After taking a several-month-long break from game-making, i've made a handful of changes to the inner workings of this project. Primarily, the spawning of enemies is now counter based, as opposed to timer-based.
I realized that in my largest project to date--DMFS Escape--that timers were the downfall of many aspects of the game, particularly so when slower machines were used. Most likely, the inclusion of counter-based mechanics will alleviate this problem.
Bullets have been sped up; they were too slow.
Enemy AI is now timer-based, and rotates automatically towards either the player or the convoy (when present on screen). Enemy AI holds the convoy in higher priority.
I've also scrapped the automated turret idea for now. I haven't figured out how to do it right just yet, and I'd rather not make things too complex. For future development's sake, here's the plan for automated turrets:
Player picks up item from start point.
Player touches base of automated turret.
Repeat this process three times.
After third item pickup and touching the base, the turret is active.
Turret slowly rotates, and has a detection radius for enemies.
If enemy enters radius, turret stops rotating, trains its sights on the enemy, and fires.
MISCELLANEOUS
An interesting effect was created by manipulating the custom movement engine. Whenever the player moves over a crater, there's resistance, simulating the height of the crater's edge. As a result, the "ring" of the crater can be moved around or over, serving as an obstacle for player movement.
The convoy trucks and edge-of-screen barriers have similar properties, and the player bounces off them.
I plan on including other pieces of terrain with similar properties to break up the wide expanses of "blank space" currently on the map, as well as offer more strategic challenges. Destructible terrain is also in the plans.
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