Gross
GROSS -- Lunar New Year Festival
GROSS is now participating in the Lunar New Year Festival 2024. Hope you can enjoy our game!
GROSS -- Lunar New Year Sale
GROSS is now participating in the Lunar New Year Sale 2024. Hope you can enjoy our game!
1 year anniversary
It's been one year since GROSS was released, after being in development for over 18 months.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who gave this game a try, told their friends about it, gave me feedback, wrote a review or sent me some words of encouragement. Making a game is a huge journey and it wouldn't have been possible without you.
For the next two weeks, GROSS is 50% off. If you already own it, it makes an ideal present for in laws, new neighbors or as an ice breaker on first dates. And if you downloaded it from The Pirate Bay, now's a good chance to clear your conscience.
What have I been doing lately?
One of the most requested features for GROSS has been co-op multiplayer, so I've spent the last couple of months learning the core concepts of networked multiplayer. I don't like learning in a vacuum though, I need to learn with a clear goal in mind.
Which is why my learning took and takes place in a new game that I'll release later this year. It's a relatively simple game, combining key elements from Snake and Bomberman into a four way multiplayer game where players can mess with each other in all sorts of ways.
I originally planned for this to take a couple months at most, but it turns out building a multiplayer game comes with quite a few challenges of its own. Also, making an AI that allows CPU controlled snakes to find their way out of tricky situations was and is a bit of a challenge.
This game will take another couple months. In the meantime I've put a Steam page up for it, so if that sounds like your jam, feel free to add it to your wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2678860/nope_rope/
Does that mean GROSS will get co-op multiplayer?
Alas, no. Turns out, building a multiplayer game is very different from building a single player game. Since GROSS was not built with multiplayer in mind, adding it retroactively would be a huge task. A huge, very painful task. Essentially, it would require writing most of the game from scratch again.
So, what's going to happen then?
Once "nope rope" is released, I'll start on a third game. This will be a full sized 3D game of a similar scope as GROSS, but with multiplayer support and a level editor.
The concept I'm working on at the moment is another TD/FPS game. Not a successor to GROSS, a completely different beast, but that should scratch the same itches and hopefully improves on everything that wasn't perfect about GROSS. This particular concept includes a non-human protagonist and a lot of 3D/verticality. For the older crowd: Imagine a Tower Defense game mixed with Descent and Tyrian.
Whether this will actually see the light of day or I'll come up with a completely different game idea is something time will tell. Sometimes when you flesh out ideas on paper, or when you build a prototype, it turns out they're not as good as you thought. That's just part of the process.
Well thanks for telling us nothing, is there at least a timeline?
Due to different factors, not least of all my incessant need to eat food in regular intervals and my preference to not get constantly rained on (= have a roof over my head), I will return to working as an IT consultant again in a couple weeks. This means that game development will be a part time affair for me (2-3 days a week).
On one hand, this means that everything will take longer. "nope rope" will be released somewhere in 2024. The next big game will probably not make a public appearance before 2027.
On the other hand, this means I can take as long as I need with my games until I'm happy with the quality. I also plan to support my next game with new features and content for a longer time after it launched.
Is there anything else?
Nah, that's me done. Have a happy 2024 you crazy kids.
- Chris/Wildcard
Patch Notes 20.04.2023
Bug fixes
ATMs that were glooped didn't pick up existing cash once the gloop was gone.
Small bug/performance fixes.
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.
Patch Notes 10.04.2023
It has been a while since the last update. It's another relatively small patch, but I hope it will make the game a wee bit better nonetheless.
Features & other changes
Highscores now display the wave that players reached (this only works for highscores recorded with this and future versions of the game).
There is now extra score awarded at the end of each combat phase, based on how much health your base has left.
- The score you receive is 10
- [Current Wave Number]
- [Base Health in %]. A few examples:
If your base has 87% health left at the end of the 5th wave, you get 4’350 extra score.
Over 10 waves, you can gain a maximum of 55k extra score.
Over 20 waves, you can gain a maximum of 210k extra score.
Over 30 waves, you can gain a maximum of 465k extra score. - The score is awarded right when the last zombie dies and the 10 second grace period starts.
- The score is added directly to your total score and is not subject to a multiplier.
New health bars (better looking, not as cluttery, smaller performance impact).
Bug fixes
When changing languages, the “Exit game” button did not change its caption (until the settings menu was closed).
The collider on the maniac (punk) zombies bomb was bigger than intended when hitting it from certain angles.
When you shot at the foundation underneath an ATM with the cash attachment enabled, it didn’t register as a hit against the ATM and didn’t result in depositing cash. This is semi-intended, the foundation isn’t actually part of the ATM. But it’s not very intuitive, so now shooting the foundation results in deposits as well.
Cash bullets now are no longer stopped when hitting a hologram decoy.
Fixed overkill damage. The damage reported (both visually by the damage numbers and internally for scoring) is now capped to the actual health the enemy has left.
Fixed issues with floor textures/models in LAB.
Vanguards, when slowed down significantly, were no longer animated (technically they were animated, but the speed was so low that they looked static).
When switching from combat phase to construction phase while zoomed in on the MPV or the HURT-H, the FOV did not revert back.
A few (smaller) performance tweaks.
It was not possible to cancel the credits or speed up the text in story mode by controller.
Balancing
The exploding zombies with grenades in their mouth are now easier to blow up (the grenade is easier to hit).
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.
Permanent "discount"
The base price for GROSS has been reduced among all currencies, by roughly 25%:
$17.99 -> $12.99
£14.99 -> £10.99
€17.49 -> €12.79
etc.
Prices in Turkey and Argentina (areas where the recent recommended pricing changes from Steam hit extra hard) have been reduced by about 50%:
TL 175 -> TL 90
ARS$ 1,300 -> ARS$ 650
There has never been a better time to get a copy of GROSS! If you read this before the 16th of March, you might want to hold on a little longer though...
Patch Notes 01.03.2023
Intro
Hello there,
This is a quick interim patch, mainly to ship the new Spanish language option (a huge thank you to Julio Duran) as well as a few bug fixes.
Features & other changes
Spanish language option added (a big thank you to Julio Duran!).
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug that prevented the shotgun from aiming down sights after it was reloaded.
Mannequins in HOME were not targeted by smart rounds.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused zombies to spawn for 1 frame with a red outline.
Fixed a bug that made it possible that hologram decoys sometimes activated in mid air.
Modifiers (player speed, base health, etc.) are no longer displayed in the end game screen after a game in story mode (where modifiers don’t apply).
The turret controllers laser now looks more like a laser instead of a plastic stick.
Balancing
SMART rounds are now more consistent and are no longer based on the type of bullets that were loaded before loading them. For example, it was possible to load SMART rounds based on Wadcutter rounds (no headshot multiplier, bad) or from Reaper rounds (massive headshot multiplier, too good). Now, SMART rounds have their own damage value, always have a 2x headshot modifier, and offer no penetration or stopping power.
The optic on the MPV and the HURT-V is now magnified, recoil is reduced significantly while aiming down sights.
The SMI’s recoil has been reduced significantly.
Reduced the score/multiplier for throwing and blowing up hologram decoys.
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.
Patch Notes 03.01.2023
Intro
Hello there,
This is a quick interim patch, mainly to ship the new Spanish language option (a huge thank you to Julio Duran) as well as a few bug fixes.
Features & other changes
Spanish language option added (a big thank you to Julio Duran!).
Bug fixes
Fixed a bug that prevented the shotgun from aiming down sights after it was reloaded.
Mannequins in HOME were not targeted by smart rounds.
Fixed a bug that sometimes caused zombies to spawn for 1 frame with a red outline.
Fixed a bug that made it possible that hologram decoys sometimes activated in mid air.
Modifiers (player speed, base health, etc.) are no longer displayed in the end game screen after a game in story mode (where modifiers don’t apply).
The turret controllers laser now looks more like a laser instead of a plastic stick.
Balancing
SMART rounds are now more consistent and are no longer based on the type of bullets that were loaded before loading them. For example, it was possible to load SMART rounds based on Wadcutter rounds (no headshot multiplier, bad) or from Reaper rounds (massive headshot multiplier, too good). Now, SMART rounds have their own damage value, always have a 2x headshot modifier, and offer no penetration or stopping power.
The optic on the MPV and the HURT-V is now magnified, recoil is reduced significantly while aiming down sights.
The SMI’s recoil has been reduced significantly.
Reduced the score/multiplier for throwing and blowing up hologram decoys.
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.
Patch Notes 27.02.2023
Intro
Hello there,
This patch mainly works on performance issues. Frame rates should now be a lot more stable at later stages. There are still a few things left to do which will follow in later patches.
Coming soon
The next patch will focus mostly on minor bug fixes, and will also include one or two bigger feature changes. Which ones, I haven't yet decided. (wow, what a helpful paragraph this was!)
Now off to the actual patch notes:
Performance
SHOTGUN, OH DEER, DEAD END, CONFLICT, BULWARK: Reduced polygon count by about 25% (millions of triangles sacrificed their lives for better performance), mostly by reducing vegetation.
Other levels: Reduced polygon count slightly.
Optimized path finding to take load off the CPU.
Many other small tweaks to optimize performance.
Frame rate increase (depending on level, situation and hardware) between 10 and 50%.
Features & other changes
Changed the way depositing cash works with the cash attachment:
Old: Holding the button/key transferred cash from your pocket to a bullet. Shooting this bullet at an ATM transferred that cash from the bullet to your bank account. If you missed the ATM, a cash pickup spawned at the point of impact. No matter how far the ATM was upgraded, 100% of the money was deposited into the bank account.
New: If the attachment is active, and a bullet hits an ATM, cash in your pocket is transferred to your bank account. The amount of cash transferred by each bullet is identical to the damage of that bullet. For example, a Vampyre’s high explosive round deposits $212.50, an Arrow’s hollow point bullet deposits $45. There is no need to long press the button/key, and there is no chance of losing cash by missing the ATM. As the new maximum for an ATMs conversion rate is 110%, money deposited this way always converts at 110%.
Changed the way depositing cash works with the cash grenade:
Old: Double pressing the button/key threw a cash deposit grenade that carried some of the cash from your pocket. If it landed near (inside 5m range) of an ATM, the cash got deposited in your bank account. If you missed the ATM, a cash pickup spawned.
New: When a regular cash pickup grenade (thrown by a single press) lands near an ATM, it deposits 75% of the cash in your pocket in the ATM. There is no chance of losing money anymore and 110% of the cash deposited this way ends up in your bank account.
There is now an ATM in HOME to let you practice depositing cash via attachment or grenade.
When reloading, your bullet count now updates once the new magazine is inserted (before: once the reload animation was completely finished). If you abort the reload animation with any action (melee, throw, weapons swap) after that point, the gun is treated as fully reloaded.
When you achieve a new high score, the end game screen makes it easier to change the text for the local high score list as well as selecting your flag.
Tracers are now a bit prettier.
Bug fixes
Fixed an issue that sometimes caused cash pickups to fall through the floor.
Fixed an issue that sometimes kept global high scores from being submitted.
When a Joggernaut got stunned just before or during throwing up, the vomit particles were stopped but the gloop/damage effect was still applied.
Zombies that are carrying explosives did still explode when they got close to the player, even when stunned.
Turrets were able to contribute to the score streak in certain situations (like the nailgun when hitting more than one enemy with a single projectile).
Cash pickups now collide with the invisible walls that keep the player from leaving the level bounds. This is especially important in SHIPMEND, where there are invisible walls around the big ships and the cash pickups were able to fall down into the bays where players couldn’t recover them.
Fixed various issues with the way SMART rounds handled money. It was possible to unintentionally both gain and lose money.
It was a bit hard to select certain levels on the map (mostly LAB and SHOTGUN), this works better now.
Sticky grenades that were stuck on a zombie were attached to the “base” of the zombie instead of the individual body part that they stuck to. They now attach to (and move with) the actual body part (just like the incendiary burns).
The text to tell players they weren’t allowed to construct something was too wide and got wrapped.
A teleporter that landed on an angled/slanted surface did not stay there (like the road in SUMMIT).
Fixed an issue where ADS (aiming down sights) sometimes lagged a bit when both walking and shooting before pressing the aim key/button.
When reloading an endless game, some parameters (like jump height) weren’t properly applied.
Improved Anti Aliasing. White outline/edges as well as “nervous vibrating/flickering” are reduced.
Scopes did not render hologram decoys.
It was possible for zombies to squeeze through the narrow gap between the construction grid and the workshop/office in SHIPMEND.
The SG90 now more accurately hits where you aim.
Enlarged the front post of the CyKa’s iron sights and corrected the sight picture: The gun now hits exactly above the front post.
Some throwables (e.g. cash grenade, teleporter) spawned in the place the previous throwable of the same place expired.
Sticky grenades sometimes bounced off instead of attaching if the target was very close to the player.
When starting the next (as of yet not completed) story level from HOME and setting the difficulty, it was ignored and overridden by the last difficulty you used with the switch in the RV.
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.
Patch Notes 28.01.2023
Intro
Hello there,
This patch took a bit longer than anticipated, and I apologize for that. Apart from the bug fixes, it addresses two major issues that players (understandably) have with the game:
- The story mode is too hard.
- The game forces players to play the story before letting them play endless mode.
Both these issues are based on decisions I made that haven't been fully thought through. I hope I'm rectifying them with this patch. Otherwise please let me know below or via in game feedback.
Coming soon
I'll try to add this coming soon section to the patch notes from now on so that you know what you can expect from the patch after this one. The next patch will include a few more bug fixes but will mostly be focused on optimizing the performance.
Now off to the actual patch notes:
Features & other changes
A new main menu with the following options:
- Start/continue the story, and experience all levels in story mode one after the other.
- Enter HOME, where you can replay the levels you have already completed in story and endless mode, with all the gear you have unlocked in story mode.
- Enter HOME with everything unlocked and all levels available. If you have played the demo, are familiar with the games concepts and don’t care about the story, this option is for you.
- Play the TUTORIAL. This tutorial was only included in the demo version of the game before, but has now been added to the full game, so that players who want to skip the story can learn all the basic game mechanics in a quick way.
You can go back into the main menu at any stage from the “Escape” menu. The main menu is only available in the full version of the game. The demo sends you straight into HOME.
Added duffel bags full of cash to the range in HOME, which spawn cash pickups when shot. You can use this to get a feel of the pickup range of cash bullets and grenades, and also to get money to try out other equipment like sticky grenades or hologram decoys.
When you reload while having a few Smart Rounds left, the money for these remaining rounds is now returned to you.
Increased the rate at which the story text reveals if you press any key.
It is now possible to rapidly build the same object (e.g. barricades or mines) by keeping the mouse button pressed.
In endless mode, the maximum wave number is no longer shown as “99”, but as “–“. The value of “99” has misled some players into believing that it’s possible to reach wave 99, and that wave 99 is the final wave in endless mode.
Balancing
Cash drops in story mode are increased by 25%. Story mode is supposed to introduce players to the game and was too hard / did not drop enough money. I hope this is more enjoyable now, otherwise please let me know.
On top of that, also changed the cash amounts in story and endless mode based on difficulty:
- Easy: Increased cash drops a lot
- Normal: Increased cash drops a little
- Hard: Decreased cash drops a little
- Ultra: Decreased cash drops a little more
Changed the ATM’s base conversion rate and its upgrades:
- Old: 70% base, 2×15% upgrades for a maximum of 100% conversion rate.
- New: 80% base, 3×10% upgrades for a maximum of 110% conversion rate.
This means that you can get 10% extra cash if you let an ATM pick up money for you. It also means you can get an extra 10% by dropping your pocket change off at an ATM. But be careful, any cash that you drop at the ATM, that is not picked up by it by the time the combat is over, will evaporate.
Bug & performance fixes
After a melee attack, the player was stuck in an unintended idle state for a certain time (up to several hundred milliseconds, depending on what gun was equipped).
A few fixes to Italian language texts.
Many small performance optimizations.
While in the settings menu, manually skipping to the next song or switching streamer mode on/off (which also switches to another song) did not fade out the old song until the settings window was closed.
SUMMIT: Fixed an issue where the player couldn’t build anything on a particular grid node.
BULWARK: Fixed two holes in the level geometry.
If you encounter a bug, please report it straight away ingame by pressing F1 and describing the issue. This makes it a lot easier for me to replicate and fix it. If you would like any direct feedback, don't forget to include your email address.