At long last, Gem Defender: Soy Requiem, is finally out! Get ready to Chud it up like never before with four new worlds, postgame content, and a collaboration with BADLANDS CHUGS!!! [previewyoutube=LeiatOxCCcE;full][/previewyoutube]

New Levels:

• Level 0 (Chuds Basement) acts as a quick tutorial to get you started
• Level 14 (The Badlands) is a brand-new gauntlet featuring the GOAT BadlandsChugs
• Level 15 (Brim) is the definitive, final level of the game
• A new post-game world, the Endless Soyscape, has been added with an endlessly-scaling wave system and most weapons in the game. See how far you can get!

New Weapons:

• Fatal Thrembosis, shoots out a demonic aoe burst in a triangle
• Pacifier MK Ultra, a devilish upgrade to the Pacifier gun
• Das Boot, an overcharged sproke-shooter that charges up before firing in giant bursts
• Quarterly Bonus, increases health gained from eating bugs and gives Chud contact damage
• Experiment 109?

Weapon Changes:

• Improved movement & visuals for Sproke
• Squirrel & Ancient Squirrel damage now better scales with its levels
• Improved contact damage of Soygirl in Soytham
• Increased range & improved visuals of Fauxgems
• Improved visual feedback for swords, trails are less buggy

Level Changes:

• Pruned grindy waves from Levels 1-5 and added more enjoyable wavesets
• Levels 1, 2, and 3 have new enemies
• Added a wave to Level (for a total of waves...)
• Level 6 (Diphenhydramine) received some visual improvements alongside some gameplay changes, giving you only one option per-level
• Some worlds received more visual polish
• The Fallen West now uses Girlbossania instead of Goondoom

UI Changes & Optimizations:

• Improved item displays in the Level Up screen
• Alternate item screen for Diphenhydramine
• Improvements for UI ordering in Diphenhydramine
• Duplicate items do not show up, some worlds have alternate amounts of upgrades selectable
• Tweaks to the death screen
• Fixed positions of enemy health bars
• All enemy projectiles now use object pooling
• All EXP now use object pooling
• Optimized enemy targeting for weapons

I worked for GoonCorp. He's a fraud. He claimed he was going to release Soyjak Requiem on the 14th, when he actually had full intention of releasing the update on the 21st. He also claims to be a "man of honour" despite the fact that he's a dastardly goon who terrorizes innocent babies and kittens and BIPOC... this guy needs to go jail. GoonCorp is a sadist truecel monster. As a whistleblower, I have access to leaks from the update. GoonCorp has been working with the legendary YouTuber and deepstate member BadlandsChugs on importing him INTO the world of Gem Defender. If Chugs's plans go unchecked, Shartaia may be doomed...

Hello everyone! The final update for Gem Defender, Soyjak Requiem, is set to release in around a week, on February 14th, 2025! WHAT TO EXPECT:

• A collaboration with a legend in the soy community, featuring his own custom level and skin in the game.
• Three new additional levels on top of that, including a definitive final level.
• Five new weapons that appear in various worlds, alongside buffs to plenty of existing weapons.
• Overhauls of some of the earlier worlds.
• A new post-game world with an endlessly-scaling wave system and most weapons in the game. See how far you can get!
• Several in-game optimizations.
• The long-awaited Steam Community items! Emojis, profile backgrounds, and trading cards of your favorite 'jaks

• Fixed duplicate miniboss in Hollow Earth
• Fixed a miniboss missing from the Fallen West

We at GoonCorp are excited to release an extra level alongside a new set of achievements!

The Fallen West

• Bonus level playable after completing the main story up to this point
• New 30 wave showdown featuring all of the game's minibosses
• One final duel with an old foe...

Achievements

• Added VorteX, BABY LOVER, Fallen West Defeated, THE WILD WEST HAS FALLEN, Isac Supreme, Apprentice Chud, Chud Elite, and Chud Eternal achievements
• Fixed time-based achievements breaking. If you already received enough hours but didn't get the achievement, you can reopen the game and it will give you the corresponding achievements
• Fixed the incorrect achievements being given for defeating Jak'er and Doctor Soystein. Reopening the game will correctly grant the achievements if you already met the criteria to receive them

Bug Fixes

• Fixed the final outfit not being received on completing Soytham City
• Fixed boss not spawning when going out of bounds in Diphenhydramine
• Fixed map UI scaling incorrectly when playing on UHD monitors
• Made it easier to spare Grinlook Poggers in Daycare
• Minor enemy fixes
• Waves will now only end early if there is not a miniboss present

Update 2 is out! Enjoy five new worlds (alongside reworks of the old worlds), eight new weapons, tons of polishing, and an adventure with our friend Isac Leon!

New Content

• Five new stages
• Library
• Hollow Earth
• Bugopolis
• Entrance to Soytham
• Soytham City
• New skins unlockable for each level
• 4 new cutscenes in-game

• Blade of Soyterra - Devastating melee attack!
• Mindbeams - Destructive piercing laser attack!
• Green Arrow - Recharging protective shield!
• Bobr - Genetically-modified attack squad
• Pacifier MK2 - Deadly burst-fire shooter!
• Soyarang - Skillfully kills haters with a returning projectile
• Soygirl - A skilled crime-fighter and an ally of Isac
• Isac Supreme - All stats up!
• Exclusive weapon variants on certain levels

Quality of Life

• The player now has full control of where they would like to aim using the mouse, however autoaim becomes active when not targeting an area.
• Full controller support
• Additional support for UI navigation using keyboard

• Now when reaching a boss you will have the ability to start at the fight from the menu, even if you have not cleared the level yet.
• All of the experience collectable from the level will be given on starting, and you will be able to choose all the upgrades you wouldve been able to get from the level.
• Legacy save files have been converted, every cleared level (except Diphenhydramine) allows you to replay the boss.
• Props in the scene now fade once a boss fight begins

Gameplay Changes

• Boss fights are much more dynamic, taking up the entirety of the stage. This allows for you to move around freely during the fight.
• The camera is still in a similar positions as before, but it has an animation for zooming out and getting the boss in-frame
• Bosses will now start exclusive short enemy waves in order to defend themselves, during which they cannot be hurt
• Overall, bosses are much more in-tune with the gameplay in levels
• To compensate, bosses have been adjusted overall, including many gaining more health and stronger attacks.
• Certain bosses are more affected by others
• Each boss now plays a unique sound on their fight beginning

• Added obstacles/big props that block enemy shots on contact.
• Custom level border for levels 2, 3, & 10
• Much better parity in art-style for props
• Props now have more consistency with the colors of their respective levels

• Level events may happen at certain wave intervals.
• These are shown similarly to the way the Wave X is shown
• Minor changes to the feedback for clearing a wave

UI/UX Changes

• Brand new layout and features
• Revamped design
• Improved distinction between health and experience
• New features to track both current level and wave progress

• Enemies now have a spawn animation if spawned on-screen
• Several enemies now vary in size
• Enemies now bleed more when hit
• Additional Feedback for defeating bosses
• New particles for collecting both experience and health
• Effects when both clearing waves and choosing upgrades

• Attack sounds for most existing and new weapons
• Improved audio consistency per-level
• Fixed the Asoylum using its unmastered track rather than its mastered one
• Audio fades out before a VS. screen plays
• Boss music continues where it left off before a VS. screen

• New graphics for upgrade screen
• New healthbar types for enemies
• Remade several assets for Level Selector screen
• Significantly improved compression for all videos ingame
• Fixed all UI scaling issues present on non-widescreen aspect ratios
• Updated a large amount of sprites for consistency with levels & style, including a large amount of props and enemy attacks

Balancing

• Most levels have around 7 items, including the starter weapon
• Certain levels have exclusive weapons available
• Shorter/gimmick levels tend to have less weapons
• All Items achievement now only needs all the items in the current pool
• Frootville achievement is now harder to get on certain levels than others

• Enemy spawns locations are weighed off player actions, making for much more dynamic and exciting gameplay
• Much more variety in enemy movement, with many old enemies gaining new movement types
• Bugs
• Each stage now has a limit on how many bugs can be around at once
• This is not dependent on bug rarity, and only counts for bugs currently in the stage
• Certain levels have vastly reduced bug spawns or even none at all

• More consistent growth per-upgrade for Apple, Coaltrop, Sproke Shooter, Keyed Lime, Lemon and Fauxgems
• Coaltrop Damage Buff
• Fauxgems Damage Buff
• Sproke Shooter
• Increased move speed
• Renamed from Spokerino to Sproke Shooter
• Increased Pearshooter projectile speed during boss fights

• Shortened wave count & increased enemy variety on levels 1, 2, 4, and 5.
• Improved set dressing, post-processing, and ambiance in all levels
• Added props and obstacles to all levels
• Added pre-boss waves & cutscenes for levels 7 and

• If time before hunting is over half depleted, it will deplete at a much faster rate (when hiding)
• If time before hunting is under half depleted, it will refill at an increased rate (when hiding)
• If the boss initiates a hunt, you can quickly hide to save yourself, however this only works if you are fast enough
• Hunt times are significantly decreased, making the boss much more aggressive
• Boss speed has been decreased to compensate for lower player speed
• Boss will instantly initiate a hunt if the player wanders too far from the stage
• New waves and much more variety in waves, includes more aggressive enemies which surface later in the level
• Extended wave interval to compensate, allowing for some downtime between waves
• Revamped hiding spot layout
• New obstacles in the level to make traversing it more interesting
• Decreased level size & hiding spot sizes
• Game pauses when collecting a note
• Current hunt time is cleared when collecting a note
• Notes now have their own display on the hud, rather than revealing all note spawn locations using tinted rocks on the map
• New feedback for a hunt beginning
• Reverb in level
• Improved attack vignette significantly
• New map icons, generally improved map UI
• Changed order of note graphics slightly, and two notes have changed sprites
• Player arrow is now much more subtle
• A new secret ending Explore the level and find out!

Bug Fixes

• Item collection popup no longer blocks player clicking
• Fixed a bug where time while the game while pause would not contribute to the achievements for time spent in-game
• Fixed several bugs involving pausing at weird times
• Fixed only the post-processing button matching the currently equipped skin
• Fixed upgrade screen breaking if gaining 2 levels at the same time
• Vastly reduced the amount of times a single enemy will take longer to reach the player (this used to make certain waves last longer than they shouldve)
• Fixed player color resetting when taking damage while hiding
• Several optimizations to game code
• Countdowns to next wave now display increased times correctly
• Fixed hide screen not showing in Diphenhydramine
• Fixed memory leak in cutscenes
• Fixed a bug where custom forcefield colors would not be shown
• Fixed screenshake breaking when being fed NaN inputs
• Several optimizations to boss attacks
• Game will no longer enter an infinite loop when depleting an item pool to less than three items
• Significant improvements to code structure

• fixed rare missing exe bug for windows

Update 2 is out! Enjoy five new worlds (alongside reworks of the old worlds), eight new weapons, tons of polishing, and an adventure with our friend Isac Leon!

New Content

• Five new stages
• Library
• Hollow Earth
• Bugopolis
• Entrance to Soytham
• Soytham City
• New skins unlockable for each level
• 4 new cutscenes in-game

• Blade of Soyterra - Devastating melee attack!
• Mindbeams - Destructive piercing laser attack!
• Green Arrow - Recharging protective shield!
• Bobr - Genetically-modified attack squad
• Pacifier MK2 - Deadly burst-fire shooter!
• Soyarang - Skillfully kills haters with a returning projectile
• Soygirl - A skilled crime-fighter and an ally of Isac
• Isac Supreme - All stats up!
• Exclusive weapon variants on certain levels

Quality of Life

• The player now has full control of where they would like to aim using the mouse, however autoaim becomes active when not targeting an area.
• Full controller support
• Additional support for UI navigation using keyboard

• Now when reaching a boss you will have the ability to start at the fight from the menu, even if you have not cleared the level yet.
• All of the experience collectable from the level will be given on starting, and you will be able to choose all the upgrades you wouldve been able to get from the level.
• Legacy save files have been converted, every cleared level (except Diphenhydramine) allows you to replay the boss.
• Props in the scene now fade once a boss fight begins

Gameplay Changes

• Boss fights are much more dynamic, taking up the entirety of the stage. This allows for you to move around freely during the fight.
• The camera is still in a similar positions as before, but it has an animation for zooming out and getting the boss in-frame
• Bosses will now start exclusive short enemy waves in order to defend themselves, during which they cannot be hurt
• Overall, bosses are much more in-tune with the gameplay in levels
• To compensate, bosses have been adjusted overall, including many gaining more health and stronger attacks.
• Certain bosses are more affected by others
• Each boss now plays a unique sound on their fight beginning

• Added obstacles/big props that block enemy shots on contact.
• Custom level border for levels 2, 3, & 10
• Much better parity in art-style for props
• Props now have more consistency with the colors of their respective levels

• Level events may happen at certain wave intervals.
• These are shown similarly to the way the Wave X is shown
• Minor changes to the feedback for clearing a wave

UI/UX Changes

• Brand new layout and features
• Revamped design
• Improved distinction between health and experience
• New features to track both current level and wave progress

• Enemies now have a spawn animation if spawned on-screen
• Several enemies now vary in size
• Enemies now bleed more when hit
• Additional Feedback for defeating bosses
• New particles for collecting both experience and health
• Effects when both clearing waves and choosing upgrades

• Attack sounds for most existing and new weapons
• Improved audio consistency per-level
• Fixed the Asoylum using its unmastered track rather than its mastered one
• Audio fades out before a VS. screen plays
• Boss music continues where it left off before a VS. screen

• New graphics for upgrade screen
• New healthbar types for enemies
• Remade several assets for Level Selector screen
• Significantly improved compression for all videos ingame
• Fixed all UI scaling issues present on non-widescreen aspect ratios
• Updated a large amount of sprites for consistency with levels & style, including a large amount of props and enemy attacks

Balancing

• Most levels have around 7 items, including the starter weapon
• Certain levels have exclusive weapons available
• Shorter/gimmick levels tend to have less weapons
• All Items achievement now only needs all the items in the current pool
• Frootville achievement is now harder to get on certain levels than others

• Enemy spawns locations are weighed off player actions, making for much more dynamic and exciting gameplay
• Much more variety in enemy movement, with many old enemies gaining new movement types
• Bugs
• Each stage now has a limit on how many bugs can be around at once
• This is not dependent on bug rarity, and only counts for bugs currently in the stage
• Certain levels have vastly reduced bug spawns or even none at all

• More consistent growth per-upgrade for Apple, Coaltrop, Sproke Shooter, Keyed Lime, Lemon and Fauxgems
• Coaltrop Damage Buff
• Fauxgems Damage Buff
• Sproke Shooter
• Increased move speed
• Renamed from Spokerino to Sproke Shooter
• Increased Pearshooter projectile speed during boss fights

• Shortened wave count & increased enemy variety on levels 1, 2, 4, and 5.
• Improved set dressing, post-processing, and ambiance in all levels
• Added props and obstacles to all levels
• Added pre-boss waves & cutscenes for levels 7 and

• If time before hunting is over half depleted, it will deplete at a much faster rate (when hiding)
• If time before hunting is under half depleted, it will refill at an increased rate (when hiding)
• If the boss initiates a hunt, you can quickly hide to save yourself, however this only works if you are fast enough
• Hunt times are significantly decreased, making the boss much more aggressive
• Boss speed has been decreased to compensate for lower player speed
• Boss will instantly initiate a hunt if the player wanders too far from the stage
• New waves and much more variety in waves, includes more aggressive enemies which surface later in the level
• Extended wave interval to compensate, allowing for some downtime between waves
• Revamped hiding spot layout
• New obstacles in the level to make traversing it more interesting
• Decreased level size & hiding spot sizes
• Game pauses when collecting a note
• Current hunt time is cleared when collecting a note
• Notes now have their own display on the hud, rather than revealing all note spawn locations using tinted rocks on the map
• New feedback for a hunt beginning
• Reverb in level
• Improved attack vignette significantly
• New map icons, generally improved map UI
• Changed order of note graphics slightly, and two notes have changed sprites
• Player arrow is now much more subtle
• A new secret ending Explore the level and find out!

Bug Fixes

• Item collection popup no longer blocks player clicking
• Fixed a bug where time while the game while pause would not contribute to the achievements for time spent in-game
• Fixed several bugs involving pausing at weird times
• Fixed only the post-processing button matching the currently equipped skin
• Fixed upgrade screen breaking if gaining 2 levels at the same time
• Vastly reduced the amount of times a single enemy will take longer to reach the player (this used to make certain waves last longer than they shouldve)
• Fixed player color resetting when taking damage while hiding
• Several optimizations to game code
• Countdowns to next wave now display increased times correctly
• Fixed hide screen not showing in Diphenhydramine
• Fixed memory leak in cutscenes
• Fixed a bug where custom forcefield colors would not be shown
• Fixed screenshake breaking when being fed NaN inputs
• Several optimizations to boss attacks
• Game will no longer enter an infinite loop when depleting an item pool to less than three items
• Significant improvements to code structure

I am excited to announce that an update will come in around two months that will add new worlds/bosses. Unfortunately, the game still lacks the momentum necessary for Steam to allow us to release community items so hopefully this update should rake in enough 'traction' for Steam to make it happen. But if not, at the very least you'll still be getting 8 new worlds & bosses in batches of 2-3 new worlds every few weeks starting mid-January. The official soundtrack for the game is now live on Steam for those interested.
In the meantime, I'll be dropping a couple of patches and bug fixes. For those interested in unlocking the secret boss, you'll be able to hold left mouse to stop your weapons from firing. Most importantly though, ITT I want you guys to give me your suggestions for worlds/enemies/balance changes. Currently, I've only got about a third of the new content drafted out so I've got room for some of your suggestions to be integrated into the game. tl;dr wordswordswords - GoonCorp

- Fix for 'True Chud' & 'Uberchud' achievements Soundtrack coming soon. More is in the works.

- The menu screen background should now work on all platforms - "Totally Nutty Dude", "ACK!", and "Eiriel" achievements now work - Updated Post-Processing for a few levels - All bosses have had their health & bullet patterns tweaked - Waves will no longer be extended indefinitely by a lone enemy - Projectiles now aim during boss fights like in normal waves HINT: You can reach the hidden world by refusing to kill one of Soystein's victims. Just play with him for like two minutes instead and he will show you the way.

A hotfix will be released Wednesday (Oct. 25) that fixes a couple of bugs related to boss health/projectiles, HUD scaling, and extended wave times. Community items such as trading cards, icons, and hopefully backgrounds will be added once steam allows us.

I hope you're ready.