• Added 27 new upgrades.
  
• UI was reworked.

• Added 10 new classes.
  
• Old classes reworked.
  
• Classes now have "Class Effects" which affect all companions and the main char. Class Effects can be unlocked by successfully finishing the last world. The effect increases depending on how many times the last world was successfully finished in a row, up to 4 times.
  
• Finishing the last world now automatically resets the progress of all worlds and increases the difficulty. Meaning the player starts with world 1 and unlocked class effects.
  
• Amount of worlds were reduced to 20 for a slighty faster progress.
  
• Amount of different drops in each world were increased from 7 to 9.
  
• Added a score system for each class which shows the classes highest progress.

• Added an EXP bar for companions and weapons.
  
• Added new mods for armor, weapons and companions.

• Fixed bugs which caused the game to crash and others.
  
• UI has been improved, game should work smoother now.
  
• Added more UI for explanation.

- Renamed "Raw Steering" to "Disable Velocity-Based Steering-Limiter (Not Recommended, For Steering Wheel Players Only)" because people kept accidentally turning it on and ruining their Zeepkist experience because they misunderstood what the setting does.

- Added Super League winner

- Input Visualizer default setting is now on

Hi! First of all, Shardpunk has nearly reached 400 reviews on Steam, and with very high positive rating! Thank you, everyone!




Now, let's talk about expanding the stress mechanism.

Note: the below changes were (well, they still are) available on a beta branch, and I managed to get some nice feedback about them (and fix a few interesting bugs). They will be added to the main game in the upcoming update, which will probably land on Thursday.

Until now, stress was a stat that - if not reduced - could make the player's life difficult. If character's stress meter was too high, the character would panic (meaning that the player would lose control over them), or gain a negative quirk.





Characters gained stress in different situations, the most common ones being getting hit, healing with stimpaks and uncovering new foes. Stress could be reduced by killing enemies or using certain combat/shelter actions. Also, there is one combat tactic that reduces stress.

All in all, more experienced players were able to easily manage stress levels during combat with clever usage of skills and combat tactics, which greatly reduced the impact I would like it to have on the game. Characters were not receiving that many stress-related quirks (if any; I was able to finish a run on Hard with no quirks) because of that.

What is more, players fairly noticed that receiving stress for simply spotting new enemies might be a little too exaggerated. In some cases, characters would receive stress for a single uncovered enemy, in others - the same amount of stress for a pack of rats.



After one of the players suggested that stress could behave similar to hit points (hit points in Shardpunk only get temporarily healed during combat - you then have to "really" heal them in shelter), I've decided to explore this design more - and that's how the dread system was born.

How the dread system works:

1) Every character has a dread bar next to the stress bar. Dread can have a max of 6 points.



2) EVERY stress point that the character gains during combat is remembered, and then is counted after a mission ends. If a character healed some stress during combat, it does NOT reduce the number of remembered gained stress.
Example: if a character gains 10 stress and heals 5 stress during combat, they end up with 5 stress points. Still, at the end of combat, the total number of cumulated stress by a character will be 10.

3) Stress still needs to be managed during combat. If a character gets to max stress, they will panic/go berserk. That being said, a character can no longer gain a quirk due to maxed stress level. Also, characters do not longer gain stress by spotting enemies.

4) At the end of combat, cumulated stress for every character is counted, and for every 5 cumulated stress, the character gains 1 dread point. All stress points are zeroed after combat.

5) Before progressing to the shelter phase, the player needs to perform a quirk roll. The % of receiving a quirk depends on the number of Dread points.



6) Dread can only be taken care of during shelters. All shelter skills have been altered so that they deal with dread, and not with stress (which is always zero during shelter phases and does not really matter there).

7) Quirks that characters receive during combat are now treatable. The "Rest" shelter action allows the player to partially treat a random quirk. After a quirk is treated 3 times, it disappears.



So there you have it! I believe that this new approach makes the stress-related stuff more fun and will make stress-reducing (well, it's dread-reducing now!) shelter skills more useful.

Introduction of dread mechanics will not affect existing saves, so if you want to try them out, start a new run.

As always, do leave me as much feedback as possible! I'd like to know whether you enjoy the new stuff. Take care!

Changes

• Increased the amount of time Orbs and Mists stay active
  
• Increased Radiation Zones size
  
• Added physics collision sounds for non-host clients
  
• Adjusted doors audio
  
• Added information in Tutorial
  
• Increase waiting time before Minions can spawn

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where 2 Faith Statues could spawn in the same spot
  
• Fixed issue where trying to leave the game would not work with a dead player on the map
  
• Fixed issue where selected server region would not be saved
  
• Fixed missing Camera occlusion data causing unwanted occluding
  
• Fixed missing LODs on windows, causing z-fighting
  
• Fixed an issue where leaving a game and trying to rejoin would fail
  
• Fixed Video Camera and Photo Camera seeing through walls and rendering Player's model
  
• Fixed dead tree model collision box

We have pushed an updated build of Entropy : Zero 2 to a new release branch for testing. (Release-1.6)


Changes

• Updated HEV zombie models ( https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2994012565 )
  
• Metrocops in Chapter Zero can now switch weapons to stunsticks if their target gets too close
  
• Fix Combine soldiers not attacking zombies up close

Unused Content

• Combine Assassin ( https://github.com/entropy-zero/source-sdk-2013/pull/207 )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKf37rZ7e1Q

Changes

• Fix antlion guard dynamic prop shoving/punting from stock HL2 ( https://github.com/entropy-zero/source-sdk-2013/pull/209 )
  
• Fix for squad members not following orders when there are more than 4 squadmates ( https://github.com/entropy-zero/source-sdk-2013/pull/211 )
  
• Hunters can be pet ( https://github.com/entropy-zero/source-sdk-2013/pull/216 )

Unused Content

• Combine Husks ( https://github.com/entropy-zero/source-sdk-2013/pull/217 )
  
• Lowered pulse pistol NPC damage from 12 to 6

The Combine Assassins and the Combine Husks do not appear in the main campaign, but they are available for use and experimentation by modders. They stem from experiments for where we plan on taking the E:Z series going forward. However, for simplicity's sake, we've decided to release them publicly with the game so that the community can use them without relying on future installments that may or may not happen (or may not even use the default variation of either NPC).

If you're curious to see what they look like, you can find a new "Combine Assassin Demo" map in the Bonus Maps menu demonstrating the new assassins. The husks don't currently have their own demo map, so for now, you must create them via the "npc_create npc_husk_soldier" and "npc_create npc_husk_police" commands in the developer console.


If you would like to test out this new update, please set your Entropy : Zero 2 beta branch to "upcoming". For more information about beta branches, please check out our Entropy : Zero 2 version guide.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2861987007

In this update we added achievements, steam cloud support, UX/UI overhaul, bugfixes and... new dungeons!
Have fun in Infestation and Infernia - happy dying!

Bestiary-related achievements are temporarily disabled and un-achievable, but this will be fixed next week!

• Added unit effect icons.
  
• Added keywords explanation for cards “details”.
  
• Added quality-based item frames.
  
• Added type-based frames to monsters.
  
• Added dungeon goal display.
  
• No “floating” zoom now - it follows mouse scroll instantly now.
  
• All tooltips have limited width and are multiline now.
  
• Unit details appear on hover (right click works too).
  
• Armor degen no longer shows if enemy has no armor.
  
• Perks now show the related card on hover.
  
• Now you can always see how many races/classes are in the game.
  
• Now you can see which cards you gained/lost/blessed during events.
  
• New unit details window.
  
• New unlock popup.
  
• New campfire & altar of sacrifice UI.
  
• New summary.
  
• New game log.
  
• New deck/discard view.
  
• New dungeon view.
  
• New damage icon.
  
• New sealed handslot sprite.
  
• New edge scrolling (can be disabled in options).
  
• Tutorial improvements.
  
• Few descriptions/tooltips improvements.
  
• Shop improvements.
  
• Bestiary improvements.
  
• Loading animation in-between scenes should be smoother now.

• Added “first win bonus” for each dungeon - gain 10x normal karma reward for completing the dungeon for the first time.
  
• Hold down ALT/middle mouse button or use the button on the UI, to see what is under monsters.

• Added achievements.
  
• Added cloud save support.

• Added “Infestation” dungeon.
  
• Added “Infernia” dungeon.

• Karma shop rebalanced, now all upgrades have their respective max level.
  
  Buffs:
  
• Touch of Midas:
  - Gain 10 gold -> Gain 79 gold (atomic number of gold!).
  
  
• Masterful Attack:
  - Stamina cost 7->4.
  
  
• Masterful Spell:
  - Mana cost 7->4.
  
  Nerfs:
  
• Paladin’s “Wrath of the Heavens” perk:
  - Adds 2 radius to Holy Smite instead of infinity.

• Fixed random card destroy RNG (now it is true random).
  
• Fixed blurry texts.
  
• Fixed card hover shader - it is no longer too bright.
  
• Fixed buttons highlighting.
  
• Fixed Time Lab summary text.
  
• Fixed Fire Imp ability.
  
• Fixed few minor tutorial bugs.
  
• Fixed Grimoire crashes.
  
• Fixed Golden Lands effect.
  
• Fixed Guard unit ability.
  
• Fixed Moonwalker unlock.
  
• Cards burn animation length is constant now.
  
• Added missing translations.
  
• Original boss tile no longer reveals surroundings if boss isn’t there.
  
• Mouse hover no longer goes through interface.
  
• Same unlock does not display more than one time now.
  
• Master volume no longer overrides Music with “streaming mode” enabled.
  
• Wisdom points are now properly updated.
  
• AoE debuff against Slimes no longer counts as one attack towards unlocks such as Sculptor.
  
• Cards now properly calculate damage when buffed.
  
• Loading an empty save no longer causes a crash.
  
• Killing an elite during a tutorial no longer causes the game to go into frozen state.
  
• Resetting a tutorial and then continuing the game no longer causes the tutorial to be unfinishable.
  
• You can no longer use campfire after death.
  
• Card rarity popup is now closer to the origin.
  
• Card in discard destroy animation no longer appears on deck instead of discard.
  
• Not pushing an enemy no longer causes a popup to display.
  
• Using “weapon blessing” with stamina card no longer can trigger mage unlock.
  
• Silence now properly stops passive immunities (e.g: Rocky).
  
• Unlocking something while in store no longer causes a visual bug.
  
• Sell tag in shop no longer gets red color.
  
• Only existing “fire” cards counts towards Volcano unlock.
  
• Transparent objects on the interface no longer can block clicking a tile.
  
• Blessed card can no longer be removed during blessing.
  
• Echoing Strike can no longer unlock Assassin.
  
• Monsters abilities no longer duplicate (e.g: Volcano, 2x fire immunity).
  
• Continuing in Plaguegeon no longer zeroes player’s resources.
  
• Continuing a game no longer can change “next unlocks” display.
  
• Continuing in Caverns no longer causes an additional stairs to appear.

Bad Dreams is the fruit of the hard work of our team, CREATIVE VR 3D, a small French studio made up of 3 passionate members. We've devoted our energy and creativity to bringing you a virtual reality experience that lets you experience real horror, that tests your courage and resilience. Every element of the game has been meticulously designed to immerse you completely in this nightmarish world.



With sincere gratitude, we'd like to thank every player who has helped improve the game throughout its development. Your feedback, comments and support are invaluable and have enabled us to refine Bad Dreams and make it so terrifying and unique. Without you, Bad Dreams would never have been what it is today, and we sincerely hope we've exceeded your expectations. Your support and passion are what drive us to create unique and memorable gaming experiences.

We're delighted to announce that Bad Dreams will be coming out of early access on July 25, offering an even more complete gaming experience. What's more, for those reluctant to dive into horror, we're planning to release a free demo on August 4. At Creative VR 3D, we understand that facing your fears remains a difficult choice, which is why we want to offer you the opportunity to discover part of the experience before committing yourself fully.



You wake up with a start, your heart pounding, your breath ragged, and realize you're trapped in a nightmarish world. Darkness surrounds you, the atmosphere oppressive. Every step you take echoes through the empty corridors. You seem to be alone, vulnerable, and your only chance of escape is to face your worst fears.

Welcome to "Bad Dreams", a virtual reality experience where nightmares come to life. Inspired by your greatest phobias, this horror game plunges you into a terrifying universe from which you can't escape.

As the experience begins, you find yourself on a heavenly beach, lulled by the sound of the waves and the gentle caress of the setting sun, but reality soon becomes distorted, and the idyllic beach is transformed into a dark and disturbing underground labyrinth.

Monsters prowl, death traps lurk in every corner. Your only chance of survival is to find your way out, solve tortuous puzzles and face the creatures that await you in the darkness. As you explore long, dark corridors and terrifying rooms, your heart rate quickens.

Your breathing becomes faster and faster, and you plunge into madness. Every shadow seems to conceal a danger, every sound becomes a warning signal, and you must never, under any circumstances, let your guard down. You must never.



The VR controllers become your weapons, your tools for defending yourself against the horrors that assail you. You're no longer sure what's real and what's not. Be careful to keep your sanity intact, or they'll have won... Bad Dreams' gameplay puts you right in the middle of the action. Every move counts. Use your flashlight to light your way, but be careful not to attract the attention of the monsters. Explore the environments, confront your enemies with melee and ranged weapons, and try to keep your cool in the face of the horror that surrounds you.

Dare to dive into Bad Dreams and face your biggest scares yet?

The experience depends on you !

See you on 25 July 2023 !

For further information and inquiries, please contact us:

E-mail: communication@crvr3d.com

You can also visit our website at http://www.baddreams-vr.com/ for more information on the game, screenshots etc...

Zebasi Polyssuem tournament finals - Pond King versus alexej.dobry. Two Polytopians are reviewing the opening game of the Best of 3 series.



This time we have invited THEBIGBURR and espark from PolyChampions to give their take on the mirror match.

THEBIGBURR: https://www.youtube.com/@BIGBURRGAMING

PolyChampions: https://www.youtube.com/@polychampions


And, just in case you wanted to see all their matches for yourself, here you go!

Game 1: https://share.polytopia.io/g/6917b4e7-4038-4010-9290-08db8512c974

Game 2: https://share.polytopia.io/g/59ca653a-e4d1-4a43-92f1-08db8512c974

Game 3: https://share.polytopia.io/g/ef2d70d5-4fee-417e-9349-08db8512c974

• Liches have been added to the game. They are powerful undead spell casters.
  
• Texture optimizations to some NPC types, allowing for more efficient texture memory usage.
  
• Opacity masks can now be virtual textured, saving additional texture memory.
  
• Added additional spells to NPC spell casters.
  
• Pet post-teleport grounding improvements.
  
• Fixed a bug that could temporarily remove your armor visuals in some rare circumstances.
  
• Fixed a bug that was preventing Reapers from playing their death particles.

Hi
Folks, we have another update for you!
We added:
- Controller support
- AZERTY keyboard layout support
- localization (Google.Translate): Ukrainian, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Thai, Turkish, Japanese.

We also made a lot of other small adjustments

We will be constantly updating and improving the demo.

That's all for now! If you have any questions or suggestions, you can join our Discord or Steam community!