I’m happy to announce that version 2.0.6 of Prepare For Warp has reached a state where I am comfortable promoting it from the test branch to the main release branch.
There are so many changes in this release! I’ve been writing about a lot of them in my Patreon Daily Standup posts, and I just fully realized how much I have accomplished, especially in the last month when I have been able to work on this game relatively unfettered.
The largest change is the completely renovated in-game store screen. The new UI style introduced in 2.0.5 has now been applied throughout the game. The store is now so much cleaner and less busy, reducing information overload.
Another major gameplay change is the introduction of “Challenge Mode”. Once a level has been beaten, you can select Challenge Mode for that level, where rewards are increased, but modifiers of increasing difficulty are placed on a level.
A third major feature is the introduction of the Innovation Lab and Component Exchange, which provides a purpose for Components beyond unlocking cosmetic Ship Parts. The Innovation Lab allows you to indirectly exchange Components for Prestige, by spelling out words to gain a new currency Innovitae, which is exchanged automatically for Prestige at retirement.
Speaking of Ship Parts, two new ship hulls created by Arvex have been introduced, and the existing “Whedgee Mk 2” ship hull has been improved and upgraded to the “Whedgee Mk 3”. Paint Jobs have also been overhauled. There are still twenty different Paint Jobs, but now they are much more vibrant, distinct, thematic, and generally more awesome.
Legacies can now be respecced. A Respec can be purchased in the Prestige store, and can be applied at Retirement. This will refund all Legacies, returning the original Prestige cost.
The in-game HUD has had some more updates, more evolutionary than revolutionary. Things should be less in the way.
There have been a number of other small improvements, too. You can check out the full exhaustive list in the patch notes.
As always, you can wishlist or buy the game on Steam.
2.0.7?
So now that 2.0.6 is in the can, what is next for 2.0.7? Well, truth be told we are getting close to the end of development. Here is a short punch list of what remains.
First I have a bit of tech debt to clean up. The project needs to be upgraded to the LTS version of Unity 2021. This will help me to support the game moving forward. There are also still some basic configuration options missing that need to be added, like the ability to control FX and music volume separately.
Next will come a couple of remaining gameplay features and systems. I want to add meta achievements that survive retirement, and I want to have those tie to Steam Achievements, since I don’t really want to have 300+ Steam Achievements. Next, I want to add an unlockable Infinite gameplay mode, where the goal is to survive as long as you can. I also want to structure the gameplay tips a bit better, so that only tips relevant to your current game state are presented. This way, new players won’t get bombarded with information about the end-game innovation lab when they are many hours away from reaching that level.
I want to add more Ship parts and joke cosmetics. Arvex is also still working on new ship models, so those will get integrated at some point, either before or after the game leaves Early Access. Finally, I want to add some more keyboard key icons to support more foreign keyboard layouts.
That is the extent of everything that is listed as definitely in-scope as far as new development. Of course, fixes and balances will happen. I have a whole list of other features that I could still add, but those will have to wait for a future update.