MACH-X
The first co-op worked, but it was awkward. You and a friend had to share a room code, type it, and hope neither of you made a typo. I wanted co-op to feel like asking someone to fly.
Release 1.8.0, on 29 October, changed the entry. Every player now has a pilot tag. There is no password and no e-mail. You add friends by tag, or from your Play Games friends. You see who is online and invite them with one tap. The invite arrives in the app, or as a notification if you allow them. From release 1.9.0 the notifications arrive in your own language.
The lobby shows the world, the mode and the Heat level, and you can switch plane before take-off. After a run you get a team debrief and a Fly again together button. Co-op runs now go to their own leaderboard, one row per duo.
Chat is limited on purpose. There are 40 preset phrases and 24 emoji. No free text. I do not want to moderate a chat box, and I do not want a stranger's words in your game.
Then I played it on phones across the internet, and the truth showed up. Co-op stuttered when updates arrived late or got lost. Late waves, with lots of bullets, produced large updates and a lot of work on both phones.
Release 1.9.1, on 1 November, is mostly that work:
- Less stutter when updates arrive late or get lost
- Smaller updates in late waves
- Much less work per frame on both phones
- Pick your paint and pilot in the lobby. Your teammate sees both, and a guest's pilot now counts in the run
I also fixed small things I found while testing: propellers spin again on the co-op airstrip, and jet engines glow.
Co-op is still two players. It needs an internet connection, and phone-to-phone play over mobile networks will never be perfect. But it is now something I would invite a friend to.
The single-player game does not need any of this. It runs offline, and everything online is optional.
Next: the road to getting the game in front of more than a handful of testers.