Added 2 new levels (9-10) with a new environment: the ice biome
Added 1 new hero: Elise, the “Freelance Demolitionist” and her heavy arsenal
Changed hero max level from 8 to 15
Added 2 new minor modules:
Pepper Spray - It confuses monsters and forces them to attack each other
Seblaster (offence) - It targets monsters with an area of effect, hitting without distinction heroes and monsters
Added 2 new mobs:
Hurna Hunter
Door opener: he can open a door if you don’t kill him on time!
Added 5 new elite mobs:
Kamikaze Necrophage
The Keeper
Silics Supporter
Chimera Debuffer
Chimera Kamikaze
Added the Stele Event. If you find a stele, it will add one or several effects to the entire floor for a limited amount of time. These effects can be positive, negative, or both.
Improvements
Added a reset skill system: you can use Science and reset the skills cooldown
Changed the healing system which is now based on the hero’s percentage of HP, and the cost is proportional to number of healed HP
Changed the operating system: the hero needs to stay in the room at least one turn to obtain a (bigger) bonus
Added an animation for the Merchant when he teleports to the Merchant module
Added a comparison system for hero equipment
Added a preview for the next skill available when you level up
Added a scrollview for passive skills when you have more than six
You can now select several heroes with the “shift” key
Added a default cursor
Updated hero selection menu
Added feedback (visual and sound) on dying heroes (< 25% HP)
Removed the Research button in the HUD
Balancing
See the latest dev blog post for more details and rationales about the multiple changes which impact the balancing of the game
Refactored configuration system which allows us to control the flow and the events more precisely:
Some events (exit, merchants, heroes and artefacts) are placed at the generation to control the:
Quantity of Dust loot in rooms at each floor is now controlled
Spawn of mobs is now random at each floor
The targeting of some mobs have changed:
Necrophage Flying attacks major modules and target in priority long range heroes
Silics Bulldozer no longer attacks heroes
Silics Trash attacks only the Crystal (but is weaker)
Most part of elites mobs attacks NPC
The offence modules have now a priority target:
Prisoner pods are anti-heroes mobs
Tesla are anti-modules mobs
Claymoars are basic mobs
Smoking guns are special mobs
The move speed of entities are reduced when in the same room than enemies, except:
Flying Necrophage
"Crysophile" Necrophage
Hydra Chimera
Some heroes with "dodge" passive skills
The previous version level 8 is approximately the new level 11-12 in terms of food cost and stats
The heroes stats and skills have changed with new levels and to create a distinctions between the different teams of heroes
Added 2 new levels (9-10) with a new environment: the ice biome
Added 1 new hero: Elise, the “Freelance Demolitionist” and her heavy arsenal
Changed hero max level from 8 to 15
Added 2 new minor modules:
Pepper Spray - It confuses monsters and forces them to attack each other
Seblaster (offence) - It targets monsters with an area of effect, hitting without distinction heroes and monsters
Added 2 new mobs:
Hurna Hunter
Door opener: he can open a door if you don’t kill him on time!
Added 5 new elite mobs:
Kamikaze Necrophage
The Keeper
Silics Supporter
Chimera Debuffer
Chimera Kamikaze
Added the Stele Event. If you find a stele, it will add one or several effects to the entire floor for a limited amount of time. These effects can be positive, negative, or both.
Improvements
Added a reset skill system: you can use Science and reset the skills cooldown
Changed the healing system which is now based on the hero’s percentage of HP, and the cost is proportional to number of healed HP
Changed the operating system: the hero needs to stay in the room at least one turn to obtain a (bigger) bonus
Added an animation for the Merchant when he teleports to the Merchant module
Added a comparison system for hero equipment
Added a preview for the next skill available when you level up
Added a scrollview for passive skills when you have more than six
You can now select several heroes with the “shift” key
Added a default cursor
Updated hero selection menu
Added feedback (visual and sound) on dying heroes (< 25% HP)
Removed the Research button in the HUD
Balancing
See the latest dev blog post for more details and rationales about the multiple changes which impact the balancing of the game
Refactored configuration system which allows us to control the flow and the events more precisely:
Some events (exit, merchants, heroes and artefacts) are placed at the generation to control the:
Quantity of Dust loot in rooms at each floor is now controlled
Spawn of mobs is now random at each floor
The targeting of some mobs have changed:
Necrophage Flying attacks major modules and target in priority long range heroes
Silics Bulldozer no longer attacks heroes
Silics Trash attacks only the Crystal (but is weaker)
Most part of elites mobs attacks NPC
The offence modules have now a priority target:
Prisoner pods are anti-heroes mobs
Tesla are anti-modules mobs
Claymoars are basic mobs
Smoking guns are special mobs
The move speed of entities are reduced when in the same room than enemies, except:
Flying Necrophage
"Crysophile" Necrophage
Hydra Chimera
Some heroes with "dodge" passive skills
The previous version level 8 is approximately the new level 11-12 in terms of food cost and stats
The heroes stats and skills have changed with new levels and to create a distinctions between the different teams of heroes
Variables in the level configuration We have completely refactored how we configure the game. Instead of fixed values for each floor, we now describe curves with different abscissas (number of players, levels, difficulty, spaceship, number of open doors, depth…). We need it for a more modular configuration, for the multiplayer and to prepare other game modes (like endless mode).
Because it’s a new way to express the variables and their evolutions, we are trying to stay close to the previous version, but there are necessarily some differences. There are also some changes that we wanted to make and are now easier to achieve! Some examples:
Reduced the amount of mobs in room in floors 2-4 but increased afterwards
Reduced difficulty of waves in floors 2-4
Smoothed the exit waves difficulty
Reduced number of rooms by level (but there are 2 new levels in the build)
And all the other things evoked below
Thanks to the remarks and proposals from the community, and particularly Ail, which help us in this process!
Dynamic and Static Events In the previous version, there were only dynamic events: what you found behind a door was generated when the door was opened and allowed us to control the floor difficulty.
In the next update, we are keeping the dynamic events and the difficulty variable but we are also adding static events, which are placed at the generation of the level to control the number and the depth position. That means for example that we can be sure that there are exactly 2 or 3 artefacts in level 7, placed mostly not too far from the first room. These static events are currently used for the exits, merchants, heroes and artefacts.
Control of the Dust The Dust found in the room is now placed at the generation of the level to control its quantity. There is a minimum and a maximum amount of Dust :dust: placed in the dungeon based on the number of rooms. We also increased the global quantity of Dust.
Exit Like I said, the exit is now a static event. It can be found sooner in the dungeon if you take the right path. But the difficulty level increases when you find it: you have the choice to leave quickly the level or not, but taking the shorter path may be not the best solution to reach the surface.
Spawn of mobs In the previous version, there was a list of mobs set by floors. At each run, you would encounter the same mobs at each floor. It was good to plan your progression but not really surprising!
In the next update, each mob has a curve of spawn in the floors. At the generation of a floor, a number of mobs is picked between a minimum and a maximum set in the configuration. We have reduced the number of mobs by level to improve the particularity of each floor and give the opportunity to the player to adapt his/her strategy. At each floor, a number of mobs is kept from the previous level. The aim is to create a more logical and readable progression for each game.
The new algorithm also sets several new variables for each mob like minimal open door before its spawn, a maximum per wave, probability weight to spawn etc…
ENTITIES BEHAVIOURS
Targeting Mobs are now distributed in 4 categories: basic, anti-module, anti-hero and special (targets the Crystal, door or populated room for example). Some mobs see their priority targeting change, in order to clarify some behaviours or favour « tower defence strategy » by reducing the attacks on minor modules for example.
Offence modules now have a priority target among the new mobs categories (specified in tooltip). That creates a new particularity for each module and improves the strategies without having to add a new interface.
Priority targets of:
Prisoner pods are anti-heroes mobs
Tesla are anti-modules mobs
Claymoars are basic mobs
Smoking guns are special mobs
Then the priorities are special, anti-module, anti-hero and basic mob. These changes are inspired by several posts of the community and particularly melkathi for the module targeting.
Zone control We added a system of « zone control » on mobs and heroes. If a mob enters a room with heroes or modules, its movement speed will be reduced. If a hero enters a room with mobs thus. To avoid reducing the rhythm of the game, the global movement speed of the game is also increased. That means the game is faster during strategic phase and when the mobs are still in dark rooms but slower during battle or crystal phase. Some mobs and heroes are not affected by zone control (heroes have a new passive called “Dodge”).
HEROES AND SKILLS
Hero Levels Heroes now have 15 levels (max for the release). The previous version level 8 is approximately the new level 11-12 in terms of Food cost and stats. (That means the level 1-8 are cheaper than before).
Skill levels To complete the new levels, the hero now unlocks skills level 2 and some heroes can unlock a skill level 3 at level 15. These are the same skills with a more powerful effect (+50 to +100% for level 2).
Heroes’ team We created small distinctions between the different teams of heroes:
Prisoners are slightly more expensive to hire (you need to greasing the palms), have a better increase of their attacks but stop to gain defence in levels 10 to 15 (with their reckless approach)
Crew members are slightly more expensive to level up (all the social costs…) but have a better increase of their defence (there are more disciplined. Mostly)
Auriga Natives are cheaper to hire and level up but weaker in first levels (not easy to work with this kind of people at first…)
Operating We tried to improve the operating system which was redundant and uninteresting. We are not sure of these changes so we’re particularly listening to your feedback on this. The operating bonus is now only active when the hero stays at least one turn in the room (s/he can fight or repair but must not exit the room). That means there is no longer interest to place heroes on production modules, open door, place them in choke point then restart: if you want to obtain a bonus, the hero needs to be locked in the room.
We also increased the importance of the operating bonus (+50%), reduced the number of heroes with the operating skill (stays Opbot, Max, Deena, Golgy, Hikensha, Rakya and Mormish) and moved the acquisition of the skill in later level (3 or 4).
Heal and Rest The heal is now a life percentage (30%) and the cost is proportional to the number of healed HP (same cost than before: 5 Food for for 200 HP). You can also “Restore” to reset the cooldown of skills of a hero by spending Science. The cost is proportional to the number of remaining turns and the level of the skills (3 Science / turn / level).
We added also several improvements on the interface / controls that you will be able to read in the changelog tomorrow. And as usual, there is also new content like the “door opener” mobs, which are pretty friendly creatures. :)
Variables in the level configuration We have completely refactored how we configure the game. Instead of fixed values for each floor, we now describe curves with different abscissas (number of players, levels, difficulty, spaceship, number of open doors, depth…). We need it for a more modular configuration, for the multiplayer and to prepare other game modes (like endless mode).
Because it’s a new way to express the variables and their evolutions, we are trying to stay close to the previous version, but there are necessarily some differences. There are also some changes that we wanted to make and are now easier to achieve! Some examples:
Reduced the amount of mobs in room in floors 2-4 but increased afterwards
Reduced difficulty of waves in floors 2-4
Smoothed the exit waves difficulty
Reduced number of rooms by level (but there are 2 new levels in the build)
And all the other things evoked below
Thanks to the remarks and proposals from the community, and particularly Ail, which help us in this process!
Dynamic and Static Events In the previous version, there were only dynamic events: what you found behind a door was generated when the door was opened and allowed us to control the floor difficulty.
In the next update, we are keeping the dynamic events and the difficulty variable but we are also adding static events, which are placed at the generation of the level to control the number and the depth position. That means for example that we can be sure that there are exactly 2 or 3 artefacts in level 7, placed mostly not too far from the first room. These static events are currently used for the exits, merchants, heroes and artefacts.
Control of the Dust The Dust found in the room is now placed at the generation of the level to control its quantity. There is a minimum and a maximum amount of Dust :dust: placed in the dungeon based on the number of rooms. We also increased the global quantity of Dust.
Exit Like I said, the exit is now a static event. It can be found sooner in the dungeon if you take the right path. But the difficulty level increases when you find it: you have the choice to leave quickly the level or not, but taking the shorter path may be not the best solution to reach the surface.
Spawn of mobs In the previous version, there was a list of mobs set by floors. At each run, you would encounter the same mobs at each floor. It was good to plan your progression but not really surprising!
In the next update, each mob has a curve of spawn in the floors. At the generation of a floor, a number of mobs is picked between a minimum and a maximum set in the configuration. We have reduced the number of mobs by level to improve the particularity of each floor and give the opportunity to the player to adapt his/her strategy. At each floor, a number of mobs is kept from the previous level. The aim is to create a more logical and readable progression for each game.
The new algorithm also sets several new variables for each mob like minimal open door before its spawn, a maximum per wave, probability weight to spawn etc…
ENTITIES BEHAVIOURS
Targeting Mobs are now distributed in 4 categories: basic, anti-module, anti-hero and special (targets the Crystal, door or populated room for example). Some mobs see their priority targeting change, in order to clarify some behaviours or favour « tower defence strategy » by reducing the attacks on minor modules for example.
Offence modules now have a priority target among the new mobs categories (specified in tooltip). That creates a new particularity for each module and improves the strategies without having to add a new interface.
Priority targets of:
Prisoner pods are anti-heroes mobs
Tesla are anti-modules mobs
Claymoars are basic mobs
Smoking guns are special mobs
Then the priorities are special, anti-module, anti-hero and basic mob. These changes are inspired by several posts of the community and particularly melkathi for the module targeting.
Zone control We added a system of « zone control » on mobs and heroes. If a mob enters a room with heroes or modules, its movement speed will be reduced. If a hero enters a room with mobs thus. To avoid reducing the rhythm of the game, the global movement speed of the game is also increased. That means the game is faster during strategic phase and when the mobs are still in dark rooms but slower during battle or crystal phase. Some mobs and heroes are not affected by zone control (heroes have a new passive called “Dodge”).
HEROES AND SKILLS
Hero Levels Heroes now have 15 levels (max for the release). The previous version level 8 is approximately the new level 11-12 in terms of Food cost and stats. (That means the level 1-8 are cheaper than before).
Skill levels To complete the new levels, the hero now unlocks skills level 2 and some heroes can unlock a skill level 3 at level 15. These are the same skills with a more powerful effect (+50 to +100% for level 2).
Heroes’ team We created small distinctions between the different teams of heroes:
Prisoners are slightly more expensive to hire (you need to greasing the palms), have a better increase of their attacks but stop to gain defence in levels 10 to 15 (with their reckless approach)
Crew members are slightly more expensive to level up (all the social costs…) but have a better increase of their defence (there are more disciplined. Mostly)
Auriga Natives are cheaper to hire and level up but weaker in first levels (not easy to work with this kind of people at first…)
Operating We tried to improve the operating system which was redundant and uninteresting. We are not sure of these changes so we’re particularly listening to your feedback on this. The operating bonus is now only active when the hero stays at least one turn in the room (s/he can fight or repair but must not exit the room). That means there is no longer interest to place heroes on production modules, open door, place them in choke point then restart: if you want to obtain a bonus, the hero needs to be locked in the room.
We also increased the importance of the operating bonus (+50%), reduced the number of heroes with the operating skill (stays Opbot, Max, Deena, Golgy, Hikensha, Rakya and Mormish) and moved the acquisition of the skill in later level (3 or 4).
Heal and Rest The heal is now a life percentage (30%) and the cost is proportional to the number of healed HP (same cost than before: 5 Food for for 200 HP). You can also “Restore” to reset the cooldown of skills of a hero by spending Science. The cost is proportional to the number of remaining turns and the level of the skills (3 Science / turn / level).
We added also several improvements on the interface / controls that you will be able to read in the changelog tomorrow. And as usual, there is also new content like the “door opener” mobs, which are pretty friendly creatures. :)
The bug in [0.6.7] was fixed in [0.6.9]; however, another issue was found in this version, with the same consequence (wave not ending) but a different cause.
Fixed a bug that prevented the wave from ending: it occurred when a Cryo Capsule was activated, coupled with the spawn of a new hero event.
The bug in [0.6.7] was fixed in [0.6.9]; however, another issue was found in this version, with the same consequence (wave not ending) but a different cause.
Fixed a bug that prevented the wave from ending: it occurred when a Cryo Capsule was activated, coupled with the spawn of a new hero event.
We would like to express our apologies for the 0.6.7 update we have released on Steam last night. Indeed, a game breaking bug that occurred for all of you made us take the decision to roll back the update: at the moment, you should all be playing with the 0.5.2 version. This is actually the first time this is happening to us and we will do our best to make sure this does not happen again
Unfortunately, this means that those of you who have downloaded the 0.6.7 update and then went back to the 0.5.2 update have had the player profiles and heroes unlocked reset. We have warned you in the past that this was expected at some point, because we are constantly adding/improving some features, but we know it can still be somewhat frustrating. But please note that the reset was going to happen eventually, as we have reworked on the requirements that you need to fulfil to unlock the heroes.
We have fixed the problem that was reported by our players and submitted a new version to our QA team, and it looks like it’s been resolved (yay!), so we should go back to what we had planned for you: “Bite The Dust” update [0.6.9]. We took the liberty of unlocking temporarily some heroes for you (7 instead of 3): this way, you will be able to play the new version (almost) like you would have, and we are hoping you will forgive us for the inconvenience we may have caused. And in the future, don’t get attached to your heroes too much, this situation may occur at least once, before the release, in order to start things fresh!
We are looking forward to your feedback and are hoping you will enjoy the update.
We would like to express our apologies for the 0.6.7 update we have released on Steam last night. Indeed, a game breaking bug that occurred for all of you made us take the decision to roll back the update: at the moment, you should all be playing with the 0.5.2 version. This is actually the first time this is happening to us and we will do our best to make sure this does not happen again
Unfortunately, this means that those of you who have downloaded the 0.6.7 update and then went back to the 0.5.2 update have had the player profiles and heroes unlocked reset. We have warned you in the past that this was expected at some point, because we are constantly adding/improving some features, but we know it can still be somewhat frustrating. But please note that the reset was going to happen eventually, as we have reworked on the requirements that you need to fulfil to unlock the heroes.
We have fixed the problem that was reported by our players and submitted a new version to our QA team, and it looks like it’s been resolved (yay!), so we should go back to what we had planned for you: “Bite The Dust” update [0.6.9]. We took the liberty of unlocking temporarily some heroes for you (7 instead of 3): this way, you will be able to play the new version (almost) like you would have, and we are hoping you will forgive us for the inconvenience we may have caused. And in the future, don’t get attached to your heroes too much, this situation may occur at least once, before the release, in order to start things fresh!
We are looking forward to your feedback and are hoping you will enjoy the update.
Sincerely, Amplitude Studios
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[0.6.9] RELEASE NOTES
Content
Added 2 new heroes linked to the Dust:
Lady Joleri Tulak, an Auriga Native who consumes Dust to get more attack power
Warden Mormish, a Profit Seeker who can bring you Dust
Added 4 new modules:
[Major] Shop: attracts a merchant to defend and earn Dust by operating it [G2G]
[Minor] Bio-organic Transference: restores a little amount of health for each kill [G2G]
[Minor] Operator: improves the major module bonus
[Minor] Lure: casts the illusion of a hero
Added 2 new mobs:
Silics “Supporter”: gives a bonus to the other mobs
“Keeper”: stays in the room and becomes stronger with time until it is killed (DANGER!)
Added 3 new elite mobs:
Necrophage “Crystophile”
Chimera “Zombie”
Silics “Mini Golem”
Added new sound effects
Misc
Added the "Multiplayer" button in the main menu (greyed out for now)
Added a log instead of the notification / error panels (may be reduced)
Added a rotation on the Machine Gun module
Changed the Necrophage “Flying” sprites
Balance
Added bonus on “Autodoc Shards” (healing) module if there are no mobs in the room (and reduced its default effect)
Updated the mobs spawn table
Reduced Bulldozer Elite and Kamikazes spawn probabilities
Increased Kamikazes power
Reduced Bulldozer Elite power
Reduced the cooldown and power of “Claymoar” (same DPS)
Bug Fix
Fixed the fullscreen resolution behaviour
Fixed some skills and modules tooltips
Fixed a bug disabling heroes’ AI attack target when passing through door steps
Fixed a bug preventing the level to end when the hero carrying the crystal is moved to a room past the exit
Fixed several animations
Please start a new game as your previous save will not be compatible with this version. Thank you.