Hello Riftbreakers!

We're pushing a small update to address the issues with stability and quality of life. These changes apply to the Beta build and the Prologue version (where applicable). We hope that it will improve your experience with the game.

• Fixed Hammerroceros damage due to double inheritance, decreased their damage and collision width (Alpha and Ultra are now a lot less effecive against walls)
  
• increased HP for Hammerroceros Alpha and Ultra by 30%
  
• decreased damage reflect values
  
• optimized memory and CPU usage
  
• ResourcesSpawner: resolve minimal required amount of volumes first, then try to fulfill max amount - should fix problems with nonexistent sludge pools
  
• fix labels display for resource veins
  
• do not save world transforms - reduces save size by a lot
  
• fixed navigation generation on smaller maps
  
• fixed memory leaks in CachedMovements
  
• fixed show_grid cmd crash
  
• added missing flow fields - reduced chance of creatures getting stuck inside walls or other objects
  
• fixed double melee weapon deadlocks
  
• new effect for the "lost weapon marker"
  
• rare element mine is less effective
  
• VideoAdapterAPI: add GetMonitorName - game launcher now displays the monitor name apart from the adapter number - it's now easier to launch the game on the display you want
  
• disabled VRS when FSR is turned on
  
• multiple fixes for crash bugs

Let us know if you have any questions.

EXOR Studios

Hi everyone!

This week we are running a competition, in which you can get access to The Riftbreaker Beta!

We would like to ask for your help with achievements. We could easily come up with 150 'gather x of resource y' kind of achievements, but that would get old really quick. Instead, we want you to get creative. I would like you to come up with the most fun ideas for in-game achievements you can. They can be exciting, challenging, meme-y, whatever - as long as they relate to The Riftbreaker it's fine!

The format for this competition is as follows:

NAME: The name of the achievement - really short and to the point, 2-3 words work best
DESCRIPTION: A longer description of the achievement. It can describe what the achievement is for, but it can be more cryptic, so that players have to figure it out themselves.
METHOD: How to get the achievement - step-by-step instructions

Example:

NAME: Hardcore Sunbathing
DESCRIPTION: You have no need for any UV filter.
METHOD: Complete all Campaign Desert missions without downloading 'Environmental shielding: Sun' technology

Post your ideas on our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios in the #rb-achievements channel. We won't take any other entries into account!

One entry per message. The message must contain all the components: name, description and method. No discussions in the channel - entries only.

Winners get Beta keys, eternal glory and a spot on the credits list!

ENTRIES CLOSE MONDAY

Have fun!
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

It is our greatest pleasure to announce that The Riftbreaker is officially out of Alpha! We have completed the entire game’s structure and it’s playable from start to finish, which makes it… A BETA! To celebrate this fact, we are rolling out a new update to both our testers in the closed Beta and the generally available Prologue. The update has some sweet new tech, some of which you have never seen before. Let’s dive into the contents of this patch.



First of all, we are thrilled to tell you that as of today The Riftbreaker supports the brand-new AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technique (or FSR, for short). FSR is a technique that allows the game to render at a lower internal resolution and then upscales the image to your chosen resolution. FSR reconstructs the image to maintain as much quality as possible, and we think it does it really well. You can test it yourselves using one of 4 available presets - Performance, Balanced, Quality and Ultra Quality, all of which have different rendering resolutions. We’ve seen great results with this technique and encourage you to tell us how this option affected your FPS. FSR works on all GPUs, regardless of the manufacturer (AMD, Nvidia, Intel, or anything else that can run the game). This image upsampling technique is especially great if you want to run The Riftbreaker with raytracing effects enabled at very high resolutions or if you have a lower tier GPU that doesn’t run the game at 60FPS. Fidelity FX Super Resolution is available in both DX11 and DX12 rendering paths.



Another technological novelty that we are adding to the game is temporal anti-aliasing (TXAA). This technique uses temporal information to reduce the effect of ‘jagged edges’ that sometimes occurs during gameplay. The result is a very sharp, defined and detailed image at almost no cost. TAA is now the default anti-aliasing option for The Riftbreaker. It looks a lot better than FXAA that we used before and we think you are going to like it, too!



Apart from these new features, this patch also brings a lot of smaller changes to gameplay and balance. The full list of these changes is available at the end of this post. Please note that most of these changes affect only the Closed Beta version of The Riftbreaker, but the two most important ones - FSR and TAA are also available in The Riftbreaker: Prologue - available for free.

• We are super happy to announce that this version of The Riftbreaker supports the brand new AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technique. We have 4 different presets available - try them out and see how it affects the framerates and image quality. We are very happy with the results, and adding this technique is highly beneficial to players with less powerful PCs. Oh - it works on all GPUs.
  
• Temporal Anti Aliasing (TXAA) - We have added a temporal anti-aliasing technique to the game. It looks infinitely better than FXAA. This setting is always enabled.
  
• Automated Crafting is back - you no longer need to go to the crafting screen in the middle of the fight to get more grenades. The armory produces them for you at a constant rate.
  
• Added Statistics screen with lots of gameplay stats. It's not the final version, it looks bad, but it's functionally sound
  
• The headquarters are indestructible when being built for the first time.
  
• Optimized CPU usage, especially for longer playthroughs.

• Advanced resource veins have been added to survival mission (Uranium, Palladium, Titanium, Cobalt). You are guaranteed to have all rare resources available to you during each survival run.
  
• Completely rebalanced weapon and building costs.
  
• Added working Power Fists, Spears and Hammers. They are OP and unpolished, but you can try them out!
  
• Reduced wind turbine cost and increased performance - 40 carbonium, 12 energy per second. They're viable now!
  
• Comms hub lvl 4 and lvl 5 added - you can now upgrade it and set up a new hub after each HQ upgrade.
  
• Building limit added to ammunition storage.
  
• Repair consumable cooldown is reduced from 30 to 25.
  
• Added support for different cost values in different game modes to balance the survival and campaign.
  
• New models for small buildings - wind turbines, solar panels, energy storage, pumps.
  
• Massive number of balance tweaks in weapons and weapon mods.
  
• All upgraded weapons consume more ammo to match their power.
  
• Mods and upgraded statistics are more balanced (damage output) - some have been buffed, some have been nerfed.
  
• Rare element mine is less effective.
  
• Bestiary has been renamed to database, as it contains much more info than just animal descriptions.
  
• Click-and-drag wall-building has been tweaked to support longer walls and to get around corners a little better.
  
• Changes to resource drop rate types for some props with new group features.
  
• Sword slash ribbon now follows the actual model and can be used in other types of melee weapons - it's parametric now.
  
• Attachments with level numbers added to many buildings for easier identification.
  
• A lot of missing particle effects have been added to buildings.
  
• Inventory Screen tooltips improved in many places.
  
• New version of damage resist - if the player tries to melee an enemy invulnerable to physical damage, they will get staggered.
  
• The player can get stunned if they're hit really hard. Watch out!
  
• Improved effect for invisibility.
  
• Minerals are now mined in smaller chunks - 1 unit instead of 5. The rate stays the same - you still get 1 unit per 1 second of mining.
  
• The save button is blocked when the game is saving already.
  
• Props now get highlighted when they are hit.
  
• The mech has increased ammo storage.
  
• Reduced ammo consumption in shotgun.
  
• Updated game credits screen.
  
• A lot of cleanup for flora familiarity, specimens and localizations.
  
• Added highlight if an item is scannable.
  
• Reduced the number of gnerots on normal difficulty in survival_jungle.
  
• More resources on Hard and Brutal in Survival mode (removed negative multiplier) to compensate for fewer possible resource spawns.
  
• Minimum range added to artillery and heavy artillery towers.
  
• Reduced death penalty (funny every time)
  
• -- weapons dropped on hard 2 -> 1
  
• -- weapons dropped on brutal 3 -> 1
  
• Reduced environmental creatures' difficulty scaling on hard and brutal.
  
• Added new projectiles and effects to many new creatures.
  
• Dropped weapons are now autoequipped in the same slot they were dropped from upon pickup (if possible).
  
• Flora cultivator requires 10 water to operate.
  
• Updated crafting costs of most tech. (added advanced and rare resources to costs)
  
• Added new front drill animation to the player character (for treasure drilling)
  
• Sunrise and sunset tweaked slightly for performance reasons.
  
• Research descriptions added to all research items. Wildlife descriptions added to the database.
  
• Reworked a lot of the pipe resource system - should be a lot less buggy now.
  
• Excluded unused textures form the demo to save space.
  
• Heavy artillery now needs charged plasma to work. RIP Vinnymeta.
  
• Removed heat resistant floor from research (feature dropped).
  
• Light bloom effect has been optimized to consume less memory.

• New Footsteps and sounds for the mech (different floor types result in a different sound).
  
• New sounds for a lot of creatures.
  
• Mech servo sounds added.

• Prevent empty research queue announcement if comms hub is not built yet.
  
• Fix for frozen mech dash pose.
  
• Detect and do not load incompatible game saves in order to avoid conflicts and crashes.
  
• Fix saves with non ascii characters in the file path.
  
• Print error code in save error popup instead of an error message.
  
• Creature navigation has been cleaned up - it now works much faster and consumes less memory.
  
• Limit character number in save names.
  
• Fix minimal time value in streaming options for consistency (from 30 to 15).
  
• Fixed damage in proximity and nuclear mines - advanced, superior and extreme. They used to do the same amount of damage.
  
• Fix building after loading while saved when building. Sounds weird, but if you encountered it, you know what it was.
  
• Hundreds of bigger and smaller fixes for various issues and crashes.

As always, we encourage you to join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios and our stream at www.twitch.tv/exorstudios. It's the best way to get fresh info on the game's development and also to get a chance for a Beta access key. (We're live right now, wink, wink)

EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

During the development cycle of the game, the schedule has to remain flexible. Some tasks take more time than others, new priority issues come up, and you never really know what the next week is going to be like. This often causes delays, which unfortunately made us miss our initial release window. On the other hand, being flexible allows us to fix things before they become an issue for end-users. It is a double-edged sword and today we’re going to tell you one such story.


Apart from being oriented the wrong way, these numbers simply didn't work really well.

The most commonly used buildings in The Riftbreaker have got separate models for each advancement level. Let’s look at them and talk about why we decided to do it.


New and improved windy bois - they got a buff, too!

The stats from almost all gameplay sessions in The Riftbreaker show very clearly that some buildings are placed en masse, far more often than others. These include basic walls, basic power plants, as well as energy storage buildings. None of them take up a lot of space on their own but seeing dozens of them in one scene is a common sight. In fact, when those buildings appear, they usually cover most of the area on the screen. That is not a problem on its own, though - it’s just the nature of these things.


There were a couple of designs for solar panels, but we decided we wanted a much more simple solution.

An issue arises when we add building upgrades into the mix. We decided not to introduce separate models for each level of a building in The Riftbreaker - we want our buildings to be easily identifiable, and if they changed their appearance with every upgrade it would be quite easy to get lost amid the chaos of your own base. Instead, we added small attachments with a level number on top of the original model - that way you can easily identify buildings that you have upgraded already. It’s easy to do in the case of large buildings, but what about the smaller ones, like walls or towers?


This is the final design of solar panel levels - really simple and effective.

All of a sudden, after upgrading your renewable energy sources, you were greeted with a field of ‘2’s or ‘3’s, according to the building level and it did not look great. In the vast majority of cases, there was no way to attach the numbers to them, so we decided to make separate models for all walls, gates, and defensive towers. Attaching numbers to Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, and Energy Storages was doable, but their tendency to appear in large groups came to bite us.


The energy storages get beefier with each level, giving you a much better sense of their capacity.

Luckily, our graphics department runs on a more relaxed schedule than the rest of us. That meant they could squeeze in a couple of extra models of buildings into their plans. It was important for us to make sure these were done in the spirit of the original models so that you could tell at a glance what the purpose of any given building is. That’s how we managed to avoid the ‘number spam’ and still allow you to know what level your buildings are with just a glance. While we were at it, we have also redone the liquid pumps, so that they get more massive with each level.


Pumps didn't really need a visual update, but hey, since we're already doing it, we might as well show them some love.


The final result. Yay or nay?

Join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios for more behind-the-scenes stories and developer insights. We also stream twice a week, where we try to answer as many questions as possible. Join us Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 PM CEST at www.twitch.tv/exorstudios.

See you next time!

Hello Riftbreakers!

Last Wednesday we told you about an entirely new kind of defensive tower, that is not only bigger and more powerful, but that also requires liquid resources in the form of plasma. This is a part of our effort to ensure that liquid storage and transportation is not just a niche requirement of one tech branch, but a full mechanic on its own. Today, let’s take a look at another building that utilizes liquids and for a good reason - the Shield Generator.

As the name suggests, this building is a defensive structure that will try to help keep your base alive. It envelops all buildings within its area of effect with a layer of supercharged plasma, protecting them from any outside interference. It needs to get that fancy, enriched plasma some way - that stuff does not grow on trees, and that’s where the pipes (among other things) come in.


Laying down pipes can be an interesting puzzle, make sure to leave some space between your buildings - you may need it in the future!

You must first get your hands on regular plasma. That is quite easy to come by - it is produced by the Fusion Power Plant, for example. Then you can turn it into the supercharged state using a specialized Plasma Converter. The supercharged plasma can be stored in regular Liquid Resource Deposits, or transported directly to your Shield Generators.


You can check how much of the shield is left on any building in the radius of the Shield Generator. By the way, they stack!

Once you supply the Generator with everything it needs, it starts doing its magic. All Riftbreaker structures within range now have a protective layer over them. However, they all draw their extra hitpoints from one common ‘shield pool’ of the generator. If one building takes enough damage then the shield is broken, all others lose protection as well. After that, the Generator will take some time to build up a new charge and start working again, similar to the Energy Shield on the Mecha-Suit.


Shield generators can soak up a lot of damage from environmental hazards, such as a meteor shower.

The Shield Generator can be used to give your walls a degree of extra protection, but that is not where it shines. Instead, you can use it to protect the key components of your base or buildings that are critical for some process you are trying to complete. For example - if you need your Uranium Centrifuges to keep working no matter what because you REALLY HAVE TO get your new Mini-Nuke Launcher (for science!), the shield Generator will ensure that they do.


Shield Generators and Heavy artillery are best buddies, since they both use supercharged plasma. 2 for 1!

Naturally, there are a lot more buildings like this to come and we hope that you are looking forward to the logistic puzzle of distributing liquid resources around the base. As always, you are welcome to join our Discord if you’d like to find out more about The Riftbreaker - www.discord.gg/exorstudios. We also stream twice a week - follow our Twitch channel to get notified when we go live - www.twitch.tv/exorstudios. More exciting things to come!

Hello Riftbreakers!

Long time no see! We’re sorry for the lack of updates over the course of the past couple of weeks. We have been working on some spicy things that will be revealed soon. We also managed to snag some awesome prizes - Best Desktop Game and the Grand Prize at DevGAMM 2021, as well as the 2nd place in the Pro category of Game Development World Championship 2020. No time to celebrate, though, we have a game to finish! Check out what we’ve been working on lately.

A couple of months back we told you about the new defensive towers that made their way into the game. As fun and effective they are, they are still variations of the classic, 1x1 Sentinel Tower that has been with us since 2018. Well, this one is a bit different. Not only does it take more space, but it also requires a connection to a source of plasma via a pipe. We promise - the extra hassle is worth it. Meet the Heavy Artillery Tower.


Like a couple of proud parents standing right behind their children!

Heavy Artillery takes a long time to aim, and even longer time to reload, but there is a decent chance that you will never need the second shot - this beast of a cannon launches plasma-enriched nuclear shells on the heads of unsuspecting enemies from a great distance. The power of the resulting blast is high enough to wipe out almost all Galatean creatures and the large area of effect creates gaps in the structure of the attacking hordes, allowing you to reach creatures at the back more easily.


So many pipes, so many liquids!

We might have oversold the power of the Heavy Artillery a little. It will not singlehandedly solve all your problems on Galatea 37. Nor will it destroy literally everything that ends up on the wrong side of the barrel. It’s even possible to render it almost useless - if the creatures come too close to this tower, it simply won’t be able to shoot at them. However, it is definitely worth having access to at least a couple of these towers in the critical spots around your base, for all those moments when you need a little extra firepower.


Not the most optimal use case, but boy is it fun!

As we mentioned before, the Heavy Artillery Tower requires an additional resource to operate in the form of plasma. You will have to connect a pipeline directly to the tower in order to make use of it. This is a part of the larger plan to make liquid resources more relevant in The Riftbreaker. The feedback we got during our Alpha test showed us that apart from the gas power there was no real need to lay down the pipes, so we’re changing things up a bit. Hope you like what comes out of it!


Never have I been so happy to see a nuclear shell flying towards me.

If you would like to join our Closed Alpha (that it THIS CLOSE to becoming a Closed Beta) you should hang out with us on www.discord.gg/exorstudios. Being active in the server increases your chances of getting a key. You might also catch some awesome streamers live during some of the giveaway streams that take place more and more often. See you there!

Hello there!

After our little trip to the acid biome, it is time to go even further. Today we will take a look at one of the most dangerous places you can find on Galatea 37. ‘Why would we want to go to an even more dangerous place than the previous one?’ you may ask. Well, the answer is simple - some of the resources required to construct the rift portal back home are only available there. Pack up some fireproof protective clothes because today we’re going to the magma biome.



As luck would have it, rich deposits of Titanium are only available in the areas of intense volcanic activity on Galatea 37. This biome bears many scars from countless eruptions. Lava-filled craters of various shapes and sizes pose an interesting challenge for Ashley and Mr. Riggs - how are they supposed to build up an outpost with all its infrastructure in such a constrained building space? That alone will require a lot of creativity, and we haven’t even tackled the most obvious problem yet - the heat.



As you would expect, being in close proximity to an active volcano makes the ambient temperature significantly higher than normal. Even the robust and well-tested Riftbreaker technology starts breaking down over time due to the heat. In order to build any structures, you will have to find a way to bring the temperature down a notch. Oddly enough, nature has found a way to sustain life even here, so perhaps you should look for inspiration in your surroundings?



Nothing is ever easy on Galatea 37. Even in this hellish biome, there are lots of creatures that will see you as a threat to their existence. We have shown you some of them before - Morirots and Hedroners are right at home here. Either try not to get under their skin too much, or mod your guns to utilize their weaknesses, otherwise your magma biome adventure might get tough. Luckily, not all creatures are hostile - just look at these cuties!



There is one more thing to mention. Volcanic activity in this region is quite unpredictable. This results in frequent eruptions of ash, magma, and debris. In the best-case scenario, your outpost will be drowned in thick volcanic ash, severely limiting vision and solar power collection. If you’re a bit less lucky, large chunks of volcanic debris will bombard your base and there is plenty of evidence of their power in the surrounding area. It also seems that some rocks spewed out of the volcano get strange magnetic properties. We will have to investigate that.



When you finally overcome all the problems we just mentioned, you will be rewarded with access to amazing mineral deposits, boosting your economy by a lot! Best of all - power shouldn’t be a big issue for you here, as you can put magma to work in your brand new Magma Power Plants. We promise - it’s all worth it. That’s enough info for now - if you want to know more, join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios and visit our streams (www.twitch.tv/exorstudios). More exclusive materials and inside knowledge await!

Hello!

A couple of weeks ago we gave you a general overview of what the campaign mode in The Riftbreaker will look like. If you haven’t read that article, here’s a little summary. You begin your mission on Galatea 37 in the jungle biome. Over time, you will gain access to planetary missions taking place in different areas of the this brave new world There are significant differences between those areas. The fauna, flora, weather, and resources are unique for each biome. Exploration of those areas will grant you the resources necessary to advance your technology and come back home. It is high time we spoke a little bit more about the other biomes you will see in the game (which you might have already seen in our latest weapons trailer).



The acid biome looks like a barren wasteland at first, not capable of supporting any life and not worth exploring. In this case, the first impression is highly deceptive. Various species of animals, plants, and mushrooms have adapted very well to these conditions, but not in a way you would see elsewhere. Instead of regular trees, this area is going to greet you with menacing, 15-meters tall, leathery mushrooms swaying in the wind. You might see some regular grass or bushes, but it’s much more likely that you will encounter huge plots of small, red, bulbous mushrooms. There are also various species of cacti present, as there is very little water available.



In fact, you most likely won’t see any fresh water at all there. Most of the liquid pools you can find in the acid biome are filled with acidic sludge. We already know that you can turn it into usable resources, such as flammable gas or water by using proper facilities, so it is a good idea to have them researched before you establish an outpost in the acid biome. That will grant you the ability to use gas power, which you will definitely need to mine the rich palladium deposits, as both wind and solar energy work at reduced efficiency due to the thick, acidic atmosphere.



Naturally, establishing a new base here won’t be a simple task. First, you will need to scout the area to discover what kinds of threats and conditions you can expect here. The indigenous creatures, like Granans for example, won’t stay indifferent to your expansion on their territory and they will do whatever it takes to stop you. That, coupled with dangerous weather events, such as our beloved acid rain will guarantee that even a simple exploration mission is going to be exciting. We won’t share more for now, but there will be opportunities to see gameplay from the campaign mode, be on the lookout for that!



As you can see, biomes in The Riftbreaker are not just cosmetics. They fundamentally change the way the game is played. Some tactics that you employ in the jungle might translate well to the acid biome, while others will do you more harm than good. Learning the ropes will be a big part of the first campaign playthrough and we can’t wait to see your reactions to all the little surprises we left for you! If you want more inside info, join our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios and watch our streams. Both these channels allow you to ask us direct questions, plus being active there might get you an Alpha key!

EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

We have a lot of great news for you today. Let’s kick things off with the most important one: The Riftbreaker will be released in fall 2021. The game is very close to reaching the ‘feature complete’ status, which means that our internal development build is playable from start to finish with just a few functionalities left to be finished. We are currently focusing on filling the game with final content and balancing the final game mechanics for the campaign and the survival mode. You can see some of this new content in our latest trailer!


Ready for more news? Great! The Riftbreaker will be released simultaneously on PC, Xbox Series X|S consoles, and PlayStation 5. Our initial plan was to release console versions at a later date, after the PC release. Thankfully, the power of the next-gen consoles has changed our minds - they are able to handle The Riftbreaker with all its features with minimal changes and optimizations, reducing the required amount of work. In addition to that, we will be releasing physical, disc versions of the game for both Xbox and PlayStation thanks to our partnership with Maximum Games. Box copies of the game will be available globally on day 1.



Did you really think we’re done with the news? Not a chance! We are also releasing a huge content update for the closed Alpha build of The Riftbreaker. It’s one of our biggest updates yet, introducing the new research tree and a complete balance shakeup. You can read the complete changelog at the end of this article. As always, this is accompanied by a new wave of Alpha invitations. Check your Discord messages to see if you got one! The Prologue version of the game will receive its update at a later date. We will also have some extra opportunities for you to get Alpha keys, so if you haven’t joined www.discord.gg/exorstudios, you definitely should do so!

• Completely redesigned research tree with new inventions, new upgrades, and new weapons (over 250 research items instead of the previous 60). More info in the articles here and here.
  
• New creature species added to survival: Bomogan, Gnerot, Baxmoth, Kermon, and Krocoon. They are now included in survival attack waves and mix things up by a lot!
  
• New types of towers have been added to the game. You can now build and use rocket, plasma, laser and minigun towers. Oh, and there's also the heavy artillery - 2x2 size, shoots nuclear shells. You're welcome.
  
• Vegetation lifecycle has been introduced. The plants that get cut down will grow back over time. This makes plant biomass power plants more viable even without access to flora cultivators.
  
• The First version of mech upgrades added to the game. There are lots of modules you can now research and install in the Mecha-Suit. They grant various bonuses that are also randomized.
  
• Added a penalty for player dying. Upon death, the player now drops equipped items based on the difficulty level. The player can then pick their items back up from the ground.
  
• Higher levels of HQ added to game - 5, 6, 7. These are required for downloading and researching advanced technologies.
  
• Added steathComponent support. It allowed us to introduce invisible units and also give Mr. Riggs items that engage an invisibility cloak.
  
• New effects for the geo scanner - it can now also detect <drumroll> enemies hidden underground. It will flash red instead of blue and play a different sound if that happens.
  
• DamageSystem: add DamageEffect::REFLECTED. You can now install new armor modules in your Mecha-Suit that will deal a portion of the damage you take back to the attacker.
  
• Save system has been refactored. Saves take up less space, they are more robust and include a screenshot for easy navigation in the menu.
  
• Particle effects now scale with damage. More damage - more boom.
  
• Added support for damage resisted status. Creatures with elemental resistances will take a % amount less damage, according to the resistance value.
  
• Proper display of disabled grid based on building exclude terrain types. What this means is - if you can't build somewhere, you will immediately see why because of icons on the building grid.
  
• Bestiary screen added - more information in the article.
  
• Added new music - the adventure playlist.
  
• Added Ribbon System - it allows us to create more aesthetically pleasing energy trails (eg. like the one in the sword attack).
  
• New and better attachments with level numbers have been added to a lot of buildings.

• Reworked Survival mode difficulty
  
• Big weapon balance iteration
  
• Rebalanced resource drops from monsters and environmental objects
  
• Rebalanced crafting costs
  
• Crafting of consumables is now manual instead of automatic
  
• Handheld shield item and forcefield item category removed. Forcefield stat has been added to armor properties.
  
• Repair items now have a much longer cooldown. This nerf is offset by adding many items that have regenerative properties.
  
• Geothermal vents are now more visible on the minimap.
  
• Minigun - default piercing turned off
  
• All advanced, superior and extreme weapons rebalanced:
  burst rifle nerfed - piercing and projectiles per burst
  swarm missiles nerfed - splash radius, fire rate
  laser buffed - damage multiplier cooldown, piercing, damage
  railgun buffed - beam width, fire rate, damage
  rocket laucher buffed - splash radius, damage, fire rate
  shotgun buffed - range
  small machinegun buffed - damage
  grenade laucher buffed - damage
  
• The inventory screen has been changed visually - the mech now has an idle animation and some extra effects have been added. There are less colors in the item lists.
  
• The "run" sound is turned on only when the monsters move fast.
  
• Blood effect templates for all kinds of monsters - particles and decals.
  
• The Rift Portal now costs 25 carbonium.
  
• Splash damage changed to area damage in ResistanceComponent.
  
• Physical damage changed to area damage in the nuclear mine.
  
• Fixed uneven storage space for solid resources.
  
• Loot is now conditional - certain items will drop only after requirements are met.
  
• The Canoptrix Spawner has been significantly improved - the effects are better, the model changes as it receives damage, destructible parts have been added.
  
• CrashReporter: add content corruption warning. This lets us know if the game files were okay at the time of your crash.
  
• Water or supercoolant is now required by the nuclear powerplant.
  
• Radiation damage added to nuclear explosions.
  
• Animal biomass powerplant gives more energy.
  
• Changed the cluster projectiles spread angle defaults. You can now aim with the ricocheted projectiles.
  
• Rare resources are not needed for crafting - all items require only carbonium and ironium (this is temporary, rare resource costs are coming soon).
  
• High-level weapons are much more expensive.
  
• Special weapon and ammo stats can only be added by mods - lifesteal, cluster, auto-aim, homing, splash, time damage, stun.
  
• Tweaked mech ammo production time.
  
• Smaller mech ammo storage and ammo production
  
• Elemental mod effects added to muzzle, hit, and projectile effects for weapons with projectiles
  
• Announcement timeouts increased to avoid audio spam.
  
• liquid_pump new model (textures, meshes, material)
  
• Target effect added to the grenade launcher.
  
• Repair kits are now more expensive, but they do not require animal biomass for crafting.- Changed the HQ portal to an energetic version - it had a metal frame before.
  
• Building cap added to armory, comms hub, and laboratory. It can be increased by researching higher levels of these buildings.
  
• All prop file names and references to those files have been standardized and moved into their proper folders. This is a huge change that included over 40000 operations on files. Hopefully, the folder structure will be much clearer to you now. The caveat is that old mods will no longer cooperate with this new file structure.
  
• The prologue mission received its own version of the research tree. Try to break it. NOTE: we're still talking about the prologue mission in the Alpha 5 build, not the free prologue. We will update that version too at a later date.
  
• Removed HQ requirements from most buildings.
  
• New version of proximity mines. They require a couple of seconds to arm themselves after being placed down. They can be destroyed by creatures in that time. No more running into a pack of canoptrix and blowing them up at will!
  
• The emergency explosions skill can be researched and crafted in four rarity levels, each with different stats.
  
• water OR supercoolant is used by fusion and nuclear powerplants and magnetic stabilizers
  
• The creeper is now more intelligent, actively growing towards your base
  
• Building limits can be upgraded by completing research for the armory, research lab, and comms hub
  
• New crafting costs added to all skills, consumables, and upgrades
  
• Tweaked water filtering plant - resources input/output ratio is more reasonable now
  
• Longer cooldown for power jumps and special dash to prevent abuse
  
• More visible uranium damage effect
  
• No floors can be built under the creeper
  
• Bigger death effect for quelver
  
• Disconnect the save system from the AdaptiveMusicSystem - being stuck in a 'battle' playlist will no longer prevent the game from saving your progress outside of combat.
  
• INFINITE PARTICLE VERTEX BUFFER!!! Blow things up as much as you like (and as long as your pc can handle it).

• New models for each upgrade level of walls, gates, and towers.
  
• New icons for weapons, skills, and consumables.
  
• Building level numbers are now attached to buildings with level 2 or higher.
  
• Light with raytraced shadows added to the teleport exit effect.
  
• Tweaked the big atomic explosion - smaller, better shockwave.
  
• Refactored CameraShakeComponent - we have a greater deal of control over screen shakes now.

• New sounds for many creatures, both old and new.
  
• Changed instance limits on some announcements - if you research multiple items at the same time, you won't get attacked by the same sound multiplied.
  
• Ambient sounds added to magnetic rocks
  
• Mech footstep sounds change with the kind of surface you're walking on.

• Improved CPU and GPU performance optimization
  
• SettingsScreen: fixed crash on display modes detection failure
  
• Fixed basic tower not hitting air units
  
• D3D12: add support for stretched-scaling modes in GetSupportedVideoDisplayList
  
• HUD: fixed scale/size on ultra-wide displays (action menu, augments menu)
  
• fixed radius_name in pumps lvl 2 and 3 - higher level pumps can't be built next to each other anymore
  
• sniper rifle renamed to High Caliber Rifle
  
• Fixed a lot of bugs with the DX12 renderer, thanks to your help back in January.
  
• Stun time changed from 10s to 2s in all weapons to prevent the player from stunlocking bosses and other high-health enemies.
  
• Fixed uranium shards - damage has been turned off
  
• Menu: targeting 60FPS
  
• Fixed multiple CustomizeControlsMenuScreen crashes
  
• Added Exor::IsWindows10OrGreater implementation - We check this to see whether we can enable DirectX 12.
  
• Fixed fullscreen focus lost with always on top applications
  
• Better and much cheaper lava pool effect - this reduced the performance hit in lava regions.
  
• DisplayRadiusSystem: fix tower range on the minimap - The minimap used to show the range of towers twice as big as they really are.
  
• Fixed AMMO_COST mod stat - it now properly give you a chance to fire a bullet for free!
  
• Inputs: fixed input leaks from "Pause" to "Gameplay" state.
  
• Fixed artillery idle turret rotation. Artillery Towers in idle state aim upwards.
  
• fix load game after failed game - you can no longer get stuck in the load game screen after losing and trying to reload your last save.

Hello Riftbreakers!

Last week you had a sneak peek at one of the most disturbing inhabitants of Galatea 37 - the Phirian. Well, to be completely honest we showed it to you even earlier, back in September, as a little Easter egg in one of our other news pieces. To be fair it was well hidden - which is fitting. Phirians are not the most sociable creatures on the planet. Today let’s take a more detailed look at this mysterious creature and discover all the different ways they are going to try and ruin your day.


All Phirian variants with the mech for scale. The mech is 5 meters tall, by the way.

The Phirian is unlike anything we’ve seen before on Galatea 37. It is a weird amalgamation of a reptile and a humanoid. The creature uses its five muscular tails to push its tall, slender body along the ground, almost like a snake, but the similarities end there. Phirians keep an upright position, giving them a great overview of their immediate surroundings, which means that if you see one, it can most definitely see you as well. This will give you a chance to have a closer look at one of the Phirian’s most prominent features - its arms.


Phirians are actually pretty chill when you are not around...

While the left arm of this abomination would be enough to deter most people from ever wanting to deal with the Phirian, it is the right arm that takes the spotlight. Yes, that’s a sword. Yes, it’s bigger than your sword. No, running away will not help you. Despite being almost 10 meters tall, Phirian’s signature attack is a blisteringly quick dash towards the target, accompanied by a powerful thrust of the sword arm right through the victim. This is preceded by a short preparation period when the Phirian coils its body up in order to get the most strength out of its horrendously long and muscular body. If you can spot that, you can also avoid the strike.


...but if you are around they are going to slash you into pieces, also destroying everything along the way.

The entire upper body of the creature is covered with thick armor-like plates, meaning you will need to work really hard to punch through. Gather all the samples that you find and make sure to use the bioscanner to find the Phirians’ weaknesses. You will need every edge possible in order to combat these creatures. Luckily for you, it doesn’t seem like these creatures’ population is that big and it is highly unlikely you will meet them in larger groups. If that happens, do the reasonable thing - just teleport back to base, pack your bags and go home ASAP.



Just kidding. As long as you don’t allow yourself to get cornered, Mr. Riggs’ equipment and weapons will take down even the toughest creatures you could find on Galatea 37. They may be scary. They may be ugly. They may be gross. But they are no match for you. You are The Riftbreaker, the best of the best, and the entire world is counting on you. Do them proud.