Now we're getting somewhere!
Here you can see most of the basic mechanics in action as well as the scoring system. (NOTE: I'm using an Xbox controller for all the testing I've been doing, but I'm hoping to figure out a keyboard/mouse setup before the end of the jam.)
Left trigger pulls the "spring" back and the ball launches higher relative to how much it's pulled back (we're likely going to replace this with a canon in the final version, which is why the spring is barely functional). I typically use the A button to force an impulse on the ball, which is why you see it go nuts sometimes (like when it's coming out of the beginning chute...I haven't bothered to fix that since I'll have to redo the collision boundaries when I get Colin's art anyway)
The right stick on the controller shoots, while the left stick is used only for influencing movement during slow-mo (which is activated by holding the right trigger). You only get 5 seconds of slow-mo, but it refills after you collect enough points.
Shooting enemies not only gets you more points, but it also increases your score multiplier (which makes everything more valuable, even bumpers). Losing your ball means you lose your multiplier.
If the ball is moving at a high enough velocity, a shield appears over it. When this shield is equipped, you can slam right through enemies! Killing an enemy in this way will grant you DOUBLE that enemy's normal value. You can't shoot while your shield is up, though.
If you're not going fast enough to have a shield and you hit an enemy, you'll lose a health point. The enemy still gets destroyed, but you don't get any score or multiplier from the kill.
Enemy spawning is really basic right now, just creating stationary enemies in a limited few spots. I'm planning on having more enemies appear in more inconvenient places as your score gets higher (and these enemies will move!)
All of that stuff in the bullet points is subject to change dramatically, but I'd love to hear feedback while I'm still hammering out the details.
The game is still not very pretty, but I've seen some of Colin's work-in-progress art and it looks FANTASTIC. You may also notice that he's already given me a little ship to use as the ball, which is much better than the pinball.png I googled last night. :D
