Hi hi!

Earlier this year, FLAT turned 10. Originally developed for the first 7DFPS Challenge back in 2012, FLAT holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm glad to give it some more love :)

The big feature in v1.2 is game modes. Primarily these manifest as different difficulties, but there's also a "Free Skate" mode, and lays the groundwork for any future modes that might be added while allowing the original experience to remain intact.

Easy mode increases the number of healthkits found in supply capsules, decreases enemy health, spawns fewer enemies, shortens the Pulse Dragon's tail, and decreases its projectile speed. I'm glad to be able to offer something that lets players who just aren't into the default experience still make their way through the game and experience its pacing albeit in a shorter, more forgiving form.

Challenging mode only has one healthkit per supply capsule, and doesn't guarantee a new weapon with every supply capsule. It also increases enemy health, spawns way more enemies, and makes the dragon tougher. I wanted to make something that would be a lot of work for me to finish, and it feels great - it is possible to complete, but I can't reliably do it every time. Longer term, I think I'd like to maybe put two Pulse Dragons in this mode, but that'll take a little refactoring of how bosses are handled.

It's also nice to have a game mode in the mix that lets anybody who just wants to skate around do that.

Shotguns have had a bit of a buff, and now do extra damage at very close range. Initially I'd started to implement this as a falloff that affected all weapons (with the intention of making the shotgun more powerful, but have less range, and make the pistol more useful at longer range than the SMG), but the first pass didn't feel good, and it was hard to "read" that a falloff was happening. The proximity bonus that shotguns now have feels a lot more intuitive/reliable.

Menus now have audio feedback when mousing over or selecting GUI widgets. This makes everything feel a bit more polished. I used a tone generator to make a bunch of tones, threw a "phaser" filter across them, added some reverb, and then overlaid a couple that felt nice with a tiny delay. For 5 minutes' work, I think I managed to get a cool sci-fi UI feel.

ptitSeb has already put together new builds for the Open Pandora handheld, and hopes to have Pyra builds ready soon as well.

For a more in-depth summary, see the CHANGES file, or if you're keen on all the minutiae, check the commit log.

Enjoy!

P.S. I also put some new t-shirt designs together to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary if that's something you're into. They've got zero markup, so they're as affordable as I can make them.