Hello everyone,

Today we're soft-launching our Christmas Update on the experimental branch. The patch contains a couple of fixes for the issues you reported - thank you very much for that!

We have changed the method of downloading tools - they are now available through the Steam library, tools section. You will need to check a box in order to see them - see gif. The location after installation has not changed at all.

The patch also enables our redesigned, revamped and remastered Christmas seasonal event. It turns out that the tropical zone on Galatea 37 is not that tropical at all and it's been snowing a lot, which made Ashley feel the holiday spirit.

• The player now starts survival mode with full SMG ammunition 320/320 (courtesy of SenorRagequit)
  
• Added key 190 - "." - to use in the Customize Controls screen.
  
• DamageSystem: fixed a crash when health component was missing in shields
  
• Shield Generators should now work properly.
  
• Winter seasonal event activated. It incorporates: new basic floor tiles, new lamp models, landmine model changed to a box gift, sentinel tower changed to snowman, two new skins for Mr. Riggs, unlocked with codes: HOHOHO and MERRYCHRISTMAS. The event is entirely optional and you can opt out at any time through the settings menu.

If all goes well we will be launching the patch on the default branch before Christmas.

Have fun!
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers,

Thank you for all the bug reports regarding the last experimental update. We have managed to fix a lot of issues and add a little bit more polish to some elements of the game - the effects department in particular. We have also introduced some changes to the way ammunition is displayed in hope to make it a bit more transparent for you.

This patch also adds support for seasonal events. A couple of times a year, during various holiday seasons around the world we are going to give you the option to replace some of the original in-game models with holiday versions. This is purely cosmetic and optional - you can opt-in or out of these events at any time.

To join the experimental branch:

1. create a backup copy of your save folder (Documents/The Riftbreaker)
   
2. disable Steam Cloud save backup
   
3. go to your Steam Library
   
4. right-click on The Riftbreaker
   
5. select 'Properties,’ then 'Betas,’ and use the following password: IknowWhatImDoing

After that, you will be able to choose 'experimental' from the drop-down menu. Download the update, play the game and let us know if you encounter any issues. We also have a channel on our Discord: #rb-experimental-feedback - we highly encourage you to join in and share your feedback.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Saves that you create on the Experimental Branch WILL NOT be compatible with older versions of the game like the current, default branch of the game. They will be compatible with future versions of the game - save files only migrate forward. Please manually backup your save files if you plan on reverting to the default branch of the game.

The experimental branch might contain severe errors and bugs. If you are not sure if you want to accept that risk, we recommend waiting until the patch is confirmed to be stable and until it arrives on the main branch.

• Implemented seasonal events. During holiday seasons you will get the option to use modified models for some objects in the game. It is a purely cosmetic change. You will be asked whether you want to enable this setting the first time you launch the game during a holiday season. It can be changed any time in the options menu. We’d like to test this mechanism on the Experimental branch first, but the final content and the final date when this will be enabled is subject to change.
  
• All Headquarter building levels now have their own custom models. Level indicators removed from the Headquarters building.
  
• Mr. Riggs will no longer take damage during the sunburn event when the mech is hidden in shadows.
  
• Added 'Restore to Default' button to the Custom Difficulty settings screen.
  
• Added a new error message for the Xbox Save Game API - exceeding 16MB game save size limit. This will work until a proper solution is implemented ( we’re working on it, but it’s complicated and requires extreme amounts of testing to prevent save error problems ).
  
• [Modding] Added EnvironmentService:RemoveResistance( Exor::Entity id, Exor::String type, Exor::String name );

• Changed the cooldown effect on HUD from black to orange to make it more visible.
  
• Added upgrade popup to all HQ upgrade levels instead of only the first one.
  
• Disabled HQ upgrading using the upgrade tool to prevent upgrading it by mistake.
  
• Changed ammunition display - the game will now show you the number of shots left instead of ammo units. For example: if your weapon consumes 10 ammo per shot and your maximum capacity for that ammo is 100, the game will display 10/10 and go down by one after you shoot.
  
• Ammo display changed for continuous weapons (ex. the flamer) - the ammo display updates more frequently now.
  
• The 'sell outpost' popup will no longer incorrectly display information about AI cores to be transferred to the HQ.
  
• Mr. Riggs' model will no longer blink when it resists damage.
  
• Building Time Multiplier option in the Custom Difficulty menu does not affect the HQ building time.
  
• Changed the display of 'Attacks per wave multiplier', 'Prepare attack time multiplier', and 'Idle time multiplier' options from the Custom Difficulty menu from float to percentage.
  
• Improved custom campaign difficulty setting names. 'Prepare attack time multiplier' -> 'Time to prepare for an attack, 'Idle time multiplier' -> ‘Time between enemy attacks’.
  
• Changed the default autosave interval to 10 minutes from 5 minutes
  
• Added a new explosion effect for the Cryogenic Mine.
  
• Randomized loot removed from buildings - changed to an automatic system that drops 10% of the building's cost upon destruction.
  
• Range circle added to Short Range Radar ghost while building.
  
• Less expensive and less intrusive time damage effects on enemies.
  
• Smaller debris explosion force for magmoth - less clutter on screen.
  
• Fixed death_att orientation and position in all enemies.
  
• Fixed time damage effect scale in enemies - some are bigger, some are smaller.
  
• Effect inheritance added to phirian.
  
• Building time in floor increased to match the new building mechanic.
  
• Rotated the model and increased the polycount on arachnoid_boss_projectile.
  
• Added proper magmoth boss projectile textures.
  
• Updated magmoth projectile materials to use unique textures.
  
• Changed hedroner alpha projectile to fit the creature model.

• Fixed the 'sell outpost' popup background scaling.
  
• Fixed the Headquarters upgrade display error that caused the building limit to blink red while upgrading.
  
• Fixed a problem with the auto aim feature on the Floating Mines that caused the mines to spawn sideways.
  
• Fix categories sorting in the inventory screen - categories are always in the same order
  
• Additional fixes for problems that prevented users from activating the portal in the endgame sequence.
  
• Fixed a problem that prevented the Fusion Power Plant from producing plasma when the energy storage was full.
  
• Fixed incorrect radius display in Attack Drone Tower.
  
• Fixed range display in Cultivator and Collector (ghost level 2 and 3).
  
• Fixed bioscanner collision problems that sometimes prevented users from scanning objects.

Hello Riftbreakers!

Last week we released a massive update for the experimental branch introducing many fixes for the most prevalent issues. The update was also accompanied by the first public release of our modding tools suite for The Riftbreaker.

The editors that we gave you are the same ones that we used to create the entirety of the game’s content. With the help of these tools, you can make your own maps, missions, and even entire campaigns! They will also allow you to easily tweak all the in-game data - health and damage parameters, research speed, loot drops, and many more.

However, what is the most interesting is that the members of our community have been creating mods for the game long before the release - in the closed beta days - and haven’t stopped ever since. There are dozens of mods available for the game already on NexusMods. Today we would like to spotlight a few of the most exciting projects from the pioneers of The Riftbreaker modding scene.

First up, let’s take a look at the Extended Basic Defenses mod by MrSerji. https://www.nexusmods.com/theriftbreaker/mods/93?tab=description



This mod does exactly what it says on the tin - it adds another level of possible upgrades for the basic defensive structures, allowing you to bring your Walls, Gates, AI Hubs, and Sentinel Towers up to level four. What is interesting, though, is that it’s not a purely mechanical mod. MrSerji went deep enough into the game’s files to alter the textures for those structures, even changing the color of the AI Hub lights! If you ever feel that your walls and towers need that little extra oomph - this is the mod for you.

Next - Ambient Attacks mod by LikewiseHH, available here: https://www.nexusmods.com/theriftbreaker/mods/45?tab=description



Have you ever felt that Galatea 37 is too serene? That the attacks from the native creatures are too light and completely unthreatening? Would you like to demonstrate your superior strategic and combat skills to those puny aliens? Look no further. This mod adds randomized attack waves based on the difficulty level you chose to ensure that you have no free time on your hands. You will have to defend yourself from the very beginning of the game - and it only gets harder!

No such list would feel complete if we failed to mention the true grandfather of all Riftbreaker mods - frognik. The man, the myth, the legend. The only guy crazy enough to start making his own maps long before any kind of editor was available. You can find his mod collection right here: https://www.nexusmods.com/theriftbreaker/mods/35?tab=description



Frognik’s mods affect almost every aspect of The Riftbreaker and range from small tweaks, like increased pickup radius to entirely new game modes on custom maps. This is a collection of mods that will completely change the way you play the game - which is not surprising at all, given the fact that at this point, we’re convinced frognik knows the game better than we do. Just go get his mods!

We are very excited about all your creations so far. We highly encourage you to try your hand at creating your own mods - the tools are still a little rough around the edges, but you can always ask for help on our Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios. We will also release a tutorial video series on using the Level Editor that will show you the basics of creating new tiles for the game. We are also still evaluating all the options available to us for an in-game mod distribution system to make your experience easier. We will keep you updated on that front when we reach some conclusions. Stay tuned!

Thank you for your enthusiasm!
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

This week we are beginning open tests of one of the most extensive updates for The Riftbreaker to date. It is the Modding & Campaign Update that was detailed as the first of the major updates that we're working on post-release.

This major update introduces the much-requested Custom Campaign Difficulty Settings, extended modding support, modding tools and addresses some of the most prevalent bugs that have been impacting your experience playing The Riftbreaker. The patch also introduces some Quality of Life fixes, balancing changes, and improvements that have been suggested by you either here on Steam or on our Discord - www.discord.gg/exorstudios.

Due to the significant amount and severity of changes, this patch will first become available on the Steam experimental branch. Here are the instructions on how to access it:

To join the experimental branch:

1. create a backup copy of your save folder (Documents/The Riftbreaker)
   
2. disable Steam Cloud save backup
   
3. go to your Steam Library
   
4. right-click on The Riftbreaker
   
5. select 'Properties,’ then 'Betas,’ and use the following password: IknowWhatImDoing

After that, you will be able to choose 'experimental' from the drop-down menu. Download the update, play the game and let us know if you encounter any issues. We also have a channel on our Discord: #rb-experimental-feedback - we highly encourage you to join in and share your feedback.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Saves that you create on the Experimental Branch WILL NOT be compatible with older versions of the game like the current, default branch of the game. They will be compatible with future versions of the game - save files only migrate forward. Please manually backup your save files if you plan on reverting to the default branch of the game.

The experimental branch might contain severe errors and bugs. If you are not sure if you want to accept that risk, we recommend waiting until the patch is confirmed to be stable and until it arrives on the main branch.

• The Campaign mode can now be played using the Custom Difficulty setting. You can adjust the parameters of your Campaign, such as resource density, creature damage, and the size of waves, similar to what you could do previously in the Survival Mode. You can modify the following parameters:
  
  • Enemy damage factor - (from 1% to 500%) - Determines how much damage a creature deals in combat (both to buildings and Mr. Riggs). For example: if a creature deals 100 damage per attack, and the multiplier is set to 50%, it will deal 50 damage instead.
    
  • Resource volume factor - (from 1% to 500%) - Determines how much resources the game will distribute in the resource deposits scattered across the map. 100% is the default value. Everything below 100% will mean that you will get less resources on your map. Everything above 100% will increase the size of the available deposits.
    
  • Research cost - (from 1% to 500%) - Determines the time necessary to carry out research. Values below 100% decrease the time, above 500% on the other hand increase it.
    
  • Building cost - (from 1% to 500%) - Affects the cost of most buildings in the game. At 1% they are almost free, while at 500% you will have to save up for every solar panel. The exceptions are the Headquarters and Solid Material Storage - their costs always remain the same.
    
  • Building time multiplier - (from 1% to 500%) - Affects the length of the building process. Values below 100% make it quicker than usual, while above 100% - longer than usual.
    
  • Items dropped after death - (from 0 to 6) - Determines the maximum number of weapons Mr. Riggs can drop after being destroyed.
    
  • Attacks per wave multiplier - (from 1 to 5) - Determines how many attack waves will attack you. The default is 1. When set to 2 or higher, the number of attacks will get multiplied. Warning - high numbers of creatures come at a performance cost!
    
  • Gravity scale - (from 1% to 500%) - This option affects how gravity works on physical objects. When set to lower than 100% all objects will appear lighter and fall down to the ground more slowly. It might make collecting some loot more difficult. Values higher than 100% make everything appear heavier.
    
  • Prepare attack time multiplier - (from 0.5 to 5) - This option affects how much time you will get to prepare once you receive the warning about an incoming attack. At the default value - 1.0 - it will be 2 minutes.
    
  • Idle time multiplier - (from 0.5 to 3) - This affects the hidden timer that counts down between unscripted attacks on your base. The default is 1.0. If you wish to get attacked more often, select 0.5. If you want longer periods of peace and tranquility, increase the value.
    
  • Enable negative events - (on/off) - This option enables or disables the negative weather events, such as acid rain, tornado or hailstorms.
    
  • Time of day mode - (continuous/only day/only night) - Allows you to enable or disable the day and night system and lock the game to perpetual night or day.
    
  • Sandbox control panel - (on/off) - Enables or disables the hidden sandbox control panel that you can access by pressing the F11 key. It contains lots of debug options that you can experiment with.
    
  • Enemy wave strength - (easy/normal/hard/brutal) - determines the strength of enemy waves that will attack your base.
• All buildings now work while they are being upgraded. You're welcome.
  
• All keys are now rebindable in the Customize Controls menu screen. We added the following actions to the bindings list:
  
  • [gamepad] select building
    
  • [gamepad] build mode switch category
    
  • [gamepad] build mode select]
    
  • build standard floor
    
  • build extra stable floor
    
  • build acid-resistant floor
    
  • build max level
    
  • build basic lamp
    
  • quick save
    
  • quick load
    
  • journal
• Players can now repair walls using the click-and-drag building system when the wall is selected from the building menu. This allows you to quickly rebuild the wall pieces that have been lost while also repairing the remaining ones at the same time.
  
  
  
  
• Added an up/down gamepad D-pad shortcut for the Research Screen that allows you to move research items within the research queue.
  
• Ghost 2x2 buildings will now snap to the middle of the grid instead of the bottom left grid. This should improve your feel for their placement and make it less probable to misplace a building
  
• Added formatting for displaying values equal to or larger than one billion.
  
• Rare Element Mine now has different models for all building levels.
  
  
  
  
• A blinking 'Storage Full' icon appears in the top-right corner of the screen when you run out of storage capacity. The icon will blink only ten times and then disappear.
  
  
  
  
• Commands.lua: Added cheat_destroy_entities_by_type type, for dealing a lot of damage to entities
  
• The game will now show a consent popup if the Game Pass sign-in requires it. This will prevent users from seeing an error message saying they are trying to log into another user's account.

• Optimized resource consumption in powerplants by adding high priority to resource converters. - Power plants utilizing liquids will no longer turn off before power plants that burn off fuel such as carbonium, plant or animal biomass, or uranium.
  
• All Stregaros strains will now count towards the 'Find the unusual creature' objective.
  
• Reduced damage values for Spears of all quality levels - their damage output proved to be problematic in conjunction with high range and the slowing effect.
  
• Resource-depleted announcements will be less frequent now.
  
• Save file opening method has been changed to a more stubborn one - the game will now try to open a file several times before declaring surrender.
  
• Resource display on HUD is smoother now. We refresh the display every second but gather values over 5 seconds to take an average. This will prevent your balance display from blinking between positive and negative values.
  
• Information about saving the game is now displayed 3 seconds ahead of time to prepare the player for it.
  
• Enabled the carnicynth species in the discoverable system to prevent warning messages when playing with cheat_full_bestiary enabled.
  
• Added a small delay for 'working' state effects in power plants. This allows us to prevent the annoying 'blinking' effect when your power capacity is near maximum or if the plant has insufficient fuel.
  
• The 'Send Feedback' option in the menu now has a bigger text box, supporting longer messages. Please keep that feedback coming - we really do read all your comments!
  
• 'Storage Full' icon was replaced with the 'Research' icon on the Alien Research Laboratory building. The icon appears when the Laboratory is idle.
  
• Correct number of building cube effects will now spawn when building long walls to improve performance.

• Fixed game flow being stuck in the desert_scout mission if the base Stregaros species would not spawn and only alpha or ultra variants were present.
  
• Fixed Tower Ammo Factories turning on after the player uses a consumable. This bug could potentially result in huge resource drainage if the player had plenty of Tower Ammo Factories built.
  
• Upgrading the Headquarters no longer blocks you from building other structures.
  
• Fixed an error that prevented some players from activating the Rift Station in the final sequence. The game logic doesn't check the timer now, but the variable, making the flow more robust.
  
• Building limit for Headquarters is now separate from Outposts. This fixes the issue where a player could not rebuild their Headquarters if they already had 7 Outposts built elsewhere.
  
• Fixed an error that prevented players from respawning on a side mission after their outpost got destroyed, potentially blocking progress.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused players to get stuck in permanent invisibility while using Alien Camouflage and building shortcuts.
  
• The Maintenance Tools upgrade will no longer decrease AI core resource requirements for AI-powered buildings.
  
• Fixed an error that prevented users from building the maximum level building due to running against the building cap.
  
• Fixed a crash that happened when a building was trying to display a missing icon.
  
• Fixed the Arachnoid Boss ranged attack. Visually, it looked as if the creature shot five projectiles, but in reality, it was twice as many. Now, there are five physical projectiles.
  
• Fixed muzzle attachment position in Laser.
  
• Slightly reduced the effectiveness of Reflective Armor.
  
• Fixed textures for one of the tree types that prevented them from swaying in the wind.
  
• All ground types that deal damage to the player should now do so correctly.
  
• Fixed an error that caused the timer to display an incorrect value while harvesting the Bioanomalies.
  
• 'Not enough ammunition for defensive towers' announcement will no longer play when buildings are missing energy or AI cores.
  
• Fixes for inaccurate hitboxes on the Customize Controls menu screen.
  
• Changed the dissolve pattern on floors while selling them.
  
• Fixed constructor in logic_set_global_variable.lua to prevent memory corruption issues.
  
• Fixed errors in journal paging with filters enabled. Previously it was possible to skip some entries while changing the page due to an error. All information will be displayed correctly now.
  
• Moved graphics synchronize update after end frame sync point in GameplayExecutor to avoid memory corruption issues.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented dialogues related to underground mushrooms from triggering.
  
• Fixed the disassembly popup when selling buildings from an outpost - it will now correctly stretch according to the number of buildings being sold.
  
• Fixed elemental dash effects blocking damage from other sources.
  
• Fixed research information disappearing while upgrading your Communications Hub.
  
• 'No research selected' announcement will no longer play immediately after completing the construction of the Communications Hub.

• Added a special shader for animated quicksand, as well as liquid resources - mud, water, and sludge.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Added new models for projectiles shot by Hedroner, Arachnoid Boss, Magmoth, and Corrosive Gun. New particle effects have been added to their attacks to properly align with physical projectiles.
  
• The dash attack effects for Phirian have been improved.
  
• Improved weather effects for the Super Moon event. The lights, fog, and particles should be more visible now.
  
• Gravity Grenade icon updated to resemble the in-game model.
  
• Proximity Mine icon simplified.
  
• Desert levels loading screens have been altered - the crystals on the artwork now match the color of the crystals found in-game.
  
• Added a highlight for the crafting button when selected.

We aim to release the patch to the public branch before the Holiday season begins. Please let us know about any issues and bugs you come across.


This is the first public release of our internal game editing tools. We have used these tools to create The Riftbreaker and have been using them on a daily basis. As we've grown used to them and some of their shortcomings, we are aware that we may no longer see some of the issues that reside within, or we have learned to work around them without having to spend any time to fix them. Our initial goal was to put them into your hands as soon as possible, to start an open discussion about what works and what doesn't, and what the areas that you would like to see improved the most are.

Please be aware that these tools are not very user-friendly and are very rough around the edges. We didn't have enough time to create any in-depth instructions for this experimental release, but we're already working on tutorial videos that will walk you through the basic concepts of using them.

All of the modding tools are currently distributed inside the game's main folder structure under Steam and don't have a dedicated launcher. We are thinking about the optimal way of hooking them into the game's easily accessible launch options. The end goal for the default branch release is to have them available as a free DLC so that they don't bloat the game's package size for the users that are not interested in them. We will also be distributing these tools on GitHub - you can already find them here.

Ok, enough of the rambling. Here are some basic instructions on how to find the tools and how to launch them.

The modding tools are located under Steam in this folder:

WorkSpace Editor - This is a new tool that we've created specifically for modding. We recommend that you launch it first. It will allow you to create a new workspace for your Mod. All of the other tools will use this workspace and save all of the files that you create within that directory tree. This will additionally allow you to simply zip that single folder and distribute the zip as your mod.



Level Editor - This tool is used to create new entirely custom maps as well as tiles and prefabs for randomly generated levels.



Mission Editor - This tool is used to create and edit custom mission logic. It's a bit complicated, so until we create some instructions, we encourage you to first browse the .logic files that already govern the game.



Riftbreaker Data Editor - This is our swiss army knife for editing various game data - Weapons, Mods, Loot, Crafting, and Research.



There aren't any instructions available for these tools yet, but we are already working on a set of videos that will introduce the basic concepts of editing the game. You will probably soon be asking - when is Steam Workshop coming? - we are already evaluating the best way to distribute mods and we'll let you know as soon as we have some details to share.

Thank you,
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

It's this time of the year again - the annual Steam Awards are live!

We are extremely grateful for your support during 2021 and the entire development cycle of The Riftbreaker. Your positive reception of the game has exceeded all our expectations and will keep us motivated to deliver content updates, game expansions, and quality of life improvements for years to come. Thank you for that.

The Riftbreaker has been an ambitious project since the very beginning. We wanted to blend a lot of elements from our favorite games and at the same time to give our game a unique, distinct gameplay feel. If you think that we've succeeded at that goal then we would be humbled if you could vote for The Riftbreaker in the 'Most Innovative Gameplay' award in this year's contest.

If you think another category suits The Riftbreaker better, feel free to choose a different one, but please remember that you can nominate a game for a single category only.

There have been a ton of amazing games released in 2021 and we can't wait to place our votes as well. We know the competition is going to be tough. However, you showed us that everything is possible, so let's try to get this one together!

Thank You,
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers,

We have just published a hotfix for an error in Lua that affected many users after the latest patch. If you have encountered an error that mentioned Lua, please make sure to restart your Steam client and download the latest update. It's a small one - about 25 megabytes, as it's the game .exe files only.

There are no other changes in this patch.

Please accept our apologies for causing this issue in the first place.

EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers,

We’ve got some great news to share with you today - we have created a roadmap of our plans moving forward AND there is a new update for The Riftbreaker live now!

Let’s start by talking about the roadmap. It is an outline of our plans for the post-launch support of the game - something that a lot of you have been asking us about. We designed our roadmap to inform you about both our short and long-term goals. It is not set in stone - we try to be flexible in our approach to development. As a result, things will probably move around quite a bit. That being said, we will do our best to keep this roadmap up to date. We will also keep posting news and sneak peeks of new features, just like we did before the release.

Enough talking, let’s take a look at the roadmap itself:



MODDING AND CAMPAIGN UPDATE:

By the end of this year, we plan to hand you the keys to creating your own Riftbreaker maps (tiles to be exact), missions and much more! The full suite of game editing tools that we used to create the entirety of content for The Riftbreaker. This comes in pair with a new Mod folder which will help with organizing multiple mods at once and will make creating and packaging your own content much easier. The Riftbreaker will allow you to make next-level mods, tweak all the parameters and discover what makes the game tick. Apart from that, we are going to introduce further changes to difficulty balance in the Campaign Mode, as well as give you the option to customize the difficulty settings. That will be accompanied by smaller bug fixes, tweaks, smaller feature additions and quality of life changes suggested by you!

WORLD EXPANSION I:

In the first half of 2022 we will focus on delivering a new biome with all the things you would expect from it: unique wildlife, special weather events, more types of collectibles, weapons, skills and upgrades. Ashely and Mr. Riggs will get to explore an entirely new area of the planet, discovering new secrets and learning how to survive in its conditions.


[REDACTED]

The new biome and all of its content will be available for free, to play in Survival mode and to be used in any mods. The story-driven Campaign Mode expansion will be a paid DLC. This update will obviously take some time to develop and we will be releasing smaller patches before the DLC hits the shelves. The tentative date for this is March/April.

ONLINE MULTIPLAYER:

The development of the online mode for The Riftbreaker is running at the same time as everything we mentioned before. Introducing online play to the game will require us to refactor a large part of the engine, but it’s the #1 requested feature, and we’re already working on it. We are hoping to have the update ready by the end of 2022. Our top priority and the ‘minimum’ plan is online co-op. However, if things go well and we have sufficient time it’s not out of the question that we are going to include some other game modes as well. This will come to all owners of The Riftbreaker as a free update. We will for sure need some help testing the online mode before it is ready and we will come to you for assistance. Our Discord community Riftbreaker Veterans are sure to receive front row seats ;)

FEATURES IN CONCEPT:

This is a long list of things that would be nice to have in the game. Those ideas came either from you or have been brewing inside our heads for some time now. We will be picking and choosing which feature to work on next based on your suggestions, so keep them coming! We plan to release more than just one World Expansion in 2022, so the list is going to change dynamically. We will keep you posted - both here and on the Discord.

The roadmap will always be available on our Steam Store Page and the EXOR Studios Discord: www.discord.gg/exorstudios.

The other piece of news for today is the balancing and quality of life update, previously available on the experimental branch. The changes from this patch affect mostly the Campaign Mode, altering the difficulty levels more towards what you would expect. These changes do not require you to restart your campaign - once the patch is applied, all events in your game moving forward will use the updated values. As always, we also included some small quality of life improvements and bug fixes. The full changelog is available below.

We are not slowing down - the fun part has just begun! We’re already working on a new update to go into testing on the experimental branch within a few days.


Campaign Mode Balancing:

• Changes have been introduced to the gameplay difficulty on Easy, Hard, and Brutal on all Mining Outpost Missions. Easy is easier, Hard is harder and Brutal is brutal. Difficulty balancing changes are multilayered; on the higher difficulty settings enemy attacks arrive slightly more often, attack wave difficulty increases slightly faster and attack wave composition includes more varied units as well as Alpha and Ultra strains. All difficulty balancing changes take effect immediately after loading the game - the next attack wave that you encounter is going to be already stronger.
  
• Introduced new attack wave composition on the Headquarters map and the Cobalt Mining Outpost.
  
• Slightly decreased attack strength on Easy and Normal on the Headquarters map.
  
• The icons in the Research Screen have been updated to improve readability. Here’s what they look like now:

BASE AND BUILDINGS:



WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT:



ALIEN RESEARCH:

• Added Hedroner spawns on sludge pools in all campaign mode Acidic Plains missions.
  
• Updated Tanzanite Concentration map generation settings (more mushrooms!).
  
• Updated Rhodonite Concentration map generation settings (more crystals!).
  
• Tanzanite Concentration mission includes much more Bulbus Pirum Purpura.
  
• Ferdonite Concentration mission includes much more Vitreus Implexus Corulus.
  
• Improved radar range display on the minimap - the area of effect of multiple radars merges together to improve the clarity of the minimap.
  
• Fixed multiple crash bugs.

As always, we are waiting for your feedback on our official Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios.

EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers,

After a long period of testing and bugfixing we managed to push out a substantial stability patch for the game last week. Now it is time for another experimental update, focusing on gameplay changes and balancing improvements.

Thanks to your feedback regarding the difficulty of the Campaign Mode we have made a number of changes meant to diversify the available difficulty levels a bit further than they are right now. We have changed the composition of attack waves, their intensity, as well as the difficulty scaling parameters. The Easy mode should be easier, while the Hard and Brutal modes become more challenging.

Additionally, this patch includes a number of improvements regarding the Tanzanite and Ferdonite cultivation missions. Searching for specimens of the required species should be a lot easier now.

Due to the significant amount and severity of changes, this patch will first become available on the Steam experimental branch. Here are the instructions on how to access it:

To join the experimental branch:

1. create a backup copy of your save folder (Documents/The Riftbreaker)
   
2. disable Steam Cloud save backup
   
3. go to your Steam Library
   
4. right-click on The Riftbreaker
   
5. select 'Properties,’ then 'Betas,’ and use the following password: IknowWhatImDoing

After that, you will be able to choose 'experimental' from the drop-down menu. Download the update, play the game and let us know if you encounter any issues. We also have a channel on our Discord: #rb-experimental-feedback - we highly encourage you to join in and share your feedback.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Saves that you create on the Experimental Branch WILL NOT be compatible with older versions of the game like the current, default branch of the game. They will be compatible with future versions of the game. Please manually backup your save files if you plan on reverting to the default branch of the game.

The experimental branch might contain severe errors and bugs. If you are not sure if you want to accept that risk, we recommend waiting until the patch is confirmed to be stable and until it arrives on the main branch.

• Campaign Mode Balancing:
  - Changes have been introduced to the gameplay difficulty on Easy, Hard, and Brutal on all Mining Outpost Missions. Easy is easier, Hard is harder and Brutal is brutal. Difficulty balancing changes are multilayered; on the higher difficulty settings enemy attacks arrive slightly more often, attack wave difficulty increases slightly faster and attack wave composition includes more varied units as well as Alpha and Ultra strains. All difficulty balancing changes take effect immediately after loading the game - the next attack wave that you encounter is going to be already stronger.
  - Introduced new attack wave composition on the Headquarters map and the Cobalt Mining Outpost.
  - Slightly decreased attack strength on Easy and Normal on the Headquarters map.
  
• Added Hedroner spawns on sludge pools in all campaign mode Acidic Plains missions.
  
• Updated Tanzanite Concentration map generation settings (more mushrooms!).
  
• Updated Rhodonite Concentration map generation settings (more crystals!).
  
• Tanzanite Concentration mission includes much more Bulbus Pirum Purpura.
  
• Ferdonite Concentration mission includes much more Vitreus Implexus Corulus.
  
• Improved radar range display on the minimap - the area of effect of multiple radars merges together to improve the clarity of the minimap.
  
• Fixed multiple crash bugs.

As always, we are waiting for your feedback on our official Discord at www.discord.gg/exorstudios.

EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers,

We have just published a hotfix for the issue that prevented some users from launching the game. If you have encountered this issue, please restart your Steam client and update the game.

It also fixes a potential crash while loading an old save state.

There are no other changes in this patch.

Sorry for the trouble.
EXOR Studios

Hello Riftbreakers!

After a week of thorough testing on the experimental branch, our latest update for The Riftbreaker is now ready to ship. We managed to prevent a whole lot of common crashes, as well as addressed issues with expansive power grids that caused some players to lose power in their entire base. On top of that, we have also adjusted the strength, area of effect, and frequency of negative weather events.

You should also see big improvements when it comes to performance, especially on large maps with a lot of buildings or any other entities.

We are already working on the next update, featuring even more bugfixes and other updates. If everything goes our way, we should be able to put it up on the experimental branch later today or tomorrow.

• Added new environment tiles to the Radioactive Desert and Acidic Plains biomes improving the richness and variety of these environments.
  
• Lots of fixes and optimizations for the ResourceSystem. They can reduce CPU performance costs associated with calculating energy grids and other resources, especially in large bases, by up to 15x.
  
• Several optimizations for Acidic Yeast. It should have less of a performance impact now and take up less space in saved game states.
  
• Improved component packing and unpacking speed (improved CPU performance).
  
• The process of creating labels and bars now uses CommandBuffer to increase CPU performance.
  
• Fixed how the "Walk in the park" is triggered.
  
• Acidic Yeast and its parts got a texture upgrade.
  
• Added support for removing and recreating LuaComponent to make save files smaller.
  
• Added debug_recreate_buildings command. Use it if you encountered a bug that disconnected all your buildings from the energy grid. This command will remove and recreate all buildings and connections in your base.
  
• The game will wait for the user profile to finish saving before exiting to the desktop to prevent data loss.
  
• Added more constraints to ResourceVolumeRenderable to prevent resources from spawning in wrong spots.
  
• Initialize uninitialized member variables to prevent some issues with loading the game.
  
• Fixed camera_enable_zoom crashes with raytracing enabled.
  
• Added debug output for render window creation to give us more information in case something goes wrong.
  
• Weather events such as acid rain and hail storm are now more localized and no longer deal damage to all structures. Their time has also been reduced.
  
• Added more neutral weather events to the event pool to reduce the chance of a negative event taking place.
  
• Streaming options have been enabled for the Campaign Mode.
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred while changing items in equipment slots.
  
• Fixed a crash in the SetCurrentTarget method that occurred if the targeted entity was destroyed during aiming.
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred when 'cheat_set_player_health' and 'cheat_add_resource' commands were used with invalid arguments.
  
• Fixed a crash in WeaponSystem that occurred when the owner died in the same frame as the weapon dropped.
  
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the player used interactive streaming options while on a different campaign mode map than the HQ.
  
• Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when a Necrodon was trying to revive a unit.
  
• Fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when entering text in a Text Box.
  
• Fixed text boxes cutting off the initial characters of all entered strings.
  
• Fixed invalid memory access on the Planetary Scanner screen which could have led to memory corruption and crashes.
  
• Fixed display problems with AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution while running the game in borderless window mode.
  
• Fixed Energy Connectors refusing to connect buildings to the energy grid.
  
• Fixed inventory corruption and mods disappearing when disassembling weapons with mods attached.
  
• Added support for parts and decals sinking and dissolving on quicksand.
  
• Attack Drone Towers have been tweaked to be more useful and effective.
  
• Improved collisions for many destructible props - a lot fewer props now block player movement and projectiles.
  
• Fixed destruction levels for Attack Drone Towers, Heavy Artillery, and Magnetic Stabilizers.
  
• Tweaked Corrosive Gun projectile lights to be smaller and less performance-hungry.
  
• Added auto-fire to Grenade Launcher and Floating Mines.
  
• Fixed some errors in Korean and Japanese localizations.
  
• 'Steel' will no longer appear in announcement voice lines.
  
• Added 'debug_player_inventory command to debug inventory problems in real-time.
  
• Inputs in the Inventory screen will no longer be blocked when the player has the map open and the 'cheat_minimap_teleport_on_click' command is enabled.
  
• 'cheat_minimap_teleport_on_click' now works with the minimap, too.
  
• The building destruction system has been moved from Lua script to C++.
  
• Additional developer logs have been added to state transitions requested by ControllerState to track and find the Exor::[World]::FindSystem crash.
  
• Energy lines will now connect to buildings even if they are built in an invalid spot (edge case)
  
• Fixed a very convoluted bug that caused players to launch into campaigns of wrong difficulty levels.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused all resource nodes to decrease to microscopic sizes after loading a saved game from a previous version.
  
• Fixed a crash in Lua that happened after loading a save file from a previous version.
  
• Fixed GetAngleBetween and GetAngleTo services to properly use the Y axis as up.

Thank you for your support,
EXOR Studios