News! The potentially-anticipated v0.5 update to Hackey: the Hackening has been released!
You can grab it for the low, low, sum of nothing dollars from the Google Play store, for Android phones and tablets, or play for free in your browser at Newgrounds or Kongregate:
New in v0.5:
Watchtower Program Removed
The Watchtower program was used to reveal nodes in the area, with more powerful nodes revealing a greater radius. The Watchtower program was activate by dragging to the edge of the screen, which was a bit finicky, especially on phones. So, I removed it!
Don’t fret though, as now all nodes will reveal the area around themselves when captured. Also, boosting a node will increase its’ power, which will expose even more nodes! But beware, boosting has it’s own risks…
Nearby nodes are now revealed when you capture or boost a node.
Boosted Nodes Now Agitate the Enemy!
Boosted nodes are a great way to increase a node’s power, but they now alert enemy nodes! Alert enemies will spread throughout the network, looking for you.
This means that now you have to decide if you really need to boost a node, as it runs the risk of agitating enemy nodes, causing them to spread throughout the network. But maybe you’ll be OK? You’ll have to decide whether it’s worth the risk.
Boosting – the silent killer.
Lockdown Program
A new program has been added, named the Lockdown Program, to allow you to “lock down” nodes owned by you or the enemy. This effectively removes them from play, providing a safety buffer between you and the enemy.
Lockdown programs are activated by dragging a node to an unconnected node, meaning you’ll have to hunt around a bit to find a suitable node to perform the lockdown with.
Make sure you maintain the program though, and keep an eye out for other avenues of incursion! You wouldn’t want the enemy to sneak in through an insecure route…
The new Select Target interface, showing targets for the Lockdown Program.
New “Select Target” Interface
As seen above, you can now tap on an owned node to see a list of programs available to it, based on it’s power and potential target nodes, and then tap on a target to activate the program.
This provides a more verbose way to activate programs, especially in cases where you are unsure of which programs are available and which nodes they could target.
Semi-Turn-Based Gameplay, Pause Button
Gameplay has made a minor shift to a “semi-turn-based” style, whereby the game state will only advance when you are performing an active action, such as hacking a node, or creating a tunnel, etc. Passive actions such as boosting nodes and terminating programs do not advance the game state.
So, you can now think about your next move, mentally planning a sequence of attacks, without having to frantically poke the screen with your finger.
Another addition is the Pause button, which takes things a step further, allowing you to pause the action completely. While paused, you can activate programs, which will begin execution as soon as the game is unpaused.
This allows you to fire off a series of simultaneous attacks on multiple fronts, for when things are getting a bit heated!
Ambient Music
Ambient music has been added to enhance the mood of the game. In keeping with the nerdy theme, the music is procedurally generated! And to top it off, a new, tense beat has been introduced to keep the blood pumping during hectic battles.
HUD Markers
Markers have been added to the HUD to show you where your home node is, as well as the target node. No more zooming in and out to get your bearings!
Warning markers have also been added, alerting you to off-screen enemy activity.
Some warning markers and a marker showing the target node.
Misc Changes
A whole bunch of miscellaneous changes have been made to improve gameplay:
- Procedural level generation tweaks.
- Enemies are now bunched together to provide more of a challenge. And, there are more of them!
- Performance has been improved, particularly on mobile devices.
- Enemy AI has been tweaked to provide a different challenge.
