Version 0.2.5 ALPHA (Christmas Update)
This update adds in the last base feature that was planned for the ALPHA stage alongside adding a bit of Christmas related content!
Added
- Added Train Types
- Added 3 new tracks (Glacier Palace [Event], Toy Workshop [Event], Jungle Outpost)
- Added new badge (Christmas 2021)
- Added 4 new songs (Main Theme [Night Mix], Wave Clear, Boss Clear, Boss Fail)
- Added 3 new server settings (Global Tags, Global Dialog, Repeat Special Waves)
- Added new control setting (Interact)
Fixes
- Fixed Heal Gun being able to heal through walls
- Fixed enemy bullets not properly ignoring train clipping
- Fixed track generation creating unnecessary unloaded set pieces for tracks that have no transition sets
- Fixed lighting listeners unnecessarily looping through lights on time transitions
- Fixed players being able to keep a Detonator if the linked train part is destroyed while they’re dead
- Fixed smoke being applied to damaged train parts in Classic
- Fixed being able to occasionally get game over title badges when playing solo
- Fixed playerlist overlapping other menus
General Changes
- Crouching can now be cancelled by jumping or sprinting
- Increased default fog density from 0.4 > 0.45
- Reduced amount of active track pieces loaded at once from 8 > 6
- Boss waves will now have their time cut on Rapid
- Updated the upgrade station to use proximity prompts
- Updated the Missile Launcher screen to use proximity prompts
- Updated the Console UI to overlap the loading screen
- Updated UI to Christmas colour scheme
- Updated lobby to Christmas theme
- Updated Ads
CREDITS
- @exwumm, ZXEZX, gombob - New Train Types
- @veryfakeguest, @danncie, whimsicalducks999, @2nd_S - New Tracks
- @raddoob, @woopercooper, @veryfakeguest - Animations
- @exwumm - Particle Effects
- @Heathsroms2 - New Music
- @xstar1234, @raddoob, @matteo19919 - Lobby Decoration
- @ssails - Assets/Textures
- @skydash7, Astherale, @matteo19919 - New Ads
NOTES
As I said at the start of the post, this update contains the last main feature that was apart of my ALPHA to-do list. Event-wise, this one is nothing special as like previous events with the focus reasonably being put towards finishing the ALPHA once again. I’ve provided documentation on certain parts of the update that you may want an explanation on before hopping in to see it for yourself below.
Please note that at the time of writing, a couple of minor assets are not finished. These include a majority of the wave warning icons for the new tracks alongside a proper icon for the Christmas badge. Since we have to start on RBLXWare’s update right after this, I’ll instead be silently patching these in as they come in.
Documentation
Train Types
The main part of this update, Train Types are a new voting option that will appear at the start of a game. After voting on a gamemode, the train voting menu will show up with the option to choose which train will be played on for that game.
These new Train Types aren’t just for a visual or layout change, and instead come included with different statistics and abilities attached to them. We’ve started out pretty simple with only two new ones being included in the main game this update.
Default
This is now the official name for the train that’s been apart of the game since it’s inception. This recieved no changes to it’s statistics or layout and will always appear as the first option in the voting menu.
Bullet
The Bullet Train is a pretty simple one where you trade the all-rounded attributes from the Default train in turn for a speed bonus that’s free of charge. There’s a catch, however! This train model features a lower health pool overall with almost no cover you can take. The free constant speed bonus helps getting through waves quicker without ever having to worry about the costs of manually purchasing extra speed. This train also grants the ability for players to purchase the Extra Sector at anytime rather than having to wait until one of the parts is destroyed.
Since this train travels faster at all times, that inherently means during early waves it may be hard to get a significant amount of EXP. To compensate for this, enemy & vehicle health scaling is slowed down on this Train Type to increase every two waves rather than every single wave. This will ensure that you’re able to be on par with an enemy’s damage output for a while longer than you normally would be able to.
Passenger
The Passenger Train is a bit more complicated than the others, though isn’t too difficult to get a grasp of. How this Train Type works is that each wave a handful of passengers will be boarding the train to exit at the next station. Passengers function just about the same as a player, therefore are able to be targeted & killed by enemies just like players can be.
Players will receive a discount on Train Upgrades during the intermission if they’re able to keep all of the passengers that spawned that wave alive. Every two passengers that are killed in the wave the Train Upgrades will raise in price by 25 EXP for the next intermission. The passengers can be healed by any Medics if they’re hurt, which can be indicated when their healthbar becomes visible.
Since it’s inevitable that the train will blow up, as the game progresses less passengers will be spawned onto the train at the start of an intermission. This is to make it so it’s more punishing if players have passengers killed early game rather than the late game. A special train upgrade has also been thrown into the mix to make the passengers themselves not be a total deadweight. If a player purchases the “Weaponry” upgrade, a handful of the spawning passengers will be armed with the Pistol. Armed passengers will be able to provide a bit of damage support and fire at nearby enemies on the side they’re facing, which can be upgraded two more times to increase their damage.
The actual look of the passengers is currently a placeholder, as we’ll be able to give it more of a proper look when Rifo is back later this month. The final look of the passengers will look similar to an older sketch by Rifo from last summer.
[BONUS] Original
Courtesy of the original Defend The Train’s creator gombob, he’s given us permission and provided us the original train model! This one is purely cosmetic and doesn’t have any notable attributes other than it’s slightly larger size. This Train Type is available in VIP Servers though can be seen in Classic mode as well. This train’s inclusion in Classic may be changed in the future, though nothing is confirmed at the moment.
[BONUS] Trucktober
the greatest for all vip server owners to witness in its full glory
Event
This event features two new community created tracks with those being Glacier Palace by veryfakeguest and Toy Workshop by danncie, whimsicalducks999, and 2nd_S. Completing these two tracks alive will award you with the Christmas 2021 badge which will award you with a special skin set in the near future.
This Mini-Event will end on January 11th, 2022.
Progress Report
Okay, what’s next? Now that I’ve completed the notable features of ALPHA that I wanted included, there’s only two things that are currently on my list before we can start working on the BETA update. Those two things include:
- Track Submission Catchup
- Performance Improvements
Once we get back on our normal schedule, I plan on finally catching up on all the pending accepted track submissions to have batches of them release in updates. This also includes a couple changes being made to existing tracks to make optimizations where it’s needed.
While we’re working on this, I’ll finally be cracking down on finding a suitable solution to the biggest bottleneck on performance which is the track movement. This is something that’s certainly gotten better since the game’s ALPHA release back in August of last year, though still remains as a notable issue for some users on certain tracks or all together. I have a couple ideas in mind that I haven’t tested out yet which hopefully can end up being a solution, but you’ll have to wait and see over the next few months.
After these two things, we’ll be able to start working on the game’s BETA update which is where we finally get to add all the fun things into the game lol 