---Red---Tether--> 1.0 Announced!

Hi All

I decided to experiment a bit with smaller, faster releases this year. That's why  ---Red---Tether--> will come to Steam and Itch as an extended, commercial release, most likely by the end of October.

Version 1.0 is about 70% done now and I’d like to give you a quick rundown of where the game is actually at. There will be an extended Demo at Steam Next Fest that will also replace the redux version available here, allowing you to try the new and improved version first hand. But for now here’s a big gifdump and breakdown of what I’ve been working on recently.

First of all there is now a system of hazards and status effects, become more relevant starting with the midgame. Fuel spills ignite and deal damage over time, coolant exposes ships to more damage and electric charges travels through tethers and disable ships and attachments with EMP.

Once you get further into the game, ships and objects will not only have better means of offense, but also counter your tether attempts in various ways. The game aims to eventually evolve into a more complex combat puzzle where you need to make careful decisions amid the action in order to effectively dismantle the fleet.

The whole glitchy UI thing is something I still want to push further. The latest addition to the UI was some visualization of you current shield hp. Like in Hyperspace Dogfight, you have hearts as a second line of defense.

The art pipeline for the game is also fairly streamlined, so there are tons of new enemies. About 10 new ship classes got added, focusing on mid game challenge. New asteroid variant come armed, or filled with coolant. Hazard tugs and refinery ships carry dangerous cargo, ripe for being spilled on their escorts. Minelayers deny areas with seeker mines. Stealth ships are hard to identify until you rip their H³-heatsinks off. Late game combat ships might carry antimatter auto cannons or heavy railguns, allowing them to fire at you from mid and long range.

The new ships also come with new defensive attachments that interfere with your tether attempts. Shock spires electrify ship hulls when harpooned, giving you a narrow window to remain tethered to ships that carry them. Shield generators block tethers altogether, the generator itself remains vulnerable, but is anchored heavily into the ship and requires multiple tethers to be ripped off.

These defenses aren’t just detriments though, you can turn them against other ship too. Using electrified hulls to shock and disable other attachments is the obvious options. But the increases HP of shielded ships also makes them ideal “anvils” you can use to crash weaker ships against, if you find creative ways to get them there. These are just a few of the systemic interactions I intend for the game, more enemy and hazard mechanics are still on the way.

Other than that I also threw in a basic options menu, wanting to get that done way before the demo. As with my previous game, the glitch and feedback stuff will be freely customizable. And I’m considering some accessibility options like a hight contrast mode for later.

And lastly I started working on hangar base and unlockable player ships, with some parallels to Hyperspace Dogfights in that regard. Ships all come with signature items that can be unlocked for other ships to find on their run. The second ship you'll get will most likely be again one that grants random upgrades on launch. Your starter ship is carrying Chainsaw Field as its signature item, offering an easy fallback method of dealing damage with high powered speed-collisions. Overall I'm leaning towards ship concepts with more distinct signature items this time. 7 ships are in the works for the initial release.

After that I still want add a few more things. There will be a black box system that gives you some unlockable lore to collect and slowly reveals context on the game world. Late game enemies and bosses are still in the pipe. And to wrap it all up I want to implement an endless mode that features randomized waves instead of the pre-made ones the game is currently using.

Stay tuned for the demo in October, allowing you to explore some of this first hand. And if you got a second please consider whishlisting the game on Steam.

Cheers and stay tethered!

Stefan – Sleeper Games