So this update is all about the Steam Next Festival that is going on at the moment. If you are unaware, Cryptonaut has a Steam page and the demo was made available as part of the current Steam Next Festival.

However, this really isn't a big update as far as the demo is concerned -- tho there was some additional work completed regarding the pooling system I will be using in the future.

Changes / fixes:

• Fixed an issue with the MILLION game mode end of level bosses, where they weren't actually being removed from play and their colliders were still in the scene affecting your shots. I also added a fade out effect to the bosses just to add some additional game feel polish.
• Removed the offer of NFTs as part of the on exit call-to-action. Was meant more as a joke as well as a gift for the email sign-up but it's pretty clear most people are put off by this, and to be honest, I'm not even interested in minting these for a laugh. So gone, and the sign-up offer will be replaced with something else I'm working on in the future.

What didn't make the update:

So with a game like Cryptonaut, it being a shoot 'em up, you have lots of bullets that get spawned. To improve performance, you need to make use of an object pooling system. Something I have been trying to do, is stop trying to make everything from scratch. So I found a free object pooling solution via the Unity asset store, and it seemed pretty good from first impressions. But, it has issues, the main one being the most grievous in that it fails to do what it sets out to do. Essentially when you put object back into the pool, it actually doesn't put them asleep and disable the objects. Not sure why, as I found the code to be over-engineered and obtuse to read and use -- I feel like it was a student project, where they went a little overboard in adding various features. I just made it work by manually doing what it was not.

I have since rolled my own object pool system that actually does what I need it to do and doesn't have a lot of extra features that may be nice but I'll never actually use. It is also way easier to use. But, I developed it within another project, and tho I could have replaced the object pooling system in use in Cryptonaut, I know that I would have had to of done a lot of playtesting to make sure that everything worked as expected. As the deadline for Steam Next Festival approached, I just decided that what I had worked and taking the time to replace it was a bad idea -- I started a new job several weeks ago, and the workload has increased for me.

I also had plans of adding more weapons along with replacing the legacy Unity input manager with the new input system. However I opted not doing so for two different reasons. 

The first being that adding the weapons to the demo would take away from the actual game. You have to leave something new for players to find in the full game, otherwise it won't feel like they are getting any value add if they are paying money for that full game experience. Tho I could simply just add more weapons other than the 2 (now 3) I am adding to the game, it just translates to even more time being spent on a game that I wanted to keep small, simple and release on Steam as quickly as possible. Of course I want it to be a solid gaming experience, but I have no illusions as to what I am making and want to achieve by having it released on Steam as a full game.

The second reason being that the current input manager works, even if it doesn't do a spectacular job of it. I definitely want to switch over to the new system, however, it just takes time learning a new system and updating the code. Plus let's be honest, Unity has the tendency to release packages that are half-baked. I'm sure the new input system is better than the existing legacy, but, I'm sure there are still issues it has that you need to figure out workarounds for. And at the moment it's just too much of a time-sink and potential headache for me as I recently started a new job where a guy left a few weeks in after I started and I have to take over his workload. So the input system update will have to wait for the next updated, after the Steam Next Festival is over with.

Future update:

I definitely want to replace the object pooling system. It will greatly improve the code as I now have to do a lot of extra hacky stuff to get the existing one to work correctly. I also am aiming to replace the input system and make an effort in supporting the ability to play with a controller. But beyond some visual (and auditory) polish, I think that will be the end of major updates for the demo as I focus on completing the full game -- which I am aiming to do so and release for the next planned Steam Next Festival likely to occur in October.