This Month in Clone Station: Gearing Up for Open Beta#
The past month has been all about preparing World 1 for the open beta. That means moving from core systems to polish - filling in gaps, tuning difficulty, and finally getting some marketing materials in shape. Here’s what I’ve been up to.
A Full Roster of Enemies (World 1 Complete!)#
Until now, most rooms were populated with basic grunts - fine for testing, but not enough to make the levels feel distinct. I added a couple of new enemy types with varied weapons, movement speeds, and health values.
These additions help increase level variety and set the stage for scaling difficulty across World 1.
All 10 levels are now in and playable!
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Finally Switched to the New Unity Input System#
This was long overdue. I finally migrated from the legacy input system to Unity’s “new” Input System.
Why it matters:
- Floating joysticks for mobile - they now follow the player’s thumb instead of staying fixed
- Easier local testing with gamepads - I can swap between controller or on-screen joysticks without changing settings
It was a bit of work to retrofit everything, but it’s a solid foundation going forward.
Difficulty Pass: Early Game Balancing#
Now that World 1 has a full level set, I went through and tuned:
- Enemy spawn frequencies
- Enemy difficulty
- Room Selection for Levels
- Star challenges
The first few levels are now tuned to feel accessible for new players, while still offering some optional challenges via the star conditions. Later levels ramp up more gradually, ending in a proper boss encounter with the Spawner.
Branding for the Road Ahead#
With open beta on the horizon, I spent some time on:
- Refreshed App Icon using the player character
- GameDevHobby branding for devlogs, social posts, and future Play Store assets
These are small steps, but they help create a more cohesive feel around the project.
What’s Next?#
As I wrap up World 1 content, I’m shifting focus to:
- Polish & bug fixes before open beta
- Play Store setup with screenshots, trailer, and description
- More audio/visual feedback in combat
It’s getting close.
Thanks for following the journey!