This update has been released earlier than planned in light of recent abusive behaviour by certain players. To this end, automatic countermeasures are now in place and you may also report inappropriate player behaviour directly from the game itself. Anyone can report anyone else, but to prevent the system from being abused (sigh), there is an internal “reputation” algorithm that decides how important each report is. The details of this algorithm will not be made public, but suffice it to say that:
If you are a player of low reputation, your reports will not have any effect, especially if you are reporting high-reputation players.
If you abuse the reporting system by making malicious, deceptive, or inappropriate reports, you will lower your own reputation and your own account may be blocked or deleted.
The intention is to make this system fully automated after an initial training and calibration phase. In the meantime, all reports are manually reviewed and bans are individually approved.
In all likelihood, this will be the last major update before Early Access ends on the game’s 4th anniversary (since version 1, which was released December 15th 2018). This is what will change after Early Access:
The startup Early Access nag screen will be removed from the game.
New accounts will no longer receive the “Early Access” medal.
That’s about it.
There really won’t be any more differences than that. Development will continue as usual. The immediate priority over the next two months is to release the iOS version, followed by the Android version. While this is underway, only minor additions and bugs will be fixed on the stand-alone / Steam branch.
Party like it’s 2002! is still the default in v.125, but it can be disabled through the main menu (you must restart the game to enable it again). As a reminder, this mode simulates an (approximately) authentic 2002 experience: graphics have been reduced in color and resolution, music has been replaced with era-appropriate tracks, and certain special effects have been disabled.
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-125/25540
Early Access version 124
Party like it’s 2002! “Chicken Invaders: The Next Wave” (a.k.a. Chicken Invaders 2) was released on 22 December 2002.To commemorate the 20th anniversary of that occasion, CIU supports a special mode which simulates an (approximately) authentic 2002 experience: graphics have been reduced in color and resolution, music has been replaced with era-appropriate tracks, and certain special effects have been disabled.
CIU v.124 always starts off in this mode, but it can be disabled through the main menu (you must restart the game to enable it again). Also, for technical reasons, this mode is not available on Android.
Admittedly, this mode comes a bit earlier than expected, because there are three main events in December and unfortunately they all come very close together:
“Chicken Invaders Universe” leaving Early Access on December 15th
“Chicken Invaders: The Next Wave” 20th anniversary on December 22nd
Christmas Edition on December 25th
Some of these events clash together (e.g. music replacements from 20th anniversary and Christmas), so I’ve decided to spread them out a bit so that they don’t overlap. Starting with the next version, 2002 party mode will still be available, but it will not be the default startup mode (because not everyone is familiar with Chicken Invaders history, and it would not be appropriate to leave Early Access with 20-year-old look as default).
Finally, this version re-enables cross-platform multiplayer (Windows vs Android), which had been temporarily disabled until a crashing bug could be fixed. This was one of the most elusive bugs and it took almost two weeks to track down, because… compilers.
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-124/25402
Early Access version 123
Thanksgiving Edition! Well, as close to it as I can get, at least. I tried to port as much content from CI4 Thanksgiving as possible, but there were time and technical constraints (specifically, it was not possible to turn the basic chicken breeds into turkeys -- although they do sound like them!). Anyway, enjoy it while it lasts.
Otherwise, this update includes a lot of improvements to the mobile input/control system, as well as some instrumentation to catch some multiplayer crashes. To support this, some control options were added (which sadly means your menu options have been reset in this update again :( )
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-123/25207
Early Access version 122
A maintenance release with lots of bug fixes and improvements related mainly to the new Android version. Speaking of which, you can find the Android version here: Android (experimental preview) . Carefully read through the notes, because it's still experimental.
Note that due to the addition of new options, all your saved menu Options have been reset.
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-122/24998
Early Access version 121
MAIN CHANGES Halloween edition! You know what this means! Be afraid, be very afraid! :zombie:
In contrast to other CIU seasonal editions so far, new re-skin content has been created specifically for this one. Enjoy it while you can.
Also, a couple of other announcements:
ANDROID VERSION
There will be an Android version. And it’s coming soon. Like, real soon. Within the next month.
Well, sort of. It turns out that it’s too risky to release the iOS version directly, because in case of problems, all game updates must be first approved by Apple, which will take several days each time. So there needs to be a faster/easier way to update the game, at least for the initial few weeks. And the player base needs to be large enough to catch most bugs quickly. Hence, Android. There are some caveats, however:
The game will be provided in .apk format, which you will have to install manually. No Google Play store version.
No ads, no in-app purchases (except maybe through a web browser, like the stand-alone version).
This will be an experimental version to work out the mobile port kinks, and it will be temporarily discontinued after it has served its purpose. If the iOS version goes well, then Android eventually appear officially in the store, but that is several more months down the line.
EARLY ACCESS EXIT
The game will exit Early Access on the game’s 4th anniversary (since version 1, namely December 15th 2018). What does this mean, exactly? Well, feast your eyes on this huge list of consequences:
The startup Early Access nag screen will be removed from the game.
New accounts will no longer receive the “Early Access” medal.
That’s about it.
There really won’t be any more differences than that. Development will continue as usual. The rate of updates might slow down, and it might become necessary to split the game into “stable” and “beta” branches, but that will be more a result of releasing the smartphone versions rather than exiting Early Access.
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-121/24731
Early Access version 120
Not much to say about this one, just a maintenance update with a lot of tweaks and bug fixes.
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-120/24448
Chicken Invaders Universe music by 2dB
For those of you that missed it, 2dB ( 2dbmusic.com ) graciously shared a few videos about his new music compositions (which were very recently added to the game). Enjoy!
Chicken Invaders Universe: behind the music (step 1/3): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rQvJTrnI_4k (This is a YouTube "short", which won't appear correctly within Steam)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-d7ByFT8Kg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Q58w8e7E0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhOVMs0SC5o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeooKet0Os8
Bonus nonsense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-gL1OxOevA
Early Access version 119
MAIN CHANGES
Due to changes in the scoring rules, this update had to be delayed waiting for the Galactic Cup to end.
Quests have been introduced in this update. Quests are sets of goals that you gradually fulfil as you play the game. Completing all goals in your current quest will advance you to the next milestone. Completing enough milestones will advance to to the next quest rank. Current goals are chosen randomly from this set:
Accumulate the specified amount of flight time (in minutes).
Fly the specified amount of waves.
Fire the specified number of shots. To count, each shot must impact an enemy.
Fire the specified number of satellite shots.
Collect the specified number of gifts.
Collect the specified number of atom power-ups (excluding charity atoms).
Collect the specified number of food units.
Collect the specified number of golden coins that drop from enemies.
Kill the specified number of enemies.
Earn the specified number of medals.
Earn the specified number of bonuses.
Enter orbit on the specified number of galactic landmarks. Each landmark should be of the specified type.
Enter orbit on the specified number of planets. Each planet must be of the specified type.
Visit the specified number of star systems.
Visit the specified number of constellations.
Fly the specified number of missions. Missions must be unique and of the specified type. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Fly the specified number of missions. Missions must be unique and at least as difficult as the specified amount. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Fly the specified number of missions. Missions must be unique and have the specified environment. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Fly the specified number of missions. Missions must be unique and part of the Galactic Cup. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Fly the specified number of missions. Missions must be unique dares flown as part of the League. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Fly the specified number of missions. You must exclusively use the specified weapon for the duration of each mission. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Use the specified equipment during missions. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
Use the specified spacecraft during missions. Only victorious missions count towards this goal.
:warning: Quests are still experimental. It’s quite probable that bugs will be found, or the set of goals will be modified/expanded based on your suggestions, or progression to be made easier/harder depending on how fast players are advancing through the ranks. It might even become necessary to reset your ranking. You have been warned.
Also, “Weapon Virtuosity” calculation has changed. Each additional weapon used during the mission has the potential to award up to +1% bonus (depending on how balanced usage is w.r.t. the most-used weapon). A quadratic falloff is applied in order to boost nearly-balanced usages. Non-competitive missions receive +3% for starting with Moron and +25% for using Moron exclusively.
Last but not least, one new music track and one new background!
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-119/24178
Early Access version 118
Yet another another unexpected update (so I guess this makes it an expected unexpected update?). The main addition are Budget Constraint missions. These are daily challenge missions where everyone flies with the same minimal loadout. For the next 3 days, daily challenges will be Budget Constraints. Afterwards, Budget Constraint appears with a 20% probability each day (another 40% for Daily Mission (renamed to “Today’s Scramble”), 20% Weapons Training, and 20% Pot Luck).
Also, some balancing changes to Positron Stream, Plasma Rifle, and Laser Cannon. And new backgrounds!
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-118/23816
Early Access version 117
Yet another unexpected update. The main addition are Pot Luck missions. These are daily challenge missions where everyone flies with the same spacecraft and equipment. For the next 3 days, daily challenges will be Pot Luck. Afterwards, Pot Luck appears with a 20% probability each day (another 20% for Weapons Training, and the remaining 60% for regular Daily Missions).
More information about this update can be found here: https://forum.chickeninvaders.com/t/early-access-version-117-2/23469
