Greetings! Today it's been one year exactly since the first public release of Second Legacy's demo. So I've put together a new version including all the changes I've worked on over the past year.

Most of the progress I've made since last time is based around 2 new features that I've been experimenting with. I've added a new gameplay mechanic (the "firing bypass"), and stage paths support. I've also started working on the story context for real and added an intro sequence (text-only for now) with new music.

One thing of note is that now that with a new stage path available, higher scores may be reachable.

About the Fire Bypass mechanic

This is a new gameplay mechanic.

Bypassing fire means directing all the ark power to propulsion and movement, leaving none for cannons. The player ark effectively moves twice as fast in this mode, but cannot fire. The goal of this technique is to allow players evading dense bullet patterns through short-lived openings, creating such openings by creating more disparity in enemy aim, or reaching enemies that are on opposite sides of the screen quicker.

When used in EX mode, any bullet that comes grazing or into contact of the ark is cancelled into a scoring medal by the aura of the ark. In other words, the ark is impervious to bullets.

Using focused fire while bypassed fire is active always takes priority, and slows down movement abruptly (from double speed to half speed). If this is done after enough time is spent with fire bypassed (right now around 2 secs), a surge deals damage at short range, and causes nearby bullets to be cancelled into scoring medals. In EX mode, this surge propagates like a bomb over the entire screen.

The Fire Bypass mechanic is also part of the training simulator mode now.

About stage paths

A stage can now feature multiple paths, and the player ark may branch from one to another depending on certain predetermined conditions. This may serve storytelling, or help leading the ark to easier or more difficult sections depending on the player performance.

As an experiment, the demo stage features 2 paths, among which the unchanged one that players could experience before this version, and a new hidden path, leading to a stronger boss enemy.

In this version, to test branching to the hidden path, the player has to destroy the first bullet cancelling enemy while having its EX tanks full, and then reach the midboss and destroy it without bailing out in the process. Although these are arbitrary conditions that I've picked without thinking for too long, they are still a decent way to test the players abilities and send them toward a more difficult route.

RELEASE NOTES - 0.47.0a

General changes

• Introduction of the Bypassed Firing mechanic and a dedicated tutorial step
• Multiple stage paths support
• Bits of story telling: added an introduction sequence (only text for now) and music
• Switch to 64 bits build on Windows

Logic fixes

• Fixed a crash that would occur when entering image training after using up all extra arks during a boss battle and registering a high score
• Fixed player ark roll angle that was not updated correctly sometimes
• Fixed a background transparency bug
• Fixed stage bug causing some enemies to appear out of thin air
• Tutorial adjustments to keep track of the player actions better in some cases (bomb tutorial)
• Fixed bomb and ex beam reinitialization issue on bailout
• Fixed HUD reinitialization when aborting mission during a boss battle, where the boss health bar was still visible if entering a different game mode

Presentation changes & fixes

• Added titles to menus and menu entry descriptions
• Steaming effect and sound effect placeholders on the title screen
• Opacity adjustment of radio messages portraits when the player ship gets close to them on the screen
• Player ark light is darkened while firing a bomb or the EX beam
• Added a way to read copyright/licensing conditions from within the game
• Fixed background scrolling consistency in controls setup menus
• Fixed background light exposure continuity when pausing the game