Heckpoint
First World bug fixed
And then there were fewer (bugs)...
We think we have most of the bugs squashed at this point. Lag is still gone, kill streaks are fixed (sorry... they were super broken and people were getting artificially high kill streaks through no fault or deceit of their own). The final boss in each world is now unique, and worlds other than Forest, Spooky, and T Day must be unlocked by defeating the final boss in the preceding level (beginning with the Forest). The boss should also no longer leave the screen, causing the player to become stuck.
The passives that upgrade your run speed now work correctly. Damage on all the weapons is now correct, even accounting for passive and permanent stat upgrades. Kills made with the laser cannon and Xeno Bear's stock special once again contribute to kill streaks. We also fixed Starman and Dracula's stock special that were causing no damage.
Backgrounds once again match the world they're supposed to represent, reflecting the altered world sequence. We added a prologue for when you beat the final boss.
At this point, we're pretty close to leaving Early Access. The design of the game is final, and further changes (if any) would likely just be tweaks to the interface.
If anyone's still reading these, thanks for checking us out. It's been an interesting trip.
-Heckpoint's Dev Team
Achievements are here, enemy spawn rate restored, and fuel bug fixed
Heckpoint has its first round of achievements. Also added is the ability to reset your achievements in the Options menu. We started with just a few achievements to test the waters, and are still kicking around ideas for where and how far we want to take them. The numbers for the Killer achievements were set when the enemy count was still low, so those will probably be the first to get updates/additions. What achievements would you like to see?
Enemy count is back to normal. We set it low when we were first trying to nail down the source of the lag and forgot to set it back. Whoops. We are still tweaking and tuning to see how much of the original chaos we can bring back (and how much more we can add) without lag.
Finally, we fixed a bug where your max fuel was being decreased in Home Base, where fuel is (supposed to be) unlimited. This was causing players playing on a difficulty higher than Easy to not be able to fly in Home Base.
Please let us know if you experience any lag or weird bugs, or if you have questions or comments about Heckpoint.
Thanks!
LAG B GONE!
We're back!
So, here's what happened. In short, there was an issue with lag. About 500 yards in, the game started to lag. It got worse the farther you went on, until the game was unplayable. At first we tried pooling terrain blocks, ammunition, anything we could easily reuse. That helped some, but didn't completely eliminate the problem. We experimented with upgrading the engine, but that introduced some visual artifacts that were unacceptable. So, we began the slow process of rebuilding the game in the new engine.
After realizing that we were basically making an all new game, we decided to try again to eliminate the lag. We loaded the old project into the new engine and, by experimentation, isolated the cause of the visual artifacts. Those are gone, as is the lag as of today's update. We have a bit more to add yet, but we expect to leave Early Access pretty soon.
Thanks again for sticking around!
-Dev Team
Heckpoint Reloaded
I know we've been quiet for a couple weeks, but development has not stopped. We have been working to fix the lag that happens after the mini-boss. We are in the process of rebuilding Heckpoint's engine, and making a few tweaks to the game's design.
The rebuild will first appear on the Beta branch, and we'll post an update here when it's ready for those who'd like to opt in for a first taste of the new Heckpoint experience.
Thank you for your patience and support with us on this journey, and we look forward to sharing the new Heckpoint with you.
Cheers!
Gene Works (permanent stats), latest tweaks and the future.
You may have also noticed a bunch of money in your bank account. Haaa. Sorry about that. Have fun with it as fast as you can because we're gonna have to reset the data on the game and restart everyone fresh. O.O.P.S.
The future, right on the horizon:
We've also been tampering with ways to enhance gameplay the longer the player stays in battle by dynamically increasing difficulty the further you venture into the Glitch and possibly some Glitch interference as well.
And new bosses!
Kill streaks, new boss, and small tweaks
It's been a couple weeks since we made an announcement, but we've been steadily updating Heckpoint. New features since the last announcement range in scope from simple fixes to Heckpoint's first final boss.
The bonuses on the stat screen were sometimes covered by the post-status popup. Now, you're asked to indicate when you're done reading the stats before given the choice to replay the level or return to the base. When playing with mouse and keyboard, the reticle always stays with the mouse cursor. Before, it was only snapping to the mouse cursor position when the mouse moved, which caused some jerkiness. We've also made the reticle larger, and added a glow, which should prevent it getting lost in the action. We fixed damage text so that the text and shadow no longer get separated when an enemy or player moves while taking damage.
A new bonus you can get is for kill streaks. When you kill multiple enemies in a short span of time, you are awarded bonus credits at the stat screen, in accordance with your chosen difficulty setting and the number of enemies killed in your longest streak.
When you're playing on a mode that has a mini-boss, you will now also have a final boss before you reach the obelisk. Both the mini and final bosses lock the screen horizontally so that you can't just fly past without engaging.
Thank you again for all your support!
-Heckpoint's Dev Team
The Calm Before the Storm
We've been getting some great feedback on how we can further polish Heckpoint. Thank you for that, and please keep it coming! We love hearing what you enjoy, and what you feel could be improved or added. Last week, we focused on Party Time, but this week it's back to polish as we prepare for some of our larger updates.
We fixed Party Time so that, evem when equipped, it doesn't work with less than 2 controllers connected. Before, Party Time was being activated whenever equipped, even if you had no controller connected. This rendered your character unable to use the keyboard to move in the level.
We moved the camera to the right of the player, so that you can see more of what's ahead.
On the pause screen (in the level), resume is now the default option, and you are asked to confirm when you choose to return to Home Base.
Stay tuned, and thank you for all the support!
-Heckpoint's Dev Team
Party Time Comes to Heckpoint!
Heckpoint now has local co-op multiplayer!
Multiplayer is enabled in your inventory by equipping the passive called "Party Time". It doesn't take up any slots, so you can use it with your shoulder cannon or favorite upgrade even with just one passive slot. It requires 2-4 controllers to be connected before you launch Heckpoint, and will spawn one player for each controller that's connected. Player 1 can still use the mouse and keyboard, controller 1, or both. Players 2-4's characters are chosen randomly at the start of the level, equipped with the same passives as Player 1.
We are working toward a more complete multiplayer experience, including character selection and individual loadouts for each player, but Party Time will remain an option. We hope you enjoy Party Time, and welcome any feedback.
Thanks!
-Heckpoint's Dev Team
UPDATE WEEK #3: Damage, scoring, and AI.
So this week we've added some floating damage numbers to combat (it'll also tell you how many credits you earn). We've tinkered with scoring to prevent someone from cheesing through battle by trying to fly over land battles for extended periods of time. You'll get a nice Coward Bonus if you do.
We've also corrected some behaviors on flying enemies. They were shooting you from off-screen and that won't happen anymore. The 360 aiming for controller has been polished quite a bit and we've also made your middle click/scroll button click activate your Special on mouse. It'll still remain as your E key as well.
Finally, we have moved the meteors that occur naturally in Bone World and the Wasteland to only appear on hard and hopeless difficulty levels.
As always, feel free to leave comments or suggestions. We still have those power ups in mind. :D
Stay tuned for a much larger update next week.