Apr 10, 2024

Yet Another Zombie Survivors - Kalafiorek

Welcome, Survivor!

Update 0.6 - "Green Hell" is live!

We may have promised you smaller updates, but we couldn't help ourselves,
so we're breaking that promise with the biggest content update yet!

Major performance update

For the past few months, our friends at HyperStrange have been helping us optimize the game and the engine itself. You should now be able to enjoy much higher frame rates and improved game stability as a result of our combined efforts.

We don't want to hype this change as a big one, but from our testing and the feedback from our lovely beta testers, it seems that the performance change is indeed a big one, which is awesome!

These improvements should especially help people with low- to mid-end computers, as well as those of you who play on handheld gaming devices (e.g. Steam Decks). Be sure to give it a try!

New map: Green Hell

The trees rustle in the wind as you approach the clearing, your destination. You seem to catch something in the corner of your vision. You breathe a sigh of relief when you realize it's just a wild deer. However, when you realize that the deer is walking on two legs and that this dark, humanoid statue is closing in on you, you begin to panic.

Enter the Green Hell!

Our third map takes the Survivors into a dark, rural forest environment. Filled with remnants of blasphemous witchcraft, you must survive while watching your step to avoid stepping into puddles of strange, corrosive substance. You'll be fine! Just watch out for that one giant, very, very bad dog.

New game mode: Extermination

We've thought long and hard about how to improve Boss Rush so that it's not just another Endless mode, and we've decided to put it on the back burner for now and offer a much more interesting game mode in its place. Don't worry, your Boss Rush completion will transfer seamlessly to the Extermination completion, and the two achievements that existed for Boss Rush have been restructured as achievements for this new mode.

The Extermination mode is completely different from the existing modes in that it is a wave-based mode. This means that there is always a set number of enemies in each wave that you must defeat in order to move on to the next wave. Clear a certain number of waves and you win! The faster you win, the better - it's the only mode in which your high score is the lowest time you can reach.

Between waves, you'll be able to level up, recruit Survivors, and choose military training and items. Every fifth wave from the third wave on is an Elite Wave, filled with stronger enemies, while every fifth wave is a Boss Wave, filled with even deadlier foes. Prepare well and take down the Horde, wave after wave!

New enemy form: Elite

Speaking of Elite Waves, the elite enemies themselves are enhanced versions of the regular enemies. You can tell them apart by the red glow that surrounds them and the crimson tentacles that extend from their bodies. They're also much larger than their standard counterparts.

These enemies have better stats - they're stronger, tougher, and deadlier - but killing them also provides a better drop in terms of experience gems. Think of them as another fun and varied addition to the core YAZS gameplay.

Item Pool Customization

Once you've unlocked a total of 50 items, you'll also unlock the Item Pool Customization option in the game's main menu. This interface allows you to choose which items you would like to see in your game from a pool of all unlocked items.

There is no limit to the number of items you can have enabled, but the game requires that you have at least 40 items in the pool. This allows you to customize your experience, much like building a deck in a trading card game.

Just try not to remove the Potato. Potato is love. Potato is life.

Zombiepedia

We've been teasing the addition of a Codex/Encyclopedia for some time now, and we're excited to let you know that it's finally here!

It will allow you to track and showcase the progression of your in-game profile, as well as learn more about various elements of the game. Think of it as an in-game wiki that you can access from the game's main menu.

Of course, we will be improving it and adding more content in future updates, so keep us posted on what you would like to see in it.

Patch notes / Changelog

GAMEPLAY CHANGES & ADDITIONS:

Major optimization improvements.
New map - Green Hell:
ㅤ○ 3 new enemy types, including a very, very bad dog.
ㅤ○ Feet-melting puddles of deadly ooze to watch out for.
ㅤ○ Awesome new music tracks to fit the theme.
New game mode - Extermination:
ㅤ○ Wave-based mode, where you need to survive and defeat all enemies in predefined waves.
ㅤ○ Timer gets paused between each wave as you select Survivors, level-ups, and items.
ㅤ○ The faster you defeat the foes, the better - aim for the lowest possible times!
ㅤ○ Replaces “Boss Rush” mode (and related achievements) which we send for further improvements to possibly return in a future update.
New enemy form - Elite:
ㅤ○ All non-boss enemies can now appear in their elite variant.
ㅤ○ These types of enemies are larger and have additional visual effects.
ㅤ○ Stats of elite enemies are increased by up to 5 times their normal counterparts.
ㅤ○ Elite enemies have increased drop rates, similarly to boss enemies.
New setting - Item Pool Customization:
ㅤ○ Available as a main menu option after unlocking 50 items in total.
ㅤ○ Press the confirm button or mouse-click any item's icon to ban or unban it.
ㅤ○ Currently available items to draw in a run can be checked in the pause menu.
ㅤ○ There is no upper limit, so you can freely ban any item, as long as you don't go under the minimal required number of 40 items.
New interface - Zombiepedia:
ㅤ○ List of unlocked/seen enemies, weapons, abilities, and items.
ㅤ○ Power-ups & military training descriptions.
ㅤ○ Interesting player’s profile statistics & details.
Improved Horde AI/flock behaviors of enemies.
A small memorial was added in honor of Sanji, who has passed away.
13 new achievements.

QUALITY OF LIFE:

All pause menu stats can now be selected with gamepad & keyboard controls.
Weapon & ability descriptions were added to their respective popups in the pause menu.
Unlocked weapon & ability descriptions are now displayed on mouse-over in the Team Leader selection interface.
You can now enter the in-game pause menu using the right mouse button when playing in “mouse movement” modes (rebindable).
“It’s Raining Men” achievement adjusted to require just 6 ragdolls.
Auto-aiming improvements for some of the weapons.
Dozens of new & reworked sound effects.
Anonymous diagnostic system to help us balance the game (toggled in the Options menu).

BALANCE CHANGES:

Military Training: XP modifier: legendary variant now gives +30% (from +20%).
“Butcher” boss enemy now has reworked & improved attack patterns.
“Charger” boss enemy now has a shorter charge distance & its attack indicator is more accurate.
SWAT: “Sniper Rifle” weapon range increased (10 → 14) and bullet penetration improved.
TANK: “Saw Drone” ability speed gained from the Ability Cooldown Reduction stat increased greatly (Speed + Speed * CD Reduction * 1.5).
Ghost: “Windcutter” weapon attack speed increased from base cooldown decreased by -0.5s.
Huntress: Team leader's passive changed to 5/10/20% (from 2.5/5/10%).
Medic: Team leader's passive changed to 10/25/50% (from 25/50/100%).
Item balance changes:
- Glass of Milk: Healing bonus -5% (from -2.5%), 1 stack (from 3).
- Power Glove: 2 stacks (from 3).
- Pickup Pick: Heals 10% of max HP (from +50 HP).
- Heavy Metal: Heals 50% of max HP (from +250 HP).
- Pocket Watch: Effect per stack changed to +1s (from +0.5s).
- Golden Key: Effect per stack changed to +25% (from +5%), 2 stacks (from 5).
- Teddy Bear: Effect per stack changed to +10% (from +5%).
- Annoying Trumpet: Now has a 50% chance of activation (from 25%), 1 stack (from 2).

ISSUE & BUG FIXES:

Potential fix for stuttering / slow-downs when V-Sync is enabled (in case of any issues and reduced FPS, please try disabling Vertical Synchronization in the graphics options menu).
Further improvements to the saving system to counter rare cases of save game being reset.
Multiple fixes for rare cases of whole screen flicker when playing with an Engineer on the team.
Fixes for rare cases of invisible enemies (Runners and Boomers).
Yet another set of fixes for rare cases of the gameplay not pausing when entering interfaces.
Fixed elemental damage calculation error, which caused the elemental modifier value to sometimes incorrectly apply twice for weapons.
Gamepad: Lockdown & Banish functions should once again work correctly on DualShock & DualSense controllers.
“Scarab” enemy no longer explodes before activating after fully spawning and isn’t targetted by the Survivors AI before it’s active.
Tank's “Rocket Launcher” and Medic's "Antidote Flasks" weapons now correctly apply critical damage.
Fix for placeholder endgame screen elements appearing on rare occasions.
Multiple other miscellaneous code refactors & fixes.

Infection Free Zone

Our friends at Jutsu Games have just released their own awesome zombie game: Infection Free Zone. We think it supplements YAZS greatly, being a zombie apocalypse base building sim, so it should be something you, our players, will be interested in.

We're happy to let you know that you can get it at a discounted price in a bundle with Yet Another Zombie Survivors! Follow the link below to check out both the game and the bundle:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39872/Infection_Survivors/

What's next?

With this update, we've implemented most of the things we've listed for next versions in the last major update patch note (new map, item pool customization, optimization improvements, and elite enemies). But, naturally, we're far from over, and there's still a lot of things to be done.

For the nearest future, we plan to work on the things listed below:

Gameplay systems changes/expansions to improve the fun aspects for both casual and hardcore players.
Skill-tree rework, expanding the general tree but also adding skill trees for each and every Survivor.
Reworks to multiple items, for them to offer new and exciting modifiers, allowing new gameplay approaches & builds.
Addition of synergies, which might come in different variants, such as between the Survivors, types of damage, and items.
Improvements to abilities and weapons, potential reworks to ones that feel off, "evolved" ability upgrades, etc.
One Hit rework: an improved and a bit more forgiving mode, that'll provide challenges for all kind of players.

Once we're done with most of the above, we'll continue to expand the content, with new Survivors, new maps, and at least one more game mode coming between now and the future 1.0 release.

Of course, that's not all, as we'll also be adding QoL additions, gameplay tweaks, improved graphics & sounds, optimization fixes, and all the other good stuff, many of which will also be added withing the scope of the minor updates.

This all takes time, and we're grateful for your patience as we develop the Early Access version with you, our players. Thank you for being with us, playing, giving us feedback, reporting issues, and leaving us reviews.

As always, a special thanks to our beta testers who pointed out the flaws of the test version and gave us invaluable feedback and many great suggestions. Thank you very much!

See you in the next one!

ㅤStay awesome,
ㅤㅤAwesome Games Studio

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0.6.0a - hotfix update

- fixed an issue where "Come With Me If You Want To Live" would sometimes incorrectly unlock
- fixed an issue where occasionally the game would not fade properly on startup
- internal wave timer for Decide Their Fate achievement is now properly synchronized with in-game timer
- potential fix for Engineer screen flashing issue (also - we're sorry it's taking so long to fix but it only occurs on very specific occasions and we're not able to locally reproduce this issue)

Also, we're also aware of the issue in Extermination Mode where zombies would sometimes get stuck and stop moving. We're working hard to specify the cause and as soon as we have a solution we'll push a hotfix build.

0.6.0b - hotfix update

- fixed an issue when an empty chest could spawn, locking further progress
- potentially fixed the issue with the game lagging occasionally
- potentially fixed issue with Engineer effects causing screen flashing
- Master Sword statistics are now properly applied according to the description
- fixed an issue where abilities usage in Zombiepedia was not accumulating properly
- fixed an issue where item popups would display incorrect text on highlight in the pause menu
- fixed an issue where indicators of few abilities were hidden underground
- slightly improved weapon aiming systems
- Pause and Defeat screens now also display the currently played game mode
- fixed an issue with Zombie Butcher having it's damaging collider enabled even while not in attack phase
- fixed an issue where Level Up passive bonuses were incorrectly granted Common rarity instead, as previously, Infinite