Beta: Two New Areas with Combat Missions, Hint System, more...
We have a new build for you to try on the Beta branch. We'll roll it into the Release branch after we hear whether there are issues. Here are the new things we've been working on:
Finished "That's Not Sugar". This one is no Picnic!
Finished "We See Dead Beetles". What would you expect to find in a creepy forest?
Hint system. On the escape menu and other places, you'll see short ideas of things to try.
Updated Lot Map images and paths. Should look more realistic and remind you of the Combat Mission level for each Area.
Tweaked "Puddle of Tears", "Enter the Beetle". Enemies look a little differently, and have different Stats.
Please let us know if you have any trouble. The final levels are challenging. You will need to breed your Stats up. Especially Armor. Look for unique Alleles (with cyan stars) you might have missed in eggs from earlier 3-Star Missions.
Update: Multiple Save Games, Sandbox Mode, UI Updates
Here is a big update we've been working on for awhile. We hope you enjoy it.
You can now have multiple games saved at once. This can be handy if you want to go try out something extreme, but don't want to risk your original collection.
We added Sandbox Mode, which allows you unlimited Goop and Inventory, and Beetles don't die. You get all the eggs so you can try to breed with the best possible genes. And you start at max level. This allows you to explore the game and learn how the systems work. The original Campaign Mode is still available to challenge your management and strategy skills.
Added a new combat song that is dynamically arranged.
New Manual pages for Rock/Paper/Scissors style combat, Stat genetic side effects, Options, and the Game Shell.
Sorting makes a sound.
You get a little camera shake when Immolators explode.
You can delay the hover time for tooltips if they are getting in your way.
Improved Item Inventory details UI.
Mission 14 now drops the correct trophy on 3 stars.
Squashed "The Blueberry Bug". Users were reporting they were stuck placing an object, and the inventory count would increase. This is fixed.
The default screen resolution is now set to max. Some new players were seeing less than amazing graphics. Of course, you can still tweak your graphics settings using the Options menu.
Hotfix to Task-Reset Cheat
We decided to push out a fix to the Task-Reset Cheat ahead of schedule today. After you patch, any "stuck" tasks that you had previously mowed down to zero will now work again. The bug only kicked in if you had run the cheat on a completely mowed task. You will need to re-run the task-reset cheat once more after the patch downloads, to get them unstuck. Our apologies.
Darrin
Cheats, New Areas, and Running with Scissors.
Big update today. Its been awhile since the last update since we had to fix a few bugs in the beta builds that prevented us from promoting them.
Here's what's new:
There are 3 cheats added to the options menu: new Goop, reset task counts, and reset beetle needs. You won't need them if you follow the best strategy, but they are there in case.
"Ow My Thorax" and "Many is the Swarm" are now available.
Spitters are now nerfed. Sorry, but they were pretty OP. This works both ways, so killing enemy spitters should be easier.
We added a Rock/Paper/Scissors mechanism to attack types. There is a +50% damage done to the next attack type in a circle: Biters->Spitters->Acid->Vampire->Reekers->Biters. There is a +25% damage from everyone to Healers. There is a 25% reduction in damage from anyone to Immolators. You can see the diagram on the Swarm Maker, and if you hold down in combat.
Hitting in combat also shows you the attack types of each group. This should help with your combat strategy.
We have randomly generated arranged music in the Nest.
Some new sound effects with reduced volumes, and some UI tweaks.
You can now see beetles moving around on the Lot Map when unpaused.
Fixed a bug when the inventory goes entirely empty.
Darrin
Update: Achievements, Gene Splicing, Decorations
New Update: We added two new areas, Achievements, Gene Splicing, and Decorations. And lots of other new things to try out.
We have created 19 Steam Achievements. Of which, 17 are available and visible.
Steam Cloud saves are now working. So you can pick up your game on another machine, if you'd like.
Enter The Beetle (map 11) map area is now complete, along with its mission.
Toads of Obliteration map area is now complete. It is an always-hostile area with no combat mission. But the tasks have tasty rewards, including some interesting eggs.
Beetle visuals can now be saved to flasks and applied to any other Beetle using the Beetle Inspector. To open the Beetle Inspector, just double-click a Beetle. This is useful if you want to preserve a look that you like, or want to make all Beetles with one attack type look the same. We call this Gene Splicing, since the visual change can then be inherited by this Beetle's offspring.
Added decoration objects for your Nest. Beetles don't use them, but they make the Nest look nice.
Your Beetles are awarded a trophy for each mission they win at 3 stars. These can be used to decorate your Nest and remind you of your accomplishments.
The Game Manual now shows up in the Steam Overlay browser, instead of trying to open a PDF reader. And you can click through hyperlinks there.
We are now a little more generous with Regeneration genetics in eggs from earlier missions.
Made some lighting improvements in Beetle Inventory mug shots and Beetle Inspector vanity scenes.
Tweaked a few visual effects and sound effects.
Fixed a genetics bug that prevented cross-over in the first two genes. Should be a bit easier to get the maximum allele there, now.
We have promoted the most recent build to Beta. We added two new areas, Achievements, Gene Splicing, and Decorations. It also has lots of other new things to try out.
We have created 19 Steam Achievements. Of which, 17 are available. We'll make these visible when the build hits general release.
Steam Cloud saves are working. This is a bit tricky to test in a Beta build. Let me know if you want to participate in that, and I'll work up the instructions. But this is definitely coming in the next general release.
Enter The Beetle (map 11) map area is now complete, along with its mission.
Toads of Obliteration map area is now complete. It is an always-hostile area with no combat mission. But the tasks have tasty rewards, including some interesting eggs.
Beetle visuals can now be saved to flasks and applied to any other Beetle on the Beetle Inspector (just double-click a Beetle). This is useful if you want to preserve a look that you like, or want to make all Beetles with one attack type look the same. We call this Gene Splicing, since the change can then be inherited by this Beetle's offspring.
Added decoration objects for your Nest. Beetles don't use them, but they make the place look nice.
Your Beetles are awarded a trophy for each mission they win at 3 stars. These can be used to decorate your Nest.
The Game Manual now shows up in the Steam Overlay browser, instead of trying to open a PDF reader. And you can click through hyperlinks there.
We are now a little more generous with Regeneration genetics in eggs from earlier missions.
Made some lighting improvements in Beetle Inventory mug shots and Beetle Inspector vanity scenes.
Tweaked a few visual effects and sound effects.
Fixed a genetics bug that prevented cross-over in the first two genes. Should be a bit easier to get the maximum allele there, now.
Changed Store Images
I wanted to let you guys know, that we just updated our store image (in case you missed that):
It used to look like:
Thoughts?
Darrin
Major Update: Genetic Visualizer, New Missions
We are up to 10 game areas on the Lot Map. There have been quite a few UI and feature additions since we launched into Early Access, and the game has been very stable. So we are inviting as many people as possible to try out this new build.
Most recent improvements/features:
Genetic Visualizer for stats genes allows you to know whether you're passing on the very best to your offspring. You can see this on the Vanity screen by double-click a Beetle in your collection or in the offspring grid. Also, try holding the key to see genes for multiple Beetles at once.
Beetle Needs are displayed on the Vanity screen, so you can figure out more about what Beetles are thinking in the Nest.
The Asphalt Anger area and mission are available. This is the first 4 swam combat mission. It does get hectic! And you'll need some pretty advanced genetics to get the stats needed to succeed. So collect eggs from previous missions and tasks.
You can click and drag items off the inventory list. Or you can continue to use double-click.
Use -wheel to scroll through Beetles on the Vanity screen, and while hovering over the Beetle inventory. This also works for inventory items.
You can now change the name of newly hatched Beetles right away, instead of having to find them in the Beetle Inventory.
The Lot Map was updated so new players must play the Red Rock mission first. This should make the learning curve a little easier.
Your Beetles should find a few more beds when going on tasks.
Cool water animation added to the mission in the Puddle of Tears area.
Bug fixes (heheh):
Beetle inventory doesn't jump around when you select parent slots on the breeding screen or swarm slots when going on combat missions. This should make it easier to slot in the top Beetles from whatever sort you have selected.
Transparent albedo textures now show up properly in combat. So your combat Beetles should look a little more like your Nest Beetles.
Beetles returning from missions (if they survive), walk in from the door, instead of teleporting to where they started.
As always, please let us know if you have problems, or have ideas for changes.
Darrin
Beta Build from 9/19/17
We promoted the dev build to beta, which should be available for anyone to try out. Lots of cool things added about genetics, plus a whole new area and mission. If you see any issues, please let us know by commenting on this post, so we can fix them, or promote this to the default branch for everyone else.
Genetic Visualizer for stats genes allows you to know whether you're passing on the very best to your offspring. You can see this on the Vanity screen, and when breeding. Also, try holding the key to see genes for multiple Beetles at once.
Beetle Needs are displayed on the Vanity screen, so you can figure out more about what Beetles are thinking about in the Nest.
The Asphalt Anger area and mission are available. This is the first 4 swam combat mission. It does get hectic! And you'll need some pretty advanced genetics to get the stats needed to succeed.
You can click and drag items off the inventory list.
Use -wheel to scroll through Beetles on the Vanity screen, and while hovering over the Beetle inventory. This also works for inventory items.
You can now change the name of newly hatched Beetles right away, instead of having to find them in the Beetle Inventory.
The Lot Map was updated so new players must play the Red Rock mission first. This should make the learning curve a little easier.
Your Beetles should find a few more beds when going on tasks.
Cool water animation added to the mission in the Puddle of Tears area.
Fixes:
Beetle inventory doesn't jump around when you select parent slots on the breeding screen or swarm slots when going on combat missions.
Transparent albedo textures now show up properly in combat.
Beetles returning from missions, walk in from the door, instead of teleporting to where they started.
September 14 Release: New UI
We've released a new build, today, focused on improving the UI to be easier to understand and make use of.
Here's what's new:
Added new relative stat icons per beetle image so you can see which of the 7 stats is best or worst at a glance.
Offspring grid shows all stat values to make it easier to pick the best one.
UI art pass on most screens to make things a bit bigger and brighter. Especially in breeding and beetle list images.
Beetles in Combat Missions and in the Nest now have a highlight when they are selected.
Fixed a defect with NPC healers in combat. They now follow their team mates to heal them, so some missions may now be a little tougher.
