Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands - Megabus Battle Network
Hello and welcome to a particularly HEFTY patch update! So hefty in fact that Dan felt compelled to draw up comics depicting some of the changes, just for flavour's sake.
We've also discounted the game by 25% from now until the 27th to celebrate the occasion.
Anyway let's get into it:
REMAPPABLE CONTROLS
You can now remap both keyboard and controller bindings through the config menu. As a result, many of the alternate keys we defined for keyboard controls have been removed. Feel free to rebind them to your personal preference!
As a result of this addition, the default “Skip Cutscene” keyboard binding has been changed from ESC to Backspace. Feel free to change it in the config menu to your heart’s content!
INDICATING ENEMY WEAKNESSES AND STRENGTHS
“Weak” and “Guard” labels have been added to damage values to indicate how effective an attack is based on the enemy’s toughness and resistance stats. In addition, many enemies have had their toughness and resistance values adjusted to better emphasize these intended differences.
We realized a lot of players may have overlooked that there are differing attack types and feel this is a great way to highlight when players could be doing more damage rather than letting players assume the enemy just has high defense all round.
MODS
We wanted to take a look at some of the lesser-used mods and see if we could make them more attractive to use. Faye’s in particular suffered from an over-characterization of drawback effects. As the native Show-off, and her own clumsy personality, it made sense to see most of her mods having these kinds of effects. In reality though, this just led to a bunch of them being never used, and hampering her build possibilities. With these changes, we hope to see more build variety across the band.
Additionally, we made some adjustments to mods we felt needed a second look.
Faye
Dazzling Shred: Now has a 50% chance to strike a second time, additionally dealing minuscule melody damage to the target.
Let Me Try Something: This skill no longer applies 2 random measure effects to the player’s bar and now only deals heavy noise damage to a single foe.
Let Me Try Something: Hype cost increased to 110 / 55. (Previous: 100 / 50)
Heartwarmer: This skill now either revives a defeated bandmate at a quarter of their max life (75% chance) or revives them at full health (25% chance). (Previous: Either revives a fallen bandmate at 100% of their max life (50% chance) or fails to revive them at all (50% chance).)
ugh: Now deals an additional 15% damage per empty measure on the player’s bar.
Ian
Beefy Double: Now generates 6 glam. (Previous: 4)
Hammer Jamming: Now deals moderate noise damage to all foes. (Previous: Light)
Hammer Jamming: Now generates 15 glam. (Previous: 10)
Intimidate: Now additionally deals light melody damage to a single foe.
Poppin’ Off: Now generates 12 glam. (Previous: 6)
EVERYBODY BROKEN BONES: Now deals obscene noise damage. (Previous: Massive)
Twang Frenzy: Now generates 6 glam. (Previous: 4)
Palm Destroyer: This skill now also deals moderate noise damage to a single foe in addition to applying 2 measures of mad pain to both the player and enemy bar.
Dr. Tonebone: Now heals a single ally for a heavy amount. (Previous: Moderate)
Tribute to Babby: Amount healed by FISH abilities reduced by 16-25%.
Briff
Basketball: Can now score up to 10 points across 5 uses, increasing its maximum damage bonus to 200%. (Previous: 8 points across 4 uses, 150% maximum damage bonus)
PATCHES
Delayer’s knockback effect is now substantially reduced when using consecutive noise skills against an enemy before they’re able to get a turn. Once they’re able to take a turn, this reduction penalty will be reset. This penalty is incurred by consecutive noise skill uses, not consecutive hits via multi-hit skills.
Let’s face it, we all knew this was coming. We wanted to approach this adjustment in a way that still kept it valuable, but not completely game breaking.
EARLIER ACCESS TO FAST TRAVEL
Fast travel can now be accessed A LITTLE EARLIER, but at the cost of 300 bops per journey (unless you’ve done a certain sidequest).
Two new fast travel destinations have been added. Please do not question their practicality.
TREASURE LOCATOR
Bocks now offers help in narrowing down the whereabouts of unclaimed treasures during late-game (i.e. tells you how many treasures are left in Bopstead or Tonewood, etc). Perhaps this is their way of showing appreciation for winning the popularity tournament.
MERCH
Flipped Cap: Now inverts 2 measures on the player’s bar. (Previous: Inverts all 4 measures on the player’s bar.)
Flipped Cap: Stock cost reduced to 3. (Previous: 5)
With the big redesign to Faye’s Fresh Twist, we wanted the Flipped Cap to have some individuality and fill a gap missing amongst inversion skills.
BEATS
Starstrike now has a 33% chance to strike a second and third time.
Increased cost to boost Shrubbash from level 2 to level 3 to 1,500 bops. (Previous: 500)
Increased cost to boost Toot from level 2 to level 3 to 1,000 bops. (Previous: 500)
MEASURE EFFECTS
Empowered Slow now reduces speed by 40%. (Previous: 50%)
UI
Beat Booster: Selecting fully upgraded beats will now display their current information.
MISCELLANEOUS
The game’s credits can now be viewed from the title screen.
Saeva now leaves a note for Briff to let him know of her post-bus non-tent whereabouts.
Improved the visibility of one of the bottles in Claire’s Hair.
BUG FIXES
Fixed a bug that gave Briff a much higher base toughness stat than intended.
Fixed a bug that could allow for unintended player control when skipping a cutscene during the ending.
Fixed a bug that prevented the player from aggroing enemies after the boombox fight in Claire’s Hair.
Fixed a visual issue that caused the combat performance crowd to incorrectly appear overtop certain foreground elements on the bus.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the sound created by kicking Who Cares to sound like a tent door kick. The game is now playable.
Fixed a bug that could cause certain music elements to persist upon quitting to the title screen.
Fixed a bug that caused a softlock in combat when counter attacking an enemy with a beat that overwrote a Harmony measure effect during the counter.
Fixed numerous issues with enemy attack elements and incorrect corresponding visual effects.
Fixed a UI issue that would cause certain measure effect icons to render incorrectly in shops.
Zee now only has a post-it face during the ending sequence if you triggered the necessary conversation prior.
- Fixed issue with flying food and mixtures left in air - Fixed frying basket attaching issues - Fixed waiters continue wash dishes even when blue tray is full - Fixed sections disappear on Warehouse app - Fixed some of the discounted price tags shown as free - Fixed a problem on tutorial causing game to softlock.
We have been working a lot on artwork and lighting in the last couple of months, as well as adding new perks and features here and there. We are now at a point where we think it is worth sharing these with you. Hope you enjoy this update; we think it has come a long way since the last one and hope you do too!
New Perks
Pointless Light: Illuminate your path with this quirky perk.
LED Torch: Brighter and better visibility in dark areas.
BIG GLOW: Amplify your surroundings with an impressive glow.
Changes to Perks
Removed "Big Picture" perk from the pool due to issues.
Camera
Implemented Cinemachine camera.
Camera can now scroll at the edges for better navigation.
Added atmospheric particles.
Character/Player
Added new art for the player.
Added new animations.
Added Ring Light for improved visibility.
Added Torch Light for better illumination.
Added dash mechanic.
Enemy (aka "Hobbler")
Added new art for Hobbler.
Added new animations.
Hobblers now look in the direction of travel.
Levels
Added lighting to all levels.
Added some texturing work such as floors.
Weapons
Added trails to bullets for a more dynamic shooting experience.
Sound
Sound system implemented, with many new sounds added:
Low ammo indicator with sound.
Hobbler grunt sound on damage.
Hobbler death sound.
Hobbler movement sound.
Projectile ricochet sound.
Projectile impact sounds.
Bullet and shell drop weapon sounds.
Weapon reload sound.
Weapon and perk pickup sound.
Weapon fire sounds.
Player taking damage sound.
Player footsteps sound.
Wave start sound.
Dash sound.
Buy sound in shop.
Gamblies activated sound.
Shop
Added item stock.
Fixed AI getting stuck on shops.
General
Added option to skip timers for a smoother experience.
Thank you for your continued support and feedback! Enjoy the new features and improvements!
Right clicking an item in your possession will allow you to select the "Chat" option. This will add a link to that item which can be clicked on by other players to preview the item. Show off your epic drop, sell it, or troll people in chat with inappropriate memes!
* Note - this feature needs a quick patch and is not live yet, but will be soon. :sweat_smile:
# ~100 New Tile Materials & Ambient Lighting :raised_hands:
Getting the world design team equipped with the tools they need to make badass biomes was a big goal for us. With all of the new monsters, these new tiles, and the ambient lights, the quality of areas in the game will start to improve quite a bit! Let us know if there are any cool biomes / themes that you'd like to see in Ethyrial in #general
# Aesthetic Updates :eyes:
We've specifically updated a handful of the most commonly used old tiles, which will increase the visual fidelity of the game. The map colors have been updated to adopt a lighter color palette that is easier on the eyes. Let us know if you like these changes or think they're bad!
**Miscellaneous:**
- Status effect timer bug fix. Status effects should count down properly while offline and not reset on relog. - the NoiseTex console errors should be gone. - You should be able to right click player names in Global Chat and whisper/invite to party. - NPC chat will now open automatically when interacting with nearby NPCs again. - The Research function on corpses is now removed - we will be adding another system to facilitate this that, such as randomly dropped bones with can be taken to a 'research table' and inspected to gain more knowledge on the monster. - Adding more basic cooking recipes, such as cooked crab. - Further updates to SI quest dialogue. Sternbrand and Sara have been updated. - Meal buffs should now be removed on death. - Continued progress on Warrens of Thought dungeon. - Goblins, Scorpions, Elementals, Barbarians, and Half-Orks have had their levels corrected to better align with the flow of progress on Solitary Isles.
**Upcoming:**
- We're working on a "Open Nearby Corpses" feature which will simply open multiple corpse containers in a small radius. You'll still experience that satisfying loot process, but won't have to click every single corpse to do it!
Thanks for your support as we continue to build Irumesa. See you all in game!