In this Update

This week I focused on making the game available once again on iOS. A lot of that work is behind the scenes, so the game hasn't changed much this week. However, the game is running on iOS and is available on TestFlight, which was necessary to make sure that everything is working as expected on mobile. As a bonus, I believe the Unity version of the game uses less resources than the original game.

Deploying the game on mobile also made me focus on fixing some core game feel differences between joystick and button inputs for movement. In the original game, we didn't do much to make turning more precise and the input was entirely digital. This made small planets especially tricky, as even tiny movement would change your jump angle greatly. We solved this in the original by reducing your movement speed on small planets. 

This time around I'm trying axis simulation for the buttons, which will make them behave more like a joystick. In a lot of games, this can make the controls feel sluggish or "spongy". However, in Sunburn, I think we can get away with a few milliseconds of ramp up for cases where the player just wants to nudge slightly, while leaving the feeling of quick turn mostly unchanged.

I also threw in vibration support for controllers, which matches the screenshake. It's a little bit of a no-brainer, but this game is mostly flying around and bumping into things, and having haptic feedback makes it even more enjoyable.

Changes

• Various updates to support the iOS version of the game
  • Implemented original controls for mobile. Using buttons for the zoom while gesture support isn't available.
• Changed input behavior for movement axes when using button presses to use axis simulation. This should allow more precision when moving using buttons.
• Added additional inputs, mostly for debugging and testing for mobile without needing to use a device
  • Shoulder buttons send the same input as the mobile left and right buttons
  • The DualShock 4 controller touch pad acts like a touch screen
• Vibration support for controllers
• Gyroscope support for mobile and DualShock 4 controller
• Level select menu is available from anywhere now
• Fixed the zoom camera target when the player is out of oxygen
• Fixed oxygen warning sound playing after the player has died
• Player now detaches from glass planets if a movable planet breaks it while the player is standing on it.