-Dramatically changed the AI of most enemies and bosses
-Most enemies have significantly less HP
-Some weaker enemies have slightly more HP
-Boom Blob enemy changed completely to Fire Blob
-New enemy: Frostspark
-The Yeti boss fires its lazorz
-Fixed Yeti boss being offscreen for too long sometimes
-Lowered enemy spawn rates in dungeons
-Adjusted enemy spawn rates in the overworld
-Made the healthbars flicker when unable to pickup a heart/chestplate
-Made "go-to" dungeon rooms glow
-Enemies spawned by arenas can no longer go through barriers
-Increased the dungeon focus border by 4 tiles on all sides
-Harmful puddles flash less frequently
-Remaining hazards are now destroyed on boss defeat
-Made Bombcano's self destruct warning more obvious
-Normal Apocaleye enemies no longer travel through walls
-Made arenas thinner vertically
-Buffed Glove weapon
-Added a yellow glow to awesome weapons' icons
-Other minor changes, various bug fixes, and slight performance boosts
Bad News About Earth Overclocked
I am afraid to announce that, after the Linux port and the AI update, Earth Overclocked will not be receiving future major content patches. This means that the Trials expansion has been canceled.
I apologies for this bad news. There are two major reasons why this decision has been made, both listed below.
1. Both the software used to make the game and the engine itself are unreliable. Since this was the first really big project that the team has made, a lot of mistakes were made during the development of the game, leading to unstable code that is now difficult to maintain support for regarding future content patches. There is also the fact that we are rather unhappy with the software we used to create the game, GameMaker: Studio. GameMaker: Studio is fantastic for creating small, simple games in a very small amount of time. After 3 grueling years of working on Earth Overclocked, however, we learned the hard way that this software isn't well-structured for large projects. I understand that large successful games have been made with this software such as Undertale and Hotline Miami, and good for the developers that pulled that off, but the programmers in the Chronicle Bench team have not really enjoyed using the software ourselves to make a big game.
There is also the problem that as GameMaker: Studio receives more and more updates, it becomes more and more unstable. It has way more bugs than it did a few years ago and my team is basically fed up with poor treatment of the software.
In fact I just loaded up GameMaker: Studio today after a long time of not using it, ready to finish off the AI update and release it after this weekend, and was greeted with this error constantly spamming my screen:
2. We are putting full attention into an entirely new, completely different game. Right after the full launch of Earth Overclocked, my team has started development for a simple turn-based RPG called Coded Universe. You can read our devlog here: https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=54417.0
We are excited to be making this game, since it is my true dream game that tells a very personal story of mine which I created when I was younger. It is dedicated to my coding partner and best friend Aaron Griffin, whom I met through the roleplay that created this story and is currently helping me make Coded Universe a reality. My team wants to put full-focus into this game, and in order to do this we need to move on from Earth Overclocked, which we already completed anyways.
The AI update will still be coming and I will still try to get a Linux port out as well as fix any future bug reports, but major content patches are no longer going to be occurring.
Upcoming "Enemy AI" Update
As stated in an earlier news post, before we work on the free Trials Expansion for Earth Overclocked, we want to improve the game. Chronicle Bench has decided to make a pre-expansion update that will focus on enhancing enemy AI. The goal is to ensure that every enemy and boss in the game feel very different from each other. We feel that this improvement will be the most beneficial one for the upcoming expansion.
So be prepared for this update! You may have to change your game plan a bit with the new enemy AI patterns. Some will be smarter, some will be more passive, and some will be completely different altogether.
Here is a demo showcasing the new Plant Wizard AI in Earth Overclocked's secret testing chamber. They now ignore the player completely and mind their own business, but are a bit more aggressive with their minion summoning. Try to avoid getting surrounded!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzNiD-TB80E
Technical Issues (SOLVED)
EDIT: We just released a version of the game that was compiled under an older version of Steam SDK in order to fix the "game not starting" issue on the latest version of the Steam client. The game will run on the latest version of Steam now. There is a small bug involving the game crashing when you try to exit normally, and we'll look into it later. All we know is that this bug is Steam related, and it's pretty harmless.
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Apparently a Steam update was released that completely keeps our game from operating with Steam, thus keeping the game from working.
We believe it is a Steam-sided issue and will clear this out ASAP.
UPDATE: There is a workaround for Windows users. In the steamapps folder for the game, delete the steam_api.dll. This does mean that achievements won't be obtainable for now.
UPDATE 2: We are recompiling the game under an older Steam SDK to see if this works.
UPDATE 3: It works, but there appears to be a bug. The game crashes when you attempt to exit the normal way. We're trying to address this now, then make it publicly available.
January 22 Update Rolled Back, MASSIVE Apologies For Lost Saves, New Save Recovery Program
A small update we released a few days ago was apparently deleting people's saves. Whoever has played the game since the update on January 22 has lost their save files. This is a deep apologies from the team.
We just released a January 26 update for Windows that mimics the January 7th update. The Mac version was rolled back to the January 7th update directly.
WE ARE ALSO OFFERING TO CREATE SAVES BASED ON EARNED ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THOSE AFFECTED! FRIEND ME ON STEAM AND I WILL SEND YOU RECOVERED SAVES!
This is a new low for us and we sincerely apologize for the screwup. You have every right to be mad, and I will do what I can to fix this. Please friend me and I will give you saves with restored progress. It's a good thing that Steam achievements are a thing, at least.
We will fix almost all damage caused to customers and ensure that this won't happen again.
EDIT: Note that it is not possible for me to recover scores and statistics, only the unlockable content.
Expansion Announced: Trials
The poll we submitted about a month ago concerning the Earth Overclocked free expansion is now a very close split between the two modes, Trials and Endless Dungeon. Chronicle Bench will now break the split.
EXPANSION THEME: TRIALS
The Earth Overclocked free expansion will feature a brand new mode called Trials, which puts the player in a variety of different preset combat scenarios. We will reveal more information about the mode over time, but the expansion will also feature some extra goodies.
BEFORE THE EXPANSION...
Before we work on the expansion, there are two major problems with Earth Overclocked right now that we want to address: some issues with the game that have been brought to our attention, and the lack of a Linux port. Expect a few updates in the near future to improve Earth Overclocked based on feedback. At the same time, we will be trying to get Earth Overclocked working on Linux.
THE CORRUPT SAVE PROBLEM
We are aware that the game cannot save your progress properly on a small group of machines, making the game practically unplayable for this group of users. We are working on a solution to this problem. For now, if you experience the bug (you will get either an error about data structures or a corrupt save message on game startup), you are encouraged to refund the game.
Do NOT Use BETA Client for Earth Overclocked
We have gotten reports that Earth Overclocked does not work on Steam BETA. Please use the normal client for running the game. Thanks!
Patch v1.0.2.0
1.0.2 (Windows), 1.0.2 (Mac OS X) (January 7, 2016) -The cursor is far more visible
-Made the game auto-pause and clear player interactions when window is unfocused
-Added Steam screenshot functionality
-Made players teleport when shoved into an object
-Players can no longer teleport to other players stuck in an object
-Prevented prop clusters from spawning outside the boundaries of the map
Patch v1.0.1.0
1.0.1 (Windows), 1.0.1 (Mac OS X) (December 28, 2015)
-Slight changes to the save system
-Fixed patches and alternate tiles generating incorrectly
-Fixed Armadillo + Patch hiccup
-Patched a memory leak
-Fixed torch generation
-Slightly nerfed Elite Flub's speed (It was slightly higher than the max)
-Fixed the FPS showing in the Conclusion intro
-Prevented XX:60.00
-Fixed various weapon stat duplications
-Fixed long player names in the interface
-Added a better player indicator in 3-4 player
-Fixed players teleporting in the boss room
-Prevented enemies from bouncing off ghost players
-The "Dash" key is now configurable for Key + Mouse Controls
-Colt 1000 projectiles are now slightly homing
-Other small changes and fixes
EDIT: There appears to be an issue preventing the installation of the latest update for Windows. We're trying to get this fixed. We believe that it is Valve's end.
EDIT 2: Nevermind, turns out I forgot to update the review copy and that was overriding the updated version for those who had review copies. It is fixed now.
First Free Expansion Poll: Trials vs Endless Dungeon
A bug fix patch is coming to Earth Overclocked soon! We were going to release it on Christmas, but then Steam had that really weird screwup.
In the meantime, next year I will be working on Earth Overclocked's first free expansion! We have two ideas for the expansion, but I would like to know what is a more popular idea from you guys.
Trials Trials is a level-based mode where each level puts you in a combat scenario against a theme of enemies with certain weapons. For example, in "Obligatory Zombie Apocalypse," You fight hordes of zombies and skeletons with a chainsaw and shotgun. In "Tree Bros.," you fight immobile Tree Monster and Treebot at the same time with nothing but a tree branch. Some trials also force you to survive without any offensive capability. In the Trials game mode, most of your assigned weapons are much stronger than the ones in the other game modes, but enemies come in hordes.
Endless Dungeon Endless Dungeon is a dungeon with an infinite amount of floors, each one more difficult than the last and introducing new enemies to deal with. The theme switches every few floors, which changes up the enemy pools a bit. Floors are typically smaller than the single floor dungeons found in Earth Overclocked's Distorted Earth and Earth Unleashed game modes. Your objective is to descend as far as you can.
You can vote on the straw poll below. The one with the most votes after an unspecified time period will be the theme of the expansion.
