Gunlocked

Sectors and Stingers Update

• An updated synergy bar with more info and clarity
  
• 720p windowed mode option (for something between the base window and fullscreen)
  
• Alternate ship colors
  
• Better damage feedback for the player ship and a low shields alert
  
• Updated Queen behavior, balance, and art
  

• New weapons and utilities
  
• New Symbionic upgrade type and mechanics
  
• New persistent augments to unlock and equip
  
• New pilots
  
• Some reimagined and rebalanced upgrades
  
• New achievements
  

Now onto THIS patch!:

• Note: This level is currently in beta, and everything from balance, to art, to sound and music will improve over the coming weeks.
  
• A new level has been added: The Rachni Belt
  
• New Boss: The Sting King
  
• New Sub Boss: The Princer
  
• 7 new standard enemies
  
• 3 new backgrounds unique to the Rachni Belt
  
• 1 new music track
  
• 1 new achievement: King Me: Defeat 9 Hive Queen ships across all games. (unlocks the Rachni Belt).
  - Note: If you've already done this, you will simply need to enter the Apoid Colony level and then die. The game was already saving how many times you defeated the Hive Queen boss, it will just need to trigger and save the achievement.
  
• Separate high score for the new zone
  

• The Mission Menu has been added. Currently it is used for selecting your pilot and level. More features will be added throughout Early Access.
  - Note: Your most recent selections are saved so it's easier to jump into the action if you want to start another run with the same setup again.
  

• Upgrade Beacons now show up at 3/6/9/12 minutes up from 4/8/12
  
• The action now ramps up a bit faster over the first minute in the Apoid Sector.
  
• A new system has been put in place to prevent unnecessary luls in the action. For players that manage to put together powerful screen clearing builds, this means an opportunity for much higher scores, but it shouldn't punish struggling players.
  - Note: I'll likely be tweaking this system over time. Let me know if you feel the game has gotten harder because of this.
  - Note 2: Keep in mind that powerful new upgrade types and unlockables will ease the difficulty over the next couple of weeks.
  
• Asteroids are now already on the battlefield at the start of a game.
  
• Enemies (specifically bosses) will now cleanse debuffs (such as raypalm's fire damage) when they become immune.
  
• Artemis no longer has extra movement speed.
  - Note: I thought it might be interesting to build in the speed of her old augment "Afterburner" to her kit, but it currently serves little purpose and even makes switching between pilots a bit awkward. There will be a move speed based augment players can equip in the future that will be much more useful.
  

• Added a new gem denomination worth 5 gems. Neither drop odds nor amounts have been changed, but these will drop instead of every 5 standard gems to significantly reduce gem clutter (especially late game).
  
• Ship Acceleration (in the options menu) now eases you between directions slightly. Previously if switching directions rapidly, the ship would remain at full speed. A minor tweak that you may not even notice.
  
• Light Rail and Spotting Scope got a code update that should make them feel a bit more consistent and responsive. If you've played a ton you might notice this, but it's not likely to make a large noticeable difference.
  - Note: One change that is noticeable is that Light Rail and Spotting Scope will no longer attempt to target invulnerable enemies (like bosses can be).
  
• You can now press "esc" inaddition to "c" to cancel out of menu selections
  
• Gunlocked now defaults to full screen the first time you launch after this patch
  

• Enemies will no longer randomly spawn loot during a boss fight
  
• If kinetoshield reaches full charge at exactly the same moment you're flashing from damage, it should no longer become stuck on
  
• Fixed a bug that could cause spotting scope to lose a target when another spotting scope target is destroyed (if you have radar array equipped)
  
• Gunlock will no longer reset its positions when returning from a pause or upgrade menu
  
• Fixed an issue that would prevent discharger from triggering when multiple enemies were destroyed at exactly the same moment (gunlock, nuke, etc.)
  

• Added better support for ultrawide displays. The window should no longer stretch and distort when switching to full screen. Please let me know if this causes issues for any of you and what resolution your display is.
  - Note: A new optional 720p windowed mode will be coming in the big patch at the end of May.
  
  
• Fixed an issue with detecting which controller the player is using if multiple controllers are plugged in and the player is not using the first connected device. The game will now check which gamepad is used first and default to that control as the primary input.
  - Note: This will only check the first 4 controllers connected to your PC, virtual or otherwise. Let me know if this resolves or causes issues with your gamepad.
  - Note 2: The game checks which gamepad is used first in each menu/screen. But once a controller is used, will not check again until you change screens (switching to main menu, achievement viewer, new game).
  
  
• Gunstoppable achievement should now be properly unlocking in the achievement viewer (it already unlocked properly through Steam).
  
  
• Fixed an issue that caused loot drops to function improperly when certain upgrades were equipped.
  

Patch 025: Remakes and Rerolls

• 0.25 Remakes and Rerolls (You are here.)
  
• 0.30 Sectors and Stingers (the new boss and zone). eta: End of May
  
• 0.35 Symbionics (new class of combination upgrades). eta: First week of June
  
• 0.40 Augments, Achievements, and Astronauts (persistent upgrades and unlockables). eta: Mid June
  

• Every 3 seconds the scope locks on to a target. If Artemis targets that enemy with her light rail, it will instantly fire. This scales with both radar array and heatsink.
  
• Artemis's faster move speed is now built directly into her kit without taking up an augment space. She can, however, be slowed by EMP's now.
  

• As you move around, a shield charges up. At full charge, you gain a stack of armor that blocks the next damage you take and gives you 0.5 seconds of invulnerability. Will not charge if armor is currently active.
  - Level 02: 15% faster charge
  - Level 05: 1 second of invulnerability when triggered
  - Level 04: 15% faster charge
  

• If you don't like the 3 choices you get, you can roll for 3 more. You start the game with 2 free re-rolls. You earn another after each of the first two boss fight.
  
• Note: The amount of rolls you get, and how you earn more will likely evolve with the game.
  

• Master At Arms now unlocks from earning 15 weapon upgrades in a single game
  
• Note: The previous version of the achievement required the kind of luck I'd prefer players save for lottery tickets or Willy Wonka's chocolate bars. This still isn't a guarantee, but is much more attainable.
  

• The Bumbler ships show up twice per game, and function as a sort of mini-boss that launches EMP traps at the player inside a dense asteroid field. I think they function well, but many players struggle to even notice they are there (and the reason traps keep spawning). These updates should make them feel more important and dangerous (and visible).
  - New Art: A larger, more animated sprite befitting a sub boss
  - New Behaviors: In the second encounter, the Bumbler gets a new alternate attack
  - Upon death Bumblers now drop a Gleeming Cube powerup
  - The first encounter now happens before the 2nd boss fight, instead of after. Asteroids have been drastically reduced during this fight.
  - Armor: A new mechanism for larger class ships that reduces damage by 5 per instance of damage. You'll see an armor popup when you damage an enemy with this.
  Note: This will help me balance more difficult enemies around multiple playstyles and build types. I'll likely fine-tune this over time.
  

• Raypalm: Got an additional level. At level 4 the area of effect increases by 75%
  
• The invulnerability window after being damaged has been increased by 25%
  
• The player hitbox has been adjusted to be more forgiving. Collisions with all types of damage should now be easier to avoid, and narrow escapes more plausible.
  
• With the increase in invulnerability time, more forgiving hitboxes, the multiple repair drone buffs over the last couple of patches, and the addition of another defensive utility, I've reverted passive regeneration, reducing it by 15%
  
• Hercules class ships have armor now (see: Bumbler, above]
  
• The amount of enemies that spawn during the final boss fight has been reduced
  
• Gleeming Cube now grants 30% experience up from 20%
  

• SYNERGIES: The upgrade interface now shows you which upgrade types synergize
  - Weapons will show other weapons of the same class and upgrades/augments that affect them
  - Utilities will only show upgrades/augments they directly affect or benefit from
  
• The ship's glowing outline has been made a bright yellow/orange for better clarity
  
• Asteroids are slightly darker in color so yellow/orange weapon effects stand out better against them
  
• It will now be easier to see which upgrade the upgrade beacon affected immediately after collection
  
• Repair drone is now blue, and all repair effects from repair drone and auto-repair are now blue too.
• Repair drone now has an appearing animation that will also help to alert you to its presence.
  
• Various text updates to upgrades to make descriptions more consistent
  
• Railgun is now the Light Rail to keep it more thematically consistent with other beam type weapons.
  

• Stinger Missiles and Butterfly class ships will now only damage your ship once before death. This was always the intention, but in some circumstances they could sneak in extra ticks of damage before they were removed from play.
  
• Queen health at the end of the game is now evenly divided in the health bar, and both queens now have the proper amount of health.
  
• Queen damage threshhold while vulnerable has been more strictly enforced. The threshhold is how much damage the queen can take before creating a new shield, and previously if your attacks were fast enough you could sneak in more damage.
  
• A number of fixes for the final Hive Queen battle have been employed. After about 100 tests, I have been unable to replicate any previously reported issues since these new changes. Let me know if any issues persist.
  
• Certain powerups could become infinitely stuck on if collected immediately after being EMP'd. A previous bug fix prevented this from happening if you collected a powerup and were then EMP'd after.
  - Note: Overload will no longer have any effect until the EMP wears off since your weapons are supposed to be disabled, and recharge reduction shouldn't matter.
  
• The Sidestepper achievement was not showing as unlocked in the achievement viewer
  

Mini Patch v0.21

• A new Artemis augment. Her afterburners are going away and something more fitting for the goddess of the hunt (or her namesake anyway) will be coming. Afterburners will make a comeback when the full augment system is in place, and will likely get a bit more oomph.
  
• Symbionic upgrades. People have been asking for special combination upgrades, so I moved them up in the schedule. These are upgrades that can only occur when specific requirements are met. If you've played other games in this emerging genre, you'll have the basic gist of things, but in Gunlocked they'll work a bit differently still.
  
• Achievements. A remake of the Master At Arms achievement, and a whole host of new unlocks to strive for.
  
• Some quality of life improvements to upgrade generation will make it a bit more likely that you find what you want/need each run.
  
• Some other important changes I can't talk about yet. Stay tuned!
  

Here's what's in patch v.0.21

• Data Beacons: Now instead say "!Upgrade Data!". This should make its purpose a bit more clear in the event players don't read the patch notes (not you, obviously, you read everything!).
  

• Discharger update
  - Now creates 4/4/5/6/6 (+3) projectiles up from 3/3/4/5/6
  - Level 5 creates a delayed extra pulse of 3 projectiles
  - Some tweaks to discharger chance should also help make its occurrence feel more consistent
  
• Note: After the bug fixes, discharger was still doing decent work late game, but it wasn't as strong as I wanted it to be. The extra projectile at levels 1 and 2 should also help it feel a little better if you grab it early in the game, though it isnt supposed to be too strong early game. Its real value shines as enemy density increases.
  
  
• Repair Drone
  - Now remains on screen for 5/6/6.5 seconds up from 3/3.75/3.75
  - Max repair increased to 6/9/12 from 6/8/10
  - At level 3 there is no longer any recharge reduction, but heal per second increases from 3 to 4.
  
• Note: Repair drone recharge time is still reduced by Heatsink, but the recharge time reduction at level 3 was not helping players who could hardly get to the drone in time, and were forced to stay in it too long to take advantage of the heal. Healing faster should help more in the late game, and the increase in duration on screen across the board should give you more time to reach it.
  
  
• Asteroid spawn reduced during boss fights 2 and 3 (this won't affect any asteroids created before the boss appears).
  
  
• Iceteroid spawn chance increases more after 9 minutes
  

• Powerups now end properly if they are active when you get EMP'd
  
• Bumbler class ships (the ones that spawn EMPs in the asteroid fields) will no longer get stuck above the top of the screen.
  
• Bumbler class ships could spawn more often if an upgrade triggered at the same time they did. This should no longer happen. Sould.
  
• The boss should no longer continue attacking without shield pods while remaining invulnerable.
  
• Note: This occurred when a boss attack triggered at precisely the same moment that shields went down. The vulnerable state should now properly override any other state, but more testing has to be done because reproducing the issue requires incredibly exact timing.
  

• Pressing tab will no longer disable player control in-game
  
• Language on the Railgun level 1 upgrade, and in the Artemis description now accurately reflects that it is a beam weapon
  

Patch v0.2 Beaming and Gleaming

TL;DR

• 2 new weapons
  
• 2 new utilities
  
• 2 new powerups
  
• 1 new enemy
  
• 1 new hazard
  
• 1 new background
  
• 1 new level up mechanic has been added
  
• 1 new requested option
  
• Revamped Pilot and Upgrade Interfaces
  
• A pile of balance changes
  
• Bug fixes
  

Features:

• A new option has been added called "Ship Accel" that when turned on will slow down your movements when using quick taps, and ease you into full speed when holding movement down. This option is off by default.
  
  Note: The movement engine was not built with granular movement speed in mind, but more fine control was requested, so this optional feature will hopefully help and is actually my preferred way to play now.
  

Weapons

• Sunstriker: Alternating beams of energy detonate on targets in front of your ship, dealing 50 damage to enemies in the target area.
  
• Conduit: A beacon appears in a random location, and fires 6 energy beams toward your ship over 3 seconds. Each beam deals 17 damage to all enemies it passes through. 6 second recharge time.
  

Utilities

• Refractor: Beam weapons have a chance to bounce to nearby targets for 25% of the original beam's damage
  
• Raypalm: When a beam weapon damages an enemy, all enemies in an area become set ablaze, and take 27 damage over 2 seconds. This debuff does not stack.
  

Enemies and Hazards

• Hercules Class Ships have been added. These are massive, slow moving, bullet sponges. They can't be pushed or stunned. And if you take them down, they are worth a lot of gems.
  
• A new "Iceteroid" variant has been added. As the game progresses the chance that asteroids instead spawn as Iceteroids increases. Iceteroids have 125 health, down from 300, but give fewer gems.
  

Powerups

• Gleaming Cube: Fills your exp bar by 20% of its current maximum.
  
• Overclock: Sets recharge reduction to 90% for 5 seconds
  
  
  Note: These powerups will not show up in the early game
  

Balance

• Experience needed to upgrade has been reduced by about 13% across all levels.
  
• Repair Drone now only has 3 levels of upgrades down from 4. The repair drone now spawns in the bottom 3/4 of the screen reducing the chance for a bad spawn, but not entirely. Heal duration is increased by 25% at level 2. Max heal is increased by 2 and recharge time decreased by 25% at level 3.
  
• Gravity Wave now only has 3 upgrade levels, and has had its upgrade bonuses condensed. There has been a slight reduction in overall power, but because you're considerably more likely to reach max level now it will be much stronger in most cases.
  - Recharge: 4/3.6/2.5 seconds
  - Damage: 15/15/25
  - Stun Duration: 0.5/1/1.5 seconds
  
• The Phase Shift Powerup now lasts 1 second longer, from 5 -> 6 seconds.
  
• Discharger's base amount of projectiles has been increased to 3/3/4/5/6 now that it is creating a consistent amount when triggering (See: Bugs). Its range has also been increased at levels 1 through 3 by 25%
  
• Leymine bullets have had their size and range increased. At level 5 a second pulse of 3 extra projectiles is now released, and their range increases by 50%.
  
• At max level, when the railgun destroys a target, its recharge timer is reduced by 25%. This reduction is applied after other recharge reduction (i.e. Heatsink).
  
• The Gunlock sweep now starts up and to the left of the ship at a 45 degree angle.
  
• Passive armor regeneration has been increased by 20%
  

Data Beacons

• Every 4 minutes a data beacon appears on the playing field. Move your ship to the beacon and remain there for 1.5 seconds to upgrade a randomly selected, but already equipped weapon or utility. These do nothing if everything is at max level.
  
  
  
  Note: I may increase the frequency of these, but combined with the reduced needed experience to level, reduced levels to max some upgrades, new iceteroids, and gleaming cube powerup, I want to wait and see how the game feels. The impact of so many changes at once to experience gain is hard to measure just with myself and a few testers.
  
  Note #2: The art for these is not finished.
  

Quality of Life

• Repair Drone had some of its text updated
  
• Disruptor had some of its text updated
  
• Sentry Drone and Scouting Drone now indicate that they can not target shielded enemies, like the Gunlock. No lock-on weapons or utilities should target shielded enemies.
  
• You can now see your pilot's current level on their portrait
  

Sound

• Ship destruction sounds now play on a dedicated channel. Only one will play at a time. This should prevent every sound channel from becoming flooded with the same sound during a nuke or other large enemy destruction event.
  
  Note: A significant sound system rewrite is coming eventually to address multiple stacking sounds from a variety of sources, but not in the near future.
  

Graphics

• Updated pilot selection menu
  - Pilots now display their equipment icons
  - Wider display
  - New, larger font
  - Larger confirmation button
  
• Updated upgrade selection menu
  - New upgrade icons
  - New level meter in the selection menu shows you the max level of an upgrade and its current level
  - Descriptions now include if upgrades are wepons or utilities
  

Bugs

• Discharger no longer stops working during boss fights
  
• Discharger was sometimes triggering multiple times when an enemy died
  
• Leymines will now properly scale with projectile range
  
• The Gunlock aim preview will no longer get stuck on screen while you're EMP'd
  
• Fixed an issue where the railgun targeter could occassionally get stuck
  
• Fixed an issue that put a disruptor effect below the player ship instead of above
  
• Music will now start playing if you start a game muted and adjust volume