Dev Notes #1

Hello everyone, this is the first Dev Note for Endless Invader!

To properly introduce Endless Invader, I had planned to release videos one by one, each showing a core system of the game.

But, right after the first video I was hit with massive criticism and ended up unable to post the next ones. The most common feedback was that it looked dizzying and even caused motion sickness.

The main points were that the background stood out too much, and the mismatch in rotation was making people feel disoriented. I’ve taken those opinions seriously and made two key adjustments:

1. The background brightness is now set to 50% by default.

   

2. The background’s position and angle are now fully synchronized with the camera.

   

Why did I set it up differently in the first place? Because I wanted to reflect the parallax effect of infinitely distant objects. The farther something is, the less it appears to move, until it seems almost motionless. That’s why outer space looks fixed no matter how much we move on Earth. Astronomers can measure tiny changes to calculate distances, but in my game I simply assumed stars are infinitely far away.

Angles, however, are different from positions. Near or far, objects tilt the same way relative to your perspective. For example, if you tilt your head, both a nearby sign and a distant cloud appear to tilt at the same angle.

Putting these together, I synced only the background’s position to the camera, which made it look like the stars were rotating separately. That’s actually how it might look in real space. But I can’t have players spitting their lunch back at their monitors! Unless you’re Elon Musk heading to Mars, chances are you won’t be gazing at the cosmos from space anyway. (You have been to space? Then please give me some ice cream for gifts!)

...Anyway, I’ve decided to reduce motion sickness by leaning on what gamers are already accustomed to.

Looking at other 2D space-themed games, I noticed most had static starry backgrounds that didn’t move at all. So now my space background is fully locked to the camera, and doesn’t shift on screen. Sure, it’s lost a bit of that dreamy vibe, but Endless Invader has plenty of other fun things to offer, so that’s fine by me.

Some people also suggested syncing the planet’s rotation with the background. That’s a fair idea—if the camera were fixed on the planet’s center and cropped in, that’s how it might look in reality. The problem is that some stages in my game move far away from the planet. In those cases, the background would need to be massively scaled up or tiled, which ended up looking like wallpaper—something I really disliked. Still, I appreciate all the advice and insights!

So, how do you like the changes? Endless Invader will keep evolving with many more adjustments to come. If you’d like to stay updated, be sure to Wishlist on Steam and get the latest news!