story mission V!

PS.: If your inventory is broken, go to settings and press "Normalize legacy spaceship" button.











 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #53: Upcoming updates

This week I didn't had much time to work on Sector Six.
I didn't do much, but now it's possible to start game with carrier class spaceship!

Starter carrier class spaceship comes with carrier class weapons and abilities.





Next week I am going try to fix modular difficulty system.
Apparently modular difficulty system doesn't make game that hard and gives too good rewards!

If I'll fix modular difficulty system in time, I will release new Sector Six version next weekend.

When modular difficulty system will be fixed, I will make story mission V, that will be at least 4 times longer than story mission IV! It will also feature boss fight, that will change based on your actions during mission.

In other news, I have finally bought controller!
I will start working on controller support after story mission V.

Future is bright.

Until next time!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Update! Difficulty system improvements, new enemy and new starter spaceship

Modular difficulty system balance has been adjusted.
Now it will be a lot harder to get high grade parts!

  • Aberrant Armour challenge now increases enemy armour by 200% per level.
  • Lethal Weapons challenge now increases enemy damage by 200% per level.
  • The Decision challenge now increases mission length by 200% per level.
  • The Manifestations of Destruction challenge now also adds chance to encounter apparitions.
  • Added apparition, new enemy for The Manifestations of Destruction challenge.
  • Flow Stagnation challenge now also increases ether cost of abilities that have base ether cost of 0.
  • Re-balanced difficulty rewards.
This update also features small, but important change - now before starting new game it's possible to choose starter spaceship!
You can choose from two starter spaceships - apocalypse class spaceship and carrier class spaceship.

Other two spaceships will be available when nomad and titan classes will be added to game.

Other changes:
  • Now you can upgrade parts that are on your spaceship.
  • Graphically improved dreadnought.
  • Bombardment stations now have armour.
Until next time!



 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #54: No spoilers

This week I have started working on story mission V!

Because it's a story mission, I don't have much to write about in this echo, because I don't want to spoil it.

So, about mission V:

It's massive, it's about four times longer than mission IV.
It will feature first real story boss!
It has different structure than other missions, it's first non-linear story mission.

That's all I can say about it! I can't even post screenshots.

This is the end of this short echo. Normally I post echoes on Sundays or Mondays, but since I can't write about story missions, I will probably won't write new echoes until I'm done with mission V.
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #55: Swarms, secrets and decisions

Last two weeks I was working on story mission V!
I have set up the structure of the mission, now all I need to do is to write last two dialogues, create new enemy and boss.

Story mission V contains more dialogues than the rest of game combined and it took me really a lot of time to write them.
But it was really fun!
The further story goes, the easier it becomes to write and I can get to reveal some interesting things.

Every story mission brings something new to the game.
This mission brings ability for player to make choices.
In mission V and other future missions, sometimes you will have to make decisions that will slightly change the course of the story.

Next week, besides working on mission V, I am planning to work on things that aren’t related to story mission V.
I will add part management screen, that will significantly speed up the management of parts.
I will improve enemy spawning system to create interesting enemy groups.
I am also planing to bring back beacons, that were temporarily removed from game during the combat overhaul.
Beacons are special enemies that possess the ability to repair other minions.
If it will be possible I will also implement new modifications: “Evolves” and “Regenerates armour”.

It sounds big, but these things will do a lot good to the game and won’t delay the release of mission V much.

Until next time!
 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #56: Better late than never

Last week I have done several things that I should have done months ago!

Thing 1: Enemy grouping

I have improved enemy spawning code to occasionally spawn enemies in wildly random groups! Two lurkers and heavy / acolyte and probe / tank, veteran and swarmling / etc. Everything is possible.

Thing 2: Quick part dismantling and unequipping

I have added two buttons to speed up part management. First button allows to dismantle all parts of the selected grade. For example, dismantle all generic parts in inventory. Second button moves all parts from building field to inventory.

Thing 3: Beacons

I have added beacons, that were removed during combat overhaul. Beacons are unique enemies, that instead of fighting you, repair other damaged enemies. Beacons and new enemy grouping create many new combat situations.

This week I will continue working on mission V.
Update is getting close!

Until next time!


 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #57: One more week

Okay, guys, I know the game was not updated for longer than the month, but give me one more week!

All this time since the last echo I was working on [classified]. Right now it’s almost done, but I need to add 8 more [classified] until it’s finished.

Like I said before, no spoilers. But it’s safe to say that next update will be awesome!

Anyway, when [classified] will be finished, the polishing phase will begin.

New item management buttons and new enemy grouping has few problems that I have to fix before updating the game.

Besides that, with the mission V comes two changes to Sector Six missions.

You will no longer be able to enter the Core region, only during mission IV, future story missions, and endgame. You will also no longer be able to do resurrection missions without [classified], that can be obtained during mission V.

These changes are necessary for the story to make sense. They should not affect gameplay much.

I should manage to do all this new week and update game on weekend.

Wish me luck!
 
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M

MEITdev

Guest
Hi there!

I have recorded a short "honest first impressions" feedback video for your game.

The reason WHY is explained HERE

The purpose of this video is for you as a developer to see how players play your game, what are their expressions as well as some likes and dislikes.
Basically the personal feedback is something that is hard to get, so I am hoping to help you just a little bit with this video.

PS: I made a mistake by thinking there are no sound effects, I addressed that at the beginning of the video, just wanted to mention it here as well. Hope you will find this useful!


Keep up the great work and Stay tuned!
 
M

MEITdev

Guest
I recorded another video for Sector Six, as the game is getting more and more interesting as you play it and it also makes more sense.

People who have not played it, check it out! It is well worth it!

 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Massive update! Mission V is now available!

Mission V: The Eight Keys is now available! Mission V is longest story mission so far and the first mission that is composed of smaller missions. It features many reveals, decision making, and a tough boss fight!

With the new missions comes few important changes.

The first change is updated enemy grouping system. Now enemies can often be encountered in groups, composed out of 2 or 3 random enemies. This creates many interesting combat situations.

Second change is the new inventory management options. I have added two buttons to make inventory management easier. One button dismantles all items of the same grade, for example, all generic parts and the other moves all parts from the building field to inventory.

Finally, I have added beacons back to the game. Beacons are the special enemies that instead of fighting the player, repairs other damaged enemies. Beacons were removed during combat overhaul.

Minor changes and fixes:
  • Fixed equipped part upgrading.
  • Fixed maximum inventory crash.
  • Fixed minor graphical glitch.
  • Piercing Lasers ability no longer deals damage to enemies outside of the screen.
  • Fixed region glitch, now region missions are generated and saved correctly.
  • Heavy no longer reflects seeking missiles.
  • The Core can now be entered only during mission IV.
  • Now you can only do resurrection missions if you obtain the Resurrection Key during mission V.
  • Starter alloy container is now indestructible.
  • Armoured colony seeker now has more armour.
  • Lurkers have been renamed to demolishers.
  • Tutorial now explains how to detonate mines with carrier class spaceship.
  • Acolytes now have an additional attack.
Have fun!





 
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Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #58: Controller support

This week I have begun working on controller support!

Going pretty well so far, although Sector Six is not a very good game for a controller. It uses so many buttons!

Now it's possible to do these things with a controller:
  • Browse and interact with most of the game's interfaces.
  • Move, activate abilities from 1 to 8 and use alloy container during combat.
What still needs to be made possible:
  • Inventory and alloy container management.
  • Spaceship building.
  • Pause, mission end and level up interface browsing.
  • Using 9th ability.
When that is done, I will only need to update the tutorial to explain controls with a controller.

This won't take long, so I am planning to also fix several annoying glitches before updating the game.

That's all for this echo. I will post again soon, so until then!
 
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M

mariospants

Guest
So @Zuurix I've been watching your game dev (playing the demo, checking out your updates) for what seems like over a year now. You're pretty far ahead on development... what marketing/promotional steps are you taking?
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
So @Zuurix I've been watching your game dev (playing the demo, checking out your updates) for what seems like over a year now.
Nice =]
What marketing/promotional steps are you taking?
Nothing serious. I tweet irregularly, post on Facebook, maintain dev blog, #screenshotsaturday... I don't really know what to do, but hopefully, that knowledge will come with the experience. I'm planning on doing this game development thing for at least several years from now on.
 
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M

MEITdev

Guest
Nice =]


Nothing serious. I tweet irregularly, post on Facebook, maintain dev blog, #screenshotsaturday... I don't really know what to do, but hopefully, that knowledge will come with the experience. I'm planning on doing this game development thing for at least several years from now on.
Hope to help with the promotion a bit more in the upcoming weeks ;)
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #59: Some progress

I hope you all had good Christmas!

Last week I didn’t work much on Sector Six. I was playing games, eating candy, working on my side projects. But even with that, I have managed to make spaceship building and inventory management possible with a controller!

There are two ways to approach using interfaces with the controller.

The good way:

Put clickable interface elements into some sort of grid and allow the player to select them in that grid using D-pad.

The easy way:

Keep all elements as they are and instead make mouse cursor respond to D-pad and other buttons on the controller. Instead of moving the cursor with the mouse, you use D-pad to move it. Instead of clicking on buttons with the mouse, you press buttons on the controller.

Because I don’t know how to put buttons and slots into the grid, I had to go with the easy way. It’s not very comfortable, but it works, so I guess it’s okay, at least for now. When I started working on Sector Six, I didn’t even know what controller is, so it could be worse.

Anyway, before I can say that Sector Six fully supports controllers, I still need to address several issues pause menu, game exit menu, tooltips and tutorial hints.
I believe I can resolve those issues within one day and then start fixing glitches that have piled up over time. I’m talking about minor graphical glitches in mission results interface, pause graphical glitch, several Light Eater Eashor’s glitches, and others.

Because I got really tired while making story mission V and because implementing controller support is very boring, next game update will be in January. Mission V was really challenging to make and I worked so much, that it got me dangerously close to serious burnout. I want to slow down development a bit to catch my breath before massive updates that I am going to work on in 2017!

I’m planning to write more about my plans for the next year in next echo.

Until then!
 
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M

MEITdev

Guest
Hi there!

I recorded a third video of your game! Just having too much fun, and also I hope this will help to see how is the game played in later stages ^__^


Keep up the great work, and Stay tuned for the next one ;)
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Echo #60: New year

For me, 2016 was a very exciting year.

Sector Six was released on Steam and I have become a real game developer.
Not very successful, but real. That means a lot to me.

I have quit school and so far it feels like the right decision.
It's great to finally spend time meaningfully.

I finally have seen my game flourish.
After many updates and tweaks, Sector Six's mechanics finally began to work together.
I have never managed to make game work this well before.
I can finally say without any doubt that I made a good game.

I have saw players playing my game for massive amounts of time.
There are several people who spent 60+ hours playing Sector Six!

After all that happened in 2016, I have become very confident to continue making games after Sector Six is finished.

Now let's look at what updates I have managed to release in 2016!

January 24
New combat system test
I have started working on new combat in the beginning of January and by the end of it, I had a prototype of the new system.

March 30
New combat system release
It took me another two months to turn combat system prototype into something that works.

May 2
Steam release
Sector Six got released on Steam!

May 5
Minor changes
Several small changes based on Steam user feedback.

May 20
Mission IV, new rewards and new leaderboards
Many improvements to story mission system and mission that I am really proud of.
Looking forward to making more similar missions.

June 10
New enemies, new abilities and combat improvements
This update added Sustained Barrage ability and infamous dreadnoughts.

August 19
Massive graphical update
This update has vastly improved the look and feel of the game! There were hundreds of smaller changes.
With this update, Sector Six has entered beta!

October 6
Modular difficulty system, improved inventory and modified enemies
A monster update, that added a new layer of depth to Sector Six.
I could write the whole page about how much this update have influenced the game!

October 28
Modular difficulty system improvements, new enemy and new starter spaceship
Modular difficulty system was too easy, so I had to make another update to rebalance it.
This update has also added apparition enemy.

December 15
Mission V
Mission V was really hard to make! But I have introduced many new things with this mission.
Decisions, non-linear story mission, first real story boss, multiple armor bars mechanic and so on!

2016 was the year of massive growth for me and Sector Six.
After so much has been done, I believe I can finish Sector Six in 2017!

In 2017, after I will finish working on controller support I'll begin working on three secure region based updates - shops, crafting system and the Router!
Between those updates, I will work on new story missions and combat expansions.

Shops
Located in secured regions, they will allow players to buy and sell parts!
Different regions will have different shops.
For example, to get access to the generic weapon shop, you will have to secure Niss region.

Crafting system
Yes, you will be able to craft parts!
This will be a completely new way to obtain parts! Unlike getting parts from drops, you will be able to craft exact parts you need.
Want a part that is a relay, increases maximum armor and generates ether when your ship is hit?
Get materials by mining asteroids, get armor carcass, relay blueprint and ether mirror by dismantling parts, secure a region with the matter fusion facility and that part is yours!

The Router
This massive portal device located in Pylon will take you to hidden regions!
Every hidden region will be different.
Exploring hidden regions will reward you with unique parts!

New story missions
New characters, new boss fights, new reveals, [classified], plot twists, the journey to the other Sector and more!

Combat expansions
New enemies, new abilities, new region bosses, new classes, new region missions and more!

Other planned updates:

Achievements
Many new achievements!

Permanent death mode
The Elder Mechanism will not resurrect your ship if it will get destroyed!

Hardcore permanent death mode
Because just permanent death is not hardcore enough.
Your spaceships parts will be destroyed on hit.
Lose all parts and game is permanently over!

Resetting story missions
After completing the last available story mission, you will be able to do them all over again!

Part sets
Add a certain amount of parts from the same part set and you will be rewarded for unique set effects.
For example, 10 Lodeon's Parts will increase damage dealt based on how many secure regions there are.

Graphical update
Even better backgrounds, new animations, and particle effects!

2017 will be epic.
Until next time!


Before graphical update



After graphical update


Modular difficulty system


Mission IV


Mission V


Epic player built spaceships
 

Phoebe Klim

Member
Looking for people to test controller support!

I need to know if controller support is good or at least acceptable, so I have just uploaded demo version in which you can play Sector Six with a controller!
I am asking you all to play it a bit with a controller and then tell me what you think about controller controls.

Maybe there's some big overlooked flaw that I can fix!

I am planning to release controller support very soon, so there's not much time to test controller.
I'll be waiting for your feedback.

Download demo (via Dropbox): Click here!
If you don't have Dropbox: Click here!
 
D

dj_midknight

Guest
I downloaded the demo so I could test out your gamepad controls, but I cant figure out how to start the game.
Is the text supposed to look like this?
 
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