Downloads

Manta Intel Macs (18MB) | Manta PPC Macs (17MB) | Manta Win32 (16MB)

Changes 10/19/2008

• Added "3D" HUD sights. (They're actually 2D sights, but they're projected into the world-view). I started with *actual* 3D sights, but got into problems (e.g. they got reflected in water).

Changes 10/1/2008

• Fix: visual bug in Volcano level.
• Content: improved lighting in the Bloody Sun and Total Annihilation levels.
• Content: resized the submarine. I'm not happy with this model, but I don't have time to replace it right now.
• Fix: some spawns were missing from the Volcano level making one of the optional mission objectives impossible to complete.
• Added a hacked quality slider to the Settings menu.
• Note: there's a cheat we put in for testing in the game -- you can skip a level by hitting the tilde (or backquote) key. If you want to see all the content but find it too tedious or difficult, this is your best friend.
• Removed light source from Manta shots. Was causing huge frame rate hit. (I thought I'd fixed this a while back, but evidently not.)
• Lots of additional and improved audio samples.
• Revised all mission objectives to make them more fun.
• Missiles slow down under water.
• Fix: worked around bug in Battlecruiser caused by improved turret code (battlecruisers can't see past their own noses...)
• Implemented pause (you can pause by hitting P or TAB).
• Added menu system to the game.
• Reduced speed of Manta a bit.
• Reduced initial launch speed of your guided missiles; they should be better at scoring a hit on their first pass now.
• Increased velocity of your railgun shots (by 66.67%). Should make aiming a little easier.

Changes 9/30/2008

• Manta's speed has been significantly increased. Watch out!
• Manta's fire control (missile lock) now has longer range and wider angle.
• Fix: kill credits are working again. For a while only overkill would get you credit (subtle bug, don't ask).
• Content Subtraction: Desert level has been closed down for redecorating. It probably will be left out of the UDC 2008 version.
• Content Addition: Added three new levels, including finale.
• Implemented naval vessels -- carrier, battleship, and submarine.
• Aircraft carrier is able to launch fighters.
• Improved visual feedback when you take out generators.
• Content Addition: Implemented Battlestation, Light Fighter, Flitter. (Flitter not currently used.)

Changes 9/29/2008

• Balance: colliding with medium fighters now causes damage.
• Fix: Bad News! Fixed the AI bug that was stopping hostile AIs from attacking. This means battlecruisers.
• Fix: turrets now accurately assess whether they have a shot, and report accordingly. The good news is this will mean a lot less spurious fire, which slowed framerates (it had no chance of hitting you). On the down side, the firing that does take place will tend to be more accurate.
• Alien whoosh sound effect added to medium fighters.
• Lots of minor content tweaks.

Changes 9/26/2008

• Everything now leaves behind a "corpse". Because we haven't got the time to produce wrecked models of everything, I modify existing models on the fly (rescaling them slightly and tinting their materials). Some wrecks float in water, others sink slowly to the sea floor (if appropriate).
• Replaced raycast method for determining if a ship is below ground for models not using Mesh Colliders. Replaced several mesh colliders.
• Tweaked mechanisms which determine exactly when a Destroyable (anything that can be destroyed) blows up (in particular, some things which tended to sit on the ground for a while before exploding now explode on impact).
• Manually tweaked a lot of smoke settings. Should eliminate some really ugly smoke problems.
• Tweaked Ocean Rig behavior a lot. Should be easier to destroy now.
• Fixed minor cosmetic issue with bubble partiles.

Changes 9/25/2008

• Fix: worked around a problem caused by mesh colliders cheerfully falling through the ground (I guess the mesh vs. mesh test is crude). I now fire a ray from above a falling object to see if it's hit the ground. This fixes a problem on level two where drones you destroyed would fall through the world and be culled before they exploded.
• Fix: found last remaining mistake in mission targets; it should be possible to complete every single mission objective now
• Fix: destroying ocean rigs and a number of other targets with capitalized names should work now
• Fix: removed spurious "s" from objective requiring a single target to be destroyed, and corresponding mission completion message.
• Gameplay: reduced nastiness of most enemies (especially skimmers which had a ridiculous ammo supply).
• Gameplay: reduced number of possible radar locks you can have simultaneously from 4 to 2.
• Fix: Spawn Manager now has a 2d creation mode that will prevent stuff form being spawned on top of you
• Fix: Spawn Manager now culls objects that have somehow gotten underground, and checks spawn points to see if they are underground and rejects those that are.
• Fix: AIs no longer choose destinations they obviously cannot reach.
• Fix: found a crashing bug when you collide with some objects.
• Lots of new content, including several mobile enemies, turrets, point defense weapons, ocean rigs
• New missions and new mission objectives.
• Enemy AIs now working.
• Rewritten "Spawn Manager" dynamically manages a "budget" rather than generating everything up front.

Changes 9/19/2008

• Switched music down to 64kbps, reducing web player back down to under 8MB (and that's with a full score). It will probably blow out a bit again when all the new 3d models go in this weekend.
• Added two new music tracks.
• Replaced insipid weapon sound.
• Modified layout of volcano level so you can find the targets a lot more easily.
• Added support for two kinds of wreckage (essentially building wreckage which sits still, and dynamic wreckage which can fall, bounce off stuff, float on water (bobbing up and down) and generally use huge amounts of CPU... maybe not for the iPhone version).

Changes 9/18/2008

• Refined the controls a bit (including improving visual feedback) and fixed an embarrassing error in the code that orients the ship.
• Steering has a stronger influence on the direction you shoot now.
• Added new options for toggling music (press M) and y-axis (press Y). Note that the game should remember your preferences between sessions.
• Full music system implemented. Music in place for each level (which somewhat increases file size and download time). Some of the music is placeholder (duplicate files). This will be fixed shortly. (I'll also revisit streaming before Oct 1. I tried it and it caused all kinds of problems, so I've gone back to a non-streamed web-player.)
• Some new stuff to blow up (you won't see it until levels 3 and 4).
• Added Mission System
• Made the "icebergs" look a bit more like ice
• Added three new "maps"
• Mothership now flies away at start of mission and returns at end
• Dock with the mothership after receiving "Mission Complete" message to proceed to next level
• Various UI enhancements including nicer typefaces, mission overview, and announcements