This week, I introduced to Convergence Compulsion something I think I'll be exploring a lot more deeply from now on: obstacle types. Apart from that, there's some bug fixes and some background changes that should make it easier to add new obstacle types. More on that, well, now.

Lightning power-up and the Breakable Obstacle Type

First, there's a new lightning power-up in the rotation. I've seeded it kind of heavily so you get a lot of chances to try it during this EA phase. When you pick it up, lightning strikes a random obstacle and converts all nearby obstacles into glass. FLASH! BANG! Breakable obstacles.

Now that there's glassy obstacles, bump into them and see what happens. Crack... crack... CRASH! They break apart in three hits. (Bombs and lasers still work on them, too.) My hope is that this helps you clear the field and have more fun playing.

Obstacles now burst into chunks instead of just vanishing

This seemed like a cool idea in general, but especially now that there's obstacles you'll be busting up on a pretty regular basis. The chunks are dynamically cut and geometrically accurate to the original square. I think my favorite ricochet comes off of the laser shots--what's yours?

Discord Rich Presence is a thing now

Now, if you're playing on Windows and logged into Discord, Convergence Compulsion comes up as the game your playing. The RPC badge reflects whether you playing, game-over'd, or on the menu, and even shares your score!Fixed a bug where the controller rumbles infinitely after a game over

Before, it was possible to get the laser, get a game over, and have your controller rumble basically forever. This is fixed. Thanks to Bonta for reporting this one.

The menu's back button no longer shows up where it shouldn't

Basically, this was related to an overly simple implementation of menu page history. I reimplemented it using a stack, so now the whole page hierarchy is there. This change will also let me create more robust menu designs later, for tweaking the game's colors and more. Bonus!

So yeah, that's the update--hope you have fun flashing and bashing your way to some new high scores! Also, if you have ideas for other obstacle types let me know. If you're the first one to suggest it and I end up using your idea, you'll be in the credits. Next week's update will likely be another obstacle type, and I'm thinking of adding a speed option in the playtest menu. Until then, be safe and healthy, wash your hands, and stay home. Cheers!