Thanks to recent reports on the forum I have been looking into performance issues. I have discovered some problems that were hogging performance so most users should see a significant improvement in fps. I have also done some general bug fixing as well as some weapon balance changes.

I look at all feedback and bug reports, so please let me know if you run into issues! The best way is to start a thread in the general or bug forums.


Performance Improvements

• Fixed some performance issues affecting all levels.
  
• Updated some backend systems.

Forest level changes

• The forest level now uses the new breakable trees from the island.
  
• This change should greatly improve performance for the forest level.

Weapon Changes

• Reduced the firing rate of the bullpup and the uzi.
  
• Increased the damage of the uzi, M249, and the minigun.
  
• increased the damage of the katana, tactical knife, machete, claw, flamethrower, single shot sniper rifle, and rare-spawn medieval weapons.

Changes

• Ammo reload is now detected by the hand placement instead of the weapon collider. Placing your controller at your hip will reload.
  
• Improved and reworked most of the bullet trail effects.
  
• If you return home you will no longer be shown the home tips again.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue with a ground plane not being targetable for teleport on the Island level.
  
• Fixed an issue that canceled teleport if it was double-clicked.
  
• Fixed issue where pausing would cause physics to pop and jump.
  
• Building objects should no longer highlight the pouch when hovered.
  
• Fixed item interactions triggering during the pause menu.
  
• Fixed interaction issues between teleport and snap turn.
  
• Fixed an issue where the teleport cooldown from the Island level would not reset properly.

Hey everyone, really excited about this update. I've reworked a lot of systems to support a new open style of map. In the new Island level, you can build your base wherever you want and even explore outside of your base during waves. This update took longer than I wanted but it will be easier for me to add new maps like this in the future.

I look at all feedback and bug reports, so please let me know if you run into issues! The best way is to start a thread in the general or bug forums.




New Features

• New Island Level: A new map has been added to the game that features new gameplay rules.
  
• New Open Level System: Build and defend wherever you want with the new open map system used in the new level.
  
• New Harvestable Trees: the new map features harvestable trees that can be used to build player defenses. Try using melee weapons to break them down.

New Island Level with Open Level System

• Players can choose to build anywhere and move freely during all stages of the map.
  
• The backpack can be emptied dynamically in front of the player at any time by clicking the trigger on the backpack.
  
• Reworked post system (sticking objects into the ground) to be more dynamic and allow for more varied ground types.
  
• During waves there is a short cooldown added to teleport locomotion.
  
• A lot of systems were changed or reworked to support the new open level gameplay. This will allow me to more easily make new levels in the future and for them to support the new open level system.

Changes

• Added small vibration when a post is stuck in the ground.
  
• Added a controller check for body movement physics to help prevent unintended falling with walking locomotion.
  
• Made adjustments to pathfinding system to improve zombies ability to get to the player and reduce the chances of zombies getting stuck.
  
• Made the detection of stuck zombies more aggressive.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue preventing spiked posts from dealing damage.
  
• Fixed issue with the vacuum recycler grabbing some held objects.
  
• Fixed issue with the bedframe collision in the Old Home level.

Hey everyone, smaller update than usual. I wanted to go ahead and roll out some of the changes I was working on. This update mostly adds new tracer effects to weapons with some other small changes. I saw this request from a number of users who felt it would improve gunplay and aiming.

I look at all feedback and bug reports, so please let me know if you run into issues!




New bullet tracer effects

• Most weapons have been given new bullet tracer effects.

New

• Added loading text to level select board.
  
• Added body fall sound to zombies.
  
• Added UI sounds.
  
• Added option to delete saved data in menus.
  
• Added tooltip to base selection in day levels.

Fixes

• Fixed mesh flickering on the white fence.
  
• Fixed zombie walk sound effects.
  
• It should no longer be possible to die in the home base.
  
• Fixed grab interaction with the claymore.
  
• Fixed bug that allowed guns to be shot when paused.

Hey everyone, excited to put out this new patch today. I'm very sorry to everyone for the slow down in updates. I hate having to give you guys excuses but I was quite sick for a number of months and was unable to work on Undead Development during that time.

I look at all feedback and bug reports, so please let me know if you run into issues!

I also want to shout out Adrian ( https://twitter.com/AdriMG96 ) who worked on the new art assets found in this update.




New Recycle Tool

• Vacuum Recycler added to the loot table.
  
• Vacuum Recycler can be used to turn unused objects into something more useful and manageable.
  
• New research added to start the level with a Vacuum Recycler.

New Zombie Types

• Puke zombie: A volatile zombie that can attack your defenses with its puke spit.
  
• Tank zombie: A hard-hitting and durable new threat.

Zombie Changes

• Zombies will now fall down and begin to crawl when their lower limbs are dismembered.
  
• New zombie giblet effects for dismemberment.

EXP / Skill Point Changes

• Exp rewarded for completing waves significantly increased. Exp from waves is now multiplicative with the wave complete.
  
• Playing in Turbo Mode now awards bonus exp.
  
• New 1 HP Mode awards bonus exp.
  
• Bonus exp now stacks and is displayed when selecting a level.

Controller Changes

• The trigger now works as a contextual pick up and drop button.
  
• With an empty hand, the trigger can be used to pick up objects. If the object is picked up while hovering it will be held temporarily and dropped when the trigger is released.
  
• Grenades and molotovs can be armed with one trigger click and then thrown with a second trigger click and release.
  
• Objects with trigger interactions, like flashlights and guns, cannot be dropped with the trigger.
  
• Added vibrations to melee weapon hits.
  
• *With these changes extracting ammo can now only be done by holding a weapon in one hand and using the trigger with your free off-hand.

Cloud Saves

• Cloud saving is now enabled through Steam.
  
• Saved game data will now automatically be backed up and synced with your Steam account.

New

• New hammer skin variations added.
  
• New health bar UI Added.
  
• New zombie dismemberment sounds.
  
• Horizontal throws now get a slight boost for easier throwing.
  
• New 1 HP mode available in the game settings at the level select whiteboard.

Fixes and Minor Changes

• Fixed null errors when melee weapons break.
  
• Fixed bug with new material overlay code.
  
• Changed zombie’s animation system to allow for new animations.
  
• Fixed a bug with resetting zombies during game cancel or reset.
  
• Recently dropped objects have improved physics detection to prevent dropped objects from falling through the world.
  
• Optimizations to area damage code. (this affects stuff like grenades)
  
• Fixed bullet particle issue.
  
• Fixed health regeneration bug.
  
• Fixed zombie idle animation when they can’t reach their target.
  
• Fixed issue with zombies resuming movement after receiving damage when they are already in range of their target.
  
• Changed zombie navigation to prevent instances where zombies get stuck.
  
• Optimizations for dismembered limbs.
  
• The “object catcher” that tries to save items that fall through the level has been improved.
  
• Fixed bug with recycled objects that were held during a level reset.
  
• Holstered explosives can no longer be shot.
  
• Fixed bug with ammo looting animation.
  
• Reduced the spawn rate of telescopes.
  
• Health regen time nerfed to 20 seconds.

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this new update. Sorry, it has been a while, I was sick for a lot of January and had work outside of Undead Development I had to take care of.

Don't forget to post on the forum about changes you want to see to the game and to report bugs. I try to read all of the feedback I get on the forum. If some bugs are not reported I may not know they exist. If you have gotten a chance to explore the game already consider leaving a review. Thanks!




Major Changes

• Objects can now be repaired with the hammer.
  
• Objects now display their damage taken with an overlayed material.
  
• Nail connections between 2 objects is now capped at 3. (this will help prevent players from creating performance issues by using too many nails)

Locomotion Changes

• Snap turn is now more responsive to tapping
  
• New setting for snap turn on click
  
• New setting turning speed
  
• New setting belt height
  
• New setting snap turn angle

WMR support

• Based on feedback from WMR testing, I am adding WMR support to the Steam store.

Changes

• New nailing sound effects added for repairing and a basic hit.
  
• Added new system for specified objects to ignore bullet collision. Fences unlocked by the research tree now ignore bullet collision, as well as trees in the forest level.
  
• Added additional checks for inventory hand collision that should make grabbing objects out of the inventory give more expected results.
  
• Added ammo visual to the hip.
  
• Changed reload colliders to reduce the chance of reloading unintentionally.
  
• Player notification now moves faster to better accommodate different locomotion settings.
  
• Rewrote layering material code. (affects highlighting and new damage overlay material)
  
• Zombie’s attack collision is now turned off after their first target is hit.
  
• Added sight checks for zombies that should help prevent instances where zombies attack the player through walls.
  
• Zombies now lose speed when their lower limbs are shot off.
  
• Zombies will no longer be able to damage targets when both arms are shot off and will die after a delay.
  
• Ammo counters moved to be more visible.
  
• Small changes to inventory belts.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug relating to dropped objects still being parented to the hand. (This is when you drop something and moving the hand moves it across the ground or throws it into the air. If you still experience this bug please report it.)
  
• Fixed audio issues with zombies’ footsteps and idle audio.
  
• Fixed bug preventing zombies’ death vocal sound. Death sound will only occur when a zombie dies with its head intact.
  
• Level select board will now disable when in the pause menu to avoid weird interaction with multiple UI panels overlapping.
  
• Fixed bug relating to held hammers interacting with inventory objects.
  
• Fixed error thrown from zombie hit detection.

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy this new update. Sorry, it has been a while, I was sick for a lot of January and had work outside of Undead Development I had to take care of.

Don't forget to post on the forum about changes you want to see to the game and to report bugs. I try to read all of the feedback I get on the forum. If some bugs are not reported I may not know they exist. If you have gotten a chance to explore the game already consider leaving a review. Thanks!




Major Changes

• Objects can now be repaired with the hammer.
  
• Objects now display their damage taken with an overlayed material.
  
• Nail connections between 2 objects is now capped at 3. (this will help prevent players from creating performance issues by using too many nails)

Locomotion Changes

• Snap turn is now more responsive to tapping
  
• New setting for snap turn on click
  
• New setting turning speed
  
• New setting belt height
  
• New setting snap turn angle

WMR support

• Based on feedback from WMR testing, I am adding WMR support to the Steam store.

Changes

• New nailing sound effects added for repairing and a basic hit.
  
• Added new system for specified objects to ignore bullet collision. Fences unlocked by the research tree now ignore bullet collision, as well as trees in the forest level.
  
• Added additional checks for inventory hand collision that should make grabbing objects out of the inventory give more expected results.
  
• Added ammo visual to the hip.
  
• Changed reload colliders to reduce the chance of reloading unintentionally.
  
• Player notification now moves faster to better accommodate different locomotion settings.
  
• Rewrote layering material code. (affects highlighting and new damage overlay material)
  
• Zombie’s attack collision is now turned off after their first target is hit.
  
• Added sight checks for zombies that should help prevent instances where zombies attack the player through walls.
  
• Zombies now lose speed when their lower limbs are shot off.
  
• Zombies will no longer be able to damage targets when both arms are shot off and will die after a delay.
  
• Ammo counters moved to be more visible.
  
• Small changes to inventory belts.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug relating to dropped objects still being parented to the hand. (This is when you drop something and moving the hand moves it across the ground or throws it into the air. If you still experience this bug please report it.)
  
• Fixed audio issues with zombies’ footsteps and idle audio.
  
• Fixed bug preventing zombies’ death vocal sound. Death sound will only occur when a zombie dies with its head intact.
  
• Level select board will now disable when in the pause menu to avoid weird interaction with multiple UI panels overlapping.
  
• Fixed bug relating to held hammers interacting with inventory objects.
  
• Fixed error thrown from zombie hit detection.

Hey everyone! I tried to focus on getting more content in then just bug fixes this time. I hope you all enjoy this winter update!


Official Oculus support

• I recently purchased an Oculus and will be listing Oculus as a supported device on the Steam store page. Now that I own one I can better respond to Oculus user's feedback and make improvements.

Game Modes

• New game mode system added. Can choose between ‘Standard’, ‘Builder’, and ‘Turbo’. (Builder mode gives you infinite time to set up and prepare)
  
• New gameplay settings UI added to the level select board.
  
• New player records for each game mode.
  
• New gameplay setting: toggle wandering zombies.

Difficulty Changes

• Zombies now have a chance to have helmets that protect their head from attacks. Chance for zombie helmets increases with each wave, similar to running zombies.
  
• Zombie attack speed now scales with movement speed. This makes running zombies a greater threat.
  
• Player health increased from 30 to 50.

Night Mode Changes

• Night mode now gives 2x experience.
  
• Zombie health doubled.
  
• Loot drop chance reduced by 50%.

New Locomotion Settings

• New setting ‘Default Run’ lets you run with your trackpad/stick and click to walk.
  
• New speed setting for walking locomotion.

Changes

• Zombies now have a chance to spawn with hats.
  
• Wandering zombies are now forced to spawn a minimum distance away from the player.
  
• Holiday zombie hat has a chance to spawn during December.
  
• Holiday themed loot boxes have a chance to spawn during December.

Bug Fixes and Optimizations

• Fixed object pooling issue that was causing ‘gun jam’ bug. (went a little crazy working on this one)
  
• Changes to ground collision to reduce the chance for objects to fall through the floor.
  
• Fixed bug that inflated zombies’ chance to drop loot when reaching high waves.
  
• Fixed white hammer bug.
  
• Fixed collider in sewer grate to prevent teleporting out of the normal gameplay area.
  
• Fixed collider in forest level to prevent teleporting out of normal gameplay area.
  
• Fixed turbo mode timer in Old Home.
  
• Fixed foliage issues in Fresh Town.
  
• Changed object highlight system to fix a potential performance issue.
  
• Fixed error with backup particle reference.
  
• Fixed particle optimization issue with explosives.
  
• Fixed issue with player inventory belt disappearing at certain heights.

Hey everyone! I tried to focus on getting more content in then just bug fixes this time. I hope you all enjoy this winter update!


Official Oculus support

• I recently purchased an Oculus and will be listing Oculus as a supported device on the Steam store page. Now that I own one I can better respond to Oculus user's feedback and make improvements.

Game Modes

• New game mode system added. Can choose between ‘Standard’, ‘Builder’, and ‘Turbo’. (Builder mode gives you infinite time to set up and prepare)
  
• New gameplay settings UI added to the level select board.
  
• New player records for each game mode.
  
• New gameplay setting: toggle wandering zombies.

Difficulty Changes

• Zombies now have a chance to have helmets that protect their head from attacks. Chance for zombie helmets increases with each wave, similar to running zombies.
  
• Zombie attack speed now scales with movement speed. This makes running zombies a greater threat.
  
• Player health increased from 30 to 50.

Night Mode Changes

• Night mode now gives 2x experience.
  
• Zombie health doubled.
  
• Loot drop chance reduced by 50%.

New Locomotion Settings

• New setting ‘Default Run’ lets you run with your trackpad/stick and click to walk.
  
• New speed setting for walking locomotion.

Changes

• Zombies now have a chance to spawn with hats.
  
• Wandering zombies are now forced to spawn a minimum distance away from the player.
  
• Holiday zombie hat has a chance to spawn during December.
  
• Holiday themed loot boxes have a chance to spawn during December.

Bug Fixes and Optimizations

• Fixed object pooling issue that was causing ‘gun jam’ bug. (went a little crazy working on this one)
  
• Changes to ground collision to reduce the chance for objects to fall through the floor.
  
• Fixed bug that inflated zombies’ chance to drop loot when reaching high waves.
  
• Fixed white hammer bug.
  
• Fixed collider in sewer grate to prevent teleporting out of the normal gameplay area.
  
• Fixed collider in forest level to prevent teleporting out of normal gameplay area.
  
• Fixed turbo mode timer in Old Home.
  
• Fixed foliage issues in Fresh Town.
  
• Changed object highlight system to fix a potential performance issue.
  
• Fixed error with backup particle reference.
  
• Fixed particle optimization issue with explosives.
  
• Fixed issue with player inventory belt disappearing at certain heights.

Thanks everyone for all the support with Undead Development's Early Access release! Everyone's feedback and enthusiasm has been super motivating. Thank you! This update has some new gameplay features but is mostly focused on bug fixes and general game improvements.


Updated game engine

• This shouldn’t have an effect on gameplay but may solve some crash issues some users are experiencing.

Implemented new automatic error reporting system

• This shouldn’t be noticeable to players but this will provide me with some data on errors and bugs players are experiencing.

Gameplay Changes

• You can now extract the remaining ammo clip from a weapon by using the trigger on a weapon that isn’t directly held. (Doesn’t work for ‘special’ weapon types like the flamethrower or rocket launchers)
  
• A highlight outline will no longer display on a held gun when the other hand is in range to grab it.
  
• Various damage effects (such as a gun shot) can now trigger explosives.
  
• Gun shots and explosions now collide with player tools.
  
• Snap Rotate no longer requires click
  
• Improved player damage feedback
  
• Bear trap now has a cooldown tied to a longer animation
  
• Teleport spots (like ladders) now display a green teleport trail when selected with teleport locomotion.
  
• You can now use teleport locomotion to select a level from the level select screen.
  
• You can now see the active number of ‘wave’ zombies by pausing the game.
  
• Zombies will now die if they fail to attack anything for 3 minutes.

Minor Changes

• Reworded Ammo II research perk.
  
• You can no longer access the pause menu after dying and during the post game process.
  
• Map records (kills and waves) are now saved when a wave is completed
  
• Player progress and map records are now saved when restarting or exiting.

Bug Fixes and Optimizations

• Fixed a bug that was saving highest kill record with your highest wave.
  
• Modified cut metal material to remove the visual flickering issue.
  
• Fixed bug with pistol ammo spawning (a lot more pistol ammo will likely spawn now)
  
• Fixed issue with unlocked guns in the home base not being usable
  
• Fixed flickering on spikes of small metal scraps
  
• Balanced Molotov audio to be quieter.
  
• Fixed issue where guaranteed hammer or light was not given to the player at the beginning of the game
  
• Added maximum spawned loot cap. Once 120 loot objects are active all loot except for ammo will stop spawning. I will be tweaking this or removing it based on feedback.
  
• Tweaked individual item caps.
  
• Fixed issue that would nail objects to the ground when a different object should be prioritized.
  
• Changed the collider type for a number of level objects that made teleporting awkward.
  
• Fixed issue with belt pouch interacting with objects considered structures. (if an object is nailed to a static piece of the environment or nailed to a ‘post’ sticking into the ground it is considered a structure)
  
• Fixed issue with teleporting while holding a piece of an object considered a structure.
  
• Fixed issue with a crafted object being dropped if an attached melee weapon was destroyed.
  
• Filled hole in cracked road meshes for “Old Home” level.
  
• Fixed issues with flamethrower’s effects staying active when out of ammo.
  
• Fixed ammo UI bug when using weapons with their own ammo pool.
  
• Fixed issue with medium and small loot bags not having a spawn limit.
  
• Fixed issue with melee weapons not lowering durability in certain situations.
  
• Improved hit detection with melee weapons to help address an issue with melee weapons nailed as defenses.
  
• Fixed white texture issue for the bear trap and nails.
  
• Made change to hopefully address issue with scope’s texture not updating
  
• Made teleport collision in ‘Old Home’ level more consistent between wave combat and scavenging.
  
• Fixed issue with some fire particle effects not despawning and causing performance issues.
  
• Tweaked recycling of some particle assets.
  
• Fixed issue with Ammo II perk when ammo is capped.
  
• Fixed a bug that would allow duplicate looting of a single ammo box

Thanks everyone for all the support with Undead Development's Early Access release! Everyone's feedback and enthusiasm has been super motivating. Thank you! This update has some new gameplay features but is mostly focused on bug fixes and general game improvements.


Updated game engine

• This shouldn’t have an effect on gameplay but may solve some crash issues some users are experiencing.

Implemented new automatic error reporting system

• This shouldn’t be noticeable to players but this will provide me with some data on errors and bugs players are experiencing.

Gameplay Changes

• You can now extract the remaining ammo clip from a weapon by using the trigger on a weapon that isn’t directly held. (Doesn’t work for ‘special’ weapon types like the flamethrower or rocket launchers)
  
• A highlight outline will no longer display on a held gun when the other hand is in range to grab it.
  
• Various damage effects (such as a gun shot) can now trigger explosives.
  
• Gun shots and explosions now collide with player tools.
  
• Snap Rotate no longer requires click
  
• Improved player damage feedback
  
• Bear trap now has a cooldown tied to a longer animation
  
• Teleport spots (like ladders) now display a green teleport trail when selected with teleport locomotion.
  
• You can now use teleport locomotion to select a level from the level select screen.
  
• You can now see the active number of ‘wave’ zombies by pausing the game.
  
• Zombies will now die if they fail to attack anything for 3 minutes.

Minor Changes

• Reworded Ammo II research perk.
  
• You can no longer access the pause menu after dying and during the post game process.
  
• Map records (kills and waves) are now saved when a wave is completed
  
• Player progress and map records are now saved when restarting or exiting.

Bug Fixes and Optimizations

• Fixed a bug that was saving highest kill record with your highest wave.
  
• Modified cut metal material to remove the visual flickering issue.
  
• Fixed bug with pistol ammo spawning (a lot more pistol ammo will likely spawn now)
  
• Fixed issue with unlocked guns in the home base not being usable
  
• Fixed flickering on spikes of small metal scraps
  
• Balanced Molotov audio to be quieter.
  
• Fixed issue where guaranteed hammer or light was not given to the player at the beginning of the game
  
• Added maximum spawned loot cap. Once 120 loot objects are active all loot except for ammo will stop spawning. I will be tweaking this or removing it based on feedback.
  
• Tweaked individual item caps.
  
• Fixed issue that would nail objects to the ground when a different object should be prioritized.
  
• Changed the collider type for a number of level objects that made teleporting awkward.
  
• Fixed issue with belt pouch interacting with objects considered structures. (if an object is nailed to a static piece of the environment or nailed to a ‘post’ sticking into the ground it is considered a structure)
  
• Fixed issue with teleporting while holding a piece of an object considered a structure.
  
• Fixed issue with a crafted object being dropped if an attached melee weapon was destroyed.
  
• Filled hole in cracked road meshes for “Old Home” level.
  
• Fixed issues with flamethrower’s effects staying active when out of ammo.
  
• Fixed ammo UI bug when using weapons with their own ammo pool.
  
• Fixed issue with medium and small loot bags not having a spawn limit.
  
• Fixed issue with melee weapons not lowering durability in certain situations.
  
• Improved hit detection with melee weapons to help address an issue with melee weapons nailed as defenses.
  
• Fixed white texture issue for the bear trap and nails.
  
• Made change to hopefully address issue with scope’s texture not updating
  
• Made teleport collision in ‘Old Home’ level more consistent between wave combat and scavenging.
  
• Fixed issue with some fire particle effects not despawning and causing performance issues.
  
• Tweaked recycling of some particle assets.
  
• Fixed issue with Ammo II perk when ammo is capped.
  
• Fixed a bug that would allow duplicate looting of a single ammo box