After two weeks out in the wild, TOXIKK gets its second update. All hail 1.0.2 Vanilla, the update to finally transcend TOXIKK into an entity of pure light and love. Let's take a look at what we did here:



The Skill Class (SC) based matchmaking system was liberated a lot. Instead of grouping various SC ranges into individual groups, SC matchmaking is now primarily used to distinguish between "A league" (SC 8-12) and "B league" (SC 1-7). Furthermore, even this last restriction can be overruled, if a player disables "SC Matchmaking" in the newly added Quick Join preferences (see below).



SC (Skill Class) based matchmaking can now be deactivated in the Quick Join options. Simply go Multiplayer -> Quick Join to toggle SC matchmaking on or off (it's on by default). WARNING: Disabling SC restrictions will send you to servers open to all Skill Classes. Prepare to get destroyed by veteran AFPS players. You can turn SC based matchmaking on again, whenever you feel like you had enough of being stomped on. ;)



This is primarily interesting for Free Editions players: You can now force the client to primarily look for servers with friends. However, it is important that your friends either play on a server of your skill class range (if you have SC matchmaking enabled) or play on servers without SC restrictions.



We heard you. Though, please be aware that the Cerberus is intentionally a strong weapon (pretty much like in many old-school APFS titles the RL was slightly (read: heavily) overpowered). We already nerfed it a LOT since the first Early Access days, where it was OP to an almost ridiculous level. With all the complaints, we were now ready to give it another damping and reduced its splash damage radius by 10%. Let's see what you guys think about the change. But keep in mind that it will always remain a powerful weapon (hence its name) which is not supposed to be entirely levelled with e.g. the Stingray.



The Ravager, our beloved melee weapon, was slightly changed in the way it inflicts damage. The sampling rate when the active drill hits an opponent was increased, so was the damage itself. A bit hard to explain... best if you try it out yourself.



Yup, there now is a complete Zoo of camouflage skins. Have fun unlocking them. 1.0.2 also carries the new and founder exclusive skins, although these will not be available until we've sent out the keys to the founder (which will happen later this week).



Both maps received visual overhauls (and also some more collision fixes). While the upgraded look on Artifact may not be all that eye-catching, you'll notice the improved lighting on Ganesha instanly. Hope you like it.



Character and vehicle visibility was improved a lot, as we added a subtle self-illumination to them. They now strike out more from the background, while still looking like a natural element of the game world. Self illumination also increases, the further away a character or vehicle is.



We added some servers for up to 16 players to allow for some big battles in e.g. the Twin Peaks maps.



Toxikk's global messenger tool (the thing that you can click in the menus in the lower right of the screen) was greatly improved and should now finally work as intended. If you feel disturbed by global chat in your log, remember that you can disable global channel traffic in the game options.



As usually, a bunch of convicted hackers were banned from the official servers. This did not happen via VAC ban, but using our internal tools. If you want to report hackers, please do so on our Discord server in the support channel. Please provide as much evidence as possible.



1.0.2 also brings some minor fixes e.g. to the Cube map distribution in the maps (visual fix), team matches in Contract mode happened partially playing on the wrong team (not the team that issued the contract), and you no longer need to release direction keys (W,A,S,D) after a respawn, to continue moving around.



Hope you like the changes... and as usual, if you want discuss the current update, best place to do so is our Discord Chat server at: http://chat.toxikk.com

After two weeks out in the wild, TOXIKK gets its second update. All hail 1.0.2 Vanilla, the update to finally transcend TOXIKK into an entity of pure light and love. Let's take a look at what we did here:



The Skill Class (SC) based matchmaking system was liberated a lot. Instead of grouping various SC ranges into individual groups, SC matchmaking is now primarily used to distinguish between "A league" (SC 8-12) and "B league" (SC 1-7). Furthermore, even this last restriction can be overruled, if a player disables "SC Matchmaking" in the newly added Quick Join preferences (see below).



SC (Skill Class) based matchmaking can now be deactivated in the Quick Join options. Simply go Multiplayer -> Quick Join to toggle SC matchmaking on or off (it's on by default). WARNING: Disabling SC restrictions will send you to servers open to all Skill Classes. Prepare to get destroyed by veteran AFPS players. You can turn SC based matchmaking on again, whenever you feel like you had enough of being stomped on. ;)



This is primarily interesting for Free Editions players: You can now force the client to primarily look for servers with friends. However, it is important that your friends either play on a server of your skill class range (if you have SC matchmaking enabled) or play on servers without SC restrictions.



We heard you. Though, please be aware that the Cerberus is intentionally a strong weapon (pretty much like in many old-school APFS titles the RL was slightly (read: heavily) overpowered). We already nerfed it a LOT since the first Early Access days, where it was OP to an almost ridiculous level. With all the complaints, we were now ready to give it another damping and reduced its splash damage radius by 10%. Let's see what you guys think about the change. But keep in mind that it will always remain a powerful weapon (hence its name) which is not supposed to be entirely levelled with e.g. the Stingray.



The Ravager, our beloved melee weapon, was slightly changed in the way it inflicts damage. The sampling rate when the active drill hits an opponent was increased, so was the damage itself. A bit hard to explain... best if you try it out yourself.



Yup, there now is a complete Zoo of camouflage skins. Have fun unlocking them. 1.0.2 also carries the new and founder exclusive skins, although these will not be available until we've sent out the keys to the founder (which will happen later this week).



Both maps received visual overhauls (and also some more collision fixes). While the upgraded look on Artifact may not be all that eye-catching, you'll notice the improved lighting on Ganesha instanly. Hope you like it.



Character and vehicle visibility was improved a lot, as we added a subtle self-illumination to them. They now strike out more from the background, while still looking like a natural element of the game world. Self illumination also increases, the further away a character or vehicle is.



We added some servers for up to 16 players to allow for some big battles in e.g. the Twin Peaks maps.



Toxikk's global messenger tool (the thing that you can click in the menus in the lower right of the screen) was greatly improved and should now finally work as intended. If you feel disturbed by global chat in your log, remember that you can disable global channel traffic in the game options.



As usually, a bunch of convicted hackers were banned from the official servers. This did not happen via VAC ban, but using our internal tools. If you want to report hackers, please do so on our Discord server in the support channel. Please provide as much evidence as possible.



1.0.2 also brings some minor fixes e.g. to the Cube map distribution in the maps (visual fix), team matches in Contract mode happened partially playing on the wrong team (not the team that issued the contract), and you no longer need to release direction keys (W,A,S,D) after a respawn, to continue moving around.



Hope you like the changes... and as usual, if you want discuss the current update, best place to do so is our Discord Chat server at: http://chat.toxikk.com

We're currently updating the servers to TOXIKK 1.0.2. The server should be back up within 30 minutes. The update is also now available for download in the Steam library.

After an exciting launch weekend and with the Early Access tag removed last Monday, we're now ready to deploy our first patch to the live build, where we tried to realize as much player feedback as possible. All hail build 1.01. Let's take a look at what we did here:




People complained about not being able to find SC matching servers quickly in the server browser, but had to browse through the whole long list. We now included an SC filter which allows to display only servers with matching SCs. Simply click on MY SC in the lower right of the server browser to list all matching servers.



We had some reports about FE players not being able to Quick Join. Please bear with us... the whole setup is very new and will need adjustments over time. However, connectivity on Quick Join should've much improved now.



Free Edition Players complained about not being able to play with friends and about not having a server browser at all. The Quick Join mechanism was now changed to always prefer servers with friends. Also, you can use Steam's server browser to connect to matches or the external server browser from our Steam Workshop.



We had complaints that Caliber (the tutorial and time trial map) could not be completed. We've now improved the in-map documentation and also pointed out the alternate route to complete the tutorial using the Phantom assault bomber vehicle (which needs to be repaired first, to open the hangar cage).



Matchmaking should now be a lot smoother process as we re-adjusted the algorithms a bit. We're now looking for servers with Steam friends, changed the priority of the ping and also made sure you're not be thrown into a server that was already almost at capacity.



Occasional black screens after map travels should no longer appear (fingerscrossed). If you still encounter any of these, please report them on the forum.



Not included maps of the Free Edition were not visibly marked in UI. This has now changed and you can clearly see what maps you can join and what maps are unavailable. This should help avoid confusion, why sometimes players of the FE were disconnected seemingly random.



The server browser used to act a little strange when the mouse pointer hovered over servers that were filtered out. This should be fixed now.




The overall experience should be a lot smoother now than directly after release (especially for players of the Free Edition). We also promised 16 slot CC servers with this update, but I learned that they are not a direct part of the update, but a server configuration thing (which is going to happen soon).

That's it for now. Have fun... and let us know what you think.

After an exciting launch weekend and with the Early Access tag removed last Monday, we're now ready to deploy our first patch to the live build, where we tried to realize as much player feedback as possible. All hail build 1.01. Let's take a look at what we did here:




People complained about not being able to find SC matching servers quickly in the server browser, but had to browse through the whole long list. We now included an SC filter which allows to display only servers with matching SCs. Simply click on MY SC in the lower right of the server browser to list all matching servers.



We had some reports about FE players not being able to Quick Join. Please bear with us... the whole setup is very new and will need adjustments over time. However, connectivity on Quick Join should've much improved now.



Free Edition Players complained about not being able to play with friends and about not having a server browser at all. The Quick Join mechanism was now changed to always prefer servers with friends. Also, you can use Steam's server browser to connect to matches or the external server browser from our Steam Workshop.



We had complaints that Caliber (the tutorial and time trial map) could not be completed. We've now improved the in-map documentation and also pointed out the alternate route to complete the tutorial using the Phantom assault bomber vehicle (which needs to be repaired first, to open the hangar cage).



Matchmaking should now be a lot smoother process as we re-adjusted the algorithms a bit. We're now looking for servers with Steam friends, changed the priority of the ping and also made sure you're not be thrown into a server that was already almost at capacity.



Occasional black screens after map travels should no longer appear (fingerscrossed). If you still encounter any of these, please report them on the forum.



Not included maps of the Free Edition were not visibly marked in UI. This has now changed and you can clearly see what maps you can join and what maps are unavailable. This should help avoid confusion, why sometimes players of the FE were disconnected seemingly random.



The server browser used to act a little strange when the mouse pointer hovered over servers that were filtered out. This should be fixed now.




The overall experience should be a lot smoother now than directly after release (especially for players of the Free Edition). We also promised 16 slot CC servers with this update, but I learned that they are not a direct part of the update, but a server configuration thing (which is going to happen soon).

That's it for now. Have fun... and let us know what you think.

We're currently installing Build 1.01 to the servers and updating the client. Servers will be available again within less than 60 minutes.

The chart below (which is also posted on the store page in the "About this Game" section) should already answer most of your questions. It's a straight feature comparison between the FULL GAME (FG) and the FREE EDITION (FE).



* LIMITED AMOUNT OF MAPS
** IF RELEVANT TO INCLUDED MAPS

It basically boils down to this: The Free Edition of Toxikk features the full core experience of the game and has no competitive disadvantages versus the full game. It let's you play TOXIKK for free, for as long and as often as you like. So, in many aspects it is like a shareware version of the game or a demo.



There is no catch. We, Reakktor Studios, have worked over 3 years on this project and would hate to see our game sink in insignificance. Toxikk is competing against companies that have millions of shiny dollars to sink in marketing. We had only a fraction of that... and wanted to put it into the game's development only, to fulfill our dream of creating a classic Arena FPS.



FREE TO PLAY is giving the base game away for free and then LETTING YOU PURCHASE LITTLE CHUNKS OF IT FOREVER (cosmetic and/or gameplay affecting items). For many reasons, we have a deep antipathy against micro-transaction fueled business models.

So, if we let you FRAG LIKE IT'S 1999, why not also give you a demo like it's 1999? The idea behind shareware and demos may be a bit out of fashion (just like Arena FPS in general), but there really isn't anything more transparent to let you experience a game. And if you like it, you pay once and get the FULL GAME with ALL its features, customization options etc.



The term DEMO has a defined meaning on STEAM that comes with specific restrictions. E.g. people who play a demo on STEAM cannot play online against people who own the full game. Which is obviously far from optimal for a multiplayer game.

Plus, the Free Edition really is more than a demo, as it features the full core experience, has no competitive disadvantages and even let's you participate in the leaderboards, achievements etc. All of these features are usually not available in demos on Steam.



Many big current MP games come without a server browser. It's not an exotic concept to rely on matchmaking & "Quick Join" to find matches. However, we agree that a server browser adds an additional layer of transparency and comfort to any MP game (which is why the full version of TOXIKK has an in-game server browser). The Free Edition lacks a few comfort features (see comparison chart) which you only get in the full game.

If you insist on a server browser, you can either use the external browser from our STEAM Workshop (thanks to Predath0r) or use the server browser that's built into your Steam client. You can find it via: Restart Steam -> Top left corner, View -> Servers -> Change Filters -> Select Toxikk as a Game.




Please bear with us. The game only just released and from our experience during the Early Access Beta, we weren't fully prepared for thousands of people being online at the same moment on our servers. We're still tweaking the infra-structure, so it CAN HAPPEN that you need a few tries to get on a server (with the Free Edition) right now. We'll also release a patch tomorrow or on Thursday latest, to further improve the situation.

IMPORTANT: Also, IF these problems occur, you may want to try the trick with the external server browser(s) (see Q5, above).



Thanks for reading and we hope you guys enjoy both, the full and the free edition of the game. If you have further questions regarding the game, please post them on one our forums or visit us to talk to the community and to us on our Discord chat server at http://chat.toxikk.com

The chart below (which is also posted on the store page in the "About this Game" section) should already answer most of your questions. It's a straight feature comparison between the FULL GAME (FG) and the FREE EDITION (FE).



* LIMITED AMOUNT OF MAPS
** IF RELEVANT TO INCLUDED MAPS

It basically boils down to this: The Free Edition of Toxikk features the full core experience of the game and has no competitive disadvantages versus the full game. It let's you play TOXIKK for free, for as long and as often as you like. So, in many aspects it is like a shareware version of the game or a demo.



There is no catch. We, Reakktor Studios, have worked over 3 years on this project and would hate to see our game sink in insignificance. Toxikk is competing against companies that have millions of shiny dollars to sink in marketing. We had only a fraction of that... and wanted to put it into the game's development only, to fulfill our dream of creating a classic Arena FPS.



FREE TO PLAY is giving the base game away for free and then LETTING YOU PURCHASE LITTLE CHUNKS OF IT FOREVER (cosmetic and/or gameplay affecting items). For many reasons, we have a deep antipathy against micro-transaction fueled business models.

So, if we let you FRAG LIKE IT'S 1999, why not also give you a demo like it's 1999? The idea behind shareware and demos may be a bit out of fashion (just like Arena FPS in general), but there really isn't anything more transparent to let you experience a game. And if you like it, you pay once and get the FULL GAME with ALL its features, customization options etc.



The term DEMO has a defined meaning on STEAM that comes with specific restrictions. E.g. people who play a demo on STEAM cannot play online against people who own the full game. Which is obviously far from optimal for a multiplayer game.

Plus, the Free Edition really is more than a demo, as it features the full core experience, has no competitive disadvantages and even let's you participate in the leaderboards, achievements etc. All of these features are usually not available in demos on Steam.



Many big current MP games come without a server browser. It's not an exotic concept to rely on matchmaking & "Quick Join" to find matches. However, we agree that a server browser adds an additional layer of transparency and comfort to any MP game (which is why the full version of TOXIKK has an in-game server browser). The Free Edition lacks a few comfort features (see comparison chart) which you only get in the full game.

If you insist on a server browser, you can either use the external browser from our STEAM Workshop (thanks to Predath0r) or use the server browser that's built into your Steam client. You can find it via: Restart Steam -> Top left corner, View -> Servers -> Change Filters -> Select Toxikk as a Game.




Please bear with us. The game only just released and from our experience during the Early Access Beta, we weren't fully prepared for thousands of people being online at the same moment on our servers. We're still tweaking the infra-structure, so it CAN HAPPEN that you need a few tries to get on a server (with the Free Edition) right now. We'll also release a patch tomorrow or on Thursday latest, to further improve the situation.

IMPORTANT: Also, IF these problems occur, you may want to try the trick with the external server browser(s) (see Q5, above).



Thanks for reading and we hope you guys enjoy both, the full and the free edition of the game. If you have further questions regarding the game, please post them on one our forums or visit us to talk to the community and to us on our Discord chat server at http://chat.toxikk.com