January update is here! For safety reasons we put it in the "upcoming" beta branch for now. We'll switch it to main branch and distribute it to everybody shortly, after we check that nothing got fatally broken. If you want to test it immediately, do this:

• In Steam client right click the game and select "Properties".
• Select tab labeled "Betas".
• Change "Select the beta you would like to opt into" to "upcoming - Upcoming version".

After the December release we had to focus on all the feedback and requests primarily, so no new levels this time. But we have a lot of changes - mainly in UI - that need to be tested. Please give it a quick look and let us know in the discussion forum, whether we moved things in the right direction. UI:

• Reworked item categories in shop. No more tabs. All categories are listed in one panel now.
• Reworked controls in menu. LMB always selects. RMB is always an action, specific for the context.
• Improved gamepad controls in the shop. Added trigger+stick combo for a faster navigation.
• Auto-sorting button for cargo inventory.
• Profile menu has now ranks and added "death angel" badge under the portrait.
• Profile menu displays more gameplay statistics now.
• Reworked options panels. We have added: sound panning, max FPS, HUD mode, ship outline, mouse controls setup. You can assign up to 5 mouse buttons now.
• Reworked HUD and mini-HUD on the ship.
• New boss meter. Now capable to display for multiple bosses.

New items:

• New equipment: El Diablo [spoiler]Removes heat limit, but you can also burn yourself![/spoiler]
• New equipment: Hellfire Generator [spoiler]Heat now increases weapon power.[/spoiler]
• New equipment: Bomb Duplicator [spoiler]Every bomb drop is two bombs actually.[/spoiler]
• New equipment: G.E.M Connector [spoiler]All front G.E.M.s affect main gun only.[/spoiler]
• New device: Repulsor [spoiler]Changes the distance of drones.[/spoiler]
• New device: Shrinker [spoiler]Makes the ship smaller but also weaker.[/spoiler]

Item changes:

• Fixed minimines. They explode only on the first contact and they work with all bombs properly.
• Bigger spread for disco bombs. They are less precise.
• Flipper flips drones correctly. It also works with Focus now.
• Circulus drone count is leveling from 1 to 4 now.
• Blast projector now transfers one shot with lowered power only and generates no extra heat.
• Magnavolt and VX Master Blaster are weakened.

Gameplay:

• Scrolling speed has been slightly slowed down.
• Major rework of heat. It only builds up while shooting now. It dissipates faster but the gun-jamming penalty is the same.
• Crates and containers are not damaging the hero when falling on the ship.
• Mouse controls + Aim Enhancer work together now (well, it does something :) ).
• When collision catches hero's ship on the left edge it kills it instead of teleporting to a safe area.

Fixes:

• Checkpoint now stores info about collected secret level.
• Necro Titan no longer enters unkillable state (hopefully).
• Great many minor tweaks and fixes has been added to the game.

This update was focused on technical stuff. We need to improve some core functions of the game like shop or heat (more heat handling items like central cooling coming soon!). Please give it a quick test and let us know, what you think. In the next update will be mostly about the new content - adding level or two, enemies, etc. So there will be more new stuff to play! Stay tuned!

[ 2019-01-31 08:26:19 CET ] [ Original post ]