Break
Break V1.5 Released!
This version includes trophies (as soon as I set the trophies to live, which should happen momentarily). There are about 50 trophies, roughly evenly divided between level completion trophies and other fun types of trophies. I haven't been able to test the trophies as extensively as I'd like due to weird technical reasons, so they may still have a bug or two. Let me know if you find any.
I rebalanced the enemies and weapons mainly reducing the random range of enemy damage, and increasing the damage and speed of some weapons in response to player feedback. The random range of enemy damage is about 40% smaller than it was before. I basically just reduced max damage and increased minimum damage, so the overall feel should be roughly the same. Likewise, the damage of some weapons has been increased in response to player feedback. I spent a long time trying to find a good rebalance, so hopefully this one is good.
This version includes a ton of bug fixes including some related to shaders and rendering. I haven't been able to test these on an AMD Radeon card yet (because I don't own one), only on NVidia. According to the recent Steam surveys, about 75% of players use NVidia, so hopefully this will work fine. Eventually I'd like to test it on AMD and Intel chipsets, but I'd need to buy them first. Anyway, should work fine on NVidia, hopefully it also works right on AMD and Intel, but the fallback shaders and fallback rendering should work correctly if not.
I'm pretty much the only one testing this, so I apologize if there are any bugs. Let me know if you run across any. I've probably forgotten some other stuff, but go ahead and check this version out and let me know what you think!
Thanks for playing, and for all your support and kind words over the years.
New Patch! Level fixes, and things to look forward to!
I also updated some levels with better "labeling" of doors that require keys. Previously, I didn't put the proper visual "labeling" (a colored texture around the outside of the door) on every single door requiring keys because some doors were intended as exit only. However, this was confusing to players and a mistake, so I've tried to go through and clearly "label" each door with the proper texture around the outside of the door. I may have a missed a door or two in the process, hopefully not though! Let me know if any doors are confusing.
I also fixed some areas on the second to last level where you couldn't reach stuff, where monsters couldn't properly step down from their alcove, and where the teleporters didn't look like teleporters.
Remember that currently these level changes won't affect saved game files because saved games save the entire game. However, because I've been patching the levels so much, I'm planning on implementing a system so that saved games will be patched when the levels are patched. This will take a bit of work (and is difficult to implement), so bear with me for right now, but I'd like to include this feature in the next patch.
Here's something else coming in the next patch: achievements! Yes, by popular demand, I'll be implementing achievements. The reason I didn't implement these to begin with is because the game has a scripting language and custom worlds, and so the most natural way to implement achievements would be through the scripting language. However, if I add it to the scripting language, then anyone would be able to just write a script that gives them all the achievements! The alternative is to manually check in the engine to see if the player is playing the included main game world, and if they have reached a certain point, etc. This is a bit ugly, but it's the route I've decided to go with. So achievements should be in the next version.
I don't have an ETA for this next major patch/version, especially because I want to implement a system that allows for saved games to be patched when the world is patched. So no timeline yet, but I'm going to work hard on it, and I'll keep you all up to date!
Thank you so much everybody for trying my game. It's always great to hear that people are playing it and having fun with it. Seriously, every time someone says they're having fun with my game, that really makes my whole day. So thank you so much everybody!
If anyone out there finds any bugs, remember you can always email me at feedback@arcadeartistry.com or you can stop by the discord at https://discord.gg/VRNmHJGznd and drop me a line. I apologize if I'm a little slow responding to the email, I pretty much never get any email at that address. Allan's email was in fact the very first, so thanks again Allan! I do get a lot of spam at that email address though, so hopefully I haven't missed anyone's email.
Anyway, thanks again everybody. You are all amazing!
Patch: Title demo desync fixed.
I implemented a quick hack here to get them synced again, but in the long run I should probably rerecord the two affected demos and remove this quick hack.
New patch: difficulty reverted back to original, some bug fixes.
Because I reverted the difficulty changes, I may have accidentally reintroduced some minor map problems that I had previously fixed. I tried to make sure I got them all, but it's a difficult process and it's easy to miss small things. So if you notice anything like a door that doesn't work, or an enemy stuck in a wall, or a missing or incorrect texture, let me know! I'm going to try to go over it with a fine tooth comb pretty soon, but if you see anything before then, let me know. There should only be small errors like this on the map though, if you notice anything big or game breaking, let me know in the discord ASAP!
This release also contains some bug fixes in the engine itself. There is a small bug in the multilayer system that still exists, but luckily it's a rare and unusual circumstance. Essentially, if you have two lines on two different layers that merge, and if these lines are far apart vertically but each represents an open area, then if you have a third sector running inbetween (vertically) these two lines, then the lines will be registered as walls in that middle sector. It's a very rare circumstance because you have to have two walls on different layers that are merged, but far apart vertically, then a third unconnected sector running through the middle. I do plan on fixing this, but the fix is complex, and the situation is rare, so it'll take a while. For now, if you encounter this problem, just add a line to the middle sector that merges with the other two.
There are still some minor map things that need attention. I'm going to put indicators around each door that specify the key required. Currently most doors have this, but some doors I decided to not include this on for various reasons. This was a mistake, I should actually highlight all doors the same way. Likewise, there are a couple of platforms in the later levels that the player can't reach, and there are some monsters who are in alcoves too high for them to step down out of. Finally, the second to last level contains teleporters that are not clearly teleporters. This level was one of the early levels I made, before I set the teleporter design in stone, so I need to go in and update the look of these teleporters. Oh, I might also add an effect to teleporters to indicate teleport. I initially wanted to use all silent teleporters because they're used so much in Doom wads, but I'm thinking about including regular loud teleporters as well. Anyway, these will all be fixed in the next day or two.
As always, if you run into any bugs, or have any feature suggestions, visit the discord and let me know!
Critical emergency patch.
Thanks to Lancer-X for finding all these bugs. I would never have known about these without him.
I also reverted most of the difficulty changes in one way or another. Some parts are probably easier than before, others harder, probably a wash overall. Difficulty is hard to get right :( Let me know if anything is too easy or too hard, if there's anywhere with too little ammo or too much.