https://twitter.com/HYPERCHARGEGAME/status/1344701830056599552


As we close in on 2020, I hope more game developers talk about this, rather than the success of their game. 2020 has been a hard year, especially for those not fortunate enough to work from home, or at all.

MentalHealth is very real and you are not alone.

The past year has been a devastating rollercoaster, full of heartache and pain. Many people have lost their loved ones, jobs and their sense of purpose. Depression, Suicide & Anxiety is at an all-time high, and we have faced a challenge that has tested our willpower in ways we have never experienced before.

Personally, for me, it has hugely affected my mental health, my energy, my mood and my motivation. There have been many highs and lows, but what I learned most is that you must talk about how you feel. It’s okay not to be okay. There is no shame in crying or being open about your feelings. The worst thing to do is bottle it all up inside.

Playing games can often act as a coping mechanism to let us temporarily forget about our mental health problems, and just escape into another reality. Although this can be a good thing, please remember it’s not a long-term solution or strategy.

As for tips that helped me, remember the following:

1. A thought about yourself is an opinion, not a fact.
   
2. Create a routine that you can follow throughout the day.
   
3. You are good enough, and you deserve to be happy.

My heart goes out to anyone who has suffered throughout this year.

I’m sure I can speak on behalf of everyone at Digital Cybercherries, we wish you the very best as we prepare for 2021. If you are alone for this New Year’s Eve, please add me on Steam Friends. Let’s talk and play some games together!
https://steamcommunity.com/id/JoeH04/

Joe Henson
Head of PR, Hypercharge: Unboxed

Toy Soldiers,

Major Update #3 was a huge success! We’re thrilled to hear how much enjoyment you’re having with the bots. We’ve also had a very positive reaction to the newly added Third-Person Camera Mode. Thank you for helping us iron out these bugs. Please keep your ideas and suggestions coming in, we are listening.:)

Some official servers now have bots on by default.

• Fixed new cheat code not working on some difficulties.
  
• Fixed meatbag physics crash issues when travelling to the lobby.
  
• Fixed some UI spelling mistakes and escaped quotes.
  
• Fixed lighting in Kitchen, Garden and Garage when shadow setting is on low (no more glowing actors)
  
• Fixed pathfinding issues on Attic, Operation Alley, Garden and Tutorial.
  
• Fixed jeeps getting stuck in the Garden bin.
  
• Improved wave balance in earlier waves to have better pacing on all maps with Bots.
  
• Bots navigate around cores and traps a bit better.
  
• Fixed floating grass in Garden map.
  
• Fixed flickering tree in Garden map.
  
• Fixed bots being forcefully added to custom lobbies.
  
• Removed a few local player effects that should not be emitting from Bots.
  
• Fixed jump-pad paths and coins on a few levels.
  
• Fixed it so Bots try not to build and repair at dead cores.
  
• Fixed some attachments and particles not showing when in Third Person properly.
  
• Fixed Claw attachment in Plague mode.
  
• Fixed Bots not being able to take batteries from the Charger.
  
• Fixed another crash bug related to Pickup spawning on the server.
  
• Fixed bots sometimes not being removed from the game when a player joins. Now they leave behind their weapons and credits.
  
• Fixed rare crash bug related to the UFO shield shader being invalid on some GPUs.
  
• Fixed invincible chopper bug finally...
  
• Fixed Bot scores not being transferred over rounds in Plague.
  
• Fixed weapon sometimes swapping to the previous dropped weapon.
  
• Improved bullet FX speed in Co-op to closer match PvP.
  
• Improved lightmaps on a few maps to increase load times.
  
• Fixed zombies sometimes being too far away to hit.
  
• Fixed zombies not hitting some actor buildables types.
  
• Improved footstep particle system to not create particles if the parent mesh is not visible.
  
• Fixed bots sticking around in a server when a player leaves.
  
• Fixed players using expensive camera checks when not the local player.

Thank you and have a wonderful festive season ahead! -Joe

- Digital Cybercherries

Greetings, Small Soldiers!

We’re very proud to announce that Major Update 3 is now live! The bulk of this update focuses on Bots and a Third-Person Camera Mode. There are also a ton of changes, improvements and fixes. Thank you so much for your continued support. It truly means a lot to us.

Please note: If you encounter any bugs when playing, please let us know on our Steam Forums or Discord. We will do our very best to iron them out, ASAP. We can now look forward to Major Update #4: Survival!

If you think we deserve to win, please vote for HYPERCHARGE and help us secure 1st place in the Indie DB 2020 “Indie of the Year Awards”

It takes just 3 clicks:
1 - Click the banner below:
2 - Click VOTE FOR THIS GAME - TOP 100.
3 - Scroll down a little and click VOTE HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed.

Third-person camera mode now implemented! You can change the camera view via Option > Controls.

We’ve improved movement/animations. This includes vaulting, reloading, turning, & surface based leaning!

Have a little help from a friend! Bots are now available in PvE and will help guide you to victory.

Bots will do their best to scavenge each environment for resources, weapons and attachments.

You can now play against Bots in PvP. Choose your difficulty mode. Casual, Regular, Expert or Nightmare.

• Added player Bots to Cooperative Waves mode and Deathmatch
  
• Added Third-Person Camera Modes (with multiple configurations in Options > Controls)
  
• All maps have an improved balance for Single-Player
  
• Improved weapon sounds for all weapons - Better in PvP!
  
• Improved overall player animations and movement to help the game feel better in Thirdperson.
  
• Added option to set number of Bots and their Difficulty.
  
• Added option to override the music in PvP.
  
• Added option to override what team the Bots will join in PvP.
  
• Added more game rules to allow choosing starting attachments and changing the weapons that spawn in the map in PvP!
  
• Added many new particles FX to spice up telling apart game-actors from the world.
  
• Improved performance in many areas from Particle FX to Nav Generation, Collision setup etc.
  
• Improved visuals and added new FX on many enemies (Zombies, Jets, Choppers, CargoPlanes, Tanks and more)
  
• Added player landing particles.
  
• Added it so the Scope has a lens and scope-like crosshair.
  
• Added new bullet impact sounds and FX for more materials.
  
• Added default spawn weapon and attachment types for different weapon sets (Snipers Only = Gives Scope)
  
• Added build tool particle FX.
  
• Added AddBot and RemoveBot commands to game.
  
• Added Shield Depleted and Recharge sounds.
  
• Added Power node cable electricity.
  
• Added brass ejection particle to weapons.
  
• Added it so Max Ammo now says the word HYPERCORE and POWERNODE in the colour of the core or node being damaged.
  
• Added crosshair to build mode.
  
• Added new spectator mode for PvP - Track the player who killed you for a few seconds until respawn.
  
• Improved lighting and atmospherics on a few maps (Garage, Kitchen and more)
  
• Improved jump-pads timing and velocity calculations.
  
• Improved the prompt highlight to now be context based. Will find and attach what you pointed at, and the player will comment on that actor. (Enemy, Pickup or Core etc)
  
• Improved Spinners with colored explosions.
  Improved VFX for better gameplay experience (e.g. Powernodes show electricity & radar, Jumppads have indicator)
  
• Improved VFX for all weapons (new BB bullet casings, muzzle flashes)
  
• Improved damage indication for NPCs (e.g. damage stages for tanks etc.)
  
• Improved VFX and feedback for NPCs (e.g. Experiments)
  
• Improved gameplay for weapons
  
• Improved VFX for weapons
  
• Improved SFX attachment levels for weapons

• Added new optimised emitter system for impact particles.
  
• Added proper fallback fonts for other languages.
  
• Changed colour of Attachment Pickups to be different from Weapon Pickups.
  
• Fixed Car collision in Garage map.
  
• Fixed collision of turret base to allow walking inbetween turrets around a core.
  
• Fixed many Navigation Mesh bugs for many maps (and created a few new ones)
  
• Fixed crashing issue related to physics cleanup.
  
• Fixed crashing issues during server travel back to lobby.
  
• Fixed broken muzzle flashes on other players.
  
• Fixed build spots in Garden.
  
• Fixed Glider Planes dive-bombing the ground after spawn.
  
• Fixed Chungus getting stuck in many areas.
  
• Fixed missing PowerNode cables in maps.
  
• Fixed text issues and spelling mistakes in a few places.
  
• Fixed traps, not counting to the stats properly in some types of kills.
  
• Fixed batteries and other pickups being able to fall through world boundaries.
  
• Fixed broken lighting in some areas of some maps.
  
• Fixed build tool showing in PvP on players.
  
• Fixed dropped weapons and attachments, not being cleaned up in the world.
  
• Fixed jump-pads affecting some enemies that it shouldn't.
  
• Fixed turrets targeting some enemies that they shouldn't.
  
• Fixed minigun holding angle in thirdperson.
  
• Fixed a few sound distance issues in the world.
  
• Fixed players able to spawn inside a newly placed Turret and getting stuck.
  
• Fixed many navfixes and improvements for Tutorial map.
  
• Fixed weapon 'beams' showing incorrectly when you can't pick up a dropped weapon.
  
• Fixed PvP spawning non-PvP pickups sometimes.
  
• Fixed for missing or broken materials in a few levels.
  
• Fixed voice commands kicking players out of servers.
  
• Fixed banner material in Hallway_Hard
  
• Fixed bathroom ghost spinner.
  
• Fixed grenade launcher particle offset.
  
• Fixed missing zomibe animations.
  
• Fixed enemies ignoring their target core if something minor interrupts their pathfinding.
  
• Fixed microwave collision
  
• Fixed issues with losing focus on main menu.
  
• Fixed delay on credits page world hiding FX.
  
• Fixed music track lists.
  
• Fixed mouse click-focus issues for loadout menu.
  
• Fixed AI issues regarding finding valid pathing and cores (meatbag and chungus fixes).
  
• Fixed minigun muzzle particle spinning.
  
• Fixed pickup highlighting when changing weapons and spawning.
  
• Fixed strange finger pose that everyone keeps mentioning.
  
• Fixed stuck zombies on attic in some areas.
  
• Fixed a few stuck areas in KidsBedroom
  
• Fix for impact particles copying the scale of what they are attached to.
  
• Fixed build spot emitters colour not updating after spawn.
  
• Improved time required holding USE to pick up a pickup (in PvP).
  
• Fixed weapon pickup highlight beams showing for weapons you cant pick up.
  
• Optimised Navigation Mesh generation time in all levels.
  
• Optimised Collision Initialization time in all levels. (Removing skybox collisions)
  
• Improved spectator input movement and rotation.
  
• Fixed Menu crash in rare instance.
  
• Improvements for bootstraper on Windows.
  
• Build tool gives credits to player when destroying a Bots buildable.
  
• Improved Game Rules system to cache values to improve lookup performance.
  
• Many balance changes to weapons, enemies and wave-spawns.

Have a nice rest of your weekend. - Joe
- Digital Cybercherries.

Small Soldiers,

As many of you are aware, we are a team of just five indie developers. We’re working very hard to deliver each Major Update and are extremely proud of how well development is coming along. 

Hypercharge launched over 7 months ago, and since then we’ve already launched multiple Major Updates and Hot Fixes, all based on player feedback. As of now, we have received over 1,100 reviews with an overall score of 90% Very Positive. With your continued effort in helping us develop the game, we’re convinced we will continue to succeed. It truly is a team effort. We don’t see you as numbers; we see you as actual people with great ideas. It’s because of you that Hypercharge is continuously reaching its full potential. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you! Finally, here’s some content to enjoy!

Development Recap

Bots & Single-player Improvements
Survial Game mode & Community Concerns

After a high amount of requests, we’ve redesigned how the scope works. It now acts as a traditional Sniper Scope, and we have to say, it’s so much fun! We’re looking into adding more scope variants, too.

Again, after many requests, we implemented a third-person camera mode with 360° predictive jumping, meaning your Hypercharge figure can really strike an action pose in style.

We’ve also tweaked the overall flow of movement/animations. This includes vaulting, reloading, turning, and surface based leaning which have all been polished to perfection. Traversing should feel smoother!

We’ve made it so you can easily switch between your preferred camera angle with a touch of a button. This adds a new dynamic to the gameplay.

Sneak peek of the new UI. Currently, it’s not the easiest to navigate, which can often lead to a frustrating experience. Every aspect will change, and we’re sure it’ll be very user friendly.

Well, I hope you enjoyed Dev Blog #3. If you have any questions about the game, please let us know on the Steam forums or Discord.

Please note: All content above is WIP. We can’t promise that every single feature will make it into each Major Update. This announcement is a development blog aimed to shed light on what we are working on, and hope to add in the future.

Have a pleasant rest of your day. - Joe
- Digital Cybercherries.

Dear Community,

We're extremely proud to have won this award and would like to thank our wonderful community for helping us develop Hypercharge into something special. We couldn't have won it without you! We were against fierce competition with hundreds of amazing games nominated.

A huge congratulation to each game that won an award and a big clap to those who were nominated.

Read the full press release on Gamastura.

Thank you again. - Joe
Digital Cybercherries.

Hello there, fellow Toy Soldiers. Sgt. Max Ammo has a friendly request. Would you mind writing some feedback via a Steam review? It takes less than a minute and helps us out so much. Being an indie team of just five, we greatly appreciate all the support.

https://store.steampowered.com/recommended/recommendgame/523660

Bots are still a work in progress, but we're super proud of how well they react to the surrounding dangers.

Attention, Small Soldiers!

TL;DR - Major Update #3 will focus on vastly improving the single player experience. This includes adding bots to PvE & PvP, plus lots more.

We know many of you absolutely love single player. It’s a convenient mode to jump in and out of as it doesn’t require the need to find an online server full of players. You can play to your heart’s content. However, we understand the biggest frustration is not being able to beat certain difficulty modes and earn the highest tier rewards. Part of this frustration comes from not knowing what enemy types you'll face on each level. We're still thinking of ideas, but some form of labelling for each level that hints at which enemies are to be expected in that level, may work quite well. In turn, players will have a better idea of the defenses needed before hand. In terms of balance and progression, the gameplay is not where it needs to be right now. Each level should be a challenge, but it should not feel frustrating. We're working hard on changing that.

After careful consideration, we’ve decided that Major Update #3 will focus on Single-player, with Major Update #4 focusing on our new game mode, Survival. COVID-19 has affected everyone, and it has put us behind schedule. By separating these updates, it enables us to work more efficiently. The last thing we will do is rush out an update just for the sake of it.

We're hoping to launch by the end of November. No promises, though!

Our target is to launch the Survival update at the end of January 2021.

Hypercharge is primarily balanced around 2-4 players. By adding bots, we intend to close the gap between the difficulty harshness of single-player, as they will help to build defences and protect the Hypercore. In PvP, bots will feel dynamic and challenging. We’re using a lot of fuzzy logic and reactionary responses to the players/other bots actions. Adding random movement, gunfire, weapon decisions and low-health defensive play-styles should make them feel more exciting.

• You’ll be able to choose the number of bots; the difficulty will change based on the number of bots/players.
  
  
• Bots may be randomly generated, but we are considering allowing players to give them profiles to use. Or, they will use whatever Split-screen profiles you have saved.
  
  
• Bots will try their best to protect a Hypercore that receives the most amount of damage and/or have the most amount of enemies targeting it. We may allow them to respond to some voice commands so players can override their core target. If we do get around to bots respecting voice commands, we may allow them to follow you or be told to head to specific locations.
  
  
• If you find you're low on credits, don’t worry. Locate your friendly bot and take some credits from them. I’m sure they won't mind.
  
  
• Bots will help with power management. They’ll place batteries into power nodes. Although, we’re not 100% sure we will get throwing working.
  
  
• Bots will be available for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch. We are also trying to see how well they perform in Plague mode.
  
  
• We’re still exploring ideas, but the number of bots, and perhaps their difficulty, will be shown in the server rules, with other options to experiment with.

Here you can see a very helpful bot inserting a battery into the power node. Power managment FTW!

We’re putting more emphasis on enemy feedback. For example, enemies will show signs of deterioration the more damage they receive. This will give you a better sense of progression.


You'll finally be able to tell how much damage you have inflicted upon the Cargo plane.


Jets look more terrifying than ever.


The Tank will be easier to spot in outside areas such as the Garden.

Don't worry. We haven't forgotten about new maps, weapons, skins and the rest we've mentioned in the past. We aren't giving up on Hypercharge, it's just going to take a little longer to roll out the content throughout the next year. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

That’s it for today. As always, we are listening to your ideas and suggestions. Please keep them coming in. We are building Hypercharge, together. Thank you for reading and stay safe out there. We sincerely appreciate your support!

Have a brilliant start to the weekend. - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries.

Please note: We can’t promise that every single feature will make it into Major Update #3. This announcement is a development blog aimed to shed light on what we are working on, and hope to add in the future.

https://twitter.com/HYPERCHARGEGAME/status/1306962541336297472

We love our fan-base and the enthusiasm you have for Hypercharge. It means a great deal to us. Without you, all of what we have achieved would not have been possible. The past few months have been extremely difficult for us, just like they have been for the rest of the world.

We’re a five-man indie team with limited resources. We have done the best we can to cope with each obstacle thrown our way. However, there’s only so much we can humanly do. Our development roadmap is behind schedule. We’ve been honest and open about this many times in the past. We’re working hard to play catch up. We understand delays are frustrating, but please keep in mind that we are just as frustrated as you are. When we’re in a more stable and confident position, we will announce an updated roadmap. We appreciate your understanding and hope you will keep patient during these uncertain times. On a pleasant note, during this pandemic we have released 2 Major Updates on two platforms, and multiple Hot Fixes. We think that’s exceptional considering the circumstances.

To conclude this statement, we are human beings, just like you. We’re not machines. We have families, friends and partners to look after and worry about. We laugh, cry and sometimes have meltdowns.

From all of us at DCC, thank you for your support and understanding.

Joe Henson
Head of PR, Hypercharge: Unboxed

Small Soldiers,
We apologize for the late announcement. Here's more info about our upcoming game mode; Survival.

Gamescom Daily Show's Michael Swaim and IGN's resident toy experty, Max Scoville team up with developer Declan Doyle to check out the upcoming WIP Playground map.


Enjoy and have a great weekend. - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries.

Greetings, Small Soldier!

TL;DR - We’re working on new game modes, adding Bots to PvP/Single player and a lot of other awesome stuff, all of which is based on player feedback.

When Hypercharge launched back in April 2020, it received a very positive response. To date, it has a rating of 90% Very Positive, which is a healthy sign that we’re heading into the right direction. Our vision for Hypercharge remains the same, we want to offer the most authentic experience when playing as an Action Figure. However, there’s still much more work to do. Thanks to the feedback of our wonderful community, we have a vast amount of insight into what we should add, improve and change.

We want Hypercharge to appeal to as many players as possible. We realise that the Tower-Defense aspect is not everyone’s cup of tea, and we don’t want to limit the potential of the game by sticking with just one primary mode. Don’t get us wrong, we love what we’ve achieved with the TD aspect, and we’ll continue to improve it, add new maps and features. However, it will not be the centre point of the game. Instead, our focus is towards the feedback of our community. We believe in your ideas and our workmanship. Many of you have called Hypercharge a hidden gem. Together, we’re confident we can lift Hypercharge from its feet and make this hidden gem gain the recognition it well and truly deserves.



Ahoy there, small soldier! The enemy want to board our ship. They will charge from all directions, so to fight them back you’ll need to climb the cargo net and walk the plank. Beware, however, there are sharks in these waters, and maybe crocodiles...

We’re hard at work on Major Update #3, with the main attraction being; Survival. This is a game mode that so many of you have recommended, and oh soldier, it’s hectic! So, what exactly does this mode entail? Well, there’s absolutely no building involved. Players must do their utmost to survive as many relentless waves as possible. Though, there is a little twist to it. Certain enemies will attack something called the Generator, and players have the option to save it, or else they’ll lose the ability for their shield to recharge, making surviving that little bit harder! The scoring system works by the number of waves players can survive, with different medals given for different ranges of completed waves. Players can buy new weapons and attachments for each wave. Enemies will drop health, shields and coins, allowing the player to spend currency on the slot machine.



We're aware that there are many other brilliant suggestions and valid concerns. We won't include them all in today's Dev Blog, but below are some of the most common ones.

USER INTERFACE
We hear you. The UI could do with some changes. It’s difficult to navigate and hard to follow. You’ll be happy to know that we’re completely overhauling it, making sure it’s intuitive and easy to use.

SOLO PLAY
One of the biggest things we’ve learned since the launch of Hypercharge, is that not everybody has the time to play with friends. In fact, a lot of players prefer to play on their own. We designed Hypercharge with co-op mainly in mind. This took our attention away from solo players. Single player isn’t fully balanced, which means it can often be frustrating and not fun. So, how do we plan on alleviating this? Bots. For Single player only, we’re adding an A.I Bot that will help aid you in battle. Wait, you thought I finished? Get back over here. PvP. Yes, you’ll soon have the option to fight bots in PvP!

COME ON JOE, WHEN WILL THIS UPDATE BE RELEASED?
Slow down there, you’re excited, I know, we are too. But we will not rush this Major Update. It’s important that it’s very polished, stable and most of all, fun. We also want to align it with some big marketing plans. If all goes well, we should hopefully make some noise. To be on the safe side, and because I don’t want to get fired, we’re hoping to release it before the end of this year. Albeit, it should be sooner than that. And remember, we’re only a five-man indie team. There’s only so fast we can reasonably work.

If you got this far, thank you for reading and for supporting us throughout our journey. We’re in this together.

Have a fantastic rest of your weekend. - Joe

- Digital Cybercherries.

Please note: We can’t promise that every single feature will make it into Major Update #3. This announcement is a development blog aimed to shed light on what we are working on, and hope to add in the future.

Small Soldiers,

The Steam Summer Sale is now live! Build your defences and protect the HYPER-CORE. If you have any questions about the game, you're more than welcome to join us on Discord.

Please keep sending in your feedback. We have lots planned for Hypercharge and we're working very hard on new content, improvements, balancing and much more. Keep your eyes peeled.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/523660/HYPERCHARGE_Unboxed/
Have fun!
-Digital Cybercherries