ODP demo v0.2.0

Hello everyone!

I decided to write a little more stuff in this devlog, mostly about the development of the game, but also general thoughts about game dev, so if you find them interesting let me know!

First some words of introduction: My name is Philip, I'm from Greece and I make games as a hobby. Orbital Defense Program is my first "serious" game, that I have been working on for about 10 months now. I work full-time as an accountant, therefore I have no prior experience with programming or any other game dev related field, and I treat this game as an opportunity to learn more.

Most of the game was made by me, but I had some help from programmer friends, mostly with some code issues and playtesting. The game's assets are also mostly bought/licensed, and I am using Godot engine for development and Krita for art.

I would say that this project has been a huge success for me already, as I have learned a lot of things during the development. When I started the project, I would not believe that I would be able to make such progress in only 10 months (I had started the project quite a while before that, but essentially all of the work was done since February 2022). 

Furthermore, a lot more people have played the game than I would expect, and I have gotten a lot of feedback, which I am still trying to process. As I am pretty busy besides game dev, I don't have a lot of time to devote, therefore the development process is slow, but that's okay.

Now for the ODP update stuff:

Most of the v0.2.0 changes concern visual and audio improvements, including a cool (imo) game over screen. After this update I believe ODP feels more like a "real" game, although of course there are also a lot of improvements to be made:

Also, I fixed some bugs, along with a big one that would enable the player to continue playing after game over! Shout out also to my friend Stratubas who improved the Cannon's targeting in order to fire towards the expected position of enemies instead of their current one. 

Last but not least, I made the enemies (and the cannon) significantly faster because I felt the game was too slow, especially in the beginning. This of course led to some balance changes that had to be made, but nothing significantly different from the previous version. 

v0.2.0 Changelog

• Added various SFX and flashes to cannon hits and enemies landing
• Added a small screenshake when enemies land
• Added effects to gameover screen.
• Added transition effects to Events/Tutorial
• Fixed Logo resolution.
• Hidden healthbars when at full health
• Buffed EMP and Earth Missiles module (but removed their upgrades).
• General balance changes to enemies and some events

There you have it! As for the future, I will now mostly focus on completing the game instead of improving stuff in the demo. I may make some small improvements or fix bugs, but I won't change the core game significantly in the demo.

Currently, I am considering making some changes to core elements, such as the Earth's forces (HP) and the upgrade system. But probably I will leave it for when I release the complete version, because I don't want to keep balancing a demo version all the time. If you like the game and want to play more of it, please be patient! I have committed myself to completing this game no matter what, but I know realistically that it will take a while.

If you have any feedback or comment about the game I'd always be happy to receive it. You send it here, on my Twitter, or in the designated feedback form.

Thank you for reading!