Dev Log — Mountain Laser Tag Update

Since my last dev log, I focused on making Mountain Laser Tag feel more like a complete game instead of just a battle demo. I worked on the final boss ending, the save system, achievements, money rewards, the main menu, and overall game polish.

One of the biggest changes was the final boss completion flow. After beating the final boss, the game now shows an ending credits screen instead of just ending suddenly. I added a SAVE & FINISH button that saves the player’s completion reward, fades out the audio, and moves into a final black “game saved” ending screen. This works better for a web game because browsers do not always allow a game to close the tab automatically. The final boss reward now saves a completed-game state, including overpowered mode with near-infinite ammo, very fast firing, huge stamina, fast reload, and maxed upgrades.

I also fixed the reset system. Before, if the player beat the final boss and then reset their progress, the reward power mode could still remain active. Now reset clears money, upgrades, achievements, lifetime stats, boss unlocks, and final boss reward mode. That makes the reset button actually behave like a full fresh start.

Another major update was fixing how eliminations count. I noticed that CPU eliminations were counting as the player’s eliminations, which meant the player could unlock achievements without actually doing anything. I changed the logic so CPU kills only help the team score, while player kills are the only ones that count toward personal elimination stats, money, and player achievements.

I also changed the money system so different game modes reward the player differently. Team Elimination still rewards the player for eliminations and headshots, but Manhunt now works differently. If the player is hunted, they can earn money for surviving and escaping over time. If the player is hunting, they can earn money for finding the target quickly. Other modes now have smaller mode-specific rewards, such as Capture the Flag defense rewards, Commander eliminations, and King of the Hill rewards.

I added more achievements to make the game feel like it has long-term goals. These include achievements for 100 lifetime eliminations, 500 lifetime eliminations, 25 Team Elimination knockouts, earning money while escaping in Manhunt, winning a fast Manhunt as the hunter, winning Capture the Flag, and winning King of the Hill. This gives players more reasons to try multiple modes instead of only playing one mode.

I also worked on the title screen and mission brief system. The main menu has a larger mountain-themed command box with buttons for Deploy, Upgrade Shop, Achievements, Reset Save, Mission Brief, Mode Select, and Quit. I experimented with different mission brief layouts and then adjusted the system so the mission brief can be shown from the main screen without feeling like a completely separate menu. The mission brief explains the current mode’s objective so the player understands what to do before deploying.

For performance, I made several smoothing changes. I reduced active CPU load, slowed down some repeated cleanup and UI update tasks, reduced how often the minimap redraws, and throttled some boss UI updates. I also experimented with edge fog, but it caused too much lag, so I rolled that back to keep the game running smoother. This was a useful lesson: not every cool visual effect is worth keeping if it hurts the actual gameplay experience.

Overall, this update made the game more complete. It now has better save behavior, clearer progression, fairer achievements, better mode rewards, a more polished ending, and a cleaner main menu. The game still needs more testing, especially in a browser build, but it is much closer to being ready to ship for Stardance.