BlitzKeep Unleashed has reached version 1.0!!!

Leaving Early Access

Improvements

• Added higher res versions of the hero sprites so they look better on big monitors
  
• Added support to directly open Steam leaderboards from the game
  
• Added some additional iconography to make some things more clear
  
• Updated many of the art assets in the shop to remove graphical artifacts
  
• Re-balanced many of the costs of the items in the shop to make them more attainable and with a more even cost curve
  
• Added a new app icon for the 1.0 launch - he's got gold armor now!
  
• Improved art and graphics in many other places throughout
  
• Re-balanced most of the later levels, especially Mausolia.
  

Bug Fixes

• Steam achievements are now rewarded properly when they are already accomplished (on startup)
  
• Fix Steam achievements for the bosses, they would be given for free sometimes previously
  
• Removed ability to use a phone as a controller; it caused many issues and literally nobody was doing it
  
• Fixes to the shop buttons for classes - sometimes they would say USE when they shouldn't
  
• Fixed a scaling issue with the save slot UI
  
• The hint sign for the stop ability now properly goes away when you pass it
  
• Fixed Z sorting issues across the board, especially on bosses
  

New Features

• Achievements added to Steam. For ones you've already accomplished, you will need to do them again (for example, to get the achievement for buying a spell, you need to buy another spell).
  
• Save slots added so you can play multiple saves at once.
  
• Added a new 25 gold award for clearing rooms
  
• Added a "waypoint reached" notification after advancing in a stage
  

Gameplay Changes

• Major audit of classes:
  
  
  
  • Coward now retreats from enemies instead of bouncing off, but has hella boosts.
    
  • Drunk is a bit easier to control and boosts a bit more, otherwise improved slightly.
    
  • Dwarf is totally different: he's attracted to weapons, armor, potions, and gold, making it harder to control him but he picks them up more readily.
    
  • Mercenary has boost powers again, and is attracted to gold, but is weakened overall compared to Knight (less boost, less swipe change speed, less shield size, etc).
    
  • Monk no longer has bonus power, but has everything else strengthened (boost etc). He will be weaker than enemies a lot of the time now, but can use boosts to clear them.
    
  • Mystic spawns more underlings now and can also boost, but is weaker overall.
    
  • Necromancer has a higher chance to spawn skeletons and can also boost, but is weaker overall.
    
  • Ninja is nerfed a bit: slower, less boost.
    
  • Paladin is totally different: instead of stopping the clock, she has a second shield behind her.
    
  • Piledriver got a major change: he has the acceleration movement and earthquake abilities the Dwarf used to have, but they're more extreme and more powerful the faster he goes.
    
  • Scout is given slightly more boost.
    
  • Sorcerer now attracts to spell scrolls, and can boost, but is weaker overall.
    
  • Wizard now always dies to enemies but is at a normal power level, so his spells are normally powerful. He also has much more buffed fireballs (they kill all enemies), but is no longer invincible at waypoints mid-level.
    
  • Rogue also always dies to enemies and has a normal power level, and is no longer invincible at waypoints mid-level.
    
  
  
• Made Verdantopia harder
  
• Decreased gameplay area at edges for certain TVs and monitors
  
• Added 2x versions of enemy sprites so they're not low res (but some still must be updated)
  
• Improved the motion detectors in Impopolis by adding a "don't walk" decal and adjusted their positioning
  
• Zoomed the game in slightly on wide aspect ratios
  
• Updated the BlitzMage and the won cutscenes to look better
  
• Improved the lighting around the player in the darkness - they now disappear into the black (rendered underneath it) and don't create light when they explode
  
• The aimer now appears on top of the darkness
  
• BlitzMage projectile hitboxes were greatly reduced, they were frustratingly large
  
• Added more stop waypoints to the Puddland levels
  
• When teleporting between levels in the Blitz Keep, the player now shrinks to look like they're disappearing
  
• Increased the length of the level popups the first time you see them
  
• Added shadows into the spell scrolls
  
• Greatly increased ease of using the lightbeam in Mausolia 1, every class should now be able to play that level
  
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed bug where the shop opened with a generic Knight description and 8888
  
• Fixed bug where some bosses had different invincibility timing on each limb
  
• Fixed enter button missing from level select
  
• Fixed issue where the life gem in Verdantopia still appears with 4 clones in the miniboss rooms
  
• The bottom wall now correctly overlaps characters who walk up to it (obeying perspective)
  
• Enemies, spell scrolls, potions, etc should all obey the same Z-sorting rules so that they also obey perspective
  
• Lighting for the player revive was fixed
  
• Fixed issue where you couldn't buy anything in the shop
  
• Fixed bug where, after dying with an unusual explosion (like fire) and then being revived, your next death showed the same (incorrect) explosion.
  
• When first entering a boss room, the invincibility shield is now properly shown
  
• Fixed bug where the options menu appeared under some of the gameplay UI
  
• Fixed bug where the level select stage zoom-in wouldn't remember your previous choice, always selecting the last unlocked level
  
• Fixed color artifacts on top of some of the exit stairways
  
• Fixed bug where the Ninja couldn't actually pick up the lightbeam spell in Mausolia 1
  

Changelog

Features

• Extreme balance pass – the entire game has been rebalanced. Previously, the stronger you got, the harder the game was (you would need to kill more enemies to level up). Although this was a nice curve, it caused unpredictable difficulty spreads (if you were diligent and killed more enemies in earlier levels, later levels would be especially difficult or even impossible). Changed the algorithm to have a predictable spread and difficulty.
  
• There is now an option to remove the game timer entirely
  
• Moved the delete user data feature to the options menu
  
• Overhaul of the Askar Bridge – there are no more double lasers since they were too difficult, the lasers now turn on and off with the wind, the wind now moves predictably and is more forgiving, and the miniboss fire mazes are signficantly more predictable and easier with less waiting.
  
• Askar Bridge boss major overhaul – the chicken boss now works quite well, throwing barrels at you and giving you a chance to hit it back.
  
• Major tutorial changes and improvements – it should be much clearer how to play now, and some of the tutorial rooms are less tedious
  
• Changes to the boss key – it now always spawns in the room leading to the boss, and spawns either if you are strong enough to take on the boss or if you clear the preceding room
  
• Theoretically no rooms should be unbeatable with different classes (previously, some classes that can't boost could not get beyond certain rooms)
  
• Greatly simplified the power system for some classes, so you're either too strong or you're not (mage, rogue), rather than needing to do weird math
  
• Major changes to how the level select works so it's more intuitive – there is a big enter button and you can't so easily select the wrong level accidentally. The level select also focuses on the most recent level you played instead of the farthest level you've reached, making it less annoying if you go back and play previous levels
  

Polish

• New art and animations for many of the bosses – much more beautiful and "alive" now
  
• Some new intro animations for bosses
  
• The shop has a scrollbar now so it's more clear that it can be scrolled
  
• The shop now has a "NEW ITEMS" notification when more is available for purchase
  
• The shield guard that tutorializes the glowing orbs is more obvious now
  
• New art in the Askar Bridge
  
• Changed text on the death screen to actually be useful with gameplay suggestions instead of flavor
  
• Changed stop mechanic to be nearly instant to avoid pesky deaths where the character stops too slowly
  
• Added new sound effects throughout the game
  
• Made it possible to do a shorter simpler finish for the Spookane 1 miniboss, but gain coins for doing the harder finish
  
• Made many trap rooms easier
  
• Improved aiming and throwing – now you can't accidentally throw your character when you were holding your shield up, you need to initiate a new click to throw
  
• Improvements to the stop pads – they are super predictable now and won't sometimes skip stopping you
  
• Mausolia's light projectile is majorly improved to actually feel reasonably useable
  
• Fix for the multi-trigger rooms in Verdantopia where sometimes they could be triggered without all being pressed. Also gave them a delay period where they remain pressed to make the Verdantopia minibosses easier
  
• Darkness in Mausolia will no longer kill you twice in a row when you have an extra life
  
• Now when you control multiple characters in Verdantopia, you must click on the door itself to exit (greatly reduces accidental exits with many characters)
  
• Made the swipe mechanic move the character slightly more per swipe
  
• Buying a new class now selects it immediately
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issue with the Aimer where it would jump to the wrong angle for a frame
  
• Latest version of Unity adds compatibility fixes for some machines
  
• The shooters in Spookane work more predictably
  
• Fixed some death screen issues on different aspect ratios
  
• Major performance improvements throughout, and memory leak fixes
  
• Laser beams now have a proper sprite when they kill you
  
• Fixed a bug where the shield and the bubble on the player would change color as you went through doors
  
• Fixed typos throughout
  
• Fixes for various rooms being oriented / entered the wrong way (boss rooms, some fireball rooms)
  
• Fixed the coin pickup animation so it originates in the right location
  
• Fixed the swipe particle effects so they originate in the right location
  
• Clouds on the level select are now big enough regardless of aspect ratio
  
• Fixed several issues in Amphibia levels – giant frogs not moving and animating properly, laser issues, problems with the mines room, stop pad issues
  
• Lots of Z-fighting issues fixed throughout
  
• Fixed tiny logo on start
  
• Major fixes to how multiple players syncing their power and items are handled, which fixes bugs found in Verdantopia and in multiplayer
  
• Fixed a bug where the chain slime spell wouldn't grant experience
  
• Fixed painfully loud boost sound in Verdantopia when many characters boost simultaneously
  

Changes

New Askar Bridge

• The level has no minimap.
  
• It's very very long, with no offshoot rooms or turns (perfectly linear).
  
• Wind blows throughout the level, at various frequencies. If you're moving around while the wind is blowing, then you will get blown with it. In some of the rooms, there are laser beams near the walls, so you have to be careful (use that Stop ability you learned in Impopolis)!
  
• The Owlish Overlord has been redone from scratch. Now she stands towards the top of the level and throws barrels that you must dodge. Meanwhile, you can shoot barrels back at her with careful aim.
  

New Verdantopia Bosses

Major Balance Pass

Major Art Improvements

• New laser beams
  
• New Skull tracker in Mausolia
  
• New ghost sprite in the death screen
  
• Special room cleanup / prettifying throughout
  
• Better loading screen on level win
  
• Prettier giant frogs
  
• Animation improvements to most bosses
  
• New safe zone graphic
  

Other fixes and improvements

• Poor quality special rooms removed from Verdantopia
  
• Typo fixes
  
• Bug fix where you had to hit crates multiple times
  
• Improved many tutorials throughout the game
  
• Redid the multi-gem tutorial in Verdantopia
  
• Added gold to the Abyss
  
• Slowed down the Tank slightly
  

• A completely new Askar Bridge! The scrolling level obviously wasn't working well, for a number of reasons. The new level is more like a traditional BlitzKeep level, except it's got wind that blows you around. It's much more fun.
  
• New Verdantopia minibosses, and majorly tweaked boss. Expect this to feel much more fun.
  
• Lots of art improvements, better animations, etc.
  
• Major gameplay balance tweaks.
  
• A massive trove of bug fixes.
  
• MORE
  

• New extra life item in the shop for 1000g! Now if you die after purchasing this item, you will come back to life immediately. Great for those harder levels! Note that the extra life does not work in multiplayer, Verdantopia, or the Askar Bridge.
  
• The game gets slightly easier each time you die. This was already feature, but we tuned it up so it's actually noticeable now. Try enough times and you should be strong enough to beat every level... but your high score will be lower! For high score seekers, whenever you hit restart or leave a level, this handicap resets.
  
• When you go to Quit during gameplay, it goes to the level select.
  
• The Black Hole is
• significantly* buffed. Its radius is larger, it really sucks enemies in now, and it kills every enemy, no matter how strong.
  
• The chain acid spell is also buffed.
  
• In Amphibia 3, the light orb enemies (the "Mote"s) will no longer attract to projectiles (like rogue knives) and have a little mini-tutorial.
  
• Various art improvements, like the protective bubble, some boulders in Puddland, lasers, etc.
  
• Fixes to controller input in Verdantopia when you're controller multiple characters. Significantly easier to control now.
  
• Some typo fixes.
  

• New intro popups tell you what level you're in, your character name, and your class.
  
• New boss intro animations! They should feel a bit more epic now.
  
• Audio levels support in Options! Turn that music down...
  
• Now click anywhere to start the selected level (previous UX was bad, had to click directly on that level).
  
• Actually added "Unleashed" to the intro animation. :-)
  
• New art work in lots of places: teleportation runes, character avatars (higher res), various icons.
  
• New art for the Malicious Maharaja. Animations are still a WIP.
  
• Now when you buy a new class, it's automatically selected.
  

• Fixed horrible bugs in the Askar Bridge that made it mostly unpayable and 100% unbeatable. Is playable and beatable now, but still needs work.
  
• Fixed major bug with the Malicious Maharaja (and other bosses, like the Amphibia ice shooter mini boss) where you win the level but then get killed by an add aferwards. Now, you cannot be harmed after killing a boss or mini-boss, or after hitting a button in a min-boss trap room.
  
• Fixed major bug where after having beaten a level once and come back to it, you'd be started on the boss immediately when dying in the level.
  
• It's now impossible to see the phased out "POW" rooms that were showing up sometimes and causing issues.
  
• Fixed bug where in multiplayer waypoints would be saved which wouldn't properly reset players' power levels after death.
  
• iCloud should no longer hassle Mac players.
  
• In multiplayer, you can no longer select classes you haven't unlocked.
  
• The camera no longer zooms out during multiplayer on The Askar Bridge.