DRONE SMUGGLER

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• Patch Notes·14 Aug 2026Official

  new colors for the new format

  the new 4-tone color swap palette format is coming together quite nicely, i think!set up a new scene where I can tweak colors and save pre-fixe palettes for retrieval in game later - these "curated" color schemes will be mixed in with ones that get set from local star-system and planetary data as well as full randomization when things get really chaotic/exotic.the palette test scene lets me do some color work while taking a breather from other, more logically-intense work. also is a nice quick thing i can sit down, mess with for 20 minutes, and walk away while still feeling like i've made some helpful progress on the project.screenshot: sample sprites at runtime during palette test "gameplay":moving from the 3- to 4-tone palette was inspired by learning some more about how the game boy color used to handle this stuff and what specific colors were used - i used to really enjoy the way you could modify the palette of the gbc when you booted up. playing pokemon red in some of the more wild palettes was a fun little change of scenery back in the day.i even went to the lengths of looking up the baked-in palettes that the gbc had assigned to each d-pad/button combo and recreated those to see how the new shader would handle things and it was a fun trip down memory lane:screenshot: in-editor look at the various color collections that have been added - each is a 4-color palette consisting of the original hex codes from the gbc boot palettesthe gbc color swap thing was always the inspiration for how color works for in-game entities - so getting this to look and function much more like the original tech that inspired it has been really funlooking forward to continuing to search for interesting color combinations now that it's all running smoothly.remaining items on the to-do list before a 0.1.9.1 WIDE release might hit steam:level_wide palette collections and assignmentlevel_wide score displaylevel end screen (death, score, rebuy)lasers for player shipenemy ship spawn + lasers...
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• Patch Notes·10 Aug 2026Official

  the Widening has begun...

  **As always, all assets, sounds, code, and other constituent parts of DRONE SMUGGLER were created by a human being.**DRONE SMUGGLER's sci-fi spacefaring, high-score-chasing fun is getting a new look this summer. "The Widening" is an in-progress development initiative to bring DRONE SMUGGLER gameplay into a new 16:9 aspect ratio while refactoring or redesigning core elements to better support the kind of local variability, universal verisimilitude, and overall re-play value that suits the original vision. Right now only a few parallax particle effects have been added to the new game space, giving a peaceful feeling of drifting through interstellar space.Additional updates will be coming in the near future that bring gameplay mechanics up to parity with the current Steam release - the player ship, first and foremost, but also enemies, asteroids, dropping/picking up/deploying tech modules, and a local leaderboard for high scores. DRONE SMUGGLER is the debut release for Debauched Sloth Games, which is a personally-funded venture by a solo developer.Here is a screenshot of the new look, followed by a short (90 seconds) video showing the particle motion in deep space.Screenshot:This initiative will require a lot of "reformatting" of existing mechanics and functions so it may take some time before a playable release is available - but I'll be putting in at least an hour or so of work into this every day this week so I'm hoping to have a simple playable version out in a day or so. It'll mean a bit of regression of game features in the first few iterations but I think the juice will be well worth the squeeze.Demo video (ft. "The Great Resonator" - Aliquid Novi, from DRONE SMUGGLER EARLY ACCESS OST):I will, more likely than not, keep the original version available as a free-to-play demo on Steam once I get at least one "widened" version out on the store.If, by some chance, there's a player or two out there who have been following along patiently - thank you. I've been navigat...
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• Patch Notes·5 Aug 2026Official

  0.1.9 Informal Patch Notes

  Informal Patch Notes for 0.1.9In no particular order, here are some notes about EA0.1.9:Fixed incorrect capitalization on HUD UIPyxel shade labels - should be rPx, gPx, and bPx (the DRONE SERIF font shows lowercase as a downward-shifted glyph, will take a look at this at some point)Reworked shield particle systems to give them more energy and rhythmReworked cargo bay controls:As in 0.1.8, holding down a cargo bay input will jettison any cargo in that bayHolding down a cargo bay input for a bay with no currently held cargo opens that bay for storageReleasing a cargo bay input for an empty bay with no cargo closes that bayConsumables/pickups from the level can only be stored in an empty bay that is open and engaged for storage(In the future, installable/craftable upgrades to the player ship will allow things like automatically opening the next available bay when cargo is near, tractor beams that draw floating cargo towards the ship, filter modules that automatically open a specific bay when a specific type of cargo is nearby, and so on)As in 0.1.8, pressing a cargo bay input (without holding) activates whatever is in that bayUpdated controls text in options menu to reflect cargo bay control changesAdded cosmic amoebae particle system to level background to give more depth and lifeCosmic amoebae particle movement mostly tied to ship velocity (inverted)This game is very much back in my mind again and I'm going to see what I can do about starting back up on it regularly. There's a lot left unfinished, I haven't re-read my prior roadmap and other updates so 0.1.9 has likely fallen a bit short of what was promised in terms of functionality, but if things continue as they have been (no promises here) I will have some more information and updates to follow in the coming weeks.I'm having fun playing it. I think I need to rework how levels are displayed. The scrolling background was a nice shortcut and an homage to the retro games that inspired this but I think are probably be...
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• Patch Notes·23 Aug 2025Official

  v0.1.8 - Patch Notes & Developer Comments

  v0.1.8 is here and brings a bunch of fun new things to DRONE SMUGGLER :)Here's my high score from testing for this release:While the changes introduced in 0.1.8 aren't revolutionary, there's a lot here in the background and just below the surface that helps reach my current goal of building stable, fun gameplay to build Privateer Mode around in the 0.2.0 cycle.My thinking at this point is that 0.1.9 will continue and hopefully be released sometime in the next two weeks (there are some complex features and tools on my to-do list that I'm about to dive into) - while 0.2.0 will be a longer cycle still. One thing I know for sure about 0.2+ is that I want the first patch (likely 0.2.1) to be primarily about reducing the Known Issues/"Known" Issues/Known "Issues" lists which have grown quite a bit recently (but that's because I'm playing the game more, because it's fun, so I'm not complaining).The difficulty level overall has definitely taken a leap in the more intense direction (hence the moderate/low-ish high score from testing, compared to prior releases) but that's been mostly by design. A lot of the under-the-hood changes in 0.1.8 are things that deal with spawn rate, the type of space objects (enemy ships, asteroids) that spawn, and the stats of those objects when they spawn. Those changes are largely in service of providing a gameplay experience with intensity that ebbs and flows throughout a run - there should be stretches of relative calm where you can collect your thoughts for the next wave of chaos that shadespace throws at you!I definitely have some more work to do in that regard, but this is another step in the right direction that builds on what was tweaked in 0.1.7 (judging by my initial impressions). Another area that definitely needs more attention but that has seen a lot of progress in this build is cargo/consumable mods, and the UI elements relating to those.Red, Green, and Blue Pyxel hoppers and three Cargo Bays have been added to the HUD in 0.1.8, jus...
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• Announcements·16 Aug 2025Official

  DS Dev Notes: 0.1.8, 0.1.9, and the path towards Privateer Mode in 0.2.0

  There have been a lot of changes in the time since the DRONE SMUGGLER Early Access launch and, since the game as of 0.1.7 is really hitting a lot of good notes for me right now, I thought this would be a good time to step back and make a plan for what's to come.I've been collecting color swatch screenshots from the HUD during 0.1.7 testing - these will serve as the basis for more "curated" color combinations while still leaving room for randomly selected ones!Recent updates have been based heavily on feelings I had during playtesting - which is to say heavily based on vibes and what can be accomplished in a few hours sitting with the engine open and a few simple ideas to implement. It has been important to me to get the foundations for Privateer Mode (more on that below if you haven't been following the game's description or announcements) into the game before delving too much into RNG-based items and upgrades - mainly because I have a ton of ideas for how to implement those little rogue-y features into this game to help make each ship feel like a custom creation for the pilot in command, and I know if I start working on all of that I'll get lost in a procgen rabbit hole that I might never climb back out of :)So in the interest of protecting myself from myself, I've made a plan to roll out some foundational features that will provide structure for Privateer Mode and enhancements to Arcade Mode across the next three updates - two minor "staging" updates and one big one that will bring a lot of behind-the-scenes structure that I'll need to start building out all of those fun mod concepts.====0.1.8: Color Collection, Cargo Slots, "End Orbit" OptionTo inject some extra fun and importance to the various color mechanics which currently serve as a simple way to keep the game looking and feeling fresh even after hundreds of orbits, I want to bring some changes in the next update that will treat color as a collectable and consumable resource for DS pilots.If all goes to plan...
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