For the past 6 months or so, I had been planning to redo the camera system entirely. I didn't do that, as I instead found some good ways to work around the systems limitations. The changes went about as well as I could have expected, and I consider the camera system close to final at this point, though if you have any feedback/requests, now is the time to speak up. [NOTE: Free camera will receive some more attention later] I also spent a couple days working on the new Dropship (helicopter) sequencing/etc at the start/end of Story missions in the main campaign. The Kraken got some camera focus as well, so you'll see it more clearly when it arrives, departs, or destroys everything.

Now my focus shifts towards making the game as fun as I can. Part of that is vehicle and mission design, but before I go into extreme-content-production mode, I need to get the remaining objectives and other supporting AI/obstacles working. Need things like turrets, defense drones, and other trap-like things, along with more obstacles that can be used in light puzzle-solving.

KRAKEN TWEAKS COMING?

I'm also not 100% sure about how the Kraken works right now. I'll probably try making the failure state not analog. Basically any damage to the head triggers the end of the mission, but damaging the tentacles won't matter. That will require redoing missions/timing and slowing the Kraken down, but that's not a big deal. I'm also considering having obstacles/etc that the Kraken is drawn to (like a siren), and I'll think about how else you can interact with it aside from preventing damage to it.

About 25 of the final missions will use the Kraken, and I want to be sure they don't feel like glorified escort missions. They're on the edge of that right now, and the uncertainty of the mission fail state doesn't help. With some fine-tuning, better indicators of Kraken-danger, and a dedicated "where's the Kraken?" camera toggle/button, I think the Kraken missions will be as fun as the non-Kraken missions.

0.415 CHANGES

Here's an overview of changes for 0.415, which is not complete, as I didn't write everything down this time (too many camera changes/tweaks to track):

- A helicopter now drops off your vehicle at the start/end of the main campaign Story missions
- Some controls for a few vehicles were updated/improved
- Mission intro/ending camera now use custom angles/etc (no control)
- Camera modes now cache their zoom/rotation/etc so Orbit/Follow no longer depend on each other
- Follow and Orbit camera had numerous small improvements
- Vehicles with Momentum cam now work better with Follow cam
- The Kraken gets camera-focused on at 3 different times (entry, exit, and destroy)
- Isometric camera mode was removed (Orbit does the same thing, more or less)
- Full-screen blur is used for camera transitions where appropriate
- Sped up some sequencing to remove unnecessary frames/pauses
- Tracking mode was removed (for now)
- New transition from Build mode to playing the game
- Added a new Invert Reverse Turning to Power Wheels/Treads (checkbox, enabled by default)
- Outputs and signals now use a different highlight color to make it a little more obvious that inputs and outputs are different (and signals/controls are too)
- Fixed some bugs (custom missions and a couple others I forgot)

FUTURE UPDATES

As usual, I'm not sure about frequency of future updates. At some point in the next couple months, I'll probably stop updating the game until 1.0. There will be a number of new missions before then, and 1.0 will likely double the number of missions in addition to adding some other polish/finishing features.

The big unknown is really how long it will take to make all the missions/vehicles fun and varied. Not every mission has to be amazing, but having a lot more standouts like Push It Real Good and Initial Revision is the goal.