Hi everyone, It's been a rough week for me. So I thought I'd cheer myself up by doing a new release for CGA TREK!
Full notes
Full CGA Trek update
Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.
What changed
0 fixes7 additions2 changes0 removals
Store
Gameplay
Maps
UI and audio
addedIt's been a rough week for me. So I thought I'd cheer myself up by doing a new release for CGA TREK! A lot of these changes have soft launched over the last few months but I thought it would be a good time to bundle them up into an official release.
changedAccessibility in software is a major motivator for me. I firmly believe "people don't have accessibility problems, software has accessibility problems". That's been an interesting task for CGA Trek because I really wanted to hearken back to the original gameplay of the other Treks -- mostly that means that beautiful 8x8 grid. Is it an input design we would use today? Not really. We're more likely to let the player select the square they want to move to directly rather than making them select a number on an axis and then a number on another axis! But I think the 8x8 grid is still really playable with gamepad/arrow keys so I'm pleased with how it worked out. I can finally play CGA Trek on my couch.
addedI also knew I wanted to add wormholes to CGA Trek at some point. A lot of the Trek-likes contain wormholes or blackholes. They do different things but often they really unbalance the game. My main desire was to make sure they added to the gameplay in an interesting way - either tactically or strategically. For this first iteration, I have settled on a basic version that slightly changes strategy. Wormholes catapult you to the other side of the map at no cost. It opens up a few interesting choices for searching the galaxy for enemies. They also cycle the palette which is kind of fun but also a bit annoying so there is an option to turn it off in the settings!
addedAdd
changedOnly show phaser button and slider for gamepads
addedAdd ruleset tab in settings
CGA Trek changes
addedIt's been a rough week for me. So I thought I'd cheer myself up by doing a new release for CGA TREK! A lot of these changes have soft launched over the last few months but I thought it would be a good time to bundle them up into an official release.
changedAccessibility in software is a major motivator for me. I firmly believe "people don't have accessibility problems, software has accessibility problems". That's been an interesting task for CGA Trek because I really wanted to hearken back to the original gameplay of the other Treks -- mostly that means that beautiful 8x8 grid. Is it an input design we would use today? Not really. We're more likely to let the player select the square they want to move to directly rather than making them select a number on an axis and then a number on another axis! But I think the 8x8 grid is still really playable with gamepad/arrow keys so I'm pleased with how it worked out. I can finally play CGA Trek on my couch.
addedI also knew I wanted to add wormholes to CGA Trek at some point. A lot of the Trek-likes contain wormholes or blackholes. They do different things but often they really unbalance the game. My main desire was to make sure they added to the gameplay in an interesting way - either tactically or strategically. For this first iteration, I have settled on a basic version that slightly changes strategy. Wormholes catapult you to the other side of the map at no cost. It opens up a few interesting choices for searching the galaxy for enemies. They also cycle the palette which is kind of fun but also a bit annoying so there is an option to turn it off in the settings!
addedAdd
changedOnly show phaser button and slider for gamepads
Hi everyone,
It's been a rough week for me. So I thought I'd cheer myself up by doing a new release for CGA TREK! A lot of these changes have soft launched over the last few months but I thought it would be a good time to bundle them up into an official release.
The two big additions to the game this release are gamepad support and wormholes. Full changelog below.
Accessibility in software is a major motivator for me. I firmly believe "people don't have accessibility problems, software has accessibility problems". That's been an interesting task for CGA Trek because I really wanted to hearken back to the original gameplay of the other Treks -- mostly that means that beautiful 8x8 grid. Is it an input design we would use today? Not really. We're more likely to let the player select the square they want to move to directly rather than making them select a number on an axis and then a number on another axis! But I think the 8x8 grid is still really playable with gamepad/arrow keys so I'm pleased with how it worked out. I can finally play CGA Trek on my couch.
I also knew I wanted to add wormholes to CGA Trek at some point. A lot of the Trek-likes contain wormholes or blackholes. They do different things but often they really unbalance the game. My main desire was to make sure they added to the gameplay in an interesting way - either tactically or strategically. For this first iteration, I have settled on a basic version that slightly changes strategy. Wormholes catapult you to the other side of the map at no cost. It opens up a few interesting choices for searching the galaxy for enemies. They also cycle the palette which is kind of fun but also a bit annoying so there is an option to turn it off in the settings!
I can never promise updates but I'd love to buff stars and wormholes tactically. It would be really cool if they absorbed torpedoes or phasers and then did something unpredictable! I also would love to do more away missions. Ahhhh so much to do.
Also, check out my other games. Low Earth Orbit Adventures is getting close to release.
Regards,
Luke
Add
Wormholes! There are two pairs (so four in total) that catapult your ship to the other side of the quadrant
Full gamepad/controller/joystick support
Only show phaser button and slider for gamepads
Keypad now works for entering coordinates
Add ruleset tab in settings
inform player when wormhole in adjacent sector
Underline sectors on quadrant view when there is a wormhole there
Add SFX to wormhole
Add some toggleable rules to the ruleset tab
When selecting torpedoes when using gamepad, auto focus on torpedo arming
Change
Rework torpedo animation to fix timings when it travels a long distance
Planets now have cyan highlights to indicate they might be a good experience