This new map is 5x larger than before. With classic GTA2 vibes, this map feels immersive and completely transforms the game. Vehicles play a critical role in transport now, and the rules of Battle Royale have been changed to work on a larger scale. Over the coming versions I want to make Geneshift more sandboxy with a focus on exploration, and this mega map is a great place to start.



To go with the mega map we now have a new day/night cycle, fog effects, lens flares, rain and thunder, and more. It's a significant upgrade to the aesthetics of the game and the weather patterns really make the new map a lot more immersive.



- Enemies now have health bars above their heads. It feels satisfying to hit people and prioritize targets based on who has the lowest health.
- You can now rebuy ammo from anywhere in the map at any time. Just press B and buy ammo.
- Whenever you fire your gun you will be revealed for 1.5s to all other players nearby. This makes it much easier to find action in the minimap.
- Phase drifting has been removed as a default ability but made into a new skill in the Physical tree.
- Weapons have a reduced range, preventing people from firing at you off-screen.
- The firing delay on active skills like Plasma Ball has been reduced from 1.0s to 0.5s.



Everything has been scaled up for the new massive map. We have more players, longer rounds and a new scoring system to keep matches between 15 to 30 minutes. Instead of first to win 3 rounds, it's first to 50 points. With this change there are many new ways to gain score like doing civilian missions, hunting for kills or winning supply drops. This also allows you to feel productive even as a zombie.



Most exciting are the new rules for zombies, making zombie gameplay far more engaging and free. A few highlights are:

- Zombies can keep respawning infinitely and aren't forced to spectate.
- Zombies can now fire guns in the red zone, but take 2x damage.
- Zombies no longer resurrect from killing a survivor, but instead killing 5 enemies in a row (zombies included).
- Zombies can now resurrect with a new special "Heart" supply drop which falls every 2 minutes.

These final 2 points completely change the zombie meta, and let you focus on exploring the map, getting quality kill streaks, and winning the super intense Heart drop. To win the heart you simply need to stand on it for 5s. But be careful, because every other zombie will try do the same and only 1 player gets to revive!



Another big addition is the new lives mechanic. Battle royale is the last man alive. By default we all start with 1 life, and if you die you become a zombie with 0 lives. But now you have the ability to earn bonus lives! Every kill gives you +0.2 lives, so if you get 5 kills in a row you'll gain a backup life. If you get another 5 kills in a row you'll have 2 backup lives.

These backup lives mean that if you die, you'll consume the life but will not become a zombie. This system provides a much needed incentive to hunt for kills instead of hiding on a roof somewhere surviving. Every kill is exciting as it gets you one step closer to that bonus life that might let you win the game.



Chemicals now come with charges making them far more useful. When you buy a Warp Field chemical, it now lets you place FOUR warp fields instead of just 1. The charges refill every 2 minutes, so you can keep on placing them. Huge buff to chemicals, as a single chemical can be used to fully prepare an area for maximum advantage. I personally like to place Trip Wires all around the incoming supply drop.



Skills have been streamlined in a few ways. Firstly, you can take a skill directly up to level 3, without the confusing requirement to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first. Secondly, each tree now gives you a passive bonus for each skill point in the tree. Every point in the Cybernetic tree gives you a passive +2% damage. Physical skills give +0.5 health regen per skill point, and Mental skills +20% shift regen per point. The old skill queue system has been disabled by default, because it's honestly more fun to choose your own build as you play. But if you really want this you can re-enable it in the options menu.



- New map called Subvein-City 5x larger than before.

- Huge graphical improvements like fog, lens flares, bullet trails, random debris, rain and a day night cycle.

- New rules for Battle Royale to work with the big new map, such as increasing the number of players from 20 to 32.

- The rules for resurrection have changed. Instead of killing 1 survivor, you must now kill 5 enemies without dying (zombies included).

- A better way to resurrect however is to win the new "Heart" supply drop. This falls every 2 minutes and you can rez if you stand ontop of it for 5s.

- Battle Royale rounds now last 6 minutes instead of 3 minutes and scoring has been changed. Instead of first player to win 3 rounds, it is now first player to 50 score.

- Scoring system in Battle Royale is changed. You now get +1 per minute alive, +1 per kill, +2 per civilian mission, +5 per supply drop, and +20 for a round win.

- Zombies can once again respawn over and over again instead of going to spectator mode.

- Zombies can now shoot guns in the red zone. However they will take 200% damage in the red zone.

- Survival mode has been changed to only have 4 rounds instead of 12, but rounds are longer.

- Survival mode now ends the moment you actually die, you don't get to become a zombie anymore (except in coop).

- Everyone's top scores in Survival mode have been rescaled downwards, to correspond to the new reduced number of rounds.

- Conquest mode has new rules for the big map. You can now capture any point, not forced to go in order from A to B to C to D to E. The capturing cooldown has also been removed.

- There is a new "lives" mechanic in Battle Royale. If you kill 5 players without dying you'll gain +1 life, which prevents you from becoming a zombie if you die.

- Chemicals now work on a "charges" system. For example, buying a Warp Field now lets you place down 4 warp fields instead of just 1.

- Chemicals placed on the ground will now automatically expire after 360s.

- Phase Drifting (double tapping shift) has been removed as a default ability.

- Phase Drifting is now a skill in the Physical tree, and you are now able to fire your gun while drifting.

- Enemies now have health bars above their heads.

- When you fire a gun, your location will be revealed to enemies for 1.5s in the map and minimap.

- Each skill tree now has a passive benefit for each point invested in it:

- You get +2% damage for each point spent in the Cybernetic skill tree.

- You get +0.5 hp/s regen at all times for each point in the Physical skill tree.

- You regenerate shifts +20% faster for each point in the Mental skill tree.

- You can now level skills right up to level 3, without needing to get 4/9/14 skills in that tree first.

- Skill builds have been removed from the game by default. The game is funner when you get to choose your build as you play. But you can re-enable this in the advanced options if you wish.

- You can now buy ammo at any time from anywhere in the map. Simply press (B) and click the yellow "Buy Ammo" button.

- Increased the amount of cash and XP earned killing enemies, killing civiliand and doing civilian missions.

- Players are now smaller and move faster, requiring more skill to hit them.

- Reduced the firing delay on offensive skills like Plasma Ball and Venom Shot.

- Reduced the damage, bullet speed and range of all guns by about 10%.

- Big improvements to AI in all game modes.

- Minor balance tweaks to various weapons and skills.

- Streamlined some elements in the HUD.

- Plenty of bug fixes.

Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button! I hope you enjoy this crazy big new version and have a rockin Christmas.

Have fun!
bencelot

This version completely reworks all the systems of the game. There is a huge focus on in-game progression, the core gameplay loop, and giving a sense of becoming stronger and stronger within the match. You'll start with a single skill point but can now level up by killing people. Meanwhile, cash is never wasted as your weapons and chemicals are no longer lost on death. Instead, your purchases last forever allowing for key strategic decisions on how you create your build in-game.



The biggest change is to the skills system. We now start each match at level 1, with a single skill point. But as you kill enemies you will now gain xp and level up. Each level lets you invest another skill point and become more powerful. This is especially true as every skill in the game has been reworked to remove skill penalties. If you put a point into Vampirism you get free healing with absolutely no downside. Level 3 skills are objectively more powerful than level 1 skills, and every skill point is valuable.

All of the skills have been individually tweaked as well, and some completely reworked. For example, Radiate now fires a nuclear missile at your target location. Active skills have become more skillful to use too, by adding minor firing delays that require you to use the skills tactically instead of blindly firing them in combat.



Killing enemies not only gives you XP to level up your skills, but it also gives you cash. And now cash is really valuable. Why? Because the things you can buy with cash (weapons, chemicals and cars) are now all permanent. Before this version, you might save up $5000 to buy a super weapon, only to die and lose it all. This hurt a lot and removed any sense of progress you got from earning cash. But no more!

Now you get to keep your weapons and chemicals on death, meaning that the expensive weapon you bought will be yours for the rest of the match. The price of these items has been increased to compensate for this, and this creates some interesting milestones throughout the course of a match. You start by buying a tier1 gun, then saving $5000 for a tier2 gun, and then $10000 for a superweapon. Which weapon you buy (or chemical) has now become a big, important, strategic decision. But whatever you choose, you'll be growing more powerful and truly rewarded for the cash you earn in-game.



There is a new way to move around the map - phase drifting! Simply double-tap shift and you will go into a new sliding motion. This lets you move around the map faster, and you will gain in speed the longer you can travel too - but there's a catch. Your movement has momentum, like you're skating on ice. This requires a bit of skill to pull off, but once you get the hang of it you'll be Tokyo drifting around corners and ramming into supply crates. This change simply makes movement fun.

Supply crates are a new addition to the game too. The random loot scattered around the map is now bundled up into these crates, making them like fun little presents to open up. You can even use them as temporary cover to block against enemy bullets (until they explode). The main supply drop comes in a super golden grate with extra health and lots of goodies inside.



The chemical system now works in a fundamentally different way. Before, you had to choose between either holding a chemical, or placing it on the ground for different benefits. This was a tough choice and often people chose to go for the simpler option of just carrying them. But now you don't need to choose. When you buy a chemical you get both the carried version AND the placed version for free. You can pour some of your chemical onto the ground to get the placed benefits, while still holding onto it. Then after a 120s cooldown, you can place it down again in case someone destroys it.

This makes it significantly easier to set up a quick base around a key area, as you always have your passive chemicals on hand. For example, you might decide to buy 2 Sonar Cells and a Fission Mine. You go to a building, and set Sonar's on the chokepoints and a Fission Mine on the buy zone. They after you win your fight there, you can run to the next location, wait for the cooldown to expire and reposition your chemicals again. Just as with weapons, the chemicals you purchase are permanent for the rest of the match, and act as significant tech upgrades that grow you more and more powerful.

A few more chemical changes are that now everyone can destroy chemicals at any time, for free. Simply stand on an enemy chemical, hold CTRL and click Neutralize. This works now because enemy chemicals aren't permanently destroyed, but merely put on cooldown and can be replaced later (it would've been too powerful otherwise). Also, Alchemic Acid has been removed and replaced with a new chemical called Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300s.



- Everyone now starts at level 1, but instead of looting for skill points, you will earn XP and level up by killing enemies.
- Skills no longer gain penalties as you level them up. Level 3 is now objectively stronger than level 1, making every level up valuable.
- Every skill in the game has been rebalanced and reworked with some big changes. EG: Radiate now fires a nuke at your target location.
- You no longer lose your weapons on death. This lets you save up for expensive guns and keep using them for the rest of the match.
- You can now double-tap shift to enter a new movement mode called 'phase drifting'. This lets you move faster but reveals you to enemies.
- You no longer lose your chemicals on death. The chemicals you buy will stick with you all match, making them great tech upgrades.
- You can now place chemicals for free based on the chemicals you're carrying. If your chemical gets destroyed, you can simply replace it.
- Some chemicals have been reworked and replaced. EG: Supply Beacon, which lets you call down a supply drop every 300 seconds.
- Everyone can now Neutralize enemy chemicals for free all the time. The Neutralizer chemical has been removed.
- You only have to buy a car once to unlock a license for it. This license lets you rebuy that car for free for the rest of the match.
- Loot is now bundled up into 15hp crates, and supply drops now come in a big shiny 150hp crate. Shoot or shift into them to open them.
- When you kill an enemy, you'll instantly gain +50 hp and mana, allowing you to keep fighting and avoid getting third partied.
- Adjusted the costs of all chemicals, weapons and vehicles, generally making them more expensive as they are now permanent upgrades.
- Accessing level 3 skills is now a bit different. You can take a single skill up to level 3 on your 5th/10th/15th point in that tree.
- Your player level (shown up the top left of the screen) is now higher, as I've changed the leveling curve so people level up more frequently.
- And much more! Balance tweaks, bug fixes, and quality of life changes based on hundreds of hours of discussion in the Discord.


Geneshift is on sale this week, so like, subscribe, and smash that buy button!

Have fun!
bencelot

The giveaway has ended and it's been a lot of fun! The servers have never been fuller and I've received some fantastic feedback from all the new players. I hope you all continue to enjoy the game as I implement this feedback over the coming weeks.


There were a few hiccups, mostly servers crashing and people not being able to log in, but those have fortunately been fixed. There was also some confusion about the nature of the giveaway, as the DLC was not included. I made sure to mention this on the Steam page and in the announcement, but understandably not everyone read this. But I'm grateful to the people who left reviews on this topic, as it's made me rethink the business model. People were mostly concerned about the progression benefits of the DLC, and as a result I have significantly toned this down.

You used to unlock items significantly faster with the DLC. This didn't give any exclusive access to items, but it did allow you to earn kill coins 5x faster, saving you time. But this was simply too different of a gaming experience for those who did and didn't have the DLC, which this giveaway made clear. So I've made big sweeping changes to fix it and greatly nerfed this DLC benefit.

Non DLC players can now progress 3 to 5x faster than before, as you now get more rewards from leaderboards, challenges, and leveling up. If you do get the DLC, you'll get a minor 2x coin boost only to the challenges and leveling up, but nothing else. For example if you top the daily leaderboards you'll now get the same +200 coin bonus whether you have the DLC or not (it used to be only 40 coins without the DLC). I've also flattened the costs to unlock new items to give a more steady sense of progression.

Anyway, I've made this fix and the game plays a lot better because of it. So thanks again to everyone who made their voices heard and letting me know! Over the next few weeks I'll continue going through all the reviews, analysing the feedback and making changes. You can follow the dev updates in the official discord at: http://discord.gg/geneshift





For the next 48 hours you can get the base game of Geneshift 100% free. Please keep in mind that this giveaway is only for the base game and does not include the Supporter's Edition DLC. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so please tell your friends and get it while you can!

There are going to be a LOT of players online due to this giveaway, so if you want to dominate the PvP servers, or are curious about the brand new singleplayer survival game mode, now's the time to play!





Last week Geneshift released a HUGE new version with a whole new singleplayer game mode - Daily Survival Runs. You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger and the only way to survive is to complete these new GTA2 style missions for civilians, which give you randomly generated bonuses to your items.

These bonuses are great fun and give you crazy powers like +50% movement speed on your knife, or +200% size when you cast Radiate. You'll need to adapt your play-style based on the bonuses you get if you want to survive and top the leaderboards. These new civilian missions and their bonus rewards have been added to the PvP modes too. This game is getting more like GTA2 every version!

If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporter's Edition DLC you can play this mode in 4-player co-op with friends (and only one of you needs to own it as well).

Geneshift will be doing a free-to-keep giveaway on June 8th! You may have noticed that the game went free-to-keep a few weeks ago too. That was due to a miscommunication between Valve and I, so we're doing it again. There will be plenty of new people online, so make sure to join the fun!



This version introduces a new singleplayer mode - Daily Survival Runs! You fight 12 rounds against increasingly deadly enemies and see how long you can survive. Each round the enemy grows stronger by gaining more damage, health and skills. The final rounds are very difficult, and the only way to survive them is to grow stronger yourself, which you do by completing missions and unlocking special bonuses.

You can play this new mode once per day, and after you win (or lose) your score will be added to the new daily survival leaderboards. If you manage to survive all 12 rounds, you'll unlock Hardcore, then Insane, and finally Ultimate difficulty - where you can play endlessly to try set the highest score possible. If you like the normal Geneshift gameplay but don't want to deal with lag or veterans kicking your ass, this is the mode for you. Even better, if you own the Supporters Edition DLC you are able to play this mode in 4-player co-op!



Some civilians now have a little "HELP ME" text bubble above them. Pressing [E] on these civilians will start a mission. These missions are available in all game modes, but are especially designed for the new survival mode. They will have you doing things like driving over civilians, or taking out armed thugs, or killing enemies without taking any damage. Every mission is different, and in co-op you complete them together with your allies and all share the rewards. What rewards you ask?



When you complete a civilian mission you get a special reward that lasts for the rest of the match. For example, you might unlock +80% bullet speed on the AK47, or +50% damage on Plasma Ball. These are generated in a semi-random way, trying to buff items that you're already holding, but exactly which item is unknown. Also, in the new survival mode you'll start the match with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which are reset every 24 hours and shared by everyone.

These random bonuses encourages you to adapt, and makes every game feel different. One round you might be sniping due to the extra high damage Plasma Ball, and another you might be charging with a shotgun due to the +30% movement speed on the M3. It's a whole lot of fun trying out these OP bonuses, and a big strategy to winning the new survival mode is to get as many as you can in early rounds to try survive the later ones.



You can now carry 2 primary weapons at the same time, allowing for smart combos like a sniper & shotgun combo. However it takes longer to swap between them, and you might want to use a pistol anyway for the faster swapping. The cost of ammo has also been increased significantly, making cash a lot more valuable. The ammo cost is especially high for tier2 weapons, and even more for superweapons. This creates an interesting dynamic where you get more damage at higher tiers, but the ammo efficiency is way worse, meaning you'll need to save up cash in early rounds to sustain the ammo in later rounds when you are forced to use a higher tier gun (in survival).

Skills now only require 2 points to max out, instead of 4. Before, there was no point in leveling a skill to level 2 or 3.. it was just a waste of time clicking. Now things are clean. Your first point into the skill unlocks it, and the next point maxes it out. The new level 2 skill has the same power as the old level 4, so it's just been rescaled. But wait, there's more! Because if you spend 8 skill points within the same tree, you gain the ability to spend a third skill point on those skills within the tree, and this third point is much much stronger than anything we've seen before (the equivalent of level 6 from last version, if such a level existed).

Also, you can now freely unlock skills from any skill tree. Meaning you can combine Cybernetic, Physical and Mental skills together without having to pay any cost. This really opens up the skill builds you can create. Another change is that everyone's starting level has been drastically reduced, but there are more skill points lying around. This places an emphasis on looting for skill points and actually growing stronger throughout the round.



You can now shoot 360 degrees out the window of your car, instead of just 180 degrees to the side you're on. This makes driveby shootings much easier to do. To compensate for this the car offers less protection.

Chemicals are improved too, as you can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time. This not only makes it easier to pick up and put down an entire base, but it also lets you stack the chemical's passive abilities. If you carry 3 Fission Mines for example you will throw FOUR grenades at the same time for the price of one (as each one gives +1 free grenade). Is this crazy OP? Hop on to find out!

Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone, meaning they always have a chance of getting back into the game, even when the final survivors are in the final circle. However, to prevent endless zombie claw spam, if you die as a zombie you are forced to spectate for the rest of the round. This has the added benefit of making you really value your life as a zombie, as if you die you're out of the round.



- Pressing [E] on a civilian now gives you a mission, which if completed awards you special bonuses.
- In the new daily survival run, you will start with 3 randomly generated bonuses, which changes every 24 hours.
- You can now carry 2 primary weapons. Switching time is longer if doing this though.
- You can now shoot 360 degrees while driving vehicles, but they offer less protection.
- Skills now cap out after 2 points instead of 4. They're rescaled though, so the new level 2 is as strong as the old level 4.
- If you spent 8 skill points in the same tree, you are able to spend a 3rd skill point which makes it ultra powerful.
- Players now start with far fewer skill points, giving a new emphasis on looting points as you play (go for Supply Drops).
- You can now combine skills from multiple skill trees, allowing for far more interesting skill builds.
- Changed the mana cost of active skills to 20/35/50. Mana regenerates slower to compensate.
- You can now carry up to 3 chemicals at the same time, and pickup chemicals instantly.
- Renamed the Complete Edition DLC to the Supporters Edition DLC.
- Health and mana regenerate in the campaign, just like in PvP.
- Zombies can now use their claws in the red zone.
- If you die as a zombie, you must now spectate the rest of the round.
- Daily challenges can now be done against zombies (like get 6 shotgun kills).
- Killing a zombie now gives +1 score in BR, and it's first to 60 instead of 50.
- Tier1 guns are capped at +30% DMG, Tier2 guns at +50% DMG, and Superweapons at +100% DMG.
- Ammo is generally more expensive and guns have fewer bullets, making cash more valuable.
- Added a dedicated 'Buy Ammo' button.
- Added pretty new graphical animations and particle effects.
- Rearranged the position of items in the HUD.
- Rearranged some items in the hex grid.
- Fixed countless bugs.
- Added a whole new singleplayer survival mode. Go try it!

Have fun!
Bencelot.

The base game for Geneshift is currently free-to-keep on Steam. This means that if you download the game right now, you'll get the game in your library, free, forever!

Please keep in mind that this is the BASE game, but does not include the DLC. I repeat, the DLC is not included. Fortunately, the base game has 95% of the content and is all you need to play, so get it while you can!

Funnily enough, this giveaway was NOT meant to happen today. I woke up this morning to see that Valve accidentally enabled it a full month ahead of schedule! I have sent them numerous support requests to reschedule the giveaway to June as planned, but have yet to receive a response. (to be fair, they work on Valve time). Let me tell you, after a shock like that I didn't even need my morning coffee.

I've asked Valve to cancel this giveaway now, so that I can do it *properly* in early June as planned. This means that the giveaway might randomly go away sometime in the next few hours. Rest assured, if you got the game for free, you will keep the game for free. And if you miss out, you can always get it again when we do the giveaway properly in early June.

Anyway, have fun!
Ben.

The biggest change this version is in the new chemical system. "What chemical system?" I hear you ask? I don't blame you, as it was FAR too confusing before. Well no longer. Chemicals have been improved in various ways. The biggest of which is that chemicals now give you a passive ability when you carry them! For example, if you carry a Warp Field, you will increase your max shifts by +2. Chemicals are much cheaper now too ($1000) each. So you can almost view chemicals as cheap combat enhancements. Even if you never place them, you can spend a cool $1000 for some serious upgrades! Such as:

- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your gun's DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (a new chem) makes you throw 2x grenades at once.
- Laser Tripwire (a new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Neutralizer now makes you immune to enemy chemicals.



There are 2 brand new chemicals that do some really fun stuff when placed as well - Fission Mines and Laser Tripwires. When an enemy steps inside your Fission Mine, it will detonate with a HUGE explosion dealing 100hp damage to anyone nearby. They have 1.5s to escape before the boom. Laser Tripwires let you set up a tripwire across a chokepoint, which shoots a laser beam at anyone who steps into it, taking off half their health. These new chemicals are great for area control, and are an intuitive way for new players to understand the chemical system.

Another huge change is that when you place a chemical on the ground it is now visible to your enemies. Yes, you can actually *SEE* them, unlike before where they were all invisible. This is a huge change, and makes it far easier to find and destroy enemy chemicals, which will award you big bucks! If you want you can still make your chemical invisible, but this will cost you an extra $1000 to "conceal" it.

This mechanic makes for some interesting choices. For example, you could spend $1000 to buy a Laser Tripwire and place it in a chokepoint. By default this will be visible to enemies, and might deter them from coming through that route. This might be enough. However, you can upgrade it for another $1000 to make it invisible, which means they'll accidentally step into the tripwire and get shot by it.



There is a brand new way to resurrect as a zombie - finding the Genetic Heart. The Genetic Heart is a special piece of loot only available to zombies. If you step into it, you'll instantly respawn! There is only one heart in the map at any one time, and it will spawn randomly somewhere in the map. This gives zombies a great new way to get back into the game (in addition to killing a survivor).

This mechanic was added to encourage looting and exploration. And because there is only one heart at a time, it becomes a race against the other zombies to find it first. Vehicles are by far the best way to do this, so you can now finally play GTA-style, cruising around in a vehicle and have an actual competitive reason for doing so!



A huge improvement to the skill system is that you can now create skill builds across multiple skill trees! You no longer have to stick to just the Cybernetic, or Mental, or Physical skill tree. You can now create a super defensive skill build that combines Self Repair (Cybernetic) with Force Fields (Physical). The options are endless! It costs 4 skill points to access each additional skill tree.



The hex grid, which is where you spend Kill Coins and unlock stuff, has been split into 6 distinct tiers (containing 21 items each). You now need to fully complete the previous tier before you are able to unlock anything from the next one, and all items in a tier have the same cost. The kill coin costs per tier are 5, 20, 50, 100, 150, 200. These costs overall are cheaper than before, and are especially cheap for new players as the start of the game (as there are now a bunch of items that only cost 5 coins each). Daily Challenges now give 2x as many Kill Coins, making everything even faster to unlock.

The reason for this change is to give players a sense of progression ("3 more items till I unlock the next tier!"). This also simplifies decision making. A problem the old system had was that you would end up with like 50+ items available to unlock, all of them costing different amounts of kill coins, and it was really hard to know what to get ("Do I unlock the UZI for 15 kill coins, or the Force Fields for 75 kill coins, or any of the other 48 items I can't remember?"). Now, every item costs exactly the same amount of coins, so you only need to focus on the actual item itself. And the available options are far less, letting you actually keep them all in mind and make a more fun, informed decision. Finally, when doing daily challenges to grind for kill coins, you now know exactly how many coins you need as all items have the same price.



Health Kits are far more important, and give you a huge incentive to stay alive and loot. There are health kits everywhere, which will increase your max hp/mana by +5. It's expected that you'll gain about +50 max hitpoints by the end of the round, really helping in the final showdown. But if you just camp, or become a zombie and resurrect, you won't have this health advantage. Basically, the health kits have been reworked to strongly reward and encourage players who loot the map, while still trying not to die. You can't just rely on a last minute resurrection anymore, as you'll be at a serious health disadvantage. Stay safe!

There are a bunch of other goodies in this version, such as damage numbers that show up whenever you hit someone (I love this one). Here is the complete list of changes!

- All chemicals now have passive abilities when you hold them! EG:
- Synthetic Shop (previously called Base Chemicals) gives you +20% ammo.
- Alchemic Acid gives you +20% cash for kills and loot.
- Warp Fields give you +2 max shifts.
- Sonar Cells increases your vision range.
- Goo Trap slows enemies with your bullets.
- Health and Mana stimulants now increase max hp/mana by +20.
- Damage Stimulant increases your guns DMG by +5% per kill.
- Fission Mine (new chem) gives you a free grenade each throw.
- Laser Tripwire (new chem) removes all weapon recoil.
- Chemicals are now visible to enemies by default. Huge change!
- Chemicals can now be made invisible by standing in them and buying a "Concealer" for $1000.
- Chemicals now cost $1000 instead of $3000.
- You can neutralize your own chemicals to refund them.
- Damage/Mana/Health Stimulants are now separate chemicals detached from Base costing $2000.
- Added a new chemical called Fission Mine. It explodes when enemies step in it.
- Added a new chemical called Laser Tripwire. It zaps enemies who step into it.
- Warp Fields can now warp to ALL buy zones.
- There is a new piece of loot called the "Genetic Heart" which will resurrect zombies who find it.
- You can now unlock skills from multiple skill trees.
- Skill points now cost $1000 instead of $2000.
- Generally, weapons across the board do less damage, but are more accurate.
- Killing enemies now causes them to drop excess chemicals, health and mana kits.
- Increased the shifting length from 6m to 8m.
- Non-BR game modes now have designated buy zones, similar to BR.
- Removed the capturing cooldown timer in Conquest mode.
- In Conquest, each team starts with 2 points captured already to save time.
- Zombies in BR now have 100 mana and can use passive skills.
- Zombies can no longer see or loot for health or mana, making survival key.
- You can now go all the way up to a max of 200 hp/mana from kits.
- Adrenaline Rush has been changed to make you run faster while you're reloading.
- Generally there is less cash in the map and you only get $100 cash per kill.
- Superweapons now cost $8000 instead of $5000.
- You get to keep the ammo in your gun between rounds.
- Everyone runs a little bit faster.
- Vehicles have less health, but much faster out of combat regen.
- You no longer need to eject from a car that's on fire. It will heal itself naturally.
- Bazooka, Grenades and Stinger Missiles all do exactly 300hp vs cars (enough to kill buggies).
- Reorganised some items in the hex unlock grid, and also split it into tiers.
- In order to access the next tier in a hex grid, you need to unlock a certain amount of items first.
- Added damage numbers that show up whenever you shoot someone.
- Daily Challenges now give more kill coins (30/40/50 vs 10/20/30).
- Ammo piles now give you +2% DMG to your currently held weapon.
- Fixed countless bugs and AI issues.


Have fun!
Bencelot.

First big update of 2020! For the past 2 months I've focused on marketing preparation, such as creating a brand new website and trailer. I've also been contacting streamers, watching them play, and making some great changes to the new player experience. More on that in a moment, but first check this new trailer!




Perhaps the biggest change this version is simply this - zombies now have 100hp instead of 50hp. At first this seems like a simple change, but when you remember that 50% of your time is spent as a zombie, this is a huge change to the flow of the game. The time to kill has doubled, especially for new players who are zombies most of the time. By cranking the hit points up to 100hp, zombies now play almost identically to normal players, and the game feels a lot nicer because of it. Zombies are no longer a death-trap for new players.


Of course, with 100hp zombies being a survivor is now scarier than ever, so a number of fun changes have been added to compensate for this. First of all, killing zombies will give you more cash and experience. Always nice. But the real fun change is this - whenever you kill a zombie, your current weapon will gain +2% damage. This suddenly makes killing zombies great fun, and as a survivor you might even dare to venture out of the safe zone to hunt them, because you can upgrade your gun all the way up to +40% damage and gain a huge showdown advantage.




The third and final zombie change is a bit controversial, but honestly great fun - if you kill another zombie, you have a 10% chance to instantly resurrect. This introduces a second way to get back in the game as a zombie. The most common and reliable method is to kill a living player, but now you have a chance of coming back from a zombie kill too! This makes playing as a zombie more exciting because you always have hope. Even when all the survivors have retreated to the safety of the red zone, you still have a chance and a way to win. Being a zombie has never been more fun - and killing zombies is now even funner.


The game now helps new players learn the game in various ways. There is a new tutorial option which triggers when a new player first clicks the PLAY button. This will host a special server against bots, where they only do 20% damage against you. This lets you progress through the Newbie Checklist up the top right in peace and gives a safe, lag-free, veteran-free first experience of the game.

I've also added little tool tips, such as a prompt to pickup a nearby gun if you are only holding a pistol (I've noticed that new players tend to run right past guns for some reason). Also, the mechanics of the Battle Royale mode are explained better in various ways, most impressively with this sexy new victory screen that shows up each time someone wins a round. It will flash red if an enemy wins, and green if an ally wins. It also explains how the point scoring system works:




Vehicles have had their hitpoints buffed and now have the ability to regenerate health out of combat. You also don't instantly die if your vehicle explodes, but are simply ejected out with a mere 20hp loss. To compensate for this, passengers inside a car will now take more damage (25% instead of 15%, almost double).

This is a win-win both for drivers and those on-foot. Drivers can now cruise around the map without their car exploding instantly, and those on-foot can now shoot at cars without feeling like their bullets don't do anything. The whole thing is balanced a lot nicer and vehicles are now a legitimately viable form of combat.




There are a few other nifty changes this version too. Such as everyone starting with 10 extra skill points. This alone is a huge improvement and allows players to really explore advanced skill builds without having to spend the first half of the round looting. A lot of focus has gone into the bots AI as well, generally making them easier, but harder in the final stages of the round - making each showdown a legitimate adrenaline pumping experience. Check out the full list below!

- 10 extra skill points for everyone
- Zombies now have 100hp instead of 50
- Zombies now award double the cash for kills and full XP
- Killing enemies now upgrades your gun with +2% DMG (not if you're a zombie)
- Reduced the damage of most guns to 90% of previous levels
- Zombies now have a 10% chance or randomly resurrecting by killing another zombie
- Reduced warmup round duration
- Prettier and more informative text is shown after each round
- Supply drops now only give 20s warning
- Bots in general are easier, but superbots are harder
- Bots no longer shoot you from offscreen
- You can't dodge vehicles by jumping anymore, gotta shift them
- In nonBR game modes, you start with a random tier1 gun
- XP earned on higher difficulties is increased
- Vehicles now have health regen, more hitpoints and faster speed
- Vehicles are no longer death traps when they explode
- Shooting a player inside a vehicle now does 25% damage instead of 15%
- Made vehicle explosions look cooler
- You now get $500 for destroying vehicles instead of $200
- Double Damage doesn't apply to other players with double damage
- Reduced the amount of cash and guns that spawn on the ground
- Guards in the campaign now do 50% as much damage as before
- Fixed a bug where joining an online game now restarts the match if no one is in it
- Fixed a bug where the gamepad would register without you realising it
- Fixed a bug where bullet recoil wasn't syncing properly with linux servers
- Fixed a bug when matchmaking would put you into a server with high ping
- Fixed a bug where players could jump into an enemies vehicle (avoiding roadkill)


How do you know when the game is on discount? A new version is announced. How do you know when a new version is announced? The game is on discount. My business 101 book said these two events should occur together, so here we are. Check out these awesome new changes now for 40% off! This coffee isn't going to pay for itself!

Have fun!
Bencelot.

After working on Battle Royale all year, I've decided to update the other game modes. Conquest mode in particular got a complete rework and plays MUCH better now. It's such a big rework that I'll just explain how it works from scratch and ignore the old rules completely.

There are 5 control points, connected in a linear line. The scientists start at point A, and the rebels at point E. You must capture the points in order A-B-C-D-E, and the first team to control all 5 points wins. You capture a point in two ways, either by standing next to it for 30s, or by buying the Capturer chemical for $5000 and planting it on the center. Proximity capturing is the main approach, but saving up for a Capturer can be the winning move that gives your team the game.



If you own a control point you can buy from it, warp to it, and also pick up all the free cash which rains down upon it (at a rate of $1000 per minute). So far this all sounds like typical Conquest rules for a linear recapturing game mode. But here's where it gets interesting:

Whenever you capture a control point, BOTH TEAMS will go onto a 60s capturing cooldown. This means that for the next 60s neither team is able to capture a point. You can speed up this cooldown by getting kills (shaving 2s off the timer per kill). This cooldown mechanic effectively creates a race scenario where the match is split up into a series of 60s rounds. It works like this:



The scientists capture a control point, going from 3 vs 2 to 4 vs 1. Both teams are now on a 60s cooldown, and a race has begun to see which team can capture the next point. You get kills as fast as you can to advance the timer faster, and then prepare as best as you can for when the timer reaches 0s, so you can begin capturing instantly.

The winner of this race will capture their point, but more importantly DENY their enemy from capturing their point, as they are put onto a cooldown again. This create intense moments where you need to work with your team to capture points as quickly and efficiently as possible or else the other team will beat you. This race mechanic really adds a sense of rhythm to the game, with alternating moments of preparation and execution, and I hope you enjoy it!



The way cash is earned in the game has changed in a few ways. In non BR modes, the passive cash income has been replaced with looting, so it behaves similar to Battle Royale. Players also get 3x as much cash for killing enemies and the kill combo system has been expanded to allow for longer and bigger combos. Cash will also now fall from the sky into the buy zones (in BR) and control points (in Conquest). These are in little $100 silver coins and fall at a rate of $1000 per minute. This makes camping/defending a viable strategy as you can stay in the one place, protecting one of these key locations and still earn an income.


I have spent about 2 weeks fixing my old outdated OpenGL code to make the game run significantly smoother. If you have a slow PC then this here is probably going to be the single best improvement to the game I've ever released, because the difference is like night and day. Also, the falling from the sky in Battle Royale runs a lot smoother now too!

• Conquest has been completely reworked.
  
• 3x the amount of cash is awarded for killing enemies.
  
• Made huge performance improvements.
  
• Improved the graphics of bullets.
  
• The crosshair now indicates how much ammo you have left.
  
• New players start the game with access to more items.
  
• Light Shifting now improves the recharge time between shifts.
  
• Laser Focus has been replaced with a new skill called Adrenalin Rush which makes you move faster in combat.
  
• Flaregun now fires an explosive bullet.
  
• Increased the movement speed of all weapons in combat.
  
• Fixed a number of issues with the bots behaviour using shared chemicals.
  
• Allied chemicals now display at full size so it's easier to see their range.
  
• Non-BR game modes now give 5x as much cash in the form of loot, but have no passive income.
  
• Pressing 'E' on a bot will make him drop the flag in CTF
  
• Changed how the scoring works in nonBR modes. +1 per kill, +10 per capture, +2 for killing someone holding the flag.
  
• Significantly buffed the UZI's bullet and movement speed.
  
• Buffed the damage of the Photon Beam, Flamethrower, M3 and Barrett.
  
• Health and Mana kits now give +5 max hp instead of +25 temporary hp.
  
• The max hp is now capped at 150 instead of 200hp.
  
• Firing weapons will be disabled for 1.5s after using a warp field.
  
• Updated some translations.
  
• Fixed a bunch of bugs.

Geneshift is of course particpating in the Winter Sale with a thicc 40% discount. Now is the time. Your time - to shine. Also, I'll be away for the next 2 weeks for Xmas, but hit me up on Discord if you have any issues. Otherwise I hope you all have a fantastic Xmas and New Years.

I want to thank everyone who has bought, played or discussed the game in Discord. The game is in a MUCH better state now than it was a year ago and I have you all to thank for it.

Merry Xmas and a happy new year!
Cheers,
Ben.

Geneshift now has supply drops! They will randomly appear in the map with a 30s countdown timer. Everyone in the server is alerted to this and has 30s to get to the area and then fight to be the last man standing to claim the prize. The prize is that a bunch of new ultra-rare loot will drop, including permanent max hp/mana upgrades, a +30% Damage weapon, +10 kill coins and possibly an entire new skill unlocked for free! These supply drops give you an excellent incentive to play agrgressively, and provide interesting king of the hill style battles.



Zombies have been reworked in a big way this version and play a lot better. There is now stuff to actually DO as a zombie and you are much stronger as well. For starters zombie weapons now do 100% damage instead of 50%, which no longer punishes you and lets you continue playing as normal. Resurrections are much easier because of this, and easier still as there is no 20s countdown time anymore - you can resurrect as soon as you spawn. Furthermore, zombies can now keep their gun and max hp benefits when they spawn the next round. This, combined with supply drops gives you something really meangingful to fight over once dead - a chance to start with an extra high damage weapon or more max hp.



You might have noticed in the screenshots above that the camera angle has been tilted! After 10 years Geneshift has finally upgraded from a pure birds-eye shooter into an isometric shooter! Who knows, in another 10 years this might become and FPS! Eitherway, this new camera angle looks a lot nicer on the eyes, and helps you judge the height of boxes in the map as well. It makes for a far more immersive playing experience, especially combined with the other graphical upgrades.

For example, Geneshift now supports 4X MSAA antialiasing and looks a lot smoother because of it. It also has updated player models, where they hold the weapons properly instead of like blockmen. There is even a new "gore" setting in the options menu that can significantly increase the amount of blood that comes out of baddies when you make them go splat.



A number of skills have been buffed, and a few have been buffed in a very interesting way - team buffing. Certain skills, such as Self Repair, Ignition Orb, Xray-Vision and Frenzy will now benefit nearby allies when you cast them, allowing for some really interesting new squad tactics. Other cool tweaks are the new looting system, where if you run over the same type of gun you not only grab its ammo, but can now upgrade the damage of your current gun by +2%. This little boost can really add up and makes looting as a zombie extra fun.



Geneshift is on discount. You know how this works! If you want to support the game now would be a great time to pick it up. Also, to celebrate this new version I decided to create a cybertruck with a flamethrower attached to its forehead - enjoy!

The most requested feature since Geneshift joined Early Access, controller support is finally here! It's been tested with Xbox and Playstation controllers, but should work with other types too. It turned out signficantly better than I expected, and I'd love to hear your opinions on it. All the hotkeys are rebindable in the options menu, but here is the default layout:



Even more exciting is a whole bunch of improvements to how zombies work. For starters, zombies can now buy, loot and use weapons! You're no longer forced to repetitively use the zombie pests or claws. To prevent this being being overpowered, zombies will only deal 50% as much damage when using a normal weapon, and have reduced range too.

Zombies can drive cars too! They've also been buffed up to 50hp instead of 30hp, and their pests weapons has been turned into a mini-shotgun that is far more tactical to play with. Overall being a zombie is a lot more fun this version because there is so much more you can do. But wait.. there's more.

Another big change is that zombies can once again resurrect by killing a player, and get back into the game. However there is a twist, which is that you need to be alive for at least 30s before resurrections are possible. This is shown as a progress bar down the bottom of the screen. This change adds a sense of survival to being a zombie, where the ideal strategy is to no longer brute-force you way to try kill an enemy player, but instead to stealthily survive for 30s, loot up with weapons and health kits, and go for a quality kill instead. It makes resurrections harder to pull off, but so much sweeter when you do.



Another huge change is that chemicals can be shared with allies. This adds all sorts of teamwork in Squads mode. You can place a Warp field and have your ally warp through it. You and your buddy can place Sonar Cells to provide shared vision on all entrances to the final circle. You can sell weapons into Alchemic Acid and split the profits, and of course you can use your friend's sneakily placed Base Chemicals to rebuy ammo. The teamwork options are huge and chemicals in general should get a lot more exposure now that you only have to do half the work to set them up.

• Added full controller support.
  
• Zombies can now use weapons.
  
• Zombies can now use vehicles.
  
• Zombie pests reworked into a tactical shotgun that does 40hp damage per blast.
  
• Zombies now have 50 hp and mana instead of 30.
  
• Zombie claws and knife now do 50hp damage instead of 35.
  
• Active skills now cost 20/30/40/50 mana instead of 15/20/25/30.
  
• Mana regen rate is now +5 mana/s instead of +3 mana/s,
  
• Skill points now cost $2000 each instead of $3000.
  
• Translators can now edit translations in data/translations folder and test them in-game.
  
• Allies can now use eachothers chemicals.
  
• More HUD improvements, showing weapon stats and explaining how and skills trees work.
  
• Reorganised the unlocks grid to make all the chemicals much cheaper.
  
• Updated some translations.

Now that controller support is added Geneshift is really getting ready for another big marketing push. And this of course means more players! I'll update the trailer first, and then start contacting the press. Until then, have fun!