Alpha 2r2 - New Ship, Plasma Link Weapon, Auto Fire feature and more

Alpha 2r2 is finally here! This patch brings a massive list of improvements and bug fixes to Cosmic Destroyer and some new Features!

I spent the weekend demoing Cosmic Destroyer at 2D Con, and the prep for the convention delayed the planned release until today. So much good feedback and new bug fixes to get into the release that I felt it was better to release all of these updates together. I apologize for any inconvenience if you were hoping to play Cosmic Destroyer's new update last weekend and experienced the old bugs!

Notable Features and Changes

New Ship - E.M.A.

The E.M.A. is an Electro-Magnetic Assault ship. It zaps everything in its way with a Plasma Link weapon that leaps like chain lightning! Its available immediately for players to try it out. It will no doubt need some re-balancing in the future - as part of a re-balance coming to all ships and enemies.

Auto Fire Functionality

The community asked for it, and it's here! Auto Fire is fully emulated based on old-school hardware techniques. This new fire mode can be configured to trigger at 60hz, 30hz or 15hz and allows the player to hold the button to fire wide shots while continuing to move quickly. Fire control for the focus shot has not been modified, so there are two fire buttons.

Players can also hold the Focus Shot button to move slowly while sustaining auto-fire wide shot

Grab and Throw Enemies and Objects

You can now grab and throw both small enemies and objects! These are some of the strongest attacks in the entire game by design, and will also be used for keys, batteries and other items to open up alternate paths in the future. (Also shown here, improved visibility of the fast-moving purple projectiles)

Additionally, held enemies provide a synergy ability when held.

• Green Popcorn Drone & Purple Hangar Drone - Turrets attacks towards nearby enemies

• Interceptor - Provides a Speed Bonus when held

• Slug Larvae (Enemy Coming Soon) - Adds a bullet-slowing effect around the player when the player is firing a focus shot.

New Starfield

It's the little things that really add up. The starfield effect that was being used previously was a simple particle effect with positioning each frame, but this had many limitations and stylistically didn't really fit the pixel art aesthetic. It also had some really wonky artifacts when stages were twisting and turning.

The new starfield uses dynamically layered sprites which stretch while keeping each star's burst effect. The result is a much more consistent visual which is also much more performant and reliable.

Gameplay Improvements and Adjustments

• Auto Fire functionality has been added. This feature emulates old-school hardware Auto Fire, which triggers the press action of the main shot at a configurable rate. You will find options for 15hz, 30hz, and 60hz Auto Fire in the Controls page of the Options menu along with button mapping for the Auto Fire (defaults to North Button (Y/Triangle) on gamepads and V on keyboard mapping).

• Pacing of Stage 1 has been adjusted to be a bit more forgiving in the opening sections.

  • First spread turret has been replaced with a normal turret

  • One ship hangar has been removed

  • Spinning Enemies which come from behind don't appear until later in the stage.

  • Laser Corvette in cave section has been removed as this was too near a wide turn, which resulted in wide laser sweep that was largely unavoidable

  • Breakable blocks have been added to the exit of the asteroid base to allow